GPS comparisons

It's easier to find info about individual GPS products than about GPS comparisons. When I became interested in GPS systems, I searched the web, looking for comparisons which were unbiased, device ratings, or product reviews that might help me. But there were so few useful device comparisons that I decided to start my own blog.

Every navigation device work the same, all of them use the same satellite system - a net of about 30 artificial satellite that circles around the Earth and triangulate the locating of your device. When you purchase a GPS system, you're buying the receiver, which takes the transmitted signals. You don't have to pay for the useage of that expensive satellite network. It's absolutely free! All you have to do is purchase the GPS device.

But here's the trouble - which device should we buy?

The current market leaders are Magellan, Tom Tom, and Garmin. You can visit their sites for more info, but they try to accentuate their products' strong points while overlooking their weak points, and that makes it hard to compare products with that of another party. But I have no problem with this. It just makes it a little less easy to decide which device should I to purchase.

You can buy systems that are put in in your car's dash (like a radio), or portables that you can put on to a suction cup on the windscreen or occasionally on the top of your dashboard. The info in this post is focused on portable systems. They are much more affordable, and you can take your device with you for a walk or while driving other automobile.

Portables start from $200 to almost $1000. All of these Global Positioning System devices detect your position and display you paths on maps. They are pre-loaded with maps of the US and Canada. (The more low-budget ones comes with regional maps.) The quality of the maps and "points of interest", along with a good deal of additional (but valuable) features, is what makes the difference in cost.

The size of the database is very important. Those points are preloaded destinations and info about businesses, buildings, infirmaries, filling station, hotels, schools, restaurants, and in general any address that you might want to go to.

The inexpensive systems only have around 750 thousand POI pre-loaded in them. That sounds like a lot of points, but if you think how big the U.S.A. and Canada are, 750,000 hospitals, gas stations, restaurants, Starbucks and ATMs is not actually that much. The more effective systems have a a couple of millions POI. It is something worth thinking, particularly if you'll be using your device while journeying. Naturally, if you're solely using your GPS close to your home, then the number of POI might not matter at all. But again, then you might not need the GPS system at all.