First time using a GPS

[21Rouge]

I am nearing the end of our family's vacation in Orlando. We flew down and rented a Hertz car. It came with some Magellan system. I had never used any navigation system prior to this trip. Maybe it is just the novelty but what a great 'toy'. I am not the most directionally inclined person and a GPS system for a car sure does relieve stress of navigating around unfamiliar turf (it made my wife and her map obsolete ). I came with my laptop so any trip I made by car I would first look up the address before setting forth.

I wonder if my system is entry level or top of the line or...

It has been rebadged as a Hertz "Neverlost".

When I get back to TO I should take a look around for something similar.

Any suggestions?

[tpl]

look around for Garmin Nuvi or Tom-Tom systems on sale. $250 up.  Easy to install in acar and can be used while walking/cycling  as well

[DockMan]

  I have a GM integrated navigation system in my Acadia and I much prefer the GUI on my Nuvi360. Plus I can use it when I travel and rent cars for work.

[loser40]

Hi...

I have a dedicated after market cigar lighter "plug in" sat-nav called the Road Angel, and also a Tom-Tom program on my 'HTC Kaiser' (TyNII) cellular phone.

The after market sat-nav's are OK, but the thing you should remember is that thieves like them.  Because of this you have to take the device out of the car each time you park up, and carry the heavy'ish, bulky unit around with you... and more importantly remember to take your sat-nav with you when you leave home.

This all sounds easy enough but, after the sat-nav novelty had worn off, I got into the habit (as most people do) of leaving the sat-nav at home unless I knew I would need it.

So, if I was out in the car and then for what ever reason realised I needed navigation for an unforeseen reason, I was stumped - the after market sat-nav was at home.

I then learnt that I could buy a Tom-Tom sat-nav program for my "Windows Mobile 6.0" enabled cellular phone.

The beauty of having the sat-nav on your cellular is that it's always with you...  I, like most people, always carry my cellular with me, now I'm NEVER in a position where Ive left it at home.

So... my advice is explore the Tom-Tom cellular "Windows Mobile 6.0" route

... if you have a cellular contract, at worst it will work out costing around the same, or, as in my personal experience, maybe substantially less, and you'll always have sat-nav with you.

M.

[wing]

Oh I LOVE LOVE LOVE tomtom on my cell phone.  Plus I have googlemaps as well which can find things the tomtom cannot.

It's great!  I use to never use a PDA either, because I would never want to carry it around, but with my phone being a PDA I find I use it all the time to take notes on things and such, having the GPS right there with me is a huge bonus.

[UmroAyyar]

Well, these days its the features, ease of use and the ability to load custom POI (points of interest) in your GPS device or software that matters more. Maps are pretty much the same.

Garmin has a huge database of places (restaurants, motels, gas stations, emergency, park facilities) for US and Canada. Nuvi and TomTom are the most intuitive to use.

Look for the ones that speak the street names e.g. Garmin Nuvi 260 or upwards. You can also find factory refurbished ones for a decent price with factory warranty on them.

I've started using Garmin Mobile XT on my Nokia N95, that phone is like a mini computer for me, don't carry my laptop around anymore unless for specific purpose.

[Marc_]

I have a Nextar from Crappy tire, it works.

I leave it in the car, exposed, I figure because it is a cheapy model maybe the potential theives may pass me by 

One thing I do notice, is on hot days, when the car is super hot inside, my GPS has trouble reading the map data off the memory card.  Anyone else experience this?

[xviper]

One thing I do notice, is on hot days, when the car is super hot inside, my GPS has trouble reading the map data off the memory card.  Anyone else experience this?

Are you sure it's having a hard time reading the data or is it because it's having a hard time displaying it?  Most GPS displays are TFT screens (thin film transitors, a variety of LCD) and have a very small range of operational temperature.  They don't like extreme cold or extreme hot.
I have had other LCD products in my cars and on hot days, the display goes weird.  Same on very cold days.  At least on hot days, it's best to take the device off the dash area and put it under cover when parked to prevent it from heating up excessively.  You're almost boiling the liquid crystal.  OK, that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

[Marc_]

No, the display works fine... I get an error message clearly saying "Can't read the data files"

I take the unit off the windsheild, hold it for a minute or two infront of the AC, even take the card out...  and then poof, works fine.

I have a couple times in the winter where I think the LCD was frozen!

[21Rouge]

This all sounds easy enough but, after the sat-nav novelty had worn off, I got into the habit (as most people do) of leaving the sat-nav at home unless I knew I would need it.

I then learnt that I could buy a Tom-Tom sat-nav program for my "Windows Mobile 6.0" enabled cellular phone.

The beauty of having the sat-nav on your cellular is that it's always with you...  I, like most people, always carry my cellular with me, now I'm NEVER in a position where Ive left it at home.

So... my advice is explore the Tom-Tom cellular "Windows Mobile 6.0" route

Thanks for the advice. I just recently upgraded my cellphone to an HTC Touch. My cell plan is with Bell Mobility.

I see clearly the advantage of the portability of the sat-nav phone but I imagine one loses some features or details going with a cell as compared to the dedicated sat-nav hardware?

Will Tom-Tom on my cell 'speak' the directions and street names? This would seem to be crucial given the small screen of a cell?

Will I be able to access the database of Tom-Tom ie preprogrammed points of interest from a cell?

Thanks

[DockMan]

Thanks for the advice. I just recently upgraded my cellphone to an HTC Touch. My cell plan is with Bell Mobility.

I see clearly the advantage of the portability of the sat-nav phone but I imagine one loses some features or details going with a cell as compared to the dedicated sat-nav hardware?

Will Tom-Tom on my cell 'speak' the directions and street names? This would seem to be crucial given the small screen of a cell?

Will I be able to access the database of Tom-Tom ie preprogrammed points of interest from a cell?

Thanks

I used the Tom Tom software on my treo and it worked great with text to speech fully functional. For the car I would recommend one of the holders from ProClip to keep the screen viewable while you are driving. One I got the right holder for my device and vehicle I was very satisfied with using the TomTom software on my mobile.
www.proclipusa.com

[21Rouge]

Thanks for the advice. I just recently upgraded my cellphone to an HTC Touch. My cell plan is with Bell Mobility.

I see clearly the advantage of the portability of the sat-nav phone

I used the Tom Tom software on my treo and it worked great with text to speech fully functional.

One I got the right holder for my device and vehicle I was very satisfied with using the TomTom software on my mobile.

I did some checking and it seems that GPS isnt readily enabled on my *Bell* HTC TOUCH.

[wing]

21Rouge, I have a Bell HTC Touch and use the TomTom software it rocks.  No it doesn't say the street names but you REALLY don't need them.  It bongs and tells you to turn NOW at the turns as well as telling you a few hundred meters before the turns.  And the screen is plenty large.

You simply need this bluetooth attachment and you have a fully functional GPS: http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=BT0005

The battery seems to last forever so just leave it in your glove box, it is tiny and light and it comes with a car charger (USB) that can be used for your phone or the GPS unit!

[xviper]

Wing (or anybody), just curious about how much extra per month this would add to my cellphone bill.  I currently don't have a data plan.  I don't use my Blackberry for that purpose, just as a phone and the occasional text message.  If I wanted to use it as a GPS, what's the minimal extra cost per month?

[wing]

$0 it has nothing to do with the cell company. 

[xviper]

$0 it has nothing to do with the cell company. 

Hmmm, maybe it's just your phone.  Garmin says they can download GPS maps onto my Pearl 8100 but I still have to have Rogers make it work.
I know that there are two kinds of Nokia N95 smart phones.  One is like a self contain GPS as in the ones you buy for your car.  It works all by itself using the satelites, but the other need a cell company to make it work.  The stand alone one is almost a thousand bucks, while the others are in the $400.00 range.

[wing]

Mine is an HTC Touch, I just installed the software on it and use a bluetooth GPS. 

Perhaps those phones are not using the GPS satellite but they are using cell technology to track your location which is almost as good as GPS .... until you get out of range.

Any PDA phone running windows mobile with bluetooth should work with a bluetooth GPS at no cost. 

[airbalancer]

Well, these days its the features, ease of use and the ability to load custom POI (points of interest) in your GPS device or software that matters more. Maps are pretty much the same.

Garmin has a huge database of places (restaurants, motels, gas stations, emergency, park facilities) for US and Canada. Nuvi and TomTom are the most intuitive to use.

Look for the ones that speak the street names e.g. Garmin Nuvi 260 or upwards. You can also find factory refurbished ones for a decent price with factory warranty on them.

I've started using Garmin Mobile XT on my Nokia N95, that phone is like a mini computer for me, don't carry my laptop around anymore unless for specific purpose.

I usually mute the sound,  I do not a machine to tell where to go, my wife already does a good job at that 

[airbalancer]

Mine is an HTC Touch, I just installed the software on it and use a bluetooth GPS. 

Perhaps those phones are not using the GPS satellite but they are using cell technology to track your location which is almost as good as GPS .... until you get out of range.

Any PDA phone running windows mobile with bluetooth should work with a bluetooth GPS at no cost. 

If you are using the phone has a GPS, how can you talk on it while driving

[initial_D]

Mine is an HTC Touch, I just installed the software on it and use a bluetooth GPS. 

Perhaps those phones are not using the GPS satellite but they are using cell technology to track your location which is almost as good as GPS .... until you get out of range.

Any PDA phone running windows mobile with bluetooth should work with a bluetooth GPS at no cost. 

If you are using the phone has a GPS, how can you talk on it while driving

Use the passenger's cell phone.