best bang for my buck...

 

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas. I am at the beginning of my journey on purchasing a Gps system. With so many ads out there, I was wondering if so one could point me in a direction that would not empty my pockets. Considering that this would be my first Gps for my vehicle. I did a little research on TomTom one and Garmin 360 but still not sure, thanks for the help...

Boy that's a loaded question

Boy that's a loaded question to ask here! I bought my Garmin Streetpilot I3 for $236.00 a couple mos. ago and it works great however they have gone up a bit. The Mio seems like a decent deal but I have my reservations about TeleAtlas mapping that it uses. I suggest you check the reviews at both Cnet.com and Newegg.com and be sure to read what the users have to say. Garmin seems to have the best support so that could be a factor as well.

Good Luck,
Ray

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Garmin Streetpilot i3, Streetpilot C580 and Nuvi 265WT

I agree with Raybonz

I agree with Raybonz assessment on Garmin's support, they to me seem to be unbeatable, their support that is. I had a Magellan prior to switching to Mio, and Magellan's support seriously leaves something to be desired. Mio's support is almost non-existant, but then I think that's because they released their unit right before the holidays and have been under a barrage of customer service requests.

I've tested now from Garmin to Magellan to Mio, and absolutely love my Mio. I still have two Garmin's that I use on my boat or when camping, but my primary use now is the Mio C310x, and at $199 it's hard to beat, especially as it's WindowsCE based and has not quite but almost unlimited capabilities. Right now the only stop-gap that I've found is the actual memory size of the unit.

I've tested loading an mpeg player on my Mio and that works great. I've loaded custom skins and custom icons. I've loaded custom POIs and custom SpeedCams (that's no where near as easy to do as a Garmin, their's has the easiest to use/modify POI's and Cams in my opinion). I've loaded custom maps of Canada, and a lot of other odds and ends. Most of the things I've done to my Mio you can't do to any other brand that I've seen that's not CE based.

Anyway, good luck to you on your choice! For my money, the Mio can't be beat at the price it's selling at. SiRFstar III chipset, 1 gig internal mem, SD/MMC slot, Windows CE, etc, at $199!!

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. . If I only had a brain....................................... http://www.hugginsnet.com/ilovemymio ..................................................... GPS Units in Use: Mio C310x (primary) and Garmin eTrex Legend for GeoCaching.

useful info..

Thanks Ray for the info on both your experience and for the websites. It is appreciated.
Joe

Mio c310x

$199!!!! Seems unreal for todays market. With Mio's non-existant support, is this truely an option for a first timer? Thanks for feed back.

Mio @ $199

I looked for the Mio c310x @ $199 could not find it, could you tell me where you have seen that price? Thanks

$198 at Frys.com

I bought mine at Staples on

I bought mine at Staples on sale that ended 12/24.

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. . If I only had a brain....................................... http://www.hugginsnet.com/ilovemymio ..................................................... GPS Units in Use: Mio C310x (primary) and Garmin eTrex Legend for GeoCaching.

Best Bang or Least Expensive?

IMHO, the best bang for the buck is a unit that has the features I want, combined with a service network that actually serves, at a price I want to pay.

As some others have already stated, Garmin service and support is very good. And if you have already played with some units that are out there, you've seen that the Garmin units are very easy to use. So my recommendation is to go with Garmin. The question now is which one...

I own (and am trying to sell) a StreetPilot 2720 with the traffic receiver. Why sell? Because it does not have a couple of key features that I want. Specifically, it does not have Bluetooth to act as a speakerphone for my cell phone. It also does not have a battery, so it will only run when plugged in to a 12 volt DC power source. It does have robust waypoint and routing capabilities, and a decent screen that shows up well in the daylight. The traffic receiver works well in my market (Tidewater, VA), and has worked VERY WELL when I have travelled to DC and New England.

I have replaced my 2720 with a Nuvi 660 because it has a large screen, Bluetooth, and will run for a number of hours from its internal battery. It also has a HOST of other features that you may or may not need (i.e. a MP3 player and language translator with additional sofware purchase) to name a few.

For me, the ~ $715 price was worth it for this unit as it includes the traffic monitor (usually a $190 option with other units). But as I stated, is it the cheapest unit you want to get, or one that is more expensive but loaded with features.

Joe

Best Bang

Well my family gave me the Garmin550 and this thing is great-speed, time to arrive at destination,bluetooth technology,traffic reciever,battery,its cool -So far I love it not sure the cost though.

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Garmin C550 Street Pilot

my opinion

Well i have only owned a garmin c330 and i love it. Even though after having it off for a while it takes a few minutes to locate the satellites otherwise it is pretty good. It isn't the most up to date gps either but then again with millions of places in the world it is hard to update everything in a few seconds. Other than that i love the thing. I have never gotten any bad directions and the voice commands are always on time. Even if you have to make a quick turn after another turn the voice prompt will say "turn left then turn right". Be it the way it is....i also did a ton of research on many gps before getting the c330. The Mio has many features but for so many features and the price there are downfalls. Specifically the device giving wrong directions, no warning before a turn, and many addresses not found (these are things most commonly complained about on forums). Magellan is good but many people say that would choose a garmin over Magellan because of the customer service and support. The Garmin support is great. The c330 doesn't ship with the map program that the c320 ships with. Even so, after asking the support if it was at all possible to get the software they unexpectedly sent it too me via ups. They actually sent me a dvd with their software on it.

Don't worry about the gps playing mp3 or having blue tooth. Make sure it does the one thing it is meant to do......get you to where you need to go the quickest and most efficient way.