"GPS Buying Guide"

### GPS Buying guide###

If we had a nickel for every time we've gotten lost on the back roads of some semi-rural state, we'd have enough money for a few beers. But if we had a good GPS with us every time, we'd never have gotten lost in the first place, saving hours of aggravation, not to mention gas money.

Portable GPS devices offer an excellent and easily self-installed solution, ranging in price from about $150 to $1200 USD. Models specific to activities like hiking, geocaching, biking, boating, and running are also available, and a handful of smartphones have built-in GPS hardware, with service for around $10 USD a month on top of voice and data plans.

Garmin and Magellan currently dominate the GPS market; behind them are TomTom and a host of smaller companies like Pharos and DeLorme. Broader outfits like Harman Kardon and Sony also make solid systems with some useful extras.

FOUR WHEELS

For $200 USD and under, you can expect a 3.5-inch touchscreen, preloaded 2D and 3D maps, windshield mounts, and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions. They tend to be small enough to slip easily into a pocket or purse. Spending $250 to $500 USD gets you extras like Bluetooth and text-to-speech capabilities (the device reads out street and highway names), as well as AV playback and a 4 or 4.3-inch screen.

Beyond that, high-end models have 4.8-inch to 5.2-inch screens and conveniences like FM transmitters. Most recent models can either accept an external receiver or have one built-in for real-time traffic and other local data, though you'll usually have to pay extra for that service.

The TomTom ONE 3rd Edition ($199.95 USD) adds a Map Share feature that lets you customize your maps on the go, and you can use the company's desktop software to share updates with other TomTom users. You can hook up an optional RDS-TMC receiver ($129.95 USD) to it for real-time traffic reports, which are sent to the GPS for automatic re-routing.

The Garmin nuvi 205 ($213.32 USD, available this spring) differentiates itself with a microSD slot for loading maps of different countries. It's slightly slimmer than the TomTom ONE, and its internal rechargeable battery lasts up to 4 hours, making it fairly versatile. Like the TomTom ONE, it lets you customize points of interest, though it lacks a sharing feature. Built-in hardware supports optional enhanced MSN Direct services ($129.95 USD one-time payment or $49.95/year) like real-time traffic, weather, gas prices, and other handy local info. A 4.3-inch widescreen version ($266.66 USD) is also available.

In the midrange, the Magellan Maestro 4250 ($499 USD) offers a 4.3-inch touchscreen, voice command support (though not for entering addresses), and built-in Bluetooth for using the device as a hands-free speakerphone. Other highlights include text-to-speech and a split-screen interface that lets you see current and next turns, as well as real-time traffic support with a free 3-month subscription to Navteq's traffic service.