What’s the Best GPS For Car Use?

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:19:42 +0000

To find the best GPS for car use, you have to understand a little about the market. Specifically, you need to know who makes the best GPS systems, what their features are and how much that’s going to cost. Then you can choose the best GPS for your needs and budget.

In the United States, there are three manufacturers of GPS systems you need to focus on–Garmin, Tom Tom, and Magellan. Garmin is without doubt the industry leader, selling around half of the GPS devices sold. Tom Tom and Magellan each sell about 20%. So, these three companies represent about 90% of the total U. S. market.

Although there are several other companies that make GPS’s, I would look no further than these three.

Buying a GPS is a little difficult, sometimes.

Even if you focus on just these three manufacturers there’s still a ton of models to choose from. Also, GPS devices all have features that normally you might not have considered important, like what they call FM transmission–the ability of your GPS to send it’s sound through your car’s stereo system.

I’ve been reviewing GPS systems for quite a while, and I’ve written several hundred reviews. One thing that seems to help people is to divide the marketplace into three areas, entry-level, mid-range, and high-end. Within each of these divisions, it’s easier to say which unit is actually the best GPS for car use.

So, let’s talk about each of these market segments in order, starting with the entry-level market.

Best GPS for Car, Entry-Level

In a short, 500 word, article it’s impossible to give the GPS marketplace a complete treatment. So at each price point, I’m going to mention one of two GPS’s that I really like and give you an indication of why. You can then continue your own research online on a good website.

There are four entry-level devices I like. The Garmin nuvi’s 200 and 350. The Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition, and the Magellan Maestro 3100.

The nuvi 200, One, 3rd Edition, and the Maestro 3100 all sell for about $150. Of these three, the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition offers the most features for the money. The nuvi 350 is slighly higher at $200, but it has a lot of features only found in more expensive devices, like traffic alerts and actually saying street names when it tells you where to turn.

Personally, of these four, I would go with either the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition or the nuvi 350 according to how much money you want to spend.

Best GPS for Car, Mid-Range

Again, Magellan, Tom Tom, and Garmin all have good products. At the lower end of the mid-range, I would probably go with the Magellan Maestro 4250. It only sells for about $250 and has a ton of features including AAA’s famous Tour Guide right on the device.

Tom Tom’s GO line offers some good products, like the GO 920T, but frankly I think they’re a little overpriced.

If you’re willing to spend $300 or so, then you’ll want to check out Garmin’s nuvi 760. The nuvi 760 has Bluetooth and multiple point routing, among a host of other features. It’s currently selling for just under $350. That’s a lot of GPS for the money.

Best GPS for Car, High-End

The high end of the market belongs to Garmin. And their best product is the state-of-the-art Garmin nuvi 880. What can’t the 880 do? It will cost you a cool $900, but if you’re looking for cutting edge technology, you’ve found it!

What you need to do now is to find an informative website where you can browse individual units and find out their current selling price.

By: Rick Cole

GPS Comparisons Are Different With Cheaper Devices

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:16:18 +0000

While shopping for a GPS navigation system, a lot of people decide that they don’t need anything fancy. They would rather have a GPS that simply gives them reliable directions as opposed to something with all the latest gadgets and extras. Whether it’s an issue of affordability or just a lack of desire for something fancy, there are still plenty of options to choose from and the process of finding the right GPS can still be somewhat difficult. This article will go over all the basics when making GPS comparisons of affordable GPS navigation system and how this differs with higher end GPS comparisons.

Comparing affordable GPS models is drastically different than comparing newer, feature-filled models. With top-of-the-line GPS devices there are so many features out there and every model has such a unique combination of these features. There is so much to look at and compare. On the other hand, with basic GPS models things are, without a doubt, much simpler. Comparing basic GPS models primarily boils down to only two main things, navigation and reliability.

The more affordable GPS models are generally older and therefore have more dated processes of calculating routes (newer models still aren’t perfect at navigation but are generally better at it because of the newer technology). So when looking at affordable GPS models, it is important to see how good the navigation is. This is not to say that you won’t be able to get reliable navigation with an older model, there are plenty of affordable devices with very good navigation. It’s just the possibility that the navigation could be poor. And the navigation is the main purpose of a GPS, especially if you’re not going to buy something with too many features.

This brings to question how to find the device that will navigate well. One way to judge navigation is with a GPS comparison. Most GPS comparison charts usually have pros and cons that will make a note if the navigation is good and if a system has especially bad navigation it will most likely be noted. Looking at reviews is also very helpful. An important thing to keep in mind when reading reviews is to look at the overall reviews and don’t put too much weight on any single review. There is always going to be that one horrible review from someone that happens to live on the one street where the device has a glitch. Take specific reviews with a grain of salt.

Although affordable GPS devices might not have many features, they are still something to pay attention to but extra features should be considered as just that, extras. Although there might be a feature that you just must have, but are you willing to trade a bit of navigation reliability for it? Only you can answer this question, it is all part of shopping for a device and making these GPS comparisons.

By: Jason Spodeck

Auto GPS » Doubt

What’s the Best GPS For Car Use?

GPS Comparisons Are Different With Cheaper Devices