If you only drive on local, well-known roads, a GPS might not be a good investment for you. But if your travels take you into new places – either for work or pleasure – or if you have trouble reading maps, you might want to give serious consideration to purchasing a global positioning system (GPS) navigator for your car.
Before you buy a GPS system, you should think about your usual driving conditions. Think about how often you find yourself traveling to unfamiliar areas, and consider the kinds of features that are available, and whether or how often you might use them. With that information in mind, you can begin looking at both the devices themselves and the service that backs them up. In some cases, you pay for the equipment and the service separately, so consider both costs when you’re evaluating the products. Most services are available by subscription, and may offer a discount for longer periods. Do you frequently drive more than one car? If so, a portable GPS device may be a better choice for you than a built-in device – even if it’s slightly more expensive to use.
Whatever product you wind up with, all of these systems start by entering a destination into the unit. The system will then plot a route to your destination, and, depending on the system or the options that you have, the system may give you spoken turn-by-turn directions as well. The route will be mapped out as you go, and most of these systems will let you choose your route, including the shortest distance, the best time, or even a specific route with no toll roads.
An added advantage of using these systems is that you can quickly find a variety of services, such as gas stations, ATMs, restaurants, and hotels. Some even note local tourist attractions! With most models, you can search for a specific point of interest, and you can even choose a restaurant nearby, based on the type of food you like to eat.
Some of these added features are surely wonderful, but you have to carefully consider how well the system works for navigation. That’s what you are buying it for, after all! The best models will make it easy for you to enter destinations and will give helpful, easy-to-follow directions. For this reason, both the Garmin and TomTom brands are good choices.
If you’re getting a new car, you may find that it already has a built-in system available. These kinds of system are nicely integrated into the car, but they tend to be more complicated to use and are typically more expensive than portable systems – both initially and for subsequent updates. Most people are very happy with the after-market systems that are available, so don’t let this be a determining factor in your purchase.
If you decide to go with an after-market system, you have three basic choices for portable systems – basic, traffic optional, and traffic ready. The basic has no text-to-speech capabilities. These are no-frills navigators, which are ideal for those who don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. For this reason, these are some of the most compact models and range between $100 and $300.
The traffic optional models are best if you don’t need traffic info now, but might want to add it at some time in the future. You’ll have to buy a second receiver later on if you decide to add this functionality, and that can cost around $200 dollars. It’s common for these models to have additional features, like spoken street names, and they typically range in cost from $150 to $500.
A top-of-the-line, traffic ready unit usually comes with traffic reporting and a built-in or included external receiver. These models have all the features outlined above, and include the addition of a music and video player, Bluetooth, FM transmitter, and wider screen than other models. These units are ideal for people who want to carry fewer electronic devices on their trips, and typically cost between $200 to $700 dollars.
