"Wherever you go, there you are..."
Posted on 06/19/2008 2:14:53 PM PDT by killermosquito
I plan to buy my wife a GPS in the $400 to $500 range. Any suggestions?
I have a Tom Tom..paid about that price. Love it.
Garmin Nuvi looks good.
They’ve been selling well and I’ve used several on long trips.
Sony’s also just come out with a $399 model, but I haven’t seen any specs or reports on it.
ive got the garmin nuvi - love it - online updates etc....very user friendly - whatever you get - get a big screen
We bought a tom tom One 3rd edition for $149 from thecamerashoppe.com. Works great!
Pocket the other $250-$350 for road trips.
I know very little about these units, but have a question. Do you subscribe to a service to use these gadgets and to get updates?
First decide what you are going to use it for. Hiking, camping, fishing, or just driving. I like Garmin best.
“Do you subscribe to a service to use these gadgets and to get updates?”
Generally you don’t pay for a service to use them but you do pay for updates.
Also, Tom Tom has shipped their product with a virus. That steered me away from them.
Mrs. F uses the Tom-Tom in connection with a Treo and its performance is flaky at best.
jeeze...
We did some playing against a $50,000 Leica setup. Using the same monument, we were within 20 feet theoretically.
Thanks for the info.
A friend just bought the Garmin Nuvi 260 and loves it.
In the $ 250.00 - $ 275.00 range at WalMart.
Garmin is a long time maker of GPS instruments. Consumer Reports rated it highly also.
The question is what purpose is the GPS to be used.
I have a $70 Garmin, forerunner that is perfect for what I do with it. It locates geocashes and tracks my milage.
I know where I am traveling, so a navigator is useless to me.
They make GPS units for golfing, sailing and tracking kids.
The Apple iphone 3g has a GPS in it with step by step directions. My son used his last night to avoid a major traffic jam in Salt Lake City.
Buy it by the features you need, not by the price.
My Garmin Forerunner came in 3 models, costing $70, $170, and $270. The $70 model uses ordinary batteries, the $170 charges the batteries, and the $270 one downloads workouts to the computer. I got the $70 one and bought a set of rechargeable batteries.
....Bob
I had a Garmin Nuvi 350. I liked it alot, one issue I had with it was routes. I couldn’t interject waypoint, it just plotted shortest.
It got stolen so, I got a Garmin Nuvi 750 and it does do routing and there’s pretty much nothing else I could want in a GPS and I’ve been using them since 2003(Etrex Legend).
If you want Bluetooth get the 760. If you want the Traffic features, I think you need the 780 or something.
When I bought my 750 in November it was 500 bucks...they’re probably down mid 300s now.
Oh and get the beanbag friction mount, I have it now, it’s great. The suction mount leaves rings on the window and probably helped encourage said thief that my GPS was inside.
Make sure you get “text to speech” so that it tells you the street name, instead of merely saying “turn right.”
BTW - My Garmin is great!
That is my concern. Do you leave a GPS out in plain sight or do you have to hide it every time you leave your car?
I have a tomtom. Something about the name drew me.
the 760 has traffic too, as well as bluetooth. We have one and love it
I just bought one, got a 4Gb SD card for it and we love it. It does all we need and more.
I almost bought the Tom Tom but Garmin's POI db was deemed to be superior.
$219 at Amazon. Free shipping.
Thanks for the info, BSR. That’s a really good price.
Now it only goes in the car when I think I am going to need it. Back then though, it was entirely out of sight(cables, mount, all of it)...except for the rings on the window. Get the beanbag. Had I gotten that, I might still have my 350, of course the thief did me a favor..the 750 has a bigger display and routes.
Roger that, I hadn't done the comparisons recently. Back in November, the 760 was another 300 bucks or so, I wasn't prepared to spend that much.
Bought a Navigon 2100 on Ebay for $100.00. Works as good as a $400.00 Garmin, TomTom or Magellan .
Bought a Navigon 2100 on Ebay for $100.00. Works as good as a $400.00 Garmin, TomTom or Magellan .
“Garmin Nuvi looks good.
They’ve been selling well and I’ve used several on long trips.”
I’ll second the Garmin Nuvi. Got one for my husband for Christmas and he’s still talking about.
"Wherever you go, there you are..."
Map and a compass - under $40 at WalMart! ;~)
yeah, I think we paid $450 in April - Amazon had the best price by far. Now it’s $359 there. The bluetooth is handy - it picks up the contacts in my iPhone as well as acting as a hands-free phone.
Dittos to Garmin. Great customer service.
Best GPS site on the net: http://www.poi-factory.com/
Garmin Nuvi, bluetooth connection for the cell phone, hands free. Also got the 1 yr MSN connection for finding current gas prices, traffic alerts etc. I use it everyday when I drive, tracks time, distance, elapsed time, stopped time etc.
Upgradeable software online thru your PC, free CD with new North America maps to load also...
Also has voice recognition on their newer models, Nuvi860
Trip simulation also, you can enter your destination the night before you go and it will review the trip for you...to study ya know?
Worth every penny.
Lots of good deals/info on various GPS units there.
I agree with others here that $400-$500 seems high...GPS prices have fallen quite a bit in the last year or so and you should be able to get a nice unit with mucho features for far less.
I hear you. But it was Father's Day and wifey was in a generous mood...and I'm a guy which means...gadgets? Gotta have 'em.
Can anyone recommend a GPS for a motorcycle? I ride my Harley all over the country, and its difficult to hold a map in one hand at freeway speeds, if you know what I mean.
TIA.
I love my Garmin...Use it mostly for exploring......But for traveling, there’s nothing like a map...with the whole picture in front of you!!
Bingo!
I have a Nuvi 650 that I really like.
Just got back from Colo. I took it with me and was amazed that it had most all of the back roads we drove in it.
My wife ordered it from Costco at Christmas, $299.
Saw then on sale there again a few weeks ago. Might still be. Check it out online.
From what I've read, Tom-Tom is better in Europe ( the Co. is Dutch) and Garmin in the US. Something to do with where they get their maps.
Garmin.com
My wife and SiL found a new use for the Garmin she got me for Christmas....
Yard Sales !!
Now ... does know where I can find a weather/vibration proof unit for my HAWG? Harley has one with its own mount ... no not going down that road with the blonde woman thing here ... but like all things Harley .. It costs you an arm and a leg Come to think of it, that blonde has cost me an arm and a leg over the years as well .....never mind.
My dad said Mom kept him awake with the constant sign reading. (Dad was kind). I took her on a trip....It drove me nuts...
That’s a good idea!
Me and my big mouth....mutter, mutter.
I have that same Navigation model you do...worked fine in the early years, except it kept telling me to turn left when there was no left turn to take...even had a back seat nav unit that echoed the same directions and they were BOTH wrong.
Garmin is the way to go!
I did extensive research and then bought a Garmin. The easiest to use. No regrets. You can buy several models at Walmart. Go to Garmin’s website and check out all their models. I’d recommend the Text-to-Speech feature because upcoming street names are announced.
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