Which portable AAA compatible gps to buy?

[DARISC]

I'd like a big display, easily readable graphics.

AAA ads refer to Magellan Maestro - big display but reviews say not all that readable.

Do I have to mount a gps unit, or can I use one loose in my 911? (prefer not to drill holes, mount brackets, etc.)

Any guidance/suggestions will be appreciated.

[Joeaksa]

I just got a Garmin 580 and love it.

Not a big fan of the Magellan units, mostly because if you have a problem with it, their warranty service is crap. Garmin bends over backwards to help you if something pops up.

Have used a TomTom but just not as user friendly as the Garmins. They are pretty much a European GPS company but trying to break into the N. America market.

All of my GPS's are portable except one, so you can move them around. I do have a RAM mount for my old Garmin Street Pilot 3 and it works fine but all of the new portable GPS's come with a fairly descent "stick to the windshield" mount.

[Zef]

Garmin...Garmin...Garmin...

[DARISC]

Thanks guys - looking at tne Nuvi 350 ($370 on the Walmart site) - am wondering if the AAA database thingie works with it (like Magellan advdrtizes it does).

[Jims5543]

I have a Garman Nuvi and a Magellin 700. I like the garmen a lot it has lots of bells and whistles but to be honest, it messes up a lot. The Magellin is more accurate yet not as fancy.

I have used both units on the same trip an prefer the Magellin over the Garmin when it comes to giving me correct directions and not getting confused. The Garmin is way cooler from the gadget point of view though.

My $0.0002

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

I have a Garman Nuvi and a Magellin 700. I like the garmen a lot it has lots of bells and whistles....

Great - I don't want/need bells & whistles. Maybe I should go for the Magellan? This will be a seldom used toy - more of an emergency tool.

Thanks, Jim. I almost pushed the button and bought the Garmin Nuvi - now I'm still undecided but leaning back towards the Magellan. What's your opinion re its graphics readability (compared to the Garmin)?

[Joeaksa]

The Garmin database is a lot better than the one that I have found with the Magellan. Sometimes I rent a car from Hertz and have my own GPS with me. I know how to use the Garmin better than the Magellan in the rental.

Can find things a lot easier on the Garmin and the newer ones have the expanded database on it for free for the first year.

Are you a Costco member? They have the Garmins on sale right now...

[Don Plumley]

Garmin Nuvi 350. Very, very happy. Easy to use, easy to follow. Take it with you anywhere.

[RickM]

BTW, what does AAA compatible mean?

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by RickM

BTW, what does AAA compatible mean?

AAA makes their database available to members to access using select cell phones and the Magellan Maestro. They show a generic cell phone in the ad and refer to a list of those that are compatible, but they only show the Magellan Maestro and make no mention of other GPS units (I'm sure they have a contract with Magellan).

The Magellan site mentions having "built-in AAA travel information" in all but one of the four Maestro models - don't know if it can be added to the other one or not - or if it can be added to another GPS brand, thus my confusion.

Is this a reference to a AAA database that can be downloaded if you're a member, but only to certain GPS units?

It's not critical to my choice but, since I belong to AAA, it would be a plus to have all the AAA stuff on hand via the GPS.

[island911]

For most, GPS is just a toy. And, for the car, the gps's all seem to be POS. --those screens are too damn small. THey end up being nothing more than a big arrow . .."Turn -> . . . . Turn <- . . . .

but at least thieves like them (paper maps, not so much). Really, leave it on your dash. . . see how tough it is to replace a window.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by island911

For most, GPS is just a toy. And, for the car, the gps's all seem to be POS. --those screens are too damn small. THey end up being nothing more than a big arrow . .."Turn -> . . . . Turn <- . . . .

but at least thieves like them (paper maps, not so much). Really, leave it on your dash. . . see how tough it is to replace a window.

Points well taken. I've ignored the whole GPS thing since its inception, but saw the AAA ad and thought it might be cool to have a "large" screen one.

I'm a bit of a latent Luddite when it comes to gizmos in particular, so I've taken myself by surprise by becoming interested in this.

If I do decide to get one, it won't be left on my dash.

Are the forged ones REALLY better than the cast ones? (I won't be using it to find my way around a race track) .

[island911]

Originally Posted by DARISC

I'd like a big display, easily readable graphics.

AAA ads refer to Magellan Maestro - big display but reviews say not all that readable....

"Resolution: 480 x 272" that's more than quite a few dash-mount gps's . .but still sucks.

fwiw, thru the years, I use a real computer (laptop, then tablet, now UMPC) and a gps puck (receiver). My latest purchase, being a UMPC, has only a 7" screen @ 1024x600. To me, this is on the low end of needed resolution. . . and yet is 4.7 times more pixels than that 480x272 screen.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/qseries/np_q1uf000suk.asp

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by island911

For most, GPS is just a toy.

I travel for a living and stay in a new city every 4-5 days if not overnight. Try finding a hotel late at night in a new city everywhere you go. Its simply impossible to know your way around everywhere when you travel for a living.

Do you want to waste your time trying to find the hotel or airport or being lost somewhere? The GPS takes me direct to where I need to go and does it pretty well. Yes, you still have to use common sense as there are times that ANY GPS will send you on a route that is not the fastest.

The GPS is a very good TOOL for those of us in this situation. After using one for over 10 years now I would never travel without it.

With dynamic content from MSN Direct, the Garmin GPS is one resourceful navigator. Using the included receiver and free trial service* to MSN Direct, you can check the weather, avoid traffic backups, compare local gas prices and check movie times and locations when you travel with your unit. The MSN Direct receiver is plug-and-play portable, making it easy to connect to your unit when out and about.

When you are driving and the GPS tells you that its picked up info that there is an accident on your route and is re-routing you to avoid the congestion, then you will start to marvel at what this tool can do.

[tobster1911]

I have the Magellan Maestro 4040 with the AAA guidebook. Let me know if you have any questions about it. I get a 40% discount on the Magellan so it was an easy choice for me. I have not had any problems with it in 900 miles so far. There are some preference things that I would like changed but I think that holds true for any GPS.

Magellan vs. Garmin comes down to Garmin having better customer service and support. The devices are very similar these days with personal taste thrown in.

Because everyone else seems to be a Garmin fan club member, so I will play Devil's advocate for a while.

Magellan has a smart type feature that eliminates letters as you type the address leaving only valid ones. Garmin does not do this!

Magellan has a two-tone at the turn that is very accurate. Garmin has an inaccurate tone that is disabled by default.

Magellan (4040) has an EXIT POI category that will give you a quick heads up while on the interstate of what the next exits have. Only showing ones INFRONT of your direction of travel. One of the BEST features of this unit. Garmin does not have this.

The AAA guide book is VERY nice. Gamin has a larger POI database but not very well screened for usefulness IMO.

Last, Magellan has a trip route planner where you can add multiple stops to your trip and then click on the "optimize" button to organize them. Garmin only allows ONE via point per route.

I did a lot of looking at GPS's because it is fun

[Jims5543]

I am revisiting this thread due to my experience with my Nuvi traveling over the weekend.


Saturday we headed over from North Carolina to Tennessee via US441 through Smokey Mountain National Park, we headed southerly towards Maryville and stumbled upon some great caverns.

We wanted to grab some dinner and head back to our house. I was a little spun around so I turned on the GPS. I asked it to find some restaurants, one name looked promising so we headed for it, when we arrived at our destination there was nothing there. We saw a TGI Fridays up the road and headed there. Strike one.

After dinner I punched in to take me home, I started driving and I felt like it was taking me out of my way, I looked at my turn list and it was taking me up North to the top of the park to pick up I40 then into Asheville and back down. I was confused so I checked my settings and I had fastest time picked, I changed it to shortest distance and it gave me the same route which was just wrong.

I ended up tricking it by asking it to take me to the Smokey Mountain Park so I could head home. Strike Two.

When leaving to head back to Florida my wife and I agreed that we were sick of the I95 trip. We decided to head towards I75. Technically the I75 route is shorter by 30 miles but take longer, I drove North this way twice over a year ago and back this way only once, again over a year ago. So I was not sure of all the routes to take. I knew I would head towards Atlanta to catch I75 near there.

So we are cruising South on 441 in Western Carolina, I purposefully have not turned on the GPS or asked for a route because I know I need to drive on 441 for at least 80 miles. Once we get at about the 50 mile mark I turn it on and tell it to take me back to Florida.

My Magellin would instantly take me to I75 being as it is now the shorter route by a bunch. I look at my screen it tells me I have 70 more miles, I think nothing of it and continue. When I get to the 70 mile mark it it taking me where I did not expect, East. I check the turn list, yup its trying to get me on to I95 in Jacksonville.

I try to trick it again and now I am lost in Georgia, I tell it to take me to the Airport in Atlanta and I can find my way from there. This is when I realize I am VERY far from where I want to be. Strike Three.

If any of you Garmin fans wants it I'll sell it to you I am going back to Magellin.


The only plus form all of this mess is I found an awesome road to drive back to Florida and its off of 441 and ran through the middle of Georgia, we were able to do a steady 65 MPH only slowing for tiny towns along the way. It was a fantastic road and I plan on driving it again when bringing my 911 back to Florida in 2 weeks.

[Jims5543]

Oh and like others have said you need to be on your toes when using the Nuvi, it will fail to instructo you when things get complicated. I thought the Magellin was funny because it would always alert you when you will need to take some sort of action even though you might technically be on the same road once past. Magellin will prompt you to turn here or there even if you are not leaving the main route, Nuvi leaves you to try to figure it out on your own.

If your wanting your GPS so you can just drive, talk to the wife and relax, skip the Nuvi, you may as well not have it there because you will have to be 100% alert to where you are at all times with it and you will miss turns that it never felt you needed to know about if your not on top of it.

I actually threw a temper tantrum in my FJ yesterday over the supid thing.

i.e. I got off the interstate for gas, I was not sure, nor did I see a return ramp for the interstate.

When we left the station, instead of prompting for a u-turn it told me to turn left into a neighborhood, I was confused but thought maybe it was going to take me down the road to the next interchange to get back on the interstate.

Nope. I took me through the neighborhood making three right hand turns so I could get to a traffic light to make a left and on to the ramp for the interstate that I could get to with 1 u-turn.

I almost punched it through the windshield. Then I thought of the busting up stuff thread on here and laughed.

[DARISC]

[QUOTE=....I actually threw a temper tantrum in my FJ yesterday over the supid thing.[/QUOTE]

HAHA! I played around with a Magellan 4040 at Best Buy last week and it seemed good to me (easy to read, loud, clear voice). HSN has them now for $349 I think.

Thanks for all the input.

[RickM]

Jim, have you checked the default settings? Things like "Avoid Highways" or "Find Scenic Route" will influence the results.

I find my older Garmin accurate about 99% of the time. This with 5 yo software.

Also, if I'm in an unknown area and query for directions I verify by zooming out on the display.

[tobster1911]

LOL

Sorry for your problems but the way you describe it was spot on. The funny thing is that both Magellan and Garmin use the Navteq maps so the data they are working from is the same. Tom Tom uses Tele Atlas.

I think that the biggest difference is customer service. Garmin is by far better at this. After that it is a personal taste type thing. Some (you and me anyway) like the Magellan over the Garmin.

If you are looking into Magellan's they are coming out with a LOT of new models. Some very cool added options. Depends on if you want the 3.5" or the 4.3" screen. Check out the Maestro line.

Rick, On the Magellan these settings are not hidden in some remote place.