cestmoi

I've done some searches on this forum and saw a few smattering replies on the types of 3rd party navi TSX owners are using...

Thought I'd have everyone chime in (all Acura owners or non-owners) to state their opinion if they have one as I'm in the market for one and since I've seen how the stock navi is in the TSX, I know I'm going to be in for a downer on any 3rd party unit, but I'd like to keep that disappointment to a minimum as I'm just kicking myself for not buying my PWP to include navi

Please post your recommendations and why... It would be most helpful... I was looking at the TomTom and a plus for that unit is that they include maps of Europe/US/Canada. They even have traffic camera alerts (European only).

Magellans comes with 3 mths free subscription to road traffic which is a plus for them.

What other brands?

PS: If there is already a thread on this, if you can kindly point me to it would be most helpful!

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

My Anut and Uncle have a garmin and its really nice im not sure what model but it works really well I would check those out.

psteng19

Hands down the best portable nav units out there ~$500 are the Garmin Nuvi 360 and the TomTom One.

I got the TomTom One for my parents for Christmas. Can't wait to see how it compares to the TSX nav.

TheDukeZip

I've been using ALK's CoPilot Live on my cellphone for about two years and it's saved me more times than I can count. I guess this depends on you having a Windows Mobile phone though. I paid $300 including the bluetooth GPS receiver.

A different feature about it is if you want, the phone will upload your position and current stats (speed, etc) to a website and you can give your friends a URL and login and they can track you. It seems cool at first, but I've only used it twice in reality.

The reason I don't buy a car with Nav or a windshield mount one is that I live in a pretty shady area, I'm trying to minimize theft as much as possible.

cestmoi

I thought about the PDA option since my company issued a brand spanking new PDA recently with Windows CE, but getting the software and GPS receiver is almost as expensive as getting a brand new whole unit itself. Besides, the screen on the PDA is WAAY too small and I don't want to get into an accident trying to squint to look at where I'm at.

Overtaxed

I have the Garmin nuvi 660. I paid $1000 Canadian. (thus, 1/3 of the navi option in Canada, which is $3000)

I would have paid double for it, I find it so useful.

It's portable. We can transfer it between cars, and also when we take trips and rent cars.

Also, I can put it in my purse so it's not left on my windshield.

The map is more modern, re: pic below.

Overtaxed

Garmin nuvi 350 or 360 is a smaller size (deck of cards) and less expensive.

Tsx536

I got my sister this for her RSX for Christmas:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Mio-D...oductDetail.do

It has a built in MP3 player. I also heard it's hackable. It runs windows CE and you can hack it to watch videos. You can probably get one for about $200 on Ebay.

rex.

The Garmin NUVI 660 is one of the best; if not the best right now, as for portable units. The MIO DigiWalker [MTU C310X] is an okay unit, but at times it needs to be very specific in order to take you to your destination (As in inputting destination city). I work at the Mobile Department (Roadshop) @ Circuit City and know of the PROs and CONs of each unit we carry. IMO you can't go wrong with any of the Garmins.

dalieu

i too regret not getting the navi, live and learn.

i have an asus mypal a636n, it's a pda with built in gps, price is about $500.

cestmoi

So what do you think of the TomTom 910? Are there many returns at Circuit City for this unit? Found a very cheap price online... much cheaper than the suggested manufacturer's price (which is what Circuit City is selling at right now, which I hope they can beat?).


And it appears to be on par to the Garmin Nuvi 660 as far as features go.

Eeyore

Purchased the Escort C550, which is an OEM of the Garmin StreetPilot C550. It is very easy to use and is very useful. Paid about 700 US for it.

Overtaxed

In addition to just ability to find your destination, another very useful feature is the Points of Interest database.

I briefly had (before I returned it) another unit, a portable Pioneer one. The GPS was great, but it's Points of Interest (POI) database had much less data than my Garmin one.

If you're traveling in an unknown area, and you want to locate the nearest restaurant/gas station/hotel/bank/shopping centre/etc, a strong POI database is a big plus.

helraiser

TomTom 5 + Cellphone (HTC Wizard) Screen is slightly smaller than my old Dell Axim x30 pda but it does the trick. I would go to TomTom 6 but the maps for Canada are the suck.

Problem with TomTom is the maps get updated once every year or so, meanwhile so much has changed.

PDA option was el-cheapo cuz there wasn't much to buy other than the GPS/software package - buygpsnow.com

Also, it works excellently when I'm on the bike and not the cage.

whynot

TomTom 510
~$600

klas

I used tomtom for smartphones prior to getting TSX w/ nav and it was the best/cheapest option you can get if you already have smartphone. It's not a 2k nav like on TSX, but it does the job and I still use it in other cars that don't have nav (2nd car or rentals). It goes with me wherever I go because gps receiver is very portable (like small mp3 player).

Personally, I am not a fan of external GPS/laser radars because it's another reason for a a theif to break in into your car.



My 2 cents

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

I use microsoft streets and maps - free
global stat usb gps reciever 44 bucks

My own laptop. Bam .

rex.

The TomTom 910 is a very good unit with a lot of good features similar to the Garmin Nuvi660, only major difference is how thin the Nuvi 660 is.
When first released the TomTom 910, 510, & ONE had their own manufacturer defects in which the unit would sometimes turn off and won't turn back on.
The only way to fix this is to push the reset button located at the bottom of the unit. TomTom supposedly fixed this with their latest batch of units and also fixed their mounting brackets.
Circuit City will currently only match their own online price as it proved that they were losing too much money matching other online stores.

*Also Circuit City offers Extended Service Plans (ESP) on the different units, so if something happens (Except physical damage & theft) your covered. You can either swap out the unit for a new one or upgrade to a different unit all together, as long as you do it within the duration of your ESP.

** The comments are based solely upon my personal opinion & experience and have nothing to do with Circuit City and their subsidiaries.

mike_types

i have the tomtom 910 (which was about $1000 back in july when i got it) and i love it. ok it's a bit bulky when you carry it around, the garmin nüvi sure is neater, but then again the tomtom 910 comes with a 20 gb hard drive of which i think 12 gb is available for you to store mp3's, audio books, photos and whatever, and it comes with maps of both europe and north america which i found very handy when i visited the us and canada some time ago.

conclusion; i'd recommend any of those two, they're full of nice little features and you just make up your mind depending on your needs and how you'll use it. and these days i think you'll be able to find at least the tomtom go 910 much cheaper than the $1000 i paid..

cestmoi

Since I'm going to be going to NY on assignment soon, I figure I'd go ahead and get myself the TomTom 510 as I don't need the MP3 feature as I already have an IPOD and it seems that (20g) drive and voice speaking out the street name instead of saying "turn right" next xxx meters were not worth the extra 120+ to me...

Anyway, I notice that the TomTom 510 will fit in the "Not an Ashtray" area... anybody tried putting it there? I tried mounting on the windshield and that seemed distracting and too far to reach for me (not easily anyway). Haven't used it yet by the way.. thought I'd give it a good charging first before using.

Overtaxed

Euh.... I think that will be too low for you to see the screen effectively.

ChrismanTSX

I agree. The idea is to have the screen as high as possible, so you don't have to move your eyes away from the road... Putting your unit so low, you would have to constantly look down when you would be looking for street signs.

This is why the OEM Nav unit is all the way at the top of the dash, and why Volvo has theirs popping up at the top of the dash... it's the safest location for it!

bz268

Garmin i3
$240 + tax

Not fancy but very practical. It is small; easy to hide in my car. And trust me. You don't need to look at the map at all. And you don't need to put it on the windshield. I put it inside the storage bin under the radio. It picks up the signal just fine.

I've also tried the Nuvi with blue tooth. It is nice to have the blue tooth paired with my cell phone.

But the i3 is more practical. The voice prompt is much clear in the i3. And the direction is not confusing.

The Nuvi just doesn't cut it. It speaks too fast and the voice is not clear. It tells you the name of the street but it turns out this is pretty much useless with that information. The Nuvi makes you look all over the place for the street sign and have you slam into the car in front of you.

Overtaxed

Huh?? I have a Nuvi. I have no idea why you say this is so compared to a non-nuvi Garmin.

It tells you the distance, just like the other Garmins who don't speak out the street names. It adds the street names to the the distance warnings; doesn't replace them.

hyun

i sell the garmins, magellans and the tomtoms heres a quick review on them.

pros of the garmin:

small compact,
big screen on the higher end models
good battery life
very nice road map display

cons:

if you go under 700.00 your paying alot for a small screen
you pay more for a brand name more than anything. the nuvis are awesome little units however but they are EXPENSIVE.


pros of the tomtom:
the main difference between the 910/510 is that the 910 has a built in hard drive and and does european maps.
price!! they are 100 dollars off right now at alot of retail stores including radioshack.
910 and the 510 both have the ipod link as well as the hands free blue tooth link.

cons:
its kinda fat
the tom tom ONE, which i dont recommend has shit battery life (2-4 hours as opposed to 6-8 on the 510/910) no hands free/ipod link



my personal recommendation is, if you want a good reliable gps unit that wont break the bank but is packed with features, go with the tomtom510. its selling for 499.00 right now. you get the same battery life as the garmin nuvi series, also has ipod/blue tooth link/you can read text messages and receive them. basically if you were to compare the 510 and a more expensive garmin nuvi unit you get the same features for like 300.00 more.

i can order them for you too free of shipping charge

mike_types

hmm the battery stamina of the tomtom 910 is nowhere near 6-8 hours, i get maximum 4 hrs out of my unit before it shuts down. it starts flashing the battery icon after about 2-3 hrs. otherwise i agree with the pros and cons of the tomtom (go).

klas

as I mentioned earlier that one of the reason's why external GPS units are not a great choice is because of how easy to steal them... here is an interesting story a guy who had his external GPS unit stollen and found it for sale on ebay:

http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_008143808.html


you can still see it for sale here:

http://myworld.ebay.com/nydannysjewelry/

hyun

thats why you dont leave anything expensive on your wind shield. i put everything expensive in my center console, maybe thats cuz i live in atlanta but yeah you never know.



and yeah i meant to type the battery life is 4-6 hours sorry.

mike03a3

Good info, but you never mention the most important item: the map data.

I have a 2 1/2 year old Garmin Quest that is hands down better as a navigation unit than the one in my '07 TL-S. Not because my $450 Garmin has more bells and whistles, because it sure doesn't. But it totally kills the Acura system by having far more complete data. The maps themselves offer detailed coverage in areas where the Acura leaves me wandering in "unverified" areas. The Garmin points of interest is far more complete. (The Acura can't find the closest Home Depot, Costco, Verizon Wireless or Best Buy for example.)

No matter how good a navigation system is technically, and the Acura system seems like a great system, it's worthless without useful data.

I can't speak for or against Magellin or TomTom, but I will say that the Garmins have subperb US and Canadian coverage. And when it comes down to it, what good is a nav system with state of the art features if it can't find your destination?

cestmoi

I don't understand why you don't just plug in the power cord? Why are you using battery only when the TomTom comes with a plug to the cigarette lighter for a power source??? Am I missing something?

By the way, I noticed that either the Acura's speed is about 0.5mph faster than what the actual speed is or the TomTom is showing 0.5mph slower than what the actual speed is.

Did anyone notice that? Or is that an acceptable +/- sig diff, in scientific speak?

mike_types

no no, you got it right, it's just that every now and then i let it run completely dry, i guess it's just one of those things i still do, from back in the days when ni-ca batteries needed some "excercise" in order to avoid the memory effect. and, the power cord is a hideous thing that i try to avoid if i can which sometimes cause the unit to switch off..

the speedometer of my car is about 5 km/h off @ 100 km/h compared to the tomtom, but that's a legal requirement over here, the built-in speedometer mustn't show a lower speed than actual and it seems most car manufacurers kind of over-compensates by having it show 3-5 km above actual speed. but that's in sweden, in the us i guess you don't have that requirement and imho 0,5 mph doesn't sound like an awful lot..

hyun

from my understanding the garmins, magellans and tomtoms are all on the same satalite system so one is not going to give you better directions than the other. all 3 of the brands will give you directions, points of interests, etc. etc.


still on sale for another couple of weeks. FREE shipping!


sorry i had to put in a plug

clee109

In my old MDX I ran an in dash screen with an Alpine navi unit and it was great! Looked very similar and in some ways better than my stock navi in the TSX! Plus Alpines new system is awesome. However; it'll run quite a bit to get a screen installed and a navi unit with it. Talking over 3K here. But, the in dash units are DVD based with GPS position which are much nicer and more detailed than Garmin and other stand alone navi's that run on a HD or SD card. So to keep disappointment at bay you may have to pony up some $$$. Just my .02

bz268

Costco has the i5 on sale for $240.
I think I may go buy myself another Garmin.

ElmerJrG

While it's true that they all use the same satellites, there are a lot of factors involved in routing, maps, POIs, et al. For example, maps are developed by another company. Navteq is the most common one used by majority of automotive navigation systems. Directions / Routing will depend on the system's computer and its software so there are times when another unit would suggest a different route than the other.

Garmins and Magellans normally have way more features than the ones found in OEM systems. Not really surprising since GPS is what these companies do and nothing else. They don't only develop systems for auto but for marine and aviation as well. The trip computer in my Garmins have way more information than any other factory navi systems out there. It also tells me the next upcoming intersection (perfect for night cruising and not so good weather) and you can virtually customize the screen to show the info that you need. These are advanced navigation systems though and would be overkill for most users who are just looking for a system that will guide them around the city. In this case, ease of use and a good user interface are the most important factors. Acura and Honda navis are among the best if not the best out there when it comes to factory installed systems. They are really easy to use even for the GPS newbies out there. Heck, my Grandpa can even impress his passengers with the OEM navi in his Odyssey Touring.

Btw, Garmin recently released a product that can be integrated with OEM systems and aftermarket decks with screens. I can see them partnering with auto manufacturers to offer OEM navis powered by Garmin. Kinda like what Bose, Mark Levinson (Harman Intl.) does.

I don't mean to change the topic into an OEM vs Aftermarket Navi debate so to get back on track, I'm using a 3 year old Garmin iQue 3600 in my TSX but I have a bunch of other Garmins as well for other purposes. I believe I paid US$600 for the iQue back then.

SunnyG

i'm using an alpine blackbird, paid $390 a couple months ago, and have been happy with it overall. it comes with a 3month trial of real-time traffic service which has actually helped me out a couple times here in socal. looks nice, works well, and doesn't cost a fortune, so i would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a portable gps.

Acurasrule

Just got the Garmin Nuvi 660.... this thing rocks!

chaoman

I got Tomtom 6 on an old iPAQ 5450.
Purchased the bluetooth GPS receiver from eBay for $50 bucks

JayRoam

T-Mobile Dash (aka HTC Excalibur) + Windows Live Search + Pharos i360 bluetooth GPS

I probably overpaid for the Pharos ($100) at CompUSA, but I was too impatient to purchase online. So far, It's never lost signal around the Chicagoland area

Deity711

I just bought my 3rd party navi unit today. It only cost me like $15 and I installed it almost instantaneously.

Check it:







It doesn't have voice recognition, but it does have a bread crumb feature (only when I'm eating bread). I can upgrade it to any region at any time (Target did not sell these upgrades, however).

Zagat reviews to be added shortly as soon as I make it to Barnes and Nobles.