OT: Best Aftermarket GPS ??

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I take it you mean a GPS-based navigation system, with maps and all? (As opposed to a simple standalone GPS receiver -- no display, just spits out longitude & latitude.)

I don't have any specific model recommendations, but as far as I can tell Garmin still seems to rank on top, followed by Tom Tom and then Magellan (and then various no-name units).

Some significant features to consider when you go shopping:

-- Some units will just tell you, "Exit right," whereas others have a full text-to-speech engine and hence can say, "Exit right onto Charlemagne Avenue." (Although this was more of an issue a couple years ago -- it's only the really low-end units today that miss this.)

-- Map updates: Generally, all the companies release map updates each year. The business model for this is either... you pay any time you want an update, updates are "free for life," -- but you're shown advertisements on the screen for nearby businesses, and it's those ads that are paying for the map updates, or -- in a rather small number of cases --, updates are "free for life" with no ads (usually applies to the higher-end units, where they can kinda bundle in the price of updates over time without it mattering too much).

-- Traffic updates: Many systems can now receive traffic updates sent over FM radio. The business model is the same as with maps, though -- some systems require a monthly subscription, some are ad-supported, and some truly are free (but generally more expensive to start).

We're probably just about at the pinnacle of development in standalone navigation systems -- most smartphones today include navigation as well, and as such just this last year, I think it was, standalone system sales dropped. Personally I find this at least a bit ironic in that the vast majority of smartphone-based navigation systems pull their maps from the Internet (e.g., Google maps) -- as opposed to having the entire map of the U.S. stored on a big memory card --, yet to me the time when you actually need a navigation system the most is when you're far from civilization and hence are that much less likely to have an Internet connection to your phone in the first place. ...although if you are sticking to areas with cell coverage, I'd have to admits, smartphones do work quite well for navigating around, e.g., a big downtown with lots of one-way streets and other challenges to the newcomer.

---Joel

Hi Jim,

Did you ever work with a young bloke called Ian Brown?

Garmin (the only one that I have personal run-time on) offers "map updates for life" with a relatively inexpensive one-time purchase on some (all?) units. The updates are more often than yearly but not quite quarterly (but I'm also guilty of not tracking the updates as often as I possibly could). Garmin also pushes out the occasional firmware update to the base unit.

My unit has the "free but ad supported" traffic. The ads only show up when the vehicle is at rest (reasonable assumption regarding ability/ willingness to read ad copy) and they're both pretty small and off the main body of the map. No complaints there, although the traffic info is wrong as often as it's right. Data source issues, I'd imagine.

Also, the Bluetooth speakerphone works well, paired with a (rather old) Nokia cell.

Doesn't ring any bells. My primary contact at Garmin was Paul Shumaker. He's now retired, but we meet up about once a year... he has a son attending ASU. ...Jim Thompson

Pity. Thanks.

Personally I have and like my Magellan, think Garmin is good, and would never, ever have a TomTom... Yes, I've used all three of these and the TomTom was an adventure in itself, but the other two work well...

=A0 =A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

TomTom has always worked fine for me - much more user-friendly that the pre-installed units I've run into in other peoples cars, or the program that runs on my mobile phone.

The current version is a GO 720. I've got the FM receiver that picks up traffic information from FM radio digital information channel, but we've yet to find a situation where knowing about a slow-down ahead put us in a position to go around it.

TomTom maps now do seem to include average speed data for some roads that reflects time of day and day of the week, and their quickest route from Nijmegen to Breda during the morning rush-hour is quite a bit different from the route back later in the day.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Same here. I think we have a tomtom 910. So far it hasn't let us down on trips throughout Europe. But I still prefer to plan the route using Google maps. We use the tomtom mostly in big cities.