Travel Technology - Thinking about my first GPS

Does anyone know anything or has any opinion, good or bad, about Nextar X3i GPS?

TIA

My gps purchases have been made at Semsons.com and BuyGPSNow.com. Both sites have forums where you can research devices and get advice.

Does anyone know anything or has any opinion, good or bad, about Nextar X3i GPS?

TIA

Consumer Reports did a full report on about 30 GPS devices this month, though not that particular model. Might be worth checking out.

My advise? Stick with the big names; TomTom, Garmin, Magellan or Navigon.

I'd stay clear of the 100's of little brands as their support (and map updates) might not be as easy to get access to...

I have a Tom Tom One and I am not at all happy with it.
Even though I do updates, it is missing tons of roads and businesses.
Yesterday, I was searching for this obscure store in Charlotte, NC called WalMart. According to my TomTom, there aren't any. (There are, I looked on line).
The other day, it had me go 2.5 miles, through a series of back streets, to get to a store rather than simply going past it and doing a U turn.
It seems that the TomTom does not have the ability to search beyond the destination route for a better, quicker alternative.

TomToms: I find the POIs and shops and the like are pretty rubbish, but the mapping and routing really rather good. I have the 910.

There are around 20 million businesses in the US; it's not possible to load them all on a GPS device.

If you find stores are missing, load them through TomTom home, or head to sites like http://www.poi-factory.com/ and manually load all the chains you need.

TomToms: I find the POIs and shops and the like are pretty rubbish, but the mapping and routing really rather good. I have the 910.

I've got the 930 here, and the POI database is brilliant; even the most obscure stores seem to be loaded on it. I've loaded some of my own files too (home depot, Costco).

I've been very happy with my Garmin Nuvi 360 from Costco. Maps and POIs seem to work great. I also like the MP3 player. I can use it on the plane to both listen to music and know where we are at. It even comes in handy for walking the dogs to know how far/fast I have walked, but it is a bit bulky to carry in a pocket on a walk.

I have a Tom Tom One and I am not at all happy with it.
Even though I do updates, it is missing tons of roads and businesses.
Yesterday, I was searching for this obscure store in Charlotte, NC called WalMart. According to my TomTom, there aren't any. (There are, I looked on line).
The other day, it had me go 2.5 miles, through a series of back streets, to get to a store rather than simply going past it and doing a U turn.
It seems that the TomTom does not have the ability to search beyond the destination route for a better, quicker alternative.

In CLT you are much better off with Target and even TomTom knows that ;). There are 3 Targets within 2 miles from me, and the closest WalMart is 8 miles away.

I’m considering my first portable GPS unit and this thread and others have proved to be very helpful. And thanks to flyinbob for the heads-up on the Consumer Reports review of GPS units.

Mrs. Cholula has had a built-in unit in her last few cars and I nearly always get a GPS unit in a rental car. But have never had one for my personal car.

I’m leaning toward one of the higher-end Garmin Nuvi or TomTom units and I have a question I don’t see answered here or elsewhere. To update the maps or POI via the internet, do these GPS units require a Windows OS? I’m a Mac guy and I know some of the earlier GPS units required a Windows machine.

Thanks.

I have the Garmen Nuvi 350. I love it. It is easy to update and 99% of the time I agree with the routing. I took it to Europe last year. Although I did not drive, it came in handy. More than once it pointed out a closer Metro station. Saved me some steps^

I’m considering my first portable GPS unit and this thread and others have proved to be very helpful. And thanks to flyinbob for the heads-up on the Consumer Reports review of GPS units.

Mrs. Cholula has had a built-in unit in her last few cars and I nearly always get a GPS unit in a rental car. But have never had one for my personal car.

I’m leaning toward one of the higher-end Garmin Nuvi or TomTom units and I have a question I don’t see answered here or elsewhere. To update the maps or POI via the internet, do these GPS units require a Windows OS? I’m a Mac guy and I know some of the earlier GPS units required a Windows machine.

Thanks.

Both TomTom Home and the Garmin POI loader work on the Mac (real Mac versions).

Depending on what kind of phone you have you may want to consider something like Garmin XT software and, if necessary, a bluetooth GPS receiver. On my Samsung Blackjack II (built in GPS receiver) the Garmin XT software works great with voice guidance (no text-to-speach beyond roads with numbers), 3-D view, re-route, lane/interchange display, millions of POIs, and updatability. All it is lacking is a touchscreen. It's available on MicroSD for $75 and includes all of North America on a 2gb card as well as MiniSD and full-size SD adapters. The version that includes a Bluetooth GPS receiver (if your phone doesn't have one) can be had for around $100. Both versions are compatible with WM2003, WM5, WM6, Symbian, and Palm OS. I chose this solution particularly for business travel since it is one less device to have to pack/carry. It also has a walking mode and public-transit mode for urban environments. So far it has been very useful. One consideration is it drains battery pretty quickly... about 3 hours on a full charge where the phone by itself gets about 3 days standby and around 7 hours talk time.

I was considering adding an in-dash unit to my car (along with video and bluetooth) but this made much more sense all around based on price and portability.

Garmin has a webupdater for Mac.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/collection.jsp?product=999-99999-27

With Garmin (as I'm sure with others) there are a couple different upgrade proceses.

The webupdater is for firmware upgrades only and is free.

To update the maps you must purchase a new mapset. New units come with a code for 1 map upgrade that you must use with the next set. I bought mine in 2006 and it came with like NT8. I lost my code so I never upgraded to 2008. 2009 just came out and I had to pay for the maps.

A new mapset will come with new POIs, but I just recently started a thread about how I've resorted to just getting custom POIs off the internet because even Garmin with their market share can't keep up.

I have a Nuvi 660. Great screen. Takes maybe 2 trips to get used to the navigation and interface, then you know exactly what things mean. I couldn't imagine renting a unit unless I always rented from the same company. My coworkers will rent the Hertz Neverlost and the interface just seems so hard to navigate compared to Garmin. Nuvis will speak street names.

The whole fact that the Nuvi 660 has hung around so long speaks for its technology, but i don't use the FM or bluetooth (or MP3 or audiobooks, etc), but I do like the Nuvi because it fits in my purse easily and it ALWAYS in my purse!

I recommend a "friction mount" if you will be using it in many various rentals as I do. The suction cup on the windshield would fall off or never come off.

Good features to have
Spoken Street names
good brand behind it for upgrades (Garmin, TomTom, Magellan)
quick satellite acquiring (my nuvi is slow at this)
Good routing and quick rerouting

Pay extra for spoken street names. You need to focus on reading the street name on the sign itself, not your unit.

I got an HP 310 from Amazon when it was $200 a few months back. Nice screen and appealing form factor but don't like several things about it. I'd stay away from that particular unit, FWIW.

Both TomTom Home and the Garmin POI loader work on the Mac (real Mac versions).

Garmin has a webupdater for Mac.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/collection.jsp?product=999-99999-27

<snip>

I recommend a "friction mount" if you will be using it in many various rentals as I do. The suction cup on the windshield would fall off or never come off.


Thanks for the quick answers!

And doing some research on the friction/beanbag mount vs. the suction cup, I find that in my home state of CA, suction cup windshield mounts are illegal.

Anybody have a preference for the friction mount (http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Portable-Dashboard-StreetPilot-Navigators/dp/B000LRMS66/ref=pd_bbs_sr_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1210953493&sr=8-8) versus the bean bag (http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Replacment-Portable-Friction-010-10306-00/dp/B00005UK9X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1210953943&sr=8-5) mount?

Or is there something else even better?

.....And doing some research on the friction/beanbag mount vs. the suction cup, I find that in my home state of CA, suction cup windshield mounts are illegal.


Really! Are you sure?

Please read here and let me know, if suction cup windshield mounts are illegal. I go to CA next week and don't want to get in trouble, thanks:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=811491&highlight=gps&page=3

Quote:
Originally Posted by SJUAMMF
Two solutions to this:

1. Lower left corner, section (b)3 in this link
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc26708.htm
2. Use a dash top suction cup plate

SJUAMMF
Thanks ... I got it ....

(b) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(1) Rearview mirrors.

(2) Adjustable nontransparent sunvisors which are mounted forward of the side windows and are not attached to the glass.

(3) Signs, stickers, or other materials which are displayed in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver, signs, stickers, or other materials which are displayed in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the rear window farthest removed from the driver, or signs, stickers, or other materials which are displayed in a 5-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield nearest the driver.

There are around 20 million businesses in the US; it's not possible to load them all on a GPS device.

If you find stores are missing, load them through TomTom home, or head to sites like http://www.poi-factory.com/ and manually load all the chains you need.


I’m leaning toward one of the higher-end Garmin Nuvi or TomTom units and I have a question I don’t see answered here or elsewhere. To update the maps or POI via the internet, do these GPS units require a Windows OS? I’m a Mac guy and I know some of the earlier GPS units required a Windows machine.

Thanks.
One thing here is always a source of confusion for new GPS users. If you buy a GPS unit and then purchase the maps separately, such as a basic Garmin unit and then a Garmin map set, you almost never are entitled to no cost updates to the maps, via the web or any other means. With Garmin this is locked down pretty tightly, in fact the maps are 'unlocked' to one GPS unit only. What you can do is create waypoints, or load custom POIs. Or buy the new maps when they come out the next year. Custom POIs are more efficient to do in large quantity. People create and post POIs files for all kinds of stuff, speed limits, red-light cameras, Asian restaurants, 24-hour Veterinary clinics, etc., etc.

Maps pre-loaded in a unit are treated slightly different, some details here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=811491), starting on 2nd page.

And the maps that are sourced off the the internet (Google Maps and Garmin XT) are in a different category for updates. They should always be up to date, and always have the latest big-box stores, restaurants, parking lots, and other POIs. Right?

....I was searching for this obscure store in Charlotte, NC called WalMart. According to my TomTom, there aren't any. (There are, I looked on line)....

I searched Walmart in Charlotte SC on my new Garmin nuvi ... and there are a couple!
However, I loaded plenty of businesses from http://www.poi-factory.com , which ScottC mentioned.

There are around 20 million businesses in the US; it's not possible to load them all on a GPS device.

If you find stores are missing, load them through TomTom home, or head to sites like http://www.poi-factory.com/ and manually load all the chains you need.

ScottC:
I am not so sure, that you can't get 20 million businesses in the US on a GPS device.
I have read here
http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/index.html
that I can load the POIs on a (2 or 4 GB) SD unit. Problem might be .. from where to get all the POIs.

I have used POI factory, it's a great source!
However, I don't know what POIs are actually loaded. For example, I loaded:
So. Cal Mountains
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/7595
"...Now, you can "spell" (once in this POI file) something like 9k to find the really tall peaks, even if they are far away. Actually, 9k lumps all peaks above 8501'...."

Search did NOT work for me:mad:

I'd agree with the 20 M statement, I wouldn't think that is technically a problem. They currently market their US highway/driving maps as having between 4 and 5 million points of interest.

I'm also not sure how you see what POIs are loaded on the PC maps. On my unit, you can see a a list, the same as way points. But I have yet to view the custom POIs on the MapSource Map viewer on the PC. I never noticed if they come in via 'receive from device' the same as WayPoints do.

On ScottC's rec (via his DoTD on his blog a couple of weeks ago), I bought a Garmin nüvi 670 and the Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for just over $400 from Amazon.com. Price seemed fair to me. The 670 has both U.S. Maps (possibly Canada and Mexico too, can't recall) and all of Western Europe.

I've been very happy with the unit over the past few weeks of heavy use both locally (in the Washington, D.C. area) and when traveling (TX, CO, NYC).

Have not expressly tried the trial period free traffic (I wonder if it is routing me around traffic without me knowing) or many of the of add-ons (such as Bluetooth, MP3s, photo viewer, etc). For me, it does what it is supposed to do pretty well.

I too found the suction cup mount a bit hit and miss or hit and drop. Depending on the angle of the windshield, I had to fidget with the mount and the antenna of the unit to get it to sit at the right viewing angle. Once, after a freezing cold night in Colorado, the windshield mounted suction cup popped loose on the first bump in the road. I found the Friction mount more reliable and it did not slide all over the dashboard (admittedly it is more bulky to carry than the windshield mount).

When I registered the unit with Garmin, they offered me a choice of the 2009 U.S. (again, maybe North America) or a Europe update. Since the European maps was basically a whim purchase for me (and most of my travels are in the U.S.) I went with the free 2009 U.S. update. Mac (OSX 10.4 or .5) compatible NOT 10.3.

The various directories found things for me very well. Even a couple of obscure places around D.C. (which I didn't even name properly) were easily found. For those in the Washington, D.C.-area, it did (first time using it, quite frustrating) have totally wrong layout (and hence mis-directed me around) the dreaded "Mixing Bowl" where 95, Beltway, etc. all meet up. I'm hoping the 2009 update fixes that.

Overall, I'm happy with the thing. As I mentioned, it does what it needs to do at a generally fair price for me. I'm happy.

I searched Walmart in Charlotte SC on my new Garmin nuvi ... and there are a couple!
However, I loaded plenty of businesses from http://www.poi-factory.com , which ScottC mentioned.

Thanks for the info!

Personally I'd prefer only the POI's I load on the device. I hate it when I search for something like "Fry's" and get "Fry's coffee shop, Fry's daycare, Fry's auto repair", when all I want is "Fry's electronics".

Really! Are you sure?

Please read here and let me know, if suction cup windshield mounts are illegal. I go to CA next week and don't want to get in trouble, thanks:



I’m just going on this info:

We get this question frequently, so we will drop a few lines here to refer people back to. Currently, there are two states that prohibit drivers from putting suction cup mounts on their windshield while operating their vehicle– California and Minnesota. Want to find out exactly what the restriction is and what your alternative mounting options are?
The Laws

In California, you will want to refer to Vehicle Code Section 26708(a) for all of the details. In Minnesota, you will want to refer to Section 169.71 for the details. These outline what you can and cannot mount on your windshield as well as visibility requirements.



Apparently these can’t be legally attached to the windshield in CA or MN. But you can dashboard mount them with either a suction cup or a friction pad/bean bag.

A suction cup directly on the dash won't work because of the texture, but most companies include a self adhesive plastic disc that you stick onto the dash that will let the suction cup suck to it...

I just picked up a TomTom One 3rd Edition with US and Canada maps from Staples a few nights ago. It was on clearance for $120. It's a basic model with no SD card slot but has 1GB of internal memory.

The TomTom Home software works well so I am not too worried about the limited memory and no expansion because I'll almost always have a laptop and internet connection when preparing for a trip so I can buy/load maps onto it.

It's functional and inexpensive and was rated a Consumer Reports best buy at $200 ^

A suction cup directly on the dash won't work because of the texture, but most companies include a self adhesive plastic disc that you stick onto the dash that will let the suction cup suck to it...

I checked with Google ... Unfortunately Cholula is correct with:

"Apparently these can’t be legally attached to the windshield in CA or MN. But you can dashboard mount them with either a suction cup or a friction pad/bean bag"

ScottC:
Yes, my Garmin did come with a dashboard disc. However, I'll still have a problem ... my car in CA will be a rental car....I'll find a way@:-)
BTW, I still remember: in the DDR (East Germany) 99.9% of the Trabis had a "vehicle suction cup mount" with an attached note-pad.:D
Picture of a Trabi (Trabant) without vehicle suction cup mount:
http://www.kfz.de/hersteller/trabant/trabant.jpg

I have now a TomTom 710. Although the navigation software is great for car navigation I miss now navigation help for bike and walking.
Geocaching does not work very easely, you can just enter one kind of coordinate system and then the Tomtom leads you to the nearest road and not exactly where you need to be.
Can someone recommend a good car systems which does also help with biking, walking, geocaching? Would a Garmin system be more recommended?

Thanks in advance for your tips and experiences.
Wombelero

My TomTom One allows me to enter coordinates as a destination in addition to using an address.

I am not completely satisfied with it however. The on board dynamic memory (32MB) is pretty limited as is the on board flash memory (1GB). This means the POI list is somewhat short, and when I search for POIs I get a short list. I only get 2 or 3 pages of results when doing a search (i.e. for restaurants) where I would expect hundreds of matches. As a result, I have had to type in fairly specific POI searches (i.e. IHOP).

There are around 20 million businesses in the US; it's not possible to load them all on a GPS device.

If you find stores are missing, load them through TomTom home, or head to sites like http://www.poi-factory.com/ and manually load all the chains you need.

Another good source for TomTom POI files from Denny's to strip clubs :D from CU service centers to Jared Jewelers is http://www.tomtomforums.com

I have a TT ONE XL and very much like it mainly because of the multi-point trip planning capability. The Garmins that I played with in the store and on the road just didn't have the trip planning I features I was used to from our car-based GPS.

Another good source for TomTom POI files from Denny's to strip clubs :D from CU service centers to Jared Jewelers is http://www.tomtomforums.com


We've also got the Custom POI "Collections" from the GPSPassion.com forums: http://www.gpspassion.com/FORUMSEN/default.asp?CAT_ID=20. many good ones to be found here, I like the 'Costco with gas station' list on there.

Unlike POI factory, there is no charge to download the red light cameras and speed limit lists. Haven't checked them, but they list a lot for Europe.

Can someone recommend a good car systems which does also help with biking, walking, geocaching? Would a Garmin system be more recommended?


My Garmin has setting for car, biking and walking, but I never checked how good it is.

My feeling is, there is no perfect GPS:
-Our house is exactly where it is. However, when I drive home Garmin says LEFT and then RIGHT. When I would go, I would end at the Gulf of Mexico (it's a very short street/cul-de-sac). The correct way would be GO LEFT and then strait ...
-Yesterday I loaded USA MAP 2009 over the Internet. It took a long time but went well ... until I was told you still need 37MB and I had only 6.6 free (even after I deleted all POI).
I feel Garmin has a little problem .. their 2009 map-update was on hold:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Site Upgrades in Progress
The Map Update page is temporarily unavailable. Please check back soon to update your maps. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have already registered your Garmin GPS, you may sign in to myGarmin to determine your Map Update eligibility status.
Thank you.

I was able to sign in to myGarmin to determine my Map Update eligibility status. They let me download the update for free....but I ended up with "you still need 37MB". The "good" news is, I can still work with the 2008 map.

BTW, what is geocaching?

I've been reviewing a TomTom Go930 for the past weeks; and it is pretty close to what I'd call perfect. The mapshare feature is great, and allows you to make your own map corrections (and submit them to tomtom).

If you find map errors on Garmin or Magellan systems, go to the Navteq mapreporter site and report them: http://mapreporter.navteq.com/

They supply these maps, and any corrections need to be made at the source.

BTW, what is geocaching?
Click me (http://www.geocaching.com)

I've got a Nuvi 360. I like it because of the BlueTooth in it, especially since now in CA you have to have handless talking while driving.

Is the new iPhone a viable GPS unit? I had read that it now has true GPS capability as opposed to the pesudo-GPS that uses WiFi addresses in iPhone 1.0. I also read that TomTom is coming out with a 3d party app for iPhone 2.0. This all seemed great until I read David Pogue's review in today's NY Times, which said:

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.

Instead, all it can do at this point is track your position as you drive along, representing you as a blue dot sliding along the roads of the map. Even then, the metal of a car or the buildings of Manhattan are often enough to block the iPhone’s view of the sky, leaving it just as confused as you are.

Ignore Pogue. The iPhone has the same kind of GPS antenna as any other smartphone, and they are all perfect at picking up a signal. GPS all depends on the software you use. A Blackberry with GPS is useless without a decent GPS package. Same goes for the iPod. It won't be much use with Google maps.

There currently aren't any gps applications that will do turn by turn for the iphone. That doesn't mean they won't allow or build it, but the goompas doesn't currently have any of that. TomTom announced something, but then pulled it back. I am sure someone will do something, but still not decided.

I've had a Garmin nuvi 350 for a year now and I'm quite happy with it, but need to move up to one with both US and Europe maps. Was thinking of the nuvi 370 since its the same size...are there others that are better?

There currently aren't any gps applications that will do turn by turn for the iphone. That doesn't mean they won't allow or build it, but the goompas doesn't currently have any of that. TomTom announced something, but then pulled it back. I am sure someone will do something, but still not decided.

Apparently the SDK for iPhone prohibits companies from developing turn-by-turn applications using the GPS. I think that's why TomTom pulled back from their announcement.

I'm sure applications will come out for jailbroken iPhones but not sure about 'official' ones. Maybe Apple are planning something and don't want competition? ;)