TomTom is one of the new people to the game. Not much history there.

Garmin and Magellen have been around forever. Garmin has a much better reputation on service and support. I have carried their unit for years and they are very good. Use a laptop to program their data chip to where we are flying that day or week.

If anyone is looking at a car indash GPS, make sure its a DVD supported system and not a CD type. The CD style's are going out of vogue and DVD will carry the data for the whole country, not forcing you to switch the CD when going over a state line.

Lots of people are using the Palm or handheld and a GPS. Its a way to try but after you get used to trying to hold the thing I have been told by several people that its a hassle. Same with the laptop and you do not normally have room for the bulky thing on the dash or in someone's lap.

Cannot wait for larger (6"X8" for example) screens to appear but until now these are very good.

JoeA

after further reading i think Garmin's Nuvi 350 is the ticket for me. good screen visitbility as well as *most* of the usual features, and most importantly, the size. i've been turned off by the size/look of most of the units. they all look like a big boulder sitting on the dashboard. (i think this also prevents them being mounted near the radio's location too)

now, if i could only have one w/ a female voice w/ a british accent (and french too) then i'd be pleased :D

Having driven in a lot of unfamiliar places, both with and without GPS, I'll say that it's just a tool, which means that's it's really only what you make of it. I move often enough that I _never_ know where I am, and I don't have a wife to sit in the passenger seat and navigate while I'm performing all of the functions of contact coordination and piloting. And there's absolutely nothing worse than being lost on the way to somewhere unfamiliar in a strange part of the world in heavy traffic. While maybe not perfect, at least a GPS could tell me "Don't bother stopping to look at the map, silly, you turn left in about 3 blocks."

What I'd really like to have is the traffic-enabled GPS units. Not only does it know the roads, it knows which ones are currently traffic jammed. Rumor has it that the promise isn't really ready for mainstream yet, but it's a great idea.

Another feature of the Garmin GPS V that I really like is that it works great as a hand held unit for hiking, GeoCaching, etc. A friend of mine just bought a nice Magellan Roadmate, but he can't clip his on his belt for hiking.

My daughter loves Geocaching - I'd miss that if I had a car only unit.

My wife has zero sense of direction. North and South are just words to her. So I got her a Garmin c320 this past March (her Birthday is in July, but I wanted it for a road trip to pick up my CooperS in Chicago). As Richard said, it is unbelievable and I wouldn't live without one.

For cross country trips or to places you've never been - just punch in the address on the touch screen or lookup by name - and it tells you how to get there turn by turn, and when you'll get there. I took two cross-country trips last year and with the GPS, took two-lane highways through Real America. Getting hungry? Punch up a list of restaurants and ETA. How long to Mt. Rushmore? Look - there's the geographic center of the US - let's go see that. I can drive for another hour, does that put us near good hotels, or should we stop at this one?

With the voice guidance (ours does UK English!) it's not distracting and in bad traffic, can help lead you to an alternative route. While general preparation and overall route knowledge is always appropriate, it's an indispensable piece of equipment, like a cell phone. I'll have to get another one, because whenever I borrow it, my wife usually gets lost that day.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I've been using a TomTom Go 700 for the last six months and I couldn't be happier with it.