GPS navigation system picks?

[gsmittle]

+1 on the Garmin. I have a nüvi 255 which I REALLY like. I find the text to speech pretty handy. The 255 also came with a traffic receiver, which is great for cities, not so great in the middle of nowhere.

I've heard plenty of stories about GPS's leaving people in crazy places, but it's never happened to me.

g.

[cgallery]

I think I'm settling on the Nuvi 360.

I think it would be a good compromise between price and features. It doesn't have the 3D terrain maps or photo navigation. Will she miss those? Those two features seem limited to the newer models and I'm uncertain of their value.

[BerniePA]

Do you see that friction portable mount for $24.36 on the same Amazon page? I would recommend you get that for her. It allows her to put it anywhere she wants it to be, on the dash, consol,etc. Leaves no marks, is very hard to see, can be slid under a seat. I put mine on the dash to the extreme left next to the window post and it has never moved no mater what, and one of the "feet" is actually sort of climbing the windshield post. A good accessory.

[vaking]

I vote for Sony. They are new to this market so they are less expensive but the unit is actually good. My son started this trend in my family and by now even my MIL uses same model. Apparently it was so easy, even my MIL can handle it. Large screen, text-to speech, Blue-tooth speakerphone to be used with the cell phone and all for about $150.

[lebomike]

I also have Garmin nuvi660 and love it. My wife says she loves it also as we often were trying to read a map and had diisagreements as to which way to go. This solved that. I also agree with what RayintheUK says it is great for the Bluetooth, mp3 etc.

Mike

[radhak]

I think I'm settling on the Nuvi 360.

I think it would be a good compromise between price and features. It doesn't have the 3D terrain maps or photo navigation. Will she miss those? Those two features seem limited to the newer models and I'm uncertain of their value.

Great choice. I am definite she will never miss any of the far out features. I don't even use the bluetooth or the mp3.

[Kristofor]

I have an old ( >10yrs) Garmin, a newish TomTom 730, and an in-dash Pioneer AVIC F series (not the best in class IMO, but decent and a great deal was had... ).

The TomTom does a great job and is much quicker to find the satelites than the OLD garmin but I put that down to older hardware and would expect newer similar models to behave, well, similarly...

The in-dash is by far the best from a usability perspective. You can modify what interface elements are displayed and how/where with XML so if you don't like the default setup you can change it, upload custom graphics,etc.

Of course even with a good deal this will still cost twice as much or more than a good portable device, AND you're stuck with having it in one car neither of which are probably ideal for a college kid. The ability to (illegally) watch movies or TV while driving is also probably not a positive thing for a younger (or any) driver...