No Idea about GPS

Hey there~
I have some questions...about GPS. Please help me out this
nontechnology oriented person.
I'd like to buy automobile GPS for my hubby. I'd like to buy one with

1) Attachable (Yeah...my city...if people see that, they will break my
car and...oh...don't wanna think about it)

2) Accurate & EASY to hand (My hubby got freaked out if he cannot see
the road on the map(usually,,,yahoo map print-outs))

3)Big enough screen( don't want him to stick his face and eyes on the
screen while he is driving...you know...then what will happen)

4)Appropriate price (well, I'd love to buy 1000 dollars one if I can,
but...that will leave...bloody scars in my bank account and will never
healed again.)

5)Tomtom? Garmin StreetPilot? ( I thinkg these two brands are people
mostly talk about...which one is better?)

Thank you so much everyone...I'm so...old...old....everyone out there
seems so so so COMPLICATED!

My vote is for the Garmin Streetpilot I5. It is ready to go out of the box
(no maps to load first), is the easiest one I have ever seen to set up and
use, and has excellent, clear voice instructions to get you from your
starting point to your destination. Technical knowledge about GPS systems is
definitely not required.

Although the screen is small, that is not a disadvantage (in fact, it is an
advantage). The small size allows it to be mounted on the windshield without
blocking the driver's view of the road ahead. There is a suction cup
mounting bracket for this purpose. Even though the screen is small, the
ongoing map information is uncomplicated but complete and is very readable
in all lighting conditions. I just took a 200 mile trip with my unit. It was
a pleasure knowing that I would be guided by voice the entire way. With the
voice instructions, I very rarely even looked at the screen because those
instructions were understandable and never wrong. Once I got off course
(took a side trip into a little town). No problem. The unit instantly
recalculated my route.

Before leaving your vehicle, just unpop it from the windshield and lock it
up in the glove box, or stick it in your purse. It is very portable.

The Garmin StreetPilot I5 is priced at about $350.

By the way, I'm old too - 74. I guarantee you that a senior citizen will NOT
find this unit too complicated.

Go for a TomTom. You need not worry about the screen size. The idea of the
unit is that it talks to you, you can even turn the screen off. For example
on a motorway you get a warning of the exit ahead at 1.2 miles then again at
800Yds. At a roundabout it tells you what exit to take. Furthermore if you
go the wrong way it will re-calculate your route. It also gives you the
option of the fastest route, shortest route, cycle route, walking route and
so on. When you choose an address, post code, point of interest or whatever
destination you wish you get the choice to avoid motorways, toll roads and
so on and you can choose what you want. You can also set-up an itinerary of
several stops if you wish.
--

Robert Peffers,
Kelty,
Fife,
Scotland, (UK).
(When replying take pam away from peffers.
Scotland).

Papa wrote:


Okay, you're happy with that. So far. But did you know StreetPilot i5
and *all* the other most recent Garmin hardware releases, except the
StreetPilot 2820, do not offer the option of multiple destination routing?

They added that feature to the StreetPilots a few years back and now
they are releasing new models without it.

Without multiple destination routing you have two choices:

1) - You can unthinkingly follow the route the software offers
(generated without any knowledge of or consideration for local traffic
conditions, local geography, or daily traffic patterns).

(2) - Or you can ignore the GPS and take a route that you know to be
better. And that is the route you could quickly implement and activate
in a GPS with multiple destination routing by adding via points to the
route the GPS came up with.

It appears to me that Garmin has made a gross error in software design
and is counting on millions of people who don't understand GPS to buy
these new units and find out the hard way that they can't control the
routing.

The MP3 music player? That is going to be real soothing as you move at
a crawl through gridlocked traffic, late for a meeting or standing up an
important client, because you thought your GPS receiver knew what it was
doing.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

Yes, I'm VERY happy with it. The reasons are: (1) It gets me from point A to
point B, supplying clearly understood verbal instructions, and (2) it
supplies directions to all Points of Interest (POIs) that I could ever
conceivably ask for. So I don't really need all of those bells and whistles
that you mentioned. If I did, I could get them - but they would cost more.

Why didn't you simply just express your opinion like everyone else in this
thread regarding your preferred GPS unit, rather than critique the choice I
made? You may not have given it much thought, but your preferences may not
always coincide perfectly with preferences of someone else. My reasons for
making my Streetpilot I5 purchase are valid ones, and they have, and will
continue to, serve me well.