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I want to purchase a GPS Navigation system for my car within the next few months. I am looking for something that I can stick on top the dashboard while I am driving and then hide it away or take it with me. I have seen units from Garmin and other familiar GPS brands, but I really aren't to sure as what I should look for on a GPS Navigation unit. I do know that I want something relatively cheap (under $150 to $250 probably if possible) and I want no hidden or monthly fees. My dad has a factory Navigation system in his vehicle (03 Yukon, standard GM nav system) that is very good and accurate when it comes to giving directions and if you go the wrong way it will tell you where to go from wherever you are. I want something that works just as well and that I can simply type in an address and I want it to tell me which exits and roads I need to take. Anyone have experience with these devices or own one? I'll be using this in the 97 SSEi in my signature btw.

I have the tom tom plus, Its pretty good, I got it off ebay for 140 or so, No issues, no hidden fees and it talks to you turn by turn,

Yeah, not sure whether I should get a TomTom or a Garmin. I was thinking about the Garmin Nuvi 250 which is about $170 new and seems to have all the features I would need. I also saw some bulkier ones that have more features for the same price. Not sure why some are so bulky and some are so thin.

I have a Magellan Maestro 3250. Got it at Best Buy. I absolutly LOVE it! I call her "Maggy" lol!

Consumer Reports gave rated the uperlevel Magellan 4000 the best of all GPS units; the 3250 is just a smaller version of the same unit.

If you plan to take road trips, get a Garmin. Garmin units have the most Points Of Interest (Gas Stations, Hotels, Restaurants, etc) out of any. Averages is 100-200k for most GPS brands, Tom Tom is usually 500k-1m, my Garmin Nuvi 200 has 6m. Very good when you're out in the desert and need to find gas quick.
If you are moving someplace and just need it to help you learn how to get around the area, go with a Tom Tom. You may not be able to find every restaurant in 20 miles, but you have more features such as text to speech, and possibly voice recognition.

A friend of mine has a Garmin Nuvi 260 and loves it, for whatever that's worth.

I have an older Garmin 340 Street Pilot, and I love it. These were quite bulky and have been replaced with the new nuvi's. If I was to purchase a new unit I would look at the Nuvi 260,since it gives turn by turn directions and also speeks the street names as well,just like my 340. My money is on Garmin. If you just want a GPS then the 200 series are great, you pay a lot of extra money to get one with mp3 player and othe features that you don't need on a GPS.

I was acctually considering the Nuvi 250 which is apparently just a Nuvi 200 with Canadian maps. I figure for $10 more I'll grab the one with the Canadian maps instead of just US. My college is pretty close to Canada so it will be good to have in case I decide to venture north of the border.

Apparently the Nuvi 250 speaks something like "in 200 feet make a left" as apposed to the higherend models such as the Nuvi 260 model (mentioned above) which will say "in 200 feet make a left on elm street".

Yeah and I don't need any of that MP3 capability or any of that crap (I have a bunch of other gizmos that can play MP3s). I want just a solid GPS Navigation portable unit such as the Nuvi 200 series.

The Nuvi 260 seems to be about $60 more then a 250 and basically offers the "text to speech" (ability to read out the road names verbally to you) feature as its main reason for costing more. I'm not sure if that feature is worth $60 or not.

250 - $169.99 (which seems like quite a deal to me)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6858108053
260 - $224.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6858108062

I read something about someone having problems with the Nuvi 250 in a GM Minivan because it used somesort of special glass with "metallic coating". The Bonneville I have wouldn't be a problem for the GPS receiver, correct? It seems a few of you guys use GPS units in your Bonnevilles and don't have any issues getting a signal, right?

wait till the day after turkey day to pick one up...being in retail, that will be one of the biggest black friday sale items...

I have a Nuvi 250 and it's awesome. When the grand am guys and I came down last month it helped us out a lot. You can search for gas stations, hotels, food, entertainment, etc. (just wished I had received the 2009 update before I left cause while in Minneapolis, the gps unit still had us traveling across the bridge that fell into the river)
It does tell you when to turn and how far before the turn. But i rarely use the voice part.

Night Crawler wrote:I have a Nuvi 250 and it's awesome. When the grand am guys and I came down last month it helped us out a lot. You can search for gas stations, hotels, food, entertainment, etc. (just wished I had received the 2009 update before I left cause while in Minneapolis, the gps unit still had us traveling across the bridge that fell into the river)
It does tell you when to turn and how far before the turn. But i rarely use the voice part.

Thanks, I have been thinking about getting that one cause it seems like a good unit for the price. Is the 2009 update (and future updates) free or do you pay a fee?

I may be late here, but I recently picked up a Navigon 2100. Great little GPS, and they're pretty cheap. I got mine for about $80.

Also seen the Nuvi 350 which is oddly in between the price of the 250 ($169) and the 260 ($230) at $199. It does have text to speech and names the street names like the 260.

So I guess its between those three at this point.

Text to speech is handy. I don't know how many times I've missed a turn somewhere in a city because it didn't announce which street to turn down, and only said turn now, into that parked car/building entrance/pedestrian.

I have owned and used them all and Garmin, hands down make a superior unit, the software gamin uses is far better. Look at POI's and garmin is upward of 6 mil, tomtom is nowhere near that. Just remember that you get what you pay for. I just upgraded to the nuvi 780 and I picked it up for $460 delivered, its a lot of GPS for the $$$.

driverjohn2005 wrote:I have a Magellan Maestro 3250. Got it at Best Buy. I absolutly LOVE it! I call her "Maggy" lol!

Consumer Reports gave rated the uperlevel Magellan 4000 the best of all GPS units; the 3250 is just a smaller version of the same unit.

i got the megallen maestro 4040 from ebay for $199 and i love it.. its light small but a big screen. works on batteries also

it got voice turn by turn directions with automatic reroute if you get lost.. its the best out of all i ever esed...

Water 97SSEi wrote: Thanks, I have been thinking about getting that one cause it seems like a good unit for the price. Is the 2009 update (and future updates) free or do you pay a fee?

you have to pay for the updates. But garmin doesn't screw you over by only giving you a couple cities. The maps in mine are all of Canada and The U.S.
Someone i know brought over a Megelan I think (or something along those lines) that he got from a friend and asked me to figure it out. I looked at it and then noticed it only gave you extreme major high ways, no side roads, and in order to get more maps you needed the computer to plot out your destination. Which meant don't go off your pre planned path or the gps won't know where the heck you're at.