Community Newsletter: Q&A: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences?
- 12/14/07 1:05 AM
DeLorme Earthmate GPS
by fletchb13 - 12/8/07 8:14 AM In reply to: How about your laptop? by BoothbayI agree with Boothbay and john3347 that for some users a unit like the DeLorme with StreetAtlas USA SW ($70), is something to consider. You get a small unit that mounts on the windshield with a small suction cup. Most cars have a sloping rear windshield so mounting the cup low on the window with the unit resting on the rear deck, will give adequate reception. The USB cable plugs into your notebook which stores the upgradeable SW. If you don't need to follow the route via screen, set the notebook on the passenger/back seat and navigate with the excellent voice commands. Before your trip, print out the route directions and a set of intersection mini-maps for backup. Plug a mike into the notebook and you can get answers to a number of relevant questions like, "Where am I?". Earthmate has most of the portable GPS features already mentioned. Of course, if you have a co-pilot, let them view the screen and provide added information. Check out delorme.com for the LT-20.
Re: DeLorme Earthmate GPS
by EyeintheLAsky - 12/15/07 1:36 AM In reply to: DeLorme Earthmate GPS by fletchb13i agree with both 'boothbay' and 'fletchb13' regarding the DeLorme laptop option:
Frys.com had the unit on sale recently for $50. PLUS, after a $30 rebate, i couldn't hold-out any longer and bought the package.
Recently took my IBM T30 laptop with us up to San Francisco while on a photo shoot and LOVED IT!!!
While my wife napped in the passenger seat, my 12" GPS performed flawlessly (had it plugged into a 150W converter so battery failure wouldn't be a problem). Though, i did have to turn the screen brightness down a bit to see the roadway in the darkness.
Although i didn't plug-in the headset to experience the voice-commands, it worked great for my purpose.
by using it, i also came to realize that the speedo on my Camry is about 4mph below what the satellites were clocking me as going (which is a blessing in-disguise, as i don't have to worry as much about my wife going too far above the posted speed).
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As for the 'traffic-info' service on many GPS units found in this thread, let me add this;
For several years i worked for a traffic-reporting service until just recently (which explains the 'handle'). It was a small division of a LARGE broadcasting company that has won several contracts with different vendors to provide traffic info (one of which is the traffic-service info that comes with new BMW navs).
The traffic info on a given GPS unit is only as good as the traffic-reporting service on the back-end that is being tasked with collecting and reporting the information.
You have to allow for the traffic-service to become aware of, then confirm, THEN enter a new traffic incident into their system, before that incident can show up on your GPS unit. Only then, can the information be of use to you - the end-user - by deciding to 'grin and bear-it' or plan a divert to an alternate route to - hopefully - avoid the incident.
Without airborne support (that is, without having an actual person eyeballing the scene from either a fixed-wing or rotorcraft), many incidents can and are inaccurately reported and/or listed.
This particular service (based in Los Angeles), just AXED their airborne division after Thanksgiving, believing that they can get by on just embedded sensors in the roadways (that have a tendency to short-out in the rain), cameras (which are controlled mostly by Cal-Trans and NOT as widespread or readily accessable to the traffic-center as they should be), motion sensors mounted above SOME traffic lanes and technology that says it tracks cellphone motion (like lemurs in the wild?).
If you've read this far, you're probably asking yourself
'so? what does this mean to me?'
A: in the Los Angeles metro area, you're likely to get just as accurate traffic info from listening to a traffic-report on the radio, as from a GPS unit...and even then, you have to figure out which service has actual airborne reporters to confirm or deny a given incident.
There, i just saved you up to $400. MORE, if you're planning on purchasing a new BMW.
you can thank me later.
(btw: don't worry - after being 'laid-off' for a whole weekend, i'm now airborne again working for a different reporting service that understands the importance of 'eyes-on' experience).
GPS SYSTEMS
by burke1929 - 12/7/07 8:07 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I WAS ON THE WAY TO PURCHASE ON OF THE MORE EXPENSIVE, LARGE SCREEN GPS SYSTEMS WHEN I WAS ATTRACTED BY THE VERIZON ADD FOR THEIR SYSTEM ON YOUR PHONE…..ITS GREAT!
NO CONTRACT, ONLY #10/MO. VERIZON ARE CONSTANTLY UPDATING AND ADDING TO THE PROGRAM ALL AT NO COST TO THE SUBSCRIBER. LARGE SCREEN VS SMALL SCREEN OF THE PHONE. THE PHONE ”TALKS YOU IN,” MUCH LIKE A HEADS UP DISPLAY IN A MODERN JET AIRCRAFT.
ONE THING MOST IMPORTANT; TURN RIGHT OR TURN LEFT IS NEXT BEST TO USELESS. WHAT IS REQ’D IS TURN RIGHT ON MAIN ST. WITHOUT THE SPECIFIC STREET NAME YOU CAN EASILY FIND YOURSELF AT A FORK IN THE ROAD W/O KNOWING WHICH FORK TO TAKE.
THE VERIZON SYSTEM HAS A RESPECTABLE SCREEN DISPLAY SHOWING THE STREET LAYOUT. IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE TO USE ITS EXTENSIVE YELLOW / WHITE PAGES TO LOCATE DESTINATIONS.
A VERY USEFUL FEATURE IS THE ABILITY TO USE THE VZ NAVIGATOR ON LINE, TYPE IN THE DESTINATION ADDRESS, THEN HAVE THE COMPUTER UPDATE THE PHONE! A REAL BLESSING IF YOU ARE SHORT ON TYPING SKILLS. LIKE I AM.
FINALLY, IT’S AS PORTABLE AS YOUR PHONE. I WOULD URGE ANYONE CONSIDERING A GPS SYSTEM TO TRY THIS FIRST
ill make it simple.
by TechieAJ - 12/7/07 8:14 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
looks, speed at which it operates, ease of use, companies that care about there customers (rare), and money gruby rich JERK owned companies (ALL TO COMMON!!) kinda like the oil jerks, theres no shortage.
If portability is not an issue...............
by john3347 - 12/7/07 8:32 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If hand held portability is not a requirement for your needs, you cannot beat DeLorme software on your laptop computer. This $100 program that includes everything you need (hardware and software) except the computer itself will do about everything that the $600 and $1000 GPS devices will do. It will even select an alternate route OR a "backtrack" route to get you back on route if you have missed a turn or something. Maybe you wanted to go off-route to get gas or food. This is with either voice commands or written commands displayed on screen. This is a wonderful piece of software for anyone who spends time on the road. You can buy this item and buy a basic laptop computer that is quite capable of running the software cheaper than you can buy the same features in a stand-alone GPS device.
GPS differences
by GPS4ME - 12/7/07 9:33 PM In reply to: If portability is not an issue............... by john3347What most consumers don't understand and fail to mention on the Cnet post is that cheaper GPS units normally DO NOT INCLUDE THE SUPERIOR “SiRf” GPS receiver. The TomTom ONE uses “Global Locate” GPS receiver which is almost as good as the SiRf in most cases, but not as good during TTFF (Time To First Fix) or also known as cold boot start up period. The Garmin GPS manufacturer is also using a slightly inferior third party GPS receiver for their lower end Nuvi line instead of the SiRf III. Every GPS manufacturer is trying to reduce cost by using inferior products to save a few dollars or cents.
The Processing speed of the navigation system also makes a big difference. The lower cost units normally have slower processors. The quality of the display and size are not the same even if they look the same. The routing and re-routing speed is different, the speaker volume and touch screen performance should all be taken into consideration when looking for the right GPS for you.
There are so many internal differences that one cannot see by only holding the unit. I would say the cheaper GPS unit’s product life would only average a year to a year and a half or less! Sad to say!
There are also many content and feature differences to take in to consideration. There are many different road attribute information such as turn restrictions, speed, grade etc to consider. These are available from the mapping company such as NavTeq and Tele Atlas. Most manufacturers will strip down these attributes to save memory space and mapping cost since mapping company’s charge extra for premium maps with full attributes.
There are a lot of differences for points of interest content that is normally strip from these affordable GPS units. You will be lucky if you receive 1.5M POI's compare to some higher end unit that holds 6M POI's or more. Points of interest is probably the next most important feature next to the map and routing accuracy, and consider to be the 3rd most important feature one would want on a navigation system. The points of interest can cost the GPS manufacturers additional fees, and most manufacturers will strip these POI contents to bring the unit price down to compete with a affordable reasonable GPS unit. You will end up with the strip down version with limited points of interest.
You do get what you pay for in this case.
Here is the real answer. In the land of the blind, a one-eye man is king.
So for an unaware or uneducated consumer, how can one say one GPS unit is superior to another. Which GPS unit is a reasonably priced that may have everything one would want and nothing one may not need?
Again, it's all a matter of opinion and if you feel the price is the most important part of buying a GPS, than the cheapest GPS is probably the right unit for you..
I know how much I am worth, and I always try to get the GPS unit that I feel I deserve.
What do you guys feel you are worth?
Always like that they advrertise lower rates !!
by vijay_ashara - 12/7/07 8:41 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dear Mary Jane,
It is always found like that they advertise the lower rate model which they usually donot have in stock. While we go there, they offer other models and they happen to be very high priced from the advertised ones. I had gone to shop for clothes while a company had advertised BUY 2 GET 5 FREE (So, you pay for two and take away seven shirts !!) While I went to buy, I could see people waiting at the shop to open at 11.30AM !! and in the evening also while I went there, It was closed till 6pm !! So, they had very short shop open timings during the offer and in the evening, one guy was so frustated that he was very angry as he had come there for third time !!
So, after that, I have decided to never put my brain to those CHEATING ads, even well known companies do it as per my experience.
-Prakash Ashara
SiRF Star III high-sensitivity GPS receiver
by Donaldsc - 12/7/07 9:11 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
One thing that you want to be sure of is that the unit has the new SiRF Star III high-sensitivity GPS receiver chip. With older units and maybe some current new ones that do not have that chip, you had to see a good bit of sky before you would get enough satellites to get a good fix. With the new SiRF Star III high-sensitivity GPS receiver chip, get much better reception. I have a NUVI 660 and I can get a fix inside my house near a window and inside of my garage. This will also make it easier to get a good fix in cities where tall building block sky access.
Three other things are less critical but I think that they are important. The NUVI 660 has an FM transmitter in it that lets me send music on SD card to my car radio. Each 2 GIG SD chip can contain up to 50 or 60 albums. I have 6 SD chips so I can select from 300 albums.
Another that you may not find important is the ability to display Lat/Long and also altitude. Here is the West, you may find yourself on level ground and then look down on the GPS and find that your level ground is at an altitude of 8000 or 9000 feet. A Lat/Long output is useful if you are ever stuck or broken down. If you do this in a place where you have cell phone coverage, you report your location to that people will find you more quickly.
Finally, find out how much map upgrades will cost you. You will be wanting to purchase new maps every few years. The upgrades for my Garmin cost, I believe, about $150. I know someone who has a built in car GPS and his upgrades cost about $500.
Hope this helps.
DON
Forgot 2 things
by Donaldsc - 12/7/07 9:26 PM In reply to: SiRF Star III high-sensitivity GPS receiver by DonaldscI forgot 2 things so I am replying to my own post.
1) Consider where you will mount the GPS and it you will keep the thing from sliding around your car. My NUVI came with a guaranteed to fall of the window suction cup mount. I bought a Garmin bean bag mount for ~$30.
2) Another useful feature that you may not think about is that the unit functions as a wonderful heads-up speedometer. In my car, the speedometer is half blocked by my steering wheel. When I am driving, I use the GPS as a speedometer because it sits up on the dashboard in plain view.
DON
Text to Speech
by svbackstreets - 12/7/07 9:33 PM In reply to: SiRF Star III high-sensitivity GPS receiver by DonaldscI didn't read all the posts so excuse me if this was mentioned before. I've used s Garmin IQue 3600 for 5-6 years or so. The only reason I ever need to look at it when I'm driving is to see the street's name I'm being told to turn on.
Our new Tomtom has "text to speech." It says the street name. IMHO that is a feature you should get for sure.
GPS Units
by scalesl - 12/7/07 9:57 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you check on E-Cost.com you will see that they have 35 pages of GPS Units ranging from $129.00 to over $600.00.I think the biggest difference is price some may be a little harder to see or hear but all in all ,the difference is not that much.
Well ...
by Ken Jr. - 12/7/07 11:01 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The question is, what do you want your GPS to do for you? I bought the Garmin Nuvi 360 because it met my criteria. Unfortunately it cost me almost $350, and then only after Googling for the best price. Here's what mine does that I most appreciate:
. It's thin, light, has a good size screen, and even when not plugged in the battery lasts for many hours.
. It's easy to use both at the start of my trips and on the road. Oh, also, it has a 'detour' mode (you're not in trouble if your selected road is under construction).
. It's easy to physically disengage it from its mount and hide it away or put it in your pocket when you leave the car (don't want to encourage thieves).
. You can select a speaking voice that sounds just right for you.
. It names the upcoming street in both voice and in print on the screen. My last GPS would say, "turn left at the next street then immediately right" (unsettling when there are a lot of confusing distractions). My Garmin says, "take the next left on J street then immediately turn right on 19th. avenue". It leaves no feeling of ambiguity.
. It's database of hotels, restaurants, gas stations and the like become its most important feature when you're on the road and passing through (or around) town after town (it's late, you need gas, you ask it for nearby gas stations, it provides a list, you see a Chevron that's 7 miles away in the direction you're going, you ask that it take you there, it does .. It talks you right up to the station's driveway).
The Garmin 360 met my criteria right to the T. But had I simply wanted a GPS that would take me to requested addresses across town I could have spent a heck of a lot less. I suspect Mary Jane the amount you'll spend will end up being pretty much proportional to the amount of out-of-town and interstate travel you plan on doing.
You get what you don't pay for.
by Mr.Defaulto - 12/7/07 11:09 PM In reply to: Aren't all GPS devices essentially the same? Why the price differences? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I received a Navigon 2100 for my birthday in Nov, right after "Black Friday". I was a little upset that someone spent SO MUCH money on me, but later I found out it was only $99!!! (still a lot for a gift i think) But anyway, this thing is AMAZING!! It has: SD Slot so you can upgrade maps or anything (even add videos and other stuff), the ABSOLUTE BEST GRAPHICS of any GPS I've seen, it really looks as if Apple did the graphics. It has 2D (Map or "Birds-Eye" View), and 3D as if you are looking through your car window. Day/Night mode, Text to Speech with VERY CLEAR VOICE, automatic re-routing (in case you turn the wrong way or just decide to go a different way) and it's FAST. It updates within ONE SECOND from the time you turn a different direction. Also has Car, Bicycle, Pedestrian mode (for cutting across places a car can't I guess, and one-way streets that you can walk down) The screen is small, about 3.5" which is fine for me, it has such a small footprint on my dash, but some people may need a larger screen. Battery lasts about 3.5 hours.
I think the only Con I can come up with is that you can't hear the speaker clearly if you have your music cranked up too loud, but that's true with ANY gps.
This Navigon unit is making me think the other manufacturers are just screwing us out of our hard earned money because it's a "new" technology. But this tiny unit does about everything the other units (at 5x the price) do.
Navigon 2100
by nutbustd - 12/9/07 9:32 PM In reply to: You get what you don't pay for. by Mr.DefaultoI agree I bought one on black friday and what a deal!!this GPS works and I got the free traffic updates for life. I can take it on vacation to use in the rental car! Nutbustd
Navigon 2100
by billangell - 1/14/08 7:01 PM In reply to: You get what you don't pay for. by Mr.DefaultoI too bought a Navigon on Black Friday for $99 from Staples and it came with lifetime free traffic at no additional charge as a promotion.
The only problem is that it just doesn't work very well. The touch screen has been reported to have sensitivity problems but if you look closely you'll see that it got the input but it just didn't take. Often you have to repeat instructions as many as 5 times to get them to take. It is a very frustrating unit to operate. If Navigon can get the sensitivity issue resolved, they will have something. Latest prices are up as high as $250 and remember that it only has continental US with no Canada, Alaska, or Hawaii and very few POIs, in the thousands according to the documentation.
I much prefer my TomTom One LE that I also bought on BF for $119. This little baby does great navigation, has a decent screen and many voices to select from although it won't say the actual name of the next street. It comes with a free program called Mapshare that allows users to share updated road information and POIs which none of the other units seem to have. I don't much care for their suction mount but a third party vent mount works like a charm for about $15 extra. A good place to compare GPS units is the GPS review web site
http://www.gpsreview.net/ you'll see some posts from me as JeepLover.
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