Help Me Pick A Garmin
 |
    17 years
|
First off, let me state that I have been a Garmin user for about 6 1/2 years. I "cut my teeth" on a second hand Garmin Street Pilot 2730. Since then, I have owned and/or used various Garmins, including the Nuvi 350, Nuvi 360, Nuvi 500, Nuviphone G60, Garminfone A50, and Garmin Mobile XT on a Pharos GPS Phone 500.
So, as you can see, they are all essentially automobile GPS or cell phones that can be used in a cradle on the dash or windshield. Now, however, I have a job that occasionally requires that I use a vehicle on short notice, thus precluding the option of putting a mount on the dash.
With that in mind, I have essentially done one of two things most recently:
1) Use my Nexus 4 phone with TomTom, CoPilot, or Navigon. While this is a reasonable option, I am also well aware that GPS use takes power. Sometimes I have a car cord with me and other times I do not.
2) I still have two Garminfones that I use essentially as a portable GPS. It isn't bad, but it still can take a little bit from a "cold start" to get off and running.
I have considered simply grabbing the Garmin Nuvi 500 and using it as a portable GPS. While it isn't a bad option, I want to have some discussion on what else would work well in this application.
Do all Garmin GPS units, even the newest ones, take about as long as a well worn Garminfone or Nuvi 500 to get signal from a "cold start"?
An article I read recently mentioned that cell phone GPS receivers typically don't hold a signal as well as a dedicated GPS. While I haven't experienced that personally, I believe that might be possible depending on which GPS receiver is used in particular device.
Anyway, for people here well versed in vehicle GPS vs. portable GPS vs. cell phone GPS, what would you choose and why? Being at least somewhat rugged or having something available, like an OtterBox to make it rugged, is desirable. I have never owned a true handheld GPS and it looks like some have automobile navigation available in some cases.
I am also interested in processor speed. I have noticed that not all Garmins seem to be created equally when it comes to finding POIs and/or addresses once they are entered. Generally, if the GPS has satellite signal, it seems to find a street adress fairly quickly, but my wife's Nuvi 500 can be slow in finding POIs.
The ultimate, if you will, would be a device that would fit in a cargo pants pocket, gain satellite signal as quickly as reasonably possible, be ready to start navigating in fairly short order, and not fall apart if it were to slide off the seat or dash onto the vehicle floor.
because
of all your "must haves," something like a trail model would be a good fit. Perhaps one of the GPSMap 6X units, but they all take time to sync satellite data as they have to wait until the sat downloads the data to them. For a mount, try either the bean bag or the friction mount. These sit on the dash and I've only seen one or two vehicles where this wouldn't work. (Cabover trucks not included.)
Illiterate? Write for free help.
.
I'll also add that the Garmin units built beginning with the nuvi 7x0 series pretty much all have high sensitivity GPS chipsets which include predictive satellite ephimeris ability, drastically reducing the lock-to-satellite time. This can even be pretty much instantaneous or within seconds if you used the GPS recently.
That being said, pretty much any Garmin unit you buy today will have that capability so slow satellite acquisition will be a non-issue.
nuvi 760, nuvi 765T, nuvi 855, nuvi 3790LMT, nuvi 3490LMT - SoCal area
Im in the market to purchse
going to buy new garmin very soon but cant decide which one. So many choices. I would like a good one but don't need the Blue Tooth as the car has it built into the radio. any suggestions?
Garmin
going to buy new garmin very soon but cant decide which one. So many choices. I would like a good one but don't need the Blue Tooth as the car has it built into the radio. any suggestions?
Garmin's website has a handy feature where you can select the features you want then it thins down the list from there.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-road/automotive/cOnTh...
Garmin Nuvi 2450
how is nuvi 2557 lmt ? is it
how is nuvi 2557 lmt ?
is it compatabli with POI factory?
any comments?
All
All Garmin Nuvi models can use the POIs found on POI-Factory as long as you also download Garmin's POIloader software from their website.
Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.
Help Me Pick A Garmin
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/handhelds/color...
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/catalog/product/compareResul...
I played around with features a little bit and I think I have narrowed it down to one of the following, if I go with a handheld GPS:
Monterra
Montana 650t
Montana 650
Montana 600
I think that the color screen, touch screen, and 4.0" screen are must haves for me.
thanks
thanks
All
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/handhelds/color...
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/catalog/product/compareResul...
I played around with features a little bit and I think I have narrowed it down to one of the following, if I go with a handheld GPS:
Monterra
Montana 650t
Montana 650
Montana 600
I think that the color screen, touch screen, and 4.0" screen are must haves for me.
All of these have many options not found on the Nuvi BUT notice that none of them come with City Navigator maps so that's an additional cost over the $450 to $650 your going to pay for the unit. Pretty steep price to pay unless a handheld is really needed.
Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.
Monterra
Also, be aware that the Monterra has not been released yet and is based on an android platform instead of Garmin's legacy (and proprietary) platform that their other handhelds have. Knowing Garmin's past history with software issues on new models, I would probably avoid the Monterra until it has been in the hands of users for a while and the forums have had a chance to report on and discuss the potential problems.
On the other hand, the Montana has been around for a couple of years now, so many of the early bugs have been fixed by software updates, and the issues with it are pretty well documented.
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon
Help Me Pick A Garmin
That is a good point. I might just focus a little bit more on either the Garmin Nüvi 3450LM or Nüvi 3490LMT. I wouldn't mind finding an OtterBox or similar rugged case to protect it, though.
Depending on the price of the forthcoming Apple iPhone 5C, I might just buy one of those, get the Garmin StreetPilot Onboard app, and possibly a rugged case that extends battery life.
It looks like are a number of choices of extended battery cases for current and older iPhones, including Magellan, which has a high sensitivity GPS receiver built into it.
http://www.magellangps.com/Store/iPhone-Products/toughcase
http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-19512_7-10011126.html