GPS: in-dash replacement radio or portable?

[gbraden]

I'm feeling the need for a GPS to use in my 2003 Dodge Ram. We tow our trailer around the US, almost always on US, state, and county highways, almost never on the interstates.

I was about to purchase either a TomTom GO720 or a Garmin Nuvi 750 GPS unit. Then I got to thinking maybe I should just replace the factory AM/FM/CD radio next to which I have mounted a Delphi MyFi XM Sat. receiver. I would replace both units (factory radio and the Delphi MyFi radio) with an "in-dash" unit that has a built-in GPS, is XM satellite radio "capable", etc.

The Crutchfield website shows that there are at least 2 units that would fit my truck:

1. Pioneer AVIC-N4 ($1,600 plus an XM tuner plus install. Probably cost around $2,000 by the time I got it installed.

2. Kenwood KVT-512DVD/KNA-G510 ($1,100 plus XM tuner plus install). Total cost probably around $1,500.

It definitely would cost several hundred bucks more to go the in-dash route, but it would also mean that I wouldn't have a GPS unit (which would need to be mounted somewhere) plus the existing MyFi XM receiver cluttering up the dash.

I have read several reviews of the portable GPS units which is how I pretty much settled on getting the Garmin 750 or TomTom 720. But, I haven't seen any reviews of the in-dash units. So, I don't know if the GPS part of the in-dash units is as good and as versatile as the portable units.

Do you folks have any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[MHowell]

I have a Garmin Nuvi. It is soooooo much better than the Tom Tom in my opinion. I think you would be way ahead just buying a "portable" GPS. These things are being updated all the time, I think spending a lot of money on an in-dash one that will be a little out-dated in a year or so might not be worth it. At least with the portable one, you can sell it and get a new one for a lot less money. Just my two cents.

 

[BK]

I have one of the older Garmin 2610, with a compact flash. It's been very good to me.



I've rented a car with a Nuvi, and it was just as nice, if not better. Bigger screen then mine.

I also rented a car with the "never lost", didn't like that one. . I think Garmin came out with that when the TomTom came out, just to compete with it.



It depends what your going to do with it.

If your just looking for point a to point b, and just for that one vehicle, it's nice to have it nice and neat in the dash.



But I move mine to and from one of my 3 vehicles.

So I get to take all my custom waypoints, custom trips, hotels, customer locations, and so on with me. Over the years I've built a good library.

I can take it into the house with me, and load trips into it that I made on the PC software.

If I'm running up and down the east coast, I can plan my trip out on the software on the PC, and upload it to the unit (customers locations, hotels, preferred routes around bad traffic areas instead of trusting the auto routing). When tied to the car, being built in, you generally have to work from your front seat to make trip plans.



The newest and best, let you subscribe to real time traffic updates, maps, and so one. The real time traffic updates are the one thing that would make me get a new one. . but I just can't bring myself to spending the bucks on a new unit. With an external / portable unit, your not stuck with that unit and subscription being tied to one vehicle.

Take in a rental car with you, someone else's car. . get more use out of the subscription...

 

[GRoutzahn]

I have the Nuvi 750 and I like it quite a bit. This is my first on-road GPS so I don't have much to compare it to. There are some quirks that I find annoying but it is definitely worth the money. Just make sure you shop around. I found that the prices differed quite a bit.

Good luck!

 

[JimB1]

Consumer Reports April '08 issue gives top score to Garmin Nuvi 760, $600.



I'm researching same as you and one very handy Garmin feature that Tom Tom doesn't have is alphabet letters grey-out.



Grey-out is dimming all non-spellabe letter selections for a word as you touch-screen type programming address and/or data words into the GPS unit.



Each new word re-starts full alphabet touch-screen keyboard and grey-out re-commences as you select more letters for the word.



The portables look to me a much better pick.

 

[BK]

... ...

I'm researching same as you and one very handy Garmin feature that Tom Tom doesn't have is alphabet letters grey-out.



Grey-out is dimming all non-spellabe letter selections for a word as you touch-screen type programming address and/or data words into the GPS unit.



Each new word re-starts full alphabet touch-screen keyboard and grey-out re-commences as you select more letters for the word.....

Ah yes, my older 2610 does that, didn't realize other brands didn't... it's very handy.

 

[CStockton]

I think you would be way ahead just buying a "portable" GPS. These things are being updated all the time, I think spending a lot of money on an in-dash one that will be a little out-dated in a year or so might not be worth it. At least with the portable one, you can sell it and get a new one for a lot less money. Just my two cents.

Agree X 2.

 

[2Rowdy]

I have a kenwood dnx-7100 with bluetooth, sirius, and ipod control. It is standard for xm IIRC.

 

[Mr.Goat]

I was all set to get the Garmin 650 but I ended up with a Magellan Maestro 4250. It had all the pertanent features of the Garmin. My first GPS, and really enjoy it.



I would encourage folks to take a look at the Magellan 4250 it is a good unit, loaded with comparable features of the Garmin, and the price was much better. We now have four Magellan's in the company with no issues.



I mounted mine just below the rear view mirror, so the mirror and GPS are all one mass. I find this way it is heads up viewing the screen and I never really have to take my eyes off the road, such as would be the case if it was in dash mounted. It chats out orders anyways on where your going and turning. The voice comand is a nice feature.

 

[BK]

FYI, I remember shopping around 5 or 7 years ago, and from what I remember for the longest time Magellan was the only one out there competing against Garmin for the car market... so they aren't new on the block like many others out there now.

 

[donnier]

My DW gave me a Garmin Nuvi 200X for Christmas.

I like it.

When we went to visit family in Dallas, we forgot to take it with us.

Stopped at a local Best Buy and got a Tom Tom.

After we got home, I exchanged it for a Nuvi 260X.

We didnt really like the detail of the TomTm map compared to the Nuvi.

I put the 200 in the cubby hole on my 05 and it rides there great.

 

[Kingram]

Hey Glenn,



I've been through the exact some thing this past month. I purchased an 08 3500. My previous truck had a cell phone, PDA, GPS, XM SkyFi, all mounted on the dash. I wanted to "clean up" the dash of my new truck.



So I went with a Pioneer Z2. It had it all (nav,bluetooth for phone, XM, etc). While I am somewhat happy with the unit, I think I've been spoiled by my dedicated units that cluttered up the dash.



The NAV on the Pioneer (mapping is Tele Atlas) is not as nice as my Garmin GPSMAP60csx (Navteq). The mapping isn't as accurate or up-to-date. The routing is ok on the Z2, but I like the ability to create my routes on the PC and download them to the Garmin, using custom waypoints. I can do that on the Z2, but you have to sit in the vehicle and manually pan around the map.



The bluetooth works great and I no longer need the dedicated phone dock on the dash. Just a charger.



The XM receiver isn't as nice as the Delphi Skyfi. The Delphi would scroll info at the bottom of the screen. It would also allow me to be notified of favorite artists/songs and it would record up to 30 minutes, so I could pause it or replay. The Pioneer will do non of this. I miss that.



I will get used to the XM limitations I guess. I will most likely carry the Garmin on extended trips for routing and mapping options.



I guess what I'm getting at is, for me, dedicated units for each application appear to be more flexible while the "all-in-one" is nice in that everything is combined, but each app has it's limitations.



I wish you luck with this. The only suggestion I might make from my experience is to look at a NAV unit that uses Navteq.



Chris



*note*

After posting this, I thought I would call Crutchfield to complain about the lack of XM features and I may be wrong about some of my notes above. I have to try it, but I think I can memorize artist/songs and auto scroll the information. Just need to read!

 

[donnier]

I forgot to mention that both the 200X and the 260X both use Navteq system.

 

[bigdaddydieseldan]

I have the lowrance IWAY 500C . If you look it up you will see it is extremely highly ranked. Absolutely love mine I don't think it can be beat for the money