Car GPS in Europe

[jteef]

Looking for a little advice. I just moved to germany and immediately decided that i definitely need some sort of GPS nav aid while driving. I'm looking at a couple of options...TomTom 910, Garmin Nuvi 360, or a car puter.

I've been toying with the idea of putting in a small form factor pc or mac mini in my car and connecting to a 7" touchscreen that will fit perfectly into my dash.

The carputer idea is a lot more powerful in general as far as integrating nav, radar detector, dvd player, songs, wifi, etc into one thing, but how do the software packages available compare to the purpose built applications on the tomtoms/garmins? I need the ability to save about 50-100 waypoints, some sort of audible notification that I need to turn soon, and cheapish european maps (particularly germany, but I will be travelling all over europe by car.

I'd like to keep the car-puter idea to $1100 or less (mac mini + gps receiver + screen =~ $950) or <600 for just the nav.

 

[Scarpozzi]

One thing that I always hated about GPS units is the satellite acquire times.

I own a Magellan system and have to say, they're decent....but they don't make the roadmate units....it's another company.

There are quite a few models that will do what you need under $500. Most of them interact with a PC so you can setup your waypoints and trip on there, then transfer it to the GPS. One thing to watch out for are complex interchanges. My experience is that things are confusing when comparing the GPS to Real life....particularly when roads split and you don't know which one is which on the GPS.

Best advice, check out Amazon.com and other big sites to find reviews. Then shop around for the best price.