what's the best GPS unit?

[Takedown3]

so ya, i wanna drop 3 or 4 bills on a decent GPS unit. any suggestions?

[Senoska]

Why drop that much? Me and pretty much everyone I know uses the tomtom series which works perfectly and only cost about $70.

They are great, movable, and have a ton of options.

[Xiona]

i still use google maps and my hippocampus

[*Shinzon*]

Garmin is pretty good. The newer systems come with unlimited traffic updates which, if you travel a lot, are more than helpful because you don't have to wait for a radio broadcast that may not give you accurate information about your route.

[zoobernut]

Do you want one to carry around towns or one that stays in your car or do you want one for hiking and backpacking and outdoor type stuff? All three are slightly different styles though they do cross over a lot. I would guess that you want a waterproof rugged one for backpacking because that would fit your price range better at 3-4 bills. If that is the case then Garmin makes really good ones. For in town ones I am not sure.

[Takedown3]

i want one for my jeep, something that can do both offroad stuff (if possible) and long distance northern ontario travel

[Day]

I like my Garmin.

[SephYuyX]

This is the one thing I never looked into with GPS units.
After buying one, what services do you have to pay for? Is it montly? How much? etc. If one doesnt buy a subscription, how much does that limit you?

I know with Tomtoms at least you can torrent map packs.

[*Shinzon*]

Then you'll probably want a Garmin. I don't think I've ever been in an area where a Garmin doesn't work. While Tomtom might have "better" more up-to-date maps the Garmin units are usually nice. Some have large screens that make them easy to read and like I said before offer traffic updates that you don't have to continuously pay for.

Edit: Seph you don't pay for anything unless it's an additional service. On average the only thing a user will pay for is to update their maps when new ones are released. Some charge extra for features like traffic updates.

[kuronosan]

You can get free map packs with TomToms, which are excellent units. They're coded as such:

1) Units ending in XL have widescreen.
2) Units ending in S have text-to-speech (they read the road names to you).

Garmin is a little different:

1) Units that are higher than the 205 series have text-to-speech.
2) Units ending in W have widescreen.

I have a Garmin 205W and I absolutely love it. Some TomToms do allow you to record your own text-to-speech voices, but those models are expensive. If you shop on the right day, you can pick up a decent GPS for between $70-130. Again, TomTom is a great price for what you get... but I do recommend you get a widescreen because they are much easier to see than the standard view.

I believe the cheapest TomTom model that does this is the TomTom One XLS.

[Takedown3]

i will definetly be going with a garmin i think, the look of them is drawing me in compared to the tomtom's ive seen.

so i guess there is no reason to get the 500+ ones unless u are a hardcore driver traveling all over the place.

ill prolly end up getting the nuvi855 i think

[kuronosan]

i will definetly be going with a garmin i think, the look of them is drawing me in compared to the tomtom's ive seen.

so i guess there is no reason to get the 500+ ones unless u are a hardcore driver traveling all over the place.

ill prolly end up getting the nuvi855 i think

Very good pick. That's actually a really good unit.

And no, there is never a reason to get the 500+ ones ever. They have a lot of fluff and things which are absolutely useless. All you need to get from point A to point B is one that will do it for you. Everything else is just extra stuff they sell to people who can afford it (just like any other expensive item out there).

[*Shinzon*]

I agree it's a good choice. The Nuvi is probably their most popular model. My mother managed to get one of the more expensive ones for my father from Costco at a discount price and usually the 500 dollar ones aren't worth it. At most all you really need is traffic updates as an additional feature. I find all the other options either useless or just inefficient.

[Dimmauk]

You can get free map packs with TomToms, which are excellent units. They're coded as such:

1) Units ending in XL have widescreen.
2) Units ending in S have text-to-speech (they read the road names to you).

Garmin is a little different:

1) Units that are higher than the 205 series have text-to-speech.
2) Units ending in W have widescreen.

I have a Garmin 205W and I absolutely love it. Some TomToms do allow you to record your own text-to-speech voices, but those models are expensive. If you shop on the right day, you can pick up a decent GPS for between $70-130. Again, TomTom is a great price for what you get... but I do recommend you get a widescreen because they are much easier to see than the standard view.

I believe the cheapest TomTom model that does this is the TomTom One XLS.

Plus you can get celebrity voices on your TomTom.

Having Mr.T telling you directions is hilarious.

[SephYuyX]

On the GPSs that say only US, or US and Canada, does that mean that they dont support other maps at all, or just that you have to download them seperatly?

Id love to get a GPS myself, but im always hearing about the extra costs.

With what Shin is saying, how much are the packs, and how often are they released? Obviously with road closures and such, things could be updated daily, and I assume that would be one of the extra services? Thats what turns me off from getting a GPS, I hate having to pay extra, but it's nice to know what roads are closed.

Did a quick search on Garmin torrents and see that maps are available that way too, similiar to Tomtom, but with that I wouldnt get daily road closures. Another thing I noticed is that some only have 1GB internal memory, most NA map packs are near or over 1GB, do a lot of these GPSs have slots for extra flash memory?

[*Shinzon*]

A lot of the newer models do support the extra memory but some models are made not to. So if you're considering purchasing one you might want to make sure that the one you purchase does in fact support extra memory. As far as GPS systems that say region specific it may be a combination of things. It may be that the system does not support European or other region maps, and it may be that the satellites used by the company do not provide reception in other areas or that certain models are tied to certain regions supported by a satellite that only covers, say US territory.

[FNH]

On the GPSs that say only US, or US and Canada, does that mean that they dont support other maps at all, or just that you have to download them seperatly?

Id love to get a GPS myself, but im always hearing about the extra costs.

With what Shin is saying, how much are the packs, and how often are they released? Obviously with road closures and such, things could be updated daily, and I assume that would be one of the extra services? Thats what turns me off from getting a GPS, I hate having to pay extra, but it's nice to know what roads are closed.

Did a quick search on Garmin torrents and see that maps are available that way too, similiar to Tomtom, but with that I wouldnt get daily road closures. Another thing I noticed is that some only have 1GB internal memory, most NA map packs are near or over 1GB, do a lot of these GPSs have slots for extra flash memory?

daily road closures would probably only be available if you had the traffic transmitter + service. most map updates are available every new year. All will have a "detour" option that will direct you on a different path if you come to a obstacle. One thing that bothers me is a lot of people get GPS units and think it'll do everything for you and not use their own sense and look ahead, which gets them pissed off with the unit.

Side note: I've found that some units have trouble with satellite acquisition in larger cities. I had hell with mine in Atlanta a few months back.

[Takedown3]

thx for the input gents

[*Shinzon*]

daily road closures would probably only be available if you had the traffic transmitter + service. most map updates are available every new year. All will have a "detour" option that will direct you on a different path if you come to a obstacle. One thing that bothers me is a lot of people get GPS units and think it'll do everything for you and not use their own sense and look ahead, which gets them pissed off with the unit.

Side note: I've found that some units have trouble with satellite acquisition in larger cities. I had hell with mine in Atlanta a few months back.

It's all related to how good the unit is and the area you're in. Some places just have worse reception because of cloud cover or interference from the environment and such. As for your second point I agree, and usually will only use a unit if I've never gone somewhere before where it's absolutely necessary that I use it because it does become a distraction sometimes.

[kuronosan]

You have to get map packs for other countries if you want the support. They also have to have GPS available in that region.