Vehicle Global Positioning Systems

A GPS unit for your vehicle comes in very handy if you find it difficult to read maps or just ask for directions. Portable vehicle GPS units display the intended route as you travel, give spoken directions and will plot a route before you even leave. No toll roads, fastest time and shortest distance are some of the things you can choose for your routing preferences.

Look for an vehicle GPS unit with the most memory. You don't want to be loading maps into the device while traveling to a destination.
A really nice feature of most portable vehicle GPS units is the ability to display points of interest such as gas stations, banks, tourist attractions and hotels. You can also specify a particular point of interest and have the unit plot a course for you. Once you've pin pointed a spot where you want to go, a portable vehicle GPS device can calculate a route to that exact spot. The higher end GPS units allow you to call a number displayed on your GPS device or even access phone numbers through a wireless, bluetooth compatible transmitter. If you're willing to pay a subscription, you can get local weather reports and local traffic through a premium service.

Vehicle Navigation

Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

The nüvi 2x5 models all have the slim layout that Garmin introduced with the 200-series a while ago, so they all sit easily in your purse or pocket, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that makes them easy for navigation by car or foot. All of the units include helpful travel tools like a meanurement converter, JPEG photo viewer, world travel clock with time zones, calculator and currency converter.

Garmin nüvi 780 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with MSN Direct Service

The nüvi 780 has the very-bright, 4.3-inch (diagonal) touchscreen LCD gives is anti-glare for good of viewing throughout the day and quickly changes its color profile for great viewing at night or in low light. It has 2d or 3D perspective views.

The widescreen display gives you 70% more usuable screen area than a 3.5-inch LCD. Usually this translates into a superior view of the area through which you are driving. This is very useful in displaying what parks, other restaurants, ATMs, cheap gas stations, etc. are nearby, or in letting you know whether an annoying detour is a lousy idea. Also, the unit itself is bigger, meaning buttons on the screen are more widely apart and pretty much easier to push.

TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

The TomTom GO 720 is full of features, such as an easy tip feature, a customizable quick status bar, an extensive and easy guided tour, and even a 'Help me!' display, so it guides you through its easy usage as much as to your chosen destination. It also has a personalized an easy to use shortcut menu, 'current location icon or button' options, and plenty of POIs (points of interest) so you can discover what you want wherever you are like a old timer local was riding with you. Taking this type of navigation beyond just ease of use, the 720 lets you play your popular music wirelessly over your own vehicle's stereo system via its built-in and easy to use MP3 player and FM transmitter. Now you can get into your music on the 720, all while easily providing acurate navigation instructions and still working with your hands-free telephone calls. This really cool navigation device even includes a document viewer and a clear photo viewer, so you can take your work with you or quickly download and enjoy your own holiday photos wherever you are.

Magellan Maestro 4210 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

The snappy user interface makes the Magellan Maestro series very easy to use. Use the huge icons on the 4.3-inch widescreen touch screen to look for your destination by intersection, address, or any of 6 million points of interest (POIs), including good restaurants, fine hotels, busy airports, cheap gas stations, and more. You can even use an onscreen icon for a nearby destination, see name and address, and get an instant route. Turn by turn visual and spoken directions guide you every step of the way.

Garmin 010-00400-20 StreetPilot 7500 Portable GPS Navigator

With a huge, 7" LCD display and accurate traffic info, specific weather and cool entertainment features, the Garmin 7500 is the best tool for all your far away travels. Plus, the 7500 has dead reckoning, highly accurate technology that makes it extremely good in all conditions. Garmin has made the unit specifically for bigger cars such as RVs, semi-trucks, and buses, and it offers excellent features for those who have lots of time on the road.

Garmin StreetPilot 7500 010-00400-20

The Ease StreetPilot 7500 comes ready to go straight out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a large points of interest (POIs) database with motels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Just touch the sunlight-readable color screen or use the remote to enter a destination, and the 7500 takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions. It even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road. In addition, the 7500 accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras, and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs.

Garmin nuvi 880 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

With the nüvi 800 series, Garmin adds smooth speech recognitionto its bestselling line of sleek portable GPS navigators. As with all nüvis, you get a slim, pocket-sized navigator with a gorgeous display, detailed NAVTEQ maps that let  you search by name for more than 6 million points of interest like stores, restaurants or hospitals, and an easy, intuitive interface. All of the 800-series navigators also feature a rich array of features including spoken directions in real street names, integrated traffic receivers, MP3 player and photo viewer, and an FM transmitter that will play all the nüvi's audio, including voice prompts, MP3s, audio books, and more, directly through your vehicle's stereo system.  The top-of-the-line nüvi 880 adds Bluetooth for hands-free phone calls, an integrated traffic receiver and enhanced MSN Direct content with traffic data, reas-time gas prices, movie times and more.