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>>> Official Black Friday 2009 GPS SYSTEM Discussion Thread <<<

Brad

By Brad
in 2009

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Brad

Brad

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As always, we have several dedicated threads for the hotter items each Black Friday. Please try to keep all discussion related to these items in their official threads. Other threads posted will likely be merged into this main thread.

 

This first post will also be used for important links, info, tips, etc... as we get closer to Black Friday.

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  • 1 month later...
samster35

samster35

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Im really interested in a GPS this year, My Bf wants one now, and i was thinking about one for his mom since she always gets lost. And i got my first car this year :D so i may want one as well. My mom has a garmin which seems like a nice one, except the funny way it says Pinecrest, a road in my town. Any one have any thoughts on brands i should look out for. I need a good deal on these but one should also be one easy for someone who is not an electronics person(for the bfs mom) And is reliable. Thanks!
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wx4svr

wx4svr

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Well Samster35... there's a LOT of choices. lol. I, personally, like the one that is built into my SUV. If you want a stand-alone model, I would suggest a TomTom or a Garmin system. Both are great systems and both are coming down in price and including more features. Both are also capable of updating when connected to a computer so you never have to worry about being out of date with old roads or not having new roads when they are put down. I know with TomTom, you can get more voices for it... INCLUDING HOMER SIMPSON! EPIC WIN! :)
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len_mullen

len_mullen

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I hope no one buys a GPS based on others' opinions. Buying a GPS is much more complicated than is it good. It's important to consider all features and price. Here are some features to think about...

 

1) screen size. yes, size matters. as i get older, i realize that some of us need a 4.3" screen or larger. understand your driver's eyes before selecting a GPS.

 

2) text-to-speech. this means the GPS will attempt to pronounce the name of the right you have to take in 300 feet. this *is* a big deal in cities and complex intersections.

 

3) traffic alerts (this applies to any other additional information like gas prices and speed traps). do you need them and how much do they cost. i have found traffic alerts mosly uninteresting, but one time i was tooling towards the airport when my gps alerted me to the fact that a railroad crossing was malfunctioning and offered to re-route me. i did not miss my flight.

 

4) POIs. it took me to #4 to mention this, but POIs may be more interesting to you. not a big deal if you use your GPS to find a destination, but, if you are on vacation and need a walmart, atm, or restaurant, POIs become very important.

 

5) other stuff. some GPS devices include blue tooth, some can play music and video, and others can call a nearby restaurant. read through all these and see what makes sense to you.

 

6) price. cheap is good...especially if someone steals the gps out of your car.

 

once you have considered all the features and have a list of units that have the features which you can afford, ask what people think of the units.

 

i have used two. i got the $99 navigon 2100t at staples a couple BFs back. it has traffic and text-to-speech. my first update was free and i'm hardly ever lost. the 3.5" screen is a little small for my aging eyes, but it was only $100, so i'm good. the POIs are adequate. i find what i need when i travel.

 

i got a couple omnitech units from staples last year for $70. these have a bigger screen, less POIs, and no traffic. they work fine too. one was stolen...glad i didn't pay $400 for it.

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Marcster

Marcster

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...I know with TomTom, you can get more voices for it... INCLUDING HOMER SIMPSON! EPIC WIN! :)

It should be noted that the fancier voices, like Homer Simpson are only typically only available for GPS units that lack "text to speech".

 

Text to speech is the ability for a GPS to call out specific road names, such as "Turn right in one half mile onto Vancouver Road."

 

Units that don't have text to speech will say "Turn right in one half mile." instead.

 

I wouldn't say it's a deal breaker either way, but when you are driving in a city, the blocks come up quickly and "Turn right at the third intersection in 800 yards." is more confusing than a comand of "Turn right at the third intersection in 800 yards onto Elm Street." When you are at a traffic circle or five points intersection, text to speech becomes even more valuable. If you live out in the sticks, it may not matter too much to you.

 

-------------------

 

As to brands, I wouldn't recommend anything other than a Garmin or TomTom. Maybe a Navigon or Mio.

 

There are plenty of off-brands, but you are venturing into the unknown. How up to date are the maps? How many POIs are included (points of interest, like restaurants, skating rinks, shops, etc.)? How accurate and up-to-date are those POIs? How quickly does the GPS get a signal from the satellites? How does it handle adverse conditions (such as driving in an area with heavy trees)?

 

By going with a major brand, all of those questions have been addressed -- an off-brand can certainly be a tossup and you are more likely to be buying blind, since the reviews of off-brand units are slim.

 

Some might say that Magellan and Nexstar are also major brands, but they consistently get ugly reviews. Stick with a Garmin or TomTom to be assured quality.

 

-------------------

 

In terms of which individual unit to go with, for sure you need to read some reviews. You can go to a review site like www.gpslodge.com, www.gpsmagazine.com, reviews.cnet.com/gps, etc.

 

I will say that TomTom shows more information right on the main screen (such as time and mileage to your destination), which the Garmin pushes off to a secondary screen, but more information is shown on that secondary screen such as your stopped time and highest speed.

 

The typical TomTom:

 

http://i38.tinypic.com/fyptnd.jpg

 

The typical Garmin:

 

http://gps-systems.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/garmin-265wt-gps.jpg

 

-------------------

 

TomToms have more room for personalization. There are free additional color packs, voices, startup screens, etc. available for download from sites like www.tomtomforums.com.

 

Garmins are more structured, but you can download free vehicle icons (the pointer on the main screen) direct for Garmin.

 

Both brands have many different additional POI lists that can be downloaded to the units (if you want to be sure you have all of the Smokey Bones restaurants at your fingertips vs. hoping that they have them in your GPS' built-in POI list, for instance).

 

POI lists are supported by the general casual user (you could make a POI list if you wanted), but they are unique to the brand of the unit.

 

Again, adding POI lists are another place where the off-brands come up short. Not only with the quantity of lists that are available, but also in whether you can add lists to begin with (last time I checked, Navigon didn't even allow you to add lists).

 

-------------------

 

Garmin has an edge when it comes to preplanning your route on the computer. They have a tie-in with www.mapquest.com that allows you to plan an entire multi-stop route on Mapquest and then simply sync it to your connected Garmin GPS.

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Screwu2man

Screwu2man

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I will say this. I just got the wife a Tomtom from target for $50. It was on clearance. That's better then any BF deal that is going to happen this year.

 

As for choices, I have 2 gps units myself. I got a Garmin and a Staples cheapo that I got for $35 after rebates and so on. The software I like the best is Navigon. To each their own.

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queenofshopping

queenofshopping

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This may finally be the year of the GPS for me (fingers crossed) - my mother is still the deciding vote on such things. Unfortunately over the last year or two it seems every time we talk about getting something we want, something we need gets in the way. I'm hoping that if I can get a good enough deal she may go for it, so long as there are no monthly charges involved. And really, I'm not being picky here - I don't need it to tell me about traffic or road closures or anything; all I want is to be able to figure out where to go when I get lost...without having to make any 'get on MapQuest for me. NOW!' calls to anyone!
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josetann

josetann

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I saw a GPS on clearance last night at Target. It was a Garmin nuvi 255w I think. It was about $219 on clearance for $159, I think. So far all the GPS's on BF are the bottom of the line models. Is this a good deal or should I wait for BF?

I don't ever go by the "original" price. Amazon has it currently for $159.99, so $0.99 more. But remember there's no shipping and probably no tax too.

 

Unless you must have one today, I'd wait. Might want to keep an eye on refurbs, I've seen decent deals on Amazon now and again (and don't forget checking woot.com daily, sometimes it seems all they sell are gps, roombas, and sansas).

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Jen8112

Jen8112

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I don't ever go by the "original" price. Amazon has it currently for $159.99, so $0.99 more. But remember there's no shipping and probably no tax too.

 

Unless you must have one today, I'd wait. Might want to keep an eye on refurbs, I've seen decent deals on Amazon now and again (and don't forget checking woot.com daily, sometimes it seems all they sell are gps, roombas, and sansas).

Ok thanks, I'll wait. Hopefully someone will have a higher end GPS on sale BF. We still haven't seen Wal-Mart or Target ads yet! ;)

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krissy72

krissy72

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Is the GPS that walmart has on sale today a good one? I really want text to speech but can't tell if this one has it or not. I would also prefer to have the larger screen but it is not a necessity. Also would like it to have the Canadian maps instead of Puerto Rico, since I can't drive there from here. I don't really want to spend more than $100 b4 tax. Should I wait or am I dreaming?
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tkinsellas

tkinsellas

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I have a Garmin Nuvi 205W which is just the wide screen version. I love it but to the best of my knowledge it doesn't have text to speech. I just bought one of the pink ones from WalMart today for my daughter. I did see that Sears has the 205W on Black Friday for 89.99but I don't think it's pink :)
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Marcster

Marcster

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Is the GPS that walmart has on sale today a good one? I really want text to speech but can't tell if this one has it or not. I would also prefer to have the larger screen but it is not a necessity. Also would like it to have the Canadian maps instead of Puerto Rico, since I can't drive there from here. I don't really want to spend more than $100 b4 tax. Should I wait or am I dreaming?

The TomTom One 125 is the same TomTom One LE that I bought two years ago on Black Friday for 120 from BB. The only real difference is a different suction cup mounting system (and updates to the maps and Points of Interest, of course, and the deletion of Canadian maps). The TomTom One 125 was here last BF too.

 

It's not a bad unit, but it certainly is bare bones, and lacks text-to-speech.

 

Review: http://www.gpslodge.com/archives/023062.php

 

If you have an upcoming trip before BF, you could buy this and not hate yourself, but otherwise, there will be better deals...

 

-----

 

If you need Canadian maps, look for the TomTom One 130, but this model still lacks text-to-speech.

 

To make it easier to find models with text-to-speech, TomTom denotes models with a "-s" if they have that feature.

For instance, the TomTom One 130-S has TTS, but the TomTom One 130 does not.

 

The TomTom 130-S would meet all your requirements, but would still be the 3.5" screen, not the 4.3" screen. It's available from Amazon for $123.53, and is a much better deal than the one from Wal-Mart, unless you need to buy it in person.

http://www.amazon.com/TomTom-ONE-3-5-Inch-Portable-Navigator/dp/B00160TYR8

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Marcster

Marcster

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So far, the best GPS deal I've found based on features to price ratio is the TomTom XL350-S to be offered at Target on BF.

 

4.3" widescreen, text-to-speech, lane assist, and maps of all of North America (yep, that's all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and they even threw in Puerto Rico for good measure).

 

However, this unit gets some seriously awful reviews from actual owners:

http://www.testfreaks.com/gps-navigation-devices/tomtom-xl-340s/

http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/tomtom-xl-340-s/4505-3430_7-33606060.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16858194079&cm_re=340-s-_-58-194-079-_-CustomerReview

 

Whatever unit you buy, read - read - read the reviews and actual owner reports (but remember that people are more likely to complain about than praise a product).

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queenofshopping

queenofshopping

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So far, the best GPS deal I've found based on features to price ratio is the TomTom XL350-S to be offered at Target on BF.

 

4.3" widescreen, text-to-speech, lane assist, and maps of all of North America (yep, that's all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and they even threw in Puerto Rico for good measure).

 

However, this unit gets some seriously awful reviews from actual owners:

http://www.testfreaks.com/gps-navigation-devices/tomtom-xl-340s/

http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/tomtom-xl-340-s/4505-3430_7-33606060.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16858194079&cm_re=340-s-_-58-194-079-_-CustomerReview

 

Whatever unit you buy, read - read - read the reviews and actual owner reports (but remember that people are more likely to complain about than praise a product).

:( Now I'm a bit worried...I saw that one and thought 'that's an INSANE deal! must have it!'

 

Hope you'll keep weighing in as more GPS deals come out! Really want one this year!

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stacya

stacya

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I see Dell is going to have the Garmin Nuvi 255w on sale, and it is close to the sale price on Amazon (third party, so God only knows anything about the company, shipping, etc., as I haven't had time to check them out myself)...it appears to have the features I like, but I don't see anything that says whether or not you can update the maps without a fee? Do any GPS models offer this?
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Venusaur

Venusaur

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I see Dell is going to have the Garmin Nuvi 255w on sale, and it is close to the sale price on Amazon (third party, so God only knows anything about the company, shipping, etc., as I haven't had time to check them out myself)...it appears to have the features I like, but I don't see anything that says whether or not you can update the maps without a fee? Do any GPS models offer this?

Your first map update is free, as long as you register the GPS online within 60 days of first turning it on. After that there is a fee for the updates, either $50ish for one update or $120 for lifetime updates. As far as other GPS models, I dont know about anything other than Garmin.
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stacya

stacya

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Your first map update is free, as long as you register the GPS online within 60 days of first turning it on. After that there is a fee for the updates, either $50ish for one update or $120 for lifetime updates. As far as other GPS models, I dont know about anything other than Garmin.

Thanks! I appreciate the info!

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queenofshopping

queenofshopping

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Quick question: Does anyone know if there's any significant differences between the Garmin Nuvi 255w and the 1350t? The only thing I can see is the lane assistance, am I missing anything else?

According to the comparison chart on Amazon, the 1350t has an FM receiver (for the 255w it says 'optional'), but the big difference seems to be in the fact that models with a 't' include lifetime traffic.

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