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Looking for advice...


LuLu

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My old GPS is about dead, but that's okay. It lasted five years. One thing for sure, is that I'll never buy an in-dash unit again. Having GPS available in just one of my cars isn't practical anymore.

 

So...With all the new toys on the market, who's up to speed on features and reliability? I'm looking for a portable device I can move from car to car, and I would like to find one with intergrated NOAA weather updates. It's free for the listening and it's been very helpful to me in the past.

 

Any advice will be appreciated, links if you have them?

 

Thanks, be safe.

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I've been very happy w/ my Garmin Nuvi 350 - it doesn't have all the features you're looking for, but their more current and more expesive models probably do. Mines about a year old, with no problems. I agree, it is great being able to take if from car to car. www.garmin.com

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I've been very happy w/ my Garmin Nuvi 350 - it doesn't have all the features you're looking for, but their more current and more expesive models probably do. Mines about a year old, with no problems. I agree, it is great being able to take if from car to car. www.garmin.com

I have the same unit and can recommend it highly, same as ilmor. Jim

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I highly recommend Garmin. I've had mine for 10+ years now and works as good as the day I bought it. It's been through tornadoes, under water, thrown against the wall by an ex wife and God only knows what else. My dad has a highly sophisticated Garmin in his cesna too. I have the etrex summit which is more for climbing, but it has many features useful for traveling in a car. I think the etrex Legend maybe is the one designed for cars with downloadable maps, etc, but I could be wrong. It's been a while since I looked at them, but I would definitely go with a Garmin.

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One other thing I would consider is how it mounts in the car too. If it's a hand held unit then I would mount it on the dash if possible unless it's got some kind of way to route the receiver on top of the car somewhere. I've noticed mine will lose the signal if it's in the center of the vehicle and not moving. Gotta have an unobstructed signal contact with at least 3 satellites at all times to get a reading. This is true for any GPS tho.

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Got me to looking at some of the newer "automotive" GPS' on the Garmin site and a few things I noticed. The automotive ones look like they have better display and maybe maps and that cool voice that tells you to "turn here". Things I didn't like about the automotive ones are:

 

1) Shortened battery life

2) No altimeter - this is a really cool feature that I personally must have

3) Not waterproof

4) Too many "fufu" items such as mp3 player, etc

5) Not as durable due to less rubber padding

6) More expensive

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Got me to looking at some of the newer "automotive" GPS' on the Garmin site and a few things I noticed. The automotive ones look like they have better display and maybe maps and that cool voice that tells you to "turn here". Things I didn't like about the automotive ones are:

 

1) Shortened battery life

2) No altimeter - this is a really cool feature that I personally must have

3) Not waterproof

4) Too many "fufu" items such as mp3 player, etc

5) Not as durable due to less rubber padding

6) More expensive

 

The high-end ones also have auto-update, which will tell you "get in the left lane now you idiot" or something like that, instead of just telling you to "turn left in...oops, you just passed it."

 

I agree with the "fufu" stuff, which is why I bought the low end of the high end line. Not really sure why you need a waterproof GPS in your car, unless sometimes you forget to put the top up in the car wash.

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The high-end ones also have auto-update, which will tell you "get in the left lane now you idiot" or something like that, instead of just telling you to "turn left in...oops, you just passed it."

 

I agree with the "fufu" stuff, which is why I bought the low end of the high end line. Not really sure why you need a waterproof GPS in your car, unless sometimes you forget to put the top up in the car wash.

 

 

LOL that would be cool if it would say that. Yeah if it is strictly for navigating your car then I would go with the automotive one due to the bigger, better display, but not having an altimeter is the big drawback for me. I just always like to know my elevation, rate of ascent/descent, etc especially if I'm driving in the mountains.

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No comparison, Garmin is the best. My Brother and Parents bought the Tomtom and when they saw what mine could do they regretted it. I have the Garmin Nuvi 660. All the Nuvi models are great and they are getting a lot more affordable now. I have no idea why people pay $2000+ for optional Nav on new cars when the Garmin is superior, cost a fraction, and can be used in all of your cars.

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We have a tomtom, got it for around $100 so it gets the job done. It wasn't that great driving from OK to NY. It had several roads wrong gave wrong numbers for hotels, and this was after all updates. I would stay away from them. The GMC we have now the nav in it is really good, first descent one that is built in that I've seen.

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Another vote for Garmin here. I have one of the older street pilot models and it has been great for about four years. Eventually will upgrade to a Nuvi. I got mine on Amazon as there was a $100 rebate at the time but I have heard that Tiger GPS has good prices. www.tigergps.com.

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We have a tomtom, got it for around $100 so it gets the job done. It wasn't that great driving from OK to NY. It had several roads wrong gave wrong numbers for hotels, and this was after all updates. I would stay away from them. The GMC we have now the nav in it is really good, first descent one that is built in that I've seen.

 

My tomtom is great after all of the newest updates and maps. I have the one XL, nice colourful wide screen, no useless apps, it's pretty cool. The only drawback I can see to a tomtom is that their map data provider is european so it takes a little longer for updates to come out, BUT, they have a new feature where people can submit map updates if they find a mistake and once it's approved all the changes made in the period of updating will be sent out to units. It's pretty much a ploy to get people to fix their mistakes for free no doubt, but it's a cool idea in theory. One other weird purely superficial thing, all of the rural municipalities around here are listed as indian reservations. lol

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I have a high end Garmin and a low end TomTom. The one feature I miss if I use the TomTom is Text to speech. Text to speech tells you the name of the road you have to turn on so it doesn't just say turn right in 500 ft. Some times there is too much traffic to be able to look at the screen for the name of the road. Having a unit with a battery is helpful because you can turn it on walking to the car or in the house and it starts acquiring the satellites sooner. My Garmin has 6 million points if interest and my TomTom only has 1 million. POI are very handy, the more the better. As far as maps and directions, they both make mistakes, but I feel the Garmin is a little better than the TomTom.

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Wow! Some very helpful replies. Thanks, gents!

 

Seems Garmin is leading the pack, and I found a nuvi 760 on ebay for under 500 with free shipping. Yeah, it's got a lot of "fuf" stuff, but you never know where an option can fit in without having it. They don't mention the free year of MSN Direct, but I prolly not use it anyway. Hell, I haven't even turned on my Sirius radio. I hate having to pay for stuff that should be free.

 

Didn't find any with the NOAA feature, so, I'll just have to bring my portable unit along for the ride.

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:shrug: maybe because they choose too. No other reason needed

 

 

Choosing too would be the only reason I think. I have a NAV package in my Suburban and hate it. I bought my wife the NUVI 350 for her car by Garmin and we love that. We are going to put a NUVI 350 in the SGT now too, I am very happy I do not have the factory NAV package. (never again will I make that mistake, but to each their own)

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