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GPS Question

R

redwing77

Registered User
Hi!

The screen on my Garmin nuvi 255W (no traffic) edition GPS blew out (ok, I dropped it) and I'm looking for a new GPS.

My Garmin was a lemon. It never could find a signal, it didn't hold a charge, it would reset its spoken language setting to Afrikaans, and Garmin tech support was an average 55 minute wait on hold.

So, I'm not sure I want another Garmin.

So what do you all have or recommend?

I'm trying to spend less than $150 if at all possible.

Thank you for your time!
 
Re: GPS Question

redwing77 said:
it would reset its spoken language setting to Afrikaans
Click to expand...

I'd leave that enabled just for the hilarity.

Whatever you do, don't do the Verizon Navigator. I tried it on my phone. It lost signal on me and left me completely lost in the western half of the Lower Peninsula once. The last straw was when I was on I-96 heading toward Ann Arbor and it told me I was not on a road.
 
Re: GPS Question

These things change so rapidly that it's hard to keep tabs on specific models. I have a TomTom and it works fine. I'd go to Amazon, look for one that is highly rated and meets your specs, and then go find it at the best price.

Or just go to WalMart.
 
Re: GPS Question

This is a bit more expensive and is, now, discontinued. But my Garmin 885t works fantastic. Rarely have problems.
 
Re: GPS Question

I've always had good luck with TomTom products. IIRC their lower end models usually show up as a Best Buy in Consumer Reports.
 
Re: GPS Question

I have a TomTom (930?). It's okay, but I have some complaints:

- It's really hard to search for a road. If you don't enter the name exactly as it has in its database (starting from the beginning of the name), it won't come up with it. This is especially a problem here in a French speaking area, because the street/road/blvd descriptor is first, so you have to know whether you need to search for "Rue de XXX" or "Blvd de XXX." There are no wildcards, so you can't just search for *XXX*. Also, in the US, it's really, really hard to find addresses on roads that have both a number and a name, especially if the number has a N/S/E/W designator - is it "US11W N" or "N US11 W" or is it "Maple Drive?" Etc, etc.

- The touch screen isn't that great - really hard to enter letters in a moving car, because the squares are so small and don't necessarily line up exactly with the grid on the screen.

- The menu for managing waypoints ("points of interest") is buried about 6 layers down.

- You can only have one "route" of multiple waypoints set up. It's fine for point-to-point navigation, but not good for routes.

- The battery is all but useless. It essentially has to be plugged in to use it.

- It doesn't display altitude, which you normally don't care about, but it's fun to see it as you're driving up over a mountain pass and helpful for scouting out cycling routes, etc.
 
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Re: GPS Question

I recently got a TomTom (I'll check on the model and edit) and reviews are mixed at best.

Traffic awareness - great
Getting stuck or lost - way too often for satisfaction

-every time we end one trip it takes rebooting 2-3 times before it resets to the new current location
- It doesn't handle a change in route very well, if you decide to take the alt instead of the business route it can get itself stuck
- it doesn't mention if you missed an exit, our Garmin announces that it is recalculating - this one, it will eventually recalc a route but doesn't mention that you missed the turn etc.
- it's text to voice program has it mispronounce significant roads and landmarks - it doesn't understand that Br is the abbreviation for bridge and/or if it runs into a foreign name for a street it often goes phonetically and leaves it to you to figure out what it means
- it starts city search in whatever state it thinks it is in/were in last time you did a route vs. the state you are actually in...so you can't find your city until you back out and get to the right state

all in all, it's been great:eek:
 
Re: GPS Question

Interesting, pirate - I have none of those complaints about my TomTom. I've had no trouble with rebooting and it recalculates routes quickly and accurately - so much so that I find I get a little lazy when I'm using it because I don't worry about missing my turn. It doesn't announce that it's recalculating (verbally) but it does put a message on the screen. The voice definitely has trouble with the names, but I have a window mount so I can always just read it off the screen if I can't figure out what it meant by "take a right in 200 meters." Of course, over here the street signs are useless anyway (too small and in random locations if they exist at all), so I don't navigate by street names too much anyway.
 
Re: GPS Question

LynahFan said:
Interesting, pirate - I have none of those complaints about my TomTom. I've had no trouble with rebooting and it recalculates routes quickly and accurately - so much so that I find I get a little lazy when I'm using it because I don't worry about missing my turn. It doesn't announce that it's recalculating (verbally) but it does put a message on the screen. The voice definitely has trouble with the names, but I have a window mount so I can always just read it off the screen if I can't figure out what it meant by "take a right in 200 meters." Of course, over here the street signs are useless anyway (too small and in random locations if they exist at all), so I don't navigate by street names too much anyway.
Click to expand...

The guy in the alley said it was top of the line;)

Maybe I just got a lemon, it was supposed to be for my wife, she refuses to use it, instead going with the Garmin that we haven't updated in a while, anything west of Maryland is referred to as the western territory:D
 
Re: GPS Question

redwing77 said:
Hi!

The screen on my Garmin nuvi 255W (no traffic) edition GPS blew out (ok, I dropped it) and I'm looking for a new GPS.

My Garmin was a lemon. It never could find a signal, it didn't hold a charge, it would reset its spoken language setting to Afrikaans, and Garmin tech support was an average 55 minute wait on hold.

So, I'm not sure I want another Garmin.

So what do you all have or recommend?

I'm trying to spend less than $150 if at all possible.

Thank you for your time!
Click to expand...

Buy a map and a $20 compass. I promise if you learn to use both, you'll never get lost. :D
 
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