Car GPS recommendation?

rpadula

rpadula

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PancakeBunny
OK, I realize this is probably gonna end up like the great low-wing/high-wing debate:

Who has a recommendation for a portable car GPS?

I'm looking at these $200-$300 models to give as a gift. Despite being quite tech savvy, I've never had occasion to even look at any of these before, so I'm not up to speed on them.

What features are worth getting?

In doing browsing at Amazon, one thing that jumped out at me is that Tom Tom units had a pretty even distribution of 1 through 5 star ratings, whereas the Garmins usually were more heavily weighted toward the 4 & 5 stars.

Thanks!
 
Garmin Nuvi. I was recently amazed that the battery on my 2 year old Nuvi kept it alive for hours without a power cord. That's the first rechargeable device I owned that wasn't in a perpetual dead state.

Garmin has a matrix chart of features. Pick what you'd like. I like the Bluetooh speaker phone, and go for higher res. I think the traffic feeds are worthless, certainly the MS one is.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&ra=true

http://gpstracklog.typepad.com/gps_comparisons/garmin-nuvi-comparsion-chart.html

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=82414
 
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I am using a Motorola TN30. Nice unit and has bluetooth handsfree. Not as many other features as some of the Garmins but the price is right and I got mine handed to me by Danica Patrick when I bought it.
 
I generally favor Garmin Nuvis. The best thing I can say is get a list of options and decide which you absolutely need and which you can live without. Consider buying a refurb from TIGERDIRECT.com. They're generally cheaper, the bugs have been fixed, and still come with the manufacturer's warrantee. You might look at the obsolete models.
I like.... Turn by turn audio with street names. 3d view. (newer Nuvis have lane assist with junction view). List of favorites including HOME. Wide screen 4.3". SD slot for extra maps. Points of interest. Online upgrades of software and maps. Google maps downloadable to Nuvi. WAAS.
Okay but... Bluetooth. MP3 player including books on tape. Picture view. Microsoft traffic with Gas and weather (but I wouldn't pay extra for it).
I bought a Nuvi 680. Spent way too much. Any GPS stuck to your window, including just the outline of the suction cup, draws thieves like magnets. Lost mine from the company parking lot in May.
Don't forget your cellphone. My Sprint Blackberry has an onboard GPS.
 
mikea said:
Garmin Nuvi. I was recently amazed that the battery on mine kept in alive for hours withput a power cord. That's the first rechargeable device I owned that wasn't in a perpetual dead state.

Garmin has a matrix chart of features. Pick what you'd like. I like the Bluetooh speaker phone, and go for higher res. I think the traffic feeds are worthless, certainly the MS one is.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&ra=true

http://gpstracklog.typepad.com/gps_comparisons/garmin-nuvi-comparsion-chart.html

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=82414
Click to expand...
I have to second this, I have had the Garmin Nuvi for about a year now and love it.

Regards Mike
 
I picked up a Garmin Nuvi (205, I think). It's the small screen and about the lowest end unit they had. Had it for a year or two and use it quite a bit, even on trips where I don't need it. It has a pretty complete database that's not too far out of date - if you search for nearest gas station/restaurant/hotel it might take you someplace that's been out of business for a couple years, but they'll probably all do that. It has the voice turn directions, but not the spoken street names.

It won't let you store routes - so if you are going from point A to B it's fine, but if you want to go from A to B via 1, 2, and 3 you have to enter those waypoints and there's no way to save the route so you can recall it again later. I don't know if the higher end units let you do that.

Simple to program and simple to use. It just works.
 
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Greg Bockelman said:
ROTFLMAO. VERY low tech. But it does not take any batteries, won't let you down and it is updateable for a very low fee.
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i usually buy a new one every few years.

when i was in iowa i found a state map that had all the gravel and county roads on it. that thing was great for getting around off highway. also proved invalvuable for the gldier chase crews. i need to find something similar for kansas.
 
yep scott, that is exactly it. I had the iowa version. thanks!
 
From doing a little shopping in this area, it appears you don't lose much at all by dropping to the $150 price range.
 
tonycondon said:
yep scott, that is exactly it. I had the iowa version. thanks!
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I love those maps. I hate driving expressways and use the gazetteers to find some interesting routes.

Last weekend I was driving back roads in Nevada. Put over 500 miles of driving on and only 80 of it was expressway. Saw all kinds of cool stuff and stopped in many neat little towns. My bro-in-law who lives in Nevada does not get out much and just loves riding shot gun for drives so these types of outings are his main recreational activity.
 
Love my Nuvi 260.
$159
Changed the voice to the Australian girls sexy voice.( wife now calls it my "***** in the box")
Never let me down, well maybe once as she sent me down a one way street the wrong way
Great for business.
Haven't taken it in the plane yet, can't wait to hear her say "re calculating, recalculating, recalculating" when I go 100 ft past my turn!
 
tonycondon said:
i usually buy a new one every few years.
Click to expand...

I'm a tightwad - I get mine free from the State Farm agent.

when i was in iowa i found a state map that had all the gravel and county roads on it. that thing was great for getting around off highway. also proved invalvuable for the gldier chase crews. i need to find something similar for kansas.
Click to expand...

You can get USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle maps online via Google earth with a plugin like DDS mapfinder. The quad maps don't get updated very often, but they should be good enough for secondary and gravel roads, since those don't change very often in rural areas anyway. Only downside is they only cover a 7.5 nm square area, so if you're gliding all over the place you'd need lotsa maps...


Trapper John
 
smigaldi said:
I love those maps. I hate driving expressways and use the gazetteers to find some interesting routes.

Last weekend I was driving back roads in Nevada. Put over 500 miles of driving on and only 80 of it was expressway. Saw all kinds of cool stuff and stopped in many neat little towns. My bro-in-law who lives in Nevada does not get out much and just loves riding shot gun for drives so these types of outings are his main recreational activity.
Click to expand...

yea i enjoy that sort of thing too when I have the chance. but usually when im travelling by car im time constrained so its interstates for me. they may be ugly and uninteresting but they are great for moving about the country!
 
I love having GPS in the airplane but I've never had much luck with the ones in cars. However the only car GPSs I've ever used are the ones which come with rentals. Once we were trying to find a hotel but it was so new it wasn't in the database. The GPS got upset when we drove into what it thought was a empty field between roads. "RETURN TO THE HIGHLIGHTED ROUTE!"

Then there was the time when I got directions to the hotel but the other pilot wanted to use the GPS. I kept telling him he was going the wrong way. Then we ended up on a toll road miles away while I couldn't stop laughing at him... all because he had entered "street" instead of "avenue".
 
el con said:
Love my Nuvi 260.
$159
Changed the voice to the Australian girls sexy voice.( wife now calls it my "***** in the box")
Never let me down, well maybe once as she sent me down a one way street the wrong way
Great for business.
Haven't taken it in the plane yet, can't wait to hear her say "re calculating, recalculating, recalculating" when I go 100 ft past my turn!
Click to expand...

Mine with 3 year data has let me down. Like when it told me I could get to Gaston's by driving a little further down the cow path and through the house it led to.

There's a few intersections on the way to my house where it insists I'm driving in a corn field.

The new I-355 extension by Grant and Leslie. I'm driving over rivers.

I'll see if any vendor at Oshkosh has a better deal than Amazon on the MapSource Lifetime subscription.

I got mine when I moved out to damn near Wisconsin. I would have lost several days of wandering by now if I hadn't had it. Now that I've been down the roads several times I can often find my way on my own, even though I think I'm still shaky on what teh oevrall topology looks like. (I bought a local map then but I have no idea where it is.) I'm also getting cocky and going my own way when I know it'll be a faster route than the one Karen is telling me to use.

BTW, I even leave my suction cup mount attached with the Nuvi in the console (although often it's with me if I think it's shady.) I've had a few panic situations not knowing where I left it but I still have it. It is nice to not live in "Escape from LA" even if I thought my license plate sticker was stolen. :blush:
 
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Thanks everybody for the replies. Tony's post was FTW!

I ended up choosing the Nuvi 780. Should be here tomorrow.

Mike, the middle link of the three you posted showed a ton of Nuvi models have just been discontinued by Garmin, and the prices have dropped like crazy on Amazon! Both the 760 and 780 are available for $199 if anybody else is currently looking for one. More features for the same price of the latest 2xx series. I always like buying one technology generation back for this very reason. :smile:

I had no idea these car GPSs had a Bluetooth interface/handsfree. Could be a real nice feature if the DSP/acoustic implementation is good. We'll see how it works with the intended recipient's locked-down Verizon phone. FM transmitter for voice prompts, MP3, and cell calling is a nice touch, too.

The 780 comes with the MSN Direct receiver (vs. the 760's other RDS receiver). I talked with a friend last night and he has a 680 w/MSN. Traffic doesn't appear to be super-great with either service. But I like the idea of MSN's gas price finder and the ability to send addresses from Microsoft Bing Maps to the GPS. This is only available with devices that support MSN Direct V2. It'll apparently also warn you if you're driving towards an area with active weather alerts. Sounds interesting, but then again, it always does...

Note: the newest models ending with a "T" (i.e. 265WT, or 755T, etc.) now come with free lifetime NAVTEQ traffic feeds, although they are ad-supported.
 
tonycondon said:
yea i enjoy that sort of thing too when I have the chance. but usually when im travelling by car im time constrained so its interstates for me. they may be ugly and uninteresting but they are great for moving about the country!
Click to expand...
I had to drive between Albuquerque and Chicago a few times. Using the back roads instead of interstates I saved 4 hours of driving. That is because I learned about heading west out of Witchita instead of heading down the highway to Oklahoma. Sometimes getting off of the interstate is quicker.
 
smigaldi said:
I had to drive between Albuquerque and Chicago a few times. Using the back roads instead of interstates I saved 4 hours of driving. That is because I learned about heading west out of Witchita instead of heading down the highway to Oklahoma. Sometimes getting off of the interstate is quicker.
Click to expand...

yea, when we drove to Albuquerque we meant to do that, but missed the turn at Wichita. oops. The trip back was even more interesting.
 
I'd used Garmins in the car ever since the things were invented and the cheapest ones went for more than a grand. But my most recent replacement was the Tom Tom GO 920, which I bought with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. That was more than a year ago, so I guess I'm satisfied, more or less.

I tried the Tom Tom because it had a better feature set for the money. The kids especially like the MP3 player and the wireless remote (which actually does come in a lot handier than I thought it would). It also has voice recognition, bluetooth, and probably a lot of other features that I never bothered to discover.

As far as actual navigation goes, I don't recall "Susan" (the name of the computerized voice I selected for the GPS) having taken me on any wild goose chases to actual addresses. The toll avoidance feature also works well, as does the feature that allows the driver to avoid a specific part of a route (handy when you know that a certain road is backed up, is a speed trap, is full of potholes, or whatever). The maps are also pretty darn accurate, possibly because of a feature that allows users to upload corrections to the "community." I've only encountered one or two map errors since I've been using the Tom Tom, which I corrected and uploaded.

On the other hand, the POI database is a mess. "Susan" regularly takes me on wild rides to non-existent POIs. In fact, I'd say that only about half the POIs she's plotted have actually been where Susan said they were. Sometimes the places once existed, but since shut down or moved; sometimes they were in the general vicinity, but not exactly where the database said they were. But other times, the POI simply didn't exist and obviously never had. Most often, this seems to happen with gas stations and restaurants; and most often the problem occurs in rural areas. I have no idea why.

--Rich
 
By the way, the newest Consumer Reports says that the Garmin Nuvi 885T ($600) is the best performer followed by the Tom Tom Go 740 Live ($400) and the Garmin Nuvi 765T ($480).

They list the Garmin Nuvi 760/770/780 ($250) and the Garmin Nuvi 265T ($200) as the best overall values (recommended buys).

Garmin takes 4 of the top 5 spots.
 
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