<p>Hi!
We’re thinking of purchasing a GPS that we can move from car to car. We live in HI, but do travel to points around the US (not often beyond that). Anyone have experience, suggestions, advice? We love Costco for our purchases, but are interested in anyone’s thoughts.</p>
<p>A friend says that his device doesn’t tell him the street name & sometimes doesn’t tell him to turn until after he’s passed the place. He has a Magellan from Costco that he got for Christmas. He suggested a larger screen would be nice and telling the street name & advising a bit earlier before the turn. He also thought more prompt redirecting (after you miss your turn) would be helpful.</p>
<p>Any specific thoughts and suggestions? We leave for LA on 10/9 and I’ll also be going to SFO & PHL later in October.</p>
<p>We bought a little cheapo Garmin Nuvi from Costco. I like it better than the Magellan we tried and returned. However, “better” is a relative term. It pales in comparison with the built-in navigation system in one of our cars (made by Fujitsu for Toyota). Our Garmin has a somewhat slow reaction time (or may be I’m a fast driver?), so it took me a little while to adjust. I’m in the middle of the intersection and the darn thing just announces I should turn left here If you are a Costco member, buy one there, keep all of the packaging, try the system out and return if you are totally dissatisfied. I kept the Garmin.</p>
<p>My friend has a Garmin (I think). We met up in a city half way between where she lives and where I live and she bought the GPS because she has a terrible sense of direction. It got her from her home to where we met up very well. I had never used one and found it quite comical and at times a little annoying. It did not give street names but would say turn in 400 yards - that is a little hard to judge and we would sometimes turn off the highway an exit too early. It did tell us pretty promptly when we made a mistake - it would say ‘recalculating’ then give us new directions. </p>
<p>We heard ‘recalculating’ an awful lot in those 2 days.</p>
<p>Street names or exit numbers would be a good idea. I don’t think any of the portable GPS systems would have big screens. My son’s girlfriend’s father has a Prius with a built in GPS and that has a big screen.</p>
<p>We ended up yelling ‘shut up’ at the GPS quite a few times ;)</p>
<p>I have a TomTom ONE that I absolutely LOVE (My parents are constantly telling me that it’s better than the GPS built-in to their Chevy Tahoe). The screen is easy to see and you can program it to tell you where you’re going to turn/murge/etc. next. </p>
<p>The only problem is battery…if I don’t have it plugged in to the Adapter via Cigarette Lighter all the time, it loses battery within 2-3 hours. So not so good for longer trips.</p>
<p>We bought a Garmin for our car last Christmas from Costco and love it. It tells the name of the street. My husband complains that it takes a little long to “acquire satellites” when you first turn it on and that aggravates him. I got our son a Tom-Tom that doesn’t mention the street name but our son loves that. If you do a search on this forum you can find a pretty long discussion about them.</p>
<p>Our Garmin has worked out really nice. Sometimes it does have a little bit of difficulty getting a signal when you’re in a downtown area surrounded by really tall skyscrapers, gotta wait a bit. My friend likes the Tomtom. Visit the reviews in PC Magazine, just search GPS, there are editor and reader reviews/rankings.</p>
<p>How much do the ones mentioned cost? My husband and I were introduced to the sport of geocaching by some friends. It was a blast, and we would love to try it ourselves, but we can’t afford to spend much–perhaps as a Christmas present to ourselves…</p>
<p>They had a Garmin, and it did seem to take a long time to acquire a signal.</p>
<p>We have two Garmins in family–one is a Nuvi 300 something and the other is a Garmin 500 something. Both work very well. Both say names of streets and give verbal directions. Both of these work much, much, much better than the GPSs that came installed in a couple of our cars.</p>
<p>I think I may get one for my daughter for Christmas if she does not come up with something else she wants. I thought about getting her one for her birthday before her 1000 mile drive to her summer job but didn’t as it seemed a fairly straightforward drive - to me. After she went 100 miles in the wrong direction only 3 hours into her journey I was wishing I had got her one. But i think she does not have a functioning cigarette lighter in her car so may not be an option.</p>
<p>My d. has same problem (not a functioning lighter). I think she just charges it inside her apt. and then uses it only as she needs it in order to save charge.</p>
<p>Garmin Nuvi 260W is on sale now at Amazon. I paid $279 about 2 months or so ago and now Amazon has it for about $240 and free shipping. </p>
<p>If you want to charge the battery in your house (because your car doesn’t have a usable power outlet), you’ll have to buy a charger adapter. It’s not included with the unit because most cars have a working power source.</p>
<p>H got one from his parents last birthday. It is a Magellan. Not sure of the model. We didn’t think we needed one but it is nice when you are going to an unknown area.
Also Ca is now hands free for cell phone and driving. My H’s GPS has bluetooth so he can pair his phone with the GPS.</p>
<p>I got navigation on D’s cellphone and she has been happy with it. I did it that way so she would have it with her when she’s with other people. It’s certainly not cheaper in the long run but is the most portable.</p>
<p>Garmin Nuvi 350 here. I’m new to the whole GPS thing, but like it a lot. SHould make college visits a lot easier.
H. has one built in his Nissan, which he likes much better than mine, but I don’t see much difference.</p>
If you are a Costco member, buy one there, keep all of the packaging, try the system out and return if you are totally dissatisfied. I kept the Garmin.</p>