Holiday Preview: GPS Buying Guide

In only a handful of years, GPS systems have made the leap from pricy toys for the rich to affordable, indispensable tools for nearly everyone. Whether you drive a Toyota Tercel or a Cadillac XLR, navigation systems are an easy upgrade that will allow you to quit wasting time and gas driving around town, and get directly to your destination, every time. This year’s batch of new GPS systems are some of the most flexible and affordable yet, with even more user friendly interfaces that make them appropriate for anyone.

Garmin Nuvi 755T, $500

It’s five o’clock in Los Angeles and you’re dead in the middle of six lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic. Ahead: a cluster of lane signs that looks like a giant instruction manual for the space shuttle. Behind: three semis, a wall of pickups, and one very aggravated-looking BMW driver. You might want to figure out where you need to be. Garmin’s new nüvi 755T takes all the complexity out of the equation with a feature called lane assist, which displays in very visual terms which lane you need to be in for those complex highway splits. You’ll also get free lifetime traffic reports for life included in the price of the unit, which might help you avoid hitting the gridlock to begin with. (Check Prices)

Mio KnightRider, $270

This is the system Knight Rider fans have been waiting for since 1982. With a jet-black exterior, flashing red LED lights that recall the iconic front grille of David Hasselhof’s Trans Am, and even audio directions provided by the original voice of KITT, Mio has layered the 1980’s nostalgia on thick. Unfortunately, it won’t drive your car for you, allow it to jump, or respond to your comments with witty commentary, but if you’re looking for a functional nav system with some style, the KnightRider pulls it off. (www.mio.com)

TomTom GO 930, $500

Not only does the GO 930 deliver the same sort of lane-specific directions as Garmin’s Nuvi 7-series, TomTom has thrown in a few other extras that are completely unique to it. IQ Routes technology, for instance, calculates trip times based on how fast cars actually travel on roads on average, not just the speed limit. Users can even talk to the unit to enter addresses Star Trek style, and the built-in media player will not only pull MP3s from Bluetooth equipped devices, it will stream them back over the car radio using its FM transmitter. If you’re looking for a GPS that does it all, this is it. (Check Prices)

Magellan Maestro 4350, $500

Lines on a map are great for navigating Iowa, but when it comes time to drive in the city, things get pretty vertical. Magellan’s Maestro 4350 is one of the first to offer 3D skyscrapers pegged into its urban maps, giving drivers valuable reference points when trying to wind through the urban landscape. Magellan also added its new OneTouch interface to this unit, which makes it easier to pull up common destinations and searches without reentering them every time. On top of that, Magellan has one of the largest address libraries, with 6 million points of interest. It will also do live traffic, but unlike Garmin, Magellan doesn’t offer free-for-life traffic subscriptions. (Check Prices)

Dash Express, $400

Of all the GPS units conventional manufacturers have pumped out this season, Dash’s new Express model is by far the most unique. A live Internet connection allows every Dash on the road to relay back information about a car’s speed and location to a central location, building the same database of traffic info that each unit actually taps into. When a dozen Dash units get jammed up on the same freeway, every other Dash user knows to avoid it, and can adjust accordingly. The same uplink also allows it to update its software automatically and get business locations from a live central database rather than a static onboard library. Think of it as GPS 2.0. At $400, it’s far from the priciest unit on the road, but also keep in mind that subscriptions to keep your Web connection live will run $13 a month, so make sure your giftee is up to the task. (Check Price)

Pioneer AVIC-N5, $1500

Looking for something a little bigger than four or five inches across? Pioneer delivers big on both size and price with the upscale AVIC-N5 in-dash nav system. Since it takes the place of your car CD player and doubles as a head unit, Pioneer has managed to fit a mammoth 7-inch screen within, meaning you get the same display area as most car movie players. And, of course, it plays DVDs, MP3s, Bluetooth streams and whatever else you can throw at it, with a combined 200 watts of output. It even pulls traffic data from XM satellite. Pricy? Yes. Awesome? Hell yes. (Check Prices)

Navigon 2200T, $229

This rather low-profile maker of GPS units has been working its way up the ranks in the last year, and definitely secured its spot near the top in August when it announced free traffic updates for life across its entire product suite. Yes, Garmin made a similar announcement, but only its pricier units are covered. For $229, you won’t find a more inexpensive way to keep a bird’s eye view on traffic than this Navigon. With a 3.5-inch screen, it’s not quite as big as the rest of this year’s crop, which mostly fall into the 4.3-inch range, but it has other essentials including a lane assistant similar to Garmin’s, text-to-speech, and Navigon’s own Reality View Pro, which shows the actual text of road signs. (Check Prices)

Sony NVU94T, $450

Sony’s top-level nav-u GPS system distinguishes itself with a larger-than-usual 4.8-inch screen, typical Sony style, and a split-screen interface that can show, for instance, a 3D driver’s view of an upcoming turn in one pane and a 2D overhead map in the other. The company also advertises its “Super Suction Cup” mount and gesture commands, which allow drivers to program quick commands than can be executed instantly by using gestures on the touch screen, like drawng a V shape. Like most units in its price range, it also includes a media player, RDS traffic (after subscription), and Bluetooth. (Check Price)

Insignia NS-CNV20, $500

This Best-Buy-only system was built to contend with the Dash Express on the basis of its built-in cell modem. That means you’ll get access to local internet search wherever you are, gas prices, and real-time traffic updates. Though modeled closed to the Dash, there are a few key discrepancies to note: Dash uses Yahoo local search while Insignia used Google, Dash uses its own traffic network while Insignia uses Traffic.com, and the Insignia is far smaller. It’s a full $100 more though, but also comes with a free year of data connectivity and quarterly map updates, so if you plan to buy, investigate both carefully. (Check Price)

Garmin Nuvi 550

With a 3.5-inch screen, the Nuvi 550 is smaller than most of these competitors, offers fewer road navigation features, and won’t even play media files, but it does have one critical thing going for it: you can take it anywhere. Garmin designed this one as a multimode GPS for driving, hiking, boating, biking, and any other activity that might get you lost. It’s rugged, waterproof, and includes topographic maps instead of street maps for your more offroad adventures, and even has a battery that will last 8 hours, for extended trips away from the charger. (Check Price)