Yes, a 'which to buy' question

mdtravel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

I'm sure everyone hates these questions here, but I'll go ahead with it anyway. I have read a lot of the FAQ's and other threads and have still more to wade through. I joined Consumer Reports in part just to get their GPS reviews...they are lousy by the way. I have been fond of Garmin since I had one in a rental car a few months back. Not a lot of logic in that, but it seemed easy to use and I like that it is a US company. Again, not great logic.

I am interested in a GPS device that I can take with me when I travel for work. I don't drive for a living; I fly in, rent a car, go to meetings and hotels, fly back out. But if that was the only thing I would use a device for I would just get it from Hertz or Avis.

I travel to Europe on vacation a few times each year. I would ideally like to find a device that I could carry with me and enter in an address of say a pizza place in Rome while I am walking, then walk to it from where ever I am at.

I don't know that I am real intersted in traffic updates or anything like that; actually, I'm not as far as I can understand why I would want one.

Audio book players? Nice I guess but I own no audio books so big deal.

An MP3 player sounds kind of interesting but not a deal breaker for me.

Bluetooth does sound like a nce feature to have.

Speaking street names would sure be nice.

Seems like an SD card is a must.

A long battery life would be better than short, but I don't want to be carrying around a boom box either!

Overall, I am leaning toward a Garmin Nuvi, but I have no idea which one. On their website I see they have several in the 600 series (600, 610, 650, 660, 670, 680).

If I am wanting to purchase a device in any amount to use while on foot is this a folly reason? I won't be camping but sure would like to be able to use it to walk in Europe or even drive in Europe.

Given all that and knowing that this question probably comes up multiple times a day, are there any suggestions as to which unit to purchase, additional questions to ask myself or other considerations?

gardenshed · Frequent Visitor Joined: Jul 05, 2007 Posts: 466

dont know about garmin as i have a tt, and it will do all you want, a tt1 is small and fits in a pocket, but the battery life is only two to three hours. you have spoken commands, loads of poi to get from here for whaterver you want and you can select walk, fastest route(car), shortest route (car), limited speed (truck or towing), the tt1 doesnt have the facility for music but that isnt a priority for you. hope this is of use, and do you have any jobs going? as i would like to be able to afford several trans-atlantic flights a year Wink

mdtravel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

The transatlantic flights come through use of miles and points, which means a lot of nights in crappy hotel rooms in the US and a lot of cramped flights for hours at a time!

Anyone know if the Garmin has a 'walk' option on it as well? That sounds useful as I imagine it aids in not being told I am 'driving' the wrong way down a one way street when I am walking.

Thanks for the information; I'll start looking at some tt's but the battery life seems a bit on the low side for what I would use it for.

philpugh · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:36 pm Post subject:

Yes the nuvi 660 certainly has a pedestrian mode (ignore one-way and pedestrian-only restrictions) as well as a 'point-to-point' mode - ignores any roads/buildings/water etc and shows direct line route to destination ( like using two waypoints in a route on conventional hand GPS)

Battery life is similar to (possibly slightly better than) the figure given for TT above - depends on how you set them up I guess.
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Phil

mdtravel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

Thanks for the great reply!

The 600 series from Garmin appears to be the latest and greatest.

Anyone have insight into the distinctions between the five or six 600 models available?

missing_user · Joined: Aug 30, 2008 Posts: -7

mdtravel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

Wow, is it acceptable to say that I don't know what most of these mean?! Let me give them a shot:

1. Do you require more than one via?
I don't really know what this means, but it sounds like I say I want to get to point X via first point V, then point W. I'm not sure when that is useful (any examples?) so I will say nice, but not critical.

2. Do you require a 'track' of where you've been?
Not particularly. My assumption is that if I get lost I'd just like to get to where I am going as opposed to where I was. Another one of those that I may be dense on.

3. Do you want to plan routes on the PC and transfer them to the unit?
This would in fact be cool to have so I'll say 'yes' for this one.

4. Do you require a battery capacity for a 12 hour visit/walk/drive?
A long battery life would certainly be nice though I don't know that 12 hours is necessary. In the car I can plug it in and while walking I would turn it on and off when I got somewhere, charging it back at the hotel. Two hours seems a bit short though.

5. Do you want a unit that is easy to carry after you leave your car?
Yes...absolutely. Easy to carry not just while on foot but also for putting it in my carryon bag.

6. Do you want a unit that can be easily updated[software] on a SD card rather than internal memory?
I do believe I want / need an SD card. I don't get what all it does for me but do believe not having such a card will cause me more grief in the long run than having one and not using it.

7. Do you want a unit that is water/shower resistant?
I won't be using this for boating and do pretty good navigating in the shower! Smile

missing_user · Joined: Aug 30, 2008 Posts: -7

Rather than point you towards a particular Garmin:-

Do you require more than one via?
1-Visiting Rome last month:- List your places for the day's visits, the unit plans a route as a pedestrian.
2-Calais to Sorennto:- Plan each day's route with vias for Petrol and Peage.

Do you require a 'track' of where you've been?
A track is a record of your position [within 15feet] during the time your unit is switched on. It should save without thought onto the SD card without 'filtering'.
28 days and 4200 miles was recorded last month in France and Italy for viewing on the PC using Garmin Software or Google Earth

Do you want to plan routes on the PC and transfer them to the unit?
Calais to Sorennto:- Plan each day's route with vias for Petrol and Peage.
You cannot trust any unit to 'route' to my criteria, when it uses NavTech software, Garmin Software and the American programers ideas within the unit!
You must plan your route on the PC and transfer it to the unit.

Do you require a battery capacity for a 12 hour visit/walk/drive?
Having pitched my caravan outside Rome, I was transferred by bus to a location [15minutes from the Vatican]. A group of strangers on the Site bus saw the GPS and followed my unit 'blindly to the first stop - The Vatican. The day's visit could be 10 hours. The unit then routed me back to the secluded pre-arranged pickup point.

Do you want a unit that is easy to carry after you leave your car?
A large oblong unit is not easy to use or carry in a large City. It is not safe to leave any unit in any vehicle!

Do you want a unit that can be easily updated[software] on a SD card rather than internal memory?
Garmin's updated mapping software is available each year in Jan or Feb. Much safer to update a SD card than the Internal memory

Do you want a unit that is water/shower resistant?
The Caravan shower is not that big!!
However, people next to me on the site visited Venice during a two hour thunder storm and were soaked through. Pity if the £400 unit was not showerproof!! :D :D

Any help, or are you more confused?

mdtravel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 23, 2007 Posts: 5

I think I'm getting there Strumble, and using Rome is perfect because a trip I have coming up in November to Rome and Naples is the real reason I am looking to make this purchase. I have a lot of small caffes and restaurants that usually take me 30 minutes to find despite having been there four times! The winding name changing streets of Rome really throw me off, so we're reading off the same page.

Let's see if I am learning here:
More than one via - So could I say that I want to go from the Villa Borghese to the Forums via the Pantheon, then on to the Colosseum (via the Forums)?...with even more stops in between perhaps?

Tracking - ok, now this sounds like a very cool feature!

Planning routes on PC and xfer to unit - I'm not sure I'm clear on this feature. Can you give me an example, perhaps from Rome, that would illustrate for me?

Battery - sounds more important with the above 'tracking feature'. I wouldn't just turn the unit off and on, but leave it on for a day at a time.

Easy to carry - are you saying that a Garmin with all of the features I seem to be leaning toward will not be convenient for walking?

SD card - I'm dead set on getting this feature; I've just read too many regrets from people who didn't get this feature.

What unit did you use on your trips and how well did it work in Venice? That would be an amazing challenge with all the twisting turning bridges and alleys. Though getting lost in Venice doesn't bother me as much because I'm on an island (many of them actually) afterall and can't go too far astray!

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