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which car GPS for a Mac user

T

Tortellino

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 22, 2005
26
0
Hi all!
I am looking to buy a car GPS device. What are the Mac-friendly models which are easy to use and have good features? I need to be able to update and upload maps/ waypoints from my iBook. I have a G4 CPU, so booting into Windows is not an option. I also don't want to spend money on Virtual PC.

Thanks in advance-
T.
 
TomTom models are very Mac-friendly - their desktop updater application works the same way in either Mac or Windows.
 
tersono said:
TomTom models are very Mac-friendly - their desktop updater application works the same way in either Mac or Windows.
Click to expand...

i vote tomtom as well - i have a tomtom 720 that i connect to my mac using the tomtom home software. it does not, however, have exactly the same functionality as the pc version - there is no way to do itinerary planning in the desktop app that can be downloaded to the device (this can be done in the pc version).
 
So wait...the tomtom is recommended even though you can't do itinerary planning with a Mac?

will any 3rd party apps help with this?

isn't that a pretty big feature to be missing?
 
benpatient said:
So wait...the tomtom is recommended even though you can't do itinerary planning with a Mac?

will any 3rd party apps help with this?

isn't that a pretty big feature to be missing?
Click to expand...

you can still do it on the device itself, just not on the desktop app and load it into the tomtom. only a minor inconvenience for me since i rarely use the desktop app as it is...
 
All recent GPS models have been very user-friendly. I really don't think it has got anything to do with being a Mac-user or not...
 
Another vote for the Nuvi. You really won't be connecting it to your computer that much, so compatibility isn't that big a deal. Although, I've had no problem connecting my Nuvi 350 to my Mac and loading pictures onto it. It will also double as an MP3 player (you take the stereo out into the car same as you would an iPod) with the nice feature that it will break into a song to tell you to turn.

Make sure you get a model (no matter the maker) that actually tries to pronounce the street names. "Bear right onto Maple Street" is a lot easier to follow than "Bear right". Also look at size - a big screen is not near as important as portability, in my mind. The Nuvi is nice and slim, you can put it in a shirt pocket. (Most of the models, at least.) And the ease-of-use is very Mac-like.

Dave
 
I ended up with a Nuvi after trying to find an answer to this on this forum. It works fine with the computer. I have been shocked at how great it is!
 
heh, this was asked in another forum I post in (NikonCafe) so I'll give my same answer...

I have a TomTom Go I got 3 years ago. It is a big pile of steaming crap. The maps are terrible (and I've gotten all the updates). At least once on every road trip it takes me miles in the wrong direction, only to have me do a U turn and go back. I did a comparison of 3 events I travel to last year (race tracks and the hotels I stay in). The TomTom had the address for one hotel and no tracks. My friends Garmin 360 had everything, and they were all in the POI database. Garmin: 6 TomTom: 1

If you choose to get a TomTom, never leave home without paper maps as a backup. You'll need them.

I'm planning to get a Garmin 760 before I go to Sebring in March.
 
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