A few tips on buying a Garmin GPS unit can be quite helpful. Because Garmin is the industry leader in the United States, and they have such a large number of products to choose from, it’s sometimes difficult to find the right model for your needs and budget.
Hopefully, I can make this all a little easier for you.
The first thing to know about Garmin is that they sell almost half of the GPS units sold in the United States. They do this by offering quality products at a wide variety of price points.
The nuvi is their newer line of GPS devices. You can get a Garmin nuvi for anywhere from $150 to almost $900. That depth of product is great, but it does make selection a little hard sometimes.
In this article, I’m going to concentrate of their newer nuvi line, instead of their older StreetPilot line. The StreetPilots are great devices, it’s just that they’re being pushed aside by the sleeker, more feature-packed nuvis.
Okay, let’s divide the marketplace into three areas, low, medium, and high.
The nuvi 200 is Garmin’s entry level device. And, if you’re just interested in getting from point A to point B, the nuvi 200 might easily be the right one for you.
It’s got maps of the continental United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. It will show you where you are on an electronic map and tell you where to turn to get to your destination. It can also double as a digital photo viewer.
At slightly less than $150, you can’t really go wrong with a nuvi 200.
If you want more features, you can spring for the nuvi 350. It does everything the nuvi 200 does and also adds maps of Canada. It can also actually tell you the street names of the streets you’re turning on. In addition to being a digital photo viewer, it can also be used as a mp3 player. At less than $200, I can’t think of a better GPS device at that price point.
If you really want to pack on the features, consider the nuvi 660. It can do everything the 350 can do. Also, it has real-time traffic capability, a bigger screen, Bluetooth, and you can hear it through your car’s stereo system. You can pick up a nuvi 660 for less than $350.
All that leaves as far as your main features is multiple point routing. That means you can enter more than one destination into the device, and it will show you the best route to get to all the destinations on one trip. For some, that’s a really good feature. If you’re interested in this feature, the nuvi 760 is the one for you.
Or, if you want what is truly the most advanced, feature-laden Garmin GPS unit on the market, then spring for the nuvi 880. For a cool $900, you can have it all!
By: Rick Cole
Posts Tagged ‘Industry Leader’
Tips For Buying a Garmin GPS Unit
January 9th, 2010A Comparison of Garmin and Magellan GPS Receivers
December 11th, 2009
If you’re like me, a comparison of Garmin and Magellan GPS recievers would really help you choose the right device to buy. Both of these companies are industry leaders, although Garmin has by far the most market share. Both make great products. So, how do you choose between the two? Read on to find out.
Before I launch into a discussion of these two companies’ products, let’s talk about what the basic features of any GPS receiver are, and also what are the main upgraded features.
All GPS receivers have a touch screen interface. They also all auto-calculate the best route to get you to where you want to go. In addition, they all have voice prompts that tell you where to turn, as well as a large database of Point of Interest (POIs).
With either Garmin or Magellan, you can get all of this for around $150!
If you want to spend more, then you can get the following features: wider screen, more POIs, actually saying the street names, Bluetooth integration, ability to hear your GPS device through your car’s audio system, and real-time traffic and weather.
You can get all of this with either Garmin or Magellan. Let’s talk about Garmin first.
Garmin is the industry leader. They’re really a powerhouse in GPS technology with about 70% of the current market share. Garmin also has a much broader product range than anyone else. As far as automotive after-market GPS receivers are concerned, their nuvi and StreetPilot lines offer an excellent selection along with a very large price range.
The Garmin 660 can give you all of the upgraded features I mentioned above for less than $350! Of course, you can get more by spending more.
Garmin’s 800 line, can do everything the 660 can but it also includes maps of Europe and can calculate multiple routes. That is, you can enter more than one destination into the device and it will calculate how to go from point A to point B to point C, etc. in the most efficient manner.
Magellan’s Maestro Elite line compares with the nuvi 600’s and above. Magellan’s prices might be slightly less for comparable features. But not enough for that to be the deciding factor.
Both Garmin and Magellan make an excellent product! You won’t go wrong with either company!
Since it’s impossible to write a complete comparison of Garmin and Magellan GPS receivers in 500 words, what you need to do now is get on an informative website where you can browse and check prices.
By: Lee Cole
Auto GPS Comparison Guide
October 12th, 2009
When buying a GPS receiver, you need an auto gps comparison guide. There’s just too much to know about these devices. Also, the features they have and the prices they’re offered at change rapidly. If you want to save yourself some time learning about all of this, then read this article.
This article is specifically about after-market GPS receivers. You know, the kind you see on people’s dashboards. I’m not talking about the in-dash variety, nor am I talking about the hand-held variety–the kind you take hiking.
GPS receivers have really caught on lately. And with the spike in gas prices, I think they’ll be a hot item for quite a while. They sell anywhere from $200 to almost $1,000. But with gas at over $4.00 a gallon, that could easily pay for itself!
The best way to understand how to pick out the right GPS receiver is to do a quick auto gps comparison. Let’s talk about who the best manufacturers for these things are, and then about the features you get when you buy one.
There are three main manufacturers of GPS receivers, Garmin, Tom Tom, and Magellan. All three make a great product, and all three are very competitive with each other both on features and price. Garmin is the industry leader. Magellan was actually one of the first companies to figure out this technology, and Tom Tom is the new kid on the block.
When you buy a GPS receiver, you get the same basic features.
All GPS devices can do the following:
Show you were you are on an electronic map Tell you where to turn to get to where you want to go Interface with you via a touch screen Tell you where certain things are like gas stations, restaurants, and other Points of Interest (POIs) Include maps of the lower 48 US states Calculate the shortest or fastest route
So, even the cheapest GPS receiver can do all of this. If that’s all you need, then you can get a device that can do this for right around $150!
But before you buy, you might want to think about some of these cool upgraded features. For not too much more money, your GPS receiver can do a whole lot more.
For more money you can get:
More extensive maps, including Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and Europe Bigger screen Bluetooth technology integrated in the system, for hands-free calling Real-time traffic and weather FM transmission, so you can hear your device through your car’s own stereo sound system Much larger and more extensive POI database Multiple route calculation, so you can enter more than one destination in at one time
These upgrades are worth looking into. You can get a lot of this stuff for under $350! That might be money well spent, because you’re going to be happier with your choice and want to keep it for a longer time–before you trade it in for a more powerful model.
Now that you’re read this auto gps comparison, your next step is to find an informative website where you can read about individual devices and learn more about prices.
By: Lee Cole
