So I get lost a fair bit, and my mom's offered to buy me a fairly unsophisticated set-up to keep in my car (Eid's coming). I was wondering, is it worth it? I also know absolutely nothing about them, so any advice is welcome.

It has saved my ass a few times, but I pretty much know tampa.

But whenever I have had to go to the clusterfuck of Orlando, i has saved me plenty. Even the cheapo little ones work great, they come in a lot of rental cars here in the US. Simple, small enough to fit in your pocket. (there's a lot of theft of them in Tampa)

Ok so I've heard Garmin's equipment is generally pretty good. Anyone know anything about Mio?

I had a Mio, it was a woodgrain looking one (for the cedric) and it ran kind of slow. It took forever to load the directions and the map. But once it loaded, it was a really nice layout.

I liked the garmin nuvi because you can download different vehicles on the internet, and use it as your "car" on the map.

http://www8.garmin.com/vehicles/bundles/allvehicles.html

They have a convertible on there that resembled my S2000, so I downloaded that one.

I have the Mio C520 and I absolutely love it - it runs Windows CE underneath so you can "unlock" it and install other applications, lots of useless functions but the mp3 and Divx player in my car is cool.

Even just as a GPS unit itself - I lurve it

Look at the software first. I love the Garmin look and feel, but their maps for Romania are crap, so I'm going with Mio. The device itself isn't that important. I have an old PDA that I use and it works just dandy.

I would buy the basic $200 Garmin Nuvi .. they are small, portable and work great. Cheap too.

Thanks guys.

I second the nuvi. I have one and I am pretty happy with it.

I heard the Magellan Maestro 4250 is good, its priced decently too.

What are you getting me for EID, Moe?

Eh, we got a maestro and we returned it. It just didn't work as well as our Garmin. And one thing we really hated was how you have to go through like 2 or 3 menus just to get to the volume, not exactly ideal while in the middle of traffic. On the garmin it just has a volume dial on the side.

I'd get you a Corrado if I could, so you'd get rid of your ugly, little cheese wedge.

For less then $100, you CANNOT BEAT this Navigon 2100. http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=41295491



Navigon is relatively new in the US, but they're HUGEEE in Europe. I told my coworkers about this deal, and 3 people jumped on it and they all love it. The unit is small, light, and pretty decent in performance. But the coolest thing about it is the AWESOME interface. So smooth and easy to follow. Blows all the other navi's away.

That's an amazing deal!

Unless you travel a lot, I don't get these things. People here in Winnipeg use them all the time, and they are the worst drivers because of it...going at like 2km/h staring at the screen like a bunch of idiots. Add on the fact that they take up a significant portion of your windshield and I think they can be downright dangerous.

Maybe I'm a Luddite.

^ Heh, my parents just cited the fact that I really only use my car on the weekends, and that the country I live in is tiny. So no more GPS for me...