After market GPS

http://gpsinformation.net

In their ratings, it's rated below a few Garmin and Magellan units. They liked the bright display, but hated the routing. The good news is that the routing is fixable via a software update, and might be improved now (the review is several months old).

I'm thinking about picking up a Garmin 2620 just because I travel a lot and can't always rent a car with GPS, or am not the one renting a car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Jan 16 2006, 01:58 PM) [snapback]191231[/snapback]</div>

I picked up Magellan 800 today. Can't figure out for the life of me how to seat it on the dash. Anyone have a Magellan GPS that could share with me how you did it. I'd greatly appreciate it

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(actuary32174 @ Jan 16 2006, 11:22 AM) [snapback]191087[/snapback]</div>

I have tried to post pictures of my mount and have failed, sorry.

I looked at the Lowarnce and rejected it because it had a built in hard disk. I figured it would eventually fail.

After a very long history of multiple devices including a Garmin 5, Garmin ique 3600, Bluetooth GPS to various palms, pocketpc's, and smartphones, I have adoped the Garmin Nuvi 350 and I am very happy.

It has the entire US and Canada maps loaded. It has a SD slot for additional maps or for Audio books, pictures or MP3 music. It has built in speakers, OK, but not as good as the car radio, and audio out that works with the Aux IN. Great Sound.

The receiver is very sensitive and ther routing is far superior to TomTom.

The real surprise was that the included suction cup mount works with the Prius. I have tried various mounts and none worked for me. (the the garmin ique, I had a RAM mount for the front cup holder that was OK).

The Nuvi suction cup mount has a small suction cup around 2" diameter. It just fits the on the smooth surface of the fold out front cup holder. attach it there then fold the cupholder open. The sets the mount in front fo the console/cup holder. The Nuvi then attaches and it looks like it was designed to be there.

If the suction cup does not hold, reapply. There is minimal room in the center, more room to the right or left due to the finger slot to open the cupholder. With careful placement, it really holds.

Run the power cable and an audio cable along the right side of the consold to the rear then enter the console near the hinge then plug in to power and Audio.

You may need a line isolation filter if you have noise. This is true of most MP3 players.

Don't try and use aftermarket miniUSB power adapters. They will not work correctly with the NUVI. They will recharge the nuvi, but they will put the Nuvi into sync to PC mode. THe Garmin PowerAdapters work correctly.

I like the Nuvi design. It is very easy to use and the reception has been fantastic.

The 360 will be released soon. It will add Bluetooth and a microphone so it will also act as a bluetooth hands free interface for cell phones.

Shop the internet. I found my Nuvi350 discounted at Buydig. It was the same price as a Lowrance. I think it is much more reliable and faster. It is also faster than the Factory Pioneer DVD GPS unit.

 

I have Iway 350c and it is my first GPS. I got it due to the features I needed when I had my previous car. I needed the FM transmittor and MP3 player which I don't need anymore for Prius with Aux jack and build in mp3/wma player.

The hard drive doesn't give problem but it has lags going through items on the menu. This is probably due to save the battery power by parking the drive. IWay 350c came with the latest maps from Nav Tech that Google and Yahoo map uses.

Reliability for battery and overheating issue seems kinda high.

If I were to get a GPS for Prius now, i would go with a different one.

Dennis

 

I purchased a garmin 2720 and its great.Prior to this i had a black and white street pilot and a street pilot
3.the 2720 has a chip preloaded with all the maps.last yrs units had a hard drive and i think they had problems
with it as it is no longer used in the new ones.we al know what can happen to your computer hard drive if it
gets a good bump while working.
I called garmin support a couple times and they are great but have to be on hold 30 min or longer.