Portable Navigation Systems

[ForeverAutumn]

Does anyone here know anything about these GPS systems for your car? I want a portable one that I can use in rental cars when I'm travelling.

I've bought two of them so far (they can be tested and returned). First I bought a Sony. I like the way it navigates, but it took me two hours to load the Canada map, and in doing so the US map was deleted. :incazzato: Also, the Canada map doesn't include addresses when you find a point of interest. The US map (before I deleted it) would give the address and phone number...a nice feature if you need to call a hotel for a reservation or something like that. The Canada map does not include this detail.

Tonight, I picked up a TomTom. I liked this one because it was a lot thinner, so easier to carry when travelling and to hide in my glove box when not in use. Same problem with the addresses on the point of interest, but in this case it doesn't give details for US or Canada. Also, the maps are on an SD card and not on a hard drive. What happens if the card becomes corrupted? I'm pretty sure this one is being returned.

Does anyone here own one of these things? Do you like it and, if so, what brand is it?

Thanks.

[GMichael]

What? No replies?

Sorry FA. I just don't know which ones are better.

[Dusty Chalk]

I only know a funny story about a nav system, but you were asking for serious info, so I didn't threadcrap.

Now I did.

[ForeverAutumn]

I only know a funny story about a nav system, but you were asking for serious info, so I didn't threadcrap.

Now I did.

Aw c'mon. That's never stopped you before. Besides, it's not like anyone is providing me with any serious answers. Tell your story.

BTW, if anyone cares, after using the TomTom and doing more research, it's the Sony that's going back. Now I just have to decide if I want to upgrade the TomTom to a model with addresses for another $200. I'm thinking no.

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, it's a short story:

Four of us who got along went to Boston on business. One of us was testing out a nav system. He kept ignoring the directions, because half the time it was better to go West on 90 and then go up on 95 (I think, something like that) to get somewhere, whereas it would be trying to get us to take a more direct route (we would go West and North, and drive two legs of a triangle instead of the hypotenuse).

Well, at one point, we got kind of lost, and we were on this bridge, and we were trying to figure out where we are. And you know how some groups of people have a certain chemistry? Well, we did, and we all stopped talking at once (including the nav system), and the "leader", said, "Where are we?", and the little nav system said (paraphrasing), very politely, "please get back on a known road". Well, we all laughed, because apparently even the nav system didn't know where we were.

This was at least 7 years ago, nav systems weren't commonplace yet.

[GMichael]

Well, it's a short story:

Four of us who got along went to Boston on business. One of us was testing out a nav system. He kept ignoring the directions, because half the time it was better to go West on 90 and then go up on 95 (I think, something like that) to get somewhere, whereas it would be trying to get us to take a more direct route (we would go West and North, and drive two legs of a triangle instead of the hypotenuse).

Well, at one point, we got kind of lost, and we were on this bridge, and we were trying to figure out where we are. And you know how some groups of people have a certain chemistry? Well, we did, and we all stopped talking at once (including the nav system), and the "leader", said, "Where are we?", and the little nav system said (paraphrasing), very politely, "please get back on a known road". Well, we all laughed, because apparently even the nav system didn't know where we were.

This was at least 7 years ago, nav systems weren't commonplace yet.

Good thing the nav system was ready to break the ice. The tension may have started to rise without it.

[ForeverAutumn]

Good story Dusty.

Here's the latest. The Sony went back this morning. The customer service chick had a guy from the auto dept. come to check that everything was in the box. While he was standing there checking, she asked me why I was returning it. Before I could answer, the Auto guy said, "it's crap". That about summed it up. :lol:

The TomTom One works great, but comes with a cheap windshield mount that won't stay stuck. Not a good thing, while driving, to have the machine giving you directions, fall off the windshield and onto the floor. :incazzato:

So, now I'm onto the Garmin C530. It's a brand new model and I picked it up at The Source (the CDN version of Circuit City, formerly RatShack), for an introductory price of $429. It supposedly retails for $699. The price on Garmin's web site is $584 USD. So I think I got a good deal. I have a 2.5 hour drive to the middle of nowhere tomorrow, so we'll see how well it works (and stays on my windshield).

I'll keep you posted since I know that you're all just dying to see what I end up with. :wink5:

[Dusty Chalk]

Actually, I am curious -- I have taken a certain liking to road trips.

[topspeed]

I was about to suggest Garmin, so I'm interested in your impression. A couple of friends have Garmin and seem to like them.

[ForeverAutumn]

I was about to suggest Garmin, so I'm interested in your impression. A couple of friends have Garmin and seem to like them.

I took the Garmin C530 for a roadtrip today and was quite pleased with it. I tried it out on three routes. I already knew the directions for two out of the three and had an email with directions for the third. In all three cases it did not give me the fastest route (even though I set my preferences for fastest), although it did give me the most direct route (fewer turns and sidestreets). It got me where I was going without a problem. Although, in one instance I missed my turn because the Garmin said that I still had 90metres before the turn but I'd already passed the street. I realize that these systems aren't 100% accurate, so I learned that I still have to watch the street signs.

Since I still have the TomTom, I plugged the three addresses into the TomTom to see what routes it gave me. One route gave me the route that I usually take, which is marginally faster than the route that the Garmin gave me. The second route was the same as the Garmin. The third route showed that the map was out of date as the highway on the route was extended about three years ago, but the TomTom showed the highway ending before the expansion.

Things that I really like about the TomTom are the QWERTY keyboard option; a choice of voices; it's very thin and lightweight; more customization as far as information available on the map screen; if there is a toll road on your route, it asks whether you want to take the toll road or not; and I can program in an itinerary of several stops (the Garmin only allows one stop before your final destination).

Things I like about the Garmin are that it sticks to my windshield! :thumbsup: ; Points of Interest (POI) include addresses and phone numbers (not sure yet how up-to-date/accurate they are); you can look up an address without knowing exactly what city/town it’s in (the TomTom requires you to know the correct city/town or it won't recognize the street name); if you’re not sure of the exact spelling or name of a POI, you can type in a partial name and it will list everything with that partial; you can choose to password protect it, making it less attractive to thieves.

I think that I would be happy with either of these units. If I could combine the best features of each one, that would be great. But since I can’t, at this point, I’m sticking with the Garmin…since it’s the one sticking to my car. :)

[jdag]

If form factor is important to you, you may want to check out the Garmin Nuvi 350 or 360. They have come down quite a bit and are now in the $450 range (Walmart, Fry's, Amazon).

The Nuvi 350 and 360 are similar in size to the TomTom One model, well smaller than the Garmin C350. The Nuvis come with the US maps installed in flash memory, with an additional SD card slot available for POIs and other maps.

The Garmins use Navteq maps, while TomToms use TeleAtlas. I am no expert, but general concensus is that Navteq is superior in North America and TeleAtlas is superior in Europe.

[ForeverAutumn]

Thanks for the info. I just looked up the Nuvi 360 and it's $699.99 CDN. I only paid $429 for the Streetpilot C530. The biggest difference that I can see, aside from the size, is that the Nuvi has Bluetooth so that you can connect it to your phone. While a nice feature, it's not worth the extra money for me.

[jdag]

The Nuvi 350 is $450 US at Walmart. The only difference between the 350 and 360 is the Bluetooth.