OT- Recommend a GPS for me, please

[TinkerbEllnor]

For a gift for DH. He loves little techie toys, and surprisingly, we don't have one of these already. He travels for work every other week so I know he would get a lot of use out of it.

The problem...I don't know anything about them. He normally does all the research on the gadget-buying in this house. He does about as much research before buying something new as I do pre-Disney trip (yet he continues to make fun of me for it- lol)

I don't even know where to start. Any recommendations?

TIA!

 

[Forevryoung]

We bought my dad the Garmin Nuvi 350 for his 50th birthday and he absolutely loves it.

Got it off of Amazon for $100 less than everywhere else. It has amazing reviews and is one of the best out there. I did quite a bit of research and it wasn't worth spending a lot more on the newer technology (like bluetooth).

 

[GDUL]

I cover 14 states for work and have been using the Garmin StreetPilot c330 for the past couple of years - it hasn't steered me wrong yet (pun intended). This is an older version and can be found on sale at Best Buy frequently - usually under $300. I purchased mine at gpsdiscount.com without any problems. I use this GPS every week ........... some weeks, every day and haven't had any problems with it.

 

[JoyLuck]

A second vote for Garmin StreetPilot c330. My husband has sworn by it for work (same thing, his territory is the whole northeast). I call it his 'girlfriend' (the voice-prompted directions are in a female voice )
i
It is ready to use out of the box...which is a great feature. I ordered his from PCNation.com, for about $269.00.

HTH

 

[CarolA]

I did a lot of research on this recently and decided that Garmin was the way to go. I purchased the Nuvi 370, but I don't think you need that. This one has both US and European maps which I wanted since I plan to use it when I drive in Europe.

The Nuvi series is cool however. It has bluetooth technology and you can download and play audio books on it!

 

[cc1013]

I just bought my brother the Garmin Nuvi 350 from Amazon as a college graduation gift. He absolutely loves it. We used the Garmin 550 recently on a vacation (rented the unit from Budget) and were sold on Garmin right away. The Nuvi models are sleeker and have larger screens.

Hope that helps!

 

[m1ckeym0use1]

I'm also very happy with the Garmin Nuvi 350. One advantage over the Garmin 'c' series is that the Nuvi 350 is flat and I'd say about the size of a deck of cards. The c330 is more baseball shaped. I like to take the Nuvi off it's bracket and put it in my pocket rather than leaving it in the car (the c330 isn't as "pocketable".)

 

[mgilmer]

Hands down the best GPS available. I am a "professional driver" who drives about 2000 miles a week. This GPS (discontinued model but still available) has built in satellite radio and will give you turn by turn directions as well as traffic alerts in major metro areas and will rout you around traffic tieups.

 

[cranbiz]

I vote for the Magellan but the Garmin units are just as good.

My brother has Magellans in all his limo's and I bought one a year or so ago. I had an earlier Garmin before and liked it also but it had a limitation of only 50 maps. That made for a cumbersome trip as I had to load up the next sections that I was going to travel in.

 

[TinkerbEllnor]

Thanks for all of the replies. And especially glad to see that so many are on the same page and are happy with their Garmins. Makes it so much easier to have the brand narrowed down and now just need to concentrate on figuring out the best model type for DH.

I really appreciate everyone's input. Thank you!

 

[luvhockey]

Depends on if you're looking for a more hand held unit for travel and geocaching or more for navigation. Do you want voice or no voice?
I have the LegendCX, it fits in the palm of your hand has all the maps for navigation but the screen is a bit small to see if you're driving. A bigger handheld is the Garmin 60CX. If it's only for the car go with a bigger screen.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I rented a car last week, and got the GPS unit offered by the rental company. It was a Garmin c330. Very easy to use, and very useful when driving in an area I was unfamiliar with.

 

[cfknight]

Here, use this site. http://www.gpsreview.net/ I used it when purchasing mine. I wanted a garmin nuvi 360 but I wasn't going to spend $500 on it. So after tons and tons of reading I ended up with a TOMTOM ONE. A great gps so far. no complaints and I got it for $230.

 

[GDUL]

A second vote for Garmin StreetPilot c330. My husband has sworn by it for work (same thing, his territory is the whole northeast). I call it his 'girlfriend' (the voice-prompted directions are in a female voice )
HTH

Now that's funny - my wife says the same thing. If fact, she named "her" - Roxanne or Roxie for short - LOL!

 

[JoyLuck]

Now that's funny - my wife says the same thing. If fact, she named "her" - Roxanne or Roxie for short - LOL!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

My navigation system came installed in the car already but my kids call it PAT because the voice can be male AND female