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what brand of GPS do you recommend?

einmusiker

einmusiker

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 26, 2010
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I am shopping for a portable GPS unit with traffic alerts and map updates on buy.com. There are units from Magellin, which I've used in the past and tomtom. They look similar and have the features I want and are priced around 150. What do you use and recommend, particularly if you've tried multiple units?
 
I've used a Garmin Nuvi for the past three years and love it. It's taken me up and down the East Coast with no problems whatsoever. I'll defiantly be getting another Garmin when mine finally bites the dust.
 
TomTom, did some shopping around for GPS' some years back and these guys are great. Still use our original 910 from time to time. Superb build quality and longevity considering it has a HDD.
 
yeah the tomtoms look nice, used one with my mom this week and there were only a few things I didn't like so much compared to my older magellan maestro. I'm thinking I'll pick up a tomtom with lane and traffic assistance
 
My wife and I have a Garmin. I like it. However, the traffic feature requires you turn on pop-up adds. So when it's on, you get ads for Red Lobster popping up. Very annoying. Fortunately you can shut off the traffic feature, thereby shutting off the pop-up ads as well. It just seems like, why advertise it has traffic information on it when you need to put up with Red Lobster ads in order to even use it.

Aside from that, it's decent. Sometimes it can take a few minutes to sync up with the satellite though. My iPhone used to lock in with the satellite in under 30 seconds, while the Garmin would be trying for 3-5 minutes.
 
I am going to vote for Garmin.
In reviews I have read it seems Garmin is generally considered the best in the US and TomTom is generally better in Europe. TomTom and Garmin buy their maps from 2 different companies. The company Garmin uses makes better US maps than the one TomTom uses. But for Europe those companies are the other way around.
 
I have friends who've had both, and TomTom is more reliable, they say. Unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience.
 
I am aware of the popularity of Garmin products but also be aware of their
habit of discontinuing products without notice.
I had the M5 which was a very expensive Garmin product (500+). A few years later garmin discontinued making them as well as any parts for them. I will never buy Garmin again.
A product I like is copilot, particularly for shorter trips. One problem with all GPS products is you can never tell if the route it suggests is a smart choice.. In my area there are roads you would not want to be on in the winter.You can design the route with copilot on your computer and upload that route to your device.
 
I've had a Magellan and a garmin, liked the garmin a lot better. That said, I am ditching it in favor of the navagon app on my iPhone...
 
I wouldn't own anything besides a Garmin.

einmusiker said:
Well, after extensive research I've narrowed brand down to Garmin.

Choosing between the following 3:

1. 755t

2. 765t

3. 1490t


thanks!
Click to expand...

I have the 765t and it's a great GPS, but it's a couple years old and I think there are models out there that are thinner and have newer features. But if you can get a great deal on the 765t and don't care about the changes on the newer ones, then it's a great choice.
 
I have an older Magellan and when I needed to update the maps it was a nightmare. The software was not compatible with newer software (XP sp2 broke the software). There is a patch that will allow it to run. Called to find out how to get that. Some guy in India told me it works fine. I read the error message ("this is not compatible, call 1-800-xxx-xxxx to get a patch to make it work" more or less). He said that I needed to reinstall my OS. I told him I've seen the patch before (had to do it on another machine), I just need the download link. Again, was told that it works fine, I need to re-install my OS.

Maybe they have gotten better?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/822233/

Nope, still selling products that don't work right and software updates are few and far between.


Other makers keep their software up to date and have people who actually know how to help vs the worthless CS website and call support at magellan.
 
I have a Garmin Nuvi 265T. It works great, and would probably work better if I would upgrade the maps. It just sucks paying $80 for maps when Amazon had that same model for $90 a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had gotten the WT model, though, as that 3.5" screen isn't big enough. The widescreen models are a lot easier to see. The Bluetooth sucks in my model. When I try to talk to anyone using it, they end up sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown.
 
welllll gearlust strikes again and I picked up a garmin 7200 on ebay that comes with a year of xm radio subscription for free, but not the traffic. If I really like it I'll return the 1450t and add the traffic option. It also looks like I can add a backup camera to it which is something I've wanted to do so I'm gonna see how to do that.
 
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