Major Price Drop for GPS Units - Page 2

tdekany · 04-04-07, 07:09

I never had a chance to play with one of these units, but I use my verizon phone with it's gps. I pay $9.99 a month for the service and it has been amazing.

BlackElantraGT · 04-04-07, 12:48

I believe in the future, cell phone GPS might get a lot more popular because I've read they're developing technology where the GPS units communicate with one another. And being that your cell phone is always with you while you're driving, it can provide instant traffic updates by talking to other cell phone GPS units and so all the combined GPS units talking to one another will have more accurate info than what the current TMC Traffic or XMTraffic can provide. Of course for this to work you'd have to have an established user base.

Ctowner · 04-06-07, 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by TigerMike

I believe TOMTOM is reducing prices on the ONE because of the rumored new ONE XL coming soon. Supposedly a widescreen version of the regular ONE model, with possibly more features. Not a lot is known about the XL just yet, as most of the known details leaked from the FCC. And, I'll bet they will add greater functionality to the rest of the Tomtom models, which is why they are reducing those prices.

So far, in the tons of reviews I've read through, it seems the ONE is nearly the perfect unit, except for the TeleAtlas mapping data. Although, I hear TA is looking to make strong updates to their maps very soon, which could make the product as good or better than the NAVTEQ competitor, which Garmin uses currently.

Interesting news about the TomTom XL I’ll have to look into that further. Since you are looking for a GPS unit and you have no desire for Bluetooth and MP3 player, The TomTom ONE will be perfect for you. Obviously from all the reviews you read you know it is a quality unit and the price right now is almost too good to be true.

You shouldn't be concerned with Tele Atlas maps because they already had their MAJOR update. This past December they corrected their maps for North America. I'm sure that TA will be updating them again soon but this past update was important. IMHO their maps are now just as good if not better than Navteq

Quote:

BlackElantraGT
Both type of GPS has their strengths and weaknesses. For most people, I would say a portable unit is better. But if you want the best navigation possible and you don't care about portability from one car to another, then a built in nav system will be better because not only will you have the most amount of POIs stored in the database, it will also be completely integrated. Who wouldn't want to have one system that completely controls their nav, radio, sat, and iPod in one?

I agree with your point about the POIs but in terms of integration there are portable GPS units that can connect your phone, iPod, and to your unit. Also some portable units like the GO 910 have an FM transmitter to so you can play your MP3s saved on your GPS unit on your car stereo. Point is I still think that portable units have a fair amount of integration.

Quote:

BlackElantraGT
I believe in the future, cell phone GPS might get a lot more popular because I've read they're developing technology where the GPS units communicate with one another. And being that your cell phone is always with you while you're driving, it can provide instant traffic updates by talking to other cell phone GPS units and so all the combined GPS units talking to one another will have more accurate info than what the current TMC Traffic or XMTraffic can provide. Of course for this to work you'd have to have an established user base.

Wow this is great! One of the big reasons I go online and chat on message boards is learn the latest technological advances and this traffic update scenario is absolutely fascinating! And I think that a 'user base' would could easily be created there are more than enough GPS junkies out there (such as myself)!

TigerMike · 04-10-07, 08:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ctowner

Interesting news about the TomTom XL I’ll have to look into that further. Since you are looking for a GPS unit and you have no desire for Bluetooth and MP3 player, The TomTom ONE will be perfect for you. Obviously from all the reviews you read you know it is a quality unit and the price right now is almost too good to be true.

Yeah, I think the Tomtom One will be just right for me. I will probably pick one up next month for my b-day, and it will come in very handy for our family trip to Disney in June. Garmin's Nuvi line looks nice too, but personally, I think they are overpriced for what they offer. Garmin needs to be more price competitive, IMO.

Crutchfield is the only retailer so far that I have seen getting ready to sell the One XL... TomTom ONE XL Portable car navigator at Crutchfield.com

mixxmstrmike · 04-10-07, 10:52

As much as I like the Nuvi 350, it's "STILL" overpriced IMO so I may look into the TomTom One... Like some of you, I just want a slim, no frills GPS unit with excellent "Recalculate Route" capabilities.

If that's the one thing I enjoyed about borrowing my friend's Nuvi 350, it was the recalculate feature. Anyone want to chime in on how well TomTom's recalc feature works?

Thanks,
Mike

BlackElantraGT · 04-10-07, 12:20

If any of you live near a Fry's Electronics and was in the market for a small, low priced GPS unit, they're having a 2 day only sale (yesterday and today) on the Nuvi 360 for $400 after a $200 instant price cut from $599

According to froogle.com the next cheapest place wants about $488 for the same unit. Even after Circuit City's $150 price cut, it's still $550.

This deal was in the Los Angeles Times, so it may not be applicable to Fry's outside of SoCal.

At $400, this is an awesome price because it basically has all the features of my 660 (minus the 4.3 in widescreen). And if you've never seen a Nuvi in person, they're truly pocket size. Mine is smaller than most paperbacks.

mixxmstrmike · 04-10-07, 02:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackElantraGT

If any of you live near a Fry's Electronics and was in the market for a small, low priced GPS unit, they're having a 2 day only sale (yesterday and today) on the Nuvi 360 for $400 after a $200 instant price cut from $599

According to froogle.com the next cheapest place wants about $488 for the same unit. Even after Circuit City's $150 price cut, it's still $550.

This deal was in the Los Angeles Times, so it may not be applicable to Fry's outside of SoCal.

At $400, this is an awesome price because it basically has all the features of my 660 (minus the 4.3 in widescreen). And if you've never seen a Nuvi in person, they're truly pocket size. Mine is smaller than most paperbacks.

Thanks for the tip! Just got one at my local Fry's (NorCal)... one more thing to play with... when will my car get some attention?

-Mike

BlackElantraGT · 04-10-07, 02:33

I love the text-to-speech function. For me, the best voice is the female Australian accent. I find both male and female American English voices too "computer" or robotic sounding for me. I get a laugh at hearing it pronounce some of the Spanish streets. It's so "gringo" LOL. But for Hawaii folks, text to speech is pointless because 99% of the streets are mispronounced

Now, if only someone can find a way to hack the 660 and make it a 680 (pretty much the same unit except with MSN Direct)

atticdog · 04-10-07, 02:42

Garmin 2610 is still a nice unit and can be had for under $300 with a 1 year warranty
and if it doesnt have map source ver8 you should get a free upgrade

Ctowner · 04-12-07, 11:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by mixxmstrmike

If that's the one thing I enjoyed about borrowing my friend's Nuvi 350, it was the recalculate feature. Anyone want to chime in on how well TomTom's recalc feature works?

Thanks,
Mike

Honestly Mike when it comes to route-recalculation, all of the top line GPS units are very similar. I would be very surprised if you could tell the difference between a Nuvi 350 and a TomTom ONE even if you did a side by side comparison. The ONE can basically recalculate faster than you can make a u-turn, which is all that should matter. Since recalculation speed is so similar, I think you have to compare these units by other features such as price, mapping, and how user-friendly they are. IMHO the ONE wins in all of those categories at moment. Does anybody have anything else to add? I love talking GPS and this is pretty well informed thread.

mikelea4ever · 04-12-07, 12:39

To those who have a traffic info added in their GPS, how much do you guys pay for it?

BlackElantraGT · 04-12-07, 12:48

for the FM TMC traffic, you get a 90 day subscription to its service and after that it's $60 to renew for a whole year. My subscription just ran out April 1st and I haven't decided if I want to pay for the service just yet. For me, I don't think I would get my money's worth since I don't drive as much as before. Plus, the info is not as "real time" as I would like it to be.

I can understand if they miss an accident or something of that nature, but on the 22 freeway here in SoCal, there's been some major work being done where some entrances and exits are closed completely, yet it's never updated in the system. These kind of traffic info should be easy to update since they should be getting that info from Caltrans.