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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 10:41 pm
My husband is considering buying one of the navigation systems and I am wondering if you wonderful people would share your experience and opinions with me before we make this purchase. We are looking at the Magellan Roadmate. Anybody got one? Recommendations? Thanks in advance!
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Friday, October 07, 2005 - 1:02 pm
Bigd, I can't recommend a specific navigation system since my car came with one. But I will say that I absolutely love having it! Never thought I would use it as much as I do--anything from getting general directions, to finding parks, gas stations, specific ethnic restaurants, hospitals(which has come in very handy)...and the list goes on and on. It's one of those things I never knew I wanted or needed until I actually got it

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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Friday, October 07, 2005 - 2:11 pm
Which model of the Roadmate are you looking at? What kind of price range do you have in mind? Are you open to any other manufacturers? Like Buttercup, I have a NAV system that was built-in to our van and it saved us several times over our 6000 mile drive last month. It even got us to Juju's doghouse! A portable system would be nice for moving between cars and some of the models just coming out sound real cool and include the ability to play MP3s and receive XM satellite radio. Just be prepared to pay more for the "coolness" factor.
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Saturday, October 08, 2005 - 9:10 am
Hey y'all thanks so much for responding. We were looking at the Roadmate 700. But we also found last night a less expensive version, about the same. It is a Garmin StreetPilot c330. We went ahead and bought it to try it out. What we need most is the portability. My husband often flies to another city then drives to customer locations so we wanted him to be able to take it along. We need it to be quick and easy to use. But most importantly a voice that my husband can hear and understand. This one seems to be pretty good. Although we did discover that it told us to turn almost too late, but I attributed that to us maybe going a little over the speed limit since we actually knew where we were going. The other features you mentioned sound great and when I buy a new car, which is within the next year, I will be looking for those additional features for myself. I'll let you know if we decide to take this one back. It was only $699. Thanks again!
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Sunday, October 09, 2005 - 10:05 pm
I got a Clarion N.I.C.E. system. It's portable from one car to the other, has a large screen that's easy to see, carries all the maps for the entire country and parts of Canada in 10GB of it's 20GB hard drive, and can be used as an output screen for my portable DVD player or a backup camera (if I ever install one) as well as a satellite radio receiver. I love it. Used it a lot when I went to Canada over the summer and have also used it on the back roads around here to find alternate routes that were more interesting than the freeway. Pricier than the Garmin systems, but I like the feature set better. 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, October 21, 2005 - 11:13 pm
I liked Spy's brother's system and the car wrapped around the system But she was pretty bossy and sometimes she was pretty stubborn, too. I hope this thread grows more.. could be quite helpful.
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Jagger
Member
08-07-2002
| Monday, November 14, 2005 - 4:53 pm
I would love to get one of these systems, but I haven't got a clue what type, what price, or how well any of them work. I am one of those who could get lost in their own back yard. If I haven't gotten one by the next time I purchase a new vehicle I'm sure I'll have it included in the vehicle.
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Monday, November 14, 2005 - 5:37 pm
I'm pretty good with maps and such, but this time of year, I'm really happy to have my GPS system. I deal blackjack for a casino party company and end up working a lot this time of year and since it gets dark so bloody early and it's often raining, trying to find some of the out-of-the-way places that parties are held would be very difficult without it. I guess last year I must have been lucky and had to deal only at places I knew how to find. Friday, I had to find a country club out in the middle of a wooded part of town I've never been to. It was POURING rain and very dark and if I hadn't had the GPS, I'm sure I would have gotten very, very lost. THere are lots of new units on the market at fairly reasonable prices. Go somehwere you can play with them and see what works best for you. You need to be able to work the control without too much trouble so that you don't have to pull over every once in a while to figure out what's happening. 
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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Friday, December 02, 2005 - 10:17 am
I just ordered the Garmin streetpilot 2610. I read the reviews at CNET and also read the review at Consumer reports. Both rated it very highly. Also Garmin is the supplier for Honda's navigation system. The retail price is $1,000 but if you search around on the web (which I did) you can get it from a reputable seller for $530. That was the best price I found from a vendor I was familiar with. I will let you know how it all works out but from what I read it seems to do everything the more expensive magellan does and I like that it also comes with a remote control and the maps come on a cd which can be loaded onto the flash card which comes with the unit.
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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Friday, December 02, 2005 - 10:23 am
from the Consumerreports.org site: The best navigation systems can be handy driving aids in certain situations, but they aren’t perfect. We’ve found that while they eventually guide you to your destination, they don’t always do it along the most efficient route. We’ve also found rare errors in either the routing or in the map database. Overall, we liked the models for Pocket PC-based PDAs and the Garmin stand-alone models much more than the Palm-based PDA systems. One important difference: With the Garmin and Pocket PC models, you can calculate routes directly in the device without using a separate computer. In the Palm-based units, you can enter new routes only on the home computer. You must then transfer them to the PDA. If you didn’t bring a laptop along, this can be a major disadvantage on a trip. The Pocket PC and Garmin stand-alones can also automatically recalculate a route if you stray from the designated path you were on; the tested Palm units can’t. All models provide turn-by-turn directions on the screen. The Garmin StreetPilot III and the Pocket PC systems also provide voice directions. This reduces the need to take your eyes off the road to check the display. The voice guidance of the TravRoute Pocket CoPilot includes the names of roads rather than just route numbers--a handy feature--but it was harder to hear than the other two voice-guidance units. While driving you may need to change the map display or zoom in or out. This is relatively easy with buttons on the Garmin stand-alones and Navman GPS 3420. The other PDA models, however, require you to use a stylus, which can be awkward and potentially dangerous while driving. Destinations must be entered with a stylus in all PDA units, which shouldn’t be done by a driver and can be hard for a passenger while the car is moving. RECOMMENDATIONS If you want a stand-alone portable, the $1,000 Garmin Street Pilot III provides an easy-to-read color display, excellent guidance, and very easy operation. The $500 Garmin GPS V offers most of the StreetPilot III’s functionality, but its small monochrome screen can be hard to read. The Navman GPS 3420, $300, had the best graphics of the Pocket PC models we tested, and excellent navigation and setup. The TravRoute Pocket CoPilot, $350, scored nearly as well and is compatible with more PDA models. The color PDA screens, however, can appear washed out by glare. The Palm-based systems show your location on a map and can guide you along a preplanned route, but they aren’t as capable as the Pocket PC models. Addressing these shortcomings is a new $589 Garmin model--the iQue 3600--that wasn’t on sale in time for our test. It’s a 32-MB Palm-based PDA with an integrated GPS receiver, voice guidance, auto rerouting, and in-unit route calculation.
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Meggieprice
Member
07-09-2001
| Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 8:37 pm
I ended up going with the Garmin 2720- hope my DH loves it!
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Chandler
Member
06-08-2002
| Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 9:15 pm
Meggie, what results have you had with the Garmin 2720? Is your DH happy with it? I'm thinking of getting myself some type of GPS, and don't know what to get. Any info from you (or anyone else) will be appreciated.
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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 9:47 pm
my husband bought me a tomtom for christmas and i LOVE IT!
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 6:12 pm
My father received a Magellen for Xmas, and he loves it. I swear he calls me once a week to tell me about it. Then again, he's a man, and he's my father. So I'm guessing this helps the "directionally impaired refuses to ask for directions syndrome"! He doesn't get that they are not such new technology! And you can fool them. (Which is kinda fun to do!)
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Meggieprice
Member
07-09-2001
| Monday, January 16, 2006 - 6:15 pm
Chandler- we love it- it is a Godsend as we got lost on the way to a wedding last season and missed the bride putting on her dress (we are photographers). It got a very high rating with Consumer Reports and elsewhere.
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Jkm
Member
07-10-2002
| Monday, January 23, 2006 - 2:08 pm
I bought dh a tomtom 300 for christmas - he loves it - no programming needed - ready to go out of the box - he's had more fun changing the voices around than anything. He's on the road alot and won't ask for directions......
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:24 pm
Meggie, I would think you could use it for a business deduction..
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Chandler
Member
06-08-2002
| Tuesday, March 07, 2006 - 9:41 am
I'm bringing this subject up again because my son just called me telling me that he can get me a Magellan 360 for around $450 at Costco during a special sale they have coming up the end of March. Has anyone had experience with this particular model? I live in a rural area in northern Wisconsin, but travel into different cities frequently. I'd really like to know if anyone has knowledge of this model and likes and dislikes.
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