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>>> Official Black Friday GPS Navigation Unit Discussion Thread <<< (updated 11/29)

Marcster

By Marcster
in 2007

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DB_Cooper

DB_Cooper

Posted
Posted

after some research online.. i was going to go with the malgallan 3100

 

but I found out you can't get canada maps on this unit?

anybody here can confirm this?

What would they have on Canadian maps? Bobsled trails, Tim Horton's and Hockey rinks, eh?

 

If I was going Garmin, I would hold out for the 760 Nuvi over the 660, have checked out the 660 in person and it leaves me somewhat cold. Interface has been dumbed down for the masses and the flip up antenna is something else to break when it slides off the dash.

 

These guys agree: http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2007/10/garmin_nuvi_760_review.php

 

In store the unit that impressed me the most was the Magellan (4000-something, can't recall the exact model #) - CC had them on display and it was quick, clear and accurate. If spending $400, that's where I would lean (or perhaps the quirky but innovative Navigon 7100, which includes free traffic)

 

Of course Best Buy is the devil incarnate, and I would trust Congress before I would ever trust those bastages again, crazy lines for a few morsels, rude & incompetent customer service instore and even worse on the phone makes any offers from that place out of contention.

 

If your heart is set on a Nuvi 660, check the web first, should be able to snag one for $499 or less with NO TAX, NO LONG LINES, NO RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE and so on.

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DB_Cooper

DB_Cooper

Posted
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If I was looking for a handheld I would go with the Garmin 60csx or the new Magellan Tritons:

 

http://gpstracklog.typepad.com/gps_tracklog/2007/08/more-on-the-mag.html

 

Definitely get a SirfStar III-equipped unit for portables (better tracking under canopy)

 

(no BF deals on them, but some pretty good prices on the web for the Garmin unit, which is probably due to new units on the way in '08 or pressure from the upcoming Tritons. HTH

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H_Hancock

H_Hancock

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Definitely get a SirfStar III-equipped unit for portables (better tracking under canopy)

 

(no BF deals on them, but some pretty good prices on the web for the Garmin unit, which is probably due to new units on the way in '08 or pressure from the upcoming Tritons. HTH

From what I gather, the Garmin c550 is probably the best for the price....SirfStar III equipped, text-to-voice, NAVTEQ-powered mapping system, includes a carrying case....and good price.

 

As a contrast, the TomTom ONE uses the Tele Atlas mapping system.....the Tele Atlas system is supposedly much slower to react, picks worse routes, and is just plain inferior. The TomTom ONE had a few other problems, which the GPS Magazine reviewer said were too bad, because he'd have made it his best in class GPS unit....except for the quotes below.

 

As a reviewer looking at the TomTom ONE said:

 

just when I was all set to declare the ONE the absolute best GPS I've ever tested, the Tele Atlas mapping issue came up and tempered my excitement with a healthy dose of reality. The simple fact is that Tele Atlas is not as good as NAVTEQ in North America.

 

Here in the United States, NAVTEQ (the larger competitor to Tele Atlas) has more accurate and complete maps. It's no coincidence that Garmin, Magellan, Yahoo, Google, and MSN all use NAVTEQ.

 

With so much going for it, I couldn't help being frustrated with the Tele Atlas maps. In my rigorous testing, the ONE simply didn't have the addresses of many locations that other NAVTEQ-powered GPS units did.

 

TomTom should have thrown in the carrying case as part of the package. Garmin includes a leather carrying case on their nuvi line, and the ONE is similar in size. Battery life was less than average on the ONE, and the CPU felt slightly underpowered when navigating menus, but was acceptable when navigating. The major disappointment with the ONE is the choice of Tele Atlas for mapping data. Tele Atlas is not the best-of-breed mapping provider for North America (NAVTEQ is).

 

Battery life on the ONE is disappointing, clocking in at around 2 hours, significantly less than other GPS devices that have rechargeable batteries (Magellan, Garmin, etc.).

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H_Hancock

H_Hancock

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But, I suppose BB thinks the quite nice Garmin c550's price is special or something.

 

Unfortunately for them, it's quite easily found for that price or cheaper right now.....ewiz has it for $328, Abe's has it for $314, and CompUPlus has it for $305....shipping extra on all of them.

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jdmcvc99

jdmcvc99

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So I have a question. The TomTom is a battery operated device. Does it come with a car charger, because a 2 hour battery will not even last a trip for me. I am new to the GPS world and since my car did not come with an OEM one I would like to add one.
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mistereman1

mistereman1

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I got a Mio c310x last year on BF and a Magellan one as well. Can't remember the model of the Magellan but I was convinced in less than a couple of minutes the Mio was the way to go. For my test I had a y-adapter to plug in both units and run them at the same time out on the road. Plugged in the Magellan and then the Mio. The Mio was so fast and easy. It had a satellite lock and I was able to put in an address very intuitively without reading the instructions. My wife :eyepoppin is not very tech savvy so whatever we had, had to be quick and easy. The Mio had calculated the route and was spitting out directions:razz: in very quick order. The Magellan? It still didn't even have a satellite lock yet:yuck: !!! When it did finally get one, it was not simple plug and play. It was confusing to program :confused: and when I found myself reaching for the user manual that settled it. Back in the box with the Magellan and back to Radio Shack with it.

I have never been sorry or had second thoughts about it. The whole family can use it with ease. The built in battery gives 4 hours use. The software for the c220 will be the same. It's not the fanciest one around but it should be reliable and get you where you are going. Isn't that the point of a GPS? We had just moved to Texas last year and this little toy has made getting around very easy. We even took it to Puerto Rico in April for vacation and we got around the entire island with no problem at all. One other cool thing about the Mio, it can be on the seat, in the console, or laying on the floor and it still get satellite signal and keeps right on going. So if you don't want to stick it on your windshield or the top of your dashboard, just velcro it to the front of the dash or console or just about anywhere you like and it'll probably be happy:rolleyes: .

Don't think you have to spend a fortune to get something that will do the job. For the same price as some of the others, you could get two Mio's have a very Merry Christmas:yup: !!

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H_Hancock

H_Hancock

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If you simply shop by price, you may get burned by longer routing instructions from your GPS. As GPS Magazine pointed out, not all GPS units and their maping and routing instructions are equal.

 

From a recent test of the Garmin Nuvi 250W, which was put against a Magellan Maestro 4050 and a TOMTOM ONE, all three were asked to route from one address to another. Unfortunately, the TOM TOM fared the worst giving routing that was longer than the other two and put the arrival/destination sometimes on the left instead of the right.

 

From the test (condensed):

 

 

Routing Engine Performance

 

Arguably the most critical components of any turn-by-turn GPS navigation system are the routing engine and map accuracy. The routing engine is the software on a GPS that decides which route the unit should choose to get from point A to point B. Many people falsely assume that simply having the same maps on two GPS devices will result in the same routing choices. Not so, as there is a great deal of math and decision-making involved when calculating the "best" route.

 

Not surprisingly, this also one of the most difficult and complex aspects for GPS manufacturers to get right, and is the aspect of GPS navigation that is least well understood by consumers.

 

The two largest mapping data providers are NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas . NAVTEQ is generally more accurate and complete in North America, so it's preferable to buy a GPS that uses NAVTEQ rather than Tele Atlas.

 

However, there is a lot more to a routing engine than just the mapping data provider. How a given GPS will determine the "best" route is the result of not only the mapping data, but also how many additional data points, or attributes, are factored into the equation. For example, are certain roads closed after hours or on the weekend? What is the average rate of speed for a given road? Statistically speaking, more accidents happen when making left turns as opposed to right turns -- is the GPS unit factoring that into the route? Each company takes all this data and compiles it in different ways, making unique decisions about what data is more important than others. The number of attributes used varies depending on how much money the manufacturer is willing to spend on their mapping data. For example, a full NAVTEQ map database that includes all available attributes can cost the manufacturer twice as much as a basic set of attributes.

 

All Magellan and Garmin GPS units use NAVTEQ mapping data, while TomTom uses Tele Atlas. Magellan's Maestro unit ships with 2007 NAVTEQ maps pre-installed, while the Garmin nuvi's NAVTEQ maps are several years old, (although Garmin is planning to release updated maps within the next month or two). TomTom newly updated Tele Atlas maps are also from 2007.

 

 

 

 

...three different trips of varying distance in three different regions of the United States and compared the nuvi's results to a Magellan Maestro 4050 and a TomTom ONE.

 

 

 

...first test took us along the Northeast, starting in Southbury, CT and ending in New York City:

 

 

Magellan's Maestro 4050, Garmin's nuvi 250W, and TomTom's ONE all get us to our destination address, but the Garmin nuvi 250W chooses a slightly faster route, provides more detailed navigation instructions, and is also the only GPS to announce what side of the street our destination address is on.

 

TomTom's ONE faired the worst in this test, routing us in such a way that the destination address is actually on the left side of the street. We would then either have to make an illegal U-turn or go around the block to arrive at 135 Central Park West on our right. TomTom also has less detailed navigation prompts than the Magellan Maestro 4050. TomTom also uses yards instead of feet, which is impractical here in the Units States.

 

 

 

 

....second test, started out at Fry's Electronics in San Jose, California and entered a destination address at 300 Grove Street in San Francisco (about 46 miles in distance):

 

Again Garmin chooses the best route, Magellan chooses the second best route, and TomTom's ONE chooses the worst route. While Magellan and Garmin both route us along the 101 highway from San Jose to San Francisco, TomTom's ONE instead chooses highway 880 North to 80 West -- an odd choice that adds around 4 miles (6 minutes) to the journey. Even worse, TomTom again has us arriving on the wrong side of the street, with our destination address on the left.

 

Both the Magellan Maestro 4050 and the Garmin nuvi 250W arrive with our destination address on the right side of the street, but only the Garmin actually tells us what side of the street our destination will be on.

 

 

 

 

...the third test, a short, 3-mile trip from Beacon Street in Boston to Cambridge, Massachusetts:

 

The results of test #3 are consistent with the previous two tests: TomTom's ONE chooses a route that's about 30% longer than Magellan's Maestro or Garmin's nuvi. Garmin chooses a route that's slightly longer in distance than Magellan's Maestro, but is actually a shorter drive time, and Magellan's Maestro plots an acceptable route that's only slightly worse than Garmin's.

 

 

I'd really rethink the TOM TOM ONE in preference to a Garmin.....there's a reason why Garmin outsells TOM TOM by a huge margin.

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ean1879

ean1879

Posted
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One request to moderator,

 

please write up beside each GPS model whether that it TTS (text-to-speech) feature capable or not.

I would second that request. Might also include # of POIs (points of interest) and Bluetooth compatibility. I know that would be asking a ton though.

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kubla77

kubla77

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As far as i know Tom Tom One LE does NOT have text to speech capability.

 

That being said, TTO LE > TTO third edition as far as I can tell because it DOES have bluetooth enabled weather and traffic updates unlike its third edition counterpart.

 

As much as I would like you to go to Staples so I have less competition, I think the extra $5 (I'm including Staples giftcard) is worth it for the traffic and weather updates IMO.

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angel-too

angel-too

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Okay....after MUCH research, I'm going with the Navagon 2100 at RadioShack.

I really wanted voice street names and that seemed to drive up the price.

In the info below it also says it has Speed warnings..posts speed and notifies

you with verbal and visual warnings. Also LOVE the Reality View of the roads

and signs. DH and I were just traveling and different states had confusing

intersections! so this will help. I'll have to check out the $99 value Traffic Service included.

 

http://www.mobilewhack.com/navigon-2100-wows-consumers/

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Marcster

Marcster

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Staples is winning for me on all fronts, and its close to home!

Yeah, me too! I was between Radio Shack & Staples, but I think that Staples has more stuff that I want (besides the GPS).

 

One request to moderator,

 

please write up beside each GPS model whether that it TTS (text-to-speech) feature capable or not.

 

I would second that request. Might also include # of POIs (points of interest) and Bluetooth compatibility. I know that would be asking a ton though.

I'll see what I can do. Some of these units have virtually no information about them on the internet (the Amcor A3900 at L-N-T, for instance), or the information is flat-out hard to find (every company has a different format for presenting their specs).

 

Marcster, excellent job on this thread. I think all of the posters to this thread should each pitch in $2 to buy you one of these!! :yup:

Happy to help. Black Friday 2007 will be known as the "YEAR OF THE GPS", mark my words! (and maybe the "Year of the Digital Photo Frame" too). I'm glad to be a part of it.

 

Heck, I have both this thread and the Photo Frame Thread (http://forums.gottadeal.com/showthread.php?t=87665). *Pat on the back for me* for recognizing trends!

 

As far as i know Tom Tom One LE does NOT have text to speech capability.

 

That being said, TTO LE > TTO third edition as far as I can tell because it DOES have bluetooth enabled weather and traffic updates unlike its third edition counterpart.

 

As much as I would like you to go to Staples so I have less competition, I think the extra $5 (I'm including Staples giftcard) is worth it for the traffic and weather updates IMO.

I'll have to look into it... No way that I'm going to BB though.

 

Okay....after MUCH research, I'm going with the Navagon 2100 at RadioShack.

I really wanted voice street names and that seemed to drive up the price.

In the info below it also says it has Speed warnings..posts speed and notifies

you with verbal and visual warnings. Also LOVE the Reality View of the roads

and signs. DH and I were just traveling and different states had confusing

intersections! so this will help. I'll have to check out the $99 value Traffic Service included.

 

http://www.mobilewhack.com/navigon-2100-wows-consumers/

OK, I think the Navigon has the best looking display, hands-down. The most "pretty" interface if you will. And I love the fact that it shows the speed limit for any street you are on -- around here, we could use more speed limit signs, and I love the fact that it shows you which lane you should be in, and for it's price point, it's one of the few with text-to-speech.

 

However, I really haven't been able to find true "I own it and I love it" reviews about the Navigon 2100. Most "reviews" are just rehashes of the feature set -- great, I can get that from the box. ;)

 

You should take a look at these reviews for the Navigon 5100 and 7100 (the 2100's big brothers):

 

Navigon 5100: http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/navigon-5100/4505-3430_7-32557478.html

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000U5W4R2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1_cm_cr_acr_img?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

Navigon 7100: http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/navigon-7100/4505-3430_7-32557477.html

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000S11K5U/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1_cm_cr_acr_img?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

Based on those reviews, it sounds like Navigon has the right feature set, but these first edition units are a little rough around the edges (7 minutes to establish a satellite lock for the 5100 and 2 minutes on the 7100!!!) http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Rude/raspa.gif At that rate, it could be 12 minutes for the 2100!

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