[kieran]

I'm looking into getting a GPS system for my car.

Just a little portable one that will let me get from point to point with little trouble setting it up.

I've heard good things about the TomTom line and have been looking into getting a ONE from them.

TomTom ONE

Has anyone had any experience with these or other similar ones?

I'm just looking to find one that is easy to use and I can use with my Macs.

Thanks.

[bender0069]

I have a Garmin StreetPilot c550. I love it. I've heard much better things about the Garmin products than the TomTom products, which is why I got the one that I did. I've never used a TomTom, so I can't comment on it.

[Souflay123]

I have the Garmin Nuvi, i love it. It is better than the one that you get from Lexus. And for those who really cant find anything, there is a walking mode on it. One advantage to having one that is a portable is when your moving you can still use it. It does not lock down until you are stopped or in park. I have one, my geek friend has one, and a few other friends have this GPS and they all love it.

[Kraetos]

Garmin, FTW, for one reason: the UI. It's incredible. Big, colorful buttons, readable sans-serif text, big bright screen, everything where you expect it to be, very intuitive. It's like the OS X of GPSes. Way better than any built in systems I have ever seen.

I have a StreetPilot 2720 and I love it. I wish Garmin would just make a head unit so I could replace my center console outright.

[sirnick4]

Originally Posted by Kraetos Garmin, FTW, for one reason: the UI. It's incredible. Big, colorful buttons, readable sans-serif text, big bright screen, everything where you expect it to be, very intuitive. It's like the OS X of GPSes. Way better than any built in systems I have ever seen. I have a StreetPilot 2720 and I love it. I wish Garmin would just make a head unit so I could replace my center console outright.

Agreed. I love my StreetPilot c550. It's way cool

[Miko]

I got a TomTom for my wife and she swears buy it. Only one time it had a problem acquiring a GPS signal but after a restart it was all good. On screen display is bright and clear for its size. I'm sure Garmin is better in many ways but for the price point TomTom is good for A-B travel.

[Souflay123]

Originally Posted by Miko . I'm sure Garmin is better in many ways but for the price point TomTom is good for A-B travel.

Um, I got mine at target, and they are practically the same price. There is a 30 dollar difference between the tom tom and garmin. considering the features, it is worth the extra 30.

http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html...node=336774011

[Miko]

Originally Posted by Souflay123 Um, I got mine at target, and they are practically the same price. There is a 30 dollar difference between the tom tom and garmin. considering the features, it is worth the extra 30.

I thought the one in question is the StreetPilot c550? Well for what it's worth here is a side-by-side review of the TomTom and the StreetPilot c330 from c|net.

http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/garmin-streetpilot-c330/4864-3430_7-31288776.html?ctype=msgid&messageSiteID=9&messageI D=1808032&cval=1808032

[Anonymous Coward]

Other reviews I have read (months ago) state that the United States map set in the TomTom is not as accurate as in other GPS units.

Maybe I'll have links later, but I have not compared GPS units recently.

[digitaldave]

I've got the original TomTom One, and it's great. The software works on a Mac too. So far it's been great. I use the UK one, so I can't say about the quality of the US maps though.

[Artap99]

Garmin's Nuvi 350 gives you the best bang for your buck. I love it.

[jcoley2]

Help me buy me Christmas present--I am going to take the plunge and buy one also. I am not so concerned about price as I am about features. The NY TImes ran an article this week and some of them are now allowing for voice input such as the TomTom Go 920 and 920 T. I think that seems to be the way to go (I watched the demo online and it seems really easy.) It is not clear to me the Garmin models allow voice activation.

Also, I am hearing there is a big difference in the way these GPS devices get their traffic report--some faster than others. I noticed the high end 920 T uses something called RDS-TMC. Is the best system? Seems some of these units must be paired to a bluetooth phone to get traffic updates too.

All very confusing but I am just beginning my research.

[jcoley2]

I have narrowed my search between the TomTom 920T and the Garmin 760. If any one has any experience with these two units, please let me know.

[kieran]

I forgot all about this thread.

I ended up buying the Garmin c340

I got it on sale on Black Friday.

I've used it a couple of times since I bought it and it's worked flawlessly. I didn't have the amount of money to spend as I would have liked, but as long as it could get me from point A to point B, with a couple of stops like gas and restaurants along the way, it was good for me.

All of that extra stuff like bluetooth, mp3, etc... didn't matter to me because I didn't want that.

[spotcatbug]

I bought a Garmin c330 at Wal-Mart (sorry, they just had the best deal) for $179.

The interface is very nice and it has 6 million points of interest built-in.

A couple of times the directions have been kinda... not good. Once it tried to turn me down a railroad track (must have thought it was a road) and once it tried to turn me off the middle of a bridge. Considering where I live and how much I've used it already, two weirdnesses is nothing. The nice thing is - and I'm sure all the GPSs are like this - as soon as you don't follow what it's telling you to do, it just happily recalculates a new set of directions. So, if you're like, "Huh? I'm not going down a railroad track!" and you just keep driving, it just immediately recalculates different, hopefully correct, directions; it's not like it's, "Hey! You must go down that railroad track or I'm not telling you how to get there!"

[cosus]

Are there any portable gps with traffic built in?

[euain]

Originally Posted by cosus Are there any portable gps with traffic built in?

I've got a TomTom One. (I think it's a v2 - there have been a few revisions).

It can download traffic through your phone (using bluetooth). I've not tried it so I can't vouch for how good it is.

[jcoley2]

Originally Posted by cosus Are there any portable gps with traffic built in?

Both the Garmin 760 and TT 920T have traffic feeds but after the initial period you have to pay for it.

[DMBand0026]

I got someone a TomTom One as a Christmas gift but obviously haven't had any experiences with it because she hasn't opened it yet

I bought based on price (got it at Best Buy for $139), and reviews from Consumer Reports and cnet.com.

Originally Posted by jcoley2 I have narrowed my search between the TomTom 920T and the Garmin 760. If any one has any experience with these two units, please let me know.

Even though TomTom says they are mac compatible, there software does not play well.

[NosferaDrew]

Another vote for Garmin.
I've had my Garmin nüvi 360 for more than a year and I'm not sure how I got by without it before.

[DMBand0026]

I can say after using the Tom Tom a little bit myself that it's a great unit. It's not perfect, but it's quite good. You really can't beat the price on the Tom Tom if that's something important to you.

[spotcatbug]

Originally Posted by spotcatbug I bought a Garmin c330 at Wal-Mart (sorry, they just had the best deal) for $179. The interface is very nice and it has 6 million points of interest built-in.

Quoting myself to give a little update. I ended up returning the Garmin c330. It turns out that this unit is sold with intentionally-old map data. This is why, according to Garmin, it is so cheap (relatively speaking). They hope to recoup the cost difference by having you upgrade it to the latest maps ($80) right after you buy it.

Also, Garmin customer service sucks.

It wasn't so much that I didn't want to pay that much for a GPS ($180 + $80), it was the sneaky way they went about this that irked me. In fact, now that I know what the "real" cost of one of these units should be, that's what I'm planning to spend... on anything but a Garmin unit. Real smart marketing there.

Originally Posted by NCBill Even though TomTom says they are mac compatible, there software does not play well.

UPDATE: The new version of TomTom Home for the Mac shows promise. Still some problems getting all the elements it to work with 10.5, but looks like they are trying.

[Banana]

*bump*

I am looking for a automotive GPS.

However, several sites seems to be slanted toward whether it uses voice prompts or accept voice commands, which I have absolutely *NO* use for.

Ideally, it'd be something that would be big enough to be readable at a glance. The stuff I've seen seems to stop at 4.3" diagonal. The local Target and Costco doesn't really have a big selection so I'm afraid to buy from them.

If anyone else knows of such product that has a great visual interface and can reassure me that this will be easy to use without any voice prompts or squinting at the screen, I'd be much obliged.

[ironlung]

Get a garmin nuvi 205 or 200. I absolutely do not understand why people love the 'can speak street names' feature. The thing can't even pronounce the names right. I usually have the sound off. If you are a rewardzone member, Bestbuy has a coupon thing that gives you $50 off of any garmin gps product.

[Banana]

Yeah, I'm lending toward 205W or 255W, though I would like the screen estate of 5000, but there's not really much point in buying a 5000 over 255W.

200 and anything else with similar interface doesn't rock my boat for some reason... I think it's because 205 and 255 has the important information in upper left corner, rather than in lower right corner so it's a bit easier to glance at how soon I need to make a turn.

Thanks for that coupon info, though.

[MCQ]

Going only on screen size, perhaps take a look at the Sony NV-U83T (4.8" widescreen). The reviews online seem to be quite mixed though, so you'd probably need to do some searching/investigation to see if it would fit your needs.

I suspect the safer bet would probably be to stick to Garmin or TomTom.

[Banana]

Hmm, don't think I saw it on display in my local stores. Google image makes it look busy and cluttered compared to Garmin's 255W, though.

Thanks for the pointer, though. I may look though Sony's line just in case.

[spotcatbug]

Before buying any GPS unit, research how easily/cheaply you can update the maps and points of interest on the device.

Seriously, that is very important. After you have the thing for a year, you'll want to update the maps and points of interest on it. The Garmin unit I bought (c330) came with data that was a year old, right out of the box (intentionally). You might think, "Big deal. How much changes with roads in a year?" Believe me, I could absolutely tell the data was out-of-date. Especially with the points of interest, which are really nice to have, but only if they're right (up-to-date).

My impression is that Garmin guards the data very closely. To them, that's what they're really selling. Like Gilette - the unit is the razor and the data is the blades. You will not get any updates from Garmin without paying a lot for them.

I gave up my search for a good GPS when I had unexpected expenses, but I seem to remember, after returning my Garmin and looking for some other brand to buy, I found one that had free map updates over the Internet. Now I can't remember which brand that was.