GPS unit selection question

I'm working on selecting a navigation unit for a Summer trip. My largest concern is whether I'll be able read the thing in top-down bright sunshine. I saw Bruce Chow's set-up at Morro and it looked great, positioned just above his steering wheel.
For sure, my cell phone's display is useless in the direct sunshine, so I'm wondering how well the various GPS units perform in bright light.
Thanks, Ernie.

I've found that I rely more on the voice commands than the visual display.

Me too...

Been listening to John Cleese give me directions for a while, time to try something else, like a London Cabby.

Sun rises in the east, sets in the west. As long as it's not pouring rain or snow, who REALY cares.....To steal a parody of a quote from Blazing Saddles, GPS? GPS? We don't need no stinking GPS!!! I'll know where I am soon enough.....

HA - "Sun rises in the east, sets in the west" --- so just don't drive after dark or you'll have to check trees for moss growing on N side. My GPS has a day/night option for display. Couldn't you mount under dash as signal should go through the fiberglass like it does through a windo.

My $150 Tom-Tom hasn't failed me yet - it's not been used in my speedster yet...but with the night color option, maybe a below-the-dash mount...I think you'd be doin' just fine.

I use low tech Rand McNally and they've never failed me yet either. But they have led to some heated discussions in the car with the significant other as she had one hell of a time deciphering and conveying to me accurately the direction. A GPS would have led to a few less "silent treatments" I'm sure. (perhaps if she used John Cleese's voice?)

But then again, some of the best times are those when you get lost. Stayed and eaten at some great places in Europe when I was lost and didn't know where the heck I was. Like the time I ended up in a town with the same name as the town I wanted to be (same spelling exactly) but in the wrong province or whatever the heck it was called. Both towns about 50 kms apart. Still had a great time.

Life is getting too exact. I'd rather have an idea of where I'm at than know exactly. Like clocks and watches...really only need the hour hand cause it'll tell me if its about o'clock, or close to quarter after, or anound ##-thirty, etc. Good enough for me.

"No matter where you go.....there you are!

Brian:

I live in Beaufort, South Carolina (pronounced Bew-fort....long "U"), right on the coast.

There is a Beaufort, North Carolina (pronounced Bo-fort....long "O"), again, right on the coast.

Both were named for the same English dude.

Even though they're only separated by about 5 hours drive time, both are light years apart.

P.S.: I've been informed that the right seater has "HAD ENOUGH OF THAT DAMN JOHN CLEESE" and we'll be listening to the dulcet tones of "Irish Kathy" as our guide on our "Great Northern Migration" coming up soon. Should be cool - we're taking the inland route this trip.

P.P.S.: I've got a Tom Tom 720 which I've used in or on every vehicle I own, including the Speedster and my bicycle. It gets a little washed out in direct sunshine (like on the bike) but you can still see it (although I still just listen for instructions and seldom look at it. In fact, the display is very rudimentary over 60mph, anyway)

One of the best features is to simply go off on a ride and either turn it off or down and not pay attention to it. Then, when you've had enough riding, simply push the "Home" button and it takes you home.

gn

...then there's one of my favorite scenes from 'Plane, Trains & Automobiles'! John Candy, with sleeping passenger Steve Martin, driving on the wrong side of the highway when a car on the proper side of the road hollers at them '...you're going the WRONG WAY!!!!' - to which John Candy rolls his eyes at Steve Martin and says '...how do THEY know where we're going?!'

Larry is 100% correct---as long as you can hear it--that's all you really need.

My Garmin works great in my Cadillac DHS---I hear it great.

I'm wondering how I can hear it in my very noisey VS!!!

It took me a week to figure out how to mount it and it ended up being simple. I put a wire around the mounting piece in the back that connects to a suction window mount. Then a plastic tie with a clip on one end for that wire in the back and a ring on the other end that hangs it from the rtonneau cover snap on the dash. Just hangs there perfectly and the antenna gets a good view of the satellites.

I'll have my top all the way to Carlisle so I should have no problem seeing it ---but hearing it may be a different story.

A week from today---am I psyched or what!!---Jack

I'll throw the counterpoint in here.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 660, which my wife and I received as a wedding gift from our wedding party. We used it during the honeymoon last summer in Hawaii, and the only type of vehicle we rented was a Jeep. The Jeep has a lot of wind noise and tire noise with the top down, so there wasn't a damn thing I could hear, no matter how loud I had the volume turned up.

But, I did find the Nuvi was bright enough, even in direct sunlight with the top down on the Jeep, to see the map and where we needed to go.

I highly recommend the Nuvi - we've had great luck with it, and you can download a bunch of different map icons for your vehicle; one of these is a small convertible car - pick your appropriate color!

:)

Chris

I have inexpensive INVION 3" and another 4" from Staples. It features removeable 2 GB SD memory for adding MP3 (music) or MP4 (video) playback. It can transmit to radio via FM and has a speaker out jack. They also come in 3, 5, 7" versions.

Hey Ernie,
I did like my set up as well. Its a Garmin 360. It's fine for my purposes. However, with the top down, it's difficult to hear the voice from the GPS unit (even with volume turned all the way up). Your hearing might be better than mine though. The higher models have an anti glare screen. Check out Garmin.com. I've found anything smaller than mine is too small, too big and I'd have to mount it somewhere else. Good luck!

bc

...I don't know 'Jack' about GPS systems, but would it be possible to rig an earphone to those things (like those for cell phones)?

The Consumer's Report magazine that just came out has an evaluation of them - off top of head Garmin rated high (as it should at $400-660) and for basic ones the Tom-Tom One Version 3 got a CR BestBuy. You can also get one for your laptop --- MS Trips & Streets with GPS is under $100 (I got one for $76 - get the current year version) - it works with PDAs too.

Magellan's.... I have had two go bad within a year.

Tom Tom 3rd edition works great for me. I find the voice commands are more than adequate for good directions . you don`t , in most cases need the visual commands.Check out "the gpslodge.com ". Tom

Garmin has a bunch of different versions, but all use the same basic operating system and maps. So, if you only want to spend $100-150, check out some of the lower end models.

To my recollection, a lot of them have a jack for a headphone / earpiece / aux speaker. The pricier ones even have bluetooth, which is pretty sweet because you can access your phone's saved names and numbers through the GPS interface without touching your phone. You can also use the GPS unit's microphone and speaker as a hands-free set.

It's pretty geeky - I love it. :)

I have used a Garmin for the past three years and highly recommend it. It is clear on bright days, you can change the voice when you tire of it and you can update it throught the internet before each trip to be sure it is as accurate as possible. The best thing is it eliminates the right seat from saying "You got us lost AGAIN!" and has kept the Lovely Miss Sharon's attitude ever so lovely, after all.

Happy Trails,
Dusty and LMS

I'm not sure about all the Garmin features, but the Tom Tom 720 has an IPOD connection that then takes over control of the IPOD right from the GPS screen. I then feed the GPS speaker output (stereo, no less!!) out to the AUX input on my in-dash stereo so I get IPOD sound and the GPS voice through the stereo. When the GPS wants to tell me something it mutes the IPOD during the message.

I've also got it running bluetooth to my phone so I can make and receive calls through the stereo, too. Geeky and cool! And you can turn he volume WAY UP!