I don’t have any GPS devices yet, mostly because I thought that you also needed to subscribe to a satellite service to complete the package. I’m thinking the service is about $20/month. Am I way off here? Thanks.
Am I way off here? Thanks
Yes, you’re way off. There is no monthly fee for the Garmin nuvi. There is a map update fee (about $80 per map), but how often will you update maps, really? Every couple of years?
For those of you who rely on “paper maps” and “Google maps”, there are other features that are useful to the Garmin. For example, finding local restaurants. Can’t do that with a paper map. You can do that with Google maps, but I for one don’t want to carry a $1000 laptop around in my car. IMO, this device paid for itself on a recent trip to D.C.
I also bought an “open item” dashboard friction mount. Love it, and I’ve never used the suction cup type mount. Like Jeff says, it advertises “expensive electronics here”, where as you can tuck the friction mount somewhere where it’s not visible.
one quick test to make on any GPS. Can it find your house? I had to pass on the NUVI and got a tom tom instead because The eight year old development I live in was not on Garmin’s maps.
I’m not a big fan of Street and Trips anymore… I once missed an exit and it wanted to take me on a 400 mile trip to get to where I was going (Which was only about 100 miles away)
After that, I don’t trust it anymore so it doesn’t get used. What a waste of a GPS receiver
Interesting post. I just got a copy of this month’s Consumer Reports which calls the Nuvi 350 “A Best Buy” at $350. It was also highly rated being slightly bested by two other models of the Nuvi (The 750 and 650) and the TomTom Go 920G – all in the range of $500 to $650.
I’m hesitant to buy a GPS for $350, but under $180 sounds pretty good. In New Jersey, roads are haphazardly arranged and getting directly from point “A” to point “B” might not always be possible. There’s a community about 5 miles from my house, but to get there, you have to travel about 10 miles of roadway.
The biggest pain in New Jersey are left turns. You go down a highway and left turns will rotate between making a left at the next intersection to taking a right turn onto a jug handle and looping back around. I know I want make the next turn left, but do I get into the left or right lane?
Some jug handles are merely local streets where you’re suppose to make a series of right turns in order to make that initial left. Of course, the streets curve all around, and the signs that are suppose to show you the way are missing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten lost in just making a left turn.
A GPS would be worth its weight in gold if all it told me was when I have to turn left to turn left and when I have to turn right to turn left.
Having also used MS ST with the USB GPS puck on a notebook - and even a tablet PC, which worked quite well - I was prepared to be totally unimpressed with a Garmin GPS. Then a buddy loaded me his for a weekend trip and, wow, was I wrong! I thought there’s no way such a tiny screen could be useful. I thought it’d be cumbersome to use. Again, I was so wrong.
The model I used - don’t recall the number - features announced street names, which was really nice. I especially liked the recalc that would find me another route when I messed up and didn’t make it into the off-ramp lane soon enough a couple of times.
We live in a small city and really have no day-to-day use for one of these, but there’s no way I’d go visit, much less live, in a metropolitan area without one now. I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and it’s tasty stuff!
Now, if only someone would develop a GPS unit that I could mount on my motorcycle and ran on some form of battery power rather than a cigarette lighter (which I lack on the bike)…
One problem with the convergence (e.g., putting an MP3 player in your GPS nav) is that it makes the devices illegal in some areas.
For example, California has a prohibition against video screens in the front seat unless they are 100% dedicated to navigation or car status. Streets and Trips on a laptop in the passenger seat is against the law.
Most cell phones, even with hands-free gear, aren’t legal in front of the back of the driver’s seat.
So… is this still a coding blog or what? You’re probably right that most of us would be interested in gadget articles, but we have other sources for that. This is supposed to be codinghorror, and I can take a slight decline in the ‘horror’, but I’m just not going to read if it’s not going to be ‘coding’ too…
My Fast thinks GPS navigation is for the weak.
I’m a holdout until they cram these down our throat by making them standard on every car. They kill all the fun for me, and I’d rather develop my sense of direction than a reliance on GPS.
(also sorry to parrot advertising slogans)
“For those of you who rely on “paper maps” and “Google maps”, there are other features that are useful to the Garmin. For example, finding local restaurants. Can’t do that with a paper map. You can do that with Google maps, but I for one don’t want to carry a $1000 laptop around in my car. IMO, this device paid for itself on a recent trip to D.C.”
How many times have you been out and spontaneously need to find a restaurant? Have we become that impulsive? There is nothing a GPS can offer me that I “NEED” to have or know. If I am going somewhere I look it up prior to leaving.
For me the real win for GPS devices is city centres. I feel fairly confident I’d be able to navigate my way to any city in the country the “old fashioned” way – paper maps. But it’s navigating around city centres you’ve never seen before, where it’s constantly necessary to make snap decisions, to concentrate the entire time and is, let’s face it, easy to go wrong. A GPS navigator will tell you exactly what turns to make, when, is more accurate than a human navigator (assuming you have someone in the car with you in the first place!) trying panickedly to read a map, and really shines when you take a wrong turn. Two seconds of readjustment and you’re back on track again. In my opinion, they’re invaluable for this sort of driving.
“Now, if only someone would develop a GPS unit that I could mount on my motorcycle and ran on some form of battery power…”
TomTom Rider 2?
It has a 5-hour battery, is designed to be mounted on a bike and has a Bluetooth helmet connection.
<a href=“http://www.tomtom.com/products/features.php?ID=477"http://www.tomtom.com/products/features.php?ID=477”>http://www.tomtom.com/products/features.php?ID=477"http://www.tomtom.com/products/features.php?ID=477
“There is nothing a GPS can offer me that I “NEED” to have or know. If I am going somewhere I look it up prior to leaving.”
Do you look up the latest traffic news before you go?
And the location of every speed trap?
And alternative routes in case there is a road closed?
Of course you don’t “need” it. Folk managed fine without them.
But then folk managed just fine washing their clothes in the river too.
Can someone tell me if these devices require a monthly subscription/charge? How does that work? If they don’t, how does it keep the maps current?
They seem cool and I’m debating picking one up, but I hate monthly fees.
Jeff, if you avoid leaving the house if possible, how much will you use it?
Took a cab to SFO once where the cab driver had a GPS and it took him (us) to the cargo plane turnoff.
Maps are only as good/current as the people who make them.
Restaurants should be chosen either from a review, or talking to locals.
Aren’t these things illegal on the dashboard in California? In principle, I think they’re great, but it seems even easier to be distracted by one than a cellphone.
Jeff, you should do something regarding your blog font. It looks awful and it’s harder to read.
Having spent nearly $3k on PNDs in the last year, I can say pretty definitively that your experience will depend on what kind of user you are.
Live in a non-metro area and basically always follow the directions? Tom Tom is your best bet, but garmin is pretty ok too.
Like to optimise your route, and want a device that learns that and gives you better directions over the long term? Magellan maestro.
Live in a metro area and need to commute? Buy a dash express but never use the routing feature, as their routing will suck until at least a year from now.
If you’re a power user, you’ll probably end up with two on your dash. I have a magellan for the routing and the map interface, and a dash express for the traffic. Between the two I have pretty good coverage of what I want. 
I’ve used the TomTom and Garmin Nuvi and like them both.
The TomTom gets the nod today thanks to its online community-based map update feature (Map Share) and the ability to easily add roadblocks or fix mistakes. Jeff - did you know this existed and how could you choose agains it?
Garmin needs to catch up in these areas, while TomTom could improve its UI a little bit (although I admit I haven’t used the new 900 series - just the ONE).
I used to bike around the UK a lot and I’m not afraid of paper maps - so I too was late to the GPS party.
Bought a TomTom GO 910 last year. Wow!
Ecologically - yes, it’s “another piece of kit”. But this thing has paid for itself easily because of the fuel I’ve saved avoiding traffic jams and not driving around in circles.
And if you have a family, you owe it to them to get one. Sure, nothing’s perfect, but it does reduce the arguments about where things are.
Some specifics on the TomTom -
- The UI is fine if a bit clunky
- The RF remote control is brilliant
- The “converged” features (iPod integration, pictures, sound) aren’t really worth it unless you have a 3.5mm jack in the car for sound input
- Don’t bother with a FM transmitter mount, getting a clear channel is impossible
- The GO 910 is Linux based, so (for me at least) it’s steady as a rock (cue Godwin’s Law about platform wars…)
– J