After my misadventures through Boston I realized how important it is that I have a navigation system in my car. (I was in the TL and the Navi ultimatly saved my ass, plus I have never had any sense of direction, I have been to my grandparents house over a 1000 times and still can't get there).

Anyway, my mother agreed to meet me half way on the price of a portable nav system since she travels around some of the time for her job, when she gets her next car(hopefully within 6-8 months) she will get it with an OEM nav system, and this one will be all mine.

Anyway, my grandparents have the Roadmate 700 and though they had a handful of problems(but I think it was there fault, I didn't really bother to mess with it to see what was actually going on) but since they got the unit replaced it has been working perfectly.

I found a sale on Amazon for the Roadmate 760 with the Nav-traffic module for 489 Shipped, New and available. A warrenty(which we would get) is also available. I thought that sounded incredably fair, all said and done its still over 1K as per Magellans web site. I would also be getting myself the permanant mount kit which has a cradle which attatches "permanently" to the dash as well as a power cable run from the fuse box under the dash, and an external antenna.

What are your thoughts? We would likely order within a day or so.

Thanks,

Mike

 

use a map

 

What year is this?

Navi>*

Especially when one is still figuring out exactly how to drive...

Mike

 

Hi Mike

I spent about two months researching different GPS/nav systems from various manufacturers. Magellan seems to offer excellent products with many good features. The one I finally decided on, however, was the Garmin 2720. I chose this particular model because of the touch screen, 3D viewing, voice instructions, preloaded maps of Canada and the US, and over six million points of interest. Although it is primarily a car based unit it is waterproof and can be moved from vehicle to vehicle. I purchased a motorcycle kit at the same time for use on trips. During the past three weeks I have owned it it has performed flawlessly. I really enjoy the voice instructions and the 3D viewing. I live on a farm, and one night I drove to the other side of the closest city, keyed in my address, and followed the screen and spoken instructions right back to my home. It had no problem navigating through both a large city and the surrounding rural roads. It may be a model you also wish to consider.

On the dash of the Accord


The speaker is part of the power cord


On the KLR with a RAM mount


Terry

 

On amazon it is about 150 more, which I did not realize, so I will look further into it. I had heard some great things about it but I figured it would cost a fortune(even online) after seeing the price in bestbuy.

Thanks,

Mike

 

navi will help in boston but dont always trust it... you can get bad reception on some of the smaller streets near tall buildings and it isnt always correct since it might be impossible to get from one point in the city to another the same way more than 2 days in a row...

my buddy was lookin at the sony unit... 400-500 and it looks pretty nice...

 

search for the one sarlacc has. that is pretty nice and cheaper

 

Do any of these portable units have a setup that can plug into the speedo and gyros so they can keep track of where u are in tunnels?

Mike

 

Mike,

The current issue of Consumer Reports has ratings on portable Navi systems. While I do not have it in front of me, I think a Garmin unit (non-Street Pilot model) came in first place.

 

BE CAREFUL IN BOSTON!!!

Because the big dig is changing roads every day, it's almost impossible to use nav systems in the entire city, because it'll often guide you in a street that doesn't exist anymore.

 

The Garmin Street Pilot i5 was the Consumer Reports "Best Buy". I bought one for my wife as one of her Christmas presents last year-paid about $368 at an online store. I have to agree with CR, it's a super little unit for the money.

 

Now that my grandparents Magellan is running fine I really like the unit. Also, this one comes with the traffic plug in, and I will be buying hte permenant vehicle mount with antenna, and hardwired power system for 99 bucks

Thanks guy,

Mike

 

all i have to say about the one that has pictures listed, not sure if theyve improved upon it since the one my parents got maybe 1 or 2 years ago, but we have issues with the plug on the back of it coming loose causing it to shut down, also the initial turn on it sometimes is sluggish and takes a long time to get satellite reception.

 

what i have right now that im using, is a palm based one with my palm T|X it uses tomtom software and imo its pretty good. only issue i have with tomtom is that when on the freeway it says to take a left turn to avoid taking an exit on the freeway i kinda like the features offered in the tomtom go 910

 

yup, boston is one of those things you learn on your own... you start feeling comfortable when you know how to get from point A to B, 3 or 4 different ways...

also becareful when it directs you onto a street which formerly was a 2 way street, but now is a 1 way...

 

The 2720 is a recent unit. When I researched available units that there was some concern with the Garmin power cords being a little on the loose side. I actually find my cord to be too tight. Generally I have satellite reception in about 3-4 seconds.

Terry

 

I'm looking too, and I understand that flash memory based units are not only cheaper than the ones with a HD, but also more reliable (no moving parts). Likewise, the ability to play MP3s is pretty much BS, because few of them interface with your stereo.

Teranfon - is the 2720 flash or HD?

 

The roadmate is a great navigation unit. I have taken it on many trips and it has never let me down. The nice thing about the 760 is it has text-to-speech technology. Instead of having the unit say "right turn ahead" it will say "right turn on Madison Avenue". Takes alot of the guess work out of navigating. You will be happy.

btw...the price sounds good.

 

Hi Hemshaw

The 2720 is flash memory. I prefer this as the bikes give of a fair amount of vibration and the 2720's are apparently more durable because of this particular memory type.

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/ga...tpilot2720.htm

Terry

 

Look into TomTom 510/910 - I'm pretty satisfied with mine.

 

How is the window mount? I have heard people are having trouble with poor mount design.

 

Mount could've been better but I mount the navi on the dash instead of the windshield so it's not a big deal for me.

 

So I got the navi today with the mounting kit and traffic kit(free). I have it all retrofitted with an external antenna and everything. I will post pics tommorow. It works excelent and aquires sattelites with the external antenna nearly instantly.

Mike

 

I own a Lowrance iWay 350C. I've owned a Garmin and a Magellan before it and the Lowrance has more points of interests on it than both of them combined. It is incredible the amount of information you can get about your surroundings with this unit, it even gives water bouy locations if you are into boating. If you are looking for a larger screen, spring for the Lowrance iWay 500, which is even better.

 

The roadmate came with software to add additional custom POIs. I looked into the iWay but decided on the roadmate based off some reviews.

I am also really happy about the navtraffic thing which came free as part of the deal.

Mike

 

Here are some pics of the install... Those 3 screw holes were already there when I bought it. The cubby was pretty much usless to me so it now houses slack wire and the traffic unit. I am going to get some sort of cover for the cubby, and a tube to put around the wires to neaten it up a bit. We used the switched radio power supply and put another 3 amp fuse inline(behind the radio, so it is a bitch to get to), and ran the antenna wire through that back light, above the headliner, and down the A piller then along that metal bar under the dash.







Mike