My latest gadget is a stand-alone GPS Navigation unit for the car.
I did a lot of shopping and was almost sold on the TomTom when I found this unit. I liked it's small size and feature set. The big thing for me was that it is rediculously easy to use - no tutorial required. It is also ready to go 'out of the box'. I literally took it out of the box in the Circuit city parking lot and had to navigate me to my next stop.
The unit is about the size of an empty bi-fold wallet. Included is a leather wallet-like sleeve to store the unit in when you aren't using it. This pocket size form factor is nice for me since I'm not real comfortable leaving a $899 toy out in the car.
For detailed features and a demo, see the Garmin site.
I really like the 'where to' presets for gas / food / etc. It's VERY handy when travelling.
The pros and cons from my point of view:
Pros:
Built-in rechargable battery, changes in the car-dock
Can be used hand-held
Fast navigational computing (roughly 5 seconds around town, 30 seconds for a destination across the US)
Easy to read screen
SiRF GPS chipset (new, better)
Auto night-mode at sunset
speaks the street names in navigational instructions - ie "In .9 miles, turn left onto Elm Street"
small form factor (big plus over the alternatives)
SD card slot for pictures / MP3s / maps
Garmin City Navigator North America maps
2 gigs on-board storage with roughly 1 Gig free space available.
On-board storage connects to compter via mini-USB (shows as USB mass storage).
Cons:
Expensive at $899 MSRP
Lots of feature I don't need (MP3 player, translator, calculator etc)
Does not display latitude / logitude information (Garmin insists that this is not an outdoor GPS and doesn't need it for the Automotive application)
I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend this unit to anyone as an GPS navigation solution
I did a lot of shopping and was almost sold on the TomTom when I found this unit. I liked it's small size and feature set. The big thing for me was that it is rediculously easy to use - no tutorial required. It is also ready to go 'out of the box'. I literally took it out of the box in the Circuit city parking lot and had to navigate me to my next stop.
The unit is about the size of an empty bi-fold wallet. Included is a leather wallet-like sleeve to store the unit in when you aren't using it. This pocket size form factor is nice for me since I'm not real comfortable leaving a $899 toy out in the car.
For detailed features and a demo, see the Garmin site.
I really like the 'where to' presets for gas / food / etc. It's VERY handy when travelling.
The pros and cons from my point of view:
Pros:
Built-in rechargable battery, changes in the car-dock
Can be used hand-held
Fast navigational computing (roughly 5 seconds around town, 30 seconds for a destination across the US)
Easy to read screen
SiRF GPS chipset (new, better)
Auto night-mode at sunset
speaks the street names in navigational instructions - ie "In .9 miles, turn left onto Elm Street"
small form factor (big plus over the alternatives)
SD card slot for pictures / MP3s / maps
Garmin City Navigator North America maps
2 gigs on-board storage with roughly 1 Gig free space available.
On-board storage connects to compter via mini-USB (shows as USB mass storage).
Cons:
Expensive at $899 MSRP
Lots of feature I don't need (MP3 player, translator, calculator etc)
Does not display latitude / logitude information (Garmin insists that this is not an outdoor GPS and doesn't need it for the Automotive application)
I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend this unit to anyone as an GPS navigation solution
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