Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

[swebob]

Kind of off topic but m looking at getting a GPS for my car and just curious if anyone uses them and what brand. I swinging towards Garmin but also heard TomTom is good. Any suggestions please

[david gossett]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I have a Garmin, and I would not leave home without it. David

[SmokyFire]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I use a Garmin Nuvi. Make sure you get the lifetime maps cuz the yearly updates are expensive if you don't buy the lifetime thing. I also busted my mounting bracket and had to replace it. You have to treat the bracket with kid gloves and you will be ok. My brother has a TomTom and I didn't like it on a trip with him. My Garmin has a setting that says no unpaved roads or something like that. I don't think the TomTom has that and you don't want to end up with directions down some dirt road to nowehere like those people from canada who died because of their GPS sending them across a dirt road.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...ody-found.html

[terasec]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

While I am usually a minimalist,
Love my gps, has changed road trips for the better, can wander down any back road without worrying how to get back.
I have a tomtom and have used garmins,
Matter of preferance.
I have the base $100 one, and has been fine for several years, maps a bit outdated, but no big deal for me.
Free map upgrades is a nice touch depending on price,
If my gps was to die on me on a road trip first stop I would do is get another one

[gema]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I have a Garmin Numi. I use it all the time and it's been great.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

If it just going to be for car use only, most smart phones come with some type of navigation. I know my does, if your smart phone does, I wouldn't waste my money on a car gps.

[ddrinik]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I also have the Nuvi, with lifetime map updates and live traffic report. Updates are great, haven't used the traffic report awhole lot, but I guess it could be useful. I don't use the GPS a lot, mostly just on longer out of town trips, 4-5 times a year, and I always run the map updates before I leave town.

[RJ Cooper]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

Garmin here. I don't have a smart phone, but the kid does. Note: it is not as good as the gps IMO. It didn't have some locations when we used it. The same can be said of the GPS if you don't update it.

[Bigdog57]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I recently upgraded from my 8 year old failing Magellan eXplorist 200 handheld (great on a motorcycle) and bought the Magellan Roadmate. The big seven inch screen is easier to read, and it is much more feature-filled. Haven't done a road trip yet, but have used it around town - going to unfamiliar places - and inthe hunting lease. It does not show the trails, but does show most small roads and even some larger driveways. It can take my to specific addresses, and has a pretty good list of POIs (Points Of Interest) grouped by type. I let it navigate us from my Mom's medical appointment to the restaurant I haven't been to in ages - the "GPS Lady" took us right there thru town.
Sometimes the GPS will want to route me where I do not want to go - just go my way and let her 'recalculate'.
Mine came with an extendable mount that allows it to attach to the windshield but is placed directly over the edge of the dash - my minivan has the steep sloped windshield, and a shorter standard windshield mount would place it to far away to be able to use the touch screen. Be wary of this with your vehicle. Run time on battery is two hours, but I use the cord with 12V power plug. My van has oodles of 12V power sockets!
I like the GPS as an augmentation to paper maps and atlas books, and always carry them. If you want to go offroad the Delorme state books are essential! But this unit is too large and not waterproof, so it will be kept in the van.

I did get the Magellan (hmmm... I'm in a brand rut!) eXplorist 310 handheld for motorcycle and hunting use, but am not happy with it. It can be plugged into vehicle power and can have maps downloaded to it, unlike the old 200 model, but it's color screen is too small, and the backlight goes out too quickly making it unreadable. It is also optimised for geocacheing, which I am NOT into, so much memory is wasted on that.
It came with a 'hunting package' of forest trail maps that was one reason I bought it, but I have been unable to download it - money wasted.
In time I will get a motorcycle specific Garmin Nuvi like most of my riding buddies - just have to pony up the extra bucks!

[RJ Cooper]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

Back when I first got in the market for a GPS for hunting, trapping and fishing, what I did was went and bought 4 different brands of handhelds. Brought them home and played with each one for a day. What I was looking for was a GPS that I did not need the owners manual along to operate. I pick the Garmen e-trex back than. It took about 20 minutes to learn. I took the others back and have been a Garmin man since.

Normally when I buy electronics it is based on ease of use.

[Romans5.8]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

If it just going to be for car use only, most smart phones come with some type of navigation. I know my does, if your smart phone does, I wouldn't waste my money on a car gps.

+1 I use my iPhone, both on the bike and in the car. Just make sure to have a way to charge it, as the GPS drains the battery!

I have the TomTom app on my iPhone and the voice directions are good enough to use on the motorcycle when the phone is tucked away and I'm just listening to the voice turn-by-turn in my helmet headset.

[Skwerly]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I have a Garmin, and I would not leave home without it. David

Garmin here, as well, and it's fabulous.

[TentwLuck]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

I use my phone's navigation, not too sure if an actually GPS would work were my cell phone wouldn't be able to. Luckily I haven't came across that issue yet. ::Knock on wood::

[terasec]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

If it just going to be for car use only, most smart phones come with some type of navigation. I know my does, if your smart phone does, I wouldn't waste my money on a car gps.

i have gps on my smart phone, wife has iphone,
they do not compare to a dedicated gps,
i would not substitute my tomtom for phone based gps,

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Anyone use GPS's in their car ?

i have gps on my smart phone, wife has iphone,
they do not compare to a dedicated gps,
i would not substitute my tomtom for phone based gps,

To each his own. I am service electrician, my range is over 2 hours north and south of Denver CO. I depend on my smart phone for navigation, and its never let me down. Even has new roads updated on it for free. My wife bought me a new gps unit for Christmas to replace my old one. I told her to take it back. I read a article once and it was talking about what devices that smart phones were going to "kill". A few that stuck out in my mind were cheap camera's, I mean every cell phone has a camera on them, so you never see cheap digital cameras anymore. Music players. Yep, don't see a lot of cheap music players on the market anymore. Everyone has an Iphone or a extra micro sd card to store music on. Another category was car gps. Which you never see in the big box retailers anymore. Sure you may find them at specialty stores like best buy or something. I wish I could remember other things that were in that article.
Another benefit of using a smart phone is that it updates automatically. You don't have to buy updates from the manufacturer. I guess what I am saying is that if you already have a smart phone, try the navigation on it before you spend money on it.
My dedicated GPS is a Garmin CSX 60 which has been upgraded and discontinued. Which is the bad thing about any and all electronics, gps and smart phones included.