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
Posts Tagged ‘Models’
What’s the Best GPS For Car Use?
January 20th, 2010How About Buying a Reconditioned GPS For Sale?
January 16th, 2010
Is that a good deal, or should you stick to the new models? These are great questions, and I’m going to attempt to shed some light on them in this article.
I’ll just go ahead and let the cat out of the bag and let you know my general answer to this question. No! For what GPS receivers cost new and for the amount of money you’ll save, to me it doesn’t make sense for you to buy a reconditioned unit.
Let me explain my reasoning.
Right now, on Amazon, you can get a Tom Tom 3rd Edition, brand new!, for $119.49. If you want to buy a reconditioned unit, that will cost you $109. Personally, I just don’t see saving $10 as a reason to buy a used unit–even if it’s reconditioned by Tom Tom themselves.
Well, maybe I picked the wrong example. Maybe you can save some real money on other models. Let’s see…
A new Magellan Maestro 3100 will cost you $109. Used, you’re looking at $99! Again, a $10 difference.
Even in the higher prices, there’s not but about a $20 difference between a new unit and a refurbished unit. The Garmin nuvi 660 (a great GPS device, by the way!) is currently selling for $329. Refurbished it’s $309.
$10 to $20 seems to be all the difference there is currently between new and refurbished GPS receivers.
Maybe you think differently, but to me that’s not enough of a savings for the potential hassles of buying an older, used unit.
If you’ve been looking for a reconditioned GPS for sale and found price differences that are larger than what I’m quoting you, then I suspect I know what the issue is.
Prices for GPS recievers of all kinds have dropped a lot over the past two years. What cost $400 or so dollars a year or two ago, only costs $200 or so now.
I’ve seen price comparison websites where they show you the low, low reconditioned price compared with the price for a new unit. What they’re doing, though, is using prices for the new units that are at least a year old–sometime older.
They’re doing this to get you to think you’re saving $300 to $400 by buying a reconditioned GPS. You’re not, because the new GPS’s don’t sell for those higher prices any more.
Part of the issue is dealing with unscrupulous businesses and internet marketers who are willing to skew their prices in order to deceive you. This is why (at least to my mind) it’s so important to deal with really reputable companies like Amazon.
There are others, and I’m not trying to say Amazon is the only reputable company on the Web. They do enjoy a very good and very well deserved reputation for fair dealing, and because of that I’m using them in my example.
If you’re looking at someone’s website that’s selling other companies’ products (called affiliate marketing), make sure the company that you’re actually buying from is someone with a good, customer friendly reputation like Amazon.
Just as an example, I have a number of websites that sell other companies’ stuff. But the companies I work with are only the best ones–the ones you can trust to quote you fair prices on their merchandise.
So, with prices as low as they currently are, to my mind, a reconditioned GPS for sale just doesn’t make sense. Go ahead and spend the extra $10 to $20 and get a brand spanking new unit.
By: Rick Cole
