Tell Me About GPS Receivers

Make sure the software is compatible with your specific unit. Many of the units intended for hiking and other outdoor use won’t do street routing even with the software.

I have a Bluetooth GPS receiver that I got for around $100 (the cheaper ones go for as low as $70) and a Palm Tungsten E2 with crappy mapping software.

The GPS is great – it always knows where I am, it is pretty good at locking quickly, it works fine with the Palm.

I would have sprung for the Tom Tom software but I don’t see that it works with an E2, and I got something (Rand McNally Streetfinder) that was like $22 at Best Buy. It works, but it taxes the Palm, it crashes if you ask it to do much, and it is quite buggy. It could be that I have a low-end Palm, but I suspect other software would be better.

If you are looking for something more versatile than just a handheld GPS receiver (like you want to use it in the car) you may consider one like that. OTOH, my friend and I rented in San Diego this weekend and he got the Tom Tom Navigator, and it was freakin’ awesome for a strange city. Totally worth the $10 a day. Mine, I could tell you exactly where we were, but that one, in a few seconds, could direct you to the nearest Barnes and Noble or breakfast restaurant or anything like that…