Discount Alpine NVE P1 - Navigation system module

I would say about 3 years old navigation unit with no software or drivers to link to your computer for updates and no online support via Alpines website for the product makes this a hard option to buy. Its around the same price as a handy garman but with the hiccups of not being able to update the NVE-P1 software. I'm sure there are other kinks I'll discover along the way.
Get more detail about Alpine NVE P1 - Navigation system module.

Cheapest Magellan RoadMate 760 Portable GPS Navigator

I brought this navigator a few years back and it still works fine. Function wise, it is OK! My only complaint is the size. Why make it so clumsy? Otherwise, Magellan is a good brand to have.Get more detail about Magellan RoadMate 760 Portable GPS Navigator.

Cheap Garmin nüvi 770 GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant

I got this a couple of years ago because we were going to Germany and this model has both European and N. American maps. It works great on both continents and I have not had any issues with it except my own stupidity. Twice now, once on each continent, I accidentally left this in 'walk' mode while driving. You can imagine the comedy of errors that resulted. I will say that in Germany it kept us off the autobahns for fifty miles so we saw more back country until we figured out the odd roundabout directions we were getting. It wanting to take us up sidewalks was a little disconcerting, but I can't really blame the Garmin for that.

One of the little discussed features is the ability to take you to 'lodging' or 'hospital' if you need to. We used this feature to advantage on our last trip back east where we needed a hospital fast. It really allows you to appreciate where you are and not worry about getting lost. But, I have to say, over-reliance on any navigation system can get you into some trouble because you forget the skills that could get you around without one. Take a map, but take the Garmin, too. The newer model is the 775, which as some added features, but is essentially the same product. BE SURE you get an international model if that's what you want to do. Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 770 GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant.

Buy Garmin nüvi 360 Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player (Bilingual)

I used iGuidance 1.0 for the Pocket PC for over 4 years before I got the Garmin nüvi 360. I loved the iGuidance but the Garmin nüvi 360 blew me away!

Accuracy
--------
The nüvi is very accurate; it has yet to fail to bring me to my destination. However, I've encountered a few instances where an address or road wasn't in the nüvi database - and I have the most current (2009) maps. In such cases, your best bet would be to simply enter an adjacent or nearby location into the nüvi.

Directions
----------
The software lets you know how far ahead your next turn is when you're within between about .1 to .5 miles. It says something like "In .1 miles, turn left onto Broadway" and a few hundred feet before your turn, it omits the information on the distance before your turn and simply says "Turn left onto Broadway." I wish it used feet instead of miles when specifying distances .2 mile (1056 ft) or less but it's a minor complaint.

The software gives you the directions for two successive turns that are very close together (say, 300 feet apart) all at once to make sure you have ample time to respond to the second turn that immediately follows the first. For example, "Take exit 70, then keep left", or "Turn right, then immediately turn left."

However, it may occasionally notify you of a turn a little late, which results in you missing the turn. Thankfully, this doesn't happen very often. If you do miss a turn, however, the software recalculates a new route very quickly (within a couple of seconds)!

Auto-Off/Resume Function
------------------------
My Garmin is a permanent fixture in my car. I leave the car adapter permanently hooked up to the unit. What I really love about it is it automatically turns off when the external power supply is lost. What this translates to is whenever I turn off my car engine, the unit automatically shuts itself off. When I start my car, the unit automatically fires back up. It gets better - it remembers your set destination when it turns back on and resumes giving you directions to your destination. This feature is handy for when I need to fill up on gas midway to a destination. After I'm done filling up my tank, I start my car, at which point the GPS unit fires back up and immediately resumes giving me directions to my destination. Very cool! This makes the Garmin nüvi the perfect In-Car GPS solution!

Data Entry
----------
The keys for entering addresses into the nüvi are arranged alphabetically from A-Z, not in a QWERTY format. Personally, I find the tedium of having to hunt for letters in the A-Z format a real inconvenience and annoyance!

Lock It
-------
You can lock your nüvi with a 4-digit PIN. The package comes with 2 decals that state that your GPS unit is secured with a security code to deter would-be thieves from stealing the unit.

Text-To-Speech
--------------
The text to speech still sounds like it comes from a synthesized voice but it's perfectly intelligible.


Multi-Point Routing
-------------------
Even though Multi-Point Routing is NOT an intended feature on the nüvi 360, it doesn't mean the nüvi isn't _capable_ of Multi-Point Routing. Here's how it's accomplished: Say, you want to go from point A to point D via point B and point C.

(i) You want to first set the destination to point D.

(ii) Then, once again, you set the destination a second time, this time to point C. You will receive the following prompt from the software asking "Insert as via point?", which essentially means: Do you want to overwrite the destination you've set in step (i), i.e. the point D destination or do you want to go to point D VIA point C. Answer YES.

(iii) Yet again, set the destination a third time to point B. Answer YES when prompted whether you want to "Insert as via point?"

There you have it, the nüvi is going to take you from point A to point D VIA points B and C. It's a clumsy roundabout way of getting the nüvi 360 to do Multi-Point Routing, but it can be done.


Nice Extras
-----------
- SD card Slot
Since the unit can serve as an MP3 Player and a photo viewer, it has an SD card slot allows you to load mp3 and photos (JPEG) onto the unit.

- MP3 Player
The MP3 Player is very basic. It has shuffle and repeat track/playlist. The unit will only read mp3 files in the root directory of the SD card; it will not read mp3 files that are in a folder. It will, however, read playlist (pls) files, which can have their source from one or more folders / sub folders. There are other limitations to the mp3 player:
(i) you cannot delete tracks
(ii) you cannot arrange/edit your playlists

To edit/delete your tracks or playlists, you will need to do so in your computer, mobile device, or music device.

- Picture Viewer
You can load your photos via the SD card slot and view it on the screen.

- Bluetooth Phone Hookup
I'm, unfortunately, still using a cell phone that's doesn't have Bluetooth (it's one of those antiquated phones reminiscent of the cell phones from the 90's) so I'm unable to test this feature. But I'm able to tell you it's a feature that allows you to hook up your phone to the GPS unit via Bluetooth so you can use the GPS unit as a handsfree console. Now, that's pretty nifty.

Conclusion
----------
The Garmin nüvi 360 is a very affordable In-Car GPS Solution. Apart from the cumbersome interface (A-Z keys) for entering your destination, I really don't have very much else to complain about it. Highly recommended!
Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 360 Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player (Bilingual).

Purchase Magellan RoadMate 2000 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

I purchased the Magellan RoadMate 2000, my first and only GPS system, at least 2 years ago and could not ask for a better product. We pull a trailer all around the country 5-6 months a year. As we travel so much I used to have multiple hard copy maps and LapTop map systems to lead us around the country. Within 3 months of getting the Magellan RoadMate 2000 I stored the hard copy maps and have not used them since. In another month I stopped using the LapTop systems (which are also GPS); it is now a backup for the just in case we get really lost; have not used it for over a year.

Now I just plug the address of our next destination into the Magellan RoadMate 2000 and off we go, no maps are ever opened. We've driven over 30,000 miles and only on one occasion did it let us down; it had an address 1 block east of where it actually was - this had us screwed up for a while. Our backup LapTop system didn't help us out in this case.

We don't use point of interests we just drive point A to point B.

I've gotten so lazy that I don't even pay attention when traveling around new areas as I know the RoadMate will always lead us back to our trailer no matter where we are in the US.

Every time we enter a new area I am amazed that the RoadMate does such a great job.
Get more detail about Magellan RoadMate 2000 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

Where To Buy Mio C310x 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

This GPS device probably didn't get as much as stars as others, but I really loved it, not because it has the latest map, not because it has best POI data, but because of its superb interactivity. It's has the best presentation (not in picture quality, but in usefulness) of routes, while you are driving, all its zooming (to make you focus on turns) and spinning animations (like on ramp) are smooth, automatic and CONTINUOUS, and you can pan and move the map whenever you want, which are also done very smoothly. This makes it a superb portable digital map. Garmin and TomTom's map is very hard and unintuitive to navigate using human fingers, I am always frustrated on them. If you like to play around with things like Google Map, this is the product for you.

If you are directionally challanged, cannot recognize road or read map at all and plan to completely rely on a GPS while driving, and don't really want to look at the map itself, then this is probably not for you. but if you like traveling and need a digital map, it's perfect.

I have used this GPS in my 4600-mile coast to coast trip and it really helped me a lot. I had also used it in various trips, including Hawaii (well, it got some crossings marked wrongly, once or twice).

Pros:
- Cheap!
- Best human-computer interactivity, easy to add, modify your route. I think the user interface engineer in this company is much better than others.
- Real human voice, although it cannot read the street name, but instructions hears nice.
- Provides plenty of geographical information.

Cons:
- expensive update package, I never bought update since 2007.
Get more detail about Mio C310x 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

Shop For Navigon 7100 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

SO I was on the market for a GPS that would help my wife to get around without a problem .. and I was looking for a GPS that had great graphics and self explanatory with the turns and that the prompts were accurate as well as understandable ... I came across this GPS while reading a review from PC Magazine and it helped with my decision ... it is very easy to operate and the graphics are amazing ... Get more detail about Navigon 7100 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

Magellan RoadMate 1430 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Refurbished)

I love this GPS. I also have a TomTom 720 and like some features of it better than the Magellan, but I also like some features of the Magellan better. One feature that not many people mention that makes this Magellan (and some Garmins) a winner is that it says which side of the street the destination is located on at the time of arrival. This small feature is very big in my book since the TomToms so not have this feature and I really missed it... until getting this Magellan. Also the mount on this GPS is excellent and stays put. Battery life is better than the TomTom, but in reality, the battery life on virtually all GPS units is very poor. The screen is too bright at night and it cannot be dimmed, even though it changes to night colors at sunset. The voice is clear and easy to understand and plenty loud enough. The big downside to most all brands other than TomTom is the inability to get regular updates and road corrections by simply plugging into the computer and running a specific program. TomTom GPS units really steal the show in this area and the reason I have two. I have not tried the live traffic feature on the Magellan since I do not live or travel through cities, but I can imagine that it would be very useful. Together the two units offer the best combination of features. Both supposedly have over 5 million POIs each and that is an important feature for me as well. The Magellen is much easier to use and less complicated with much more shallow menu depth. Overall, it is a real winner.Get more detail about Magellan RoadMate 1430 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Refurbished).

Nextar SNAP7 Super Slim 7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

1.GREAT GPS AND ATLAS FUNCTIONS.
2. SHORT AND LIMITED POI LIST - NOT VERY IMPORTANT.
3.NAVIGATION, REROUTING, VIDEO AND VOICE GUIDE VERY GOOD.
4. INTERNAL MEMORY HAS TWO PARTITIONS -HIDDEN SYSTEM AND PROGRAM WHICH EASILY ACCESSIBLE FROM USB AND HAS NO PROTECTION. I CONNECTED TO MY PC AND TO OPEN IT USED "OPEN WITH WINDOWS EXPLORER". AFTER I BACKED UP ALL AND DISCONNECTED I FOUND THAT DEVICE WON'T LOAD MENU. I CHECKED AUTORUN FILE AND FOUND THAT IT WAS REPLACED OR CREATED BY MY PC (WINOWS XP). I WAS ABLE TO CORRECT PROBLEM - .INI FILE IS START POINT AND CHANGED ATTRIBUTES TO READ ONLY FOR ALL FILES ON THE PROGRAM PARTITION. PROBABLY IT WAS MAJOR PROBLEM FOR MOST "DEFECTIVE UNITS" - CAN BE EASILY INFECTED FROM PC.
5. SIZE WORTH THE MONEY.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR BIG CARS.Get more detail about Nextar SNAP7 Super Slim 7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

Sony NVU83T 4.8-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Top Quality

I just purchased a NAVU83T. I got a excellent price on the unit. I read all the reviews and decided to purchase the unit on a leap of faith.

I upgraded it's current software to ver 3.2 with the navutool; downloaded from Sony. The unit has improved graphics, improved volume control and now shows a photo slideshow. The linking up with a cell phone was easy to do and works like a charm. Now the map has icons for the gas stations etc... We are going to use it for the first time on a trip next weekend. Maps are 2007.

I love the way the NVU83T looks. The wide screen and double display at intersections works great. 4 stars to Sony!

Sony has said that they are going to improve on all the units that have been sold. They have a design team placing the same GPS software in the PSP units. Sony has proved to be always innovative in their products and designs ;)
Get more detail about Sony NVU83T 4.8-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator.

TomTom GO 920T Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator with Traffic Receiver This instant

My TomTom 920T will be three years old in two months. Altho I love my TomTom for its special features and intuitive programs, recently I find that fully charged, the TomTom PORTABLE(?) unit only lasts 30 minutes unless it's plugged in. I contacted the service team to return the unit for a new battery/repair, and was advised that TomTom does not - IN ANY WAY - technically support its product after its limimited one year warranty! When I questioned their support tech further, I was advised that my $500+, less than three-year-old unit is basically trash. Read the fine print! TomTom does not stand behind their products!Get more detail about TomTom GO 920T Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator with Traffic Receiver.

TomTom GO 910 4-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Immediately

Prior to owning this unit I had a Magellan Maestro 4000. So I will compare these two GPS Units but focus mainly on the TomTom GPS. Let me discuss the Cons first.

Cons: 1. The unit is kind of heavy and I've experienced some issues with the docking on the windsheild where the weight of the gps and the force of gravity pulls the unit down into a position that does not allow you to see the screen. There is a small allen-screw I guess at some point I have to find a screwdriver to do this job. 2. Oh boy this is a big one! The Glare! During daylight hours depending on the suns position and how the sun enters the vehicle there were times I could NOT see the map on the unit at all! All I could see was blank sun-glared screen and this could be dangerous insofar as it could take your concentration away/off the road. I realized this and I just stopped looking at the gps screen. If there is a sun-glare product for this unit I recommend everyone buy it to avoid that glare issue. 3. There are a bunch of 'voices' to choose from ie., male, female, Brittish & Aussie accents to name a few... This can be overwhelming because you're always thinking if you should change the voice to something else.. the other thing is that some voices are 'human recordings' and will effect audio-warnings from being heard.. if you choose a human voice recording you won't hear warnings in audio.. 4. The distance markers are announced in "Yards" and/or "Meters" sometimes.. I think but am not certain that the distance markers might vary by voice ie., UK voice uses 'meters' so the voice announces distances in meters even though your map is of the USA? I could not determine distances by 'yards' I thought maybe it would also start using "inches" (jus kidding).

Pros: 1. The bluetooth/phone feature is amazing.. say goodbye to driving while using the phone tickets.. the gps searches out your phone and connects to it automatically.. (with some device configuring which is not that difficult). My phone automatically connects and I use the remote control to dial numbers and I'm on the phone.. it's such an awesome feature. 2. The device holds music and you can play podcasts or mp3 files, ebooks, it's awesome and the 20gig internal harddrive is much bigger than one would imagine..

hope this helps. 3/5 StarsGet more detail about TomTom GO 910 4-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.