Which inexpensive car gps should I buy?

Hi,

I've used a Garmin. Fast and easy to use with the features that you need. And for less money than the rest.

We had a Magellan in our ambulance for a while. It was so slow and difficult to use that we could actually get to the scene before the Magellan could provide a route.

dalee
 
A year or two ago I bought a Garmin nüvi 200. It doesn't have any of the useless features like an MP3 player; about the only thing it's missing that I would use is TTS readback of road names (it just says "turn left", not "turn left on 5th Street").

It was cheap, and it's small and robust.

Don't get a TomTom, they suck.
 
I have been super-happy with the TomTom my brother gave me for Christmas. It acquires super-fast, within one minute. It gives clear directions. It's easy to use. Even though it's set to, it doesn't give you the shortest routes. But it does always get you there.

I recently rode with a friend of mine who has a high-end Sony. Nice, big display, but over a twenty-plus minuted frive it never did acquire and we ended up with me navigating us to the restaurant just by my general good instincts around Portland.
 
One thing to check is the cost of updatng the maps. You want to do that a couple of times per year. You're stuck with the manufacturer for new maps and the prices vary considerably.

I updated mine a few weeks ago. The other day, I asked it to navigate me to an address in Wilsonville, Oregon, the next town to the east of Sherwood. A few blocks from my house, where I knew we should turn left, it insisted that I go right. I decided I had time to spare and was up for an adventure. By golly there is a new road. The construction details aren't even fully done yet. But this thing knew about it already. And I'm glad to know about it now too.
 
Second on the Tom Tom, but watch out for the power port. It gets a little touchy and sometimes powers down while en route. It may be that I never mounted the thing, and have put undue stress on the power cord thingy. Gotta be fair fair to Tom Tom. I like the english womans voice, it is very relaxing, "Stay in the right lane and take the motor way."
 
During my research for a gps most reviews seemed to agree that Garmin had the most accurate maps so that is what I got and have been satisfied with it.
 
cj65 said:
I like the english womans voice, it is very relaxing, "Stay in the right lane and take the motor way."
Click to expand...

Jane! I use Jane too. "After 300 yards, cross the roundabout, third exit. Then go straight away."
 
I like the Garmins and I have used many of them in different applications. If you don't need MP3 players etc, a standard Nuvi 205 will be fine. They are really cheap to acquire at the moment, can get one off Ebay for less than $100, probably $80 if you look long enough. I was going to update the maps on an old Nuvi 200 but it will cost $70 to do that so I am just going to get a new GPS for not much more than the update. Very easy to use interface and acquires satellites very quickly, I like them and won't bother with other brands anymore.
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

I've used a Garmin. Fast and easy to use with the features that you need. And for less money than the rest.

We had a Magellan in our ambulance for a while. It was so slow and difficult to use that we could actually get to the scene before the Magellan could provide a route.

dalee
Click to expand...

My brother had a set like that, trying to set it he hit a bridge and was instantly at the scene of an accident.








Sorry he has been chirping about his kit until my mum told me of his accident (no injuries)
 
Garmin, IMHO, represents good value in their vehicle and handheld GPS lines AND there are real people to talk to when you call..put a value on that if you can.

I'm cheap so the map update for my vehicle's older C340 and a SD chip for North America roads for a new handheld ETrex Vista HCx just seemed expensive however neither were required and it WAS my choice.

All my Garmins have taken me where I wanted to go, and more importantly, brought me home safely.
 
I have a TomTom, my wife has a Mio, and my parents just got a Garmin. Each have their pros and cons. My TomTom has free map updates, something I just took for granted until I helped my parents set up their Garmin, which charges you for the map updates.

The positives for my Tom Tom (One, Third Edition), include easy set up, free map updates, and also allows user-submitted map corrections.

The negatives for my TomTom include occasions when it thinks I am offroad when I am not (prior to any map corrections); occasions when driving straight though an intersection, it thinks it includes a left turn immediately followed by a right turn (or vice versa); the fact that it only calculates routes "fastest" or "straightest" instead of some in-between choice; and the fact that a software update caused it to shrink the compass and remove the features from the options.

Like others, I also use the British female voice Jane, primarily so I can quote Saturday Night Live (Jane, you ignorant slut!). :D

pointcounterpoint.jpg
 
Garmin 255W on Amazon for about $175.00. Bought my first Garmin in 91 (for sailing offshore) and my wife loves her 750 on her road trips.
 
These comments have got me surfing. The Garmins are a great price, little call for road maps in Botswana but in South Africa they seem very sensible. My ex boss used to get some update that informed him of speed traps?
 
I have had a Garmin nuvi 760 for about a year and I love it. Fast, accurate and easy to use. We use it for car navigation and geocaching. Another family member has the 200 series nuvi and they are very happy with it. I don't see how you could possibly go wrong with the Garmin nuvi series. Whichever nuvi you look at, I would go with the wide screen version rather than the lower priced non-wide screen.

If you have any specific questions, just ask.

--SAK
 
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