Need Some GPS Advice

[cabinetman]

Wife is interested in getting a handheld GPS. She has a NAV system in her car, but wants one for when she drives my vehicle. Any suggestions on brands, "look fors", quality, price, and updating?
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[crokett]

We have a Garmin that I got from Newegg.com as a refurb. I got a great price on it and we are happy with it. It announces the street names when giving directions, has a feature where you can set an address as 'home', has favorites - not sure why since once I've been someplace I can always find it, and has a feature for when you are traveling that you can find gas stations, restaurants, etc. I've never updated ours but it is supposed to be pretty simple via USB.

[jussi]

Depends on what type of features you want. But one strong suggestion I would have is to stick to the big companies and not get any knock-off brands. I got burnt my first go around and the thing took forever to acquire a satellite and had crappy volume.
After I learned my lesson I picked up a Garmin 255wt and love it. What ever unit you get, check to make sure the wait time to acquire satellites isn't too long or you'll be sitting in your car forever waiting for the thing to finish. Mine speaks street names which to me is a must have since some streets are so close together that you often end up missing the turn (another problem I had with the generic gps I first got). Those are the 2 must have for me. The 255wt also has bluetooth which is really cool since talking on the cell while driving is illegal here and I always lose my bt headset. But this is also the one quirk the 255wt has (or at least mine has). Sometimes the voice feature will go out when the bt is on. I turn off the bt temporarily and it fixes the problem.

Other things which are nice include the unit telling you what time you'll reach your destination (common on most systems now), speed limits, gas efficiency. One of my favorite features (that most units have) is points of interest. Big time saver in finding a gas station, atm, restaurant, etc. My friend got his wife one and she's pretty bad at navigating the highways and often misses exists. So he got her a model (forgot which one) that has lane assist and he said she's pretty happy with it.

[KenBurris]

tom tom

I have a refurb TomTom, also from newegg. $69 plus a $20 mail-in rebate - my maps are 5 quarters old, and updating maps is prohibitively expensive, but it works well for $50 - if I ever see the rebate. It does not name streets, just "right turn in 400 yards" ............"right turn". this has the smaller screen, but I mostly listen. according to comments on newegg, you might get a current map free - depending on the status before the refurb, but even without, it will find most places

[jonathan55]

Mine speaks street names which to me is a must have since some streets are so close together that you often end up missing the turn (another problem I had with the generic gps I first got). Those are the 2 must have for me.

That looks like one "must have" not two? What do you think of the traffic, I haven't found it very useful yet but maybe it's better in some cities.


Jonathan

[jussi]

That looks like one "must have" not two? What do you think of the traffic, I haven't found it very useful yet but maybe it's better in some cities.


Jonathan

The other one was a quick load time.

It's really hard to tell how well it works because it's set up to automatically giving you the fastest route taking into regard traffic conditions. It doesn't tell you there's traffic on freeway A so we're gonna take freeway B instead. I guess I could check the traffic reports online to see whether it was giving me correct directions. Besides I live in Southern California and pretty much every freeway has traffic. However one time there was an accident on the freeway (which had already been moved off the road) and the nuvi correctly predicted the location by putting a little accident icon on the map.

[jussi]

Oh and I have the 265wt. I don't think the 255wt even exists

[cgallery]

About a year ago I started a thread here asking for the same sort of advice.

A few days later, a friend visited me at work and brought five different units w/ him. He had a Navigon, Garmin, Magellan, Tom Tom, and one other (can't remember). I drove around with all of them. In the end, I did some horsetrading for the Magellan and he tossed the Navigon (which he detested) in on the deal.

In the final analysis, I would have been happy with any. I do like the audible street names. Both the Magellan and Navigon have that feature. He likes the Garmin the most, and it was nice. But I didn't find it that much better than the Magellan, and he was hooking me up w/ a great deal and offered the Garmin but I wouldn't have been much of a friend to take his favorite.

I guess my point is, they're all pretty great. I worried that the differences would be more pronounced, but (for me, at least), I was pretty happy with 'em all.

I happen to like the Navigon more then the Magellan.

For your wife, I might suggest trying to find the unit that is most similar to the one built into the other car, if that is possible.

[drlien]

I have a TomTom One that I received as a gift and I've also used a Magellan that belongs to my dad (don't know the model). I don't like the Tomtom. The Magellan was 2 years old and navigated me through the Twin Cities and Chicago without difficulty. My Tomtom got me seriously lost in Minneapolis last month. I was ready to throw it out the window of the car. One thing I really like about the Magellan was that it allowed point to point navigation so you can plan your stopping points along the way. The Tomtom doesn't do that.

[RayintheUK]

Another vote for Garmin. I have the nuvi660 Euro, which speaks street names, acts as a Bluetooth receiver/transmitter (great for hands-free cell use), has an SD card slot for additional mapping if needed, finds gas stations, restaurants, etc., has an automatic "night" setting to reduce glare and can easily be slid into a pocket or purse (124mm x 75mm x 22mm / 4.84" x 2.84" x ¾") for use on foot.

Good battery life for personal use, it also handles dynamic traffic info to steer you around hold-ups (not the Bank kind!) and general congestion. The dynamic traffic feature can, however, be counter-productive in large cities (especially London, in my case), as they're always congested, so you sometimes have to strike a balance, based on the predicted delay shown, compared with the calculated arrival time. Update software via Garmin's WebUpdater (USB lead into your PC), custom Points of Interest (POI) sets also available, including speed cameras, etc.

I wouldn't be without mine for use in my runabout. HTH

Ray

[cabinetman]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. The more research she does the more confused she gets.

For your wife, I might suggest trying to find the unit that is most similar to the one built into the other car, if that is possible.

That would be an easy transition. It's whatever comes in the Honda Accords. I don't use it. Besides her wanting it for when she drives my vehicle, her lease is up in about 8 months, and she may not opt for in-car Nav in the next one. So whatever she gets may then be her primary system.
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