What model is it, where did you buy it, and for how much? Which features do you most like and dislike? Does the mount or the power cord get in the way at all? I’ve never owned one but after a long road trip last year into parts unknown, I’m ready to make the leap. I’ve looked at a few review sites but would also like to solicit the input of some GPS-experienced Dopers.
Thanks.
Heard the sale of GPS units is way down, as most people are now using apps on smartphones…
Standalone GPS units are still useful. For example, I have an iPhone, which of course has Google Maps on it. But the last time I checked, I’d have to pay AT&T ten bucks a month to get spoken directions, as that feature isn’t part of my phone plan. As an alternative, I could pay a hundred bucks for a TomTom app for the iPhone. At that price, a standalone GPS unit seems like a better idea. But six months ago I bought a new car, with a GPS system built into the entertainment system so I never went ahead and bought a standalone GPS. I still might do so, though, for use when I’m out of town.
pretty cool. It’s not very usable for planning a route while at home (at least, I still have not invested the time to try to either accomplish this or else prove non-feasibility) but it does get you from point A to point B. The ones I mostly used do not pronounce street names, but I don’t care - just get the hang of how it works and it will work fine. It’s not like you would recognize the (often missing or small font) street signs everywhere anyway.
I like mine in some ways, dislike it in others. If I want to get from point A to point B or into/out of an area I’m not familiar with to a more familiar area it’s great.
Of course it’s only as good as the info it has, for that price range I bought a lifetime update of the maps which made life easier and for more money you can always get add ons for traffic reports and construction etc.
Otherwise I’m old school, I like to explore so I prefer maps. I haven’t figured out how to tell the GPS to take secondary highways, that’s for sure. I’d have missed out on some good scenery following it blindly. Gone to wrong places too, that it insisted was right.
Handy tool, but I use it less than I may have expected when I got it.
I bought mine because it was nice to have a standalone product. I use it less often than I would have expected. It doesn’t always give me the best route, and often I will use it to find the place and then get home on my own.
It comes in very handy when I am somewhere I don’t know my way around, but where I live that really never is the case. I tend to leave it on the map function and just use it to see what street is coming up.
I have a Garmin Nuvi 201 (I think it is). I like it fairly much. I was able to get some excellent 3rd party topographic maps for it, so I was able to use it while elk hunting and boating as well as while driving. AFAIK Garmin is the most likely brand to be supported by 3rd parties.
I previously used a Holux USB receiver and DeLorme software running on a laptop, which meets your price goal if you already have the laptop. The Garmin routing is MUCH better than DeLorme’s. Once DeLorme literally told me to get on the interstate going the wrong way, go to the next intersection, and turn around.
Though the Garmin did once route me via a “road” that was only passible with 4WD, and not then if it had been muddy. Have no idea how that ended up in the data base, but it did save me maybe 5 miles. (but probably no time!)
The Garmin has extra info in the database besides maps. Don’t know if the cell phone aps will give speed limits (Handy in NM, where they don’t put up enough signs) filling station locations, resteraunts, police stations, and hospitals. Maybe so if it also has a 3G link. NM is pretty sketchy for 3G coverage when you get off the beaten path, so it is nice to have all the info self contained in memory.
People who tour on motorcycles were early adopters of GPS, (cause you have to stop to refold the paper map in the magnetic map case on the gas tank) and Garmin is the hands down favorite in that market.
ETA, Garmin also has PC software for trip planning, you can download the maps from the GPS to the computer, then upload the route to the GPS. Much easier than trying to do it on the tiny GPS screen.
I have a Garmin Nuvi, not sure of model number. I like it, and I have no desire to use my smart phone’s mapping software. I like that the Nuvi just stays in the car and I use the windshield suction cup mount and leave it up there most of the time. With a cell phone you can buy similar mounts but since it’s my phone I’d always want it coming in and out of the car with me, I like being able to just leave the GPS there and that way I never need to look for it when I go on trips.
I’ll sometimes use it even on well-known routes, not for directions bust just because I like seeing the ETA timer as I’m driving.
We have an older Garmin Nuvi that we like - but as a practical matter, at this point I wouldn’t buy it again. The Google Navigation app on my Android-based cellphone works just fine. Spoken directions are an integral part of the cellphone app (although the voice part sometimes butchers street names beyond belief and to my great amusement). The cellphone app also points out traffic congestion ahead, which I believe you’d have to pay extra for in a standalone unit (roads are normally displayed in green, but somewhat congested roads are displayed in yellow and badly congested roads are displayed in red).
Got a Garmin Nuvi 255 about 1 year ago. I don’t have a car, but back then I was anticipating that I’ll have to rent one quite frequently. As the car rental companies offer a GPS as an option for ~ 5 euro/day, I thought it would be better to simply buy a cheap one (this one was 110 € from amazon and it came with maps for 41 european countries).
I really like it and it’s very practical. As already mentioned, besides addresses it also knows a lot of other things (gas station, restaurants, hospitals, parkings, airports, rental agencies, hotels, etc), including telephone numbers.
It has the option of avoiding toll and unpaved roads (but you have to check/uncheck them in the settings menu). It gives timely and clear indications. I wouldn’t use it to plan a trip, but once you have a general idea of where you want to go it is very easy to add new destinations. Garmin offers (for free) a software for detailed planning; I’ve installed it on my computer, but I never used it.
The disadvantage of my Garmin is that you cannot save multiple routes, though I’d guess this is an option for the more expensive models. It doesn’t spell street names, but I don’t care about this option; if I’m approaching an intersection I’d rather look for the traffic signs, not street names.
I don’t know how it compares with a smart phone. FWIW, a friend of mine used one as a GPS unit for a trip and was very unhappy with it. She borrowed my GPS for another trip and said that the Nuvi was way friendlier, faster and the software easier to use.
I have a cheapie Magellan and I love it. I like the interface on the Magellan better than Tomtom and Garmin. Go to Best Buy or something and try them all out before you buy.
I have a Tom Tom GPS and I like it a lot; I’m really bad about finding places and the Tom Tom led me right to my destination. That being said, it was very distracting to move my head from watching the road, to looking at a small screen with moving interface. What I’d like to see in the near future is a GPS unit embedded in the windshield. The display would be very sheer so that you could see everything you do now, but the map would take up the entire windshield area and you could see your route right in front. Does this sound feasible?
Heads Up Displays (HUDs) have existed for many years, originally in fighter jets but also for probably 5-6 years in luxury cars. Wiki
Thanks for all the comments thus far…
I was overlooking Magellan in favor of Garmin & TomTom but now I see they have a deal with AAA to provide all of the TourBook data and a 15% discount on the unit. I think I will stop in at AAA tomorrow and see if they sell any out of the local branch office.
Garmin Nuvi 300 series? I liked the ease of use, the interface, and the rechargeable battery life. Whether at a campsite in the parking lot at Disney Orlando, saving the place you parked as ‘car1’ makes life easy. And when we were in DC walking from spot to spot, it was nice to plug an address in and let it guide you like Spock with a tricorder. I also like the favorites & recently visited lists (easy landmarks) as well as the maps that show the names of things (Thats called churchdale cemetary? huh. And that lake is called Lake Surprise??? Really…? 
)
3 years ago I bought my wife a Mio GPS for her birthday. She thought it was great; very easy to set up and use. I think it cost me forty bucks. My wife used it until earlier this year when I got her the Android HTC Incredible smartphone. Now she uses her phone for everything; no need for a separate GPS device, and it’s even more accurate than her Mio. Google Navigation in her Incredible is kept current automatically, so no more updating maps. Also, there is no subscription fee for the GPS app, which came with the phone.
I predict the demise of the standalone consumer GPS device market within 2 years.
Got a Garmin Nuvi 255W as a present a year ago. I love it. I think they really made it work nicely. Generally, without any planning, I can whip it out of the glove compartment and find someplace completely unknown easily and directly. It also feels safer driving without trying to look around for geographic clues and tiny street signs in fast heavy traffic.
I often don’t mess with the cord and stand, but just prop it up on the dashboard under battery power. It’s good for, I dunno, a couple of hours. My friend often leaves his on the passenger seat beside him, upside down so the speaker points up, and just follows the voice.
My only grumble would be that for some reason mine often wakes up speaking Afrikaans, and I have to find my way through the setup menu to reset it to English - which of course I don’t know I need to do until I’m driving in traffic again. It would help if I learn the Afrikaans for “left” and “right” so I can not miss my first turn to discover this has happened.
Whenever I hear talk of GPS nav systems in cars I always think of the Office episode where they drive into the lake. I can’t get past the idea that I would be just as likely to make a wrong turn with a computer telling me where to go as I would be on my own accord. The GPS location services on a smartphone seem to me to be just as much if not more useful. It’s easier to figure out the best way to get where you’re going if you know precisely where you are to start with. For driving purposes, I believe the freely available maps from Google, Mapquest, etc as displayed on a current smartphone are more than adequate. Blue water sailing, probably not so much.
I wonder how many traffic accidents had GPS NAV distraction contributing? Do they remind you to get in the right lane before making that right turn?
I don’t use a smartphone but this got me thinking about getting one and then tethering it to my home computer as a 3G modem and ditching my DSL. There are additional charges for that function though and it would end up costing a good bit more. A smartphone would come in handy at times when out & about but I’m too cheap/poor. It still looks like a low-end standalone GPS unit is my best option for now.
I have a TomTom that I loaded up with the Western European maps from the last time I drove over there. It was really good 99% of the time. Driving through Paris and having an exit after a tunnel? That’s where it got a bit ugly.