We currently have an Ultradata Town and Country Travel Computer (Model 985). It always leaves us wanting more. It is out of date and only works on Interstates and MAJOR towns on US and State Highways. I Shold have ordered the Factory nav but that's out of our price range.

While MrsDiff was looking at CDs DVDs in Best Buy, I went over to car audio and checked out the Aftermarket nav options. Saw the TomTom GO 300/GO 700 and Magellan 360/760. They had a Garmin but wanted over $1100 for it.

TomTom GO 300 was $699 and GO 700 was $899. Magellan 360 was $699 and 760 was $999.

I liked the way that the Magellan would power up/down with the car when plugged into a switched outlet, TomTom is a cleaner/smaller unit.

I wonder if any of the above systems would be able to get me to such back water places such as Remlap, Alabama... Kits Hill, Ohio... Fenton, Illiinois... Pinhook, Indiana, and the all important Deals Gap, North Carolina!

If you have either the TOMTom GO 300/GO 700 or the Magellan 360/760 Please reply. Let me know what you like/dislike. Features that you can't live without/ features you wish you had.

Thanks everyone!

 

I have the Magellan 700 and wouldnt be without it. We easily switch it between cars and yes, it will get you anywhere. Unlike the MINI OEM, no DVD, everything is on a 10 GIG HD of which they only use 3 GB for US.

There is absolutely no need to get the 760, its only adds Europe and a bell/whistle and you got to pay to unlock Europe. Forget about the 800, it has Europe already loaded for more money.

You can pick up a 700 at many reputable stores for $700 like Costco, cartoys.com and others. New maps can be downloaded when available.

As for performance, I bought the external antenna (actually two). Didnt really need to but the reception is so much better. For the MINI I followed another members recommendations (sorry I forget your name but he was great), got a panavise mount and routed the antenna behind everything so its on the roof in the back next to the XM



The mounting pic is here


As for ease of use ... I use it all the time when I dont know where I'm going. Used it twice this weekend, in two different cars. The best part for me is when going around traffic. I was stuck in a huge traffic jam in rush hour around DC and just said route without using highways. The thing took me off onto side roads, back and forth across the interstate ... didn't have a clue as to where I was but I got home in twice the time while driving, and not sitting there putting the clutch in and out for two hours!

The other good thing is that it talks to you. You really dont need the other one someone sells without video screen. In our other car, I put it on the floor because it tells you when to turn and lets you know when. I dont even bother to look at the screen (its mounted on the MINI because I drive it differently ... hehe).

As for downside, I know of only two things:

1. It does get confused if your address is like in the second story of a building. It said I was "at my destination" while in the middle of the street. Actually, I was at the destination but had to figure out how to drive to the second level of the parking lot to find the address. No big deal
2. When they were first sold, the nav forums seemed a bit worried about putting a 10 Gig drive into the unit. Could it withstand the vibrations, etc. so they recommended getting the additional two year warrenty. I did but I'm not sure its really needed. I think it was all brand new at the time and they just were being safe about it.

BTW, if you got the money, forget about those ones where you got to download maps going somewhere different. Its a pain and at my age, I could care less about making work when its all there.

Good luck and obviously I'm biased because I got it and it works.

 

This was an exellent review, chows.. thanks.

 

I'm interested in the new TomTom unit because it has the bluetooth handsfree phone option. However, I've heard that that US maps aren't as complete or up to date as the European maps.

I currently have a hand held Garmin unit, but because it's serial, it takes forever to load the maps (20-30 minutes sometimes).

 

I was thinking about bluetooth also. The problem is that the TomTom is limited to certain bluetooh phones. I wish that they would make that clear on the web page. I am trying to find out if the phones that they support are phones that I could use with my Celular provider Verizon.

I want a Motorola Razor phone but Verizon does not support this phone.

 

<off-topic>
FYI, that's coming soon.
</off-topic>

 

I bought the TOMTOM 700 initially because I wanted the ease of use and the maps on the hard drive (thought it would be faster than the SD card version).

I got a Bluetooth phone later and it worked as soon as I got them linked up. The speakerphone is OK, but you really need to turn it up to hear.

I love the ease of use. The maps are OK, but I suspect with their new partnership with MAPQUEST the US maps are going to get better. There are only a few new areas around Denver that the maps don't cover.

usna92

 

I've also have been looking for a NAV for my soon to arrive MSC. A local dealer showed me a Lowrance 500c. Seems like a very nice solution and retails for around $800. The 500c has a 5 inch screen and a 20Gb hard drive. The NAV uses 10Gb with 10 left over for MP3's. The unit has gotten very good reviews. The dealer said that Lowrance was introducing a smaller version later this fall that will still have the 20Gb drive. He said it will sell for $600. I'm going to wait and check it out.


DRB

 

I have the magellan 760. I'm more than happy with it and happy I coughed out the extra money for it. We bought it when we went to CA and were in an area we didn't know. It was nice to just type in the name of the restaurant we wanted to eat at and it would find the nearest one for us right away. I've taken it on some backroads here in AZ and it's always known where we are. It gives you easy to follow voice instructions such as "Merge to right followed by turn to the left followed by merge to the right." And if you go the wrong way it will recalculate the route right away and usually say "When possible, please make a legal U-turn". The GPS calculated speed is pretty cool too. I haven't used the others, so I couldn't say anything about them.

If you go to the last pic in my gallery you can see it sitting to the left hand side of steering wheel. Seems to fit there perfect.

 

I bought a refurbished Garmin 2610 from GPSDiscount.com for $499. I also mounted it on a PanaVise mount:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/52764611/
It works great and comes with City Navigator 7. I've been very pleased with it in Indianapolis and Chicago. It re-routes pretty much immediately. The reception isn't great mounted there, however; I'll be adding an external antenna (probably where chows4us stuck his) at some point in the future.

The 2720 has pretty much replaced the 2610, but, while the display is nicer, it loses some features that power users want and has some other quirks. Check out the gpspassion.com forums for more info on the differences between the two.

I was really on the fence between this one and the Garmin c320. I really like the size and display on the c320, but you can't download tracklogs or build your own routes with "vias" (intermediate destinations). The price difference was like $100 between the refurbed 2610 and a new c320 from Amazon.

Although I really like the PanaVise mount, the GPS does shake on it. There seems to be some natural frequency that the engine produces (especially at idle) that makes the bracket wiggle around a bit. I tend to just rest a finger on it (with my palm on the shifter, say) if I need to look at it while driving.

 

Checked out GPS Discount and saw the Garmin Street Pilot c340 GREAT price Better than the TOM TOM G0 700, Lacks Bluetooth Currenty we do also but am considering new Cellular provider or new cell phone(s) and going Bluetooth.

Also saw the Lowrance iWay500. Don't need a MP3 player, the head unit of 2005+ MINIs with CD player will play MP3's.
Looks like a toss up between TOM TOM GO 700 and Magellan 760. Price wise Tom Tom wins.

I guess I have to decide what to do about the Cell Phone(s) first.

 

What sort of benefit do you hope to get out of the Bluetooth connectivity? I'm not sure the traffic data in the Indy area is worth the additional cost...

I also just jumped ship from Verizon to T-Mobile; I'm hoping that wasn't a bad idea. I'm concerned about coverage with T-Mobile. The signal's weaker both at home and work... It's sad, but one of my primary motivators for switching was Bluetooth phones (and cooler phones). *shrug*

I would take a good, hard look at the screens on the c3x0, 26x0 and 2720 models. The brigher screen on the 2610 was a big motivator for me. I've got the sunroof on my MINI, so it's very bright inside and the 2610 holds its own very well; I think that's a major problem with both the c3x0 and TomTom units. I haven't played with either of those in my car, unfortunately, but the two pages linked below give lots of pics.

The 2720 also supports the traffic module, but I'd want first-hand knowledge of how well it works (and on which roads) before plunking down $200 for the adapter and however much per year for the subscription.

Again, I haven't seen the TomTom unit or its maps, but I do think that Garmin has some of the better maps available, and I would personally consider the c3x0 series over the TomTom units, mainly because I'm a Garmin fanboy. :-) If you don't need the traffic support in the c340 (or 2720), I would recommend the c320 over the c330. The price differential will buy you a 1G SD card and still keep some cash in your pocket. I'm actually pretty happy with the 128MB card that came with my 2610; I can fit all of Indiana, Chicago, and some surrounding sections on it, and transferring a new selection doesn't take very long. I've got an additional 64MB CF card in the MINI that contains just the Indy area (or maybe it's most of Indiana; I forget...), so I'll always have maps, even if I forget to bring the larger card back out to the car. :-)

Some really good links here:
http://gpsinformation.us/c320/c320review.html
http://gpsinformation.us/joe/gpscomp...encompare.html

*pant* *pant* *pant*

 

I'd advise avoiding the Lowrance units, I believe there are two of them on the market right now. Every review I've seen of them has been extremely negative. Reviewers have complained about everything from a confusing UI to inaccurate maps to poor sound quality...

However, I'll also toss the Co-Pilot Complete into the mix... http://www.alk.com/copilot/complete.asp There are several people here on NAM using the Co-Pilot software on PDA's that we already own and are very satisfied with the performance. The complete is PDA and software preloaded and ready to go right out of the box. It includes a variety of mounts and cords for the car as well...

I've heard one person mention coverage issues with Tom Tom maps a few years ago... But they're the only one I've heard it from, from what I can tell, the Tom Tom maps are no worse than anybody elses... FWIW the MINI system has some of the largest coverage gaps of anybody out there, and on my cross country trip using both Co-Pilot Live 5 and MS Streets and Trips 2005 I had to deal with inaccurate exit numbers or missing exit ramps on occasion (yes Dayton OH I'm talking about you!:impatient :impatient )

Oh and US-129 in Deal's Gap... aka The Tail of The Dragon is probably going to be on every nav system out there... At the very least every Nav system has the complete Federal Highway system in it which is all interstates and US numbered roads (i.e. US-129, US-1 etc...)

 

I think one of the biggest attractions to the TomTom's Bluetooth capability is it's ability to connect to your phone and act as a hands free speakerphone.

On the carrier and phone front... If you're interested in the Razr my first question is have you actually used one, or are you buying on looks? I've spoken with several people who ran out and bought the Razr and then started using the etched dial pad and now loath the phone... Also do you have a Motorola phone? If so then you're familiar with the Motorola interface, if not... well let's just say Motorola isn't known for good interface design.

If you're looking to shift to T-Mobile or Cingular (or even stay with your current carrier), my suggestion is to head over to Howardforums.com and take a look in the forums there for both carriers. You'll gain some decent insight about what users think about the carriers and what phones are in the pipeline for the carrier... It looks like T-Mobile will be carring the Razr offshot the PEBL and several updated Razr models are in the works although no word on when they will be released...

 

I love my Garmin 2610! If you use Pricegrabber.com, you can find the best price on that or the Nav of your choice. I think I paid about $623 for mine, brand new.

I have a RAM Mount suction cup attachment and put the Garmin on the dash, to the left. It doesn't block my sight-line and is easier for me to monitor than having it attached to the down pillar as shown by blalor in the post above.:smile:

Another cool thing about the Garmin: it gives you a more accurate reading of your actual driving speed than the MINI's speedo!


Clover

 

not sure if you're asking me or the good Doctor, but I'll answer for myself. :-)

I'd seen that functionality, but I wonder if you couldn't get better quality from a dedicated piece of hardware, like a BT headset? The one I got (HS820) sucks (way too quiet), but I know there are better ones out there.

Having Bluetooth was a pretty big deal for me. My other consideration was size. I'm aware of the limitations of Motorola's interface (their last good phone was the venerable StarTac, in my opinion); the RAZR's not great, but not horrible, either. I prefer Nokia phones in general, but the selection's limited...

I'm keeping my options open; I've got another 12 days or so to cancel the service and return the phone.

 

Mine was "refurbished" from GPSDiscount for $499. You'd never know it from a brand new unit, including the packaging (and besides, if you have to send your own unit in, you're likely to get a refurbed unit back, anyway).

Everybody says that! :-) I find I don't really need to look at it all the time; the speech, alert tone and zoomed-in upcoming turn screen are enough that I only need to glance at the screen, and I don't think it's too much further out of my line of sight than the factory nav system. I really didn't like having it on the dash, especially at night; too distracting.

My speedo's only off about 1MPH at 70. :-)

 

The Tom Tom Go 700 and the Magellan 760 both have the maps on Hard Drives No memmory card needed.

 

Another option is to use a pocket pc. I have an older Dell Axim X5 pocket pc, a compactflash gps, Iguidance software, and a cheap suction mount. The system works great, and I can move it to different cars. It also serves as a good pda. I have maps for the entire us, although I only have New York loaded on the SD card. The cost was $100 for gps, $100 for software, and $30 for mount. Of course, I already had the Axim, You can buy a good pocket pc for $200-300. This way you're not stuck with a single vendor's software. The Iguidance software uses navteq maps, which are very good. The only thing I'm not happy with is my mount. It was designed with the dc plug on the bottom, making mounting difficult. I'd like to find a better mount. But the thing works great, and was a lot cheaper than proprietary options.

 

Just looked online at the Garmin c340, pretty compact and a darn easy installation, suction cups to the windshield and plug and play. Internal antenna thru the windshield I would hope would work just fine. Overall screen size is just a hair under the bigger 26-2700 series and you can add the FM traffic integrated, we have that in our metro areas in Fla. It would be nice to get re-routed out of traffic jams here.

Circuit City and Best Buy don't stock it online yet but Amazon has it for $665.00. Any downside to the preloaded maps or anything else anyone can think of against it?

 

GPS Discount has the C340 with the FM modulator for $817.07 with free shipping or $644 without the FM.

Anyone done business with them? What is their return policy and in practice how are they? All warranty claims go direct to Garmin, right? What is the Garmin warranty? Thanks.

 

Don t waste money on the 760, the little bit of fluff it adds isnt worth hundreds extra. Go 700... Besides 800 is already out

 

The c340 doesn't come with the FM adapter; that's a $200 option, and the subscription to the data costs an additional $60/year (after a 15 month initial subscription). I think it could be worth it if you spend a *lot* of time on the road in unfamiliar metro areas that are big enough to have that TMC data available. I'm just not convinced the traffic coverage is ubiquitous enough yet.

I bought my 2610 from GPSDiscount.com and was very happy with them. Haven't had to deal with any service issues, however.

 

FM adaptor is $169 @ that internet store. I've got to get the PW MCS in and bought first, but maybe I'll give them a try since local stores don't stock either yet. Any opinion on the satellite reception without external antenna?

Another question, how come the Garmin site lists a V3 North America lite pre-loaded map that includes all of N., Central and S. America as pre-loaded in the C340, but the retailer only says USA, Canada & Puerto Rico?

I'd love to take it to Mexico with us, we are always driving somewhere when we are there, and there is nothing more daunting than getting confused about "where am I", "A donde que????"

 

800 gives what that the 760 doesn't have. MP3 Player? Already have that in the radio. I only quoted 760 because that is what the local Best Buy had in stock.