gps reviews

TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
$299.99
DO THE MATH BEFORE YOU BUY THIS REFURBISHED UNIT!

I've a TT LE (2d Ed.), like it & decided to upgrade to the refurbed GO 720. The unit has great features and the price ($119) was OK.
However, 'refurbed' to me means 'like new' and the major problems are AMAZON does not tell you that it carries only a SIX MONTH factory warranty and that the map is at least 21 months old (on my unit). Cost to upgrade to the latest map from v.7 xx is $47 plus $48 for 4 quarterly updates. So, you're looking at another $95 or $215 for a 'refurb' with a 6 months warranty. AMAZON should have full disclosure on their listings so the customer can decide! Another poster said they should be ashamed. How true! I may return it because of this. By the way, Staples 'Black Friday' ad will have a brand new TT GO 830 for $169 with an extra coupon discount of 10% on a single item.

Navigon ZAGAT Ratings and Reviews Activation
$39.99

1.0 out of 5 stars CUSTOMERS AWARE - FreshMaps deceptive Marketing, April 16, 2009
By Baivab Mitra (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I love my 2100 Navigon. (Read my review on the same). I loved it so much when it got destroyed I went and bought a 2nd. Navigon. You may buy a 2nd. navigon due to various reasons - like my case, just for upgrading to newer model, vandalism (more & more happening now), etc. So here I am, with just 2 downloads from possible 12 and I try to register my FreshMaps subscription service -- REPEAT NAVIGON SAYS IT'S A SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE for my new Navigon - 2200T. Nada,zilch, zero, null. Customer service: NO, YOU NEED TO BUY NOW A NEW SUBSCRIPTION, NEW FRESH MAPS, etc. etc. I tell them - where it's written in their terms & conditions - it's not transferable. No Sir - not written, it's ASSUMED. It's our Company policy, etc. That's PURE VANILLA DECEPTIVE MARKETING and also absolutely foolish strategy. Why? I returned back my 2200T, went to [..] ; bought myself a nice USED 2100 and I continue to happily and merrily use my FreshMaps subscription!! So, ALL YOU GOOD FOLKS - remember - if you buy this you're locking yourself into Navigon's product for the lifetime of the subscription. This includes TRAFFIC, ZAGAT, everything. I just thought all should be made aware of this limitation.

Magellan Maestro 4700 4.7-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
$299.99
I would not buy an over priced Garmin with the Magellan 4700 available at this price on Amazon. Unbelieveable. I am a previous Garmin user and I can tell you from experience the Magellan is superior.

Pro's:
* Very nice screen.
* Voice instructions very clear compared to other devices.
* Gets you where you need to go.
* Virtual keyboard works great. Finishes spelling for you! Super easy to use.
* Small and easy to use windshield mount. Wonderful for travel.
* Lane assist is awesome.
* Rerouting is extremely fast.

Con's:
* Menu system takes getting use to.
* Turn-by-turn directions sometimes lists the same highway several times. The unit wants to make sure you stay on the current road - great - but don't list it over and over again with each intersecting highway.
* Head scratcher - creating multi point routes, saving, then bring back up to use later. It works but is not terribly intuitive. Once you figure it out though, its a great feature.
* Doesn't always give you the most direct route (common with all GPS's). Garmin was much worse.

Driving in from New Jersey to New York via Washington bridge to Laguardia airport car rental return was interesting. If it weren't for this product I would have missed my flight.

Need I say anything more.

Garmin n���vi 265/265T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic (Factory Refurbished)
$199.99
I purchased this unit to replace a much older Garmin 125, which was simply showing its age, dropping reception all the time etc.

After researching all the options, I went with the Nuvi. This model really has more or less everything. The bluetooth is great, synced right up to my phone, though it does lock up if you do not give it a few seconds between calls or inputs. The traffic service is useful, sortof, as the 'ads' are hardly noticeable, but the traffic information provided in a major metro area was hardly real-time.

The win here is in the functionality of the GPS (the intended purpose) itself. It quickly comes up with a reasonable route to your destination, the map upgrade from Garmin took a while, but as long as you do not touch the unit while it updates, you should have no problems, and the gas saver mode as well as the 'how efficiently am I driving' program is nifty, especially if you want to keep up with it.

Very useful device that should do everything you ask of it for a price that I could not find bettered anywhere.