GPS Looking for opinions on other Garmin GPS Systems.

[Romer]

OK, I made the plunge. I went to a store last night and handled the M5 (M3 is similar) and liked it, boy they want a lot of money at the store. I then reserached all the on-line stores to find the best one. If you buy a garmin product on an on-line auction Garmin won't honor the warranty. Turns out the unit was much cheaper elsewhere.

Buy.com and shipdog.com were the cheapest.

I went with http://www.getfeetwet.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=010-00437-00 because they offered a free extended warranty and they were only $10 more and allowed me to bundle the topo maps and get an additional $13 off that.

Should get it by the end of the week. I'm excited because the later reviews said the M3 didn't have the bluetooth like the M5, but had improved software and features. Like you can get a 3D view, you can use your finger to select.

The topo maps appear to be the same no mater what unit you run it on.

I had narrowed it down the the 76CS for the handheld and to get that new plus the software (City streets) thats comes with the M3 and to add on the Topo Maps would have put me at aboyt $600.

The M3 with Topo maps was $498 plus $8 shipping.

 

[desertdude]

congratulations! it is a great feeling when you finally select one sounds like you got a great deal.

I look forward to a full report when you have a chance to play with it.

 

[dirtysouth]

I have the 60cs and love it. Use it for hiking, driving in the cages and use it mostly on my motorcycle when exploring. I have the topo software, city select software and roads and recreation software. Depending on what you will use it for will determine what software you need. One thing though, you can change the map detail settings in the gps unit to most and alot more stuff shows up than the default setting which is medium. Roads and rec shows more of the dirt roads and stuff if I am correct, just got it so I don't know as of yet.