in car GPS unit

I'm thinking about asking for an in car GPS for my birthday, seeing as how I have THE worst sense of direction since D.B. Cooper. I want one that talks and tells me distance to turns/when to turn and has upgradeable maps, but doesn't need me to upload maps of the roads whenever I go on a roadtrip. I want to be able to search for business names, so I can select the nearest of whatever I am looking for, and get directions to addresses as well.

A Ford Tauras rental car we got from hertz in Minnesota had one like this, I forget what company made it though. It was cool because if you passed your turn, it would immeadiatley calculate a new route no matter where you were, whether it was a block or 15 miles to the new turn that you had to take. We used it for a week over an area of a several hundered mile radius, and it was only wrong once because of ongoing construction. As far as I could tell it had all the paved roads in the US uploaded into its memory. You could tell it what type what kind of business you wanted, and then select from businesses in the area, and it would tell you out loud exactly how to drive the shortest route there turn by turn. It had options for planning routes by shortest distance, shortest time, avoiding freeways, using mostly freeways, etc.

Having said all that, can someone give me a good idea of prices on units like these, and also less featuresome units? What are some good models/companies in particular? Anybody have one of these things in their car? How do they compare to factory preinstalled units?

Just use a map bro :p

. It was cool because if you passed your turn, it would immeadiatley calculate a new route no matter where you were, whether it was a block or 15 miles to the new turn that you had to take.

Uh.. wouldn't it be faster and easier just to turn around and make the correct turn than to go 15 miles out of your way?

If you have a laptop for less than $150 you can buy Microsoft Streets and Trips and it comes with a gps unit, and i'm pretty sure it will do all that you described.

Street Directory. $10.

technology breaks, maps tear...

like oz said... map = $10

really big book of maps = $20

then when you get in a wreck because you are trying to figure out where you are going you won't be as upset.

technology breaks, maps tear...

like oz said... map = $10

really big book of maps = $20

then when you get in a wreck because you are trying to figure out where you are going you won't be as upset.

it's easier to not get in a wreck when I have a pleasent sounding female voice telling me where to turn than it is when I am trying to look at a map and drive at the same time. And $10 for one map is really friggin' expensive... where are you shopping?? :p

If you have a laptop for less than $150 you can buy Microsoft Streets and Trips and it comes with a gps unit, and i'm pretty sure it will do all that you described.

don't got a laptop of my own, besides that would be kind of bulky...

Uh.. wouldn't it be faster and easier just to turn around and make the correct turn than to go 15 miles out of your way?

yeah, but what if you don't want to? it'll tell you how to get to the next turn.

so... how about those gps units?

it's easier to not get in a wreck when I have a pleasent sounding female voice telling me where to turn than it is when I am trying to look at a map and drive at the same time. And $10 for one map is really friggin' expensive... where are you shopping?? :p

If you want a pleasent sounding female voice in the car, get a girlfriend, with the GF you can actually have a coversation rather than a box telling you where to go, The GF wont just sit there and tell you where to go until you are married, old and grey and cant remeber the directions to bingo :iceslolan Just spend the $3.95 for a map rather that the several hundred dollars for a GPS unit.

HAHA you think females can read maps? I can barely read a map :p

I'm with ec437 here. I'm tired of looking at mapquest and finding the routes while furiously trying to spot that next street. A gps is a real time saver b/c you don't need to bother other ppl for directions, and look at maps for where to go. A gps would also be a lot less headache in finding places, not to mention you will get there on time. It would be nice to have a GPS, but I don't have a thousand I can shed right now on that. So right now I have to rely on my primitive and shitty sense of direction. But good luck on finding that type of gps ec437, if you find it lemme know by pm, b/c maybe in the future I will buy it as well.

If you want a pleasent sounding female voice in the car, get a girlfriend, with the GF you can actually have a coversation rather than a box telling you where to go, The GF wont just sit there and tell you where to go until you are married, old and grey and cant remeber the directions to bingo :iceslolan Just spend the $3.95 for a map rather that the several hundred dollars for a GPS unit.
Yeah, thats true, especially if you like to hear constantly the following...
"Are we there yet",
"You should have stopped and ask directions"
"Turn left, now right"
"You missed the exit, again"
"I'm having a dejavu moment, didn't we past that already"
"Are you sure you know where you are going, we are in the next state."
and so on, and so on.

TS out (getting a gps unit)

Go to the rest stops along the highway in your area, and raid the complimentary maps. BTW some GPS is male voices.

In no way am I going to stand up for the females...hahaha I have got to have the worst sense of direction ever. I always get lost. Hell i regularly miss my exits b/c i'm not paying attention. i couldnt tell you the names of roads to save my life and the only directions I can seem to get places with are like "go towards the mall, when you get to the Wendy's make a left. If you pass the Hilton, you've gone too far, turn around and go back" I can't read maps cause I always end up turning them around and reading it upside down or backwards so my advice would be to get the gps thing....or have someone who knows where they're going drive.

I actually got that Microsoft Trips and Streets with the gps, its handy if you just happen to know the transponder numbers for the local police departments cars :evillol:

Personally I think reading a map is very easy, I only have the gps because i like the ability to track other users quickly and the softwear gives me access to something like 5.8 million miles of road

because i like the ability to track other users quickly

why would you track other users?


*ghostguy6*
Pulls up to another user at stop light... slides down his window

"Using trips and streets eh! THUMBS UP DUDE!"

Drives off
*ghostguy6*

If you have to meet someone else that has it somewhere, if you are following someone else that's using it and happen to lose them...

My god people, can't you just help the guy out. He didn't ask you weither a map is better or more useful than a GPS system, he asked you which GPS system meets his requirements. If all you have to say is "get a map, it's cheaper" then don't post in a thread where he wants help finding a good GPS system. If he wanted to know how to buy a map im sure he would have asked.

[QUOTE=Gotti]why would you track other users?
QUOTE]
I use it for work all the time, some of our technitions go to some of the most remote places on the globe, Alaska, NWT, remote offshore oil rigs, you name it. When your working on a deadline it helps to know exactly where your people are.

that's pretty cool... How does that work that you know other user's positions as well, anyways? What is the range on that system? I don't think it is global because they don't actually use the satellite to relay their position back to you, 'cause the satellite isn't a transceiver. The satellite is basically just an atomic clock with a transmitter on it. Or is it global? I suppose it could be if done via shortwave frequency or whichever it is where they bounce it off the ionosphere, then back off the ground up to the ionosphere, etc... I guess that wouldn't really be practical... uhoh, now I'm just rambling. So yeah, how does that work anyways?

I use it for work all the time, some of our technitions go to some of the most remote places on the globe, Alaska, NWT, remote offshore oil rigs, you name it. When your working on a deadline it helps to know exactly where your people are.


thats pretty cool... i'd feel like 007 trackin people down cause i bugged their cars :D

For GPS info Road and Track did an article on them a few months ago. I dont exactly know wich issue but I think if you search their sight you will find it.
-C

that's pretty cool... How does that work that you know other user's positions as well, anyways? What is the range on that system? I don't think it is global because they don't actually use the satellite to relay their position back to you, 'cause the satellite isn't a transceiver. The satellite is basically just an atomic clock with a transmitter on it. Or is it global? I suppose it could be if done via shortwave frequency or whichever it is where they bounce it off the ionosphere, then back off the ground up to the ionosphere, etc... I guess that wouldn't really be practical... uhoh, now I'm just rambling. So yeah, how does that work anyways?
I dont know exaclty how it works. What I do know is that every GPS unit has its own transponder number (similar to an IP address), if you program your GPS to show you the location of the other transponder numbers it will allow you to track those numbers as well. We use those hand help units as well as satelite phones so basically all I have to do is log onto a secure net, enter the unit I wish to locate and i get a map showing the position. Id tell you more but Im not that technical on it.

I was looking at gps's the other day, some cool ones I found. Garmin iQue 3600 which is a palm with a built in gps and I found this place http://www.deluoelectronics.com/customer/home.php which has a good price on a gps that you could just hook to a laptop laptop

haha u can track other users, I bet a lot of suspicious spouses have used it to track down their significant other cheating.