Thinking of buying a GPS. Need your feedback.

[CajunCamper]

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

[kgkessler]

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,

[austinado16]

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,

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.

[fiveaday1975]

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.

[Twolarsons]

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

[robbie]

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.

[CajunCamper]

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

[curryp]

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!

[dthurk]

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.

[wernstriumph]

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.

[D-mo]

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

[eanddrice]

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 :-() !

[middleton_1]

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.

[beacher]

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.

[fritz_monroe]

Take a look at GPS Information it is the best review site for GPS that I've seen.