Two Words, One Answer.
GPS Units
 Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver $169.99 The Garmin products are very good but their business plan is to squeeze more money out of us for the maps and charts. The base map that comes loaded is ridiculous - they must have made it bad on purpose. The result is a nagging feeling that we are being taken advantage of. Get with it Garmin - you could be building loyalty in customers but you are creating ill will.  Garmin MapSource 512MB Blank SD Card for Garmin GPS Units (can hold data from MapSource CD-ROMs) $189.99 This is very good product for GARMIN GPS 276C.Especially to use Captains in the sea.You save somany Maps in this SD Chard.  Garmin StreetPilot c340 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator $365.00 Got as a gift a few years ago, we use this every time we travel and it has been a solid, reliable performer. It seems to be unaffected by the hot sun & cold winter (when left in the vehicle) and powered on every time. The battery life is not what it used to be, no problem - just plug it in. The roads were starting to get out-of-date but as luck would have it, and since Garmin is very popular, we happened to come across someone who had a set of unlocked 2010 city nav maps who was willing to barter with some pizza and beer :) All we needed was a 2gb SD card to load up the maps. There were a lot of firmware updates which allegedly improved it further (but worked great for us so far), and some additional voice accents (we chose a couple of new British voices just for variety). We were considering purchasing a new unit but now used those funds to get a handheld I can use on my motorcycle and hiking. This unit, as a refurb at ~$130 or so it is an excellent basic no-frills GPS unit. If you are considering a refurb or hand-me-down this unit will not be a bad choice at all.  Garmin n¸«ävi 260W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator $229.99 I ordered this unit to replace the old Nuvi 350 I gave away. I wanted the larger screen. I think this unit offers the best value since it's the cheapest 4 inch garmin that does text to speech (it actually says the street names). It doesn't come with bluetooth or fm traffic so if you need these features, you will have to pay a bit more. What ever unit you pick, don't let the MSN service influence your decision because that service is going away in a couple years. |
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