GPS Evaluation Website

[ronnilu]

Hi all--does anyone remember what the web address of the site that reviews/evaluates various GPS units?? We want to get one, and want to find the best one for us. Sounds like everyone likes the Garmin Nuvi, though. Thanks for your help on the website. -- Ronni

[Ozzie]

Is this what you're looking for?

www.gpspassion.com

[ronnilu]

Ozzie thanks for the info. I'll look it over but it doesn't appear to be the one I had in mind. I believe the other was put out by two people who just did evaluations on all the various units. Ronni

[rames14]

gpsmagazine.com, cnet.com, pcworld.com all have good GPS reviews. I just researched and the Nuvi 680 was right at the top of the heap. According to GPS Magazine, the over $300 GPS top two were Garmin Nuvi 760 and Nuvi 660. Last July, the 680 was the Editor's Choice. I am biased toward Garmin's, having just ordered my fourth one. Great customer service, they have advanced GPS greatly. Make a list of the items you want. Is it important to have voice commands, bluetooth, traffic, mp3, Europe, Canada and Mexico, etc. The 760 I believe has all of North America and Europe. It will run you a couple hundred more than the 680 which has all of North America. Want just the U.S. and Mexico, I believe the 660 has you covered along with Bluetooth. But it doesn't have Traffic. I am not familiar with the other websites, but Garmin.com allows you to go to the On the Road models and select different ones for comparison. Then, they "highlight" the differences. It really helped me get the features important to me. Hope this helps - sorry about the Garmin bias, but after having great success with three units, it was a no brainer to order a fourth. Why four? Original GPS only had 8-channels, and took forever to get a signal and didn't work with tree cover, etc. Lodge owner in Canada begged me to sell it to him so I did and bought a GPS II. Great unit, still working, but no maps. Then I bought the GPS 60C which had mapping but you can only load portions of the country at a time. I also use this with my lake module that shows contour maps and fishing hot spots. Good luck.

[ronnilu]

Ron or Terri--Thanks for the info--you gave me a lot to check out. Hopefully, it will guide me to the right one for us. -- Ronni--anyone else out there have any opinions??

[ARJ]

Try this!

http://www.gpsmagazine.com/reviews.php

[illapah]

I bought the Garmin 680, probably could have gotten by with the 660. I wanted the speech turn alert to say the street to turn onto instead of just the distance. I live in an area that is not covered by traffic alert so not a deal.

FYI:
According to an article in yesterday's NY Times, GPS devices were the "hottest technology purchase in the week ending on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving." Consumers dropped about $100 million on GPS units that week, a 237 percent increase over last year's sales numbers.

The average selling price of a GPS dropped 53 percent this year, with an average device selling for $171 (vs. $322 last year). The article goes on to say that more people are buying GPS devices this year than PCs, and, despite an overall slowing of tech sales, GPS sales are stronger than ever, beating out LCD televisions, MP3 players, plasma tvs, and digital cameras.

The Times also says that it's quite possible retailers will slash prices even further as Christmas approaches, and that bargain hunters might be well served to wait until the very last minute to buy a GPS this year.

[rames14]

Illapah -

I wonder if they will drop like they're saying? I wanted the 680 also and they had them for $479 at Costco at Thanksgiving. My wife didn't act and then they went way up. I was able to find a price of $515 after a $10 Google checkout coupon recently, but not down where they were at Thanksgiving. I also bought the son-in-law a Nuvi 200 for $169 and haven't seen that duplicated either. I am sure I will love the 680, but it would have been better under $500.

[MAMalody]

Try www.pricegrabber.com for comparison pricing.

[mtnhntr]

ronnilu, Try this site: http://www.gpsinformation.net. It provides a lot of info and tests of GPS units.
Ken

[capn chris]

I've used and like the site from Ken/mtnhntr. Very comprehensive.

[mail2us]

Ronnilu;

If you are comfortable with web purchasing there are some great sites selling Garmin Nuvi models.

Our son and wife wanted one for Christmas. It's really more than we usually give for Christmas gifts, however he's 40 on Dec. 31st so we will combine his gift and get the Nuvi 660. I found at Amazon.com some distributor selling 660 model New for $430 plus about $6.00 shipping for a total of $436 and no sales tax. We bought ours in July and paid around $530 so they are coming down quite a bit since then.Good Luck with your shopping.

Dennis

[sreigle]

If you just want to compare features, the garmin website (I think it is www.garmin.com ) will let you select multiple models and it will then compare all the features in chart form for you.

I made several mistakes buying my first gps and returned the first three. On one I paid a 15% restocking fee. Be sure you know what you want before you buy. And understand the advertised features can be a bit misleading. Usually that's a terminology difference.

[ronnilu]

Just a quick reply to all who responded to my original post and were sooo helpful...thanks a bunch!! All of the sites suggested were informative. I love this site--you are all so great and helpful. MTNHNTR: your site suggestion was the one I was trying to find--thanks extra special. -- Ronni

[old turbo]

Wife just purchased the Garmin c340 for me for Christmas. She wrapped the box, but gave me the unit to play with. Works for what I need it for. I beleive Garmin has discontinued the unit and is just going with the Nuvi units. This unit gives the name of the street or road you are going to turn on just like some of the more expensive units. It also auto switches to nite veiw. It keeps its charge for almost 8 hrs as to some nuvi units which only last up to 4 hrs. Price was $180.00 on line. I also purchased the 12 volt charger and the portable dash mount as a few states will not let you have anything mounted to the windshield.

[mtnhntr]

Ronni, Glad it helped.
Ken