Can anyone give me advice on entry level GPS?

[Bacoes]

My wife and I are taking a a business/vacation trip from Tacoma to Anaheim at the end of next month. It's going to be the first time for either of us in SoCal traffic, so I'm thinking about getting a GPS. I normally do pretty well navigating on the freeway, but think I might need it for getting around LA. Can anyone tell me if the cheap ($150ish) systems would be worth buying for this kind of use? Thanks

[BeSmart]

I use a Tomtom XL-S, but it was not $150. It talks to you, worth every penny, especially on the freeways.

[smartfloridadad]

I bought the entry level Tom Tom from best buy ,it does better than themore expensive obe I have in my other car that a couple of years old ,I only paid 149 for it

[jwight]

I've had a Mio C310x for over a year now and IMHO it's the best bang for your GPS buck. They've also released a new series of models but I haven't checked prices on those. More info at: GPS Navigation Manufacturer - Mio Technology USA

[HGB]

I've been using a Garmin Quest for severals years and on the whole it works well. What you should also consider to buy is a fast responding unit, and in addition how you can upgrade software without spending a fortune.
I also suggest keeping a map aboard when the routing gets confused. For example I was looking for Roslyn a small town in WA where Northern Exposure was once filmed. My unit told me to get off the highway miles earlier.
I believe certain cell phones also have GPS as an option.

[randyzimmer]

I have a different model but all of this brand probably uses the same database.
It has made a few goofs but that's a feature all of these things have.
Nextar X3i 3.5'' Portable GPS with MP3 and 3 Interchangeable Face Plates - X3i - Buy.com
@ $108.00 /free shipping, it is a deal.

[sheureka]

You might take a look at G p s P a s S i o n - probably more than you ever wanted to know but the forum has really good information. And check Semsons & Co. Inc. - Bluetooth GPS, GPS Data Loggers, Navigation software, GPS accessories and mounting solutions for Palm/Pocket PC/Smartphone/Laptop and Garmin GPS Receivers, Garmin GPS Software, Garmin GPS Accessories for availability and good deals.

[Frankenstein_Casanova]

The cheap ones suck in comparison to a good GPS..

I bought the cheapest Magellan unit a few months back and used it for a while before installing a Pioneer AVIC-D3 in-dash dvd/gps/everything else unit. The difference is like night and day. The cheapo unit cant display much detail (like street names, for example) unless you're zoomed way in, takes much longer to "find itself" when you start it up, and just generally pales in comparison to the "real" GPS I installed.

It's so junky that I haven't even bothered to stick it up in any of my other cars.. It just sits unused, although I might put it on my ZX14 someday.

Johnny

[AF6FB]

It's not really an entry level GPS, but I would look at the Dash Express (www.dash.net). In addition to being a good GPS, it reads traffic information and has some perty extreme Point-of-interest (POI) capabilities. It's about $400.

[tivoboy]

The nice thing about the DASH is that it does a LIVE lookup through it's GPRS connection to yahoo search, and yahoo local for any information. Meaning, the "POI" information is the most current and hopefully, the most complete. Problem with this solution though is that WITHOUT the GPRS connection (or the wifi connection is also has) there is basically NO POI information on the device.

The traffic data does seem to be getting better though, but I haven't found it better than MSFT live traffic or google maps traffic on a smartphone.

Time will tell if their connected network effect bears fruit.

Plus, it is pretty expensive at $400 PLUS minimum $120 a year for the service fees.

For the money, i'd find a nice garmin nuvi (I still think they have the best routing and features) or a higher end model if you want to have traffic added.