# Looking for advice on a GPS unit



## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

I am locking for a portable GPS unit that gives turn by turn directions. I would love to be able for it to identify stuff like Walmarts and KOA RV parks. Also perhaps program it to identify truck routes?

I have a GPS unit in my phone, but that eats air-time. Also have a Pharos unit but lugging around a laptop gets old.

My aunt has the Roadmate, looks promising, don't need MP3 or XM live traffic updates....really want a unit that you can plug actual addresses into since I know some of them only do streets and crossroads.

Maybe one that can be updated as well. 

Looking to spend under $800.

Advice?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I like the Magellan ones. They are often less expensive than Garmin and TomTom and have similar features. 

I was a Pharos user for about 5 years but they finally annoyed me one too many times.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

I researched a bit, lots of complaints about Magellan units dying a premature death, and Customer Service "Sucking" bad. I like the features of the Garmin 5000, but Garmins do not do Itineraries. The Tom Tom Go 910 and the Magellan do however.

Garmin with it's very sensitive 12 channel receiver would be perfect if it did Itineraries.

I have been reading up on GPS Forum sites.... So far, only from what I have read mind you.....


Tom Tom Go920T said:


> Pros
> 
> SIRF StarIII GPS
> Home dock
> ...







GarminNuvi5000 said:


> Pros
> 
> 7 inch screen
> Most sensitive receiver yet
> ...







Magellan 4250 said:


> Pros
> 
> Cost Under $600
> 6 million way points
> ...


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

I'm going to pick up the Magellan, it's on sale at CC. If I don't like it I'll return it for the Nuvi.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Jason Nipp said:


> I am locking for a portable GPS unit that gives turn by turn directions. I would love to be able for it to identify stuff like Walmarts and KOA RV parks. Also perhaps program it to identify truck routes?
> 
> I have a GPS unit in my phone, but that eats air-time. Also have a Pharos unit but lugging around a laptop gets old.
> 
> ...


Jason, my Garmin nuvi 450W (widescreen) does everything you mention in your
post and much more. It even found the country dirt road my niece lives on that
wasn't on Google Maps or Mapquest. I bought my nuvi off QVC at half retail. I
also got the non-skid dash mount and the leather slip case.


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## larryk (Aug 17, 2006)

Last year I picked up a Garmin Nuvi 360, I love it. I had a small problem with the speaker in it and Garmin tech support was great. It finds all of the Costco's, Walmarts, and Sams Clubs...


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

I have a Garmin nuvi 350 and my wife has a Garmin nuvi 660. We love them both. Super easy to use and very reliable. We got the 660 off of Costco.com for $299 at Thanksgiving time last year.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

I went to CC today, it really was down to the Nuvi770, Tomtom720T, and Magellan4250. 

All are very capable units. I like the Garmins Australian chick...love the accent. The Tom Tom has British chicks, celebs, and you can even record your own voice if you were in love with yourself. The Magellan, just one computerized chick, not very attractive voice.

I played with working models in the store, really like the Nuvi but they wanted $200 more at CC than at TigerGPS, and I want to buy from a retail chain in case I had issues post purchase. The Tomtom was cool, $80 more than TigerGPS, and they had loaded it with Dennis Hoper's voice, kinda freaky taking directions from a man, a spooky one at that. All in all I chose the Magellan because it has a real time AAA traffic system and AAA POI database that really is expansive. And cause of the three it was half the price of the other 2 at CC. Also, the Magellan's are the only units that do a true Intinerary for a multiwaypoint trip.

I used it on the way home, pretty accurate, it tried taking me some real stupid routes home but it did get me there and exactly there. Even Mapquest doesn't know where my newer home is... so I guess at the moment I am impressed. It paired with my phone no issue. The forums are loaded with pairing complaints, and even the intruction manual says it will not pair with Sprint or Verizon phones, but it found my Verizon LG phone and I made several calls. I have 15 days to return it so I am going to use and abuse it, if it doesn't work out I will return it and try the Nuvi 770.

Oh and alot of the stuff I posted from the Pros and Cons off the GPS forums, some is accurate but some of it I am finding is not.

Can't believe everything you read I guess.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

davemayo said:


> I have a Garmin nuvi 350 and my wife has a Garmin nuvi 660. We love them both. Super easy to use and very reliable. We got the 660 off of Costco.com for $299 at Thanksgiving time last year.


Just bought the 660 from Amazon last week (not here yet) for $330. Seems to be very highly rated at all the sites I visited and it has all the things I need (mainly bluetooth). Looking forward to getting it. Incidentally bb.com has it on sale this week for about the same price, but $50 of the discount is via a best buy gift card.


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## Sackett (May 21, 2007)

I have been looking at the Garmin nuvi 660 and Garmin Streetpilot C550. The C550 is about $50 more than the 660. Which one should I get? I know that the 660 has better graphics, but from what I have seen the Streetpilot's are better to move from car to car.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Screen brightness is very important when driving in the daytime. So is "text to speech" so you don't always have to keep your eyes glued to the screen. Instead of just saying "take next left", it will say "turn left on Sycamore". Comes in handy when turns are close together.

After a lot of research and trial and error (I must have tried 10 of them from Magellan, TomTom and Garmin), I settled on the Garmin 550, with as bright a screen as you will find and great TTS capability. It also allows you to find nearby Points of interest... restaurants, hotels, etc, in addition to name/address entry.

I waited for it to come down from $600 and bought it for $400. I kicked myself when I saw Buy.Com had a refurb on sale for $179 last Friday. Unfortunately, they're now out of stock. I would look around for a deal on this one. It's great. And I would have no qualms about buying refurb, because they come with full Garmin warranty.

The 580 is identical, but offers the MSN Direct traffic service (via FM) as an option. You get 12 months of it free.

/steve


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## Sackett (May 21, 2007)

Steve said:


> Screen brightness is very important when driving in the daytime. So is "text to speech" so you don't always have to keep your eyes glued to the screen. Instead of just saying "take next left", it will say "turn left on Sycamore". Comes in handy when turns are close together.
> 
> After a lot of research and trial and error (I must have tried 10 of them from Magellan, TomTom and Garmin), I settled on the Garmin 550, with as bright a screen as you will find and great TTS capability. It also allows you to find nearby Points of interest... restaurants, hotels, etc, in addition to name/address entry.
> 
> ...


pcrush.com has an OEM for 228.26 with a 1 year warranty. I may pick one up from them.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Sackett said:


> pcrush.com has an OEM for 228.26 with a 1 year warranty. I may pick one up from them.


You won't regret it. I forgot to mention it's supports Bluetooth as well, so I can route my cell calls through it. Also plays back MP3's you can put on an SD card, but not an important feature for me. /steve


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Jason Nipp said:


> I'm going to pick up the Magellan, it's on sale at CC. If I don't like it I'll return it for the Nuvi.


You may find CC charges a 15% restocking fee. I believe this is a relatively new policy on GPS and digicams. /steve


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## dmurphy (Sep 28, 2006)

Jason Nipp said:


> All in all I chose the Magellan because it has a real time AAA traffic system and AAA POI database that really is expansive. And cause of the three it was half the price of the other 2 at CC. Also, the Magellan's are the only units that do a true Intinerary for a multiwaypoint trip.


I have a Magellan Roadmate 3000T, and love it. It's a great unit - works extremely well, is reliable, lots of POI's, etc.

What has been said about customer service is somewhat true. It's outsourced and can be problematic. Having said that - if you have an issue - send me a PM here. I have the email address for the head of customer service, and he is -extremely- nice and responsive.

I had an issue with the map updater for my 3000T, and this person took great care of it. I was extremely impressed, after the runaround with the customer service people.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Sackett said:


> I have been looking at the Garmin nuvi 660 and Garmin Streetpilot C550. The C550 is about $50 more than the 660. Which one should I get? I know that the 660 has better graphics, but from what I have seen the Streetpilot's are better to move from car to car.


I decided on the 660 for the following reasons:

larger screen
greater resolution
lighter (by 33%)
FM transmitter
audio book player/picture viewer*

*don't know if I'll use these 2 features, but they're kind of a bonus.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

spartanstew said:


> I decided on the 660 for the following reasons:
> 
> larger screen
> greater resolution
> ...


I think you made a good decision, I got the Nuvi 650 from Costo before X-mas for $249 which at the time was a smoking deal. I've been thrilled with it since day one.

Of course living in Beantown and seeing the shootout that they did on the Today show last week between Garmin, Magellan and Tom Tom I think I might have went with Tom Tom


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

I have begun to have misgivings about Magellan. I have a Roadmate 360 and it's now discontinued, as are most of the Roadmate series. Problem is, they haven't released any new firmware for it in quite a while, and the version 1.81 firmware is hopelessly out of date.
Another problem I have with Magellan is the inability to use vias. If you want to go from Charlotte to White Plains, NY, for example, the routing you get is via I-85, I-95 and the Jersey Turnpike -- not really the best way most of the year. Over $25 in tolls and horrendous traffic. If you want to use an alternate route, you must break the trip into segments. In order to use I-77, I-81 and I-80 or I-84, you'd have to set up a trip to a city in Virginia on I-81, then one from there to Harrisburg, PA, (then to Wilkes-Barre if you wanted I-84 routing) and then to White Plains. 
Perhaps I'm spoiled by DeLorme's Street Atlas USA. I have that program installed on my laptop, and a DeLorme GPS that attaches via USB to the laptop. Nice combination.
Incidentally, DeLorme has a new bluetooth/USB enabled GPS that works with laptops or mobile computers (think Palm, etc.) for $149.95, bundled with Street Atlas USA 2008.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

I use a Zumo 550 on my motorcycle and before it, I had a Garmin 2610. Good products and good customer support.

John


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

After seeing this thread I have been poking at the idea of getting a new GPS. I currently have a Garmin C330 and want to upgrade.

I decided on the Garmin nüvi 760. Got it from Amazon for $390 after using a $50 coupon from a HD-DVD player I purchased last November. Should come in the mail today. Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks to all who posted in this thread.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Chris Blount said:


> After seeing this thread I have been poking at the idea of getting a new GPS. I currently have a Garmin C330 and want to upgrade.
> 
> I decided on the Garmin nüvi 760. Got it from Amazon for $390 after using a $50 coupon from a HD-DVD player I purchased last November. Should come in the mail today. Will let you know how it goes.
> 
> Thanks to all who posted in this thread.


I'm sure you will not be disappointed.


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## CrestronPro (Nov 25, 2007)

Chris Blount said:


> After seeing this thread I have been poking at the idea of getting a new GPS. I currently have a Garmin C330 and want to upgrade.
> 
> I decided on the Garmin nüvi 760. Got it from Amazon for $390 after using a $50 coupon from a HD-DVD player I purchased last November. Should come in the mail today. Will let you know how it goes.
> 
> Thanks to all who posted in this thread.


I've been eyeing this model as well. I'm thinking its about time to upgrade


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

I received the Garmin 760 on Thursday and had the weekend to "play".

First thing I did was update the firmware to the latest version and the maps to 2009 (it came with 2008 maps).

So far, I love it! Lots of neat bells and whistles.

It's nice to finally have the street names announced. The female voice (jill) sounds much more pleasant.

The Bluetooth feature is amazing. My iPhone paired with the 760 perfectly so I can make and receive calls through the GPS unit. I even have access to all of the phone numbers in my iPhone right on the screen. Actually, the whole integrated thing is kind of neat. You have access to your phone, an MP3 player and a GPS unit all in one. 

Navigation seems to be on par with other Garming units. Pretty accurate especially after I loaded the 2009 maps. 

Not too sure yet about the traffic avoidance feature. It did route us around a road closure but the day we drove through the area, the road wasn't closed. It did work as designed though but I guess on the wrong day. 

The screen is bright and very easy to read.

The menu system is pretty self explanitory. Nothing too complicated. 

One feature thats nice and that sold my wife was that the speed limit indicator. When available, the speed limit of the road you are driving is displayed. I must say it works well. We were driving into a small Texas town. As we got closer to the town center, the speed limit decreased. As we passed each road sign, the speed limit display on the Garmin would change within seconds. Pretty cool!

All in all, pretty satisfied so far. The Garmin 760 was released last October at a cost of $700 (I believe). It's only a matter of time when this thing will cost below $400 on Amazon. 

Highly recommended!


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

the new sony navigations are pretty slick... large screen (up to 4.8), bluetooth, traffic, "position plus"... my work is purchasing one for testing... i will let you guys know how is goes...

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644539856


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

AirRocker said:


> the new sony navigations are pretty slick... large screen (up to 4.8), bluetooth, traffic, "position plus"... my work is purchasing one for testing... i will let you guys know how is goes...
> 
> http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644539856


Probably a great screen, but I don't see "text to speech" in the specs. It's the feature I love most about my Garmin 550. I find I rarely have to take my eyes off the road and look at the screen, with the street names spoken aloud for me. /steve


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Steve said:


> Probably a great screen, but I don't see "text to speech" in the specs. It's the feature I love most about my Garmin 550. I find I rarely have to take my eyes off the road and look at the screen, with the street names spoken aloud for me. /steve


both models have TTS... it's listed under "features"... not specs...


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

AirRocker said:


> both models have TTS... it's listed under "features"... not specs...


D'oh! :lol: /steve


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Chris Blount said:


> The female voice (jill) sounds much more pleasant.


I don't remember which voice it was, but the Australian chick voice was the most pleasant when I was demoing the unit. YMMV but I guess I have a thing for women with accents. :sure:


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