I was thinking about getting my wife a GPS unit for her car for Xmas. She has a company car, though, so I need to get something that can be used without doing anything permanent to the vehicle. Anyone have any recommendations?

Re: Portable GPS Units?

friend has one of the Garmin units - i think kamal has one too.

Re: Portable GPS Units?

Garmin FTW. If you get MSN Direct in your area, would definitely recommend it. I have a Garmin 780 right now and its pretty good.

Re: Portable GPS Units?

We do get it, but it looks like the coverage doesn't extend everywhere she's likely to be (she's a drug rep, drives around all day for work). What happens when you are outside of it's coverage? Does it just no work anymore?

Re: Portable GPS Units?

yes it is unable to connect to the towers and get updated information. I drove with mine to NYC over the weekend and it would not display local gas prices and other information pertinent to your location (local shows, weather, etc.) in areas where there was no service.

also it takes a good bit to update the very first time but once it updates, you should be ok.

If you dont mind giving up everything else that MSN Direct has to offer and opt only for traffic updates, get the Nuvi 760. They're both essentially the same device with just the added functionality of MSN direct on the 780.

Also if you are a neat freak and wires around the car bother you, go with the 760. Because of the greater features of MSN Direct, the connector/antenna (which is built into the car charger) for the one with MSN direct/Nuvi 780 is HUGE - even the cable is twice (if not 3 times) as thick as the Nuvi 760.

Re: Portable GPS Units?

I'll give 'em a look -- thanks for the input...

Re: Portable GPS Units?

do you have to sign up for a monthly fee type deal with these things?

Re: Portable GPS Units?

the MSN direct has first 3 months free, then its $49.99 for a year or $129 for lifetime subscription but I've heard that there will be a massive change to the scope of service by 2011 (or something along those lines). Dont know if that means that your prior subscription will become useless then.

If you get the 760 with only traffic updates, you get first 3 months free and you have to subscribe to the service after that, though I dont remember what the charges are.

The advantage of the 760 traffic receiver vs. the 780 is that the 760 receives traffic information from local FM stations and so the coverage is far greater.

The other thing I found a pain in the butt with the MSN direct receiver is that you cant simply turn on the device and the service self-activates (as with the Traffic only receiver). You have to either call or activate it online and you MUST be in an area where you are getting a signal from the MSN towers in order for your activation to be complete. Considering that I live in piss puddle Cumberland MD, I tried to activate my service when driving to NYC and when I was through PA and getting service, I called to activate the device. By the time my "wait" time on the call for customer support ended, I had passed the area of service and the device failed to activate. Finally, I pulled over at a gas station outside NYC to call back and waited at the station until the darn activation was completed.

However if you are living in an area of service, it should activate ok, you just have to keep your car on for 20 - 30 minutes for the process to complete since its download rates are very slow.

Re: Portable GPS Units?

^ ^ That sounds like a major PITA.