Good Afternoon Micheal: I've been using GPS since the early 90s and have had many the last 20 years for use on foot, in airplanes and in the car. My first GPS was a Trimble that could store 10 waypoints and 1 route. No maps but would tell you in a WPS84 datum where you located. But Selective Availibility was enabled so positions would jump hundreds of feet in a blink of an eye. Thankfully SA has been turned off in the civilian GPS system. The latest one in my car is a Garmin Nuvi 755T and it is garbage! I can't speak for the rest of the Nuvi line (which, BTW, changes very often). I have sent so many email to Garmin about this piece of junk they have probably labeled me a crack pot. The unit has lifetime traffic from Navtec and is also garbage. It simply does not work. I live outside NYC and this area is one of the most congested traffic wise in the country. Most of the time the receiver does not pick up the traffic signal and when it does it is wrong because it was never updated in the system. When it does announce a traffic issue it is wrong again because the issue has already been cleared. If I had to pay for this (dis) service I would have started a class action suit. If I was going to use a GPS strictly in a car this is what I would look for: - map updates that are free for the unit - Garmin gives you one if it was purchased within a few months of the unit's purchase date but they will sell you all you want - user programmable routes that will reverse (or invert) - the 755 gives you 10 but they can't be reversed - useless... - many points of interest so you can find places easily that can be updated as new ones are found - a display that can be read in all sunlight the 755 is ok here - a unit that will work more than 2 hours on a battery charge - the 755 is less than that! - a unit that puts out standard GPX files so you can show a track log in Google Earth - one whose touchscreen actually works - the 7xx series only with firmware release 4.0 (a few weeks ago) fixed the random keystroke responses (yes I said random) - units that feature photo viewers, MP3 players are ok but my iPod does it better. So if you don't need those features stick to one that does navigation better - one that use can but in other map sets e.g. put in a National Park maps set when touring Yellowstone and actually have the unit navigate a route with them - the Nuvi 7XX series will allow a different mapset entry but will not use it for navigation! - true text to speech that will announce turns, etc. - one that uses WAAS (wide area augmentation system) for a better fix as to your position The Garmin 7XX has had 2 recalls in 2 years. The first was the firmware update that you could download from them which prevented the unit from turning on again - remedy send it back for service (but is was free!) The next recall was a few weeks ago saying the battery is defective and could overheat causing a fire or leakage. I imagine some of the Nuvi units are ok but the 7XXs are JUNK. Look at the GPS units from Mio, Delorme and Magellan. Many folks like their Tom-Toms. Some of the GPS units use Windows CE as an operating system and can be hacked. I have a Mio Digi-Walker that I hacked and use all kinds of software with it. This includes video players, photo viewers, spreadsheets, etc. Many of the Garmin units are good but stay way from any 7XX series! Email ne directly if you want some suggestions. Regards,
Jack Skelley ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Madigan [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 2:46 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NF] Looking for GPS system for my car, any suggestions? I'm looking for a GPS system for my car. I don't know the first thing about lifetime maps, support, traffic, weather, ease of use, etc.. Does anyone have any preferences or things I should avoid?pr <a href="http://devils.nhl.com/";><IMG SRC=http://c1.newjerseydevils.com/sig/[email protected] border="0" usemap="#Map"></a> <map name="Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="4,67,203,85" href="http://devils.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=62715"; target="_blank"> <area shape="rect" coords="269,67,346,87" href="http://www.prucenter.com/"; target="_blank"> <area shape="rect" coords="243,43,264,62" href="http://www.youtube.com/prudentialcenter"; target="_blank"> <area shape="rect" coords="223,43,244,62" href="http://twitter.com/nhldevils"; target="_blank"><area shape="rect" coords="203,43,224,62" href="http://www.facebook.com/NewJerseyDevils?ref=ts"; target="_blank"> </map> </A> _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/0b957900b2b8194d998a441195b66038390bf9c...@drdsrv03.drdad.thenewarkarena.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
