GPS Navigation Input

[SD Transplant]

I hope from the many bright minds here I could get some feedback. I know it’s not RE related, but I would categorize this expense under the “fiscal responsability” column.

I’m looking for a GPS Navigation system for my car. I narrowed this down to 2 manufactureres (the biggest): 1) Garmin and 2)TomTom. Both have pros&cons and some of the review sites have posted a great deal of info, but some seem bias(or less reliable).

Here are some things I picked up on:

1) GARMIN NUVI series (mid to high end models)
CONS:
– built in battery (can’t replace it)
– preloaded maps (MUST BUY DVD to upgrade maps)
– little or no time to provide exit/turn info at high speed (tipically in the last seconds)
– fairly low built in memory (flash)
– fixed POI (points of interest) in the database w/out possibility to add/edit your own
– longer sattelite uplink/connection than TomTom (sometimes minutes – depends on where one resides)
– poor change of route calculation (processing speed)
PROS:
– US company
– leading manufacturer in this niche industry
– map accuracy (higher than competitors)
– plenty of product options (too many I think)
– best mounting system (braket/suction cup)
– provides carrying case after unit is removed from the car (specially important for high end units/expensive)
– higher end models could be set up with MSN traffic (for a fee) to get detail opptional routes (in case of traffic)

1) TomTom series (mid to high end models)
CONS:
– poor mount stand (amongst the worse)
– significantly fewer POI (points of interest) preloaded
– EU Company (not necessarily a bad thing)
– Address input error for non standard addresses that have a “-” in the numbering scheme w/out a fix (Hawaii)
PROS:
– preloaded maps could be upgraded anytime(online set up support) and it is FREE
– better map support for EU regions (for World Travelers)
– some folks swear by the better design of the unit
– way more options than the Garmin NUVI products.

So, since I’m a first time GPS buyer, I’m willing to take any input if you have experience with any of these (or other suggestions for cheaper/more reliable models)

Please….don’t blast me, I know this is not consumer reports, but keep in mind that many Realtors are using this or sales folks to track their mileage & pre-set travel routes.

[Anonymous]

As someone who just bought two different GPS navigation systems — and returned them both — I think I can offer some help.

I had been researching GPS devices for about two years before I thought the price point/feature set balance was optimal.

First, I bought the Magellan Maestro 4250 at Costco for $350. The quick summary is that although it has some very nice features, it is a very buggy unit (see Amazon reviews for more validation of this), and implements some of its features very strangely (e.g. in order to find a POI off of your current route, you have to cancel the route, search for the POI, navigate there, and start your original route again).

I had read about the reliability issues, and thought I might be one of the unaffected, but no such luck.

About the same time, I noticed that Costco dropped the price of the Garmin nuvi 680 to $399, which is a great deal, so I returned the Magellan, and bought the Garmin.

The Garmin is very stable; the map is very clear, text-to-speech is fairly accurate, and I found that it is quite fast at acquiring satellites. However, contrary to your post, you can add custom POIs, but I was disappointed that the Garmin didn’t seem to have what I would consider to be very common POIs.

For both units, my biggest gripe was that the routes it chose to calculate were consistently inefficient. Both units favored surface streets (even with the Magellan setting of “use freeways”), and grossly miscalculated the estimated time of arrival, because they didn’t seem to take into account any stop lights. So, it favored surface street routes that were much slower than their freeway equivalents.

Both units also have support for traffic incidents, and Garmin’s implementation is better on this front, but I did not own either unit long enough to take advantage of this feature. In my limited experience with it, I was very impressed.

After dealing with the negatives I mentioned, I decided that because I do not need to get to unfamiliar places on a regular basis, I just couldn’t justify spending $400 on a fun toy, so I returned the Garmin as well.

But, for a realtor or anyone who travels to many locations in a single day, it is a very useful tool.

Best of luck in your search…

Noah

[Anonymous]

As someone who just bought two different GPS navigation systems — and returned them both — I think I can offer some help.

I had been researching GPS devices for about two years before I thought the price point/feature set balance was optimal.

First, I bought the Magellan Maestro 4250 at Costco for $350. The quick summary is that although it has some very nice features, it is a very buggy unit (see Amazon reviews for more validation of this), and implements some of its features very strangely (e.g. in order to find a POI off of your current route, you have to cancel the route, search for the POI, navigate there, and start your original route again).

I had read about the reliability issues, and thought I might be one of the unaffected, but no such luck.

About the same time, I noticed that Costco dropped the price of the Garmin nuvi 680 to $399, which is a great deal, so I returned the Magellan, and bought the Garmin.

The Garmin is very stable; the map is very clear, text-to-speech is fairly accurate, and I found that it is quite fast at acquiring satellites. However, contrary to your post, you can add custom POIs, but I was disappointed that the Garmin didn’t seem to have what I would consider to be very common POIs.

For both units, my biggest gripe was that the routes it chose to calculate were consistently inefficient. Both units favored surface streets (even with the Magellan setting of “use freeways”), and grossly miscalculated the estimated time of arrival, because they didn’t seem to take into account any stop lights. So, it favored surface street routes that were much slower than their freeway equivalents.

Both units also have support for traffic incidents, and Garmin’s implementation is better on this front, but I did not own either unit long enough to take advantage of this feature. In my limited experience with it, I was very impressed.

After dealing with the negatives I mentioned, I decided that because I do not need to get to unfamiliar places on a regular basis, I just couldn’t justify spending $400 on a fun toy, so I returned the Garmin as well.

But, for a realtor or anyone who travels to many locations in a single day, it is a very useful tool.

Best of luck in your search…

Noah

[Anonymous]

As someone who just bought two different GPS navigation systems — and returned them both — I think I can offer some help.

I had been researching GPS devices for about two years before I thought the price point/feature set balance was optimal.

First, I bought the Magellan Maestro 4250 at Costco for $350. The quick summary is that although it has some very nice features, it is a very buggy unit (see Amazon reviews for more validation of this), and implements some of its features very strangely (e.g. in order to find a POI off of your current route, you have to cancel the route, search for the POI, navigate there, and start your original route again).

I had read about the reliability issues, and thought I might be one of the unaffected, but no such luck.

About the same time, I noticed that Costco dropped the price of the Garmin nuvi 680 to $399, which is a great deal, so I returned the Magellan, and bought the Garmin.

The Garmin is very stable; the map is very clear, text-to-speech is fairly accurate, and I found that it is quite fast at acquiring satellites. However, contrary to your post, you can add custom POIs, but I was disappointed that the Garmin didn’t seem to have what I would consider to be very common POIs.

For both units, my biggest gripe was that the routes it chose to calculate were consistently inefficient. Both units favored surface streets (even with the Magellan setting of “use freeways”), and grossly miscalculated the estimated time of arrival, because they didn’t seem to take into account any stop lights. So, it favored surface street routes that were much slower than their freeway equivalents.

Both units also have support for traffic incidents, and Garmin’s implementation is better on this front, but I did not own either unit long enough to take advantage of this feature. In my limited experience with it, I was very impressed.

After dealing with the negatives I mentioned, I decided that because I do not need to get to unfamiliar places on a regular basis, I just couldn’t justify spending $400 on a fun toy, so I returned the Garmin as well.

But, for a realtor or anyone who travels to many locations in a single day, it is a very useful tool.

Best of luck in your search…

Noah

[Anonymous]

As someone who just bought two different GPS navigation systems — and returned them both — I think I can offer some help.

I had been researching GPS devices for about two years before I thought the price point/feature set balance was optimal.

First, I bought the Magellan Maestro 4250 at Costco for $350. The quick summary is that although it has some very nice features, it is a very buggy unit (see Amazon reviews for more validation of this), and implements some of its features very strangely (e.g. in order to find a POI off of your current route, you have to cancel the route, search for the POI, navigate there, and start your original route again).

I had read about the reliability issues, and thought I might be one of the unaffected, but no such luck.

About the same time, I noticed that Costco dropped the price of the Garmin nuvi 680 to $399, which is a great deal, so I returned the Magellan, and bought the Garmin.

The Garmin is very stable; the map is very clear, text-to-speech is fairly accurate, and I found that it is quite fast at acquiring satellites. However, contrary to your post, you can add custom POIs, but I was disappointed that the Garmin didn’t seem to have what I would consider to be very common POIs.

For both units, my biggest gripe was that the routes it chose to calculate were consistently inefficient. Both units favored surface streets (even with the Magellan setting of “use freeways”), and grossly miscalculated the estimated time of arrival, because they didn’t seem to take into account any stop lights. So, it favored surface street routes that were much slower than their freeway equivalents.

Both units also have support for traffic incidents, and Garmin’s implementation is better on this front, but I did not own either unit long enough to take advantage of this feature. In my limited experience with it, I was very impressed.

After dealing with the negatives I mentioned, I decided that because I do not need to get to unfamiliar places on a regular basis, I just couldn’t justify spending $400 on a fun toy, so I returned the Garmin as well.

But, for a realtor or anyone who travels to many locations in a single day, it is a very useful tool.

Best of luck in your search…

Noah

[Anonymous]

As someone who just bought two different GPS navigation systems — and returned them both — I think I can offer some help.

I had been researching GPS devices for about two years before I thought the price point/feature set balance was optimal.

First, I bought the Magellan Maestro 4250 at Costco for $350. The quick summary is that although it has some very nice features, it is a very buggy unit (see Amazon reviews for more validation of this), and implements some of its features very strangely (e.g. in order to find a POI off of your current route, you have to cancel the route, search for the POI, navigate there, and start your original route again).

I had read about the reliability issues, and thought I might be one of the unaffected, but no such luck.

About the same time, I noticed that Costco dropped the price of the Garmin nuvi 680 to $399, which is a great deal, so I returned the Magellan, and bought the Garmin.

The Garmin is very stable; the map is very clear, text-to-speech is fairly accurate, and I found that it is quite fast at acquiring satellites. However, contrary to your post, you can add custom POIs, but I was disappointed that the Garmin didn’t seem to have what I would consider to be very common POIs.

For both units, my biggest gripe was that the routes it chose to calculate were consistently inefficient. Both units favored surface streets (even with the Magellan setting of “use freeways”), and grossly miscalculated the estimated time of arrival, because they didn’t seem to take into account any stop lights. So, it favored surface street routes that were much slower than their freeway equivalents.

Both units also have support for traffic incidents, and Garmin’s implementation is better on this front, but I did not own either unit long enough to take advantage of this feature. In my limited experience with it, I was very impressed.

After dealing with the negatives I mentioned, I decided that because I do not need to get to unfamiliar places on a regular basis, I just couldn’t justify spending $400 on a fun toy, so I returned the Garmin as well.

But, for a realtor or anyone who travels to many locations in a single day, it is a very useful tool.

Best of luck in your search…

Noah

[kev374]

The Garmins below the 700 series do not have a very basic ability to add waypoints, so you cannot create custom routes but rather have to stick to a direct route. This is quite BS.

[kev374]

The Garmins below the 700 series do not have a very basic ability to add waypoints, so you cannot create custom routes but rather have to stick to a direct route. This is quite BS.

[kev374]

The Garmins below the 700 series do not have a very basic ability to add waypoints, so you cannot create custom routes but rather have to stick to a direct route. This is quite BS.

[kev374]

The Garmins below the 700 series do not have a very basic ability to add waypoints, so you cannot create custom routes but rather have to stick to a direct route. This is quite BS.

[kev374]

The Garmins below the 700 series do not have a very basic ability to add waypoints, so you cannot create custom routes but rather have to stick to a direct route. This is quite BS.

[cashflow]

Last year I went with a Garmin Streetpilot 2730. Bought from Costco online. We are really happy with it. You can subscribe to satallite radio which also gives you traffic and reroutes around traffic. The accuracy has been good and I love the punch in screen (wouldn’t ever by a model that didn’t have this).

On another note, when shopping for this I looked to see if their were mobile phones with this capability yet, and didn’t find anything. Now verizon and others have GPS enabled phones….just something to think about…

[cashflow]

Last year I went with a Garmin Streetpilot 2730. Bought from Costco online. We are really happy with it. You can subscribe to satallite radio which also gives you traffic and reroutes around traffic. The accuracy has been good and I love the punch in screen (wouldn’t ever by a model that didn’t have this).

On another note, when shopping for this I looked to see if their were mobile phones with this capability yet, and didn’t find anything. Now verizon and others have GPS enabled phones….just something to think about…

[cashflow]

Last year I went with a Garmin Streetpilot 2730. Bought from Costco online. We are really happy with it. You can subscribe to satallite radio which also gives you traffic and reroutes around traffic. The accuracy has been good and I love the punch in screen (wouldn’t ever by a model that didn’t have this).

On another note, when shopping for this I looked to see if their were mobile phones with this capability yet, and didn’t find anything. Now verizon and others have GPS enabled phones….just something to think about…

[cashflow]

Last year I went with a Garmin Streetpilot 2730. Bought from Costco online. We are really happy with it. You can subscribe to satallite radio which also gives you traffic and reroutes around traffic. The accuracy has been good and I love the punch in screen (wouldn’t ever by a model that didn’t have this).

On another note, when shopping for this I looked to see if their were mobile phones with this capability yet, and didn’t find anything. Now verizon and others have GPS enabled phones….just something to think about…

[Author]

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