8 Comments

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  Jesse - 15 years ago

  There really is no "best" GPS device. It depends on what kind of driving you want to do, I.E. Big City Driving, casual, long distance etc. etc. The weighing of features is paramount when choosing a GPS.

  I work for Radio Shack and sell GPS units daily. I have dispelled the canon that TomTom and Garmin are the best simply because of the fact that they spend more money for more advertising. Here is a rundown on popular brands and how they are best used.

  TomTom - Unless you are getting a GO series, most of these are just good basic A to B GPS units. You will pay a bit more for the name however, and not get very many features stock.

  Garmin - A decent balance between Big City and Casual driving. Most of these will come equipped with Text to Speech and SEVERAL million POIs. The biggest feature is that Garmin has the fastest routing software hands down. However as with TomTom you will pay more because of the name.

  Magellan - My personal favorite. The Roadmate series is good for casual and long distance driving, and the Maestro series is good for all types of driving. The biggest thing with Magellan is how accurate the maps are. They are right in the middle on price. You will pay slightly more for them because of name, but not as much more as you would for Garmin or TomTom.

  Navigon - The best brand for Big City Driving...PERIOD. Affordable GPS with Text to Speech in almost EVERY single one of their units. They come with Map Updates on most as well, which obviously will help if you are in the city as construction will most likely be happening often. (Milwaukee and Chicago for instance lol) You can purchase lifetime traffic updates with some units, and some even come with it for FREE!

  Mio - Mio gives you the most bang for your buck so to speak. Most of their units are VERY feature heavy, and are INCREDIBLY affordable. I.E. the new Mio 501S. Lots of features, lots of ways to customize your unit and your routes. Only downside is they aren't as user friendly. Comes in a close second to Magellan in my book.

  iPhone - GPS is decent. Fairly accurate. Lots of different plugins and features can be added. Biggest downside is it is on the Apple iPhone. A.K.A. The Blackberry wannabe with a touch screen :) (Yes i am a bit biased, but hey...I don't wanna pay a ton of money just to be trendy. There are FAR better touch screen phones out there. People will just buy anything with the letter "i" in front of it!)

  There are many other brands of course, but I think I summed up the more well known brands fairly well! Hope this helps :)

• 
  Edwinek - 15 years ago

  By the way: other = Garmin eTrex Legend HCx

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  Larry Scott - 15 years ago

  I have a Mio C320 and really like it. I gave about $150 for it 2 1/2 years ago. Of course since it runs WinCE it can be hacked and turned into a PDA. I have installed other software and use it to run IGO maps instead of the Teleatlas maps it came with. They are tons better than the original ones.

• 
  Alex - 15 years ago

  i can't wait for the new wave of gps apps for the iphone. i have a garmin nuvi, which is great, but you can't beat the the iphone is really the ONLY piece of electronics you have to tote around.

• 
  Dawes - 15 years ago

  If I could vote against the Nuvi, I would. It's speaker isn't loud enough to be effective and the battery barely lasts an hour.

• 
  Torben - 15 years ago

  I second William's comment: "iPhone for general use, TomTom for in-car GPS."

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  Corkdork - 15 years ago

  Garmin, although there's a caveat -- you apparently update the maps without buying a proprietary USB cable, which is a real pain in the neck (and expensive!). My home is in a new-ish developement, and my street isn't on the map.

• 
  William Hook - 15 years ago

  iPhone for general use, TomTom for in-car GPS. Soon to be TomTom on iPhone for in-car use. :D