As of December 2007, the best brands of GPS devices in the $300 range are Magellan, Garmin and Tomtom. Here’s what you get: They all have a pretty good touch screen interface and good battery life. All are capable of getting traffic updates as an extra service through your cell phone. All have internal power source, and chargeability via car lighter. All have a pretty good on screen display in 2D or 3D.
Magellan –
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Nice big 4.3″ screen.
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No text to speech… meaning the lady (or man) will just tell you “Turn Left in 20 yards”, not “Turn Left in 20 yards on North Dearborn St”. If you’ve used GPS before, you know that it can be off by 10+ yards sometimes, depending on Satellite triangulation/coverage.
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Good recalculation of fastest route if you take a wrong turn (instead of wasting time trying to get you to get back to your original route).
Garmin –
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Somewhat smaller screen of 3.5″. Consumer reports states that the minimum usable screen is about this size – they do make smaller.
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Text to speech. You don’t ever have to look at the screen while driving. It reads everything to you.
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Good recalculation of fastest route.
Tomtom –
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Nice big 4.3″ screen
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Text to speech.
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Instead of recalculating routes if you start driving off track, it yells at you to get back on your original route – what the?!?!?!
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Good compatibility with Europe
