GPS for your car. Who has them??

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beerjunky828

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I am about to move to a bigger city and am going to be purchasing a GPS. I figured that this would make the move easier in terms of not getting lost. So I was just curious if anyone has a GPS system that they swear by? Say the price range is up to $200 max disregarding tax, any suggestions?
 
I have one and so does my wife. Garmin Nuvi's. You can find one in just about any price range. Amazon and Overstock are good places to look for them online.
 
We have multiple GPS systems (blame it on my inability to discard any technology when I upgrade). But it works out, because all our cars have GPS's in them. I have a Magellan Maestro 4700, which I upgraded to from a Mio Move 300. The Mio is a pretty cheap option, but I didn't like it. I paid less then $200 for the Maestro 4700 and am very happy with it. I also have Copilot Live 8 USA on iPhone ($4.99 app), which is what I plan on use when traveling (so I have to bring less crap with me).
 
I have a droid smartphone with built in gps and navigation software built it. It's through sprint. Runs on google maps evidently. Uber easy to type in a location using even the most basic of info, without even an address. For example I'll type in something like, "Sue's coffee House St. Clair" and wont even need an address. IT FINDS IT ON GOOGLE. I have a mount in my car that it sits in like a regular gps unit.

Rather than getting a singular purpose tool like A gps. You might want to consider a smart phone. Plus you won't leave it in the car, like most folks do with their gps units, which is a great invite for cartheives.
 
I never even thought about using a smart phone as a means for a GPS. I think after reading and researching, it seems that Garmin makes some really stellar products.
 
I'm with Revvy. Don't need GPS because it's built into my phone. Has more advantages to a car GPS. It's always with me, so if I'm on foot and need to find something, I can just pull it out and punch in the address. It's linked to my google maps on my laptop, so I can search addresses and save them and they automatically show up on the map on my phone. That works especially when when I take my wife garage saleing. I can just load all the addresses the night before and I have them all marked with stars on my phone's map.

The only thing is that you have to have a data plan for the phone so it can load the maps and whatnot so it's a monthly extra on my cell bill.
 
I manage 6 trucks that drive around Houston every day. I have 3 Garmin Nuvi's and 3 Tom Toms. All of them are out of date. The Garmin’s are more user friendly, but the map upgrades are$89. And they are a yearly thing. I have a Droid that has a GPS in it. That is the way to go. You just kind of need to know where you want to go and Google will find it for you. (GPS you need to know exactly ) It is just like using Google Maps but on your phone. You get map updates for free, street views, reviews on retailers, and so on. Once you find what your looking for touch navigate and you in GPS mode.
 
I have an older garmin that works pretty good.

One thing most people don't think about is taking it with you when you're hiking. You can save your current location (outside of the car) then turn the thing off, go on your hike and later on "find" your saved location back to the car. ;)
 
I have a Garmin and a smartphone. I use both. Longer trips I plug in the Garmin and let it do its thing. Even with the maps about 2 yrs out of date it still works well. For short trips it is much easier to fire up google maps on my phone and go from there.
 
I used my blackberry for navigation for the last few years. My wife got me a nuvi 1390T with traffic. It is better than the few GPS apps that I had on my phone by a LOOOOONG shot. It gets real time traffic (and bridge / exit closures) and will route you accordingly. It also has a detour button that will get you off of a road instead of randomly turning down a road and waiting for a re-route. Mine also has eco-route which tracks gas mileage and you can choose a "less fuel" option.
 
I'm also with Revvy. I had a Garmin Nuvi for years as I play tennis often and have to travel to courts I'm not familiar with so it came in quite handy. Two big problems:

1) forget the address before I leave
2) maps are outdated, very expensive to update.

Since I got my Droid (which I typically will not forget) the maps are always up to date and use it exclusively. If I forget the address, I just look it up as well. It's also nice to be able to add the satellite images as most courts are easily visible.
 
I have a Garmin Nuvi and I love it, it was my saving grace when I moved to the Washington, DC area a couple years ago... Have the same for my wife and she loves hers. Only thing to be aware of is that they DO make mistakes, especially if you're using the built-in yellow-page like listings to find a place... Example, I was in Birmingham on business a few weeks ago and I had my Nuvi with me. I needed to get a few things at a CVS or Walgreens so I did a search for CVS and followed the directions to the address that it gave me... It took me to some place in the middle of a very bad neighborhood, and there was not and apparently never had been a CVS there, it was just an old abandoned building. I've also done the same thing with a carwash once in Germantown, MD. Except this time it took me to a residential area, and the address was a house but whoever lived there had a mobile carwash business.
 
Thanks for the responses. The Droid does sound enticing and I have had the same phone for about 3 years. It's about time to upgrade. I think I am eligible for a decent upgrade.
 
I have a T-Mobile G1, same platform as the Droid but an older version and use the GPS extensively when traveling. It helps in a lot of unexpected times, like when walking around trying to find a place to eat.
 
GPS is just a reason for thugs to break into your car. Smart phone all the way if you are in cell areas and just a casual user.

Built in maps on iphone works great if you have a passenger.

Only way I could see GPS is if you are a service tech and not familiar with your city.
 
jbford said:
...

Only way I could see GPS is if you are a service tech and not familiar with your city.
Click to expand...

Or travel. I drive a tow truck part time, and the GPS makes things so much easier. I also travel a lot, so a GPS is a must have. Not to mention, when I used to use paper maps, a lot of the street names are too tiny for my old man eyes to see.
 
It comes in handy for me. Between home and two jobs, I cover three counties and venture into two more on errands. Just finding a place for lunch can be a chore sometimes. It's one thing if you live and work in the same general area, but a GPS is great when you're having to navigate the sprawl.
 
jbford said:
GPS is just a reason for thugs to break into your car. Smart phone all the way if you are in cell areas and just a casual user.

Built in maps on iphone works great if you have a passenger.

Only way I could see GPS is if you are a service tech and not familiar with your city.
Click to expand...

Well if you have a smart phone I anyways I would agree. Many of us do not. And I don't really want one because I don't feel like paying for a data plan. So for the rest of us a GPS is great because there are no monthly fees.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
I have an older garmin that works pretty good.

One thing most people don't think about is taking it with you when you're hiking. You can save your current location (outside of the car) then turn the thing off, go on your hike and later on "find" your saved location back to the car. ;)
Click to expand...

+1 on the Garmin for this reason. I used mine to find my car on several occasions in Chicago. Very handy feature if you travel to a city or other area you are unfamiliar with. I even talked my coworker into getting one for when he goes hunting. Helps him find his way back to his truck if he's someplace he hasn't wandered before.
 
Special hops, I have Sprint and pay 69 bucks for unlimited everything. That includes data, and cell to cell minutes (to any carrier). The only minutes I get billed for are to landlines. That's 10 dollars less than my old sprint plan to my old non smartphone, that had limited voce and data. I didn't plan on going smartphone either, but when my old cell died, it turns out that there's really not many "normal cellphones" left out there. Everything's g-3 or g-4. even the loss leader cheapo phone the hand out free to.

And with the smartphone, besides having gps/nav software, you can run brewing apps, AND even surf HBT from the toilet if you are so inclined.
 
Smart phone is definitely the way to go if you're going to upgrade anyways. I have a droid and think it's awesome. Not only does it have google maps and a built in GPS it also has free apps that help you track your workouts (if you're a jogger or biker) but also other things like Pandora and other internet radio. And, they work together, so the droid will pause pandora to give you directions, then resume pandora.

The data plan is the expensive ($30/monthly through Verizon) but you're paying not just for gps with that, but the ability to get all your email, IM and internet browsing where ever you go.
 
I've have an old Garmin Quest. I like it because it is small enough to pocket. Punch a waypoint when you park and never lose your car! I've never updated the maps in five years, roads just don't change much. Yeah, the cellphone has GPS, but it's an extra cost service and eats the battery.
 
I just recently switched to a Garmin Nuvi from a Garmin Quest. I've owned various Garmin receivers over the last 12 years or so and have always been happy with them (except for the eTrex series, but that's another story). That said, I like the Quest much better than the Nuvi. Sure, the Nuvi has a large touchscreen and a pretty interface, but the Quest has a lot more features and I think is a lot easier to use. (Of course, it cost twice as much too).

As far as using a smartphone as a navigation device: it's great in that you always have it with you, and I have used mine a few times (usually as a passenger in somebody else's car), but I just don't think it's as easy to use as a dedicated GPS receiver.

Also, in Columbus, Ohio (and various other places, I'm sure), "sending, reading or writing a text message or accessing the internet while driving" is now illegal. As the law is written, it is legal to use a standalone GPS receiver, but it is illegal to use your smartphone for navigation.
 
Revvy said:
I have a droid smartphone with built in gps and navigation software built it. It's through sprint. Runs on google maps evidently. Uber easy to type in a location using even the most basic of info, without even an address. For example I'll type in something like, "Sue's coffee House St. Clair" and wont even need an address. IT FINDS IT ON GOOGLE. I have a mount in my car that it sits in like a regular gps unit.

Rather than getting a singular purpose tool like A gps. You might want to consider a smart phone. Plus you won't leave it in the car, like most folks do with their gps units, which is a great invite for cartheives.
Click to expand...

very nice, I have a droid as well and love it. Kinda kicking myself now they are coming out with a much better v2 here soon but that is the way it goes.
 
I use GPS software on my blackberry. I think I pay about $5 a month for the service. My wife has a Garmin in her car. We both think the blackberry software is better for a couple of reasons:

(1) I never have to cough up another $150 (or whatever) for map updates. My maps are constantly kept up-to-date.
(2) I get live traffic alerts with the option of detouring around bad traffic points
(3) I've always got it with me, even if I am in a friend's car somewhere

It does react a little slower than a dedicated GPS device, but it sure is nice to have a GPS, serius receiver, video and still camera, web browser, media player, etc, etc all in one compact little unit.
 
It's still a tough decision. I mean there are great points in both cases. I might just wait until Droid v2 comes out soon then reweigh the options again. Until then, I shall just buy a map. Are there any Magellan users out there? It seems to me that the optimal GPS unit to purchase is a Garmin because of its cost and reliability. But I was in Best Buy today and they seemed to have 2x as many Magellan units than Garmin.
 
I have had 2 tom toms, the first one was stolen. Like revvy says leaving them out is an invite for theives. I like them. The only problem I've ever experienced is that mine seems to run slower in large cities where tall buildings reduce the signal quality, resulting in me missing a few turns
 
I have a Droid and a Garmin. There are reasons to have both.

I would never use my Droid on a multi-day road trip.
If you travel internationally, the Garmin will function no matter what your phone network situation is.

It takes fooooorrrrrrreeeeevvvveeerrrrrrr for the Garmin to figure out where you are once you de-plane. Droid is on it once you are wheels down.

Beside the standard google maps, the Droid lets you access Beermapping, Yelp and Foursquare, twitter, HBT, HBT chat so you can always get good beer advice.
 
olllllo said:
I would never use my Droid on a multi-day road trip.

.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't you use the droid for a multi day road trip? Battery drainage issues? I would assume you'd hook it to a car charger. Or am I missing something else? I a noob to droids, that's why I am asking.


Oh I had something strange/interesting happen using my droid the other day. I live on the border with Canada, with the St Clair river seperating us. Last week I was in a town about a half hour down the road, at a point where the river is really narrow, so Canada is really close. I always get lost in the downtown of that place, so I fired up my droid navigator and punched in my destination.

During the entire trip I was given info in kilometers instead of miles.
Every other time I use it, when I'm usually further from the border, it gives me miles. Including using it since that time, so it's not like a setting has changed.

The only thing I can assume is that the gps coordinates of my phone was being read by a satellite over canada, so it assumed I was on the other side of the border. At that location Canada is less than a 1/4 mile so the satellite's footprint is probably over the both coutries and it was hard to distinguish.

Anyone else had something like that happen?
 
I have a Garmin and an iphone.

We got the Garmin several years ago, before we got smart phones, and it certainly was a great buy. We used it for long trips, and my wife used it to drive to clients homes all over town.

The iphone is great, as it is always with me, while the Garmin might be in my wife's vehicle.

But the Garmin can be mounted up on the dash, and stays on and clearly visible. The display is better than the iphone, and doesn't turn off after a couple of minutes. [Sure, you could mess with the iphone settings, but for short trips I don't want to keep bothering with that].

I also don't have turn-by turn voice prompts for the iphone [sure, I *could* buy an app for that]. The directions on the Garmin are very clear - it even tells you which lane to get in when etc.

The search function on the iphone is about 1,000 times better than on the Garmin though. I could never get my Garmin to find the local Putt putt course, for example, as I didn't have the correct name. Just type "putt putt" in maps on the iphone though, and it pulls up all the nearby ones.

So, I like the Garmin, certainly for long trips. But you can't beat the convenience of a smart phone.
 

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