I'm moving soon and have a majestic Trans Am waiting for me in Charlotte, NC. However, what good is a bitchin' car if you don't know your way around? I was wondering if anybody could reccomend me a good GPS for 350 or less (maybe more, if its really good) that would mount neatly and worked well. I don't need a ton of bells and whistles, I just want to avoid getting lost the first week I'm down there.

 

Garmin StreetPilot i5
Sometimes its $350 on rebate at CircuitCity (Normal price is $400+).
Its the best you can get at that price range.
The entire US, Canada, and Puerto Rico are loaded into its memory along with tons of "points of Interest" (stores, hotels, restaurants, bars, museums, etc.) Everything else with these features costs more and almost evertying else in its price range requires loading of maps of the general area you plan to be in. Its small (about the size or a tennis ball) but the screen is decent and it has voice prompts. The firmware is also upgradeable. I highly recommend that you upgrade its firmware to the current one (its much better than the one that shipped). The firmware is easy to upgrade (and freely available on Garmin's website). The Garmin StreetPilot i5 is very easy to use. My roomate liked it so much he bought one. My girlfriend wants one now too.

Search the web and you'll see plenty of great reviews. The only bad comments I've seen are from people who either didnt know what they were doing or lived in dirt road country where no gps unit would help them anyway.

Map updates are also available for about $70 whenever they are released. Aslo, they have a deal that if an update is released within a month of you buiying the unit, you can get the update for free.

http://www.garmin.com/products/spi5/

 

Hey, thanks. I did some more research today and it seems that that unit is all the rage. Since it sounds like you own one personally, do you know what the real difference between the i5 and a touchscreen model like the c320 or c330? What sets the i5 apart other than the price? I know that it looks like a good unit, but what really sets it off from the rest?

Oh also, how often do you update the maps? $70 seems a bit steep.

 

Depending on what you plan to use a GPS for, the Garmin Quest is also a good choice. I have one because it's waterproof (for use on the motorcycle) and it fits in your pocket for those times when you aren't in the car. That's pretty handy when you're sightseeing. Unfortunately, the Quest model that's in your price range doesn't have enough memory to load all the map information at once but the 115MB is enough to load three or four states worth at a time.

I've had several different GPS units from Magellan and Garmin. Things to look for are automatic recalculation (if you get off course), voice prompts (so you don't spend all your time looking at it), batteries (so you can program it without being in the car), and a high-contrast screen that you can see in bright daylight.

Nice to have features are things like 3D views, detour recalculation (for getting around construction or accidents), touch screen (although that's not as big a deal as it might seem), and 12 satellite WAAS accuracy.

I tend to update the map software every other year. That cuts the effective cost in half while not leaving my GPS too far out of date.

Bear in mind that while a GPS will get you where you want to go, it doesn't always choose the fastest or best route. I've had cases where it will route me off of the interstate onto a secondary highway only to have me get back on the interstate a couple of exits farther down.

 

Hey guys, I'm back. I've been doing MORE searching and reading more reviews but it seems like you just can't beat talking to people who actually own units (and install them in sexy cars no less) so I just have one more question.

I was looking at the Garmin c320 or c330 as they seem to be a bit nicer than the i5 and was just wondering why these already expensive units don't have text to speech functionality. Do any in my price range offer that? If not, how important it is really or rather, how much easier is it than being told to turn left on main street as opposed to just being told to turn left in however many yards?

 

I have owned the Garmin StreetPilot i5 for just over 2 months.

Features that made me buy it:
* Voice prompts with distance to turn (does not say name of street, but its listed on screen)
* Uses AA batteries and has power-cord for cig lighter.
* Small and easy to transport
* Decent screen that shows map, distance to turn, name of next street, estimated time of arrival.
* Full USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico maps loaded.
* Many "Points of Interest" loaded (and you can add more with a Micro-SD card)
* Can upgrade the firmware freely online.
* $70 for maps inst that bad (Built-In In-dash units from Nissan and other auto manufactures cost $200+ for a map upgrade)
* Auto re-route if you miss a turn
* Easy to enter destination and other settings through clickable scroll wheel and "back" button (not touchscreen, but try it and you'll see how easy it is to use)

Only thing I don't like:
* The setting for "Shortest Distance" or "Shortest Time" is a global setting and not a per-route setting. This may seem like an odd "minus" but when I'm in Texas I have it set to "Shortest Distance" and when I'm in Mass I have it set to "Shortest Time". The reason for this is that in Mass, the "Shortest Distance" setting will tell you to take slower/small routes instead of the highway (although more scenic) whereas the "Shortest Time" setting will tell you to take the main highways. When Im in Texas, I use the "Shortest Distance" setting beacuse it says to use the "service roads"/routes that run parallel to the highways and travel at 55mph anyway whereas the "Shortest Time" setting may tell you to get on the highway for one exit and back onto the "service road"/route Even with this very minor inconvience, this is an amazing unit for the price.


The c330 does sound like a nicer unit (only judging by the description and specs on Garmin's site, not reviews), but Its $136 more retail. Can you justify the extra cost of touchscreen capability and a larger screen? Normally I'd say go to BestBuy or CircuitCity (where I bought mine) and test them both for yourself, but the current version of the firmware (available online) for the i5 is much better than the version than shipped (they made destination selection easier and change the voice prompts a bit, among other things).


When you say "text to speach" do you mean reading off street and route names? If so, the i5 doesnt do it and I dont know which models do (although some do). I just saw a comercial on TV for a Garmin StreetPilot (not sure of the model, but one of the higher ones....higher c-series I think, from appearance) that did read route/street names.


I just looked around Garmin's site some more. It looks like the c340 does have text-to-speach capability but its MSRP is $642.84 USD.

 

The text to speech capability has advantages in some situations but for general use the distance to turn is just as useful. Having the GPS announce the street name is most useful in downtown areas where the streets are close together and you can confirm the name of the street you're turning on. On the other hand, many cities and towns use street signs that are too small to read easily so the distance to turn is more useful. As VIP1 said, you can always look at the screen to get the street name.

 

Since it seems like you know from first hand expierience as well, can you tell me what units you've actually used and how accurate they have been? I think I'm narrowing my choice down between the i5 and the c330 from Garmin but I'm just not sure. Is the software between different Garmin models actually different aside from the bells and whistles or is the actually directional software between units the same?

 

Sorry, but I don't know the difference between Garmin models besides reading what is written on their website.