OT... GPS's

[Jon Danniken]

It depends upon what they are going to use it for.

Personally, I have the cheapest Garmin they sold at the time (a couple of years ago), the eTrex H (high sensitivity). It was a hundred bucks, and the high sensitivity lets me get a signal inside of my house (or out in the woods in the trees.

About the only thing I use it for is finding waypoints; I mark them on my TOPO software, then download them to the unit. When I'm out in the field, the unit leads me to where the places I want to go are.

It makes a neat addition to map and compass, especially useful when I am too lazy/tired/exhausted to navigate by map and compass alone. Lets me cover more ground that way, in some circumstances.

It will never replace map and compass, but it's a nice adjunct.

Jon

[RobertPatrick]

"Mike" wrote in news:h6va1b$r31$ [e-mail]:

New Egg is a good site. I bought my Garmin from

.

I got the Garmin nuvi 360. I think it's discontinued now. Two years ago I was stupid enough to pay $700+ for a TomTom. As soon as the warranty ran out, the unit died. Will never buy a TomTom again.

[Han]

DerbyDad03 wrote in news: [e-mail]:

That is a software problem. The on-line versions of several mapping programs directed you the wrong way along a one-way street near me for the longest time. I think it has now been corrected. These are the problems that a /human/ has to notice and figure out, as stated in all the notices and caveats.

But indeed, if one system does this in places that are crucial to YOU, by all means use another system.

[George]

I think the TomTom has better prompting when it is giving directions. Two friends have different Garmin Nuvis and I don't care for the display. One day I was with my friend and neither of us could understand the turn instructions it was giving in a city area and he uses the thing every day.

[George]

They all have comparable prices. One failure is a pretty small statistical sample size.

[Bob Villa]

I used other ppl's Garmins (about 3) and then was given a Magellan

1400. The difference is satellite acusition...the Garmins are super slow. I also prefer the features on the Magellan.

bob_v

[Jim Elbrecht]

I've been reading your comments in this thread- and paid minimal attention to your experience with different models of these things.

But this sold me- If I ever take the plunge, I'm gettin' me a Nuvi.

-snip-

Does it also have user-changeable databases? I've looked at these things off and on for a few years. But I travel so little & enjoy being lost so much, and enjoy maps more than the average bear. . . so I keep putting it off.

One of the great features I read about one of them was user-groups, where folks could share databases. So if I was coming to your neck-of-the-woods you could hook me up with all the points of interest, shortcuts, work-zones & eateries better than some huge database updated by the beaurocracy.

Jim

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Rights are safer. UPS does the same thing.

Jim

[George]

Doable with others including stuff like changing male/female voices, accents and using voices such as Homer Simpson etc.

[Steve Barker]

garmin. Nuvi series.

stick with the best.

[DerbyDad03]

re: "Doable with others including stuff like changing male/female voices, accents and using voices such as Homer Simpson etc.

The changing of voices and accents is typical of just about all brands and models.

As far as changing the things that these voices say, I can't speak for anything other than the Nuvi line, but the utility I speak of was custom written by a Nuvi owner. It is *not* a Garmin supported "feature".

The user has to access the Garmin via the USB port, edit a text file within the Garmin and save the changes back out to the unit.

[RobertPatrick]

George wrote in news:h70ia9$p9q$ [e-mail]:

Not when you're out $700.

[DerbyDad03]

Acquisition times for the Garmin Nuvi line can vary from instantaneous to "Heck, I could have been there already!" I can't speak for other units.

It all depends on how long the unit has been off or how far you've moved since the last power down.

If the unit has been off for more than 4 hours, it assumes the stored satellite data is stale and starts from scratch. The same thing can happen if you move more than a few miles from where you powered the unit down, although that is not as clear cut. These acquisitions time can be upwards of 2 minutes.

The longest acquisition times usually occur when both of the above conditions are true *and* you are moving at the same time. These times can be excruciatingly long.

If I have absolutely no clue where I'm going and know that the unit will take a while to acquire the satellites, I'll pull over or not leave the parking lot until the unit is ready. There's no sense in driving around while extending the acquisition time, only to find I've been going in the wrong direction.

[SteveB]

Man, you WERE stupid! Units all over the place for half that. What motivated you to buy a $700 unit? Mine was a gift at $100, and their smallest unit. I'd buy another in a second if this one dies, and I'll just skip it like a stone at the lake and not feel bad.

Steve

[SteveB]

I'm seeing a pattern here ..................

[DerbyDad03]

re: They all have comparable prices.

Huh? GPS prices range from under $100 to over $5,000.

How does that range fit "They all have comparable prices"?

[DerbyDad03]

Did you try the TomTom in the same location?

It's not fair to slam one brand unless you know how the other brand would have handled the same situation.

[Mike]

Yeah, when you over think it, the price goes up $20. Damn, went to order just now, its up $20 since yesterday.

[SteveB]

re: They all have comparable prices.

Huh? GPS prices range from under $100 to over $5,000.

How does that range fit "They all have comparable prices"?

reply: They're all quoted in US $ ?

[SteveB]

I saw them at Costco. Might check around locally and get a deal.

Steve