JB
Honorary Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2001
- Messages
- 45,907
For several years I have been using a Garmin GPSMAP unit in my vehicles. They give me the same comfort when traveling that they do when on the boat on a big, complex lake. They also prevent me getting lost and guide me, after a fashion, to where I intend to go<br /><br />First I used a GPS12map, then went to the Garmin 162.<br /><br />They work great at night, but are very hard to read in daylight in the truck. Monochrome LCD screens.<br /><br />Well, I am going to sell my boat and the buyer is sure to want the Garmin 162, so I am looking around for a good color screen unit to replace it in my truck.<br /><br />I saw some in-dash units (Pioneer AVID N1) that fold the screen down and zip it out of sight when not in use. Really cool. . .big, 7" wide screens, play DVDs or CDs, radios, etc. BUT:<br /><br />I really like the Bose sound system that MB put in my truck. I don't want to replace it with a multimedia unit. I only want to add a good GPS.<br /><br />I don't know if I would ever use the voice command direction that most of the made-for-a-car units have. I wouldn't mind the option, but I travel with spontaniety and those units go crazy if you decide to take an interesting side road that is not on their planned route.<br /><br />My priorities are: <br />Fairly large (5" or so) high res color screen.<br />Quality, updatable cartography that covers the entire USA.<br />Intuitive operation for a guy who has been runnning Garmins for years.<br /><br />So far I have a list, not in any particular order, of some units I might like:<br /><br />Garmin 276C with auto navigation kit. About $1K MSRP. Can be used in a vehicle, with auto navigation software, or in a traditional boat application with any Mapsource SW.<br /><br />Garmin 182C. About $1.2K MSRP with accessories. Adapt it the way I adapted my 162.<br /><br />Garmin iQue 3600 GPS/PDA with auto nav kit, same features as the 276C plus PDA features. Around $600 MSRP with accessories.<br /><br />Garmin 172C. Pretty much the same as my 162, but color screen, much more RAM, takes memory cards. About a Grand.<br /><br />Garmin GPS 18. Converts a laptop to a powerful GPS. Less than $180 MSRP. Sounds great, but what laptop or notebook is amall enough to mount on my dash and power from 12volts?<br /><br />Your experiences and ideas would be welcome.<br /><br />Thanks 
