portable GPS

[meister]

so...going to be taking a vehicle across country....any good ideas on a portable GPS solution? things to look for or avoid? I have one built in on another car and it works great..what about the portables?

Mark

 

[FDF12389]

Originally posted by: meister
so...going to be taking a vehicle across country....any good ideas on a portable GPS solution? things to look for or avoid? I have one built in on another car and it works great..what about the portables?

Mark

Any certain features you consider a must have?

 

[lokiju]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 350 and love it.

I bought mine over a year ago and now the higher end models cost less than it did.

The two biggest complaints I have with it are that you have you flip up the antenna, I wish it's antenna was built into the casing. Also it can take to long to load up and be ready to navigate when you're driving and need to figure out where to go a.s.a.p.

There are higher end models that have bigger screens and bluetooth calling now.

 

[kranky]

The Garmin Nuvi 260 has text-to-speech (pronounces street names), a very compact size, an internal antenna and locks on quickly to satellites. Good value for the money. I looked at ones with larger screens, the price difference is too much. Not worth the extra cost.

 

[HN]

get the one with KITT's voice

 

[The_Dude8]

Originally posted by: HN
get the one with KITT's voice

Text

like this one.

 

[Synomenon]

Do you want a unit with bluetooth so that you can use it as a speakerphone? Do you need maps of all of North America or just the continental US, AK and PR? Do you need something that can optimize a route that has a number of stops / waypoints? Do you want a widescreen unit? How much are you willing to spend on one?

 

[meister]

price not really a limit, but is a consideration as far as value. I mean I'm not asking it to drive the car!

I would want it to optimize route. point out physical landmarks of interest. tell destination time based on current/past speed. tell when you are upcoming on an interchange and to pay attention. Blue tooth not too important as vehicle/stereo already has this. ask for near tourist sites, restaurants, etc...

Mark

 

[aldamon]

I installed Garmin Mobile PC on my ASUS EEE and am using a Navibe GM720 for the GPS puck. Really nice. This setup should work with any laptop.

 

[xanis]

Magellan makes some nice GPS systems. I got one last year around this time and it's been working great. Some of them include stuff from AAA, so if you have a membership it can be very useful.

 

[amdhunter]

I have a TomTom One XL and I can't stand it. It keeps blabbing on about meters. I need to have my measurements in feet dammit.

 

[mikeyes]

I have tomtom 6 installed on my windows mobile phone with a bluetooth GPS antenna. Works great. and less stuff to carry around.

 

[OhSnap688]

TomTom and Garmin are the best from what I have heard

 

[kevinf2090]

i have a tomtom xls and i think it is pretty good. it has text to speech and calculates estimated arrival time based on your speed. it can find points of interests that are along the route. my unit speaks in miles, ft, etc. i like it except the directions sometimes can be confusing

 

[MorrisDancer]

If price Matters;

Tom Tom one for 129 or less

$129 after 50 rebate at Office Depot. I gave them 3 old dead ink cartridges and the 15/50 coupon they gave to teachers last month and came up with 116 w/tax but with minor headache.


Already have one and am happy.

 

[Bacstar]

I have the HP Travel Companion 5915 that has the TomTom version 6 navigation software. It's portable and comes with everything you need to mount it in your car. It also replaces my PDA and can double as a little entertainment device for movies, music, games, etc... I think you can find it online now for under $400.00.

It works well for my needs and, I think, the navigation software is fully compatible with any new maps, voices, customizations offered by Tomtom.

 

[meister]

thanks for all the advice.

I went today and picked up a garmin nuvi750...it should perform well.

thanks,

mark

 

[Matilda]

let us know how that works out - i usually rock the tomtom go 720 on road trips. i use that and google maps to get everywhere (same tele atlas maps), so i'm not really sure about garmins.

 

[SandEagle]

i have the nuvi 760 and love it. it's awesome. hope you didn't pay too much for that 750 because you can get the 760 probably for less.