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.

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 versus the bean bag mount?

Or is there something else even better?

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/showt...ght=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.

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, 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 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.

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

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.

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".

I’m just going on this info:

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 ^

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.
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