GPS Navigation

TomTom 720 is an extension of the tom tom line that we can expect to see in future. It adorns lot of specifications to the model being thinner and faster. It has a nicer screen than many pervious models; also it hosts new features that make the 720 an important device.
The TomTom 720 looks like the ONE XL, but a bit thinner than the ONE XL, so it is extremely bright and very easy to read. The screen doesn’t fade when viewed from very wide and very high angles like other screens. The screen is 4.3 inches and runs at 480×272 pixels and performs very well in bright sunlight.
On the top is the power button, and on the back are the speakers and a newly designed way for the mount to connect. SiRFstarIII chipset makes for very fast signal acquisition, which can stay in environments like urban gullies that are tough for older chipsets. The maps of the USA and Canada come pre-installed on 2 GB of internal flash memory. So the SD slot remains free to add more maps or to install MP3 files for the music player for that matter. Bluetooth for data connectivity as well as hands free calling can be found under hood. There is also an FM transmitter to pipe the music into the much better audio system in your vehicle.
If your device was sitting on a store shelf while a map update was taking place you can upgrade to the latest map within that 30 day period by going to the website.
The TomTom GO 720 is the first TomTom device to feature their new version 7 application. When navigating to an address, you are now prompted for the state, first and independently of the city. A current street name field has been added to the primary interface. Brand logos for certain POIs are now displayed on the map which they call “brand icons”. The 720 produced much faster routes and a faster interface than offered in the ONE and ONE XL devices. Multi destination routing is available through the TomTom Itinerary Planning feature.
TomTom is doing a lot on accentuating new safety features in version 7. There is a new ‘Help me!’ for help of getting specific information about your current location. Now you can search the nearest car repair facility, hospital, police station, pharmacy, fire station etc, etc more easily. To add more hiding options while driving, suggests breaks on long drives, warns on over the speed limit, or when you are near a school or church. Safe option to read aloud incoming SMS (text) messages using a combination of text-to-speech and speech recognition technology is like an icing on cake.
The 720 also makes wide leaps towards user customization. Through custom vehicle icons, you can now pick a different type of car to use in your display or even can create it. Create your own voice prompts. Viewing of certain document file formats.

Popularity: 64%

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Of the many various GPS manufactures, Garmin has become the most popular. Not only do they make a high-quality product, but they offer a wide variety of GPS units for average consumers, mariners and pilots. However, quality can come at a price, as some Garmin GPS units can range in price up to thousands of dollars. This is why it is important to try to find a source for discount Garmin GPS products if at all possible.
The first way one can try to find as source of discount Garmin GPS products is from the Garmin website itself, Garmin.com. The company website does not sell discount Garmin GPS directly; rather they provide a list of stores that do sell their equipment. They also provide access to refurbished GPS units that sell at greatly reduced prices. Refurbished units from authorized sellers come with a short warranty. Most refurbished Garmin GPS products are very reliable. Another option to finding a discount Garmin GPS unit is to check out the special offers on their website. Discount coupons are frequently available to many Garmin GPS products. To find Garmin retail stores, one has to make two selections: what country they are in and what type of GPS system they are looking for. The resulting hits will show information about the store including: address, telephone number, email address and a link if it is online. The potential buyer will have to search through the list to see which store offers the best discount Garmin GPS.
The second way one can locate a source of low priced Garmin GPS is from auction sites such as Ebay or Ubid. These sites work through a bidding system. Sellers post their items which contain a starting bid. The buyer places their bid and if they bid the highest after a number of days they have purchased the item. Auction sites also allow sellers to utilize the “buy it now” feature. Of course, “buy it now” tends to be more expensive in comparison to bidding, but it gives the seller an option to buy the item immediately. When the buyer is ready to pay, they can use their credit card or bank account through a payment system known as Paypal. Often using online auctions will provide the best prices for discount Garmin GPS products.
Another way you can buy a Garmin GPS at a reduce price is through shopping comparison sites, such as Froogle.com, Bizrate and Pricegrabber. Why would one even consider other methods of buying discount Garmin GPS if these options are available? It is because though these sites are very helpful, they do not always provide the match one might be looking for. Sometimes the results may not even be related to what one was looking for. Other times what they would consider a discount Garmin GPS would not necessarily be what the person searching would consider a ‘discount Garmin GPS’, since the prices could actually be those of regular retail Garmin GPS. This is a major downside when using shopping comparison sites, which are why one should be aware of the different sources of, discount Garmin GPS units.
There are several methods for finding discount Garmin GPS products: through the Garmin website itself, auction sites or shopping comparison sites. Through these resources one can save hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars on their next Garmin GPS unit. Purchasing a Garmin GPS at any price is a good investment. However, there should be no excuse why anyone should have to settle for a lesser quality GPS brand when you have access to discount Garmin GPS products.

Popularity: 66%

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GPS and Garmin have become synonymous. They are the leading GPS manufacturer in the world today by a long way. They started out in 1989 and today they have sold millions of GPS receivers.
So how do we know which Garmin GPS device will be perfect for our needs? There are so many which makes it very difficult to decide. The Garmin Nuvi and StreetPilot are some of the most popular GPS devices on the planet. Lets take a look at some of the automobile GPS systems and compare the differences.

Garmin StreetPilot 340
The Garmin StreetPilot c340 has a big advantage over the c330. That advantage is text converted to speech. Instead of GPS saying, turn right in 50 meters, it will say, turn right at Glover Street. This feature helps a lot when you don’t want to look down at the device to confirm the street name.
Another great feature of the c340 is that it can easily be upgraded with an optional FM traffic receiver. What this means is that live traffic information can be sent to your GPS device to warn you of construction work, accidents etc. The StreetPilot c340 can then show you the way around the traffic and guide you to your destination.

Garmin Nuvi 250
The Nuvi 250 is famous for its simplicity. It doesn’t have the advanced options most of us never use. So many buyers waste money on GPS systems that have features they will never use. They could have saved a lot of money and at the same time satisfy all there needs with a cheaper GPS system. If you’re not the hard core type then the Garmin Nuvi 250 will be the perfect match for you.
The Garmin Nuvi 250 comes with a 3.5 inch display, which is the standard among the entry level GPS devices. 3.5 inch display is a big enough screen to find your way with ease. You can also insert a SD card if you would like to load additional products and maps.
The only feature the Nuvi 250 doesnt have is the text to speech feature I explained with the Garmin StreetPilot c340. Things like Bluetooth, MP3 player, FM transmitter and widescreen is not available on the Garmin Nuvi 250 but many will agree that its not necessary. If Garmin decided to include text to speech it would have been the perfect GPS system at entry level but if that doesn’t bother you it might just be the one for you.

Popularity: 74%

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The prices of car GPS navigational systems are falling – that’s the fact. However, it is also true that when it comes to really affordable models (around $400 or below), the choice gets smaller and is generally limited to only a few Garmin or Magellan GPS units.
Garmin c320 (and c3×0 family) and Magellan RoadMate 2000 (and 2200T)
Garmin c320 is probably the simplest and lowest priced of all Garmin GPS units and the same can be said about RoadMate 2000 and Magellan. They are available at roughly the same price - around $349.00 for c320 and $399.00 for Magellan RoadMate 2000 (the prices are for the products sold on www.gottronics.com). Their newer models (c330 and RoadMate 2200T) are a little more expensive, they cost roughly $50-$100 more. Both product families seem to be intended for beginning users with only little experience with GPS units before.
Screen: the LCD touch screen of Garmin c3×0 is the Achilles’ heel of this model and the low quality of the screen is the major complaint of c3×0 users. Unlike in case of most other Garmin GPS units, c3×0’s screen washes out in the daylight and the map becomes barely visible in the sunshine. RoadMate 2000/2200T units have no similar problems and their screens are able to show easily visible maps all the time.
Batteries: While not the most important in case of using car GPS devices, batteries’ life is extremely important every time we want to plug our GPS unit from the car and go hiking. C3×0 are much better then – their batteries give c3×0 series Garmin GPS units over 4 hours of life, compared to maximum 3 hours of RoadMate 2000/2200T battery life. Generally, the RoadMate 2000/2200T family Magellan GPS units are intended for the car use only and should not be taken on hiking.
Maps & software: Both families of GPS units rely on NAVTEC maps, one of the best GPS maps available. However, Garmin c3×0 GPS units store over 5 million POI (points of interest) compared with only 1.3 million in case of RoadMate 2000/2200T Magellan GPS units. In practice this means that c3×0 models can provide a lot more information and “see” more potentially interesting places nearby than RoadMate. As for the software, both models are tight-packed with various trip-planning and address-finding features (c3×0 models have a little more of everything, but not decisively so).
While both interfaces were clear and friendly, we felt that the Magellan RoadMate 2000’s was a little easier to use, perhaps due to the better screen.
The bottom line: These two navigational units are really a close match. While in case of most expensive ($700 plus) models, Garmin GPS units are virtually unbeatable, in case of economic models such as those presented above, Magellan GPS units are often just as good or even a little better than similar Garmin devices. We felt that RoadMate 2000/2200T models were better than Garmin c3×0. By inches, but better – mostly due to the better screens.

Popularity: 70%

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I’ll be honest with you. Magellan car GPS navigation systems don’t get enough written about them from reviewers like me. With Garmin controlling almost 50% of the market share, and Tom Tom rapidly catching up with very aggressive pricing, sometimes Magellan gets lost in the dust.
But Magellan’s products are definitely worth considering when buying a GPS navigation system.
Magellan was one of the first companies to pioneer car GPS navigation. They offer an excellent range of products with some features that other companies such as Garmin and Tom Tom do not offer.
They don’t have as many models as Garmin, especially in the high end of the market, but what Magellan does have is really top notch.
If you’re in the market for a car GPS navigation system, then Magellan is something definitely to consider.
Let’s take a brief overview of their product line.
There are essentially three lines of Magellan’s car GPS navigation systems–the Maestro line, the RoadMate line and the Magellan Crossover. We’ll look at each of these three.
The Maestro line is Magellan’s more fully-featured models of car GPS systems.
The Maestro 3100 is their entry level unit in the Maestro line. It’s currently selling for about $150, and has all the features you would expect of an entry level unit. It can tell you where you are on an electronic map and give you voice instructions how to get where you’re going. It also comes with a large database of pre-programmed destinations, called Points of Interest, or POI’s.
At the other end of the price spectrum is the Maestro 4250, which sells currently for about $250. The Maestro 4250 is, to my mind, one of the best deals on the market. Besides doing everything a mid-priced GPS should do, Magellan has a deal with AAA where they have their Tour Book directly on the GPS device. This is for AAA members only, but what a great feature!

The 4250 also has a larger display than the 3100.
If you’re looking for a big screen, however, you might want to think about the Maestro 5310, which has a 5-inch screen. (All these dimensions are measured on the diagonal.) The 5310 is a newer model and currently sells for slightly more than $300.
If you just want basic navigation and are looking for a cheaper system, you might want to consider Magellan’s RoadMate line. The RoadMates are billed as being “budget” models, but they still have a lot of features. You can get the RoadMate 1200 for less than $120! Or you can go for the more feature-laden RoadMate 1412, which is currently selling for around $200, and has the larger screen.
Of special interest to active people should be the Magellan CrossoverGPS. The CrossoverGPS is the only GPS navigation system on the market that is designed for use in the car as well as for hiking or biking. It’s small enough to easily fit in your pocket, yet has enough power to do everything you need a GPS to do.
Right now the CrossoverGPS is selling for about $220. If you’re interested in on and off road flexibility, then the CrossoverGPS really needs to be on your list!
There are certainly more Magellan car GPS navigation systems than I’ve mentioned. But this article will at least give you a good overview.
I’m not saying that Garmin and Tom Tom are not good companies and don’t make great products. I like both of those companies! All I’m saying is that you definitely should include Magellan in your list of possibilities when you buy your next GPS.
To find out more about Magellan’s (as well as Garmin’s and Tom Tom’s) products, you need a good, informative website where you can browse individual models and check out their current prices.

Popularity: 66%

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