I'm thinking of picking up a portable GPS Nav system for the truck....

What are the best units for the money out there? How much should a guy spend?

Pros and cons of brands and models?

 

I have a Corbra NavOne 5000 Don't get this one the maps suck and it takes forever to load.....the routing is terrible on one trip it put me down a deadend road and on a route I always take it wants to route me 50 miles out of the fastest and shortest way

I do like the big screen.....but theres no option to load differant maps into the unit

 

Thanks for the heads up Pappyman. I will remember that. I did figure though that their must be more people running these units out there.....

 

I hear good things about the TOMTOM ... but the one my partner used on one of our business trips got us lost and almost stuck in the snow a few times. Maybe it was just using an old map ...

PISTOL

 

I have have kenwood dnx-7100. I don't think that is what your are looking for but it uses garmin nav. Everyone I work with has a garmin nuvi of some sort and love them.

 

I have a tom tom xl one and absolutely love it. Free map upgrades for a year, big screen and good price. About 275 should do it, now that I have it, I'll never go without it. With my side business, I save at least a 1/2 hour every day not having to look up streets, etc

 

I have a Tom Tom One 3rd edition and it's great. It's not a wide screen but it's fine for me. Does amazingly fast route calculations.
Picked it up at a local store on sale for $139.

MikeyB

 

I've got the Garmin C330 and love it. Got one for the wife too. Bought them on Ebay last Dec.

 

I don't own one, but I've heard good things about the Garmin units.

 

I bought a Garmin nuvi 200W for my lady friend. She really likes and it seems more times than not its in my truck. Maps are nice and it has a 4.3" widescreen. I only paid $200.00 for it and it works great.

 

I have a Garmin Nuvi 750 and love it
here is some good reading and info on GPS
Make sure you get one that says the names of the streets to turn on , not just right or left
http://www.gpsmagazine.com/buyers_guide.php

 

we used a Garmin C330 from Raliegh to Athens NY to Savona NY thru PA, VA, and back to Raliegh.

it was ignorant.

it had us on roads there were not even striped/painted

it had us get OFF the main road (501 south in VA) and take back roads across town, to get BACK on 501 south on the other end of town.

i would NOT get one based on that unit's performance.

we have a Pioneer D3 which is in-dash in my truck, is VASTLY superior to how that Garmin did.


everyone raves about Garmin though, so my buddy is going to try a update on his via the internet. it's 3 years old, and it was total crap.

you could SEE where you SHOULD go, and it would tell you to turn,
and he would follow it. i'm like "DUDE, FOLLOW THE SIGNS"


some good reading:

http://www.avic411.com/forum/

 

I have had 3 Garmins two where good one had to be sent back and I was given another. The one that got sent back had navigation issues.
I like my Garmin and it is pretty good. The one thing to bear in mind when purchasing a GPS, make sure you can enter long and lat. Some will only let you enter physical addresses.
No good for the fishing hole. I have gone on to Google earth found a spot I want to go camp/fish at. Put the long and lat into the Garmin off I go. I find it amazing that the gps knows all the little logging roads, in the middle of no where.

 

I had a Garmin c340 and it worked well. We now have a nuvi 260 and I like it as well, but the sound isn't as good.
on both of these units you could set it to stay off unpaved roads if you want it to. You can also avoid u turns traffic, toll roads , etc.
I have updated to 2009 maps and it does a good job.

 

i just remembered, the one he had, did 3 left turns instead of one right. was crazy.

anyways, used mine to go "back home" just for kicks.

i been driving that way 20 years.

my D3 Navi unit took 30 minutes off the trip, by going a different way that i did not know about.