+1 on any of the Garmin units. They tend to be much easier to use than the other brands, the maps are easier to read, and they have many many more points of interest (hotels, food, gas, and the like). I have the nuvi 200 and it saved me on a couple weddings were i had no clue about the surrounding areas.
romesdsanthem wrote:
+1 on any of the Garmin units. They tend to be much easier to use than the other brands, the maps are easier to read, and they have many many more points of interest (hotels, food, gas, and the like). I have the nuvi 200 and it saved me on a couple weddings were i had no clue about the surrounding areas.
I totally agree. When I am shooting a wedding in a different city, I just plug in the address while I am at home the night before and compare it against the Google maps and mapquest map just to be sure. It is part of my ""night before" checklist.
Plus it is nice when you leave places far away and you are in the mood for something specific. Hey, there is that Subway!
I have the Magellan Maestro. Even though it failed a few times (no gps signal), but I could still enter my starting point and it would give me directions on the screen just like if I had printed them out. So either way it worked.
DragonflyDM wrote:
Now do you just type in the address you want on the GPS or do you have to plug something in
On the NUVI, can you just drive and it shows you the map of where you are??
Most, if not all by now, in car GPS systems are touch screen devices where you type in the address on the device itself. So you can type in stuff on the fly if need be, obviously you don't want to do this while driving but I've put addresses in at red lights. As for your second note, I think that's how they all work. Kind of like the "You are here" map at the mall, but it follows you around. I've used probably half a dozen units and they all have done the job, some are just nicer to use than others. Big things to look for are ease of use in the menu systems and the size of the screen itself. A lot of people also prefer units with text to speech, meaning it will say the street name rather than just "turn right in 100 feet" it will say "turn right on Main Street in 100 feet". I'd recommend going into your local Best Buy or Circuit City and playing with a few different units and see what you like. I actually ended up getting an inexpensive Mio C220, I think it goes for under $150 these days and works perfectly for me when I use it.
I've got a Magellan Explorist 500 (handheld for hiking/camping/etc) & Maestro 3200 (for driving) I use them both for different reason and they serve there purpose when you're lost
I use Garmin but also have directions. If in the area I would do a quick drive to find the location a few days before. If out of town I like as many directions as I can get.
Nothing like the stress of being lost 2 blocks from the location.
I can only think of once where my GPS didn't help me... mind you, nothing would have helped...
Every street around the church was closed off.... there was some sort of street festival that weekend that even the bride and groom were unaware of. Man, was it hard finding parking.
I have a Garmin Venture Cx which I use to navigate streets, as well as backcountry trails and wilderness while backpacking. It is quite amazing that this tiny little tool can always get me around, no matter where I am, on or off road.
DragonflyDM wrote:
Now do you just type in the address you want on the GPS or do you have to plug something in
You just type in an address (or city, or intersection, or name of place) you want to go to.
DragonflyDM wrote:
On the NUVI, can you just drive and it shows you the map of where you are??
Yes you can just drive and it shows you the map around you.
Garmin 350 is wonderful...three members of my extended family have it and love it. I gave my stepdaughter a Magellan but it sucked. Replaced it with another Garmin 350.
here's an option you don't hear a ton about: you can get a usb gps unit and get DeLorme Street Atlas, which is what I use on my laptop. I used it for a trip this weekend and it worked well. You can ask stuff like "where am I" and "next turn?" and the program will respond. definitely more cumbersome than a little portable unit, but if you carry your laptop anyway it could be worth it.
fpereira wrote:
here's an option you don't hear a ton about: you can get a usb gps unit and get DeLorme Street Atlas, which is what I use on my laptop. I used it for a trip this weekend and it worked well. You can ask stuff like "where am I" and "next turn?" and the program will respond. definitely more cumbersome than a little portable unit, but if you carry your laptop anyway it could be worth it.
+1
This is what I used for a trip last year. The great plus side is that the screen is huge.
Tom Tom V1 XL with John Cleave directing my route. Also use the Tom Tom Traffic, as this tells you of any hold ups on route and plans you a way around. Just put in the Post Code ( Zip) for your destination, and it takes you straight to the door. Would not be without now, but wished they would have had them 30 years ago, as my eyesight would not have been damaged as much having to read the A-Z.
DragonflyDM wrote:
I just read that you can get the GPS on your cell phone for $4 a month. That would be a much smaller screen, but very convenient.
Any thoughts?
BTW, this is all very helpful.
Would you be able to use your phone to make or receive calls when using it for navigation? Typing addresses into the phone would probably be slower, maybe I'm biased cause I suck at texting. Do you have a way to mount your phone in the car? I wouldn't want to have to hold the phone at arms length while driving. I'd also look into what kind of area the maps cover, I think my GPS unit uses 1Gb of memory for the maps and I don't know what kind of memory the average phone has.
