I am hoping that Santa finds me this year and brings me a nice new Garmin Mobile Navigation device. Problem is, I am not sure which one to ask Santa to get me? Wayne, any input? Or anyone else for that matter.

I was really impressed with yours Wayne when you were down east....something like that would be perfect!

 

My unit definitely does the job Shane and it has worked great for me.
"Garminella" as I call her has directed me out of some tight jams and if I make a wrong turn she doesn't yell at me, she just recalculates another route . There was one occassion that Garminella was giving me voice commands faster than K could read the road signs in a maze of roads coming out of Quebec City. It was very impressive how she talked us through that mess (I know Ian was behind us that time and we were all in awe at our GPS units).
The only problem I have had is it is not totally up to date with some roads and info. On the other hand when we returned through US from the EC it took us down some great roads that were not even on our newest maps that we had just picked up.
The unit is very easy to use and is totally portable.
I noticed the TomTom is also very similar to our unit (Garmin Street Pilot c330). Our unit now sells for $750Can (thats a lot less than I paid).
Skeleton cru also has the same Garmin unit and I know he was very happy with his unit (there is a thread somewhere here that describes his comments on the unit during one of his long distance trips). If he reads this I'm sure he will comment, he was very helpful in my selection.
Here is the thread when I first purchased the Garmin.
https://g35driver.com/forums/showthr...ht=garmin+c330
Wayne

 

That would be a real nice gift Shane.
Thanks for the input Wayne. What I would like to know is how useful was it here in NS and especially in the Metro area. How much is mapped here;therefore how beneficial is it locally. I have told my wife I want to get one in the next 4-5 months.
Deane

 

Thanks Wayne. I was on Garmin's website and it appeared that yours was a C3xx model, but wasn't sure exactly. I would be ecstatic if I had your model......now the question is.....was I a good boy this year??

 

Deane it seemed to work pretty good in in your area. I plugged the addresses of our hotels in Moncton and Halifax before we left Ontario and Garminella took us right to their door.
Here is the Garmin site: http://www.garmin.com/mobile/products.html#automotive

Here is the TomTom site:
http://www.tomtom.com/products/categ...D=0&Language=4

edit....Deane I should mention if you wanted to use it in newer subdivisions, etc. it might not be up to date in those places. Thats been the only problem I have encountered that has bothered me.

 

Thanks again Wayne. I'm def going to check those out when I have a moment.

 

Personally, I'd look at the following products from Garmin:

for the budget conscious the Garmin iqueM3

for the added features the iqueM5

These are PocketPC based PDAs with GPS functionality built in. The antenna is part of the pda.

I personally have an audiovox PPC6600 phone with the Garmin Bluetooth Receiver It works incredibly well. I'm actually getting the new blackberry 7130r to test for my company, in the next few days, but will be keeping the PPC6600 for mapping, at least until Digitalwheelz.com finishes the screen for the 05 - then the carputer goes in...

Some of the advantages of this type of device over the traditional single purpose GPS devices is that you can use it as a standard pda. Great for keeping your contacts/calendar. You can even map directly from the contacts, so just hold the stylus over John Doe and it will offer to create route. The recalculating of routes, which I was concerned with due to processor power, is not even an issue. A second or two is all that it needs. Also, you can watch movies on the pda (you have to convert/compress, but there's loads of software available). For example, I usually record Top Gear which is an hour long. It takes about 5-10 min to convert/compress and then it's only about 100Mb, which fits nicely on the SD card and can play directly from there. Same with MP3s. Feel like surfing the web at the coffee shop that's got a hotspot? Get wifi enabled.

Also, if you decide to just walk around a city, let's say on vacation, it's great to have such a portable device with you, whereas the other unit would probably be left in your car.

Oh, I've also got the proclipusa.com powered bracket installed in my car so I never need to worry about power.

One final thing, radioworld.ca is very highly recommended. They're in TO, on Steeles and have a great inventory - everytime I go there I feel like I did as a kid in a toy store...

If there's anything particular that you'd like to know about the GPS that I have, fire away and I'll try to help you out.

Albert

 

I decided to get a Dell Axim X51V with Bluetooth (~$400) and the Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe Bluetooth Nav System (~$210). My reasoning was this way I have a PDA and Nav for less than what the nav systems sell for. The GPS 10 Deluxe comes with with the Routing software and maps, etc. I think it's the same software used in the "all-in-one" Garmin systems. Check out www.Dell.com and www.GPSNow.com

A guy here at work had the same setup before me. Works great....

 

I've had the Garmin 3600 since it came out (maybe 2 years), and I love it. Got a suction cup mount for the car, and a RAM handlebar mount for the motorcycle. I like the versatility of it, since it acts as a PDA and mp3 player and picture viewer, etc on top of of being an excellent GPS. However, it can be a little complicated for a technologically simpler person, like my parents, which is why I'm getting them the Garmin c320 for them for Christmas. Lots of good reviews, and looks pretty simple to use.

 

Great info guys, thanks a bunch.

 

Sorry to jump in, this thread is resulting in an early x-mas gift for myself
Anyways, comparing the Garmin C330 and the TomTom Go 300.
Seems that everyone enjoys their C330, and there are very few TomTom 300 users on the board.

Which one should I purchase? The TomTom has a slightly bigger screen, and is about $60 less according to Radioworld (thanks for that link!)

Garmin:
http://radioworld.ca/gps/garmin-new-...330.php#spc330

TomTom:
http://radioworld.ca/gps/tomtom-new-...hp#tomtomgo300

Thanks for the help, and sorry for semi-hijacking this thread

 

my buddy just bought a garmin GPS ...dont know what model it is but its hand held it was pretty cool.. I think he works for them or a distributor not sure but i know he got his for 400$ im getting the same one next week ...i can try and find out if he can get more and id probably be able to hook u guys up...just have to cover shipping. he's only working there for the hollidays so i'll find out ASAP

 

I think most of the units are pretty good, and it is simply a case of how many features you want and what you are willing to pay.
I bought my Garmin c330 for a couple of reasons:
-I have a Garmin Chartplotter GPS in my boat and have been very happy with it after using it for about 5 years.
-Since I was planning on keeping my G for only a couple of years and we didn't get Nav in it I opted for the Garmin portable unit. If I was keeping it longer I would love to get a built in Pioneer unit similar to inTgr8r's. When I get my next G , it will have Nav in it. With the portable c330 Garmin I can still use it in my other vehicle.

The pricing on the portable units has dropped a lot since I purchased mine a few months ago. I paid $899Can. at Best Buy and now Best Buy is also selling it for $699Can.

 

The one reason I hear Garmin is better than Tom Tom is that the maps are more accurate because Garmin gets theirs from Navtech, the leader in digital mapping. Things may have changed since I last did my research, but IMO you can't go wrong with a Garmin, while its a hit or miss with Tom Tom. Some people love them more than Garmin, and some people hate them. Best thing you can do is go to Circuit City/Best Buy and play with some demos first, before you buy.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the tips everyone! Did some more research on cnet.com and like you said dartmouth, the TomTom maps and reviews are hit and miss.

Looks like I'll join my fellow G owners - will purchase the Garmin