Portable in-car GPS system recommendations??
#1
Sup crew! I'm in the market for a portable GPS system, not because I particularly like them but because I'm going to pretty much need it for the amount of travelling to unknown areas that I'll be doing. Ideally I'd rather get the in dash touch screen like I had in my STi and GPS through that, but this is the much cheaper method as I don't see me having this car for long enough to justify the cost.

Are any of you guys using these? There is a chance that I might be able to expense it, but if not I'd prefer to stay under $200... closer to $125-150 if possible. I'd like to be able to remove it really easily and keep it mounted as low as possible... like not on the windshield but still within line of sight.

Any suggestions on where to look for some good deals? Do all of them require subscriptions? Learn me your infoz!!
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004

2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium

Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
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#2
Hrm, this might not be bad! $120 shipped and comes with a vent mount.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buy.com/prod/nextar-x3-02-gps-touch-screen-navigation-system-with-mp3-player-text/q/loc/111/206578501.html">http://www.buy.com/prod/nextar-x3-02-gp ... 78501.html</a><!-- m -->
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004

2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium

Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
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#3
Never heard of Nextar. I got my dad a Garmin and he freakin' loves the thing. He's hopeless when it comes to finding places, even places he's been to before and he's had no troubles operating the Garmin. The one I got him was from the StreetPilot line but people who want to spend a little more money rave about the nuvi line.

edit: Nextar seem to get sub-par reviews on amazon.
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944

"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
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#4
Garmin or bust... that's all I've got.
I Am Mike
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#5
Hrm, the cheapest Garmin I can find on Buy.com is $148 shipped, and that's a refurbished model. Anywhere else you guys know where to look?

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buy.com/prod/garmin-streetpilot-c330-portable-gps-system-w-preloaded-maps/q/loc/111/205583800.html">http://www.buy.com/prod/garmin-streetpi ... 83800.html</a><!-- m -->
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004

2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium

Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
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#6
there are ones with real time traffic that require subscriptions (uses the XM satellite traffic service)

pretty much everything uses the SiRFstarIII chipset now, which is the best on the market, but if you get a cheap brand make sure it has it.

Id also recommend text-to-speech. it sucks if you have it on voice mode and it reads out street names letter by letter.

other than that i dont really have any recommendations. personally I use my WindowsMobile + LiveMaps
SM #55 | 06 Titan | 12 Focus | 06 Exige | 14 CX-5
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#7
I think this is the one I got my dad and I'm pretty sure I paid a lot more than that!

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-StreetPilot-Portable-GPS-Navigator/dp/B000BKN2Y0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1201663460&sr=8-1">http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-StreetPilo ... 460&sr=8-1</a><!-- m -->
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944

"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
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#8
Man that's a sick price!! It sounds like that's the old model, the nuvi replaced it. I guess the I5 doesn't have that new SiRFstarIII technology. Think that matters at all?
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004

2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium

Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
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#9
I like the TomToms, Casey has the Tom Tom one and its nice, or the higher end Garmin Nuvis
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#10
I have a garmin nuvi 250w, my mil has the 250w and my brother has the 250w, all got it after seeing mine, my sister in law got the 650 w/ the text to speach, I find it annoying when it's reading off a street name that's 10 miles long, just tell me to turn right dammit.
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#11
I did a bunch of research on them based off of reviews. One of the websites I used was gpsmagazine.com, they have every single detail about these GPS units described within a 40 page review.. quite thorough.

I got a Garmin Nuvi series from Costco and love the thing. Take it with me everywhere, has already saved my ass plenty of times. Well worth the investment to me.
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#12
Before I drove to Chicago for work I picked up a Garmin Streetpilot C340 - @ the time it was the cheapest, portable GPS that I could pick up in a store with text-to-speech.

I was very adamant about having the text-to-speech feature, if you are going to be traveling to areas that have been recently redeveloped I would much rather have a GPS tell me to take a Route XX North than just say take a left in 400 feet. I have been with several people who did not have text-to-speech and they "took the left" and then ended up being the wrong street or in the wrong direction.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A5TAT2/sr=8-1/qid=1201663460/ref=dp_cp_ob_title_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1201663460&sr=8-1">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A5 ... 460&sr=8-1</a><!-- m -->

Also the C340 has the ability to receive real-time traffic updates if you pay for the subscription.
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#13
a friend of mine has a garmin that we took on a few road trips. i'm not sure which model it was, but he said he paid like $300 for it (this was nearly a year ago) so i'm sure one could figure out which one it was. it was pretty nice but the funniest thing about these is that i guess the default voice is some woman. i found it really amusing that this woman was telling me where to go:

"turn left. in. point six miles."
"turn left. in. point two miles."
"turn left. in. five. hundred. feet."
"missed turn"
"recalculating"

bitch, quit your nagging. you're not the boss of me!
1994 Ford Ranger
2004 Honda S2000
2007 BMW X3
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#14
Garmins are normally what motorcycle guys use. That being said, i would assume they have the best screen lay out, since you can afford to stare at it on the bike.
#99 - 2000 Civic Si (Future H2 Car, Former H1 car)
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#15
Maengelito Wrote:"turn left. in. point six miles."
"turn left. in. point two miles."
"turn left. in. five. hundred. feet."
"missed turn"
"recalculating"

bitch, quit your nagging. you're not the boss of me!

So what you're saying is even with GPS, asians still can't find their way?
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944

"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
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#16
hey, its not my gps, its my roundeye friend's gps
1994 Ford Ranger
2004 Honda S2000
2007 BMW X3
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#17
I'm a little late to the party, but I've got a Nuvi 650 and I love it. I don't know much about it, or them, but it tells me how to get where I want to go without a hitch Smile
When it comes to Ryan Jenkins, the story ends with me putting him in the wall.

2009 Speed Triple | 2006 DR-Z400SM | 1999 CBR600F4 | 1998 Jeep Cherokee

-Ginger
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#18
fwiw the navigation in my phone works pretty good. Has text to speech as well. 10$ a month subscription
2013 Cadillac ATS....¶▅c●▄███████||▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅||█~ ::~ :~ :►
2008 Chevy Malibu LT....▄██ ▲  █ █ ██▅▄▃▂
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#19
I like my Garmin Nuvi 350 a lot. I use it a lot when i travel and it's really come through in the clutch and it's pretty easy to use. My favorite thing are the Points of Interest (POIs) where you can find gas stations, restaurants, lodging, and more.

My buddy got the Navigon 2100 and it's pretty nifty (no flipping antenna - internal) and it's pretty easy to use while being considerably less inexpensive than most of the Garmin's or TomToms. I'd seriously consider this if you're not trying to spend more than $200.
'19 Golf R

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#20
Maengelito Wrote:a friend of mine has a garmin that we took on a few road trips. i'm not sure which model it was, but he said he paid like $300 for it (this was nearly a year ago) so i'm sure one could figure out which one it was. it was pretty nice but the funniest thing about these is that i guess the default voice is some woman. i found it really amusing that this woman was telling me where to go:

"turn left. in. point six miles."
"turn left. in. point two miles."
"turn left. in. five. hundred. feet."
"missed turn"
"recalculating"

bitch, quit your nagging. you're not the boss of me!

most of the newer GPSs you can choose different voice, even celebrity voices. On Casey's TOMTOM you can download Mr. T's Voice....

"I pity da fool that turns left in half a mile"
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