[T3] GPS recommendations?

[Jim Adney]

Well, I've made the leap into a GPS. Thanks to everyone who replied 
with their thoughts on them. I just thought I'd mention what I've 
done.

Several of you mentioned smart phone apps. I may get there someday, 
but frankly, I'm just too cheap. I can't believe what they cost per 
month to own and operate.

I read what Consumer Reports had to say on GPSs. They recommended a 
5" screen, free map updates, plus several other recommendations. 
Those of you who replied, recommended Garmin over the others, and 
some of you mentioned how expensive the map updates are if you don't 
get the free updates. One feature that seemed useful was the traffic 
awareness and routing available in larger cities.   

I looked at the recent models available and at the options. I figured 
out that LM at the end of the Garmin model number stands for Lifetime 
Map updates and LMT adds lifetime Traffic updates, so I looked for a 
reasonably priced LMT version. The one on sale at Target was the 
Garmin 50LM, but it doesn't have the Traffic routing feature.

I settled for the Garmin 1450LMT w/complete North American maps. It's 
an older model, but I found a refurb, with full warrantee, at Tiger 
Direct for $120 plus $7 shipping. My one reservation is to how much 
native memory the 1450 has. Garmin doesn't appear to release this 
info. The Garmins will all accept microSD memory cards to add memory, 
but they don't say how much memory they will accept or how much this 
effects the speed. Once your (total) memory is no longer large enough 
to handle the next map upgrade, Garmin considers your GPS "lifetime" 
to be ended. So much for the meaning of lifetime....

It's not here yet, so I don't have any actual impressions to report. 
I'll do that later.

Don't worry, I'm still addicted to paper maps and we'll still plan 
all our trips using them. I like to see the larger picture when I'm 
thinking about trips. I sometimes use Mapquest, too, but it actually 
misled me on one occasion. I expect the GPS to be particularly 
helpful while wandering thru an unfamiliar city.

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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