In-car portable GPS devices

[theunions]

Although I've never used one nor even seen one in operation for myself (as opposed to once riding with someone using a built-in dash system), I'm looking into getting one in time for my pending Long Beach/Houston trip.

Does anyone here have any recommendations? I know basically nothing about them other than the $300 low end range is ideally what I'd like to spend.

From what little I've read up on, my main tech question is just how important is speech-to-text recognition (in order for it to read off street names, etc.)? I'd think very much so, in order to keep my focus on complete verbal commands rather than staring at the screen (and I'd prefer to know what specific street is coming up, as opposed to just "turn left" or "turn right") - without it, am I better off just sticking to the analog maps and Mapquest printouts I've been using for years?

I'm curious how any of the speech-to-text models do with Hawaiian street names - how much mangling of pronounciations happens? I don't intend to use it myself locally, but if I'm gonna pay through the nose for this feature (apparently only available on the high-end models), I want to be able to hand this off to visiting friends with confidence. Googling on this subject generated me zero results.

FWIW, I do not own a Bluetooth phone, so such capability is wasted on me.

[Gnam]

I have two stories.

One:
Recently I found myself in Honolulu with a Hertz rental car equipped with their aftermarket GPS system. It did not say the street names, only turn left, turn right etc, but it worked GREAT. You could punch in a street address, an intersection, search a yellow pages directory to find nearby stores or restaurants, and it could always get you home. Personally, all I need is "Turn Right" or "Turn Left" because Hawaiian names have way too many vowels for me to able to pronounce.

Two:
For Christmas I got a Magellan RoadMate 2000. I don't use it much 'cause I know where I work and where I live, but it's useful when I need it. I had to attend a wedding in the middle of the Sacramento River Delta, nothing but two lane roads running on top of leeves, no signs, or landmarks. Got me there and back no problem.

[Wabbit]

Even my in-car system (Accord) only says turn left, turn right. The only time it actually uses a street name is for Highway numbers.

[TravelGal]

A key part of this equation is how quickly it resets when you go off course. If you make a wrong turn or pass your exit, will it instantly recalcuate your position or does it take 10 seconds to start the process? At the speeds we travel here in SoCal, you can be half the way to Cucamonga before a slow GPS figures it out.

TravelGuy bought a Pharos 135 which does relatively well. On a couple of occasions we have had a mild panic because it was not clear what the instructions were telling us but overall it gets you from here to there.

[Don Quixote]

My neighbor just got one for his car and he was in an accident the first week he had it because he was fiddling with it during rush hour. :eek:

[TravelGal]

Yeah, this is why the new incar systems, at least in my friend's Toyota (you should pardon the language) have a kill switch over about 5 mph.

[RARules]

I assume you really mean "text to speech", in which the GPS speaks the street names to you, not you speak the names to it and it figures out what you mean.

I have a ~4 year old Garmin 2610, and it does text to speech very well (in a number of languages - I only care about English). It recalculates pretty quickly, but often takes about 10 seconds for it to figure that you're off course. If it figures it out more quickly, you'll get more false positives- where it thinks you're off-course but you're not.

It works quite well overall, although the display seems to be substantially dimmer than when it was new.

This version has downloadable maps onto compact flash, while the newer units have the entire detailed map set for North America already - and permanently - resident.

Oh, it also has a DB of attractions, restaurants, gas satations, etc. Very handy when you're on the road. It has a touch screen and a very functional remote control with "finger-stick" cursor control. It was about $700 when new.

I heartily recommend GPS units, especially if you're moving to a new area. great for learning the new area. It's really nice to *never* be lost again.

[theunions]

Do the various "Points of Interest" databases get as detailed as to identify gas stations by name or brand, or is it generic?

[Elmo T]

I think Consumer Reports recommended the Garmin Nuvi 350 (?).

I just started pricing them out - Walmart seems to have the best price. I also see that AAA has their own GPS Magellan unit out. It contains all the information from their tour books. We were also debating the merits of built-in GPS in the car versus a portable unit.

I have a GPS unit on my Pocket PC. It uses an HP GPS receiver you throw up on the dash, links to the Pocket PC via Bluetooth. I used it the last two years for trips to M-O, Cleveland, and in Florida. I haven't purchased the updated maps, but it still works amazingly well. I like the points of interest option: we can search for food, gas, or lodging by city or by closest place. It has come in handy when trying to hunt down a good place to eat on the road.

[Hard Driver]

I did some research and ended up buying a Garmin i3 about 6 months ago. The thing works great. For the sub $300 range, you can't do better by what I can tell. It calculates routes well. The wheel input works well. The thing recalculates routes immediately on the fly if you miss a turn, which all the cheap ones do not do.

No it does not read street names. But you stick it on the windshield. It says turn left in 300 ft. Then turn left. And on the screed it reads turn left on xxx road. It is pretty hard to miss a turn.

I am not sure they make the i3 anymore, but the i5 is now sub $300.

The only issue is the connector is a bit flimsy, so be careful or tape the cord to the side to eliminate stresses.

[SteveH]

I've got a Garmin C320, Amazon sez its list is $749.99 :rofl:

Its the low end of their Street Pilot line

Works great, does not speak the street names. But the directions it gives are easy to follow. Resets very quickly when you miss a turn. Doesn't respond with "turn around immediately" like I've heard others. Instead it plots the best way based on the direction you are currently heading. I've got the entire US (all 50 states) loaded on a 1 gb SD card. :thumbup:

[RARules]

Do the various "Points of Interest" databases get as detailed as to identify gas stations by name or brand, or is it generic?

The points of interest are very definitively brand-specific as the points of interest have paid to be included in the database. So the actual names (in the case of gasoline brands, the brand names themselves) are in the database. Same for fast food restaurants. They generally show up ordered by distance from the current location. They also include an arrow showing the direction so you can figure out whether they're in front of you or you already passed them. Handy. Can also condtrain the search by text string. Way more than you chould sdo by yourself. Passenger should do these things.

[Elmo T]

But you stick it on the windshield.


That was one of my concerns with these units. My Pocket PC uses a blue tooth GPS receiver (about the size of one of those old pagers0. I have a mount for the Pocket PC down on the dash. I was concerned about how onerous it is to have that on the dash/windshield. The small size of the Garmin 350 made it appealing to us.

[tllips]

What about the ones that can download up to the minute traffic info? Any experience with these? Do they only have expressway data, or can they truly find a faster route based on traffic?

[chop456]

I can tell you that as of this past Thursday morning, the Mio C310x can't find the Perkins restaurant in Cypress Gardens, FL. :gomer:

[cyclepath]

Got a Garmin nuvi350 6 months ago.. its great.. I like the text to speach feature.. although you can get some "creative" pronunciations in british and australian accents.. BTW buy it online (walmart :saywhat: ) had a killer price!

[theunions]

I'm told the current Garmin text-to-speech models do a decent enough job with Hawaiian street names, which I can apparently see demonstrated for myself at the auto show this weekend.

If I went the Garmin route, is there any reason for me to get something higher than the Nuvi 360 (the 350's not available at the show)?

[cyclepath]

I'm told the current Garmin text-to-speech models do a decent enough job with Hawaiian street names, which I can apparently see demonstrated for myself at the auto show this weekend.

If I went the Garmin route, is there any reason for me to get something higher than the Nuvi 360 (the 350's not available at the show)?

I belive the 350/360 are the same exept for the blue tooth technology in the 360. and you can still get it at walmart.com for UNDER $400!

[theunions]

I wound up ordering the Nuvi 350 from Amazon for $400 (walmart.com actually is no lower right now) - shipped yesterday.

[Elmo T]

We ended up passing on the portable GPS unit and instead bought a GPS unit attached to a 2007 Subaru Tribeca. Unfortunately, you cannot get the DVD player without navigation, so now we have the built in unit. It seems to work reasonably well, though the street numbers are about 1/2 block off for many locations.

I've been looking for a newer data disk. I was told the 2005 disk is the most recent available. Has anyone had any luck finding something newer for the built in units?

[velocity boy]

I got the Garmin Nuvi 350 a couple of days ago for (C$499.95) and I'm very happy with it so far. The text to speech feature comes in very handy as it tells you the name of the street to turn on instead of just saying turn in 200 meters etc. It does however seem to have one interesting quirk. When the selected route takes you onto a drive such as Northland DR in it tells you to turn onto Northland Doctor instead. At first I thought the thing was trying to suck up but I then realized it was mistaking the DR for doctor instead of drive. You'd think being a navigation tool they would of set the thing to recognize DR as drive instead of doctor but it's a small thing to overlook.

[tllips]

I received the Garmin C530 for my birthday (Yes, I am now officially OLD) and can get a 10% discount on the traffic device from Circuit City if i want it.

Does anybody have any experience with these FM traffic devices?

1. Does it only track expressway traffic? i.e. If it is going to give me an alternate route due to congestion on I-355, does it know that the surface streets are moving better, or does it assume the surface roads are moving at posted speeds.

2. Do the alternate routes actually save significant time in your experience?

I would only want the traffic add on if it will save me significant time on my route as the traffic reports on the AM dial in Chicago do not always cover the expressways that I am on (I-355 and IL Rte 53) with each report and I am frequently blindsided by massive backups.

Any help???

[SteveH]

I would only want the traffic add on if it will save me significant time on my route as the traffic reports on the AM dial in Chicago do not always cover the expressways that I am on (I-355 and IL Rte 53) with each report and I am frequently blindsided by massive backups.

Now that you mention it, I've never heard of I-355 mentioned on 780. Or Rte 53. Wonder why that is? I usually tune in too late. :irked:

[tllips]

Now that you mention it, I've never heard of I-355 mentioned on 780. Or Rte 53. Wonder why that is? I usually tune in too late. :irked:

They only sporadically give this info at :18 and :38. I would say I get it about 60% of the time at those two times and never in any of the other traffic reports during the hour.

[chop456]

Now that you mention it, I've never heard of I-355 mentioned on 780. Or Rte 53. Wonder why that is?

Because they call it the North-South Tollway? :D

[indyfan31]

Ok, now I'm in the market for one of these. It looks like the Nuvi 350/360 is one of the more popular models, as well as the fact that CR rated it as the top model at the end 2006.
One thing that I'd like to clear up is the real-time traffic info. I want nothing to do with XM radio so the models that use that are out. The other models claim to use a Bluetooth enabled cell phone to get traffic info. How does that work? Does it cost extra, or is it just phone minutes?

[dando]

Ok, now I'm in the market for one of these. It looks like the Nuvi 350/360 is one of the more popular models, as well as the fact that CR rated it as the top model at the end 2006.
One thing that I'd like to clear up is the real-time traffic info. I want nothing to do with XM radio so the models that use that are out. The other models claim to use a Bluetooth enabled cell phone to get traffic info. How does that work? Does it cost extra, or is it just phone minutes?

I recently purchased one of these as well. I liked the Nuvi, but I was balancing price vs. features, and found the Tom Tom One on deal through Dell for $229. I went with that over the Garmin Nuvi or SP c330 due to the lower price point with most of the features I wanted (more advanced feature than the SPs, but a bit less than the Nuvis). Although, I did like the longer battery life for the Nuvi, but for my limited use needs (and in car only), I doubt I would need the longer battery life anyway.

In any case, I believe traffic updates require a sub through the GPS service as well as phone use through your cell service provider. Tom Tom lists the traffic service @ 40E/year, but I couldn't find the US rate.

Make sure you check out GPSreviews.net for user fbk and reviews.

-Kevin

[indyfan31]

...Make sure you check out GPSreviews.net for user fbk and reviews.

-Kevin

thanks dando.

[nissan gtp]

^ try it without the "s" --- http://www.gpsreview.net/

[dando]

^ try it without the "s" --- http://www.gpsreview.net/

For some reason I always add the s to that linkage. :\

Anyway the Nuvi 350 is reported to have dropped its MSRP to $349. Price compares @ Techbargains:

http://techbargains.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=11841514/search=0100045500

-Kevin

[indyfan31]

Kind of leaning towards the Nuvi 660, bigger screen and traffic built in without the XM subscription.