Looking at getting a stand alone Car / GPS map... thing

Gourd

Gourd

CAGiversary!
As you can tell by my title, I have no knowledge of these things at all.

I'm part of a volunteer program where I drive the elderly to doctor's appointments, and often times the instructions from the volunteer organization get me lost.

I'm looking to spend about 400 dollars or so, but don't want a dedicated one car only solution. I'd like something I could move from car to car that hopefully won't involve adhering it to surfaces.

Cheapass Gamer tends to come through on advice on this sort of thing, so checking here. Searches turn up results from over a year or two years ago, so I think it's okay to ask again; electronics become obsolete so quickly.

If anyone has any advice, or could point me to a good site to read about /current/ state of the art in GPS systems, that would be great.

Thanks for reading this.
 
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i got the garmin c550 streetpilot...it works great for me...this model comes w/the fm traffic receiver built in, so it will direct me around traffic build up. There is a monthly fee for that, if you don't really need it, then you don't have to sign up for it. This one is shaped like a really small crt tv...they have other models that are shaped more like palm pilots, so it is a lot easier to walk around with it...amazon has this model for $350, for about $20 you can get a weighted mount that plops down on the dash, you can remove it and place it in another call if you want.
 
amazon is a good place to buy these things - i bought a lower end garmin (220) after trying one of the fancier garmins (400) and was happy with it -- you should watch the prices as i found daily fluctuation on amazon
 
I've got the Mio C310x. Picked it up at Staples for about $180ish. It has been absolutely fantastic so far. I've owned it about a year and used it for about 10 or so trips.
 
My parents just bought a garmin and they love it. They bought an additional weighted bean bag type stand for the dashboard so they don't have to attach it to anything and can move it from car to car at will. It must be pretty easy to use since they are quite technologically impaired and have no trouble at all using it.
 
I got a TomTom One when it was on clearance at TRU. Ended costing $144 with coupons. I love its size + there are a ton of hacks/mods for it. My favorite is the text to speech hack. Text to speech is usually something you see in more expensive GPS navigators, but it was pretty easy to install on the TomTom One. If possible try to find an older model as the newer ones (ver 3) do not come with an SD card slot.
 
As long as yours has Text to Speech I think you'll be happy. Personally I went with the Garmin C340 for $350 and I *love* it.

Basically bought it for 2 trips and it was still worth it. The peace of mind knowing that I won't end up in Compton on Thursday when I drive to LA for E for All is plenty worth it.
 
I have a Garmin Nuvi 350. It is $367 at amazon. It works great. I ordered a TomTom One first because it was cheaper, but it was terrible. It gave me awful directions, and the maps were out of date. One road where I live is about 5 years old, and the TomTom did not have it. The Garmin did. Garmin, most other GPS devices, and web sites like Yahoo all use Navteq maps. These are considered the best. The TomTom uses TeleAtlas, which aren't as good in North America. The Garmin was definitely worth the extra money.
 
I concur with the Hulk409 I own a Nuvi 350 and Consumer Reports ranked it #2 just a month or 2 ago. The #1 one was another Garmin Nuvi with a higher number like 650 or something (to lazy to look) the Garmin street pilot was around 5th place and I have heard a lot of bad things about the Tom Tom one but if you are really I got mine for $320 from Ritz Camera in mid Sept. but check SD and Chubby Wallet for deals
 
[quote name='veedubkid']I concur with the Hulk409 I own a Nuvi 350 and Consumer Reports ranked it #2 just a month or 2 ago. The #1 one was another Garmin Nuvi with a higher number like 650 or something (to lazy to look)[/quote]#1 was the Nuvi 660. (There is now the 680, but it's pretty much the 660 + MSN Direct/yearly fee.) I just got my 660 this week for free and I couldn't be happier. I also recommend Garmin over TomTom. The Garmin menus are easier for me to use and like hulk said, the maps are reliable.
 
I have a Nuvi 350. I like it. It doesn't do everything I want it to (waypoints is the biggest missing feature) and a couple of times it told me to go the wrong way on a one way street.

I love it when I get in the mood to go drive on back country roads.
 
[quote name='veedubkid']You CAN add way points with a Nuvi. You just have to wait before you type it in.[/quote]
Okay...
What I meant by waypoints is...
Say I'm starting at "A" and am heading to "E".
I want to be able to tell it that I want to also go to "B", "C", and "D" (in whichever order) on my way to "E".

As far as I know it's impossible to do that with a Nuvi 350. Currently, if I want to do that, I have to go from "A" to "B" then "B" to "C" and so on.

When I first got it I remember thinking it was a little bit dumbed down.

I think some people call them viapoints.

Also I abhor not being able to remove, add, or edit the built in POI. There are things in my home town that have been gone for years that are included in it's "directory" and things that have been here for years that aren't.

Another thing, I wish it came with a really small, dot-like, icon that represents where you are. Though I believe its possible to add custom icons, I haven't messed with that yet.
 
I think I understand what Mguiddy is talking about. Let's say that today you need to go from your house to the hospital. However along the way you also need to run errands, such as visiting the pharmacy, a post office, and a bank. You don't have a preference, but want to hit those points and your final destination in the most EFFICIENT way possible.

According to review of the Nuvi, it cannot plan out an efficient trip for that situation.

Not a deal breaker for me, as I mainly just want something to keep me from getting lost.
 
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