Best Car GPS Navigation System

June 29, 2010

We are often asked if having a car GPS navigation system is worth the money.

The answer: Yes!

Most people who get a GPS system for their car for the first time wonder how they did without one before. It becomes something that you simply depend on — and can’t do without. Many people find it’s not so much the direction-finding function of a GPS that is most useful, but the moving-map function. Getting in a traffic jam and simply looking at the GPS unit’s map to find an alternate route is an amazing convenience.

However ………. buying a built-in GPS in a new car can be very expensive when you compare to the cost of buying a portable unit. The cost of a portable GPS is often one tenth of the cost of a new-car GPS option. And there are other benefits of a portable GPS:

- You can carry it with you from car to car, to rental cars, on bicyles, walking in a city, or simply using it in a hotel to find nearby restaurants

- Even though built-in GPS units have larger screens, you can mount a portable unit closer to you and screen size becomes irrelevant

- Portable GPS units have touch screens, making them easier to use than built-in systems that use separate buttons for functions

- Many portable GPS units display traffic, show delays, and offer re-routing functions, while most built-in GPS units do not

- Maps are cheaper to update in portable units

Portable units offer other useful functions such as Bluetooth (for cell phone use), voice commands, photo display, music player, currency calculators, and much more. You can buy the specific model that has only the functions you want, and want to pay for.

We have researched portable GPS units from a number of different manufacturers including Garmin, Magellan, TomTom, and Navigon. We found the best to be the popular and highly rated Garmin Nuvi 265W (if you want traffic, get the Garmin Nuvi 265WT).

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