genoyamamoto 0 #1 December 21, 2004 Anybody have GPS in their cars? Any thoughts/recommendations? Something ready to use out of the box with pre-installed maps would be nice. Also a user-friendly interface. Gotta go... plaything needs to spank me Feel the hate... Photos here Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #2 December 21, 2004 I have the GPS V, which I love. I would really recommend this one: http://gpsnow.com/gmquest.htm I has enough memory to get you turn-by-turn directions for just about all the western states. My GPS V can only hold about the entire Bay Area, or the LA area, but not both. That new one can hold all the streets in CA and most everywhere you'd want to drive. I like those units better than the bigger car units, cause you can use them for hiking, bicycling, etc. You could also load Europe in it and take it with you on trips. More likely you'll do geek stuff like mapping your own parking space down to the second. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,444 #3 December 21, 2004 > Anybody have GPS in their cars? I just ordered a Prius, which has a pretty cool in-dash nav display. When I'm in other cars I sometimes use a laptop and a GPS, but that's not a good solution because it's so awkward. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 292 #4 December 21, 2004 My girlfriend has the Nav 750, which is out of production now. She finds it extremely useful. It has a hard disk, large enough for the entire US at once, so no downloading for going places. It's bulky; the replacement version is much smaller. For about $1200 you can get a similar system (StreetPilot 2620), preloaded with entire US (maybe has Canada also. You can also get the 2610 and put a gig or two of flash memory in it, for about the same price ($740 plus $200 for memory). There's the Quest, ~$470, but it has less memory and not expandable. www.gpscity.com has competitive prices, and the are not in CA so no sales tax. Lots of info at http://gpsinformation.net/ If you want to use it for other purposes (hiking, boating, geocaching) don't get a dedicated automotive model. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dorbie 0 #5 December 21, 2004 I got one as an option with the vehicle. It's excellent and stores the entire US on a replaceable DVD. I can't really recommend it since it's not available as a separate unit but in-vehicle GPS navigation rocks. It is excellent that it has the entire USA on board, no need for worries about coverage. The only quirk is that to counter accuracy issues (not just with the vehicle location but also with the map vector data which can never be perfect) it does a snap to road thing based on pathing information etc. If you miss a junction is can show you heading off on another road until you exceed the error tollerance which seems to be a few tens of meters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
genoyamamoto 0 #6 December 21, 2004 Thanks everyone. I'm eyeing the garmin street pilot 2620... Anybody have experience with garmin? Gotta go... plaything needs to spank me Feel the hate... Photos here Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #7 December 21, 2004 Yeah, that's the same mapping database I use in the GPS V. Works great! It's especially fun if you aren't in any hurry and you choose the "shortest distance" over the "fastest time" option when you ask it to take you from address to address. I have found the very best motorcycle roads in California using it. You'll be really happy with it. True story: Last year I loaded my team trailer at Eloy as a waypoint. I gave the GPS to BigBen who delivered it and my truck to my wife at Phoenix when he left and she arrived. By using the "go to" feature on the mapping, she followed the directions right to my trailer! Very cool and stress free. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlyingJ 0 #8 December 21, 2004 My parents have the street pilot. It annoys me to death when she has it on constantly driving around the town that we moved to in 1985, however I borrowed her jeep recently to start moving myself to Florida and I was amazed at how handy it was. It made getting to know a new area really great. After a day of inputting where I wanted to go I stopped routing and just watched the maps as I was driving here and there and it was amazing how much quicker I learned my way around than I would have just by trial and error. I don't like how I ended up just relying on it completely though for the drive up and back the first time or two. I can see how if you don't have a very good sense of direction you could get yourself very lost if you lost your signal or something and couldn't rely on it.Killing threads since 2004. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,403 #9 December 22, 2004 Quote> Anybody have GPS in their cars? I just ordered a Prius, which has a pretty cool in-dash nav display. When I'm in other cars I sometimes use a laptop and a GPS, but that's not a good solution because it's so awkward. Absolutely true! This past weekend, as an experiment, I located a Christmas party about and hour away, using only a Garmin eTrex Vista, plugged into a serial/USB adapter, plugged into a Mac running MacGPSPro, and loaded with all of my states topo maps. The only info I had about the location was street address and GPS coordinates. I found the party, but having to deal with three cabled devices sliding around on the seat, and having to look down at the passengers seat while driving, was enough to make me want to heave the whole mess out the window. A GPS nav device definitely needs to be firmly attached to the instrument panel!"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #10 December 22, 2004 i have a laptop with micro$oft streets and trips 2004, complete with gps 'mouse'. it is awkward, but for about the price of a nice in-car system, i have a laptop to do stuff with, like entertain my wife on trips. she can navigate for me, play games, watch a movie, sometimes get her email if we drive by an unsecured wireless point. i have a power inverter in the car to charge it, and the phones, and the camcorder etc. as well. works for me, your mileage may vary. it's also fun to play with on commercial flights."Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 292 #11 December 22, 2004 Quoteit's also fun to play with on commercial flights. All depending on what airline you are flying: http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #12 December 22, 2004 it was air canada, and they appear to permit it. the 'mouse' that comes with streets and trips is a usb device about 2" square, and i found that pulling the window blind down a bit and jamming the receiver under it worked great. i always wondered why they wouldn't allow it, since it is not a transmitter, and is a very low power device anyway. after reading the site, i kinda understand it, especially the part where they explain that it requires no knowledge of how it operates to say no, where they would have to actually understand it and study it to say yes. "Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
