Which GPS?

[ncbyrne]

I did a search on this topic, but most posts are several months old. DH and I will be taking a 2+ month cross country trip. I want to buy him one for Christmas. We need a system that is user friendly, and that will have a signal in all parts of the country. From reading others opinions, it seems that a voice telling you where to turn is a desirable feature. Are there any that I can ask, "where's the nearest Walmart", etc? What else would be useful? And what features are useless to average user. Any suggestions?

 

[CarolinaMomOf3boys]

we recently got one and did tons of research on the internet between the TOMTOM and the Garmin and got the TOMTOM...i call him George

 

[digitaldevice]

Garmin all the way baby!!!!

 

[moniot]

After doing a ton of research and trying few my DH bought a TomTom and we love it.

 

[veraletta]

We have a Garmin and love it, in fact we had to go to Montreal, Canada.
It worked great, we had another couple that went with us, they were driving there own car and they had a Tomtom. Their Tomtom kept quitting on them, the other couple had to buy a new one once we got to Canada.

I dont know any thing about the Tomtom I just know the other couples' husband was really upset with his Tomtom.

 

[beansmom]

my Tomtom is 'nitwit friendly'...dh has a Garmin and neither of us likes it better than the Tomtom.


I got the cheapie model and it works just fine for me...and I just moved cross-country and can barely find the cleaners on my own. HTH

 

[lovemygoofy]

I've had this one for about 2 weeks now. I've found it very user friendly. I really like the bluetooth capability. I bought a different dash mount and a/c adapter for the house.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7897779&type=product&id=1149206158613

 

[MrsPete]

I have little experience with GPS systems, but I'm staring at my last-year's Christmas present right now: a Garmin, which worked for all of a month before it quit. DH was supposed to send it back, but instead it's sitting here by the computer MAKING ME MAD!

 

[tiggr33]

Another TomTom fan. And yes, you can get the list of US Walmarts. I have it in mine. It is a download from TomTom's website. BUt I am sure other units have similiar downloads.

 

[Jeanne B]

I just use the GPS on my Verizon phone when I need it so if we're going to be vacationing during a particular month I pay $10 to have it for a full month and I have one less electronic item to pack. It works great...I rarely use my Mio GPS anymore (which got us completely lost in Boston last weekend so I switched to the GPS on my phone and it got us where we needed to go right away).

 

[NHcampers]

Garmin , love it
http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html

 

[DisneyBill]

I travel for a living and have a Garmin 330 for a while now. Never an issue with out of service (unless inside a parking garage or maybe a long tunnel). You can search businesses by name, ie Joe's Burgers. Unit will search and find all businesses in all cities, starting with the closest first by name with user input. Provided of course they were in the data base stored in your system to begin with. No way would I have a unit that did not identify turns by street name. The "detour" feature comes in mighty handy when traffic is clogged. My 2 cents.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

We have a Garmin 750W (I think that is it - DH has it in TX right now) and it is wonderful. You can type in the first few letters of a business and it will show you all the ones in the area.

We do lose a signal if it is a very stormy day or if we go thru the tunnel in Baltimore but other than that it works pretty well most of the time.

 

[ncbyrne]

I am technology deficient! Are the more expensive units, user friendly?

 

[medleblute]

We have a Garmin 330 and, for the most part, we love it. We've used it to drive up and down the East Coast and it rarely steered us wrong. Although, the Point Of Interest database seems to be lacking. The unit is two years old and can't locate the Panera in our town that has been here for at least 8 years. Go figure. All-in-all, we love our Garmin and can't image life before GPS.

 

[ncbyrne]

It seems that Tom Tom and Garmin get the most praise. However, there are soooo many models of both brands. How do I know which features are worth paying extra for? I tried speaking with a salesman - but he obviously worked on commission! I need REAL advice, from real users - not from someone who is going to profit from my purchase choice.

 

[ncbyrne]

bump

 

[princesswendy720]

My boyfriend got a refurbished TOMTOM at a great deal and it works wonderfully. We've never had a problem with it.

 

[solfan68]

It seems that Tom Tom and Garmin get the most praise. However, there are soooo many models of both brands. How do I know which features are worth paying extra for? I tried speaking with a salesman - but he obviously worked on commission! I need REAL advice, from real users - not from someone who is going to profit from my purchase choice.

We've had a Garmin Nuvi for about a year now. We used it on our June 08 trip to WDW. Took us from PA to the Auto Train, and then from Sanford to POR. Worked like a charm. Offers standard 'turn left', or choose street-specific, 'turn left on Jones street'(text to speech). Has a POI database, but as others have pointed out, it doesn't always seem to be complete. The Applebees in our town has been open for at least five years and didn't make the list ?

We mainly wanted it as a replacement for juggling Google Map pages, and in that respect it works like a charm. Even gives you your choice of current speed, or time remaining to destination - which will update, should you get snarled in traffic for a bit. I'm sure many GPS units have similar features. I can say that you can get into a Garmin Nuvi 200 for as little as $155 at Amazon. May be cheaper in other locations. Good luck in your decision.