I'm looking to get one that works better than the one that I have now. Yeah, the smart phones work just fine, but I don't want to have to use it as a GPS.

The Magellan that I have, even with just spending the $$ to update the maps, doesn't have roads on it that are 3-4 years old, and it can't even find where my house is. If it can't find my house, how many other places can't it find?? The last time I had to use the Magellan, I used it to get close, then the smart phone to get me exact.

So, any suggestions on which one? I'm considering the Garmin Nuvi 3597LMTHD.

There were times I wished I just had an ol' fashioned paper map!

I just bought a new one. It's a Garmin Nuvi 65 LMT. So far, it's OK but I really don't use it that much.

I do know what ever you do get do your best to stay away from the lithium ion battery if you plan on leaving it in your car or truck. The heat will dink the battery in less than a year and you will not be happy trying to replace the battery.

I have a fantastic tom tom but will not work unless plugged into a power supply now with a dinked battery.

Cheers Don.

I have 2 different Tom Tom LMT's (Lifetime Maps, Traffic). I also have the Garmin DESL760 for trucks and RV's that has warnings for low clearance bridges and restricted weight roads that I use in the big truck......it also tracks IFTA fuel tax miles in each state and has an electronic log book for Hours Of Service compliance. My son in law got the high end Magellan, and went back to his DESL within a week...

All get quarterly map updates that work well and are pretty current along with giving current construction area warnings and current traffic delays in larger city areas.

Tom Tom has MUCH better customer support if needed....Garmin basically doesn't care if you have an issue...

Rex, I knew you had a Tom Tom and was wondering how it's worked for ya. I don't see much about them in the reviews, but I think I should start looking at 'em!

Donno, thanks for the warning. Typically I take it out of the vehicle when it's not needed, but as things progress it will be needed more frequently. I know that in the VW it would be 140°F if I kept the windows up on a sunny summer day.

GPS are for off-road... IMHO a smart phone and updated atlas are your best bet for travel by road...

That being said, my boys are taught everytime we travel long trips how to read a map... My MIL had them sitting in the back of our truck this summer on the way to Maine in awe because she was always one step ahead of the NAV in the truck..

Reading a compass is on their to do list also...

Sean, I agree about the maps and compass. Once you have that skill, and use it enough, you'll never lose it. That also applies to knowing how to fold the maps back up! Get 'em a Silva Compass. The one that I used to use was very similar to this: http://store.silvacompass.com/professional-military-ranger-cl

Having a navigator helps immensely, but since I do 99% of the driving by myself, the GPS (if it's a good one) takes the place of having a warm body in the passenger seat.

Rex, since you have first hand experience with both (or all 3) companies, how does the response time of the different brands compare, i.e. how much lead time do you get before getting notified that a turn is coming, or that you should be in such and such lane for an exit?

My Garmin is pretty quick for pointing exits out and which lane you need to be in, like going thru Chicago and stuff with road construction. Having FM, if the area is broadcasting, is really nice. Warns of impending situations ahead and will reroute you as necessary. That feature works really well.

I just leave mine plugged in all the time. Speedo is accurate to Police radar and usually if I pass a speed limit sign, that changes like dang near instantly, if it's mapped.

Only place it led me astray was heading to your place. Other than that, hit the mark right on!

Now, I have the original maps that came with it, no upgraded maps, but it has the 31 bypass in it down to the last detail of exits, curves, speed limits, intersections... That was just built last year and my Garmin is ~4 years old. How can that be? I'm just wondering if I'm getting satellite downloads to this with new updates? Sometimes, it can take hours to load the maps.

Only real thing I don't like, is once in a while you'll loose streaming satellite, but you can manually toggle back and forth to get current data. Suppose it's a firmware glitch tho.

All in all, I kinda like mine, even with the glitches.

I keep telling myself I'm gonna get a new one, but just re-boot the thing and the world is round again.

Hey, it's not my fault Indiana don't broadcast in FM

Lynda got me a little "Bushnell Back-Track" several years ago. It is a limited GPS device and an electronic compass. It lets you put in three way-points, and it tells how far, and what direction you are away from your waypoints.

It isn't for driving. It is for walking/boating/etc.

I love it. Although, these days I mostly use it in big parking lots to find my little car or little truck when I park between the big trucks and vans. I don't do much in big wilderness anymore, but in conjunction with a map, it is fantastic. I used it to finally find all my property markers using my property plat -- twenty seven different "corners" with neighboring properties. It is also great if you are on a big lake with lots of twists, turns, and coves. When the grandkids ask "are we there yet" when you are doing a river float canoe trip, you can set the start point and end point. It gives you a pretty good idea of how far you still have to go. If you have a fishing map, it gives you a pretty good idea where to find rapids, etc.

The best things are that is uses just two AAA batteries that last for many months, and the whole thing is only a little bigger than a pocket watch.

Anyway, it is just something else to think about.

JKB summed up features pretty well. Of the ones I have, my DESL760 is my fave! It has a 7" screen, but isn't overly large while being very easy to see/program on the move...a big deal in an area like Chicago in heavy traffic!

I like the new "exit" view both Tom Tom and Garmin have. They both post an actual picture of the exit along with what lane(s) you should be in. Notification at highway speeds are 2 miles, and at least 3 warnings along with distance in tenths of a mile, and feet. At slower speed, exits will be from couple tenths of a mile to a miles, but always plenty of heads up. Loading and recalculation times are really fast now also.

Whatever you get, get the lifetime map and traffic version. Bothe Tom Tom and Garmin include a "user update" correction loading capacity as an option too. If you see a map, speed limit, or other error, you can comment on your unit, and when you connect to a computer, you have the option to report errors. If a few other's report the same, the manufacturers create a map update to correct your unit.

Scott, another huge bonus is the phone book that is loaded into the units....anything from a gas station to lodging, to repair shops to gun range can be found, with phone number.

Rex, unless something comes up that sways me in another direction, I'm leaning towards the TomTom 600.

The wife's Explorer has an OEM GPS but I gotta get one of these portables for the truck. My wife keeps bugging me. She was embarrassed for some reason when we were going to Keystone Hatchery for the first time and had to call the nice gal in the office 3 times for directions. Finally the gal just kept me on the phone and said "I am watching out the window. Are you in the gray truck that keeps driving by?" I still think they need a bigger sign!

Only bad thing about a map if you're by yourself is if you want a red light to read the damn thing it's always green! Otherwise it's red light every time!

Scott,

I am serious about needing to get one. What's swaying you towards TomTom 600? And yes, the Keystone story is true. Very nice lady.

Bill

Bill:

I know that the Garmin and Magellan GPS units can't find my house, and the Magellan GPS unit that I just bought and downloaded the updated maps for couldn't find a business that was on a road built 4 years ago.

When Rex came here, his Tom Tom found the place. BUT, after posting what I did, and reading a lot more reviews, now I'm not sure.

I just don't know now.

Some things I want in it:
Lifetime maps and lifetime whatever upgrades are needed, having the traffic feature is nice but not mandatory.

Have maps that are newer than 4-5 years old.

Be accurate. Both those untits listed show my place as about a mile in the wrong direction. If my place is wrong, how many others are???

Fast response time instead of telling me that I need to be in the left lane to exit the freeway to go to the right when I'm a 1/4 mile before the exit and I'm in the right lane expecting to exit right while going 65 mph. (Sheesh, you understand that?)

Anti glare or at least a matt screen. NOT smooth shiny glass that shows every reflection.

A legible voice for instructions.

Able to input ALL cities or roads manually. The Magellan that I have has a "smart virtual keyboard" that that only allows you to select letters that it thinks are next in a street name or city. Only work around is if you know the zip code. The voice feature on the newer ones sounds nice, but if it can't recognize what you are saying over the road noise, then what't the point? (like my voice to text on the smartphone)

A screen size so I can actually read what's on the screen. and no, I don't think I'm to the point of needing glasses (yet). At least that's what the DMV said when I renewed my license late last year!!

We have a Garmin Nuvi 755. Wouldn't think of traveling without it. The traffic updates are awesome, (especially when traveling through Atlanta), and yes it shows you which direction your next maneuver needs to be made in, and you can scroll through a list of all the maneuvers needed to reach your destination from start to finish, so you've got some idea of what's coming up...again, very helpful when traveling 70 mph through Atlanta.

After years of using a Tom Tom, we went to Garmin Nuvi 52 with lifetime updates last year. So far so good, and I like how Garmin works with Google.

We had 13 deer feeders at the old hunting lease, and all the waypoints, trails, etc., transferred easily from my Garmin 60CSx to Google Earth. I wish I remembered how I got the Garmin GPX file to Google's KML format, but I don't. I just remember it was pretty easy to do.

Lot's of 3rd party software for PC/Mac available for the Garmin also.

I kinda like this one: nüvi® 2798LMT with Backup Camera

Scott, IIRC, the first time I went to your place, my tom-tom wanted me to turn left instead of right, but you had pre-warned me. After that, I simply saved your location as longitude and latitude. Your address, like many "mistakes" are not the fault of maps or GPS glitches, but the USPS giving map makers incorrect street number information.

Garmin, Tom-Tom and Magellan all use third party map software services, as per their disclosures....