What is your favorite gps unit?

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The screen on the 2730 is bigger. It's got XM Radio + Traffic + Weather and it's only $130 bucks more than the C340 with Traffic.

Alvaro
 
Thanks Alvaro.

Would the 2730 be your top choice in a GPS unit? I will use it mainly in the vehicles (FJ62, Convertible BMW, Boat) but still need to be able to carry it on foot. I would rather it be bigger than smaller and do not mind lugging around the extra weight and bulk.

In the car I will sometimes connect it to my new Dell Precision M70 laptop but want stand alone capability. I am a GIS professional and will use satellite and aerial photo imagery on the laptop and custom ArcMap data. As a professional map maker it bugs me to no end that my wife does not know East from West and North from South. So the navigation feature will surely help there.

Dunbar

alvarorb said:
The screen on the 2730 is bigger. It's got XM Radio + Traffic + Weather and it's only $130 bucks more than the C340 with Traffic.

Alvaro
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Dunbar said:
Thanks Alvaro.

Would the 2730 be your top choice in a GPS unit?
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It is my top choice. But there's one thing that it does not do. It's not battery operated like others are. So if you are going to use it outside the car, you need a power source. It comes with a 120V and a 12V adapters.

My stolen 276C did not have XM (traffic, weather, radio) but it ran on batteries. The 276C has nice features for boating. Like tides, the ability to hook up to sonar and temp probes. I just was on the Garmin site and the have new units

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap376c/

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap378/

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap478/

Saludos

Alvaro
 
I just ordered the Garmin Streetpilot 2730 from http://www.gpsdiscount.com/ including shipping for $879.06.

I decided that for the most part I will have 12v or AC available and when my kids get older and products change then I will either replace this unit or augment it with one that is battery enabled for hiking etc.

Thanks for the insight.

Dunbar
 
Dunbar,

I can only say good things about that unit. It's fast, the color screen is awesome, and the auto routing with traffic is gives a new twist in GPS navigation.

Regards

Alvaro
 
So I'm really late to the thread, but wanted to throw out my idea. I haven't quite done this yet (still need about $300 to complete) but I am planning on using a tablet PC with a 7" indoor/outdoor viewable touch screen. I am looking at the Fujitsu LT C-500 (can be had on e-bay). These units are 9"x6" outside dimensions, a little bigger than regular GPS, but offer bigger screen, 6GB+ HDD, ability to run windows software, DeLorme or MS for road trips, and USAPhotomaps for off road, with the ability to download a whole state-load of 7.5 min USGS maps. Plus, if you really want you could hook up a DVD player. PCMCIA wireless card for internet access... Lots of positives to this in terms of flexibility. Only downside is size, but not too bad either. This is an older model Fujitsu, and most have Win 98/2000 for and OS. Upgrades are possible. Slow boot time/standby recovery are also downsides, but I like having a full-on PC there. You can also rig up a OBD-II cable to the unit, and switch between GPS and car monitoring applications. I will likely do this soon.
 
Rocknroll said:
Anybody have anything good to say about Magellan?
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I've always been a big Garmin fan and Iv'e had a II+ for at least 5 years. I recently bought a Magellan Roadmate 300 that seems to work very well. The price($300) made it the least expensive nav system I've seen so far.

I've had it for a couple of months and have used it on a couple of trips, and so far I've been very impressed. Haven't tried the new Garmins, but for the money, the Magellan seems to do well.
 
I got Lowrance Iway 350C. They are the lowest cost build in map coast to coast north America GPS. Street price are about $400. They have build in battery that is good for 15 hours. Build in MP3 Player with radio transmitter and could also function as picture viewer. No wonder they are SEMA winner last year. They also come with the latest map database. Tomtom 700 and Magellan 760 are a lot more out of date and only have 2 milion of POI instead 5 milion for the Iway.

They are not waterproof and not good for off road though but for the price they great. A few complaint I have are the search are not as user friendly as garmin and you need the exact number, The other is they dont have simple shortest/fastest routing option like garmin.
 
Montana Cruiser said:
I may be able to pick up a 1 year old 276c locally for a little shy of $400, do you guys think this would be a decent price?
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Hell Yeah! Especially it if has extras with it!
 
Montana Cruiser said:
What kind of extra's should I be looking for?

Right now, I only have Mac computers at home and it seems like I would need to pick up a cheap PC to load the maps right?
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The "Auto Kit" which includes the "City Select" software for turn by turn directions for the whole country! Very slick feature. The auto kit also included a dash mount and a 12v plug for the unit with a built in speaker for the turn by turn. The voice drove me nuts, so i ditched that unit for a non speaker one! :D

If ya got any questions on this unit hit me up with a PM
 
Montana,

Garmin has pledged support of MacOS X by the end of the year in all their products. Right now the only easy way to download maps into the 276C is with a PC. But that will change soon.

As far as the used GPS. Make sure is not stolen. Garmin keeps a list of stolen GPSes. They won't sell you software if the unit has been reported to the authorities, worse yet, you could be reported.

Regards

Alvaro
 
alvarorb said:
Montana,

Garmin has pledged support of MacOS X by the end of the year in all their products. Right now the only easy way to download maps into the 276C is with a PC. But that will change soon.

As far as the used GPS. Make sure is not stolen. Garmin keeps a list of stolen GPSes. They won't sell you software if the unit has been reported to the authorities, worse yet, you could be reported.

Regards

Alvaro
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Thanks for the heads up, I did not even consider if it was stolen or not. This guy claims to have the original sales slip, packaging etc, so it should be on the up and up. Also, great to know about the Mac OS X support, it would be soooooo nice, to not have to base your decision on GPS because of operating system.

Thanks for all the good info!
 
Slightly off topic but how does everyone find the GPS speed indicator vs. speedometer? I have a very old Street Pilot and just noticed it says I'm going 5mph faster than the speedo indicates. Just running 31's..
 
Montana Cruiser said:
Thanks for the heads up, I did not even consider if it was stolen or not.
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I think you can send an e-mail from the support page at Garmin.com and provide them with the serial number of the GPS you would like to purchase. They should be able if there anything wrong with it.

Regards

Alvaro
 
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