I want to purchase a GPS Navigation system for my car within the next few months. I am looking for something that I can stick on top the dashboard while I am driving and then hide it away or take it with me. I have seen units from Garmin and other familiar GPS brands, but I really aren't to sure as what I should look for on a GPS Navigation unit. I do know that I want something relatively cheap (under $150 to $250 probably if possible) and I want no hidden or monthly fees. My dad has a factory Navigation system in his vehicle that is very good and accurate when it comes to giving directions and if you go the wrong way it will tell you where to go from wherever you are. I want something that works just as well and that I can simply type in an address and I want it to tell me which exits and roads I need to take. Anyone have experience with these devices or own one?

Are all the maps on the built in storage? And how would you update them?

Here's a good list of GPS's. http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-systems/?sort=lowPrice9+asc

Unfortunately, for a dedicated car GPS system, your price range can only afford entry level systems. Other lower cost options are GPS additions to your PDA, if you have one that supports it. GPS attachments to your laptop are less pricey as well, but obviously not as convenient since you need to carry it around.

I do not own any GPS system, though had seen how it functioned in my relative's car. I am not impress at all. I think nothing can beat a detail research in Google Map before the trip, then take notes / printouts along with you. Bring along also good old (paper) maps , one for the bigger picture, and one or two for more detailed local streets, in case you're going outside of your planned route. Go ahead, call me old fashion.

Here are two models that I am looking at, what do you think about these?

Garmin Nuvi 250:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858108053
Garmin StreetPilot C550:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858108252

What's missing in these sub-$200 GPS units that the more expensive $300 to $1000 units have? Are they any good? And which one do you guys think is better? If you got any other recommendations let me know. I'm open to suggestions.

What's missing? I'd guess that the main thing missing is timely updates, that include such things as construction, closed roads, etc. Users pay a subscription fee to keep things up-to-the-day, week, or month.

Personally, I plan my routes using map data updated on about a yearly basis, with manual inputs regarding closures, etc. from various states' "road condition" websites. However, I suspect that these units don't do as well as PDA+GPS adapters at handling trip exclusion input by the users...I assume they are designed to handle the "worst-case-idiot-user" and that usually means decreased flexibility for advanced users. As the above post mentioned regarding trip-safety route modifications...manually modifying the route can be a pretty important capability.

From what I have read it seems like you pay extra for things like traffic which I would not really need. Also optionally you can get points of interests on a SD card it seems. But from what I'm seeing it appears to me that updates from Garmin do cost money (as I assume they probably do for any other GPS unit). I could probably get away with not updating it that often, my father's factory navigation system is in a 2003 model year vehicle and he has not updated the disc yet.

There are two suggestions I have:

- If you travel to other countries then TomTom products are a great option, because you can install international maps on it.
- I always liked iGuidance-based products, so something like http://www.buygpsnow.com/Department/GPS-for-Automotive/Intellinav.aspx works well.

Personally, I am still using a Dell PDA with a GPS sensor, but nowadays a dedicated navigation system is probably a cheaper option. I got a TomTom ONE factory-refurb (packaged like brand new, wouldn't be able to tell a difference if not for a "refurb" sticker on the box) for my in-lawn and it works great. These are around $100 nowadays.

Typically, the features that higher-end models have are TTS (text to speech, so it reads off street names), voice recognition (you tell it where to go), bluetooth (to be used as speakerphone or to use your phone to connect to internet), bigger screens, mp3/photo/video players. For TomTom, these are the features that separate entry-level models from hgiher-end ones - the maps and routing features are all the same. There are also differences in GPS chipsets (which affect sensitivity, signal availability, etc) but those things are like video cards - greater things come out all the time, but typically most choices currently available are perfectly fine.

Also, don't forget about http://www.dash.net/ who are newcomers but may be on a cutting edge as far as features go. They do have a monthly fee though to pay for data access.

Oh, and typically stand-alone units are way better than the factory installed stuff. I've used factory-installed units in a few quite high-end cars and was entirely unimpressed.

Adam Kolak said:

Most units now use memory cards (SecureDigital), and you can either connect the unit to your PC using USB or insert SD card into a card reader.

Thanks for those suggestions, they both look pretty good although the Dash unit appears to have some sort of monthly fee but I guess it is just for advanced features that I would not bother getting.

I acctually do have a Dell Axim X30 PDA running Windows Mobile 2003, but it can be a bit slow at times and my thought was that a device made specifically for GPS Navigation would be better and easier to use.

So if it has an SD card can you fit the entire country on it or do you go on your PC and choose like NY state and that's all that fits. It appears they do not include SD cards for the most part. The Garmin Nuvi 250 does say that it has "built in solid state memory". How much? I have no clue. I'm wondering how much you would need. Basically I think most of the time I would be fine if I could fit all of NJ, PA, NY, and CT on the device.

Adam Kolak said:

I'm using an X5 and it works fine.. touch screen, speaker sound (or audio out). Plus you can use it as a PDA (that is, install other apps, such as an mp3 player or web browser).

I have a CompactFlash GPS sensors sticking out on top, and an SD card inserted on the side with maps/software. There are also GPS sensors with SD slot built-in if you don't have an extra memory slot for data storage.



Depends, some have built-in, some have removable. Some older/smaller units would have to be loaded with a map covering partial country from your PC. Newer units with 2GB or more come with entire US or even entire North America preloaded. NY+NJ+PA can probably fit on a 256MB card.

Thanks Vitaliy, mines the X30 which has only an SD slot not both CF and SD. I'll consider going that route. Did you get a car power adapter for your X5? I would certainly need to buy one of those if I where to use my Axim.

It seems Dell does not sell car power adapters for it anymore.