Which GPS to buy?

I am looking for a GPS for wife's car.
Got her a Magellen in the past, but had to return it. Too many incorrect
directions, low quality mp3 sound, etc.

These are the main features I need to have:

1) Intutitive & easy-to-use interface
2) Work with bluetooth phone for hands-free dialing/answering calls
3) Decent mp3 player that works while navigation is active (Magellan did
not)
4) Built-in FM transmitter. Also decent speaker(s) would be nice
5) Solid mount bracket

Thanks in advance for replies

        I ain't gonna recommend any but I am seeing you are peeking at one of the
Garmin GPS. If you want to give her the GPS with built-in DVD player then I
think Panasonic or something like that.

        Me,

1. Easy to use, can't be any easier when you know how to use

2. Some has built-in bluetooth, but worth it or not is another story. Me? I
would go for the small bluetooth earpiece

3. Decent MP3 player? I read in the ads the Panasonic sounds like a better
one. But a GPS with decent MP3 player I would go for a decent GPS with
regular decent MP3 player I can play without tagging the GPS along.

4. Some has built-in FM transmitter, and the speaker is what comes with your
CAR not GPS. If you are talking about the GPS built-in speaker then if you
won't mind to hear a sad story that the GPS main design is for driving not
entertainment. So you won't be happy with the quality of built-in speaker.

5. I read some people don't like what came with theirs, I have 4 and haven't
broke any yet so they are pretty solid to me.

        Me? I wouldn't worry or want to spend my $$$$ on thing doesn't help me how
to get from one point to other. So,

- MP3, if I want a decent MP3 player then I would buy a regular MP3 player
which is very cheap these day.

- Decent Speaker, if I don't want to use the CAR's speaker (you can use
Cassette adapter) then you can buy a small external speaker. Some is small
enough to fit in your palm, but loud enough to fill a large room, and cost
around $12-20

- Bluetooth, my GPS has built-in bluetooth and I can be able to pair with my
cellphone most of the time. But I prefer the regular bluetooth earpiece.

No, those are the features you WANT to have. ;-)

All present consumer GPS units are plagued by incorrect directions, varying
from slightly wrong (wrong side of the street) to grossly wrong (wrong end
of town) because they all use one of only two map suppliers. Neither set of
maps is perfect; both have errors, just different ones.

Most implementations of Blue Tooth don't seem to work very good yet either.

The mp3 players are marginal, due mostly to cheap amps and speakers.

So.........my advice is to get a good basic GPSr. Text to speech is the
only "extra" feature that is really worth paying extra for. I just went
through the Sunday ads yesterday; there are LOTS of them on sale for really
good prices......around $200.

There is a (not too comprehensive) report in the current Consumer Reports.
Nice general information and feature list though.

Then if you need mp3, get a player.
If you need a bluetooth headset for the phone, get one.

Or if you are really serious about your "needs", maybe one of the recently
new models would be right for you. Something like a Garmin
8000.........about $800 I believe.

And in the end, one must still pay attention to where you are and where you
are going because the GPS directions will never be perfect in all
situations.

Hi,


A lot of quality GPS have now intuitive and 'easy-to-use interface.

Ease of use greatly depend on how you understand the use of WayPoint and how
you organize data in the GPS by using Favorite folders to store locations.
Most of units have different way to found your destination, some have
preloaded POI (hotel, restaurant, general store, supermarkets, museum,...)
attached to the map (not homogenous at any region, large urban area are
better covered than country side), other only allowed address search for
destination, some have both (detail address search with street number and
extended POI database), same may accept or not large among of supplementary
POIs.

The ease-of-use thus greatly depend of your need or how you prepare
information in the unit and store it as favorite WayPoints.

I use a GARMIN StreetPilot C550 which have simplest interface than more
customizable units such as StreetPilot SP series. It have full capacities
for address (with street name and block number in all major town), city and
POI database. Depending of area the database is great or weak. I may advice
you to test the database on a particular area you know to see if coverage
fit your need.

Of course, the more the unit have search features, the more it is complex
and perhaps miss easiness required for a wife's car use !

On the other hands, simplest unit without extend POI database need more
custom POI uploading from a PC which is not a simplest way of using it.

Me and my wife appreciate that my C550 have pre-loaded POI of restaurant,
shops and hotels as well as parking lots. Finding the destination and a
parking near to it is extremely easy ; shops or commercial centers are found
in a snap as well as the nearest parking. I appreciate that no setup or POI
uploading is necessary in advance from my PC.
The unit is easy to use and have all full features out of the box without
any PC uploading.

One may prefer a GPS with less feature since one may prefer to
systematically upload all data and customize the unit from a PC.

The C550 allowed the favorites and the supplementary POIs being upload from
a PC (using MapSource or any other GIS software) or map update being upload
as well. This is especially useful to upload TourGuides or any extra
information for your tourism and cultural activities...



The GPS have to be paired with the handset phone. Depending of model and
brand all or partial functionality is allowed. GPS firmware is continuously
updated to connect with most of the large brands. Limitations will appears
mainly du to setup of the handset phone, especially security parameters of
the new ones. Users have to allowed data exchange and BlueTooth discovery.


You are right same of the GPS unit include an MP3 player which can not be
use at same time.
My C550 have a built-in MP3 player of acceptable quality (still few
limitation such as no more than 500 titles per media) which can read MP3
from internal memory or a SD Card slot. SD Cards can be change at any
moment, the new set of MP3's is immediatle reloaded.
The MP3 are simply suspended during navigation voccal messages, speed camera
alert or TourGuides.



I have no FM transmitter (not authorized in France at the time I bought my
unit).
Friends who have a unit with one are not satisfy ; they need a frequency
interval free of stations (not so easy there in Europe especially for long
displacements). When in use, the FM transmitter is blocking FM reception of
other the stations, white background noise degrade sound quality.

To have top quality MP3 sound, I use a cable plug in the audio jack output
of my C550 to the cinch AUX input of my car stereo. The sound is loud and
without noise (setup is easy as I have full control of output level through
volume knob).
I use this for long trip only since the quality of the two internal speaker
is good enough for short travel or shopping (and it is more easy to remove
or install the GPS without the audio cable). The two internal speakers of
the C550 are bigger, better oriented, than the only one smal speaker of the
Nüvis. This make the difference in sound quality as well as the difference
in the shape of the unit (a StreetPilot have a different shape and appears
to be very round compare with the flat design of the Nüvis - this fact again
may count in your estimation of the easeness of the unit if you expected to
store it in your pocket !).

Again, having to mount/dismount the unit with one more cable is less
'easy-to-use' than without it.
You have to defined what are your priority ; easy to mount/dismount, easy to
setup or top quality listening ?
Having several device in the car (GPS, MP3 player, FM transmitter, speed
camera announcer...) may perhaps allow better services that a 'all in one
box' device, but it make installations a nightmare !

I have the filling my GARMIN C550 makes a good job for all these (GPS
positioning, voice guidance with street name announces, BlueTooth hands-free
call/answer and vocal reading of SMS text, Trafic announcement and
automatic re-routing or congested area avoidance, speed camera and road
traps advertising, MP3 players, full address search with most of street
names and many block or house (in Europe) numbers, POI database with full
postal address and phone numbers, ..) with the advantage of one unique box
to handel...


Depending of usage, my wife and I use the unit :
- without any cable, on battery (up to 5 hours continuously), for short
shopping trip or visit; easy to mount/dismount, take few place in the bag,
- with traffic receiver for business travels or taking the road at traffic
hours...
- plug in 'cigar-socket' with Traffic information on for average trips
- full install with audio output through car stereo for long distance and
vacancies journey...



I bought an extra mount socket for my wife car. The two sockets are stick on
both windshield for now up to 3 years. They never move nor fall since the
first day.

Again, all factors entered the easy-to-use / quality services ratio. You
have to clearly definite what are your priorities.
A few units of different brands may fit most of your need and have the
quality you are looking for. None may reach all your expectations in all the
numerous features or functions.

You will have to made a choice depending of your budget.

Note that a lot of used or refurbish uints will have all the function you
expected at a very low cost.


You are welcome.

Thanks for all the replies.

I bought her a Garmin 680 for $350 from Costco.
They have an easy 90-day return policy.

The FM transmitter works well and mp3 sound quality is ok.
Bluethooth paired fine. Not sure how well it will work.
Mounting is a bit of challenge, since windshield mount is pretty much
illegal here in California.
I may need to buy an extra mounting accessory.
It comes with 1-yesr of MSN, that seems to be useful for traffic conditions
and weather forecast.

I was looking for Garmin760. However, the store price was $599 (Best Buy).
On-line is quite cheaper, but too much hassle if it wouldn't work out needs
to be returned.

Voice command navigation would be a great feature that is missing from this
model.