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Recommend a GPS unit with these features?
Abraxas
0 Points
Can anybody recommend a GPS unit that has the following features and is as inexpensive as possible?
1 Spoken turn-by-turn directions
2 Lifetime map upgrades
3 Traffic alerts
4 Adapter available so that it can plug into USB port as well as car power port
Also it would be nice if it had these 2 features:
5 Warnings for traffic signal & speed cameras
6 Expandable memory
Thanks for any help.
1 Spoken turn-by-turn directions
2 Lifetime map upgrades
3 Traffic alerts
4 Adapter available so that it can plug into USB port as well as car power port
Also it would be nice if it had these 2 features:
5 Warnings for traffic signal & speed cameras
6 Expandable memory
Thanks for any help.
Comments
It has a part that plugs into the car's power port (the old cigarette lighter power port).
That part has a cable permanently attached to it with a "micro-charger" on the other end of it that plugs into my cell phone to charge it.
On the part that plugs into the car's power port, on the opposite end from the end that actually plugs into the power port, is a USB port for charging a second device.
I need to be able to plug a GPS unit into that USB port just to power the GPS unit, not to exchange data with the car's Bluetooth system.
So I'm looking for a GPS unit whose power cord can plug into this USB port, either directly, or via some kind of adapter.
Since this adapter is for power, not data transfer, I'm not sure if this is the same thing as what you called a "special cable".
So could you please tell me if it IS the same thing, and if so, what this adapter is called? To me that sounds like it may be a different device than sussamb's "special cable". Please elaborate. I don't understand how a traffic feed from a cell phone would be integrated with the data from the GPS unit.
I was told by a sales associate at an electronics store that Bluetooth is for syncing your car speakers to either your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or to a GPS unit. He didn't mention syncing car speakers to both a cell phone and a GPS unit at the same time.
I don't think I need to involve my car speakers, since the GPS unit itself talks.
Please explain.
I appreciate whatever patience you both can muster. But as I said, I know nothing about GPS units.
You can as mentioned by Boyd use your cell phone and Garmins 'smart phone' link. Details are here
https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/mobile/apps/smartphone-link/prod111441.html
Your salesman is slightly confused since Bluetooth is not for linking your GPS to your car speakers but to your phone.
But as Boyd and sussamb said, this eliminates my HD Traffic feature that came with my 3597, as that is incorporated in the Garmin power cord. It isn't a problem for me because there is no traffic service available in my local driving area.
If you need the traffic service, you may need to get one of the car power adapters that converts the cigarette lighter plug into 2 power plugs. These are inexpensive and available at Walmart and auto parts stores. They are a little bulky, but will work for powering 2 devices.
Another option may be if you get a Garmin GPS that is capable of the Garmin Smartlink service. This is a paid subscription service that connects your Garmin device to your smart phone through the bluetooth connection. It can provide traffic alerts on the Garmin through SmartLink connection. I don't use this service, so I don't know for sure that it will work without the Garmin power adapter. Maybe someone else can answer that.
Edit: OOPS ... just reread the earlier posts and see that sussamb and Boyd already suggested the smart phone solution.
Garmin has made this very confusing unfortunately. In the past, the power adapter itself contained the electronics that received traffic data, and the wire that connects the power adapter to the GPS also has an antenna inside. Today, some of their devices have the traffic receiver electronics inside the GPS itself. However, the wire from the power adapter to the GPS serves as an antenna to receive traffic data.
So the bottom line is that you must use the adapter/cord that comes with the device, and it must plug into a round cigarette lighter socket. Traffic data is broadcast over the air using either regular FM or HD radio stations (the data "piggybacks" on regular audio broadcast channels).
Regarding your question about smartphones and GPS, you are mixing apple and oranges here. :) Your location is determined by satellite signals the GPS chip receives. But these devices also have Bluetooth data communication capability. This means they can "talk" directly to a smartphone (send/receive data). An app running on the phone fetches traffic data over the internet using a cellular connection. Of course, you must have a compatible phone and you will pay regular rates to your phone company for any data that is used. But you also have to pay a one-time fee to to Garmin subscribe to the traffic service.
So this is a completely separate way to get traffic data as opposed to the free traffic that is included with the GPS and is received directly over the airwaves.
The reason I questioned whether you might need the free Garmin FM traffic even if you use smartphone Link is because of the difference in coverage between the two services. For example, in my state, Des Moines has the free FM service, but not the smartphone link service AFAIK. So if you have both smartphone link and the free Garmin traffic, would the nuvi fall back to the free FM service when you are outside the coverage area for smartphone link? SInce I don't use smartphone link, I don't know the answer to that question.
Thanks again to you both, Boyd and alanb. You've saved me time and hassle in getting this sorted out.
I don't commute anymore and don't use the traffic feature of my Garmin devices. But when I did, frankly, I found it all but useless in the greater Philadelphia area. Coverage was really poor. As soon as you get outside major metropolitan areas there was not traffic signal. For example. long stretches if I-95 had no coverage. I live about 50 miles from Philadelphia, and could not get any traffic data until I was halfway to work. At that point, it was usually too late to make a major route change, There are coverage maps (sorry, I don't have links anymore) and they were optimistic at best.
Regarding bluetooth, it's just a communications protocol. On your "dumb phone", some of Garmin's devices will be able to connect to it and provide hands-free speaker phone capability. But you would not be able to use the phone to receive traffic data.
Since you are new to all this, if you buy a GPS I suggest that you use a store with a liberal return policy just in case…. ;)