mcewena wrote:
Yeah the models Amazon flogs aren't always the ones the vendors expect.
Yes a number for size and letter for features make sense, I just didn't want to navigate thru meaningless marketting like drive, drive assist, drive smart, Driveluxe and Nuvi ;)
The link you were given goes to the in-house "store" at Garmin and shows their current automotive navigation devices. The Garmin lineup has been greatly simplified recently, so a lot of what is out there retail is obsolete, from Garmin's point of view.
Those marketing names are not meaningless, they are used to distinguish models with different features. The Garmin website explains each model in great detail. Folks selling on Amazon or E-Bay assume you have already done this research and know which model you want.
For automotive use, you probably don't want a Nuvi. The Nuvi was originally marketed to replace the GPSMap line more than a decade ago, as a smaller portable device to be used either in a vehicle or carried in a pocket for walkaround navigation. But then market demand for bigger screens made even the smallest Nuvi too big for walking around, and smart phone navigation filled that function.
I also would not buy anything that is not current, as support will become limited when technologies change. My oldest Garmin, a GPSMap 60-series, loads maps from a computer using a RS-232 serial port, with an application no longer available. How long has it been since computers have had that port? For my Nuvi, I have to buy maps on a microSD card, or download through a computer using USB. More recent models go directly to Garmin by wifi.
