What car nav. system will work

[+The Auclair Family]

I have a handheld gps but i am looking for a car nav. system that you can enter coodinates into so i can use this while driving from cache to cache. I would prefer something cheap and was looking at the tomtom one or something along this line.

[+briansnat]

They all work. It's just a matter of how well. My folks have a Garmin Streetpilot C330 which works very well and didn't cost a lot.

 

I've seen Nuvis on sale for under $200 from time to time and would be something to consider at that price.

 

I have a Magellan Roadmate that I really don't care for. The interface is just plain terrible and sometimes it can take a very long time to get reception; as much as a half hour.

Edited February 27, 2008 by briansnat

[+thebuddhaman]

i have a garmin streetpilot 330 and it works great,i down load caches to it with easy gps its easy to take into and out of the truck and was less than 200.00

[Neos2]

Here's another idea to think about. If you spent the money on a second handheld gps with autorouting you could have the navigation you want for the car and an additional gps to use while hunting caches.

 

My husband drives a truck locally (over about a three state distance). He has to go to lots of small out of the way farms on country roads as well as to distribution centers in large cities.

 

He uses his Garmin 60 CS (with city maps) to navigate to his stops. During work, he usually leaves his unit on all day and plugged into the lighter (it doesn't loses any charge while plugged in). You can't get voice prompts with the handheld units, but the screen is just large enough that he can read the names of upcoming streets on the information bar, and the signal sounds can be set loud enough that he can hear the prompts even over the noise of the truck and the CB --which is always on while he works.

 

We also use it while geocaching. He has a sand-bag type dash mount, so it's easy to switch from one vehicle to the other. The holder is small enough to hide under the seat or in the glove box while we hunt for a cache (to avoid attracting light fingers to our vehicle). I admit it's a slight pain to hook the unit back up once we get back in the car--but there are other mounting brackets that are more simple.

 

We sometimes use my 60CSx in the dash mount instead of his unit when we travel (because it holds more maps than his unit and so I load both topo and city maps in my unit. His will hold enough maps for the entire area he has to drive for work, but not too much more. It looks like several of the newer models will hold as much as mine and autoroute and cost less than the 60CSx. (Personally I am fond of the 60CSx and I recommend it for it's screen size, shape, mass, and the location of the buttons but others feel differently). Even though you would have to purchase maps for the handheld to get the autorouting, the handhelds still come in at about the same price as the models designed for cars that most people seem to recommend.

 

In fact, we first got into caching because I bought him a gps so he could route himself around major road closings due to accidents or find his way when he had been given bad directions.

[+Confucius' Cat]

I use a laptop computer and the Delorme USB GPSr. The package of software and GPSr sells for less than $100 and you get a REALLY BIG easy to read screen. I have a separate computer that is semi-permanently mounted in the vehicle and committed to this primary purpose in addition to my tech computer because I am too lazy to mount and unmount the thing.

 

I realise this is pretty expensive compared to a tom-tom or other such minuscule, eye- straining distracted driving device, but if one already HAS a spare laptop it is really very cost effective.

 

If I did not want the laptop taking up so much room, i would probably consider a unit that replaces the car radio in the dash. I have seen these but have no information on them. At least they have a bigger screen than the tom-toms.

[+TeamGumbo]

My wife has a TomTone One 3rd Edition, and it is pretty easy to put lat-long coordinates in there (I've even used it to find a couple of caches, although I wouldn't use one primarily for that).

 

I paid $149 at Amazon, but it's $169 right now.

[+The Auclair Family]

Thanks everyone i bought a new garmin streetpilot C330 on eay for $135.00 i couldn't pass it up. Now does anyone know how to send coordinates to it via gsak or enter them manually

[+boda]

I use a laptop computer and the Delorme USB GPSr. The package of software and GPSr sells for less than $100 and you get a REALLY BIG easy to read screen. I have a separate computer that is semi-permanently mounted in the vehicle and committed to this primary purpose in addition to my tech computer because I am too lazy to mount and unmount the thing.

 

I realise this is pretty expensive compared to a tom-tom or other such minuscule, eye- straining distracted driving device, but if one already HAS a spare laptop it is really very cost effective.

 

If I did not want the laptop taking up so much room, i would probably consider a unit that replaces the car radio in the dash. I have seen these but have no information on them. At least they have a bigger screen than the tom-toms.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 660 that works well for getting to the cache. I also have a MAP 60CS that I use when I leave the car. I used to use the handheld for both and was very happy that way. Now that I have the Nuvi, I am just a bit happier. The 660 does not come cheap, but cheaper Nuvis will also work well.

 

Confucius' Cat - I installed n'route (free download from Garmin) on my laptop that let's me use my MAP 60 the same way you use your Delorme. How do you prevent glare? I have a big problem when I use my laptop in the car. Thanks.

[+ClydeE]

Thanks everyone i bought a new garmin streetpilot C330 on eay for $135.00 i couldn't pass it up. Now does anyone know how to send coordinates to it via gsak or enter them manually

 

GSAK sends waypoints to this device the same way as the 60x series devices. Just make sure the USB driver for the unit has been installed, hook up the cable, then use "GPS=>Send waypoints" (in GPS=>Setup, make sure you have selected Garmin and have also checked the "GPSr is USB box")

[+Confucius' Cat]

Confucius' Cat - I installed n'route (free download from Garmin) on my laptop that let's me use my MAP 60 the same way you use your Delorme. How do you prevent glare? I have a big problem when I use my laptop in the car. Thanks.

By glare do you mean the extreme brightness of the screen at night or sun glare in the day time? Both are valid concerns.

 

I have mine mounted below dash level so it does not block any of the outside vision. I applied black sticky felt on all the shiny surfaces of the laptop (as well as on all that stupid chrome Ford figured i need on the dash and operating controls).

 

I don't really have a glare problem on the screen itself in most conditions. Of course that is a big variable as are all lighting conditions relating to a moving vehicle.

 

It is a common drawback of the several laptops I have used over the past few years that the screen is too dim in bright light and too bright at night. Also the screen brightness adjustment requires two hands, making it difficult to change while in motion.

 

I have fine-tuned the Windows screen colour and size settings for best visibility, using 1024X768 and 150% magnification on Delorme to enable reading it in very quick glances (this is the secret for successful 'distracted driving' - with proper setup, I would contend computer operation -basic tasks only- is no more dangerous than changing a CD).

 

At night, I use the "high contrast colours" and turn the screen brightness all the way down. My screen is attached to its upper support by Velcro and I can grab it and close the screen if I find the brightness diminishes my vision when making a right turn in pitch darkness.

 

I also have the screen saver set to "blank screen" and a short time out. All it takes is a touch of the pad to bring the map back.

 

These drawbacks are not that severe and i have used a Street Pilot (old model) for many years and had the same contrast and visibility difficulties with its screen. It is loads better as a dash mount GPS than the typical hand-helds though.

 

i guess, looking at all this, that the laptop isn't really the BEST way to go just for nav, but it is really cool to be able to do all the other things you can do with a full scale computer.

 

I'm weird too in that i run 120 Volts 100% of the time in my vehicle. This makes the use of normal computer accessories (and various test equipment and tools) possible. I have a 2100W inverter which is wired to a deep-cycle blue-top AGM battery with a dual battery charging system and fed by #2 copper, but hey that's just "me."

 

Basically i guess its a geek setup that is not for everyone. Really nice though.

[+boda]

Confucius' Cat - I installed n'route (free download from Garmin) on my laptop that let's me use my MAP 60 the same way you use your Delorme. How do you prevent glare? I have a big problem when I use my laptop in the car. Thanks.

By glare do you mean the extreme brightness of the screen at night or sun glare in the day time? Both are valid concerns.

 

I have mine mounted below dash level so it does not block any of the outside vision. I applied black sticky felt on all the shiny surfaces of the laptop (as well as on all that stupid chrome Ford figured i need on the dash and operating controls).

 

I don't really have a glare problem on the screen itself in most conditions. Of course that is a big variable as are all lighting conditions relating to a moving vehicle.

 

It is a common drawback of the several laptops I have used over the past few years that the screen is too dim in bright light and too bright at night. Also the screen brightness adjustment requires two hands, making it difficult to change while in motion.

 

I have fine-tuned the Windows screen colour and size settings for best visibility, using 1024X768 and 150% magnification on Delorme to enable reading it in very quick glances (this is the secret for successful 'distracted driving' - with proper setup, I would contend computer operation -basic tasks only- is no more dangerous than changing a CD).

 

At night, I use the "high contrast colours" and turn the screen brightness all the way down. My screen is attached to its upper support by Velcro and I can grab it and close the screen if I find the brightness diminishes my vision when making a right turn in pitch darkness.

 

I also have the screen saver set to "blank screen" and a short time out. All it takes is a touch of the pad to bring the map back.

 

These drawbacks are not that severe and i have used a Street Pilot (old model) for many years and had the same contrast and visibility difficulties with its screen. It is loads better as a dash mount GPS than the typical hand-helds though.

 

i guess, looking at all this, that the laptop isn't really the BEST way to go just for nav, but it is really cool to be able to do all the other things you can do with a full scale computer.

 

I'm weird too in that i run 120 Volts 100% of the time in my vehicle. This makes the use of normal computer accessories (and various test equipment and tools) possible. I have a 2100W inverter which is wired to a deep-cycle blue-top AGM battery with a dual battery charging system and fed by #2 copper, but hey that's just "me."

 

Basically i guess its a geek setup that is not for everyone. Really nice though.

WOW!

Thanks, CC, I appreciate the response. I was more concerned with the sun glare. You have a great system. I'm impressed!

 

Thanks again.