GPS

[Bear Hunter]

Things are changing around our place. My wife said she's ready to retire after 40 yrs as a RN working in the ER. We now plan to do a lot more long distance traveling with Alaska in the very near future. We want to get a good GPS. So we are asking you folks for ideas and help.

Thanks
Roger and Lola
Semper Fi

[hazmic]

Whether you get a Garmin or Tom Tom just get the latest one because if you get anything else it will be out dated. I have a Garmin NUVI 660 and soon it will be out dated. I like the garmin because Ive already have garmin and like there tech service. They have treated me as a valued customer.

[kdeiss]

Garmin gets my vote'

[Ozzie]

Garmin 350 Nuvi here...yes, there are newer models already, but I love this little gizmo.
It fits into my pocket when we're on foot, I can take it on a plane to play books or MP3's, and navigating has largely become a non issue.
It may not be perfect, but I hardly remember looking at maps for daily navigating.
Some will tell you to have maps as a backup for traveling. I'd hate to see someone get stuck going through the hood or an unruly mountain pass.

[Gumby56]

I have the TomTom 910 mostly to support my business travel but I also use it for camping. I have also heard good things about the Garwin. The one thing I will say about the Tom Tom Go series is that they may be a little to large to walk around with. If you are looking at navigation while walking around the smaller Garwin might be a better fit. There is a smaller version of the Tom Tom (One Series) but I have not had any experience with it.

In any case. I would say it is great buy. My wife questioned the purchase but is now upset when I travel on business and it disappears!

Good Luck!

[Ozzie]

I should point out that using the gps feature on foot with the Nuvi would be somewhat cumbersome.
But if you were at Disney or somewhere large and needed it to find your car it would be a blessing.

[ols1932]

We use Delorme Street Atlas with Earthmate.

Orv

[Cat320]

We have a Garmin for the truck, also use one in a friends airplane. Regardless of what you choose, try here for good prices ($400 off the Garmin): http://www.caplinktech.com/

[DONnANNIE]

If you are interested in the an "in-dash" GPS, I have a Pioneer AVIC-Z1. Technically it is called a HDD Multimedia AV Navigation Server. It is an indash (double DIN size)AM, FM, Library for MP3(uses 2GB of the 3 GB HDD, GPS system that uses 1GB of the HDD for mapping software,CD/DVD player, Backup camera, TV tuner, Bluetooth hands free connection for your bluetooth cellphone and XM or SIRUS satellite radio, with XM you can get traffic & weather alerts from 29 big cities like Dallas for $29 per month. I also has voice activation. The screen is 7" and is bright even in daylight. At night it reverses colors and the screen dims but is quite readable. I also have a Magellan handheld GPS with small screen and a bracket for the windshield. When I was looking, I looked at some of the brands previously mentioned but they were all hanging from the windshield or on the dash and the screens were too small. I also looked at Eclipse. They have GPS similar to Pioneer. I liked the Pioneer better. Yes, it is expensive, about $2K.

I thought about hooking GPS up to my laptop, as I have MS Street & Trips, but that was to big an bulky.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your windshield, dash or laptop
version of GPS. It just wasn't for me. The "in-dash" GPS is just another version for you to consider.

[AZCampinfool]

Bear Hunter, I use a Lowrance Iway 500c. I have been real happy with it so far and can't remember the last time I used a paper map. The best thing I like about the Lowrance is the big 5" screen. It makes it real easy to see. I think just about all of them are pretty good now days so it comes down to the features you want. Mine will play Mp3 music also, but I haven't used it for that .

[exav8tr]

BearHunter, I have a Magellan 6000T. I like it because it is upgradeable through their website, has bluetooth (not used yet), voice prompts, routes by; shortest distance, quickest time or whatever else you want to program into it. I like the portability, although it is a little big but has a nice carry case. Also accepts MP3, although don't have one. Anxious to use it on the open road, great so far in the city (Anchorage, AK).

I think it all boils down to what features you want. Check it out well, great investment.

[sreigle]

I've used the DeLorme Earthmate with Street Atlas and currently use Streets and Trips. Both are good. SA is more powerful but more difficult to learn and use, in my opinion. S&T is easier but not quite as powerful but has some other niceties I like. I like having the large screen of a laptop and having the voice (in both SA and S&T) cluing me to an upcoming turn so I don't have to look at the map until I hear that voice.

But if you're into geocaching then the laptop solution won't work for you.

[bob n pam]

We use the Magellan Roadmate 360 and love it. It can be updated on the web, although it cannot be carried around in your pocket. Our is not quite as sophisticated at the 600T, but works for us!

[Montana Rog]

I have the Garmin iQue 3600 and love it. I don't have to look at it. It has voice commands, reroutes incase of a wrong turn, can be updated, has every features that a palm pilot has, and will take you right to most addresses. Drawbacks are that it does not have 2D viewing, and some other features the newer ones have, but I bought it a few years ago, and it has never failed getting me to where I want to go. I do need to update the mapping as some road do change in large metro areas from time to time. Updates are $75.00 but are a little difficult for the computer challenged like me. They give you an unlock code and if you fail..your're more or less stuck..at least that's what I have found.

[Bear Hunter]

Thanks for all the info. We looked at a lot of GPS units before getting the Garmin 660. I really like it and find it easy to use. I did find it hard to find a sales person who knew beans about the product they were selling. Had one guy try real hard to sell me the sameone we have in our boat. Again thanks for the help and advise.

Semper Fi

[Bob & Lee]

I dont know much about GPS and have been reading. Got this ad fom Buy.com for $139. is this a fair deal?


Magellan RoadMate 2200T Portable GPS w/ Built-in Maps (Refurbished)

[Driftwoodgal]

I bought DH a Garmin for his birthday in June. We used it on our trip to Tennesee and back, about 1350 miles.

I did find that it worked really well except for times that we were trying to find a campground. The Garmin will take you into areas that have low hanging trees and possible shortcuts that will take you into areas that you don't want to travel. Ex: into downtown Nashville during rush hour traffic.

I used the Woodall's and Trailer Life books for the final directions once we got close to the RV park.

Bob, also looked at the maps before we took off in the mornings to look at the possibility of a loop around the larger cities to keep us out of the downtown areas.

Besides that we love it.

Colleen

[Pete Hanson]

We carry our laptop when we go on our excursions so we purchased the ALK Copilot software for laptops. At the time it was a less expensive and feature rich alternative to buying a separate unit. We find it works really well although, like all GPS units, it is not perfect. It has an RV towing function which will avoid low bridges and extemely sharp turns when plotting a route for us and I like that feature even though the low bridge feature only applies to major roadways.

[azranger]

You might want to check out the Cobra Nav One 2100:
http://www.cobra.com/index.php?page=...ct_id=482&id=1
You can find it for under $300 at Camping World and at other online stores.

[DHenry]

I have the Garmin 7200 on the dash and love it for all the features, except that it is a little large for a pickup dash. I had the Garmin 2610 and it was great also, just had to have a bigger, better one :-). The 7200 rattles and moves a lot also, I had to make some brackets to hold it in place and to keep it quiet, looks bad as the DW says but works good.