GPS Advice

[steve-norrell]

Anyone care to recommend a GPS brand (Garmin, TomTom, Magellan) and/or specific model number? The only recommendation I have gotten so far was to be sure and get one that offers free lifetime maps and traffic upgrades.

Yeah, I know that Anchorage has only two roads out of town, but sometimes I do travel down to the smaller states in the rest of America.

Thanks and regards, Steve

[justaguy]

I use a Magellan RoadMate 1700.

The 7 inch screen is good for me. I need glasses for reading but not for distance or driving. The 7 inch screen is readable when mounted in the center of the windshield or dash without the need for wearling my glasses.

The Amazon user reviews were pretty favorable a year ago when I purchsed mine

[herb fellows]

I guess this is definitely a ymmv, but I have had both Tomtom and Garmin.
I had a Tomtom one 3rd edition, and I didn't like certain things about it (fewer points of interest, no text to speech etc.)
Everyone was raving about Garmin, so I got a 255w and a 1350 for my wife.

IMHO, the Tomtom was so much better than the Garmins it isn't even funny! This was not supposed to be the case, according to 'those in the know', but I'll tell you what I found:

POI's: Garmin has 6 million, Tomtom about a million (back then, not sure now)
Garmin is much harder to find poi's in, and is missing tons of stuff! (fi, 3 Mcdonalds within 4 miles of my house, all existing over 8 years, none listed on the Garmin.

Recognizing addresses: Garmin seems to be missing tons of information! Within the last 3 weeks, it totally denied that 2 long standing addresses existed, and it directed me a half mile away from another address.
I never experienced that with the Tomtom.
With Garmin, the only thing that hooking it up to your computer does is charge it! No functions!
The Tomtom was fully functional when hooked up to the computer.
Downloading info to the Garmin took 11 hours! The Tomtom was done in about 30 minutes!

Right now, I wish I had a Tomtom!

[LCHIEN]

I'm not sure I'd put a lot of weight on free lifetime maps.
Most high tech gadgets only last 3-4 years before they get replaced by something better. Think of your phone, your Ipod, your computer, your digital camera.
You'll probably be thinking about replacing your GPS with something with more features/faster/higher integration before you get tired of map updates.

[JimD]

I have purchased 3 Garmins and still use two of them. The reviews I've read consistent find the routing of Garmins to be better. They are also the most popular brand. I'm sure there are things that are better about other brands. For instance, I've read that Tom Tom users can give each other map updates. Garmin users can't.

The Garmins I've purchased are all out of date although you can still get one of them. My daughter uses my nuvi 350. It was our first and worked fine. My next is a 760 I use in my SUV. It has bluetooth the 350 doesn't have. I use a 885t in my BMW convertible. It is voice controlled which is handy at times. All 3 of my nuvis play MP3 files. I do not own a ipod or other MP3 player so this capability in my Garmins is very convenient. When I am on a trip, I usually listen to MP3s from the Garmin and my phone calls come in over the car speakers (the Garmin automatically gives them precedince, then is the navigation, last is the music). My 760 and 885t link to my blackberry and have my contact list and call logs showing for dialing. With the 885t I can make calls without touching it. I also have remote microphones in both vehicles (hooked to the mount so you don't have to plug them in) to improve the quality of phone calls.

If you want to play MP3s, you need an older Garmin. They still sell 765t and 885t. There are lower levels. My voice control 885t works well for me but they are a bit more prone to acting up than the touch control units. If you are willing to put up with a bit of nonsense, potentially, you can find a 855 (no bluetooth) for as little as $100.

If you go to Amazon, I believe they still have a chart that will show you which Garmin has which features. If you don't need bluetooth or MP3s, a wide screen 200 series might work for you. That is what my son uses. Actually I think I gave him a 285t which has bluetooth. It was less than $150.

Traffic is somewhat useful but the information is out-of-date most of the time. I have lifetime on one power cord I can use with either of my nuvis. The receiver is in the power cord and it also holds enough programming to know if it is lifetime or not. I think updated maps would be better. I will probably switch my 885t to lifetime maps soon. It costs about $75.

If you have a decent internet connection, it takes a couple hours to update a nuvi. It is not fun but shouldn't take longer than that unless you are using dial up or something.

Jim

[Alex Franke]

I have a Garmin nüvi 755T and I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't done any map updates, but I might consider it before the next long road trip. The interface is very intuitive, and the traffic reports come in off the air, so there's no extra charge for traffic. Though not available everywhere, we've found these reports to be reasonably accurate.

Sometimes we use the GPS for local drives, too, in order to learn some new and and faster ways around town. Interestingly, the routing is not always predictable: Going "home" from the in-laws driveway has taught us three new (and completely different) ways to get back, all taking the same amount of time.

Sometimes the device has a hard time finding the satellites -- especially when moving. Once it took over 20 minutes (moving the whole time), but if you let it find the satellites first before you start moving it's actually pretty quick.

One of the best features (that I hope other devices have as well) is the ability to find things on your current route by category or by name. For example, you can find a gas station or a Starbucks near your current route. We use that feature frequently.

We can also put audio books on an SD card and it will transmit the sound to the car's radio. That's pretty cool, too.

(BTW lol "smaller states")

[havighurst]

I have a TomTom 740 and I love it. It has a lot of POIs, but for ten bucks a month it has "Live Services" which will connect to Google (among other things) and I can find anything that I need - even if it does not fit into a POI category.

[BadeMillsap]

+1 Garmin 755T

Works great used it all through Great Britain too ...

[steve-norrell]

Thanks for all the input.

A mind-boggling array of options to leave this old guy .

Regards, Steve.

[jaybee]

About to leave work and go for coffee with a bunch of geocachers. No matter what brand you end up with - buy the largest screen you can afford. A lot of geocachers do that for their in car gps. Then, note that you can run a street navigation module on most decent handhelds. We do that and compare routes in strange territory, then switch to off road with the handheld to get over the hill and through the woods to a cache.

Try the forums:

http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/

for more than you ever wanted to know about gps.

[JimD]

Someone mentioned Google. I use Google maps to load "Favorites" for my destinations rather than looking things up in the Garmin. Once you find a location in google maps, if you have your Garmin handy, you just plug it into your computer (USB to mini-usb cable) and there is a button labeled "send" at the top of the Google map near the right side. When you hit that you tell it you want to send to a GPS, a Garmin, it finds your machine and you say OK. Takes only a few seconds and gives you the phone number too - so you can call ahead for a reservation, for instance.

You might want to google "POI factory" and "GPSPassion". Both are websites devoted to GPSs. I got a POI list from the former that has the restrooms along the interstate. I have it set to give me 2 miles warning they are coming up. You can also look up how far you are from the next one. GPS Passion has sections for different types and brands of GPSs and has reviews and some good tips. I believe they still have a chart showing which Garmins have which features.

There is a third party free software program called GPX that will convert a Google route to a file a Garmin can read. This is handy if you want to take a particular route (like a scenic one). You can force Garmins to do this but it is a struggle. The interface in Google is much better and your computer screen is much larger so it is easier to create the route in Google and send it to the Garmin. It's a little harder than send a Favorite but not a lot. You can find information at POI Factory.

I would decide which features you want (bluetooth is a good inexpensive way to add that capability in your vehicles, for instance) and then look up which Tom Tom and Garmin have the features you want. Look on one of these locations for reviews - or you can read in Amazon what others have reported. I don't think you can go very wrong. They all work and will normally get you where you are going. The "sweet spot" price wise seems to be from about $150 to $250. You can get a basic GPS for $100 or a bit less and sometimes you can find a more advanced older model for this. But it typically worthwhile to spend a little more to get a bigger screen or bluetooth by increasing the amount you spend to at least $150. That also lets you look at lifetime maps or traffic. By going up to $250 you should be able to get both lifetime maps and traffic (although you have to shop some to find these Garmins) and/or you can get more features. You can spend much more on a portable GPS but I got both of my current ones, which were at one time the top of Garmins line, for around $200. If you want a top-of-the-line very current model, those are typically around $400. Wait a year and they will be closer to $200.

Jim