Hard 8

I absolutely love my car, but darn it, I wish I had sprung for the navigation system. Every time I make a long trip I spend half an hour on MapQuest optimizing my route and printing out maps, then I try to read them and drive at the same time, because I have trouble memorizing them. It's dangerous and irritating, but sometimes it's a real pain to pull off the road, especially on a freeway. I think how it easy it would have been to input my destination at the start.

In Lake Tahoe last week, we got lost for TWO HOURS because I made one wrong turn and we didn't have a map.

Darn it. I'm convinced from my searches that it's virtually impossible to add navigation to the car now, and the hand-held units don't have nearly the appeal for me that the in-car system would have. (And yes; I have reviewed the threads comparing the built-in system with hand-held units).

I am almost tempted to find another RX-8 with nav and trade for it, but that would be thousands of dollars in sales tax alone, if I could even pull it off. I'm certainly not going to trade in my car on a new one.

Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any handheld units that are just wonderful, in terms of voice commands, ease of use and large view screens? Any other thoughts, or am I just completely screwed here?

Thanks for letting me whine.

mikeb

check out the audio threads
there is TONS of info on this

VRRocket

You can buy a lot of maps for the $2000 upgrade and the depreciation loss on your current vehicle.

Hard 8

Thanks, Mike. I have surfed through a lot of that stuff over the past several months; I'll look at it again. There's too much information, is the problem. I just wish I knew of a simple solution; maybe a handheld unit that is simply wonderful. Anyway, I'll look again.

Hard 8

True. That's why I didn't get it in the first place. But now all this stuff is selling for invoice, which is not much more than a good handheld unit.

mikeb

outlaw extreme has a nice unit he got for 1k
I'm sure he could suggest some nice units for you

MEGAREDS

Hard 8:
Funny, I was once lost in Lake Tahoe for more than 2 hours in a snow storm many, many years ago -- I think it was more like 4 hours total. We couldn't find our lodge after flying in from Philadelphia... my father and I were exhausted from the trip and we finally found a Denny's where the person knew where we wanted to go. The NAV would have been a huge help... if it weren't for that person at Denny's, I'd still be lost.

If I were you, I would look into whatever the most expensive Garmin unit is and compare it to whatever the most expensive Magellan unit is. They're sure to be far less than $2000, and they will also have the benefit of being portable, so you can throw it in your suitcase when you travel. The NAV system is on overpriced option, but a beautifully implemented one. The portable units won't look as nice or be as stylish, but they'll usually keep you from getting lost. I won't ever go without a GPS-enabled car again.

Hard 8

Thanks, Mike and Megareds. I just looked at a web site showing the top Garmin and Magellan units. They do sound pretty good. Of course, that's a lot of cash to pony up (as compared to financing it with the car), but still ... Intriguing. Just at first glance, an $1,100 Magellan unit looked the most appealing.

BIMMER5&RX8

I use a hand held Megellan Meridian and it works great. It only costs a fraction of the $2000 of what was for the build-in unit on RX8 and I can use it in other cars, hiking, travelling, etc.

livitup

I have the nav on my car (and love it) but before I did I was a HUGE fan of Laptop PC based GPS Nav.

It might end up costing close to 2k if you don't already have a laptop, and you spring for a really nice one, but it's totally worth it.

I used (and still do, in my Non-Nav cars) Delorme Street Atlas USA. www.streetatlasusa.com

It is an absolutley awesome program, and when you team it up with the DeLorme Earthmate GPS unit it will give you voice guided, turn-by-turn directions, with all the features of the 8's nav system. It includes POI, automatic re-routing if you go off the path, etc. etc. etc. Check it out.

The same GPS dongle is usable with PocketPC (like the Ipaq), PalmPC and such, so you can even take your maps hand-held, and if you're considering dropping some cash then a new Ipaq and Street Atlas will still cost you a lot less than $2k.

Just a suggestion from a VERY happy user, who couldn't find his way home, without Nav.

---A

w2aew

Gee, 2 extra hours driving around in the 8 in a gorgeous location like Lake Tahoe... ...I can think of worse things! ;-)

For me, the extra time driving around in the 8, and the extra $2k in my pocket, all worth it! No nav here, and luvin' it!

boothguy

H8: I started using NAV a few years ago (a Garmin Streetpilot Colormap) and am about to get my third factory system. Wouldn't be without it. I'm right there with ya on why they're worth the bucks, but a portable unit will do a nice job for you without the financial pain of trading your current car for one with the pricey factory NAv system. I'm partial to the Garmin line because of first-hand experience, but the current issue of Road & Track gives the nod to Magellan's unit by a narrow margin.

What you get with with the factory unit is bigger screen size, easier data entry, the system keeps navigating even if the antenna can't see the sky, and the depth and usability of the points of interest is greater. What you get with a portable is, well...portability. The biggest advantage as stated earlier is to be able to use it on trips, in rental cars or someone else's car if they're driving tonight.

Jeffjett

Hey Hard 8 - Garmin Streetfinder 2610 - Thing rocks, half the price of stock, can be used in any vehicle, good looking, easy to program - full color screen, touch screen, voice directions as well as on-screen, previous address memory, loaded with restaurants, hotels, tourist sites, you name it. And no, I don't work for Garmin.

Nuff said.


Need anymore info, PM me bro.

whosyourbaba

yea, i regreat sometimes that i didnt get nav. comes in handy. I was thinking about getting the new pioneer that my friend showed me.link here not sure if is good, but looks good from what they say. and im a fool to that.

Kandyman

Or even better, go with the Garmin Streetfinder 2620. It has a built-in 2GB CF hard drive, so the full USA map is pre-loaded. see this thread for more: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=11411
Another option (slightly cheaper but less features) is the Magellan 700.
With these new Garmin and Magellan models, it is hard for me to justify paying a premium for a built-in system. True the built-in systems look more elegant and cannot easily be stolen if your car is broken into, but the portable systems give you more flexibility if you have more than one vehicle.

Deslock

There are many threads about this. You can save a lot of money by going with a handheld unit (many do routing nowadays) and you'll be able to use it in other cars and easily connect to a PC to upload/download routes, tracklogs, waypoints, etc.

My Garmin GPSMap60cs cost $350 and I also use it for hiking, mt biking, boating, etc (it lets me load both topo and street maps). Its interface is also more customizable than the factory-NAV.

Hard 8

There's a ton of threads about this; it's true. Too many, in fact. The information is almost overwhelming. However, this particular thread has been both therapeutic and helpful for me. Therapeutic because it's my thread and I can cry if I want to; and helpful because the good people here have given me some very specific recommendations for a portable GPS unit. Thank you all. Now I just need to decide how much to spend, and when.

RodsterinFL

I've been reading up on these things. The portables are getting better and the current #1 rated portable is the Magellan in magazines anyway. Like you , I did not get a NAV unit. I am an electronics nut but just could not justify the $2000. I would come close to buying if I could keep the unit if I sold the car though - like a portable. Give it time and the portables will probably overtake the installed units if they are cheaper.

Hard 8

Does anyone make an all-in-one portable unit that folds closed, like a portable DVD player/screen? If not, wouldn't it be cool to have one that you could set on the dash, but it had a bigger screen, DVD drive and a control panel on the lower half? It would look something like this, but with a nav screen instead of a movie: