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O/T: GPS for Vehicle

txaviator

txaviator

Well Known Member
My employer has just authorized me to purchase (expense) a GPS unit to carry with me during my travels for business.

Any recommendations? I have heard some bad things about the TomTom unit (locking up, etc.), and was wondering if anyone else could offer their opinions/suggestions on an acceptable unit? Studying everything available is mind-boggling, to say the least. :(

Traveling about 40-weeks per year in cities across the globe, a portable unit which will plug into 12 VDC is what I am searching for.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!
 
Garmin Nuvi

If you can't sell them on the Garmin 496, consider the Garmin Nuvi. I've had one for about 6 months. Not cheap, but what a great device. It's tiny, we use the MP3 player and Audiobook function all the time, it's maps cover the entire country, and the progressive instructions are terriffic.

We use it in the car, while walking in new cities, and I won't tell you how it got a "maximum speed" of 607 mph stored in it's summary screen.

The portability is worth the money. And it looks cool.
 
Costs....

I forgot to mention that I was told to "keep it under $600". That Lowrance is a good looking unit! I had not seen that one until now.

Thanks for the replies. Any further info is appreciated.
 
I use my 296 in the truck and for business travel and it works awesome. Sure is nice to be able to fly into a city I've never been to (usually arriving at night) punch in an address and get directed to the door step of the hotel across town, then to the business the next morning.

The car kit for the 296 has the voice prompting built into the lighter jack power cord, and comes with the bean bag mount for the dash.

Might be difficult to get any system worth using for $600 though. :(
 
Lowrance 2000C

For $700 you can get the Lowrance 2000C that you can take from the plane to your car. You just have to install the auto/land software that comes with the purchase. good luck. jack
 
Lowrance 1000

Is there a package (voice) available for the Lowrance 1000? I bought one about a year ago, and quite honestly, I have never taken it out of the box :eek:

Of course I bought it for the aircraft features, but it never dawned on me that it MIGHT have a voice package available. I am guessing if the 2000C does it, perhaps the 1000 will also?

Thanks....better go do some Lowrance research on my 1000....
 
Alternate approach

I have a Garmin 296 and I love it for aviation. For flying, I think Garmin is better than a PDA (please, no flames).That said, you can get a good PDA and a $100 BlueTooth SIRF II or III gps receiver (I chose HP 4700 and Haicom 406) and spend another $100 to ? to get street mapping programs. I chose IGuidance, but there are many very good ones. Now I have the ability to get sectionals, taxi diagrams, updated fuel prices, etc.. on the PDA and all the other stuff a PDA can do so well for business or personal. The PDA is BlueTooth and WiFi enabled, so I can check email, look up stuff on the web. I am running AnywhereMap, MyAirplane.com and other stuff. Why not have the best of both worlds? Just a thought and probably easier to sell to the boss.
 
Treo 700P/PDA

I use my Lowrance 1000 when I fly and also have a card with roads & streets loaded on it that I can put in and use in the car, but there are no turn-by-turn directions and its a little big to haul around.

Last Xmas I got a Palm TX, which is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatable. I started carring it around on trips instead of my laptop - just find a hotspot and surf away. Palm runs regular specials for their customers and I picked up a Tom-Tom setup with bluetooth GPS and winshield mount for $199. Works pretty good! I haven't had any problems with it crashing. It may not always pick the shortest/most direct route, but it will get you where you want. Recently I upgraded my cell phone to a Palm Treo 700P. The Tom-Tom software loaded rightup and now I travel everywhere with my Treo and bluetooth GPS - The car charger that came with the GPS charges both phone and GPS.

Now I just let "Bonnie" (the voice I chose) tell me where to go - Almost like being married again! :eek:
 
Magellan Roadmate 800

I got a Magellan Roadmate 700 for my perpetually lost spouse and it works great. Not always the fully optimum route and the points of interest database could use some work but its super-easy to use and does what its for - guide on roads. It has a 10mb HDD for storage, touch screen and it talks you through the routes.

I've seen the 800 (replaced the 700) for under 500.00 at Costco. More storage, internal battery (so it doesn't die when you start the car and the cigarette lighter power dies - grrr..). I think it plays MP3s and probably warms coffee too :)

epinions.com has lots of reviews on these and others, including some negative ones. I've used several other add-on and built in navigators, including my old G-196 in road mode. For my .02 worth, nothing comes close to the Magellans for getting you there when you are stuck at AGL 000

John
 
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