Forum Discussion

lance1's avatar
lance1
Explorer
Aug 14, 2019

Which Stand-alone GPS system to purchase?

Hello Everyone,

I'm not an RVer but I want to purchase a good Stand-Alone GPS system for car navigation in the next week or so and I would really appreciate some input from those of you that use a Stand-Alone GPS on a regular basis.

I emailed the always helpful Emily Fagan of Roads Less Traveled (RLT), and since they do not use any GPS, she recommended 3 Forums of avid & knowledgeable RVers that I should contact and see what all of you are using and are happy with.

rv.net rvnetwork.com & irv2.com

Note that I will be cross-posting this request to the 3 forums above, so please ignore it on the other forums if you've already replied.

Here are my ideas / wish list .........

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Initial thoughts:

Stand-alone GPS System. No more than $300.

Not interested in any Phone Based GPS.

I've used several different stand-alone GPS units several years ago and I found that all were hard to enter destinations, and were just overall difficult to use.

I'm interested in the following, but not in any order of priority.

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*** I will NOT be connecting a smart phone to the unit for calling or any reason.


- Cost - let's say up to $300

- Definitely MANUFACTURER SUPPORT, ie, a company that stands by their product IF there is a problem and is easy to contact, ie, answers the phone if necessary.

- Prefer a larger screen, but functionality is more important

- Easy to enter destinations and easy RE-ROUTE manually when desired

- Un-cluttered EASY to view/read map screen while driving

- Lifetime FREE map updates

- Includes "traffic" or "construction" functionality.
(Unless there is a consensus that it's useless - please advise)

- is TOUCH SCREEN useful ?

=========================================

I just want a unit that works VERY good AND is reasonably easy to use.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can take the time to share your
experience and assist me in purchasing a unit that I will find enjoy.

Regards to all,
Lance
  • Used Garmin for years and never had any issues. Seems easy to use to me. Tried a Tom Tom years ago (someone gave it to my mother) and didn't like it at all. Out first van had an aftermarket DVD/Navigation head unit that was Garmin-based and it worked well also. Our second van had an aftermarket DVD/Navigation unit that was Magellan based and it was not user friendly at all. Ended up using my Garmin or phone instead.

    I would imagine most of them are pretty similar now days. I'd go somewhere like a Best Buy that has a selection and just play with them and see which you feel most comfortable with. I would still verify, but I think lifetime map updates is pretty standard now.
  • lance1 wrote:
    Not interested in any Phone Based GPS.
    Your funeral. Google maps guidance is more accurate than Garmin.
  • Garmin is the best-in-class GPS. Go to the nearest Best Buy to test it. Price ranges to $126 and gets more sophisticated with more features as you go up the price range.

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