<p>I also have a Garmin Nuvi 360 from Costco. I don’t leave home without it! It came with the car adaptor and one to charge it at home also. I used to get lost all the time and now I don’t, and it also helps me find a gas station or restaurant when I’m traveling. Who asked if anyone talked back to it? Yes, I do, and quite rudely at times. I put it on the male voice because I didn’t like the attitude of the female voice when she said “recalculating…”</p>
<p>I got an adapter so I can charge my GPS with the wall outlet–it was under $8 and is about 1/2 the size of a hotdog. I got if from Checker Auto Parts & it’s very portable. You plug it to the end of the car charger so you can plug it into the wall.</p>
<p>You can also charge a Garmin’s via a computer adapter. Comes with the Gramin 760. I’m not sure about the others. And Garmin’s are superior, hands down. Ditto nautical GPSs’</p>
<p>I’m getting DS a GPS at some point. He just has to drive to too many previously unknown destinations. He’s great with mapquest…but this will be a hit, I’m sure.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up BB. I just ordered the pink one from Costco online. I might not be a girlie girl, and pink wouldn’t have been my first choice… but the price was right :).</p>
<p>It said “while supplies last”… so…</p>
<p>How did we live without Tom Tom? My in-laws gave it to us last Christmas, and I am already addicted.</p>
<p>But… last night, D and I were leaving a show in Boston. TomTom was having a problem finding the satellite signal (the parking garage apparently messed it up). By the time TomTom figured out where we were, I had decided to just trust my instincts and pretty much ignored every instruction TomTom gave me. As a result, it took us twice as long to get to the interstate as if I had listened! But we had a lovely tour of the theater district… :-)</p>
<p>If I have to go somewhere for the first time, I look it up on Mapquest or Yahoo!Maps just so I get a general idea of where I’m going, then use TomTom for the actual drive. I find I am more comfortable if I have a mental map-view of where I should be going, but then I trust TomTom for the details.</p>
<p>Just for curiosity - I like to have North on top (like looking at a map), my partner likes to have the direction you’re going in on top so that the arrow is always moving up. What’s the most popular?</p>
<p>Most of the time I have mine set to direction of travel – it seems easier for upcoming turns, etc, especially since I usually have the (somewhat annoying) voice turned off. But, there are times when I switch it back to “north on top” so I can get a better sense of where I am – more like looking at a map.</p>
<p>The Magellan 1412 was good except it took a long time locating Points of Interest when we typed in the name (minutes). It was also slow at recalculating the route at times. Anyone have recommendations on systems with faster processing times? Hubby & son were very unhappy it took so long to process/recalculate.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the GPS was very helpful & kept us pretty well on path getting to our destinations (tho sometimes rather weird routes were calculating, getting us off a freeway only to have us get back on).</p>
<p>Would love thoughts & more suggestions.</p>
<p>I’ve got the Garmin Nuvi250, thanks to BunsenBurner who gave the heads up up-thread on the special deal Costco was offering.</p>
<p>I love it!</p>
<p>First, it’s not really pink (thank goodness), but kind of a metallic mauve. Okay, that’s not great but it’s not offensive.</p>
<p>Second, it only cost $129 and came with a great accessory… the friction pad for the dash, which lets you set it on your dash… it does NOT slide around… there is no suction cup problem… you can remove it to hide it in milliseconds.</p>
<p>Third, it works great! I was amazed, HImom, at how quickly it found lodging, restaurants, recreation spots etc, Milliseconds, it seemed like. I tested it right at my home and it found all the key places… so I knew it was accurate and seemed nicely thorough. Not just chain restaurants, but our local Thai place, etc.</p>
<p>The graphics are good, it seems to find satellites quite quickly, even in a covered garage today.</p>
<p>Surely it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. But for me it is a GREAT buy. DH’s older Garmin/PDA combo does show both expected time of arrival and your running driving speed on its display. Mine only shows one or the other. That is the only thing he noticed.
… I can live with that.</p>
<p>Now… I’m trying to decide whether to get one for DS for Xmas. I know he wants one. And it is a great buy. And we are going to have a low-key holiday (thanks economy gurus 
). But… will he abide the “metallic mauve?” I’m considering emailing him a photo of the actual color and asking. Would spoil the gift surprise, but…</p>
<p>ETA: I didn’t actually type in the name of a POI, HIMom. I just asked it to find restaurants, then hotels, then golf courses, etc. So maybe that is not a fair test comparison to the slowness you experienced.</p>