getting ready to upgrade

[RedShoesGirl]

I have an eTrex yellow and since I am starting a new job in a much bigger town, I am thinking an upgrade would be nice. Something that I could enter in addresses and have the GPS show me the way.

 

I was looking at the Legend or the Vista. Do either of those offer than feature?

 

The Garmin V is out of my price range.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

lara

[+ZachNLiam]

The Legend and Vista will show you where an address is and direct you toward it in a straight line only. And they will only do this if you add the appropriate mapping software, such as MetroGuide.

 

MetroGuide is $175 on Garmin's website (less somewhere else I'm sure).

 

Since the GPSV COMES WITH mapping software AND gives you TURN BY TURN directions, I think the V is a better deal.

 

Common prices for the Legend are around $250. With mapping sotware you're at least at $400 with a decent deal on the maps (unless you can find them used).

 

Apparently the GPSV can be found for a little over $400.

 

The Vista is even MORE.

 

The turn-by-turn is amazing, by the way.

[RedShoesGirl]

[since the GPSV COMES WITH mapping software AND gives you TURN BY TURN directions, I think the V is a better deal.

 

Common prices for the Legend are around $250. With mapping sotware you're at least at $400 with a decent deal on the maps (unless you can find them used).

 

Apparently the GPSV can be found for a little over $400.

 

The Vista is even MORE.

 

On Ebay a new Vista is $287 and with a $50 rebate that brings it down to $237. But unless I can make the software and everything work on a Mac it is a moot point.

 

I was reading in another thread what one guy had to do in order to make it all work on a Mac. I have been reading the Garmin website trying to figure out if the GPSV software and maps are Mac compatible.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Makes sense to get the better unit at some point.

[+ZachNLiam]

No, they're only for PCs. A few people on these forums are running Macs with gps units. They use a USB to Serial adaptor and run VirtualPC software. Some have good luck - others don't.

[peter]

The GPS V is a nice unit, but there are less expensive alternatives if you can live without the auto-routing.

www.tvnav.com and some other dealers sell an eMap package deal which includes the interface cable, 8 MB memory card, and MetroGuide-USA software for about $215. There are also pretty good deals available for the Magellan SporTrak Map and MapSend software.

 

These won't give you auto-routing, but they will let you enter an address and have the unit show you the direction and distance to get there. It's usually not hard to figure out an appopriate route manually on the unit's map. I've been very satisfied using my eMap this way to find my way to specified addresses in unfamiliar locations.

 

I don't have any experience using these units with Macs, but have heard mainly success stories using the latest version of Virtual PC. Also consider that most people don't have to load maps all that frequently - is there an available PC at work, friends, etc.?

[+apersson850]

Since I have a Vista, I don't have auto-rotuing in the unit. But I use it mostly for hand-held navigation, in which case it doesn't matter.

 

When I do need auto-routing, I try to use the ability of MapSource to create an auto-route to the target. After that, I download that route to the Vista. Not at all as flexible as the GPS V, but better than settling with the straight line only.

 

Anders

[+Grizz1]

Hi Lara, Get the V you can get to the flags faster that way

 

Grizz

[+Grizz1]

Hi Lara, Get the V you can get to the flags faster that way

 

Grizz