May 5, 2010
A Review of Popular Car GPS Systems
Cars have enjoyed being a handy means of transportation for years, but there are still days when time and gas are frittered away or destinations are bypassed altogether because of incorrect maps or complicated directions. To solve these concerns and help you to have a relaxing driving experience, car friendly GPS appliances are now available to help and are very affordable for most commuters. It is best to have a GPS device on road trips to make sure that the quickest route is taken. The usefulness of individual GPS devices varies according to different brands. To sweeten the deal, additional functions are available on some models to keep consumers interested and multiply the gadget factor. Below are a few of the more practical products that are worth examining. A nice option is the Garmin Nuvi 1350 Portable GPS Navigator.
Garmin Nuvi 265W
The drawback to most of the budget Car GPS appliances is that their feature list is so underdeveloped that one is unsure whether the device is totally finalized. The Garmin Nuvi is a stripped down piece of equipment, but it nonetheless offers all the more useful features and level of performance consumers would enjoy with its larger cousins – the 705 and 805 series. Text-to-speech is included so you will not be required to read the screen while driving and the Garmin will be quite simple to set up out of the box. The price could conceivably not complement everyone’s cash reserves, but because of its sensible features and minimal issues, this Garmin Nuvi is the best GPS for your money.
TomTom ONE Classic and Routes edition
TomTom ONE devices appear to have price tags that are well below their worth, but its capabilities and specifications explain precisely why these Car GPS devices are dirt cheap. This product’s ease of use is abysmal and a few of the convenient features including Bluetooth and text-to-speech are not available in nearly any of the models. Even though the older models weren’t very popular among middle to lower income car owners, new ONE systems were introduced, including a few with widescreens and others with advanced features such as advanced lane guidance, which is only available in the Routes edition. The classic edition lacks this program, but the price should be tempting enough to help you get over that. A good item to consider is Garmin Nuvi 1350 Portable GPS Navigator.
Magellan Roadmate 1212
The Magellan Maestro products have been the more recognized Magellan products because they hit the market first, although the Roadmate 1212 should easily eclipse the Maestro because of its thin dimensions combined with its tiny price tag. The acceptable performance in tandem with the uncomplicated user interface obviously makes this an intelligent recommendation if you are able to tolerate the delayed menu button response. The text-to-speech function is even present, but using it too much can easily drain the battery and you might enjoy the opportunity of charging the battery within 3 hours.
Bottom Line
With regards to lower priced Car GPS devices, you might understandably be torn between cost and performance. Garmin Nuvi easily moves to the top with its trivial annoyances, but the other brands discussed here are far more affordable. The most sensible choice to make is to spend the money on a Garmin Nuvi unless you plan on letting a GPS device get in the way of your driving. You might also want to look at the Garmin Nuvi 1350 Portable GPS Navigator.




