Planning trip in fall to midwest and maybe Canada. Any of you guys/gals have any recommendations on a GPS that will elegantly live in my BatMobile?, at least for the trip. Had Garmin on my BMW K1200RS and the company does stand behind their stuff. Where could it live in the Xfire...any experiences would be welcomed...

 

I have a Garmin I just use the windshield mount and remove it when I'm not in the car to avoid having someone smash the window to steal it.

 

My Crossfire uses a JVC KD-NX5000,





After buying it out of state, I used a TomTom OneXL to get home.



I loved the TomTom, and still use it in my daily driver.

 

I have a Magellan Maestro 4040 with the windsheild mount and it works great. Used it when we went to N.C. and adjusts well when you go from the rec. route.

 

I had a Garmin before I bought a Kenwood with a built in GPS

 

How expensive are you willing to go?

Kenwood's new KVT units navigation GNA-510 is actually made by Garmin. Garmin maps, interface, voices, ETC. It's wonderful, as I love Garmin. Also you get an in-dash!!

I, and I know many other people have Garmin Nuvi 350, it features wonderful navigation, and very small. Cheap now, too.

IMO, Garmin > TomTom.

 

I'm not gonna spend more than a couple hundred bux, I know my way to Walmart after I get back. But I can tell from the Garmin 2600 I had on my bike they will get you around traffic jams and that makes it worth having. My experience with Garmin was really good.

One question I am seeing these things with nothing but a battery. Don't these small GPS have a way to get 12vdc to them? Running out of battery mid day wouldn't be so good...

 

I have a Tom Tom 920T and love it.

Steve

 

My tomtom can go about 4 hours between charges. I paid $350 a year and a half ago, so it may be available for around $200. Cheers.

 

I love my Garmin Nuvi 350. I have had it for two years and no troubles. I tried the Tom Tom originally, but it didn't have the ability to display altitude.

 

I have 2 Garmin units 1 2630 from the motorcycle, and 1 nuvi, Both work great. Nuvi gets about 4 hours between charges, also cas a car charge plug.

 

Ditto on the Garmin Nuvi 350 for me. It's a good middle of the road unit. A lot of websites selling it for under $200. There's many good units out there. Just don't buy more features than you need. I like the "speech from text" feature that tells you verbaly when to turn and says the street names, although sometimes the voice really murders the pronunciation.

If you type in and save the destination, the voice will pronounce it. One thing I want to try is to pick a location and type in Bum F*** Egypt and look at my wife's face when we arrive at the destination. " You are now approaching Bum F*** Egypt on your left. I know, I know, it's my warped sense of humor.

 

I have a Garmin Quest II bought on Ebay for 145.00 rebuilt. Also bought the Outside ANT. I mounted the Black disc that comes with the unit on the Pasenger side of my center console with double sided tape and ran the ANT wire to it. Unit Sits beside passenger window button. Unit talks to you through the 12volt Cig lighter power cable. If you do not want to see the ANT place under PLASTIC bumper, will still work fine

 

The price of GPS' have really dropped and you can get a nice unit for under $200. But if you want all North America, including Canada, you'll have to pay more. I test drove a whole fleet of GPS' at Best Buy before picking up a Garmin 750 at Sam's Club for $299. Wide screen, speaks the street name (not just turn left), and covers Canada. I had to take a detour in Ontario due to the 403 being closed, and it walked me around side roads for 30 miles before joining me back onto the 403 again. I never would have found my way w/o it.

It also has 2 million POIs for restaurants, hotels, etc. If you go to their website, you can compare all the models. I like it so much, I bought one as a gift for my sister.

 

I have a Plenio it has a 4 X7" screen and works good, this is my first one ,, but i names it Mr. Magoo because it always comes out on top .. look at the size next to a deck of cards, got it at target on line either 200. or 300. jim

 

What I find fun about my GPS is that it takes you cross country sometimes on roads that aren't even on the map. It's kind of an adventure that you otherwise wouldn't see. The technology still blows my mind. My grandkids take it for granted.

Sorry. Double post. See continuation below, Moderator please delete this post.

 

What I find fun about my GPS is that it takes you cross country sometimes on roads that aren't even on the map. It's kind of an adventure that you otherwise wouldn't see. The technology still blows my mind. My grandkids take it for granted.

When buying a GPS, flat screen TV, digital camera, etc. I've seen it said that you base your purchase on reviews and recommendations, and then don't read the ads anymore. The next day something newer or better will come out. It's kinda like chasing your tail.

 

I use a Garmin 650 and love it. I originally had it mounted to the windshield but all of a sudden it would not stay attached. I bought the Garmin Sandbag Portable Friction Mount) that sits on the dash, however it slides off quite often. I am looking for a better method.

 

garmin for sure. I have the nuvi 240 which has everything you need (personally). It has text to speech technology and all the important things (POIs, etc.) without the unnecessarys such as an mp3 player. I play my ipod through a DC jack FM transmitter.

I bought a DC Jack (cigarette lighter) splitter which I wired under the driver side seat. The Garmin charger is plugged into that, runs under the driver side floor mat, up the side of the console (the section which is covered by the door when it is closed) and connects to the GPS unit in the top left of the windshielf. That way it is out of my main line of sight but easy to look at and access. Furthermore all you see is about a foot of chord running down the left (Driver-side) windshield pillar.

Considering I wasn't willing to put in a new head unit, or sacrifice dashboard space by using the credit card method some members have used (inserting a bent credit card in the slat above the middle AC vents) I think this is a pretty good solution.

 

Just bought a couple of these for my daughters from Amazon; getting ready to test them prior to letting them use them.

I'm gonna consider something along the lines of the Kenwood after reading this thread; as long as they have removable fronts when I'm parked in the city.