Tom Tom Navigation

[JeffW]

I have the Tom Tom Navigator 5 on my Palm Treo 650. The software cost $150, and the bluetooth GPS was ~$100 or so, can't remember. The GPS is Sirf III, so works great through solid objects. I throw it in the glove box and have never had reception problems (whereas my old one had to be on the dash and had trouble through canyons (natural and urban). The only annoying thing with mine is that I have to keep the batteries charged and reach in to turn on the GPS receiver when I want to use it. It shouldn't be difficult to get one that will always be on when the car is on. I need to look into that.

I haven't gone to the trouble of cleanly mounting the treo on the dash anywhere yet. Mainly because the voice directions are so good that I don't really need to look at it while driving, and I think that's an important feature. I just set it in the cup holder for now and peer down at it once in a while to check my ETA.

This Tom Tom software should be equivalent to that on the Go you're considering, and I think the software works great for the most part. I've run into a couple cases where it seemed to get confused and direct me incorrectly, but when I go the way I know is correct, it does get back on track pretty quick. I don't have too much experience with other systems to know if this is better or worse on other systems. I like the different voices, particularly the English bird. I demoed the John Cleese voice... very funny, but I think it would get old quick. I have the maps for the Pacific Northwest and Canada on a high-speed SD card, so routing even long trips is extrememy fast.

One thing I particularly like about using a smartphone like the Treo is that Tom Tom software can navigate to locations in my Contacts. So I can look up a business in the yellow pages on my treo, add it to my contacts with a click, then navigate to that contact. I find this extremely useful when away from home and unexpectedly needing to find a particular store or restaurant.

I also have Pocket Topo on the Treo, which I switch to for backcountry travel (whether in vehicle or on foot). It doesn't give directions, but does show you where you are on the map using the GPS. When hiking or such, I just throw the bluetooth GPS receiver in my pack and keep the treo in my pocket.

So for $250 on top of the cost of a PDA-based cell phone I was going to have anyway, I think the value is unbeatable and the Tom Tom software works well. However, if you are considering spending over $700, I would look into an in-dash system like the Pioneer AVIC-D1, which can be found for ~$1000. That gives you the added value of bigger display (for song artist/title info, not just nav), and the possibility to add a backup cam. And even though I don't really like the look of these aftermarket systems (the small buttons aren't in keeping with the rest of the rugged theme), I think it's much cleaner than something mounted on your vent or on top of your dash.