So I am taking a cross country trip in a few weeks - Boston to Austin. My car is a bit of a clunker, but I am interested in getting a GPS for it because I’m a tech nerd and it would be nice to have step-by-step instrux on getting there.
I know nothing about the systems, so can someone steer me to a place to learn a little? Any modestly priced systems that one can just plonk in the the car and take out? What are the pluses, minuses?
Just to add, I have a Sprint PPC-6700 Windows Mobile 5-enabled phone and a Palm T|X PDA if there are Dopers who use GPS with any of these devices.
I am very familiar with factory installed systems, but I know very little about aftermarket systems.
IMHO unless you are a salesman, or other heavy user, the cost/benefit ratio does not pencil out.
It is much cheaper to join AAA and then have them give you a trip-tic and all the maps you can lug for just the cost of your membership.
Also if you car is a clunker, GPS won’t pay for a tow truck. AAA will.
I got one of these for my mother for Christmas. Since she didn’t have a DVD player she couldn’t load the maps, so I took it home and loaded maps for her. I used it while I had it and I loved it. When I am an unfamiliar place I hate not being sure when the turn is coming. The Garmin tells you well in advance that the turn is coming and then tells you again to turn.
Ours only had enough memory to hold PA, NY, NJ and MD, so if you are going far you will need a way to load maps along the way. Maybe the more expensive kinds hold more maps, which makes sense. More money might equal more memory.
If I intentionally went off track it would recalculate a new map, but at first the new map was just an attempt to get you back on the original course. As I continued to go it would eventually recalculate a new strategy.
I plan to buy one for me, even though I travel so infrequently.
I’ve got a Garmin Quest and love it. Use it in the car and on the motorcycle. At first I didn’t think I really needed one, maps are good enough for me. But if you get lost a GPS will get you unlost a whole lot faster, and a paper map won’t refold itself in your motorcycle’s tankbag when you ride off the edge.
If you’re budget minded, the Quest can be had for around $350 on the street. It comes with base maps of all the major highways in North America built-in and has enough memory to hold a few states worth of detail maps. Between the base maps and being careful about what detail maps you select to load (just load the maps along your route and around your destination) it should be fine for the trip you plan - I used mine going from Orlando to Detroit. There’s also the Quest 2, a more expensive version that has all of the detail maps for North America already loaded.
I don’t know what your budget is but I have the Garmin marine GPS. It’s waterproof too. It comes preloaded with North America driving maps and some marine coastal charts, chartplotters and links to satelite weather. But I’m sure Garmin makes cheaper auto gps preloaded with the entire US on it. Mine did. I have this Garmin model. There seems to be a Street Pilot for $329. Anyhow I love my GPS and would never have gotten to know new cities I’m visiting or living in without it. Most GPS units come with everything from restaurants to stores, places of interest. I love mine.
But I’d have to agree with Rick, if you think your car might not make it, it is probably worth the 80 bucks to get AAA. Thats a long drive.
Ok, let’s get cost-effective! 
With your phone - you could use Telenav. The bluetooth GPS receiver will cost you 100 bucks, then it’s about $10/month for the service. IME, Telenav compares favorably to stand alone units like the Nuvi, although I will say it’s not quite as precise as the Nuvi. For a long drive, point-to-point, it operates brilliantly. For going two streets over with one-ways and alleys, it’s not as good as the Nuvi.
Caveat: I’ve only been using Telenav for about a week now (30 day trial with my new 8800). I have a lot more familiarity with the Nuvi because my buddy’s had one for over a year now. The thing I like MORE about Telenav is that it’s right there in my phone, and I don’t have to lug around an extra unit.
Happy hunting, Hippy Hollow! (Just threw that in for the alliteration.)
Oh yes, third this. By the way - if you do get AAA, don’t get the basic membership - upgrade to at least the plus. AAA towed my car EIGHTY MILES ( :eek: ) back to my hometown when my car broke down coming back from a road trip. It was like two in the morning, so nothing was open. I had them tow it all the way back to my town and dump it at my mechanic’s shop. Because I had the premium membership, that towing was totally free. Complete lifesaver. I recommend the service to everyone.
I’m also looking for one. What I can add so far is that Garmin appears to use the WASS system and the more expensive models have blue tooth. You can answer your phone and talk through the device. WASS allows for a higher degree of accuracy which might be appreciated on a highway going through a large city with lots of exists. The refresh rate starts to mean something in that situation.
Currently I’m using my laptop but it’s too power hungry for the car. Keeps blowing fuses. I’d like a GPS that I can use on my bicycle so battery life is important as well as a fast bootup. Don’t need to stare at it all the time but if I wander off the beaten path it would be nice to do so without always packing maps for the trip.
Warning to laptop users. My last laptop would go into the blue screen of death if I closed it while running Delorme maps. Didn’t realize that was the cause and did it to myself twice requiring a very skilled computer geek to retrieve data. I’m not testing the new laptop/operating system to see if it still does it.
“Learn me up”?
“Learn me up”?
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
<SLAPS Hippie Hollow with a wet Trout>
It’s “teach me about” you jabbering, doomed elbow!
You’re on the SDMB, DAMMIT!
And, get a haircut. 
Do you have a laptop computer? If so, get Microsoft Streets and Trips with GPS receiver for like 99 dollars and no monthly fees.
I really don’t like this idea.
First off you have to take you eyes completely off the road to view the laptop screen (I am assuming that it is sitting on the passenger seat.
Secondly and more importantly, if you have to slam on your brakes, your laptop will go flying forward into the passenger foot well. Great way to destroy a laptop.
Meh… It has verbal audio turn-by-turn instructions for those who dont want to look away from the road. For those who do risk the occassional glance at the screen, I dont think it’s worse than looking down at the radio or an in-dash GPS unit.
Course I’m biased. I’m the asshole who chats on Yahoo messenger with webcam while driving. * ETA: I’ve also made dozens of posts to this message board while driving*
Depending on the set-up, the sliding laptop might be an issue. Mine fits rather snuggle between the center consul and shifter. So the screen isn’t that far off from where an in-dash would be.
Plus, if there is a passenger in the car, he or she can serve as navigator and we’re back to it being a completely safe operation.
One more thing:
Wouldn’t you say, though, that this is safer than trying to use cell-phone navigation or a handheld GPS unit? Or no?
No because you can mount or hold the handheld unit in your normal line of sight.
Unless it’s mounted on the hood of your car I would disagree with that statement. Line of sight is just that. A HUD display would work but sitting on your dashboard creates a false sense of security.
I hit a car once because I was looking in the rearview mirror. The brake lights did not register.
Fair enough. I’ll stand by the Audio turn-by-turn instructions though.
I echo Bear_Nenno’s post …and to the nay-sayers…whatever :dubious: …This is the straightdope, isn’t it?..we are at least intelligent enough to drive w/o a voice prompt if we have our VERY specific location plotted on a current road and terrain digital map of the USA aren’t we?
I drove from Metro East St Louis to CO…all around the mountains on back roads and home again…2700 miles in total w/o ever using anything but a laptop, cheap GPS receiver and Streets 2003…it was very doable…but I also have to agree that it needs some , ummm restraint cause it will go flying on a hard stop. I mostly kept workstation, ie laptop on passenger side floor for safety and fired it up at stops, though I did, at times keep it constantly up…got it to 11.800 ft …at all times I could monitor both my location and altitude…kinda cool… 
FTR Bear…i got the gps receiver for around 45 bucks off the net… 
Have fun HH…good luck
11,800ft? Wow. I can say for sure that it will NOT work at 32,000 ft.
I used Streets and Trips 2006 with great success even in Korea. Unfortunately there was no road information for that area, but leaving GPS trails and marking everything as I went made it easy to get around, and a sinch to get back to where I started. Plus, always knowing exactly what direction you’re traveling and seeing where exactly you are in the country is an invaluable aide for navigation.
Plus I saved all my trails and labels. So you can see where I was going up and down the DMZ and practically made it to the demarkation line itself. What a great trip. I love my laptop.
Wow…Bear…that sounds like it was a GREAT trip…streets 2003 has never let me down with highways…roads…streets…even off road ummm…trails…
I like technology but I also like simplicity…laptop+gps receiver+streets has yet to fail me…
…feats don’t fail me now…
peace, kind regards and Happy trails…
tsfr