nurkvinny Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I am buying a navigation unit for myself for Christmas. I figured this place was an excellent source of knowledge. I want something I can type an address into and give me directions. I assume all of these units tell you your GPS location? Which ones are best for a GPS newb? How much do I need to spend to get a decent one? Are there monthly fees? Fees to update maps? Fill me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Last christmas we bought my mom a Garmin 250W. Everyone in the family uses it occasionally and it works great. Its really accurate and has good turn by turn directions. You can even search for locations. I don't think we pay a monthly fee, and you can find similar units for around $200. I'd go with something more updated though. Its the only one I've had a lot of experience with but I think its a good unit my self. How much are you looking to spend? Newegg has this bad boy for $400 and has a street view feature built in with tons of other features. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858108337 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 i had a nuvi 350 and loved it. prolly only need to spend about 100-150 bucks. you really need to just go play with a few, see which one you like. dont watse money on features you wont use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 oh and no fees, and no update fees for most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrblunt Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I have a nuvi 780. After spending a lot of time messing with them I really like the Nuvi's better than the competing brands. I had a 350 before going to the 780. Garmin makes a great product and it comes loaded with extras. Mine has bluetooth, mp3 player, route planner/optimizer, it gets live traffic updates. I deliver subpoenas as a second job so I use mine a lot to say the least. Do a search on Amazon or Ebay for the 760 or 780 nuvi. You wont be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSXRAntwon Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Switch to Sprint and get an Instinct....the turn-by-turn Navi is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
street pilot Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I have a nuvi 780. After spending a lot of time messing with them I really like the Nuvi's better than the competing brands. I had a 350 before going to the 780. Garmin makes a great product and it comes loaded with extras. Mine has bluetooth, mp3 player, route planner/optimizer, it gets live traffic updates. I deliver subpoenas as a second job so I use mine a lot to say the least. Do a search on Amazon or Ebay for the 760 or 780 nuvi. You wont be disappointed. Can you pull the nuvi out of the car and go hiking with it, using it as a locator/directions/backtrack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Switch to Sprint and get an Instinct....the turn-by-turn Navi is amazing. not familiar with this phone, but overall, I agree. I use the built in Navi on my Blackberry with Turn by Turn, now and leave my Garmin 2620 at home. on the phone, it's like $10mo, but it's all in one device, always with me, works in the car or when I'm on foot, uses very little power and has more points of interest than I can imagine finding. all integrated into my calender, contacts, etc....just like would be expected. besides, in my case, I want to carry just one device and not have to worry about stowing the GPS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSXRAntwon Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 not familiar with this phone, but overall, I agree. I use the built in Navi on my Blackberry with Turn by Turn, now and leave my Garmin 2620 at home. on the phone, it's like $10mo, but it's all in one device, always with me, works in the car or when I'm on foot, uses very little power and has more points of interest than I can imagine finding. all integrated into my calender, contacts, etc....just like would be expected. besides, in my case, I want to carry just one device and not have to worry about stowing the GPS. My thoughts exactly. The Instinct has built in GPS Navi, no $/mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87GT Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I was going to make a thread like this but one was already made. At least I search =) Well I have a cheap one I bought on sale at meijer. It is perfect if you know an actual address. Type it in and away you go. If you miss a turn it will recalculate your directions on the fly. There is a POI search where you can type in something like "walmart or speedway" and it will find the store close to you. Problem with mine is most of the things I type in it won't find. Even more so as your typing in a name of a business it will start taking letters away as it "auto finds" what you are searching for. Most of the time it finds a business with a name that are close to my search words but no fucking way close to what I actual want. I really want to sell my GPS just because of this. My mom has a tom tom and it does the same thing but it finds what I want. I only used it a few times but I never could not find what I wanted. There is no monthly fees with either of them. I think you can update maps on the Tom Tom but on mine you can't update anything =( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sol740 Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Garmin. I've purchased several of their units for family members and myself after reading a shit ton of reviews. Came down to TOM-TOM or Garmin, and I went garmin every time cause I got a good deal on em. I've heard nothing but good about both brands though. Kind of can't live without it now. So lazy, and awesome. Just be sure to update your maps every year. No monthly fees or anything, unless you do the live traffic updates, which would be nice, but they want too much. I bought the text to speech unit for myself at a small premium, and to be honest I wish I would've just saved myself the extra cash, it can barely pronounce the street names anyway. "Turn Left" or "Turn Right" would've been fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Garmin. I've purchased several of their units for family members and myself after reading a shit ton of reviews. Another boost for Garmin....customer service. I've been to their office in KS and used their telephone support. Top notch people. They upgraded my 2620 warranty to a full 5 years due to some issues with earlier units and the touch screen. I found this out on an unrelated support call too. New documentation in the main within days. Again, great company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHaze Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I have a pocket pc mounted in whatever vehicle I'm using. Phone, mobile web and gps navigation. The bonus is I can use the net to get on Google earth to zoom in on whatever building I need to get to so I can identify it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I was looking Tomtom vs Garmin and found that the Tomtom has a dock to connect it to the computer vs the Garmin didn't come with anything to connect it to the computer and update it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88lx5oh Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 +1 on having a PDA/smart phone with navi on it, turn by turn on my phone is alot better than having a whole other unit crapping up my car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillbot Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 I just bought a Clarion NICE 430 from newegg because it was cheap. I'm really liking it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillJoy Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 I had an AVIC D3 in the Marauder. I LOVED the thing. I worked amazing from OH to FL and OH to CHI......... I would have one in my next toy...... if I had a next toy KillJoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRN96WS6 Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 Most people flock to Garmin as they are simple and easy to use. I have a navigon and am happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wnaplay1647545503 Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 I loved the garmin nuvi I had in my old work car. So simple to use, and dead on directions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrblunt Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 Can you pull the nuvi out of the car and go hiking with it, using it as a locator/directions/backtrack? My Nuvi does. It has a built in feature called "where am I" that allows you to use the nuvi to navigate back to your car if your lost at the mall (or whatever). It claims to be accurate up to 10 ft. Not sure how well it works, I've never used it. If your taking this back packing you'd be better off using a device loaded with topographic maps designed for such a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 The garmin I have does have a battery with decent life if you want to walk around with it. The battery life isn't really comparable to a handheld one though. You could make due by turning it on for a few minutes and find where you are and just head in a general direction I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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