Which GPS unit would you have Santa bring you this year?

[Positive Vibes]

This is the one I'm crazy about:

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-GPSMAP..._64/102-0872182-3704135?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I have seen this unit a few times down here in BAJA & the screen is incredible! the maps look great and are very accurate. They had the BAJA TOPO map loaded & it had every little remote road and trail marked out.

It works well mounted up on the dash or down on the center console. Soon as I get the $$$ I'm getting one...

That one looks good Chris. Do you know if it comes with maps already loaded or is that extra $$$$???

 

[FAT CAT]

From the Garmin site, it says it has a built in base map. My Magellan Sport Trak has a built in map & It has all the streets in the US, so I think the Garmin would be the same... I only saw these down here with the BAJA maps in them, so I don't know for sure what is in the base map.

<<The GPSMAP® 276C is an all-in-one, versatile, color chartplotter and automobile navigator — perfect for land or water. This portable GPS navigator features a 256-color TFT display that's easy to read in bright sun along with a built-in basemap and auto routing to provide you with turn-by-turn directions to the marina for a day of boating.>>

 

[FROADER]

My Garmin c550 came with all the streets in the US and some in Europe loaded in already.

 

[techboj]

I have a Garmin C330 that I bought on sale last November from Futureshop Canada for about US$250 (CAN$300). It gives excellent turn by turn directions and all the maps are preloaded (North America). Then my GF gave me a Garmin C530 for Christmas which she got for (US$350) also on sale ! Both units performed beyond expectations specially for everyday use.

Didn't want to return the C330 so I gave it to my parents as a christmas gift

Garmin has excellent customer support. A few weeks after purchasing the C330, I broke the suction cup mounting bracket - Garmin promptly sent a replacement (no questions asked) and sent a new one together with the cigar lighter power adapter cord ($50 value). They didn't even ask for the old one back. I was going to repair it and do a permanent mount - but Futureshop Canada replaced the bracket too. So now, I have two new brackets

BTW. I frequent Cali and MN - law prohibits mounting GPS on the windshield using the suction mount. So use alternate methods of mounting (dash mounted suction cup ok) to avoid costly citations.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Ok with your guys help I think (I repeat "I think") I've narrowed it down to these two. Any input good or bad???

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B5KUOK/ref=pd_luc_02302B0001MALWYB000B5KUOK/103-7838009-9095862

And the one Chris advised: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001MALWY/ref=pd_cp_e_title/103-7838009-9095862

 

[FAT CAT]

They are about the same as far as GPS and screen go. The 276 is marketed as a car unit you can use in your boat and the 376 is marketed as a boat unit you can use in you car.

The 376 has weather features to tell you when a storm is coming and has XM radio which is cool, but I don't know if it is worth the $200 over the 276...

You can pick up a XM tuner for $25 to $50 if it's important to you, but if you don't need the weather stuff they are the same...

http://www.amazon.com/Delphi-SA1008..._72/102-0872182-3704135?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

 

[capleton456]

This is mine.

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Street...r_1/102-7182622-8980138?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Bought it as a beginners gps and stuck it above my registration sticker so I didn't have to think anymore and it is great...If you don't want to set up waypoints or have text to speech capability in a gps.

 

[techboj]

Ok with your guys help I think (I repeat "I think") I've narrowed it down to these two. Any input good or bad???

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B5KUOK/ref=pd_luc_02302B0001MALWYB000B5KUOK/103-7838009-9095862

And the one Chris advised: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001MALWY/ref=pd_cp_e_title/103-7838009-9095862

Since you've narrowed it down to those two units, I would say go for the 276. The other features described in the 376 may (or may not be) of use to you. And $200 is a bit too much for those extras you wont be using.

 

[FAT CAT]

Just to throw it out there If I didn't need the Mexico maps, this is the unit I'd get:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-iPAQ-rx591...r_4/102-0872182-3704135?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I really like the features of this, for the money it's hard to beat! But the GPS is TOM TOM which is good, but they don't have any mexico topo maps & stuff yet.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Again thanks for all the thoughts and theories, keep em coming.

What do you guys think about this one: http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Pocket...r_1/103-7838009-9095862?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I was reading Consumer Reports and this came up as there best buy. What do you guys think???

 

[FROADER]

CG,

Does your liet you punch in lon/lat coordinates at all?

 

[FAT CAT]

CG,

Does your liet you punch in lon/lat coordinates at all?

I was just about to ask you the same thing! Yes the 276 and 376 let you enter LAT/LON points and are great for trip re-tracking. It lays down bread crumbs every 1/8 mile or so, so you can backtrack your route through the outback.

It seems the newer car type GPS units are more setup towards entering address' and don't work as well with topo maps and waypoints like we need down here. Garmins are the best for that, but I don't know much about their newer car type ones.
There's no address for Cojobo Junction at the base of the San Felipe Race summit, but there a ton of GPS books with the LAT/LON points. Same thing for Moab & The 'Con & places like that.

I'd like a PDA one that I could use for other stuff as well as the GPS but finding one compatible with the old Garmin Mapsource software is hard.

 

[FROADER]

I was just about to ask you the same thing! Yes the 276 and 376 let you enter LAT/LON points and are great for trip re-tracking. It lays down bread crumbs every 1/8 mile or so, so you can backtrack your route through the outback.

It seems the newer car type GPS units are more setup towards entering address' and don't work as well with topo maps and waypoints like we need down here. Garmins are the best for that, but I don't know much about their newer car type ones.
There's no address for Cojobo Junction at the base of the San Felipe Race summit, but there a ton of GPS books with the LAT/LON points. Same thing for Moab & The 'Con & places like that.

I'd like a PDA one that I could use for other stuff as well as the GPS but finding one compatible with the old Garmin Mapsource software is hard.

Yeah, mine doesn't and I wish I would have researched a little more.

 

[Burns]

So most of you guys live in big cities how does it work in the smaller towns

 

[DOZIER]

So most of you guys live in big cities how does it work in the smaller towns

If you buy a good navi unit...It should be showing all of the smallest roads. And the Z-1 if you drive down a road where there is not a road, it will map the road out and save it on the unit. I have only had that happen once.

 

[03ExplorerSPT]

I just bought a Garmin NUVI 350 today. Hopefully I'll have it by the end of the week. I'll let you know how it is.

 

[Positive Vibes]

I just bought a Garmin NUVI 350 today. Hopefully I'll have it by the end of the week. I'll let you know how it is.

Yes please post up what you think.

I finally bought the Garmin 276, that seems to be in my price range and has the features I need. Thanks guys for the input. I will post up what I think of the unit after I've used it a bit.

 

[justin146]

I use a Garmin GPSmap 76s along with Map Point in my company truck. I never use the GPS itself, just the serial output to my laptop. I use an external antenna with it too.

In my Explorer, I use the USB GPS that came with the newest version of Streets and Trips. IT is pretty accurate for not having an external antenna. I was using a bluetooth GPS for the carputer, but it was having some accuracy issues, possibly from interference.

 

[03ExplorerSPT]

Got the Nuvi 350 and have been using it for about 5 or 6 hours. IT's absolutely amazing. It came with the latest updates to the nav software as well as the Garmin software. It's extremely easy to use although I wish some of the functions like switching between quickest and shortest distance were easier to find but oh well. I don't even think it took 30 seconds for it to download the satellite data before it showed exactly where i was standing with it. Definitely a great small unit.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Ok got my Garmin 276 today. That puppy is complicated!!!!!!

Any tips Chris or anybody else???

What excesseries have you bought for your units???

Oh and mine didn't come with cig power adapter but it does have a cable with a bunch of wires exposed?????