GPS System

[swerve]

I'm moving away for college and will be around the Chicago area. Instead of learning all new roads on my own I am investing in a GPS system. Does anyone have one. Please post comments or information here that may help me decide. I'm currently looking at the Garmin Nuvi 350

[dorokusai]

I have the Garmin 550 and absolutely love it. I think it's an indespensable piece of gear.

[jrlouie]

I have the 350. Love it. I even took it on a trip with me to Chicago (first time being there) and didn't bring any written directions or maps. The Garmin got me everywhere I wanted. We even used it when walking. We knew our destination, we knew what train to get on, but weren't sure which stop to get off at. The Garmin will let you search for things near your destination so we just searched for trains near our destination and it would list the stop we should get off at. Worked well.
I live in downtown St. Louis. The buildings give it a little trouble acquiring satellites when I pull out of my basement garage. But usually I know which direction I need to go anyway so I just go and it eventually locks on. Once it is locked on, driving downtown doesn't have any issues.
I actually get just as much use out of the mp3 player as I do for navigation. I have a 2-gig SD card in it with mp3s. I walk to work, and use it all day. It is small enough to fit in my pocket. It is a limited mp3 player but gets the job done. It doesn't allow you to build play lists from within the player, so I just wrote my own little Java application to make play lists based upon what's on the Garmin ;) I even use the headphone out hooked up to my tube preamp for background music in the home.
If I were to try to come up with negatives, although minor, the touch screen occasionally selects buttons that I didn’t select. It is kind of weird, I’ll pick a button, see it highlight, but it will choose a different function. This doesn’t happen much so I’m not worried about it enough to investigate warranty service.
That’s about all I can think of right now. Let me know if you have questions.

[jrlouie]

Oh yeah, here is a great forum to do more research if you want...
Garmin Nuvi Forum

[mark090852]

I have a Tom Tom One XL and have been very happy with it so far. The one thing it doesn't have is "text to speach" recognition so it doesn't say the name of the street or highway you are to turn onto. It just says "turn right or turn left". I can look at the screen and see what the street or highway name is but that takes my eyes off the road for a moment. I previously had a BMW with a nav. system in it and it spoke street names, etc. No big deal but if I had it to do over again I would be sure to get one with that feature.

[joeparaski]

GPS navigation is a great thing. I've been all over the U.S. with it and have never been lost, it is a great tool for travelers.

I've seen people become "stupid" with them though. Last winter a customer that purchased a unit brought it back complaining that the screen would fog up after he stopped for breakfast and went back to his car. I asked him how long it took before it cleared up, and he said it took about a minute. Then I asked him if he was lost for the first minute without his gps....he promptly picked up his gear and left.

Joe

[Mike682]

I have a Megellan 3100 and love it. It's a basic gps that is stable and accurate

One thing to look out for are the maps. There are currently two companies that make maps for the gps manufacturers: TeleAtlas and Navteq. I was told that Navteq is the better of the two. Also, here is an internet review of the two map companies: http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2006/07/n..._which_one.php

Garmin and Magellan use Navteq maps.

[janmike]

GPS navigation is a great thing. I've been all over the U.S. with it and have never been lost, it is a great tool for travelers.

I've seen people become "stupid" with them though. Last winter a customer that purchased a unit brought it back complaining that the screen would fog up after he stopped for breakfast and went back to his car. I asked him how long it took before it cleared up, and he said it took about a minute. Then I asked him if he was lost for the first minute without his gps....he promptly picked up his gear and left.

Joe

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
That's great Joe. Here's Your Sign.

[mantis]

I also have the Garmin 350. It's excellent. For the money it's well worth it.

[Lasareath]

I have a Magellan 3000T and I use it for work and play. No more Mapquest!!!

Magellan has a new one I saw in Costco and it's wide screen and it was only $399, i'm pretty sure it was the Magellan Maestro 4040.

I'm very happy with mine. I can't go back to no GPS!!!

[GaryZ06]

I have a TOMTOM 510....I use only one feature...MPH reading...I like to get accurate mph when I'm doing some high speed runs

[bobman1235]

You.... you spent 400 bucks on a speedometer? That's not even as accurate as the one on your dashboard?

[GaryZ06]

You.... you spent 400 bucks on a speedometer? That's not even as accurate as the one on your dashboard?

$255 on ebay....Speedometers can be off as much as 3% and when you are going really fast it adds up...Plus I like blowing money:D...plus I hear GPS is very accurate

[polktiger]

I have a Nuvi 350 and like it. I am confused with the maps - it will have some small, unpaved mountain roads, but it is missing a couple large, 500+ home developments in our city. Makes no sense to me.

Otherwise it is very handy. I just wish I could tell it five places I wanted to go and have it plot the most efficient route between all the places. I imagine I could save some time running errands with that.

[bobman1235]

$255 on ebay....Speedometers can be off as much as 3% and when you are going really fast it adds up...Plus I like blowing money:D...plus I hear GPS is very accurate

A friend of mine works on GPS software development for the DOT. While GPS will average out to be pretty accurate, instantaneous speeds are subject to quite a bit of error, as GPS readings can be up to 20 feet off at any given time. Couple that with potential signal loss, latency issues, etc... consumer GPS just aren't made for that kind of accuracy - you'd have to spend thousands to get there. I'd trust a well-calibrated car speedo over a consumer GPS any day of the week.

I am confused with the maps - it will have some small, unpaved mountain roads, but it is missing a couple large, 500+ home developments in our city.

The mountain roads, despite being old and unpaved, are probably just older. Maps are still made by humans, so when a new development is put up, it can take a while for the streets to get mapped in, and then even longer for a company to integrate those maps into their software, and even longer than that for them to get the software to you, the customer.

[GaryZ06]

A friend of mine works on GPS software development for the DOT. While GPS will average out to be pretty accurate, instantaneous speeds are subject to quite a bit of error, as GPS readings can be up to 20 feet off at any given time. Couple that with potential signal loss, latency issues, etc... consumer GPS just aren't made for that kind of accuracy - you'd have to spend thousands to get there. I'd trust a well-calibrated car speedo over a consumer GPS any day of the week.

Cool info...I know when they test for top speed they use a GPS unit.I am sure as you said it is a high tech unit.....Thanks

[bobman1235]

No prob. I love expensive tech toys too, so I don't blame you for using one. :)

[GaryZ06]

No prob. I love expensive tech toys too, so I don't blame you for using one. :)

Yes I'm going to buy some more expensive tech toys in a couple of days:D

[polktiger]

The mountain roads, despite being old and unpaved, are probably just older. Maps are still made by humans, so when a new development is put up, it can take a while for the streets to get mapped in, and then even longer for a company to integrate those maps into their software, and even longer than that for them to get the software to you, the customer.

I can understand that, but a couple of the neighborhoods I am thinking about are not quite what I would would call "new." Some are 5 to seven years old, and I would think if pizza hut and map quest has it, then Garmin should have it. One of the missing roads was an interstate that was just finished about 2 years ago, so I can somewhat see the delay there, but even it is the bypass for a city, so I think it would get "rush" treatment.