Portable GPS - Do You Use It?
 

I recently bought a Garmin I3 and after a couple of trips, it's one of the top ten items I ever spent money on.

To my surprise, searching for GPS did not yield anything? Anyway, I highly recommend this unit due to its small size, efficient routing, and ease of use. It's a no-frills unit that does what it says it was going to do.

What are others using here to get from A to B in an unknown city? Google maps got old for me, especially when I hop between hotels...

michaelr

I think if you search in "Travel Technology" you'll find several threads on GPS. I use a Nuvi 350 and wouldn't travel without it.

mpc1

mpc1 is correct, there are a lot of threads in Travel Technology about this subject. As for me, I also have a Garmin i3, which I have used about six times since I bought it in April.

Have found it quite valuable, but the flash card on it is too small. I bought a 512MB microSD card and replaced the factory 128MB card. Living in California, once you load the state maps along with Arizona and Nevada, the 128MB card is almost maxed out. If I had a business trip to Georgia and South Carolina, I had to remove other maps to make room.

Matter of fact I have the i3 right next to me, as I'm about to head to Barstow, and never know when I might get lost!

The other extreme....I've hada Garmin for several years and own Garmin stock, but used to, decades ago be a Navigator in the Navy and have driven all over the US since 1952.

I'm "directionally abled", well-oriented and adapted to charts and maps, and carried the device around for a couple of years before deciding I usually knew when to turn, and where "I wuz at".

I consider myself fortunate to be especially able in that respect, and do not hesitant to recommend GPS for those who need help with directions. I use mine when fishing in coastal bays, it's been useful when hunting for a couple of remote pieces of rural property in areas with few/no visible geographic features, but hasn't "paid for itself" yet, if ever.

I have a Garmin Quest and I use it every time I travel. I really like its form factor, but really dislike the amount of memory that it has. I would like to have a small unit that holds the entire US without having to download regions from my laptop.

That said, it is smartest thing in a rental car . . . (and that includes the driver).

My Blackberry has built in GPS which I frequently use and I love it. Nothing's worse than using that blasted Mapquest and ending up driving in circles.

I have a Garmin, upsized the card to hold the entire NA database, and bring it on any trip in which I will rent a car (unless outside of NA of course).

Very very useful, in particular the ability to find service stations, retailers and other locations in a strange area. Another big plus is when the roads are closed or detours exist, invalidating the mapquest directions. Often the resolution on rental company maps is too poor to really help you find alternate routings, but the GPS does the job.

As another value example, in Orlando the routes between the airport and most tourist locations involve multiple toll booths. However, there are relatively simple ways to skip all that, but those are not visible on the rental maps.

Worth every penny I spent.

Currently using a Garmin 60CSx with a 512MB micro-SD, have all the US street maps on that puppy for the areas that I frequent. Love it, keeps me on track, worth every penny.

I consider myself directionally literate also, but I often travel to places I have never been and will never go again. I like not having to stare at a print out and take my eyes off the road.

Since getting my Garmin I have become more likely to explore when I travel on business. I no longer have to mapquest restaurants. Often on the way to one i see another one I would rather go to. I don't have to worry at all about returning to the hotel.

I am up for a trip to Germany, Garmin does sell a German map, however, $180+ is a bit steep for that.

Another simply awesome feature is the ability to find all kinds of Points of Interest (Hotel, Restaurants, Shopping, what not) nearby. It definitely makes it so much easier to drive around and explore the neighborhood knowing the return trip does not involve driving and reading a car rental map at the same time.

I just ordered a 1gb microsd card for $33 shipped. That will fit the entire US.

Garmin has a Points of Interest loader utility available. I have found some sites with limited POI data for Krispy Kremes, red light cameras, speed controls but nothing comprehensive. Does anyone of a good website that aggregates POI files?

I have the same model. I bought a 2GB microSD and loaded the entire database for City Navigator North America on it before I read that the unit doesn't accept the 2GB chip. I installed it anyway and it works just fine. I agree, it's worth every penny. I just wish I could figure out how to turn up the volume on the beeps that signal a turn is imminent.

I use the TomTom gps receiver (bluetooth) which works with my palm tungsten t3.

It's just one extra gadget to bring along, plus power cord to charge it in the hotel room.

I have a car kit for it but don't bring that along on biz trips. When you're carry-on only, you've got to make some hard decisions about what stays and what gets to come along for the ride.

TomTom rocks. I have it loaded with detailed local maps (at my home), national maps, and the detailed map set for wherever it is I'm travelling to.

The app and the maps live on a 1 gig SD card with tons of room to spare for music or whatever else.

If I had a treo phone, I'd be able to use the TomTom go service, also, which gives you real-time traffic as a considered variable when doing A to B route planning (only in certain areas).

TomTom is awesome. Can't recommend strongly enough.

Not trying to be a smarta$$ but is looking at a map really that hard?
Have had car rentals with and without, I find myself turning them off as I don't need them.

After a trip to the French Riviera when we had one in our rental car, my wife will now not let us be without if driving a good distance in a non-English speaking country. Happy Wife, Happy Life.

Try driving in Germany for a couple of weeks with their very long and difficult to pronounce street names.

A friend who is a professional cartographer used one in Germany, and boy did it help.

I'd personally never use one where i live, but for travel in unknown areas, they can make a difference.

Garmin I5
 

I have a Garmin I5 which is preloaded with all of the maps for the US/Canada and I wouldn't travel without it. I also use it around town because the time to destination display is very accurate.

My only problem with the GPS receiver is that it makes you stupid when you go somewhere. Before GPS I would look at maps, plan my route and understand a city. Now, I never really look at anything and just plug in the address. Often I will program all the address for my destinations in a new city before I even leave home so new-city-navigation is easy.

Keba