Okay so you need a portable GPS and you don’t have a wad of cash to blow on it. Maybe you’re taking a road trip or going camping or visiting New York City for the first time, and you need a GPS right now, and can’t wait to save up for something top of the line. Or, maybe you need a GPS, and just don’t want to spend a month’s pay check on one. Either way, you do have options. Believe it or not, you’re not restricted to some crummy, busted up, no-voice-capability five year old model from the pawn shop. There are dozens of great portable GPS units out there today that you can snag for less than five hundred bucks.
If you just want something to give you directions, and you don’t care about having an MP3 player, Bluetooth cell phone functions, automatically-updating points of interest and so on, you can actually score a budget GPS unit for less than a hundred bucks. Now, to be clear, none of these are going to make you do a back flip in the excitement, but if you just need to get the job done, they’ll work.
Some of the better budget GPS units include the Axion Geo-632 3.5 inch touch screen. It actually is an MP3 player, too. You can usually find it in the hundred dollar range. If you really don’t care about anything at20all but getting accurate directions, you have the Garmin GPS 80 Handheld Personal Navigation, with a 2.2 inch LCD screen (think of the original gameboy, with the green colored graphics, and you’ll have an idea of what to expect). This usually goes for anywhere from fifty to eighty.
But let’s be honest, you probably want something a little more potent than that. You’re probably looking at the 100-500 dollar range if you want a GPS unit that’s both good and cheap.
For anywhere from three hundred to four hundred dollars, you can grab a Blackberry 8800 Smartphone. Bluetooth capability, hands free phone and speech interface, wireless email, a web browser, a media player, corporate data access (hours of business, etcetera), an organizer, expandable memory, and on and on. Basically, all the basic functions of a GPS and a good cell phone. The display is just 2.5 inches, but you can adjust the font if you have trouble making it out. Basically, it’s a seven hundred dollar GPS in a package that costs about three hundred fifty, and it’s probably your best bet for a budget GPS without really having to sacrifice anything.
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Thanks for this review. But I have to disagree with you about using a smartphone. You have to pay ongoing fees for using gps services with smartphones, unless you use something online … and this gets to be a real pain in the a$$. Is there something I’m missing here?
It is present just enoughly.Thank.I like this.