Suggest a GPS unit to fit my needs?

[mitaux8030]

Hi all,
I'm looking at getting an in-car GPS unit in the next week or two. I've figured out a few features that I definitely want:

** Obviously needs to have a good moving map display, turn by turn directions etc. I guess they're all pretty good in that regard these days.
** Decent map base - I only travel rural areas - Tassie, Mt Gambier, Mildura places like that. Needs to have a decent PoI base for fuel, public toilets etc.
** Bluetooth handsfree mobile phone 'carkit' - this is a must.
** must accept 12 volts in direct, not just operate off battery alone.
** and it would be nice if it could spit out NMEA frames via a physical interface for APRS activities, this isn't essential but definitely a bonus.
** Would rather not have to do endless searching and downloading for 'grey' maps on the net to load up a generic Chinese brand GPS, but if the process isn't too hard, then that would be an option.

And, I'm not looking to spend any more than $300, perhaps $350 if it's a good'un - either new or second hand.

Are there any other features or options that I might look at - not interested in playing mp3s, watching movies, reading text, running a cut down version of linux, etc.

Would be interested to hear your suggestions. Thanks in advance!

[covert]

Check out the Garmin Nuvi 310.

GPSGate should run on it and share the GPS over bluetooth.

As for POI's you just get a good source for it and convert it to work on your unit with one of the many conversion tools.

[mitaux8030]

I spotted this:


It seems to have all I want, except that the Route66 maps might not be as complete as I want... I heard they don't even have Newcastle!! Do any others out there have experience with R66?

[Jungery]

Hi all,
I'm looking at getting an in-car GPS unit in the next week or two. I've figured out a few features that I definitely want:

** Obviously needs to have a good moving map display, turn by turn directions etc. I guess they're all pretty good in that regard these days.
** Decent map base - I only travel rural areas - Tassie, Mt Gambier, Mildura places like that. Needs to have a decent PoI base for fuel, public toilets etc.
** Bluetooth handsfree mobile phone 'carkit' - this is a must.
** must accept 12 volts in direct, not just operate off battery alone.
** and it would be nice if it could spit out NMEA frames via a physical interface for APRS activities, this isn't essential but definitely a bonus.
** Would rather not have to do endless searching and downloading for 'grey' maps on the net to load up a generic Chinese brand GPS, but if the process isn't too hard, then that would be an option.

And, I'm not looking to spend any more than $300, perhaps $350 if it's a good'un - either new or second hand.

Are there any other features or options that I might look at - not interested in playing mp3s, watching movies, reading text, running a cut down version of linux, etc.

Would be interested to hear your suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Go and look at some of the bigger Electronic super stores and go and try / ask away.

However, I would suggest to get every thing you want will caost you a little more that you have indicated. Remember YOU get what you pay for.

[admin]

I spotted this:


It seems to have all I want, except that the Route66 maps might not be as complete as I want... I heard they don't even have Newcastle!! Do any others out there have experience with R66?

Route 66 is crap. It even looks crap.

Tomtom or iGo ( Mio ) seem to have the best map coverage , but there is no guarantee any map will have everything you want in rural areas. Tomtom has probably the best POI database through third party support though as mentioned you can use conversion tools to get them to work on other software. Most popular GPS software is easily " aquired " unless you want to pay for it.

I am not sure what features the cheaper units have , but as mentioned you get what you pay for. A PDA with inbuilt GPS , Bluetooth etc may suit you better. I have had an Asus A636 for a number of years and cant fault it. It runs Windows Mobile 5 , has a built in GPS chip , bluettoth , wifi and just about everything else you need. A PDA also gives you the easy option of running whatever GPS software you want on it.

Other than that , it might be worth looking at a dedicated Tomtom unit though I am not 100% sure of features and pricing.

[Iangh]

Route 66 is crap. It even looks crap.

Tomtom or iGo ( Mio ) seem to have the best map coverage , but there is no guarantee any map will have everything you want in rural areas. Tomtom has probably the best POI database through third party support though as mentioned you can use conversion tools to get them to work on other software. Most popular GPS software is easily " aquired " unless you want to pay for it.

I am not sure what features the cheaper units have , but as mentioned you get what you pay for. A PDA with inbuilt GPS , Bluetooth etc may suit you better. I have had an Asus A636 for a number of years and cant fault it. It runs Windows Mobile 5 , has a built in GPS chip , bluettoth , wifi and just about everything else you need. A PDA also gives you the easy option of running whatever GPS software you want on it.

Other than that , it might be worth looking at a dedicated Tomtom unit though I am not 100% sure of features and pricing.

I got Route66 with my 7" w/s model off ebay from . Horrible! Driving down the Eastern freeway in Melborne and for some reason it started giving me instructions to leave the freeway even though I needed to go to the end. Very strange. I have now loaded IGO8 and am very impressed. It is also up-to-date and shows Eastlink.

Ian