Auto GPSs - What Works For You?

[Haoleguy]

I'm considering a portable GPS(Garmin, TomTom, Magellan) for my F150 truck which I can take with me when I travel in a car rental. The sales pitch around these is amazing. It's difficult to know how well they work and are they easy to use. I noticed some are now adding social media functions...don't need that. I'm interested in accuracy and speed of calculating position as you move, clarity on small screen, day/night screen function, ease of adding destination, etc. My reference point is the nice Acura navigation on my spouse's MDX. It makes sense for me to have a portable unit as I will be moving to a newer truck this coming year and I don't see paying the premium for OEM navigation. Please share your experience and pros and cons with your units.....Thank you, Gary

 

[phiferpharm]

I have portable, Marine, and now in my new truck a Alpine sound system that are all Garmin - based. No system is infallible, but I have had the best luck with this company. My last truck and my wifes Tahoe have the Onstar and GM system. It was not vey good and at times would basically tell me it was lost.

 

[thatguy]

I got a Garmin Nuvi 1300LM (lifetime maps) for christmas and like it so far.. they higher model numbers have a few extras that I dont think would be necessary..

Brian

 

[Samandothers]

Like Thatguy we have the 1300 with life time free map which I would get. We have an older unit and to upgrade the map would be $60. The accuracy has been good. My truck speedometer does not match the actual speed, I believe it is as we have added larger tires that OEM, and I use the Garmin it works good. It is the 4th one we bought. We bought ones in the past for our kids and we have not heard of any issues with any of them. I would get another Garmin if I needed one.

 

[Redneck in training]

If you plan traveling in remote areas on unmarked roads get one that traces the route. I use my Blackberry for navigation but for travel in places without mobile signal I use handheld Garmin Etrex. It is old but still work.

 

[Haoleguy]

If you plan traveling in remote areas on unmarked roads get one that traces the route. I use my Blackberry for navigation but for travel in places without mobile signal I use handheld Garmin Etrex. It is old but still work.

I thought these units are primarily satellite positioning units and not based on cell towers....Gary

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have a Garmin Nuvi in my F350, a Nissan factory unit in my Titan, and a BMW factory unit in the 335I. All are good units but my cell phone, Samsung Galaxy SII from Sprint is also amazing when I travel.

Chris

 

[Grateful11]

I have an iPhone but we prefer a Garmin for navigation, we have 255W, works great and they're pretty cheap if they still make that model.

 

[Travelover]

I've got a Garmin 255W that does everything I've ever asked of it. Very intuitive touch screen, easy to read, pretty fast start up, spoken street names and all for $100.

You can pay more for traffic updates, free maps, etc. I figure that for this price if it gets stolen or fails, I'll replace it with a better one for less in the future.



Garmin Nuvi 255W - Automotive GPS Navigation System

This looks good, too:
http://g.factoryoutletstore.com/details/18932-36614/Nuvi-1300LM.html

 

[Dmace]

I use every type of GPS from a handheld unit in the woods to millimeter accuracy survey GPS units ranging from $300 - $30,000. Garmin is top of the line for mobile GPS units and very easy to use. I had a Tom Tom for a little while because I liked the ability to add roads not on the map and share with other people online but it rarely worked and was a pain to navigate. If I had a power point charger and windshield mount, I would use my Droid X2 with Google Maps as it's a great system but then I can't use my phone while navigating.

If the GPS is not the same as your speedometer, trust the GPS. Most vehicle speedometers are set to read high just to keep your driving speed down.