Navigation Devices

[jumpman17]

I'm looking into buying a GPS navigational device like a Garmin or TomTom or etc...

Does anyone have any experience with these or know of any good sites with reviews of them?

I'm basically looking for:
* Large screen
* Touch screen support
* Talks
* Voice recognition (do they even make this feature?)
* GPS built in

I don't care to view pictures and listen to MP3s and all that other useless crap.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[FAST6191]

My knowledge and interest in these is fairly peripheral in nature but do you want a car or mountain/walking one?

Either way I would suggest waiting few weeks for April (financial year and start of summer) as all the "old" models get sold on the cheap and are just as good (and with support longer than useful life) than the "new" models.
As an extra postcode/zip lookup is a very nice feature I suggest you invest in.

Mountain (I have some stories about them but that is for a different day)
I would suggest visiting a local climbing shop (maybe fishing as well) and asking them. They are usually a bit more expensive and may have less road detail/road features but they are solid devices and will last for ages.

Car:
I suggest a dash/windscreen mounted one, most support touchscreen and have a robot to yell turn around. Large screen for dash/mounted means PSP size or marginally bigger around here but US road laws are way different to UK standards, consoles can be a bit bigger but unless you have a nice/frequently used car or like burning money leave it out. Visit a local garage with a electronics bent as they will usually be able to help.

Voice recog I have not heard of for either though.

As for reviews it is not something I shop for that often but most major IT sites usually take care of buisness, if you want updated maps check you are not buying into a subscription service as well as that be a hidden charge.

 

[Veho]

I have a Garmin nüvi 360, very good, accurate, large touch screen, talks, great build quality, but very car-(or boat)-oriented. Estimated battery life: 3 hours. Really not an "outdoors" kind of machine. A bit expensive (but the price should have dropped by now), but very good.