GPS Systems Store Reviews- Buy GPS car, portable, and marine devices at discount auction prices-Garmin Receivers, Magellan Units, TomTom, and Accessories.
Compare GPS Models To Get The Right Choice For You
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lee_Cole]Lee Cole
When I got bitten by the GPS bug, I decided to compare GPS systems to see which would be the best for me. I only had a vague idea of what these remarkable devices did. I knew they were essentially electronic maps, but I had no idea how they worked, or what was important to look for when buying one. So, I decided to do some research.
My first stop was Amazon to check out their best sellers. (Just click on my link below to see the same information.)
I quickly saw that Garmin, Magellan, and Tom Tom dominated the market. Garmin, I had heard of-Magellan and Tom Tom, I had not heard of. My elation at seeing who were the best sellers for GPS units was soon crushed by an overwhelming sense of confusion as I clicked on each item, read its description, and tried to make heads or tails out of the differences between the units.
There must have been some pretty big differences, I thought, because the prices ranged from a low of about $150 to almost $1000 for portable units-the kind you can stick to your windshield and remove to take with you when you're out of the car.
Well, suffice it to say, I did an enormous amount of research and became an expert of sorts.
To save you some time and frustration, let me tell you the basics of what I found out.
Although there are several manufacturers of portable automotive GPS systems, the three main ones are Garmin, Magellan, and Tom Tom. Garmin sells about half of the automotive GPS systems in the world, but Tom Tom is quickly catching up. All three companies make a good product, it's just that understanding the differences between the three manufacturers and their specific products is a little difficult.
Garmin has two main lines of automotive GPS systems, the Nüvi and the StreetPilot. The functionalities of each line overlap quite as bit, so does their price.
In general, the Nüvi's are sleeker, more compact units. Their interface (how you use the system) is not quite as straightforward as the StreetPilot's interface. Garmin Nüvi's come in a broad price range, from less than $200 for the Nüvi 200 to almost $1000 for the Nüvi 770. Per price point, Nüvi's generally have a few more features than StreetPilots.
The main difference between the Nüvi's and the StreetPilots, however, are these-according to Garmin, Nüvi's have a high-sensitivity receiver, whereas StreetPilots do not. Nüvi's weigh about half as much as StreetPilots. (None of these units is heavy, just StreetPilots weigh almost 10 ounces, where Nüvi's weigh slighlty more than 5 ounces.
The biggest difference between the two units is the user interface. The StreetPilot "c" series was made expressly to be very intuitive and user friendly. This is not to say the Nüvi's are not, they're just not super simple, like the StreetPilots.
Tom Tom has devices that directly compete with Garmin's. The Tom Tom One, for instance, is comparable to the Garmin Nüvi 200, Garmin's entry level product. Both are basic GPS systems which come pre-loaded with maps, have touch screen, and voice instructions. The Tom Tom One has a battery with only 2 hours average life, where the Nüvi's battery will last an average of 5 hours.
To my mind, the Tom Toms are not quite as sleek looking at the Nüvi's, although their quality seems to be comparable.
Magellan does not have the market share of Garmin or Tom Tom, but they still build a good product. The Magellan Maestro 3100 is a big seller on Amazon. In both price and features, it's comparable to the Tom Tom One and to Garmin's lower priced units, both in size and weight. Magellan says their battery lasts up to three hours, fifty percent better than the Tom Tom's.
One of the biggest differences between the cheaper GPS systems and the more expensive ones is the number of "Points of Interest" in the unit's database.
Points of interest are preloaded hotels, restaurants, business locations, hospitals, basically anywhere you might like to go, which are included in your devices database. The Magellan Maestro, for instance has 750,000 points of interest. The Garmin Nüvi 200 comes with approximately 6 million!
If you're going to use your GPS for traveling, having more points of interest available might be a key feature, and when you consider the distances involved, 750,000 items is just not that many.
Another feature I think is important is Bluetooth technology. Your higher priced units can work as a cell phone (both making and receiving calls). It's hard enough (and even illegal in some areas) driving and talking on your cell phone. Add looking at your GPS to that mix, and...well, you might want to pull to the side of the road. To my mind, the fewer devices to keep up with the better.
Lee Cole is a GPS enthusiast who has spent countless hours learning about and using GPS devices. He runs an informative website called http://www.hotgpsdeals.com There you can get more information to help you compare GPS systems.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Colehttp://EzineArticles.com/?Compare-GPS-Models-To-Get-The-Right-Choice-For-You&id=882374
Review of the Garmin StreetPilot
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Derrick_Bogaster]Derrick Bogaster
The StreetPilot c320 is the equivalent of the TomTom "Go" and the Magellan RM300. Garmin is promoting it as a "Beginner's GPS Car Navigator" and well, this quite an appropriate description. This GPS model is tremendously trouble-free to use, unproblematic to input address and other data, and has a restricted quantity of features meant to avoid confusion.
However, if you are looking for the latest GPS technology with all the whizz bang features of advanced models, then this shouldn't be your first choice. StreetPilot has produced an easy to use and functional car GPS with the basic features you should expect from a modern car navigator. And yet, you don't need to expect the operating difficulties that some of other units have. You can pretty much use it straight out of the box, with only a small amount of time required to learn how to operate it.
The Garmin StreetPilot is a GPS unit for your car and has some of the very best routing directions available on any GPS device. It has a built in speaker, uses Nagteq road map and allows you to use CSV files produced by 3rd parties to input into the maps where speed cameras, traffic hazards and school zones are located.
The StreetPilot comes with a rechargeable battery pack with can be charged using the mini-USB holder that is standard with the device. The battery will last up to 8 hours.
The screen may be described as a screen with medium brightness. The user interface is akin to other Garmin units which use a touch screen for data input. But it contains only two controls other than the touchscreen. These are the ON/OFF push button and the "sliding fingertip" volume control.
With regard to the map loading and Map Memory, StreetPilot uses a USB data interface for map loading and data input/output. But the map may also be loaded faster if the SD card is removed and the loading is done through a memory card writer.
Older GPS models can have problems with their accuracy but the StreetPilot is free of these issues. If you use the CitySelect feature you will be able to keep track of the streets you are traveling on. An added bonus is that the StreePilot will display the street names well before you have reached the actual street, ensuring that you are warned well ahead of time.
A Garmin StreetPilot is an easy to use and cheap GPS unit that any one who is a beginner with GPS or technology could use with ease.
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Compare Garmin Car GPS Vs Tom Tom
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Rick_Cole]Rick Cole
Is the Garmin car GPS the best model to buy? Or should you go with Tom Tom? Opinion seems divided between the two makers, even though Garmin out sells Tom Tom over 2 to 1.
To help you decide between the two, I'm going to compare the Garmin car GPS with Tom Tom. Hopefully, this will give you a little help on deciding which company and which of their models is right for you.
Garmin Car GPS
Garmin sells 50% of the GPS devices sold in the United States. (To be fair, in Europe Tom Tom is the industry leader.)
There's a reason for Garmin's dominance of the U. S. market. They simply have more models to choose from at more price points.
I'm not going to discuss every single Garmin model in this article. But I will mention a few that I like at various prices.
In the entry-level market, you have the Garmin nuvi 200 and the nuvi 350. The nuvi 200 is a true entry-level device. It can do everything a GPS is supposed to (tell you where you are and show you how to get to where you're going), but it doesn't have many features beyond that.
The nuvi 200 currently runs about $150.
The nuvi 350, on the other hand, has a few great features like maps of the whole United States and Canada. It also can receive traffic and weather alerts (with subscription). At only $200, that's a lot of GPS for the money!
In the middle of the market, Garmin has the incredible nuvi 760, which sells for just under $350. The 760 has a wider screen than either the nuvi 200 or the nuvi 350. It also has Bluetooth capability, traffic and weather alerts, and it can route it's sound through your car's stereo system. It also does multiple point routing, which means you can enter more than one destination in at a time.
Consumer Reports called the nuvi 760 the best overall GPS on the market, recently. I happen to agree.
At the high end of the market, there's the nuvi 880. It can do everything the nuvi 760 can and also has several impressive cutting-edge features that no one else has. The nuvi 880 will set you back a cool $900, but if you're looking for state-of-the-art, look no further!
Tom Tom
Tom Tom doesn't really compete with Garmin at the high end of the market. Actually, no one does.
Where Tom Tom is most competitive is the low end.
Their Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition can do much more than the nuvi 200, but sells for essentially the same! If I were going to buy and entry-level unit, I would probably spring for the One, 3rd Edition.
In the middle of the market there's the Tom Tom GO 920T, which sells for about the same as the nuvi 760 ($350). The GO 920T has Bluetooth and the wider screen. It also has Tom Tom's own Map Share technology, which let's users actually correct Tom Tom's map database.
Personally, I would go with the Garmin nuvi 760, if I wanted a middle range product.
So, my comparison ends up like this: Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition for $150, the Garmin nuvi 760 for around $350, and the Garmin nuvi 880 for $900.
There's certainly more to know about GPS devices than just this. For one, there's the company Magellan and their fine products.
But this at least will give you a start.
What you need to do now is get on an informative website where you can browse individual models and check out current prices.
To learn more about how to choose the best [http://www.hotgpsdeals.com]Garmin car GPS or Tom Tom GPS, check out my website.
Rick Cole is a true GPS enthusiast! Take a look at his website to find out more information about the [http://www.hotgpsdeals.com/]best GPS systems!
