Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Need a GPS!

sikkinixx

sikkinixx

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 10, 2005
2,062
0
Rocketing through the sky!
I need a GPS for my trip to PAX this coming weekend and the one I was going to borrow from my folks is no longer available (them and their damn vineyard tours)

I wanna spend as close to $200 (canadian eh?) as I can so nothing crazy with Bluetooth and traffic reports and all that jazz.

The biggest problem I had with my parents TomTom One is the POI list was pretty poor, I'd like the best mapping (obviously) and as thin as possible so I can throw it in my pocket.

So far I am considering...


Garmin Nuvi 250W

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/prod...Online&category=AutomotiveGPS&product=1917046

Garmin Nuvi 350

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product...CA&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

or the TomTom XL330

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10101259&catid=


The problem with the first two is they are online only but I have no time to ship it! If I can price match then sweet (although no one will price match with Costco)....
 
I have the Garmine Navi 350 for my GPS device and it is pretty nice. Map on it will be about 2 years old when you get it. It programed to try to make you turn right into your final destination.

It POI I would say would not be any better than the Tom Tom. I mostly run off addresses and GPS coordnates to find the stuff I am looking for.
 
I heard the updated the maps as of this Spring so it shouldn't be TOO outdated... :eek: the 350 is the one I am least likely to get as it probably isn't available in a retail Costco and I can't order it online from costco.ca since shipping takes too long :(
 
Do NOT buy a TomTom.

I used to have a TomTom One and it was positively terrible. The UI and the unit were great but the mapping software (what you rely on) was awful. I travel all over for work and there are tons of errors in the software. It has taken me to the wrong town, tried to take me down one way streets, told me "You have reached your destination" when I was in the middle of no where. I noticed that the US maps were poor but the European maps are more accurate.

I have a Garmin nuvi 370 and I love it.
 
^

hahah I know what you mean. I was in Oregon a few weeks back with my parents GPS and it told me I had reached my destination and I was about 4 miles up the road from it! I was in the middle of a damn field!

I wasn't sure if it was because it was an older unit with older map software.
 
I have a Garmin nuvi 660 and I love it. It's probably outside your pricerange, but I believe the basic functionality of all of the Nuvis are the same, the only differences are things like screensize, bluetooth and traffic.
 
Help you out a bit more. In the US the Garmin is general better. The company they get there maps from is US based and I has read reports they are just better in the US.

TomTom is better in Europe the Company that makes those maps if you can guess is based over there and general they make better maps for Europe
 
I know with Garmin and I am sure with all GPS's you can. But they do sell updated maps, there's a new update ever year or so with Garmin. That being said, my stepdad was in the Military. He believes if the Military can trust Garmin, so can we.

~Steven
 
garmin all the way. the military uses them and i don't think they trust anyone.

it'll come with city navigator 2008 pre-installed. that will be very update for your needs. They might not have new areas in development, but the POI's will blow you away.

I have the cat's a$$ for handheld radios/GPS (rino 530) and it rocks. TONS of poi's and address info. i also have a 76C handheld and it's great too.

buy the lowest nuvi you can afford and it will be fantastic for you. check Crappy tire as they just had a sale on and they'll probably have another one on the labour day weekend if you can wait.

good luck,
keebler
 
In tactical situations the Military is not supposed to use consumer GPS ( but they do - the soldiers buy them through the PX). The GPS of choice by the military is currently the Rockwell built DAGR and it can't be jammed or spoofed.

Garmin is a great brand for GPS, their stock price has taken a major hit lately because let's face it GPS receivers are to become standard in cars, phones etc and the future of being able to sell a dedicated box for $500 is somewhat more limited.
 
I've been using a Garmin nuvi 260 for a few months now, and am reasonably satisfied with how it works. I found this unit for $200 US so I assume you could find it for about the same Canadian. AFAIK, this is the least-expensive GPS with spoken street-name directions, which I think is useful. If you want to save money, buy the standard instead of the "wide" version. You'll be listening to it more than watching it anyway.
 
I should have also added that I have both a Garmin and a TomTom (sort of) the latter is TomTom software OEM'd to HP in the form of their IPAQ Travel Companion ( kind of an interesting idea for a PDA but not the best implementation).

Overall, I like the Garmin better for its features and overall integration. TomTom software seems to be slightly better from a street navigation perspective in my experience.
 
We've got a TomTom 910 and after seeing a few Gamins and some old Sony model - amma sticking with TomTom. Brilliant interface, though it does take a while to boot the 910. Don't know how much faster the new ones are.
 
Thanks to all for the advice.

I ended up going with the Garmin Nuvi 250W.

Costco didn't have the 350 in stock, only online and I need it by next weekend so shipping times were my enemy. I would have kinda liked the text-to-speech aspect but I have used my parents TomTom that doesn't have it for so long it doesn't really matter all that much.

I bought it from Futureshop and got them to price match another store (which was an only online deal hehe) for $220 after taxes etc. I decline the extended warranty because yeah... it's $200 bucks if it breaks out of warranty I will just buy another (likely better and updated maps) one.



Used it a bit today and like it a lot. Found a LOT more stores than the TomTom I had used before did (to be fair, it has the newest maps compared to the TomTom's nearly 2 year old ones) even little dinky computer stores and such. Widescreen is really nice, and it's light and bright and loud as well which is good since my music is normally loud :p

I have 30 days to return it so I will use it on my trip down to PAX in Seattle and see how well it does. If it sucks and gets my lost a lot then back to the store it goes. But so far, it's promising.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back