I lack the gene that tells me if I’m heading north or south. (Translation: I get lost just about every time I travel beyond a 15-mile radius of my house.) So, I’m thinking about buying a portable GPS for my car, but I’m not sure where to start.
Luckily, I work with GPS testing expert extraordinaire, Frank Spinelli, who has spent most of the last three years driving around testing GPS units—and eating great pizza.
One of the many tests that Frank and his team conduct to test how well the units work includes plugging in random destinations to see how the GPS navigates. How do they pick the random spots? Frank has used the Slice list of top pizza parlors to find a spot within the five boroughs of New York City—so his team tests the units and eats a great lunch! (Check here for the full scoop on how we test GPS unit.)
Here are some of Frank’s top shopping tips:
Q: Are there any must-have features on a GPS unit? Any features that you can skip?A: I like the wide screen option, which is 4.3” compared to the common 3.5” screen size. It’s easier to see the maps and to type in the address on the keypad. The text-to speech-feature, which tells you the names of the upcoming streets instead of just “right turn ahead,” is also very helpful.
One option that shouldn’t be a deciding factor: real-time traffic information. It def can be useful, but I wouldn’t buy a unit solely because it has the traffic option since the data can be a little slow and inaccurate—for example, an accident may take a little while to show up or traffic could have cleared but the system is still showing it. You also might have to pay a monthly fee for traffic information on some units, but the recent trend is to offer free ad based traffic reporting.
Q: How much do you need to spend to get a decent GPS unit?
A: You can get a good unit for about $100 or so, but you will sacrifice some features like text to speech. Some of the units that we recommend that fall between $100 and $130 include the Garmin Nuvi 200 and both the TomTom One140 and140s models.
If you have a little extra room in your budget, consider the Garmin Nuvi 265T (or 265WT for the wide screen version).
Q: Is there one brand that consistently does well?
A: Garmin, TomTom, and Magellan typically sell products that you’ll be happy with. Consumer Reports staffers add to our in-depth testing by borrowing units and giving us feedback—Garmin GPS units tend to be the favorite because people find the units easy to use.
Find more info here on GPS shopping info, types of units, features, free videos of some of our GPS tests, and GPS discussion forums.
Check back next week for the second part of my chat with Frank and let me know if you have any GPS questions for him!
