Good GPS other than SprintNav and Google??

[pastafarian]

I've used Garmin, Tomom, iGuidance and iGo on the TP and if I had to choose among them I'd probably go with Garmin. The last ppc version of Tomtom is old (2006?), iGuidance isn't finger friendly enough, iGo is slow and a bit buggy. I have Sprint nav on my phone and I use it occasionally for the traffic and if I'm in a car without a nav, but I use a cheap (>$70) Pharos PNA a my go to GPS. My main reaon for not using this phone as a nav? The speaker volume is way too low (even w/audiopara tweaks), the screen is a bit small and it's not reliable. It's almost inevitable that just when I'm at a critical and confusing part of a trip the phone will ring or some alarm will trigger putting the nav in the background. If you shop wisely and don't need the newest features, you can find a decent PNA, even Tomtoms and Garmins for well under $100. They will easily blow the phone away in screen, sound and reliability.

[Oditius]

I normally use my Garmin Zumo for a GPS, but I don't keep it in the car all the time. $600 is a lot to loose if someone breaks in and steals it. Or it is a pain to carry around everyday. So I have Garmin XT on my phone, for the times I decided I want to go to somewhere but am not around the GPS to get there. As far as the volume on the phone, I just plug the phone into the car stereo and that solves that problem.

[DaPeeps]

Originally Posted by veedubguru

The problem with Amaze, Google maps, Sprint NAV and the like, is that your maps are being downloaded in real time as you need them. Not a good thing if you drive where you are either getting only 1x data, or worse than that, little or no reception. No data = no maps to route. I guess that's ok if you never leave a metro area, but on a cross country trip you'll run into trouble.

With the commercial programs like Garmin and TomTom, the maps are loaded on your SD card, so they are very fast and smooth, and work perfectly regardless of wether or not you have good data signal. I have the entire US map set on my SD Card and it takes up about 1GB. Best part is, these programs are a one time fee and you'll get use of it on every pocket pc you own from time of purchase forward.

Just my two cents... or three... maybe four.

I drove from NJ to Oklahoma using Sprint NAV and never had one problem with data connection....I know there are some places out there where you might have issues...but I would bet that would be a pretty rare occurance.

I have used them all...and my fave is Sprint NAV...it uses no space on your storage card...its not a PITA to activate it, and it works pretty damn well. The voice is a little low on it, however...but with most Sprint plans...its free and works extremley well....but if I couldnt choose it, I would go with TomTom or Garmin. Amaze is definitley good for a free app...and if you cant afford to buy or pay for one, this (coupled with Google or Bing) is the way to go.

[ou2mame]

pretty rare, try upstate ny, or anywhere else that isn't populated. i drive upstate regularly to places i've never been, and i can rarely make a call, nevermind get data.

[DaPeeps]

Originally Posted by ou2mame

pretty rare, try upstate ny, or anywhere else that isn't populated. i drive upstate regularly to places i've never been, and i can rarely make a call, nevermind get data.

Understandable, but one would think that someone who drives to that type of area regularly would already be aware of that, and have already purchased another GPS app. Upstate NY is pretty damn mountainous and rural....I used to go up to a dude ranch north of Poughkeepsie...so I know what you mean...there were hardly any people up there, let alone cell towers

[thacounty]

IMHO IGO8 has always been the go to program for me. It seems sleeker than most. If I'm downloading data I usually go with Bing because it has voice recognition.

[veedubguru]

Originally Posted by DaPeeps

Understandable, but one would think that someone who drives to that type of area regularly would already be aware of that, and have already purchased another GPS app. Upstate NY is pretty damn mountainous and rural....I used to go up to a dude ranch north of Poughkeepsie...so I know what you mean...there were hardly any people up there, let alone cell towers

Like a previous poster mentioned, if you intend to talk on your phone, sd card nav is better since you can't do Sprint Nav and phone calls at the same time. When you're used to getting 20+ phone calls a day, it's inevitable that I'll be talking to someone during my trip. With the SD Card maps, I can just put the caller and speaker (or bluetooth) and bring my Garmin screen back up and keep driving. And in central Indiana, there are LOTS of Sprint dead spots for data.

As far as the speaker on the TP not being loud enough? I can hear it just fine with Garmin XT even with the cars Bose stereo blaring, and the screen looks very nice as well. Easy to see from my window mount, no need to go buy a stand alone nav unit. They don't have data (for when it is working) that can pull gas prices, traffic, google searches, etc...

[smileyg]

I have iguidance 2009 on TP now and it works great. Seems like they have addressed the gps lag/refresh issue in this one.

[emaster101]

PM me ill hook ya up

[x10guy]

The problem with Garmin XT is that it comes on a memory card and they specifically state that you can't copy it to a larger card.

Yes, I know there are hacks that enable you to do that but you would think that Garmin would make it easier to use a larger card.