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Posts Tagged ‘Street Names’

DON’T Buy Garmin Nuvi 255w, read this review first!!!

December 4th, 2009

garmin nuvi 255w

I actually could not decide between the Garmin Nuvi 255w or the 750 model, so I decided to buy them both for comparison. I mounted them both to my car windshield and gave them various addresses to find together.
Both models took the same routes and announced upcoming turns and street names at practically the same time. As note the garmin 255w was updating my position on the road more often about 3 times as often as 750.

This made for smoother graphics on the 255w of the vehicle moving along displayed roads, where the 750′s display was more of a “jerky” movement. I found that the 255w display was a bit brighter, clearer, and more vivid than on the 750 in both daylight and at night. On the Garmin 255w is the graphic turn indicator in the upper left corner, which the 750 lacks and I like this feature. a small arrow which shows upcoming turns and the distance to that turn. It show somethings like a fork in the road, (ie: a Y intersection), and which fork will you taking. 750 just displays text on the top line for upcoming turns without the arrow. It’s just a little feature on the garmin 255w which I happened to really like. The 255 also automatically adjusts the font size of displayed text so that even lengthy text will fit.

255w feature display the posted speed limit on the road which you are currently on right above your current displayed speed. I found myself not even looking at my car speedometer as I could easily see my current speed and the speed limit of my route at a glance. This feature does not found on 750. I also like how they moved the zoom in (+) and zoom out (-) buttons on the 255w to the same side of the screen which makes it a bit easier. Garmin 750 has zoom buttons on opposite sides of the screen.
There are some features on the Garmin 750 that the Garmin 255w does not have. The 750 can broadcast it’s sound over your FM radio with the supplied cigarette lighter cable, and it has a headphone jack, which I found to be nice features. The 750 also has an MP3 player and an Audio-book player, which the 255w does not. Another really awesome feature of the 750 is the car locater. This is a awesome feature if you are parking in a really big lot, such as at an amusement park or a fair. When you remove it from the car 750 will marks your location, then you take it with you and it remembers where you parked and takes you right back to your car. The 255w doesn’t have the car locater.

I also thought the 750 voice more pleasant sounding than the 255w. The Garmin 750 sounds more like a real female voice, where the 255w sounds more robotic.Another thing to consider was that I paid $50 less for the 750 and it came with the FM transmitter cable and a USB cord to connect it to your computer for updates and downloads.

My decision was the 255w and return the 750 because I really liked the graphic turn indicator and the posted speed limit and current speed indicators. I didn’t find a need for the 750′s MP3 player and Audio book player, but that is up to personal preference. Since the USB cable was not included with the 255w, I purchased it on this site for . So you should buy Garmin Nuvi 255w.

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Deck Your Car Out with a Magellan GPS System

November 28th, 2009

Most of the top GPS device companies are attempting to further develop their GPS devices. The manufacturers are offering more convenient functions to make navigation easier for travelers who use wheels, sneakers, or any other means of transportation possible. Although these manufacurers are really trying to keep their GPS devices accessible for the typical consumer, the consequence of all the technology available in the device will understandably be rising costs. The best that these manufacturers can do for their customers who are unable to finance the latest gadgets is to offer absolutely basic versions of the GPS devices so they will be affordable for your typical consumer. A nice option is the Magellan Roadmate 1470 Portable GPS Navigator.

Magellan GPS devices are somewhat different because Magellan has always made their most popular models to be affordable and convenient. The negative aspect of affordability, logically, is that state-of-the-art technology is not often found at reasonable prices. As a result, the quality of Magellan’s products has earned mixed reviews. Magellan addressed this shortcoming with several higher-quality models for the more specialized GPS users.

Magellan Maestro

In case you are in the market for a reasonably priced buddy for your auto, the Magellan Maestro series offers a number of units which are especially for car navigation. Magellan Maestro models lie in the 3000, 4000, and 5000 designations. Each of the 3000 models are remarkably affordable with some such as the Maestro 3100 available at under $200 which is amazingly cheap for a GPS unit that has 2-D and 3-D views. Most likely their best ability is the QuickSpell feature, which allows easy input for street names.

Every other remaining feature, as well as the performance is less than inspiring and hanging is very regular. With the exception of a couple of the 4000 and 5000 series devices, the Magellan Maestro is simply not consistent, but the price stays reasonable.

Magellan Roadmate

As can be inferred by their name, this group of Magellan GPS devices have been manufactured for cars too. Although they are superior to their Maestro cousins when it comes to appearance. Roadmates are made to be more portable, having a slimmer shape and having the same interface. The outcome of these improvements is the Roadmates are similarly easy to work with and far easier to keep than the Maestros. A great unit is the Magellan Road mate 1470 Portable GPS Navigator.

In terms of performance, the Roadmate is slightly improved with several specimens including the Roadmate 1212 benefitting from the Centrality Atlas III Processor. If you like exploring the menus, you may detect a slightly irritating wait while pushing the buttons. The battery power isn’t very impressive either; it’s usable for around 3 hours before a recharge is needed.

On a happy note, the Roadmate is regarded as superior to several of the Maestro budget devices, storing many more POI’s as compared to the Maestro 3100 which has a paltry 750,000 points of interest. The Roadmate closes the gap with other brands by offering in excess of 6 million points of interest. Text-to-speech, which is always a handy feature, is also provided with a few of the affordable models. The price isn’t that steep either, which is remarkable for a slim device. A good device to look into is the Magellan Roadmate 1470 Portable GPS Navigator.

Even though this company offers just two collections to select from, both give you at least 10 models per group in a range of different costs and features. The least expensive Magellan devices aren’t that practical for regular users owing to the regular crashes, but above average models can do wonders and should be enough for drivers to be happy with.

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