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Crazy Navy Flyer · Post by **Crazy Navy Flyer** » December 3, 2008 9:56 am

Thinking about buying one for the car. What do you have and would you recommend it?

blackjack · Post by **blackjack** » December 3, 2008 9:58 am

I too am looking and interested in opinions.

Most of what I've heard from friends taht have one is that they prefer the Garmin (a model with a "W" at the end, i.e. 255W indicates widescreen for easier reading).

I'm also interested in "Spoken Directions" so I can keep my eye on the road rather than watching the screen.

Crazy Navy Flyer · Post by **Crazy Navy Flyer** » December 3, 2008 10:11 am

blackjack wrote:I too am looking and interested in opinions.

Most of what I've heard from friends taht have one is that they prefer the Garmin (a model with a "W" at the end, i.e. 255W indicates widescreen for easier reading).

I'm also interested in "Spoken Directions" so I can keep my eye on the road rather than watching the screen.

Also looking for the wide screen, the voice is optional but I think all of the wide screens I've looked at have the voice.

green1 · Post by **green1** » December 3, 2008 10:37 am

Have never had one till this past weekend. Flew into Nashville and picked up the rental car. They were offering a special on the GPS's so I got one. It was a Garmin, but I don't know which specific one. I loved it. Spoken directions, intuitive functionality. Baiscally I picked it up, turned it on and was on my way in a couple of minutes. I would definitely buy one if I had to drive to different locations all the time. The only caveat, and one I am glad about, was that there were no maps/directions available once I got onto Ft. Campbell. The screen just went grey and my little car was turning left and right all by it's lonesome. So if you are planning on using it in secured areas you may want to see if the maps are available.

nutmeg · Post by **nutmeg** » December 3, 2008 11:06 am

LOVE our Garmin Nuvi. Hate the built in whatever in hubby's car.

Our Nuvi lets you use it while on the road. The built in one assumes that only the driver is in the car and disables nearly every function so you don't take your hands off the wheel.

This is SSSSOOOOO annoying since I'm (the passenger) usually the one trying to get info and it won't give you any.

(i.e. nearest gas station or restaurant)

One feature that I'd like and isn't on our "older" Nuvi is when it tells you the name of the road to turn on not just "turn right" Sometimes there are a couple of streets close together and you want to know which one.

GPS are great for finding garage/estate sales

STL PARROTHEAD · Post by **STL PARROTHEAD** » December 3, 2008 11:14 am

We use TomTom.....

hubby has a fancy-shmancy one (I don't remember the model #) and I bought my son a TomTom1... very basic but it gets the job done.
We love them!

I like how you can plug in point of interest and it will tell you where things are... like banks, grocery, etc. We used it to find a Cracker Barrel on our way out of Chicago during the summer... that was cool.

Of course, my hubby has his programmed to say "Cold Beer Here" everytime we pass a bar!

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » December 3, 2008 11:15 am

It's called Mapquest.

...and north is the one pointed straight up

blackjack · Post by **blackjack** » December 3, 2008 11:22 am

Lightning Bolt wrote:It's called Mapquest.

...and north is the one pointed straight up

Yeah, I do the MapQuest thing now, but here in Jersey (especially up North) things can get complicated and you can't be looking down to read a paper every time you come to an intersection.

I don't NEED a GPS, but it would come in handy in many cases.

chippewa · Post by **chippewa** » December 3, 2008 11:27 am

They had such great deals on these everywhere last weekend that I started looking....then I remembered the adventures I would have missed if I had one.

The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there...and then they're still not sure.

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » December 3, 2008 11:28 am

blackjack wrote:
Lightning Bolt wrote:It's called Mapquest.

...and north is the one pointed straight up
Yeah, I do the MapQuest thing now, but here in Jersey (especially up North) things can get complicated and you can't be looking down to read a paper every time you come to an intersection.

I don't NEED a GPS, but it would come in handy in many cases.

You're right.
When outside my town, say.. for business, I can remember a few times a GPS could've saved some stress.

heck, I don't need an iPod... but it sure does come in handy, and makes the trip a lot happier

nutmeg · Post by **nutmeg** » December 3, 2008 11:29 am

Lightning Bolt wrote:It's called Mapquest.

...and north is the one pointed straight up

Belileve me, you would never go back to mapquest after having one of these. mapquest is great if you know ahead of time that you are going to need directions and can print them out.

However the GPS can be used spur of the moment when you decide to go somewhere and aren't near your computer. And if you get unexpectedly turned around due to traffic/detour/whatever the GPS can get you back on track. I won't go out without one.

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » December 3, 2008 11:30 am

chippewa wrote:They had such great deals on these everywhere last weekend that I started looking....then I remembered the adventures I would have missed if I had one.

The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there...and then they're still not sure.

Perfectly said!

Just talking to the locals opens up so many other interesting scenarios

MDown · Post by **MDown** » December 3, 2008 11:32 am

I have used the Sony Nav-U a few times.
Loved it... But I don't travel to places where I really need one.

nutmeg · Post by **nutmeg** » December 3, 2008 11:33 am

chippewa wrote:They had such great deals on these everywhere last weekend that I started looking....then I remembered the adventures I would have missed if I had one.

The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there...and then they're still not sure.

Ohhh! That reminds me of another reason I love them. I HATE expressways...you miss so much that way. You can have the GPS do a route skipping all the expressways and it gives you an estimate of how long it will take compared to the expressway route.

When we were trying to make a ferry to Drummond Island, it was very helpful to have the little thingie telling you your estimated arrival time.
Because of the GPS we knew we didn't have time to make any stops if we wanted to make the ferry.

aeroparrot · Post by **aeroparrot** » December 3, 2008 11:42 am

STL PARROTHEAD wrote:We use TomTom.....

hubby has a fancy-shmancy one (I don't remember the model #) and I bought my son a TomTom1... very basic but it gets the job done.
We love them!

I like how you can plug in point of interest and it will tell you where things are... like banks, grocery, etc. We used it to find a Cracker Barrel on our way out of Chicago during the summer... that was cool.

Of course, my hubby has his programmed to say "Cold Beer Here" everytime we pass a bar!

Unless you want to get lost leaving the Dallas airport.

STL PARROTHEAD · Post by **STL PARROTHEAD** » December 3, 2008 11:46 am

aeroparrot wrote:
STL PARROTHEAD wrote:We use TomTom.....

hubby has a fancy-shmancy one (I don't remember the model #) and I bought my son a TomTom1... very basic but it gets the job done.
We love them!

I like how you can plug in point of interest and it will tell you where things are... like banks, grocery, etc. We used it to find a Cracker Barrel on our way out of Chicago during the summer... that was cool.

Of course, my hubby has his programmed to say "Cold Beer Here" everytime we pass a bar!
Unless you want to get lost leaving the Dallas airport.

I think that one was broken.....

or!!!! you two didn't have a clue.....

I just sat quietly in the back seat enjoying the ride....

Hockey Mon · Post by **Hockey Mon** » December 3, 2008 11:50 am

I've got one in the minivan and it's great. My wife and I have named it Victoria although we turned her voice off because my kids were completely obsessing over it. My in laws have a portable one that they just took to Portugual. They were able to download a European map for it and they said it was a lifesaver. I don't know what brand they have.

My experiences with Hertz's NeverLost GPSes have been less than stellar. I've nicknamed them Alwayslost because they don't seem to do a good job.

nutmeg · Post by **nutmeg** » December 3, 2008 11:50 am

Lightning Bolt wrote:
chippewa wrote:They had such great deals on these everywhere last weekend that I started looking....then I remembered the adventures I would have missed if I had one.

The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there...and then they're still not sure.
Perfectly said!

Just talking to the locals opens up so many other interesting scenarios

You stop and ask directions????

Yay!!!!

Mr Play · Post by **Mr Play** » December 3, 2008 12:13 pm

We've had the Garmin Nuvi 650 in Mrs. Play's car for a while, and it's been pretty reliable and easy to use. Garmin replaced it with the 750, which is the same price with a few new features.

FWIW we never use the FM transmitter feature which lets you route audio and bluetooth calls to the car stereo - the sound quality isn't all that great.

johnath2o · Post by **johnath2o** » December 3, 2008 12:30 pm

I have a hand-held Garmin, 760CSx. I love it. I have the entire NorthEast in topographical loaded onto it. I use it for hiking and GeoCaching.

It also works on the roads.