GPS for the car

Lee3dee

Anyone got any recommendations? Getting tired of looking at the paper printout from google maps, especially frustration when its dark. Been looking at the nüvi 360 or nuvi 250W. thought i'd ask if anyone had a GPS that they liked.

arrangemonk

i bought an asus eee, using it with google maps any maybe a gpsmodule rocks, and you can play films and music too
edit : my das has a nüvi, isnt that bad, gut boring

East

I don't know much about GPS, but if you're also looking into getting a new mobile phone you can get one with turn by turn GPS and load it up with some navigation software. This also means you always take it with you when you leave the car, so less risk of break in, and less hassle than dragging a GPS unit with you.

Also, less risk you speak on the phone while driving. One drawback is if you share the car with a spouse then they'd be without GPS, unless you lend them your phone.

Cody

I used a garmin at work, and it was easy to use and great. told you approx how long it would take to arrive, and audio of when to turn that you could easily adjust the volume to or turn off. several ways to display the map, all of which were easy to read. we had the cheap model that was like 150, and i loved it.

Justin Meisse

I share a Nuvi 200 with my gf, so far it's been great. My only gripe is there's no external volume control, you have to go through a series of menus to adjust the volume.

Xenobond

Justin_Meisse wrote: »

I share a Nuvi 200 with my gf, so far it's been great. My only gripe is there's no external volume control, you have to go through a series of menus to adjust the volume.

Should be able to just press the power button. Will bring you to the colume/brightness menu. Have a Nuvi 650, so maybe the controls are the same/similar?

No complaints with my GPS, though. Use it to listen to audiobooks when not rambling about the country.

Cody

The garmin has a volume knob on the side, really easy. Goes from loud to off with a flick of the finger.

Lee3dee

can you upgrade the gps nuvi?

notman

I have the 250W and I love it. There isn't much you can do to upgrade... unless you want to get the dev kit and work with it. I'm not sure what you can do with the kit though.
IMO Garmin has the easiest to use interface and the best options from the start. A coworker has a Tom-Tom and I think he's been slightly jealous of my Garmin a few times.
They do have newer models that are better than the 250, but my model decision was based on cost. The next level up added bluetooth, which may have been nice, but it was several hundred bucks just for that and the ability to do ebooks. Definitely go with the widescreen version though.

OH, and if you go on trips, you can download community created Points of Interest, which can be pretty cool. And you can download new vehicles for display... or create your own.

stimpack

I got a garmin satnav. I was skepticle at first, but on the first road trip it paid for itself! my only grip is, it doesnt zoom in automatically when the turn your supose to take is jumbled next to 3 other potential turns.... It gets confusing and i cant shift gears, poke at the sat nav, and dodge downtown highway traffic. Wish i could change the voice too, its not very sexy sounding.

Cody

this was it http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2541268&CatId=2374

Lee3dee

thanks for the suggestions

Jeremy Lindstrom

yup lee, i got the nuvi 200 at walmart for like 160 or so.. can't live without it over here looking for houses and stuff. it doesn't have alot of the bells and whistles but it's works as advertised. Has kind of a little yellow pages for food,gas,airports, etc for look up stuff in the area and when you type in the address it will estimate your arrival time, it's pretty slick for the most part. If we grab dinner next week I can bring it over.

Geezus

I had a chance to use my mom's TomTom XL-S when I went home...and I'm sooooo getting one. Nice sized screen, easy to use, loud speech. I even got lost to see what it would do. Within seconds it recalculated the route and got me back where I needed to go. I think Best Buy has a deal on 'em this week.

Lee3dee

decided on getting a nuvi 260W, its onsale at bestbuy for $319 and I have a $50 off all garmin gps's coupon also. thanks for your suggestions everyone

Lee3dee

i'll repost the coupon tonight

Xenobond

Amazon is selling the Nuvi 650 today for $219.99 ($30 off)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/

Jeremy Lindstrom

yeah the 260w is selling on amazon for $249.99 so I guess that's what the $50 coupon is for to bring that price down a bit.