Questions about GPS

[Computerpro3]

For the last year or so I have been using my motorola Q as a GPS navigation system with the program Copilot Live Q Edition by ALK. It has worked tremendously but now the receiver appears to be dead. I've decided to replace it with a stand alone GPS so I can still use my phone while traveling.

I drive a lot, and I have a terrible sense of direction, so I really need a good GPS that will get me where I need to go.

Looking at the hundreds of mobile GPS choices, I am quite confused. What the hell is the difference between the $100 one and the $500 one? Just MP3 capability?

The absolute most I'm willing to spend on a GPS is $200, but I'd much rather spend about $100. Can I get a GPS that will actually get me where I'm going for that price or should I just bite the bullet and spend more money?

Whichever GPS I get will be hardwired into my car.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the things that matter to me most are the speed of satellite lock (VERY important), the number of POI on the maps, and the overall flexibility/comprehensiveness of the maps. Anything else is not important.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[tpc41]

my girlfriend purchases a cheaper model ($100ish) and it is downright terrible. It can take up to 20 mins to get satellite signal and there is a large delay between where u are on the road and where u are on the map, i often miss turns because it gives me a turn notification too late.

My parents have an expensive garmin model and it is a night and day difference, so much smoother and it also does text to speech, so it says the names of roads for you, very handy. This one is above $200, so i cannot recommend it, but i would definitely stick with a name brand model like a garmin, they can be had for less than 200 i believe.

[Uncle Erik]

I love my Tom Tom. It's an older model a friend gave me, but completely reliable and has been great. I can't compare it to the others since I haven't used them, but I would buy another one.

[marvin]

I've used the Tom Tom One and the Nuvi 200 (both ~ $150 on Amazon) and both are excellent. The Tom Tom One has excellent lock on speed while the Nuvi's I've used are fairly slow at it. If you like Text to Speech, the Garmin 350 does it at the $200 price point, but it also has fairly slow lock on speeds.

For more money, you generally get some nice, but not necessary features. Text to Speech, compatibility with FM traffic systems, speech recognition, and dead reckoning capabilities are some of the nicer features on expensive GPS systems.

[intoflatlines]

GF has the Garmin c330 and it's good. It has most POIs but there are some that it doesn't have. It was like $250 last year so I'm sure you can get a similar model for cheaper.

[StanleyB1]

I have been using my Nokia N95 loaded with TomTom. It is better (read cheaper to run) than the Nokia inbuilt GPS. You do need a separate GPS receiver though, which is in fact a good thing. Mine is one I picked off eBay for less than £30 and locks on in less than 2 minutes.

[RYCeT]

I have a 5 yo Garmin 2610, it's great apart from the out of date map, there's nothing I can't complain. I'm just to cheap to upgrade the map, I find the 'out of date' works just fine. What do you mean by hardwired? IMHO it's not necessary.

[intoflatlines]

You can get pretty much any GPS hardwired, but I hope you will take the unit off when you park in public.. people will steal it so quick if it's just left mounted there.

[billbillw]

Garmin Nuvi or Magellan Maestro. I'd splurge for one of the wider screen versions.

[essasin]

I've been using Tom Tom on phone and it has worked flawlessly. The updates are awesome too.