Choosing a Car GPS

I need to buy one of those GPS units for your car that provide driving directions. I plan to buy one this week, because I’m horrible with directions. I never mastered the roads where I grew up, I rarely go more than a few blocks from my apartment in Philadelphia where the roads are sequentially numbered, and I’ve driven into New Jersey accidentally a few too many times.

In less than two weeks, I’ll be in a new city on the other side of the country, and will have no clue where I’m going. I could use some advice if any of you own one of these things.

I really don’t need something fancy, so I’ll be leaning towards the cheap end, but I’d like one that reads street names out loud (text to speech) as opposed to just “turn right in 50 feet”. If it can tell me the road name in advance, I’ll be better prepared to get in the right lane for wherever I’m supposed to turn. It also needs to be flexible enough to stick it to something (suction cup or velcro) or throw it on a seat.. because I will be using it in a rental car and won’t be able to permanently mount it.

TomTom One looks about right but doesn’t do text-to-speech. A bunch of reviews of that mentioned Garmin products as good alternatives that do it, but no specific models.

P.S. One last requirement. It needs to be sold by Circuit City or Best Buy, since those are the stores I can get to, and I don’t have a good address to ship anything to if I ordered online.

Posted on March 20, 2007 in Personal

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  • http://www.mysiteonline.org/ Brendon Kozlowski

    Hey Dan, it’s good to know that other people other than myself can get lost in their home town, as well as where they currently reside! I thought I was alone…or rather, grouped with a bunch of female friends I have. Either way, I decided it’d be a great investment to purchase a GPS for my car last summer. I was “inspired” to buy one after seeing all of the TomTom advertisements on television, as well as seeing great prices in BestBuy’s weekly flyers. However, I’m a cautious and careful shopper so I did quite a bit of research. TomTom GPS units get horrible user ratings unless you buy the top of the line units. The quality and reliability of them is also a question — you might get a really good unit, you might get a dud. (Hopefully they’ve fixed this stuff since this past summer.)

    I was very interested in Magellan products because my father owns one and it’s a great system. We also used one while I was “touring” for colleges out in Colorado in a rental. …saved our butt on more than one occasion. Everyone was talking about how Garmin StreetPilot was the best of the best, and had purchased one. I just didn’t like the way it looked.

    Alas, after doing all my research and searching (for about 2 weeks or so), I came to the conclusion that Garmin was in fact the current team leader of automotive GPS units. I decided on getting the Garmin Nuvi 360. It’s portable, uses a suction mount, and capable of updating the maps using an SD card and/or connecting it to your computer (via USB). This is great because it means that it’s future proof from new construction, etc… If you’ll be in a city area (Redmond), you may also want to get the traffic receiver subscription. It can re-route you if there’s congestion. I didn’t research this as I didn’t need or want it, so you might want to look into that aspect yourself. I would highly recommend the Nuvi series of Garmin’s products. It’s more expensive than the TomTom models, but much, much, much more reliable. (In quality, future-proofing, craftsmanship, portability, and features…as well as directions!)

    Garmin is also the leader in text to speech technology for their GPS system. According to reviewers, it’s the clearest sounding. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good. You can zoom in/out on the map as well (in case you need a close up of all the streets, or an overview of the area’s major roadways).

    Oh, did I mention it’s available from BestBuy and Circuit City? …I would suggest buying it from an online merchant such as Buy.com, Chumbo.com, or GetFeetWet.com though, you’ll save anywhere from $200-$400. I got all the prices from these three sites just 20 minutes ago, so if you want you’re more than welcome to email me and I’ll send them along. If you have any questions or concerns that I could answer, also let me know.

    One thing to be aware of with the mounts: Suction cups look kinda ugly on windows, and leaving it on the window will let people “in-the-know” know you have one, perhaps a target for thieves. I’ve had problems with my black suction mount in the summer: it melts slightly to the window pane, causing corrosion on the suction cup. It still has suction, but eventually I’ll have to replace it. (I think a clear suction cup would be better than black.) I bought my unit from GetFeetWet.com when I was originally planning on spending may be up to $300 on one…I spent $800 in total (after getting an enormous SD card) – and it retailed (w/o card) for $999 at that point. So…considering that, I think it’s worth it.

  • http://www.clevertools.com Jason

    When I was in high school, I hacked apart an I-Opener (http://www.linux-hacker.net/imod/imod.html), added a hard drive, added serial ports, and then used the serial ports for a touch screen overlay and a gps receiver. I turned it into a touch screen enabled GPS and MP3 player (it ran Windows 98 lite…boo…I know). At the time I had a 1964 Falcon. The doors didn’t lock. So, I didn’t feel comfortable with it in my car, so it stayed out. Now it is laying in pieces in my closet. Anyways, that was a fun project.

    Now I wish I had a gps receiver of some sort. Other than my startup I am running (click my name) I also run a consulting business in San Diego. We do custom programming projects, mostly web, for companies. So, I do a lot of traveling to meet with clients. I have a stack of Google Maps in my back seat :)

    I do have a few Pocket Pcs and through one of my review sites we get sent GPS receivers all the time. Maybe I can commandeer one for my own use ;)

  • http://www.dbstract.com freekrai

    I have a little Toshiba Libretto (7.5 inch screen) laptop that I just plug Microsoft Streets & Maps into and use their USB GPS unit.

    Works well, we’ve used it for a several trips around the valley and down to the coast, as well as around towns.

  • http://www.ilovecode.com Sara

    Hey Dan. I just bought a TomTom 910. I’ve been very happy with it, but it isn’t on the cheap end. I paid about $500 for it, but it was worth it to me as I’m in Europe right now and I needed both european amd US maps. I’ve been very happy with it so far though.

  • http://gpsmapsoftware.go-article.com Got GPS Maps?

    Fantastic site! I really like what you have done with it. If you get a chance, check out my site on FREE GPS Map Downloads. We are the top-rated GPS Map Download Source on the net!

    Michael
    http://gpsmapsoftware.go-article.com

  • http://www.yomart.com/electronics-gps-units.html GPS Units

    I have tested the Tom Tom, Magellan and Garmin units. For the money I like the Garmin Nuvi series. I bought a Nuvi 360 and it was by far the easiest most trouble free unit I tested. Lots of features, small size, good battery life and very portable.