Thanks for the tip! Some good information. I dind't realize that custom POI file sites were widely available--for those time that I need to know the nearest freeway truckstop in Iowa :D geez there are a few sites that provide locations of the 2000+ red light enforcement cameras in the USA & Canada! :D ^

I am really, really loving my Mio 310CX GPS that AlanW put me onto and ScottC helped me get.

Obviously not for non-USA users, but for the price (particularly with a coupon from Staples that can be had from FatWallet) an excellent choice, imo.

http://techbargains.pricegrabber.com...terid=27232883

Good choice cblaisd! ^ Got that one myself for $140 out the door @ Staples with a price match from a CompUSA promo and $25 coupon.

Hacked it so now it has a different layout and pondering putting European map on there (we won't discuss how we got that, nor the TomTom software that can be loaded on there too) :p

Best money I've spent; already made itself useful on several occassions (though the readings are a bit off).

I actually bought the Mio C310x on Black Friday also, and returned it a month later.

The user interface was terrible, and when I tried to update the maps via the included DVD, it wiped out the maps on the unit and made it unusable.

You can hack it, but you will need to either a) buy additional better maps, or b) download illegal / free software off the web. Even if you download newer maps, they are still tele-atlas and not as good as the NavTeq maps used by Garmin / Magellan.

Bottom line is you definitely get what you pay for, but I'd advise people who are looking for an easy to use and accurate unit to look to Garmin.

Sorry to hear that.

I find the user interface to be very easy to use.

I'm not sure why you would have wanted to use the DVD to put the maps on, since they are simply a copy of what's in the unit.

For me, the price-point allowed me to get a GPS at all :)

I just got a Nuvi 660 (the 680 seemed overkill--I don't need gas prices and movie times for an additional $200).

This thing absolutely rocks. With all due respect for my friend and forum mod ScottC, it completely wastes anything in TomTom's present lineup--although I say that as someone who already owns NavTeq maps for North America and Europe, so the additional maps that come with the TomTom units are of no utility to me, and I only ever need about 4 GB of music (the TomTom 910 can hold 12 gigs above it's maps I believe).

Stick a 4gb memory card in this thing and you have your MP3 player, Nav, and bluetooth for any car--since you get the integrated FM transmitter. I personally bypass this in my own automobile and hardware, but for the size and portability of the package it's fantastic for rentals. And the sensitivity of the SirfIII chipset is insane--it will lock in the inside hallway of a 14 story hotel on the 12th floor. I have yet to confirm if it'll read a HCSD card, but if so, the 4gb limit is probably in theory only..... The widescreen is readable in all lighting conditions even by people like me who use 19" monitors and a huge font. It will lay off the directions when you are on the phone, and (if desired) pause the music to read the next navigational direction when needed.

The cons: the MP3 player requires .m3u playlists to be dropped on the card from a PC (which is a major PITA for normal people who are not geekified and/or Itunes experts). It won't play any other format (ogg, aac, etc). It, like all of the "navigator" products from Garmin does not have a lot of the cooler "pure GPS" features that some of the earlier units that would do autorouting have (tracklogs, NEMA outputs, the ability to preload routes, etc). The traffic receiver is in the power plug and not the unit itself. It's insanely expensive relative to the competition. The FM transmitter does not offer the best sound quality (none of them unless they are hardwired into the antenna mount really do, tho, so this is not unique to the unit).

But it's worth the bucks. If you want to converge your road-warrior portfolio to a single device, this is it. Never worry about having music, nav, or handfree in any car ever again.

I've owned (in no particular order): an old garmin etrex, lowrance gm100, Garmin GPS-V, Garmin GPS-60c, Garmin c320, and now the Nuvi (plus owning and renting a few Garmin aviation GPSRs, but that's a whole other breed of beast). The Nuvi 660, strictly in an automotive context, can't be beat (absent a really swift factory nav and a radio with either killer IPOD interface capability or some other facility to play MP3s). The sole sticking point is the price premium. If you don't need the FM transmitter built in and/or don't mind the garbage TeleAtlas north american maps, the TomTom 910 is probably more bang for your buck. In terms of the overall package, however, the Nuvi is superior.

I've been looing for a few months.

Tempted by the TomTom910 but didn't like the form factor (prefer the tablet ones) and heard about the weak POI data, although I'm primarily interested in this for Europe.

Also bad reports about the windshield dock, about it not docking correctly. Plus it apparently doesn't recharge in the car?

Monitoring Nuvi670 and 370, which includes Euro maps. They're really high in price so interested to see if they come down in price.

Bigger issue is that here in CA, you're not allowed to mount on windshield and the TomTom doesn't have another solution? Not sure what options Nuvi has.

Do these units have aux or headphone outputs as well as FM transmitters? My car stereo has front panel aux in.

I wasn't aware of the CA regulation - is it only with respect to windshield mounting? If so, there are vent mounts, eg:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Car-Vent-Mount-f...QQcmdZViewItem

I get my mounts from www.proclipusa.com

They are not terribly cheap (around $45 for the vehicle and device mount) but work perfectly, fit exactly and make for a much better install of the GPS unit. Even outside CA I'd get those if I were you.

Those vent mounts are terrible, you lose the use of one (or more) of your vents. In the summer it's ok to blow cold air on the GPS unit, but in winter the last thing you want to do is blow hot air into the back of it.

The Garmin comes with an adhesive round plate, you can stick that to your dash or trim and then use the suction cup mount. It isn't perfect, but it's not bad either.

Ah good to know - and makes sense now that i think of it. I am still a budding owner (waiting for a price drop) and will keep that in mind.

Let me second ScottC's Proclip recommendation. They are not cheap, but they look pretty good and are spot on for both the car and device.

The Garmin Nuvi 660 and 680 both have integrated FM transmitters and headphone/aux outputs (with a decent amount of voltage output, I might add).

The Proclips look good. But I do wonder about the vents and the heat going directly to the GPS.

Don't many of the units get power through some ball socket on the windshield dock or mount?

Do the Proclip vehicle mounts, the piece that clips onto the dash, have a smooth finish? Smooth enough to put the suction cup from the included windshield mounts?

Yes. But they also make a mount part that the balljoint clips directly onto.

Any recommendations for my luddite father?

For his birthday he wants a GPS, but given that after 3 years he still hasn't figured out how to download photos from his digital camera to his computer, I highly doubt that he's going to do much in the way of customizing the GPS. I'm not too concerned about Bluetooth speakerphones or traffic data or mp3 playing ability or customizable waypoints. I just want to get him an easy-to-use unit that has good pre-installed map data and a solid display.