AKICOLJ: Portable GPS devices

[gerisullivan]

For the last couple of years, I've been thinking, "One of these days, I'm going to get a GPS." As in the add-on GPS units you can use for directions when driving and at other times, too.

One of these days may turn out to come around this week. Maybe not, but maybe enough that I'm reading online reviews and quickly being overwhelmed by brand and model choices. Please help me, oh LiveJournal. I can't say you're my only hope, but I'm the sort who welcomes opinions, experiences, and insights, especially from geeky friends.


What I know so far:

-- In January, Jim Macdonald effused about his TomTom Go and let me play with it. It's pretty darned spiff.

-- I want a large screen. At least 4.3 inches. 4.7 or 5 inches would be nice. I'd no doubt love 7 inches, but I'm betting it's overkill (and out of my price range).

-- I want a model where I pay for everything upfront. The purchase needs to be a known, 1-time expense, not something that costs more money monthly or quarterly. I've found some TomTom models that include lifetime quarterly map updates as part of the initial purchase price. I haven't yet figured out enough about Garmin or other brands to understand their pricing model(s) for updates.

-- I'm pretty darned price-sensitive. I'm that way by nature these days and birthday money is a large chunk of the GPS budget, such that it is. Under $100 would of course be fab, but $100-180 looks more likely given my feature set and current sale prices. I can go $180-225 for something really grand, but that's pushing it rather a lot.

-- If I understand the term correctly, I want "text-to-speech."

-- I have a strong preference that the speech include street names rather than just distances. ("Turn left Monson Road 100 feet" rather than "Turn left 100 feet.")

-- Traffic updates sound good in theory; I have no idea if they're anything other than useless in practice. Again, some of the TomTom models come with lifetime traffic updates as well as map updates.

-- If it makes a difference, if at all possible, I'll be doing updates from a Mac, not a PC.

-- I expect to use the GPS as a city map/destination finder when I'm out on foot.

For folks who have experience with GPS beasties, what brands and models have you loved, liked, disliked, and/or hated? For what reasons?

Links to useful online review sites also welcome. I've skimmed several. Some are obviously marketing fluff. Others, like GPSreview.net, not so much.

Many thanks! I've wanted a GPS since first experiencing one in a tow truck when I was in England eight years ago. I've needed one ever since moving east, though I've obviously managed one way or another the scores of times I've been lost or otherwise not known where I was and/or how to get where I wanted to go. Ditto that for the times non-moving traffic led me to abandon a highway and set off across the back roads of Connecticut (I know my way around Massachusetts somewhat better and also run into fewer traffic jams here).

Comments

[drplokta]

In the UK, the TomTom traffic updates are accurate, and therefore indispensable (they have a deal with one of the mobile phone networks to get real-time information on how a few million mobile phones are moving around between cells). I don't know how good they are in the US.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

I have a TomTom and I find that as long as I update it regularly its accuracy is good. I liked mine enough that when I needed to replace it I went with the same brand, and my husband did as well when he eventually got one. The options allow you to choose what text you want spoken and in what format you want directions given.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

The few reviews I've seen for TomTom and other traffic tie-ins is that they're not ready for primetime in America yet, but they're getting closer all the time.

Hey, Google street view even has Monson Road on it now. They moved my address considerably further away from my house in the process, but what the hey? (Google maps used to point to my next door neighbor's location as mine. Now they point to a spot a good quarter mile away, past the neighbors who are considerably further away, and past the pond, too.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Question: Are you updating your TomTom using a Mac? madfilkentist reported problems in his reply and I see that he encountered those in February of this year. Another user responding to him then also mentioned Mac interface problems.

A quick online check of a couple different sites shows that the Mac software sucked eggs as of 2008, and that how it works on Macs seems to depend quite a lot on the operating system used. You tend to be up to the minute with everything Mac -- how's the TomTom Home interface work for you?

Thanks!

[drplokta]

I've not had any problems -- the current version of TomTom Home works fine.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's good to know.