Navigation for car question

[Craig D Peltier]

Hi I was talking to my dad about buying a GPS for my mom's car.
Questions I have are:
1) Does the car have to have a cd player for the CD maps? My truck has its own slot for that.
2) Do you have to install an antenna or is ti built into unit?
3) Is there anything from preventing it from being taken out of work vehicle every day (small van bus) and put back in in morning?
4) Any other info would be appreciated that i have not asked.

Thanks

[Lee DeRaud]

1. If it requires a CD (more likely DVD) to download maps, it will either have an internal drive or a USB connection for an external drive: the probability of any existing CD player having a compatible output is pretty much zero.
2. GPS signals are incredibly weak: practically anything will block them so a GPS-specific external antenna is a must. The good news is, they're very small. Ever notice those little shark-fin widgets on tops of newer cars? Yup, GPS antennas.
3. Depends on how it's mounted, but most likely it could be taken out at day's end: the only connections are the power cable and the antenna cable. Not sure why you would want to though.

[Tony De Masi]

Craig, I have a portable Magellan unit and I can only give you answers based on my experience with that particular maker.



Questions I have are:
1) Does the car have to have a cd player for the CD maps? My truck has its own slot for that.
No. The CD maps are used on connection with a PC.


2) Do you have to install an antenna or is ti built into unit?
The Antenna is built into the unit with a warning. On some vehicles, most the high end european models, the signal may have some difficulty getting through the coating on the front windshield.

3) Is there anything from preventing it from being taken out of work vehicle every day (small van bus) and put back in in morning?
No, the unit simply plugs into a cigarette lighter or additional 12v jack.

4) Any other info would be appreciated that i have not asked.
I absolutley love the Magellan but would encourage you to look at all the other models as well. The unit is very simple to use and I really like the portablility to move from one vehicle to another.

Tony

[Mitchell Andrus]

Garmin is the world leader in avation units, and the technology moves downward as new models in intervals.

Buy the best you can afford. The cheapies are a year or more out of date, and while they get the job done... well, I'm a gadget freak!!!!

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Mitchell...don't go low cost. Garmin, Magellin and TomTom are among the top brands and the self-contained units are easy to work with when multiple vehicles are involved. Awhile ago, I won a Pioneer GPS...a new model...and it was a pig. Terribly inaccurate...put our house three hours a way from where it really is, no matter what we tried. Sold it on EBay. Won another unit a few months ago in a meeting raffle...a Magellin. Works great. Even knows where we live. It's not a good as the one built into my Highlander Hybrid, but so far, Professor Dr. SWMBO has been satisfied with it's action in her car.

In fact, you really need to remove the unit AND the mount, etc., from view when your car is parked. There is a major rash of thefts occuring because people leave just the mounts visible while tucking away valuables in the glove box, etc. Thieves know that and wham...So make sure she knows that!

[Dick Rowe]

I have the Garmin Nuvi 360, and really enjoy it.

The maps and point of interest database are built into the unit. I just bought mine in June and the latest map software on the unit was from April 2006. Since the maps are from 4/06, any new road construction since then won't be accurate.

Garmin has a web site where you can log in, connect your GPS to a USB port on your PC. From that connection you can determine if you have the latest firmware, and if not, update it from the web directly to your GPS. Note: this is firmware, not maps ... newer maps, as they come out, can be purchased (CD) and used to update the built in chips on your GPS through your PC.

The antenna that is built into the unit works virtually everywhere. I was recently on vacation in Alaska, and it worked in some of the most remote areas you can imagine. In the bigger towns like Anchorage, the streets were virtually perfect. I have used it quite a bit in the lower 48 and have never found a spot that didn't have a signal. (I actually used it on the flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage and it told me where I was all across Canada with an acuraccy of 21 feet. Also gave me the current plane speed and altitude).

The Garmin comes with a cradle that sticks to your windshield (suction cup), or optionally to a disk that gets taped to your dashboard. The cradle has a 12 volt connector and the GPS easily snaps into and out of the cradle if you want to take it out at night. I usually take mine out and put it out of sight in my truck evertime I park just to remove the temptation of someone seeing it on the windshield and deciding it might be worth ripping off.

The internal batteries last about 4 hours and then have to be recharged by either putting it back in the cradle or using the wall wart they provide. My unit is about the size of a deck of cards and is designed to be used hand-held as well as on a vehicle.

I really like mine and would recommend it highly.

[Lee DeRaud]

The antenna that is built into the unit works virtually everywhere. I was recently on vacation in Alaska, and it worked in some of the most remote areas you can imagine. In the bigger towns like Anchorage, the streets were virtually perfect. I have used it quite a bit in the lower 48 and have never found a spot that didn't have a signal. (I actually used it on the flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage and it told me where I was all across Canada with an acuraccy of 21 feet. Also gave me the current plane speed and altitude).<boggle>Gotta wonder how they're doing that. I haven't tried it with a car unit, but I have yet to see a handheld that will get a useable signal inside my wood-frame house, much less a metal airplane. The cheaper ones don't even like being in a jacket pocket. And we had a mil-spec system at work that refused to acquire inside a concrete building unless the antenna was next to a window.

[Dick Rowe]

Lee,

I have a Lowrance iHunt hand held unit that I use for hunting and in my boat. That unit won't work real well inside my house.

The Garmin, however, will work fine in my house, and like I mentioned, the satellite accuracy in the plane indicated 21 feet. I usually get abour 15-20 feet of accuracy in my truck.

[Rich Stewart]

I borrowed a friends Garmin Streetpilot 330 to take my son to the Newark airport. This can be a very confusing area but with the 330 we never even looked at a sign the whole way. Took us right to the parking lot we were supposed to be in. Coming home in the middle of the night was just as easy. We liked it so much we bought one whan we got back. Very easy to use. My wife does not like buttons and technology and even she can use it. Suction cup it to the windsheild, plug the cord into the lighter, put in the address you want to go and press GO. It does try to take the long way when starting out but knows how to recalculate if you get off the track it has found for you. Might not always know the BEST way to go but it will always get you where you want to go. I'm really happy with it. That being said, we don't do lots of traveling and if we did we would probably not "go cheap" but for what we do it is good enough.