Recommend my mother a GPS unit

thomez · 03-19-2008, 10:23 PM

She was looking at something like this?

Amazon.com: Garmin nüvi 200W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator: Electronics

Probably $220 or less, portable is a plus. Has to be easy to use, she is no tech wizard.

Thanks.

7960 · 03-19-2008, 11:28 PM

I looked at that and almost bought it for my wife, but opted for a garmin nuvi 650 because it says street names.

So rather than "turn right in 500 feet" it says "turn right on Main Street in 500 feet."

In my opinion it was worth the extra money (under $300 on ebay using buy it now). Either way she'll be happy with garmin nuvi series (again, imo).

thomez · 03-19-2008, 11:37 PM

I don't think I can get her to spend much more than $200

if it doesn't say it, it at least displays the street name though, correct?

7960 · 03-19-2008, 11:54 PM

Originally Posted by thomez

I don't think I can get her to spend much more than $200

if it doesn't say it, it at least displays the street name though, correct?

yes, it'll say "turn right in 500 feet" and it will display the street name across the top of the screen.

but honestly, I'd go for the smaller screen that speaks the name (they call it text to speech, or TTS). Garmin nuvi 260 (not 260w) is about $220-$230ish. I have a 4.3" screen and TTS. If I had to give one up I'd keep TTS and dump the big screen. With TTS I don't look at the screen very often, and you can set it at a zoom level that just about makes the bigger screen unnecessary.

for research, this website is what every website should be. you put in the features and it narrows it to a list of possible products.

GPS Review : GPS Reviews

I sent the guy an email praising the site.

JaJae · 03-20-2008, 10:22 AM

This is the closest thing to a GPS unit my mother would be able to figure out...

Stylerod · 03-20-2008, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by thomez

She was looking at something like this?

Amazon.com: Garmin nüvi 200W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator: Electronics

Probably $220 or less, portable is a plus. Has to be easy to use, she is no tech wizard.

Thanks.

I believe that one does text to voice which does talk street names. I think all the Nuvi's do. I got my wife one with blue tooth and she has loved it. She isn't a real techie either but it is so easy to use it is almost flawless. I would HIGHLY recommend this GPS.

Stylerod · 03-20-2008, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by JaJae

This is the closest thing to a GPS unit my mother would be able to figure out...

The Nuvi's are just about idiot proof. I bet your mom would be able to use it with no problems.

Ardentfrost · 03-20-2008, 10:31 AM

I got a nuvi 650 or 660 (something like that) and love it. The only time I had trouble with it was when I was in a newly built part of town. It was SO lost.

JaJae · 03-20-2008, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

The Nuvi's are just about idiot proof. I bet your mom would be able to use it with no problems.

My mother still has trouble with the concept of turning the the cable box and the TV on. Every now and then I'll get a phone call saying her TV is broken because she forget to turn on the cable box. Forget about changing inputs to use a dvd player...

I've used the new Nuvi's, my boss has one in the van we use often use for the business and it's pretty easy in that it guides you through, but she gets pretty intimidated and refuses to try.

7960 · 03-20-2008, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

I believe that one does text to voice which does talk street names. I think all the Nuvi's do.

This is incorrect.

There is no text-to-speech option on the Nuvi 200 series

Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS Review

You have to be very careful when reading descriptions. There's text-to-speech that means "saying street names and voice prompting that means "saying 'turn right in 500 feet'."

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

I got a nuvi 650 or 660 (something like that) and love it. The only time I had trouble with it was when I was in a newly built part of town. It was SO lost.

didn't you write up something about the traffic receiver? if so, you've got a 660.

Ardentfrost · 03-20-2008, 01:49 PM

Yeah, it has a traffic receiver. I opted to not renew it at this time though. The price was more than I was expecting, and I don't do enough travel to places I am not familiar at all with to warrant it. I know how ATL's traffic goes, and the lag for the traffic receiver makes off-peak traffic... weird, to say the least (like, it'll still think a wreck is there when it's already been cleared).

Roonie · 03-20-2008, 02:15 PM

Love the Nuvi 660. She is better than any chick as navigator! She never judges and is always polite. I keep expecting her to say you missed the turn dumb ass...... but no she is never judging and always even tempered no matter how late to a function you may be.

Also you can have different accents like Australian or english if you want. I wish they had a sexy option then it would be almost complete.

Ardentfrost · 03-20-2008, 02:17 PM

My wife and I use the Australian chick, who is named Karen in the menu... so we call the Garmin Karen. And when people say like "do you know how to get there?" we say stuff like "Karen does."

7960 · 03-20-2008, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by Roonie

Love the Nuvi 660. She is better than any chick as navigator! She never judges and is always polite. I keep expecting her to say you missed the turn dumb ass...... but no she is never judging and always even tempered no matter how late to a function you may be.

I put in the address I was going to but went past to park <recalculating route> then hit a side street <recalculating route> then went the wrong way on a one way for 100' <recalculating route> to get to a spot I know. As I was on that 100' stretch the BITCH in the box said "at your earliest opportunity make a legal u-turn."

I yelled "I WIN!" My wife didn't think it was funny.

Stylerod · 03-20-2008, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

I put in the address I was going to but went past to park <recalculating route> then hit a side street <recalculating route> then went the wrong way on a one way for 100' <recalculating route> to get to a spot I know. As I was on that 100' stretch the BITCH in the box said "at your earliest opportunity make a legal u-turn."

I yelled "I WIN!" My wife didn't think it was funny.

I may have told this story before. I was using my old Garmin UPS on a trip to the Outer Banks. A new bridge had been built across a bay. To get to the old bridge you had to make a left near the water but now the road went straight onto the new bridge. Well, my GPS kept telling me I needed to turn in 500 feet etc and as I passed that road I was on just green and it kept telling me to turn around. Then as I went over the blue of the bay it told me to turn around 2 more times and then just went silent for the 2-3 minutes to get over the bridge. I think it thought we were all dead anyway to why waste the time anymore.

Donkey® · 03-22-2008, 11:27 PM

Why are you allowing a woman to get near a car?

It's a joke. Keep your vaginas silica free.

kombayn · 04-04-2008, 03:12 AM

Buy her a TomTom, my dad uses it. Good stuff. Cheap too.

motivez · 04-06-2008, 01:10 AM

Everyone raves about the Garmin Nuvi's, I'd probably go with one of those if I was going to get one... though there was another brand that's big in Europe that I had thought was pretty nice last time one of these threads popped up