Need GPS suggestion for car navigation

[Al Kondo]

I would like to give my wife a GPS for her business traveling. She
travels throughout the U.S. in rental cars. I think that a GPS would
ease some of the pain of travel. I have no knowledge of GPS products,
however, from what I have read the Garmin V and Street Pilot 3 appear
to be likely candidates for purchase. There is a considerable
difference in price. Please inform me of the differences in use and
quality. I need to determine if it is worth the extra expense to buy
the Street Pilot product.

Thanks, Al Kondo

 

[Dr. A.T. Squeegee]

In article <3fd8b12b.18458801@news.hal-pc.org>, alkon@hal-pc.org says...

I would like to give my wife a GPS for her business traveling. She
travels throughout the U.S. in rental cars. I think that a GPS would
ease some of the pain of travel. I have no knowledge of GPS products,
however, from what I have read the Garmin V and Street Pilot 3 appear
to be likely candidates for purchase. There is a considerable
difference in price. Please inform me of the differences in use and
quality. I need to determine if it is worth the extra expense to buy
the Street Pilot product.

Choosing a GPS product is largely a matter of personal preference.
See which features you like, and how well the unit is built. Look for
one that is WAAS-capable, if you're an accuracy fanatic.

Keep in mind that paying visual attention to a GPS unit while
driving in a strange city can be extremely dangerous, more so than
chatting on a cellphone (without a hands-free kit) while driving.
Whatever unit you get, you may want to see if it has a 'voice cue'
option (a speech synthesizer that can actually say things like 'Turn
left, next intersection' or such things, based on following a
preprogrammed route).

Happy hunting.

--
Dr. Anton Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, KC7GR)
kyrrin a/t bluefeathertech d-o=t c&o&m
Motorola Radio Programming & Service Available -
http://www.bluefeathertech.com/rf.html
"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" (Red Green)

 

[Dbowey]

alkon posted:

I would like to give my wife a GPS for her business traveling.

This is a lot to dump on you all at once, but.......

If she carries a PC or Mac laptop, consider purchasing a GPS (with or without
screen) that has a serial or USB interface, as appropriate for the computer,
and buy map software for the computer.

For the PC I prefer Streets and Trips. On the Mac I use Street Atlas. (I
prefer Streets and Trips). Both permit you to search by address, Lat and Long,
Zip code, etc.

I've never been lost since I started using it....... Being a moving dot on a
large display is my preference for how to travel. I also have a hand-held
(Garmin GPS12XL), but only use it when I am heading into the toolies on foot.

By the way, a screenless GPS and map software is much less expensive than the
ones you mentioned.

Good luck

Don

 

[Al Kondo]

My wife will be carrying a laptop with her. As I am very
unknowledgeable of GPS products, I need to have more information on
how they work. It was mentioned in one of the responses that there
are screenless GPS systems that cost less. Do they function with the
laptop. I also agree that she will need a product that provides
information by voice in addition to screen.... or perhaps, in lieu of
screen information. I would appreciate further thoughts on this.

Thanks, Al Kondo

 

[Ohger1]

Subject: Need GPS suggestion for car navigation
From: alkon@hal-pc.org (Al Kondo)
Date: 12/11/03 10:03 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id: <3fd8b12b.18458801@news.hal-pc.org

.. I have no knowledge of GPS products,

however, from what I have read the Garmin V and Street Pilot 3 appear
to be likely candidates for purchase. There is a considerable
difference in price.

I own the V, and have sold several SP IIIs. The V is much smaller, has a B&W
screen, excellent battery life, and is great for all around use (including
hiking).

The SP III is larger, has color, and uses voice prompts instead of the Vs
beeps. It also has expandable memory (and is now shipping with a mem card
included.

The biggest problem with the V is that it is limited to 19 Meg of internal
memory that can't be expanded. It also takes about 35 min to load the maps
into it from the PC. The III loads very quickly. You can also keep extra
cards loaded for areas that you frequent with the III. With the V, you must
reload from your PC when you get out of the map range you have loaded.

The biggest advantage of both the V and III over traditional small GPSs are
that they auto route. IOW, simple enter the address of your destination using
the cursor type keyboard, and both will select a route for you. If you miss a
turn, or a detour develops, both will notify you that you are off route, and
will then replot a new route. The will continutally do so for every missed
turn.

BTW, the III has just been replaced by a touch screen model, which is very
similar in most other ways. Both the V and III are available at quite
attractive prices.

John