I have put it off long enough. I now want a GPS and would like to know from those of you that own one what you like and dislike about your GPS and what features you feel are necessary and which ones are un-necessary.
CajunCamper
I bought a TomTom 510. I should have asked around like you are before I bought it (IN MAY). It IS AWFUL. Hasn't worked right since I got it, now doesn't work at all !!! And to top it all off their customer service is worse than their product. I basically have a $400 paper weight,
Quote from: kgkesslerI bought a TomTom 510. I should have asked around like you are before I bought it (IN MAY). It IS AWFUL. Hasn't worked right since I got it, now doesn't work at all !!! And to top it all off their customer service is worse than their product. I basically have a $400 paper weight,
Hands down the very best unit on the market is the Garmin Nuvi. My wife gave me the "350" for Xmas last year and it is fantastic. Everyone who I've recommended one to, who has purchased one, has loved it.
There are some uprated models about the 350 with blue-tooth, slightly larger screen, etc. One person I recommended it to bought the blue-tooth version and after trying the blue-tooth feature, doesn't use it.
The Nuvi is touch screen, day and night mode sensative to sunrise and sunset, 4hrs continuous on the internal battery, or plug in to he cig lighter for longer use. WAAS/ENOS enable with a selection. Everything it does is pretty intuitive so you can learn how to use it in just a few times of playing around. It even tells you right down to the minute when you will arrive at your destination!
You can skid the map around with your finger tip, and then zoom in/out as needed to select where you want to go. Or type in the location by city, and address, etc.
Another thing that's neat is an active search function. Say you're in a new area, don't know where the restaurants are, and it's dark. Simply call up the "Food" search mode and search by type of food, or alphebetical......bam, such-n-such restaurant is this way, follow the voice prompts and screen path in bright pink. We use that feature a lot, and also the feature to search for the next gas station if we're out on the road.
You can find some smoking bargins for them on ebay. A buddy just picked one up for $275 and it was like new and hadn't even been registered with Garmin yet. $350ish is the average price, and more like $400-500 in stores.
You won't regret it.
I have a magellan 6000t and it is great. very easy to work with right out of the box. Can't miss with this one.
After getting completely lost on the last camping trip, I bought a Garmin 580. It is always accurate and simple to operate. Completely touch screen controlled. The maps are easy to see and it is totally user friendly. I have had friends that bought the TomTom (any model) and their maps are ALWAYS wrong except in major metro areas like New York city and other huge cities. Completely worthless in any suburban or rural areas. The TomTom my sister had directed her to a ChiChi's resturant that had been closed for more than 10 years. She wanted to toss that thing after driving for 25 minutes and pulling into a Dicks Sporting Goods store.
The Garmin is by far the best option. A two year old can use it and I cannot find an error in the maps yet! Friends of mine have the 330, 380, 530, and I have the 580. They all use the same map system. The difference is how much memory and some other features. For Instance, the 330 can only hold about one state worth of data. You can hook it up to your computer to load other states if you need to. My 580 has all of North America (MexiCanadAmerica)preloaded. :U
Good luck
A friend of mine brought one along on a canoe trip once. We figured it would be handy out there in the wilds of northern Ontario. Number of times we used it for it's intended purpose? Zero. Number of times we played with it just for the sake of playing with it? I lost count.
The moral of the story is that nothing replaces a good map and compass. And for Rving? Unless you are off roading through the Mojave I can't see any reason for one.
Okay, I suppose I should have given a few details as to what I will be using this GPS for. The #1 reason is to keep me from getting lost while in the woods hiking. I also want to lock in coordinates of locations that hold fish as well as those special places we find while hiking. I need to know what your gps experience is while in mountains and valleys trying to hit a satelite. Also if your GPS is waterproof or not.
Thanks
CajunCamper
I have a handheld Garmin eTrek which is their base model and doesn't having mapping capabilities. I can however mark waypoints and tracks as well as enter coordinates. I have been very happy with the Garmin and have had others say they like the Garmin over Magellean (sp?) I have used my GPS on the boat, hiking and snowmobiling with good success. With my model saving tracks is the best feature so I can find my way back to my start when boating and snowmobiling.
I also have a GPS for my truck. I just bought a Garmin StreetPilot c330 from Digital Oasis on eBay. I have used a few times and love it!
We own 2 gps units, a Lowrance iWay 350 for navigation and a Magellan eXplorist 500 for geocaching and off road hiking in the woods. The Magellan works really well for us. It's easy to mark waypoints and different locations. It takes some time to learn the menu screens to figure out what you want to do. It can mark tracks and routes. We used it quite a bit on our recent trip to Acadia National Park on various hikes. It showed our route and gave us accurate elevation readings. I don't think it ever lost a satellite fix regardless of whether we were on top of a barren summit or in deep forest. I believe it is water resistant, not waterproof.
If your looking for a navagation unit, only look at those that might have a hard drive with full detail mapping of the US. Text to speech is nice, also, reducing the need for looking at the unit while driving.
I have a Garmin eTrex Legend that I got 3 or 4 years ago. When I got it, it was about $250 now I think they go for $100-$150. I use it pretty much just for hiking as the basemap just shows major roads. I've used it all over the country and have only encountered one blacked out area (it was by a power plant in PA). The Garmin GPS's have a good set of support cd-roms that alow you to update the basemap to include rivers, streets and I think even a topographic upgrade but I never purchased it. Of course as soon as I buy the upgrade, they will discontinue the model!! I can mark my starting point and see where I've gone and how far I've gone. It has prime hunting and fishing times for your current location and has an altimeter which is fairly accurate.The one thing I don't like is the compass does'nt work unless you are moving.
It is very easy to use and it is small.
I have an Lorance Ifinder Pro, which is basically an I-finder H2O without the waterproofing. I have used it for 2yrs now for fishing, canoeing and even trying to find where my son is when he phones me and asks to get picked up and I have no idea where on earth the street is.
This hand held is slim and sleek, with easy and advanced modes, a big enough and bright enough screen to use day and night and an MCC slot for maps. I purchased my unit for just under 150.00 cnd. and spent another 90 bucks for a mapping chip of my fishing destinations in both Ontario and Quebec. To tell you the trueth, I couldnt be happier.
Good mapping software is a must for these units. I chose not to purchase any fishing software, as they are basically getting a rather bad rap on most fishing sites these days. I chose Topographical chart software to get me in and out of lakes and rivers. When used in conjunction with these maps the I-finder is dead on. My only issue with the unit is that it is rather hard on batteries, but i have fixed that by connecting it up to my canoe battery when fishing/ and install Lithium batteries when running on its own.
d-mo
We have the Garmin Nuvi 350 and it has taken us right to where we have wanted to go everytime. I have just updated the software on it and can do more than the original software that came with :-() !
I have both a Garmin Etrex Legend and a Garmin Quest. Both are handheld units. The Etrex is black and white while the Quest is color.
Both work well for hiking and geocaching. However the Quest is also capable of routing as a driving style GPS.
The Quest is gradually being phased out by the Quest 2 which can take data cards (my quest has limited built in memory).
Garmin also has some other nice cross-over (hiking to vehicle) gps units.
I pretty much stopped using my Etrex once I got the Quest.
I really like the Garmin Rino 130!
It was inexpensive on sale, it's a handheld portable for geocaching, it has a built-in GRMS/FRS/Weather radio, and it's also used for planning road trips with PC software. It can also locate and show the positions of other Rino users, (great for keeping tabs on the kids at theme parks or campgrounds).
If you intend to use the unit for more than simple road trip planning, the Rino is hard to beat. However I would recommend the newer Rino 530HCx, with a bigger color screen, and full mapping and auto-rerouting capabilities just like the automotive based GPS systems, but with the portability and built-in radio for added functionality.
Take a look at GPS Information (//%22http://gpsinformation.net/%22) it is the best review site for GPS that I've seen.
I have the TomTom one and its great for the price. When you connect
it to the Internet it always updates the software.
Happy Camping
Bill
I have a Garmin GPS12 that I got quite awhile ago. It's not as fancy as today's units, but it does a great job at marking waypoints and guiding me to a waypoint. It basically has the same features and funtionality as an eTrex. I've used it for fishing in Lake Michigan to mark where a fish hits. It helps to be able to troll over the same spot when there are no visual references to bring you back. I've also used it to navigate back to the pierheads when fog rolled in. It's next job will be on my kayak to mark bluegill holes on some local lakes. It has been knocked around inside the boat by waves on Lake Michigan, soaked by rain and spray, knocked onto the floor of the car, dropped in the woods while hiking and it keeps going. Garmin builds them tough. I can't speak to the acquisition performance in valleys or mountains as I live in Michigan. It does seem to do fine in heavy tree cover. Hope this helps.
The new Delorme Earthmate GPS PN-20 has been getting good reviews.
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10106&minisite=10020 (//%22http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10106&minisite=10020%22)
I have 2 Garmin GPS hand held units - The oldest one (eMap) is no longer sold.
The newest one I have is a Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx with color display. I have had it about a year. It has a 1 GB memory chip in it. Will hold a considerable map base. It has auto routing and is waterproof. I use it in the auto on portable mount when traveling and carry it by hand or in pocket. I use it on most trips, also boating. It was very useful on recent trips to Alaska, Hawaii, and Europe last year. I always take it camping. I have had no problem with it.
I leave for a 850 mile trip to Texas tomorrow and will be going camping in GSM NP next week. I will use the GPS on both trips. The routes are already loaded for both trips as well as a recent camping trip to Florida.
We have an old Garmin Rino 110. Very basic unit but it does what we want, and it does it real well, which is mostly for geocaching (http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=64515) or for hiking. It can be real handy to find your way back to your starting point. It also has the FRS two way radio which can be a real nice feature if you have family members that you want to communicate with in other nearby areas.
I got a Garmin Etrex Vista in a package set at Gander Mountain Sports which included a case, the MapSource topo maps CD's, and a computer attachement cord. I added to that a bicycle handlebar mount and a suction cup windshield mount. Waterproof and tough, it has served me well for a year of hiking, boating, bicycling, and geocaching. The MapSource software is great for checking out a new camping location, scouting fishing spots, and just desktop exploring of the topo maps. The download routes function is great for saving and printing bicycle century rides or training ride data and hiking routes, including the elevations. The disadvantages are: occasionally debris gets stuck around the control button and it is difficult to dislodge while on the trail, and the monocolor display screen washes out and becomes difficult to read in direct sunlight. Memory for topographic map download space is limited. For the price, I would get another one.
TomTom Go 510 here. We call her "Lola." Lola has almost been thrown out the bloody window and only escaped after we found out the cause of the confusion was...ahem..."user malfunction."
It is actually a very useful tool. I don't think it replaces a nice atlas because I tend to like to map out routes as we are going. We went from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte and enjoyed taking some back roads...couldn't have done it without my handy dandy atlas.
I'll let Lola come on more trips as she's rather good at getting us "unlost" and finding restaurants and such.
CC
I have a Treo 650 Smart phone and found the Tom Tom Navagator works great for me. I have only run into one missing/closed road situation and only a couple of restaurant closures.
I love the fact that you can add routes/waypoints to direct your driving to the ways that you'd like to go and always know how far you have left.
It makes driving a lot more enjoyable ... no more looking for a left on route 34 or whatever. I can enjoy the sights a lot better now.
I'm sure once you use it ... you'll be happy with anything that you get.
Good Luck!
You need first to determine what your needs are. If it's just a basic unit from here to there and back or do you want one with all the bells and whistles? Topo maps? Dual use hand held and street directions? FRS radio? There are endless possibilities, however I would recommend whatever features you want to get a Garmin. There are other manufacturers but in my experience you won't go wrong with a Garmin of almost any model.
I have the TomTom 510. We have had it about 2 years and the more we use it the more we like it. Really great for getting unlost.
Thanks for all the help, I went with the Garmin eTrex Legend. Now all I have to do is play with it and learn the different functions.
CajunCamper
Quote from: CajunCamperI have put it off long enough. I now want a GPS and would like to know from those of you that own one what you like and dislike about your GPS and what features you feel are necessary and which ones are un-necessary.
CajunCamper
We have a Garmin StreetPilot 360. Does what we need, but we learn new things all the time. One thing to note - I think every screen has a corresponding setup screen - makes it challenging to find things with your thumb going 65 miles an hour.
Courtesy of our GPS, we have forded several creeks, driven down dirt roads, gone to restaurants that weren't there (never had been), and found delightful routes that we wouldn't have known to take.
Wouldn't be without it, but sometimes, you just get upset with it too. Don't think you can give up your maps.
Quote from: CC777TomTom Go 510 here. We call her "Lola." Lola has almost been thrown out the bloody window and only escaped after we found out the cause of the confusion was...ahem..."user malfunction."
It is actually a very useful tool. I don't think it replaces a nice atlas because I tend to like to map out routes as we are going. We went from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte and enjoyed taking some back roads...couldn't have done it without my handy dandy atlas.
I'll let Lola come on more trips as she's rather good at getting us "unlost" and finding restaurants and such.
CC
Ours is named Agatha. Sometimes Aggie forgets that we can't make turns after passing the corner... By and large she is reasonable. Make her recalc about 6 times in 5 minutes and you can hear her getting absolutely irate. Sometimes we do it just to irritate her...
I have a Magellan Maestro 3100 and used it to get to the Eastern Ralley last year. It work as I expected it would. It was very helpfull finding lodging and resturants as well as up comming exits.
The prices are certainly dropping.
Best Buy had a Garmin for $299 and TomTom for $199 after rebates.
Could new models be coming out and time to get rid of the older units?