# Gonna Buy a GPS.  Any Advice?



## gregp553 (Dec 19, 2009)

I'm going to break down and buy a portable gps for the car.  Don't get lost much but finding more times I'd like to have one for convenience.  And the prices have come down a lot.  Maybe get the bluetooth option.  Top at about $150.  Read that Garmin sells good stuff.  Anyone have one that they really think is the best?  Why? What model?


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## jeff_t (Dec 19, 2009)

I was gonna spend a few hundred bucks and buy one with all the goodies. I ended up with the most basic Garmin and couldn't be happier. The more I looked at them I realized it was just a bunch of crap I didn't need. I thought I should have a wide screen for using it in a big truck, but didn't need that either. Watch for sales, you can get them for a hundred bucks.


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## Jay H (Dec 19, 2009)

You missed some good black friday deals online, but they are still out there.

Could of hints:

the speaking of street names is pretty helpful, i.e. "Turn left in 500ft on Sponge st" is more useful than "Turn left in 500ft".

widescreen is more real estate, but nowhere as handy as say google maps or mapquest on a PC/Mac/Laptop...  

FM broadcast is useful but usually only available through pricier ones and not sure how well it is implemented, outside the mfgr...  (like for channel surfers for me).

I wouldn't be too concerned with traffic updates, most of them are only for major cities and I've found them somewhat limited in usefulness so far here in NJ. Also, if you see some units that use MSNDirect, they are kicking the bucket in 2012 so don't expect them to be around afterwards.  Navteq which is what most Garmin units use for traffic is NOT going away though.   

Some have bluetooth, may be useful, may not.  

I bought a Garnin 285WT for $130 from Amazon over thanksgiving. It has the MSNDirect stuff but that's not why I bought it and it was cheaper than the 265WT which it is basically the same unit with the MSN stuff. So far, I find the traffic not terrible useful or accurate... the weather is neat and news and stuff but not a big deal. 

Jay


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## festerw (Dec 19, 2009)

I've got a Tom Tom, my brother has a Garmin, IMO buy a Garmin.


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## StackedLumber (Dec 19, 2009)

have used my dads garmin and sister in laws tom tom-hated both of them-they weren't over responsive-you would drive past the road and then it would say turn now on X street as you are passing through the middle of the intersection.  Then I used my bro's Magellen-LOVE IT.  It's not as "character friendly" per se-doesn't have a little car icon-just a triangle, but it is so accurate and gives great info.  I have never had it tell me late for a turn.  I do think though some of it is a simple matter of interface preference-ie. Chevy vs. Ford vs. etc.  I've used our Magellan for some very long cross country trips and in cities and have been pleased-bought it refurbished off of Amazon for $200 less than the advertised new price.


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## toonjie (Dec 19, 2009)

Just got a Garmin Nuvi 1350 and love it!  I would highly recommend it.


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## webbie (Dec 19, 2009)

We have a Garmin Nuvi - pretty damn good. I'd suggest the Garmins, unless you are ready to spring for a smartphone (Droid, etc.) and can get double use.


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## burntime (Dec 19, 2009)

Garmin Nuvi 1350 and love it.  No stress for road trips now...


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## ROBERT F (Dec 19, 2009)

Garmin nuvi, Basic 205 model goin for 90 bucks local right now.  got a 1300 and works great.


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## mskif (Dec 19, 2009)

If you are in the market for a new phone, definitely check out the Droid.  It can be a GPS and a whole lot more.   Awesome device.


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## gzecc (Dec 19, 2009)

Get a tomtom for $80, but you do have to watch the roads your passing.  Its best at night, when you can't see the street signs.


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## gregp553 (Dec 19, 2009)

Good input, thanks.  The phone idea is good but I won't be getting a new one of those for a year, and we'll trade off the gps between two of us.  I was told the Garmin Nuvi 265wt is good, with bluetooth, but the 285 sounds good too.  I'm used to rental cars and Everlost.  Despite its shortcomings, I like when it sounds a tone before giving the instruction and it recalculates a route quickly if you go off track.  Don't know if these do that.  Thanks for the input, there are too many choices.


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## Jay H (Dec 20, 2009)

The 285wt is essentially the same as the 265WT, except that the 285Wt uses MSNDirect for traffic, weather, flight status, etc. and the 265WT uses navteq for the traffic.  MSNDirect is going bye bye in 2012 so it will essentially function as a 265WT after that. (minus the traffic and weather stuff)  I got the 285WT since it was cheaper at the time. I have 9 months of free traffic...

the Nuvi XXXX line is a newer line of units...  as opposed to the older 2x5 series...

Jay


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## semipro (Dec 20, 2009)

organic said:
			
		

> If you are in the market for a new phone, definitely check out the Droid.  It can be a GPS and a whole lot more.   Awesome device.



2nd that.  We bought a GPS nav unit a few months ago.  Just bought a Droid.  Pretty much wasted my money on the nav unit as the Droid does what it does and a whole lot more. 

The spoken directions on the nav units is a great feature that I wouldn't want to do without. 

I read that the OP doesn't need a phone but thought others that read this post might.


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## mayhem (Dec 21, 2009)

We have a couple Garmin Nuvi's here at work.  No matter what I do and how I configure it, it always takes me out of the way adn adds an hour to a 5 hour drive when we visit my brother in PA.  The ting takes me off the highway in northern NJ and I ran on secondary roads at 45mph between stoplights the rest of the way there.  The other time I tried to use it was when I visited by brother in law in Boston, he was staying in the financial district, which is basically right downtown.  Problem is, the damn exit to get to the area off I-90 is inside a tunnel in the Big Dig...since GPS's are line of sight satellite triangulation, the GPS shut down the instant we went underground.

I keep giving the thing a chance, and it keeps letting me down.


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## gregp553 (Dec 21, 2009)

mayhem said:
			
		

> We have a couple Garmin Nuvi's here at work.  No matter what I do and how I configure it, it always takes me out of the way adn adds an hour to a 5 hour drive when we visit my brother in PA.  The ting takes me off the highway in northern NJ and I ran on secondary roads at 45mph between stoplights the rest of the way there.  The other time I tried to use it was when I visited by brother in law in Boston, he was staying in the financial district, which is basically right downtown.  Problem is, the damn exit to get to the area off I-90 is inside a tunnel in the Big Dig...since GPS's are line of sight satellite triangulation, the GPS shut down the instant we went underground.
> 
> I keep giving the thing a chance, and it keeps letting me down.



Not good news, Mayhem.  I give gps  a pass in a tunnel but why is it going out of the way?  Does it have a traffic jam feature and taking you off the highway?  Hmm.  Actually, I have read some other comments about certain models not going the best route.  Do you know which model Nuvi you use?


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## mayhem (Dec 22, 2009)

Don't recall which Nuvi it was, but we have two at work and I've used both with the same results, one is about 18 months newer than the other and they both tried to take me off the highway.

I tried resetting both to shortest time, traffic avoidance was turned off (if available) and I also turned off toll road avoidance.

Just weird.  

Also found out the hard way that when you are trying to get to a place on Third Street, you need to use the numerals, not spell it out like it is on the street signs, addresses and official maps.


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## Wi Thundercat (Dec 22, 2009)

I use a garmin 265wt w/ bluetooth and have been very happy with it !   Better half just bought a 255wt ,which is the same unit without bluetooth at target online for 99$ as she didn't care about having the bluetooth link. :coolsmile: Wi Thundercat


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## mayhem (Dec 23, 2009)

What do you use the bluetooth to link to?


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## Jay H (Dec 23, 2009)

I use the bluetooth to link with my phone. My car is old enough that it doesn't support bluetooth so it's nice to have the GPS do it. It's not integrated with the stereo, like most cars would be so if your car supports Bluetooth, more than likely, you wont need the GPS to support it and wouldn't need it as a feature (i.e. you could do just as fine with the 255WT as opposed to the 265WT or my 285WT..

I've had the 285WT for about 1 month now and I've found it useful in places. Like most, it has some real quickly navigation so if you are already familiar with the area, some of the directions seem really strange but in the end, it will get you there. 

Jay


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## Ratherbfishin (Dec 23, 2009)

I have a TOM TOM 340 XL. I find myself arguing with it all the time. It takes you out of the way to get where you are going. I suppose if you were somewhere and you didnt know your way around it would eventually get you to where you want to go but since your unfamiliar with the area you wouldnt know the difference. It has all the new "fastest route" feature which is total BS.

I have not had any expierience with Garmin but my next one will be a Garmin.


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## gregp553 (Dec 23, 2009)

As if all the model choices weren't confusing enough, now I see "factory refurbished" like new is cheaper than new/new.  And refurbished comes with a 1-year factory warranty.  Any thoughts on that one?


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## Gooserider (Dec 24, 2009)

Factory refurbished can be any number of things, but generally they are IMHO OK...  A lot of units get sold and then returned for reasons ranging from "operator failure" to didn't like the interface, or got a better deal somewhere else...  They get returned to the factory and checked out, repaired as needed, and should be in "good as new" shape, but by law, can't be resold as "new" - but they can sell them as "refurbished" and at least recover their manufacturing costs...  I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a refurb as long as the deal was reasonably good.

I use a Garmin that's a couple of years old when helping a friend with his wood business - with mixed results...  We have found that it is best to use both a map book and the GPS, as it helps to confirm that the GPS hasn't gotten lost...  Also it seems to want to get us off onto all sorts of strange routes instead of sticking to major highways - generally we find it works best to have an idea of where we are going and ignore the GPS until we get to the general area.

The unit we use has a power cord that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket, and has a speaker in the lighter plug that tells us where to go...

Gooserider


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## drizler (Dec 28, 2009)

There are a few things to consider.  First off never rely totally on a gps unless you pretty much know how to get there, there is signage aplenty or you don't much care when you get there or how.   They aren't the end all be all just like anything else.   Have some sort of map along to fall back on.   That said, I have never had one fail to get me there darn well.   You have to check the settings.   They have different routing according to toll roads, sort by time and avoidance of secondary roads to name a few.   If it is taking you around by an hour it is simply set to avoid something like a tunnel ect.   You have to remember these things are like 1980 VCR's.  They sell based on how many goodies they perform as people are so damned fickle they brainlessly buy according to the number of features.    That leaves you with something that will do all sorts of things that most of us will never ever use though they can get in the way sometimes.    Check those settings if you are having problems.   The size consideration is another thing, get one with big enough print that you can read it.    If you are over 45 you will already know this.  The rest of you just wait as your turn is coming.    You almost have to start one up and hold it at a distance like your dashboard  to see what you can deal with.   If you use it in the woods and the car you probably will need two of them.   They just don't make one size fits all.   I personally find the screen on the handhelds too damned small and like the convenience of the smaller auto square types.   They fit in a pocket nicely  as well as in the car.      The last big consideration is where it will work.    Tom TOm is supposed to work worldwide though I haven't tested mine in Europe yet.  Magellin is supposed to work anywhere in North America while Garmin only works in the US.   That is without buying the supplemental maps which wouldn't be a big deal except for the $$$ raping you get to buy them.    That's why I chose the not so hot Tom Tom over the what I consider rip you off Garmin.   Not a big deal if you live in Colorado but I am near the Canadian border and if there is one place you need mega help is French speaking Quebec Canada.     Just the other night I ran across a truck driver who decided to take a deliver to Montreal just to experience it and no one else wanted to do it.   She was foaming at the mouth about the place and her Garmin Gps.   She didn't know the little secret either...............  You really have to look around and compare,check the web forums ect.


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## agartner (Dec 31, 2009)

My favorite is the Magellan 2200T.  Not new anymore, you have to find refurbs, they are out there.  Simple, straightforward, and it runs either plugged in or on a battery for a good 8 hours a charge.  Plus, it's waterproof so it can go from my car straight onto the motorcycle.


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## gregp553 (Jan 1, 2010)

Finally bought a Garmin Nuvi 765t.  Has bluetooth, traffic, allows the sound through the car speakers and is super easy to program.  Time will tell how good it is at getting me somewhere.  Thanks for all the input.  BTW, I bought a refurbished unit from Amazon and when I tried to register it on the Garmin site, it said the unit was already in somone else's name.  They said I need to supply a receipt to them for them to delete the other owner and enter my name.  That's fine, but here's what ticks me off.  Garmin will take back a unit.  They will refurbish that unit.  They will re-sell that unit to someone else.  But they never thought to delete the first owner?  Stupid.


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## sandie (Jan 2, 2010)

NONE of them are perfect but we have 3 and they are all Garmins and would not buy anything else really.  Yes every once in a while it takes me a different way than I would think would be fastiest but if you are in unfamiliar area it sure gets you where you are going.  Definitely get one that speaks the street name in addition to when you turn so it will say in 500ft turn on Main St instead of turn left in 500 ft.  In both cases it shows you on the map when to turn but this way you do not need to be looking at the map so much as a little at the map and then street sign.  I love ours.  Garmin is the best for customer service as well, they have great people and answer all your questions.


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## Battenkiller (Jan 2, 2010)

Semipro said:
			
		

> 2nd that.  We bought a GPS nav unit a few months ago.  Just bought a Droid.  Pretty much wasted my money on the nav unit as the Droid does what it does and a whole lot more.



Got my youngest son a Garmin Nuvi 255W for $119 at BJ's buyer's club.  Daughter got a new Droid and it does the same thing... for free.  Don't care for the Google Navigation voice, though. Particularly when it keeps saying "Scan-Eck-*Tad*-Y" for Schenectady. lol  Still, the Droid is a wicked cool phone.

My iPhone and the built-in Google Maps gets me through some tricky areas, although it won't work where there's no cell signal.  It supposedly uses a triangulation method with locations derived from nearby cell towers, not satellites. Got lost on some backroads in the ADKs when that happened.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing since you get to learn new roads that way.  Never had it fail in the city, however.

I may get the same Garmin I got my son, seems to be a real nice unit with all most folks would ever need.  My feeling is if you don't understand what a certain feature does, you probably don't really need it.


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## dusty_ (Jan 18, 2010)

My kids bought me a Garmin nuvi 255w for Xmas this year.  It seemed great until I got in the car and realized it was too small and I couldn't see anything on the screen without squinting.  I need glasses for reading so the size of this gps made it pretty well useless for me - not to mention very unsafe.  I took it back and got a Magellan Roadmate 700 that has a 7 inch screen.  I can see everything on the screen fine now.  I haven't used a gps for long enough to give any opinion on features but I thought I'd mention the size feature that could be an issue for some people.


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## sandie (Jan 19, 2010)

I like the Gramins.  Roadmates are nice, used on rental cars but smaller than yours. The bigger one is harder to hide and you do need to hide it or it will be stolen for sure and you will need to replace a window.  Good luck.  We love our GPS and not sure what in heck we did without it.


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## dusty_ (Jan 19, 2010)

Hi Sandi.  Yeah, I'm sure you're right - they'll disappear fast if left in the car in sight of anyone.  We just unclip it and bring it with us when we get out of the car.  They're so portable.  Not sure if this will become a pain in the butt after a while but like I said, we've just purchased one so time will tell.  I still can't get used to the idea that they'll do what everyone says they will.  It seems so futuristic!


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## sandie (Jan 19, 2010)

The do get you where you are going MOST times.  We asked it to take us to Sebago Lake from Naples ME and it took us up a mountain and then announced "Arriviing at yoru destination".  It sometimes will not take you the most direct way, but it does get you there for sure.
I totally like the Garmin Company, they are respnsive to questions and solving problems.  I have owned 4 of their GPS units since about 1995 or before.  I love it.  They now have one special for RVers(of which I am one) and truckers that keeps you off roads with low overpasses and where you are not allowed to travel which is very helpful in NJ and NY and I am sure elsewhere.  They almost all give locations of restaraunts and gas stations and lots of other things like historic places, traffic conditions on some of them, latittude and longitude etc.
Best of luck, you will soon wonder how you got along without it.  Mine took me through Canada which not all of them do, many are only the 48 states.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 19, 2010)

A good friend, geocacher with many finds and an avid Garmin fan says as much as he loves the Garmins and their customer service he personally prefers the Tom Tom when it comes to car navigation . . . and of course he makes fun of my hand-held Magellans that I use while ATVing, sledding and geocaching.


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## drizler (Jan 20, 2010)

For sure if you are over 40 you want to consider the screen size, arrangement and ability to put what you want up there.    The bigger the better  as long as it doesn't restrict your vision or become too much of a dashboard blocker.     Funny though, I see truck drivers all night long and almost all of them use the simple common consumer models we use.   Some have laptops with mapping but rely mainly on their unsophisticated little units.   The biggest gripe with my Tom Tom is the inability to put JUST what I want up there on the screen and size it somehow.     30 years ago none of it would have mattered.


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## sandie (Jan 20, 2010)

Most of the units use the same maps so it boils down to features and Garmin has them.  So far as truckers using consumer units, you would not be able to tell the diffenence of the truck unit vs car unit, they look identical but the trucker one tells them where there are low overpasses and diesel stations that they can fit in etc.  The other reason the trucker unit has not taken off like wild fire was that they cost $499 but see they are not about $349 but that is still high for me but a truckdriver could deduct from taxes but may not think about it as a busness expense.


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## Gooserider (Jan 20, 2010)

sandie said:
			
		

> Most of the units use the same maps so it boils down to features and Garmin has them.  So far as truckers using consumer units, you would not be able to tell the diffenence of the truck unit vs car unit, they look identical but the trucker one tells them where there are low overpasses and diesel stations that they can fit in etc.  The other reason the trucker unit has not taken off like wild fire was that they cost $499 but see they are not about $349 but that is still high for me but a truckdriver could deduct from taxes but may not think about it as a busness expense.



Don't know about other units, but the Garmin that my friend has, and which we use in a straight truck, is a car unit far as I know, but it has setup options that would make it "truck friendly" - you can punch in restrictions on how it selects routes based on low clearances, truck prohibitions, and so forth.  Found this out when I was trying to figure out why it seemed to pick some odd routings at times...   I also don't see the screen size as a huge issue - at least when we use it, we have the speaker turned on and mostly listen to the directions, rather than looking at the screen.  I punch in the address, and then let it talk to us.

Gooserider


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## drizler (Jan 20, 2010)

Gooserider said:
			
		

> sandie said:
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## sandie (Jan 20, 2010)

IF there is as unit that lets you select Truck routes I would like to know the manufacturer and model #.  Mine allows me to say truck but it does not seem to change much in the way of routing.


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## Gooserider (Jan 20, 2010)

Driz said:
			
		

> Gooserider said:
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I'm 52, and yes, the eyeballs don't work as good as they used to....  The point being however, that once rolling, we mostly don't look at the screen, just listen to the speaker, which doesn't take eyes...  I wouldn't try to do any sort of programming or whatever on the unit while driving, even if it had a home theater size screen as the interface takes to much concentration - but that isn't a screen limitation...  Not saying there wouldn't be advantages to a bigger screen, but I wouldn't pay a lot more to get a big screen, or that I would let a small screen keep me from getting an otherwise desirable unit...

Gooserider


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## kartracer (Jan 21, 2010)

Fishing, I've had good luck with the garmins and lowrances.On the street,garmin and tomtom.On the street none of them will take me the quickest way I know.If you don't know where you are than the gps' are a help,but will not get you there the fastest,most of the time.


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## Jerry_NJ (Jan 22, 2010)

Be careful on what you ask for.  My Garmin will pick the fastest, the shortest... it is usually set at the shortest.  This isn't always the best if there are Interstate highways around.  These higher speed routs may be only a few miles longer (and an hour shorther in time) and if you let the GPS map you on the shortest, you may not have the best.  There may be other choices, that's what I remember... ant the error I have made.


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