[Spag]

Originally Posted by Celt03

We have been considering buying a GPS for hubby and looking at them.

I have talked to a lot of people that have a GPS, I inquired about how they liked them, ease of use, & if they had owned other units in the past.
Garmin - 1/2 the Garmin owners loved them & 1/2 hated them.
TomTom - 2/3 the TomTom owners loved them & 1/3 hated them
Magellan - Almost all the owners loved them - only talked to one who was ready to trash it.

Now granted - the majority had Garmin or TomTom. But we discovered that the Magellan owners had mostly owned other brands prior and would not switch back.

We witnessed one Garmin owner having thier unit show them a long way from where they were - it made for a hmm moment.

I still have not decided but am looking much harder at the Magellan line.

I believe that what is most important is that you should pick your GPS based on the features YOU are interested in.

All of the GPS's are basically the same - it is really the specific features that set them apart. The thing to remember is that each manufacturer has different ways of setting route preferences and avoidances. Don't plan on any GPS predicting what you prefer fresh out of the box. All you need to do is spend a minute or two setting your driving preferences before you first use it and you are ready to go.

I am a die-hard Garmin person myself. My nuvi does have a QWERTY keyboard. It also accepts any type of route you wish - as complicated as you can create or find and download (without the need to set any waypoints). As soon as I get the route for any of the group rides, I import it into the GPS and never think about it again. I rarely use it to get from point A to point B. I have my nuvi set so it warns me of speed traps, traffic lights and if I'm driving too far above the speed limit. It even plays a little tone to let me know whenever I am in the vicinity of a coffee house.

As for ease of operation, that is also dependent on the model you choose. Garmin has completely different types of GUI that are model dependent.

I looked at Tom-Tom and didn't even consider it since I couldn't find one with the features that I wanted. Who knows though, maybe they have released a model that I would have liked by now... I have set my parents up with a very simple version of the nuvi and they love it. They even call garmin with quick questions and are always treated with great respect from their customer service.



(PS - I've never met a person who went from Garmin to Tom-Tom, but know a lot of people who went the other way... so don't base your decision on what you have heard - check them out!)