Aftermarket GPS opinions
 

I am looking for opinions for aftermarket GPS units (the portable, stick on the windshield type) This would not see tons of use, and I'd prefer to keep the price down in the $200 or so ballpark. I searched, but most of the posts or threads were over a year old, and obviously a lot has changed since then. If anyone has purchased a aftermarket gps in the past 6 months or so, I'd like to hear your opinions or recommendations, ie. ease of use, reliability, mounting options, etc. Thanks!

you can't go wrong with any Garmin or TomTom GPS.

check them out. very simiple to use and maps can be updated.

any features that are a must?

The dividing line is text to speech. IMO, units are much better when it can audibly say "Take the Next right, Greene Street"

I recently bought a Navigon 2100 primarily due to the low price. I was pleasantly surprised that it has text-to-speech, which as Rev mentions is a great feature. Several other guys I work with have also bought the unit. eCost currenty is selling factory refurbed units for $99. Staples featured it a few weeks ago for $119. Highly recommended- good bang per buck ratio.

The Garmin Nuvi 200 and the TomTom One should fit your budget requirements

or try the Navigon unit mentioned above for more features per dollar.

they are all pretty much the same nowadays.

I got a Garmin Nuvi 350 from walmart online, $200. The text to speech is the most important part for me. Screen size isn't a big deal since hopefully you're not going to be staring at it going down the road.

Magellan
 

I have a highly rated Magellan Maestro purchased late last year with the latest firmware, and the routing is often horrendous. I would never purchase another of this brand. Changing the routing option does not help and does not produce results indicated by the option. For example, in long Los Angeles-area drives with "fastest" routing, it will often try to take you off the freeway onto surface streets (with wide-open roads at 1 a.m. so unrelated to traffic conditions). Going from Anaheim to L.A. it will tell you to go EAST on the 91 freeway into the Santa Ana Canyon towards Riverside. etc. It is completely hit or miss.

It's not so simple. I have a had a few and from my experience the Tom Tom's graphics and screens are not as good as the Garmins and I had hard time syncing my blackberry to the Tom Tom. My Magellan was nice but sometimes the guidance was way off and I had to send it back to be fixed and then it broke again so I ditched it. I now have a Nuvi and a streetpilot and they are great. Every brand will have soem guidance problems but in my experience the Garmins are the best. But if you are not going to use it much then get a cheapo one.

Thanks for the comments everyone - I appreciate it.

I have a Kenwood labelled Garmin unit and it is fantastic. Excellent routing, ability to easily update the software/firmware, and good voice commands.

i love my tomtom xl one. the tomtom one is the same thing but smaller. Its gotten me out of pleanty of jams.

Oh and with the Garmin you customize the icon on the screen to fit your car.

i have heard some nice things about the garmin, but havent heard much about the others.