TomTom Via M. Its 5-inch touchscreen is easily readable. This basic model lacks many handy extras like traffic info, voice control, Bluetooth connectivity, and a multi-touch display. No Wi-Fi updating,. Bestseller No. ZHNN Android 9. Pure Android Dasaita Android Android Double Din Car Stereo Many people do use a phone for navigation. A portable GPS , portable navigation device , or dashtop GPS same thing has built-in maps and you can start a trip anywhere, even in remote areas.
A smartphone requires a cellular signal to set up a trip and download map information; a portable GPS has maps built in. A portable GPS also has a screen up to 7 inches diagonal, larger than most phones. Screen size and features set them apart. Features include Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for connections to your smartphone for traffic data or device updates, Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, photo radar traffic camera alerts, or connection to a backup camera.
Some devices let you buy additional maps for other continents. A couple come with world maps. Virtually all devices have an internal battery good for minutes to handle power interruptions, or for last-mile navigation, meaning walking from a parked car to the final destination.
How Do I Enter the Destination? A keypad pops up on the screen, you type in address. Most let you speak the address or choose from favorite and recent destinations. The map information usually includes businesses, museums, hotels, gas stations and medical services as well as street addresses. Within one car length, roughly. It may be momentarily confused coming out of a parking garage. Rik Paul Contributor. Rik is equal parts geek, gearhead, and driving enthusiast.
Rik has also written DIY auto-repair manuals for Haynes. Program your GPS to travel within the city, so you can minimize mileage. This function also allows you to take a less traveled route. Choose directions that are less direct, but offer you great, scenic views.
Load restaurants, shopping areas, or tourist spots that interest you and may not be recognized by your system. You have the choice of either entering your custom location manually or transferring it from your computer to your GPS system with the appropriate software.
Easily navigate through unfamiliar areas when viewing the lane assist page. This function also offers a view of upcoming road junctions and a bright colored arrow that indicates what side of the junction you. Garmin DriveAssist 50LMT North America is a five-inch auto navigator with pinch-to-zoom display, built-in dash cam and driver awareness features to encourage safer driving.
DriveAssist records your drive, automatically saving collision footage on impact. You also receive "go" alerts when you're stopped and the traffic in front of you starts moving. Garmin Real Vision feature displays a camera view when approaching select destinations. Other features include Forward Collision and Lane Departure Warnings, Bluetooth hands-free calling, voice-activated navigation, maps of North America with lifetime updates, free lifetime traffic and much more.
Everything we recommend. Why you should trust us. Who should get this. How we picked. Voice control: A good voice-control system can make it quicker and easier to input a destination, control volume and screen illumination, get traffic and weather updates, and cancel a route by speaking a command. Traffic alerts: When navigating along the major highways of metro areas, most GPS devices can give you alerts about traffic delays along your route and ask if you want to reroute.
But none of them match the breadth of the traffic info in the Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps phone apps. Wi-Fi updating: This handy feature lets you download and install map and software updates to your device over a Wi-Fi network, without removing it from the car, instead of having to plug the device into a computer and manually download the data.
Multi-touch display: As with smartphones, the better GPS navigators have a convenient capacitive display, which lets you use multi-touch inputs. This is particularly helpful for quickly zooming in or out of a map.
Many GPS devices use a resistive display, which recognizes only one touch point at a time. How we tested. Our pick: Garmin DriveSmart Photo: Rik Paul.
Having the Settings button one tap away is a welcome touch. Flaws but not dealbreakers. Better for world travelers: TomTom Go Budget pick: Garmin Drive The Montana , with a 5-inch diagonal screen, offers the largest screen and also the highest quality resolution. Its smartphone-like touchscreen makes navigation easy, particularly in a car. So then, buttons or touchscreen?
Touchscreens respond faster than button units, but they also consume more battery life, can freeze up in cold conditions, and don't work well with thick gloves. Most touchscreen GPS units we tested are also years behind most smartphones. Buttoned units work with thick gloves, their batteries last longer, and they are more reliable in extreme temperatures. But they're slower, and it takes longer to type in waypoints. It comes down to preference. Do you prefer a unit that feels modern and operates quickly?
Or do you value reliability above all else? GPS units work by communicating with satellites orbiting the earth designed to read and triangulate signals sent from the unit. In the United States, the Department of Defense manages the GPS network, a series of 33 satellites that transmit both positional and timing data. When a GPS unit contacts at least four satellites, it can pinpoint your position with a decent degree of accuracy, although terrain and conditions can affect this.
The more satellites, the faster and more accurately you can identify your position. Satellites send signals to WAAS master stations on the ground. This message is then relayed to compatible receivers like GPS units to provide a much more accurate location estimate. However, many of the other units we tested were able to achieve accuracy within 10 feet very quickly. We tested handheld GPS units. These units are very capable, able to mark waypoints, track your route, make notes, geocache, pull up altitude profiles, and often much more.
But they are also small enough to wear around your neck or stash in your backpack. But the more features you add to a portable GPS unit, the larger and heavier they become. Handheld devices are popular for backcountry navigation, particularly because they are so portable.
However, not all units are created equally regarding portability, so it is important to consider if you want to carry a GPS in your pocket or will most likely only take one of these devices when you are also carrying a backpack. The Montana is by far the largest and heaviest unit in our review but still weighs only 14 ounces and is only slightly bulkier than a modern smartphone. The eTrex line falls at the other end of the spectrum — both the eTrex 10 and more capable eTrex 32x are small enough to fit into a pant's pocket.
Just as a point of comparison, there are also a variety of GPS Watches that can log backcountry travel information. These are popular among trail runners, mountain guides, hikers, and backpackers. They are a great alternative to handheld units if you're looking to go light but have a much shorter battery life, a significantly smaller display, and may not offer the same capabilities as the handheld units featured here. Most of the units featured in this review are surprisingly versatile; sporting functions well outside the realm of navigation, ranging from flashlight to calculator to texting.
We won't dive too deeply into each function of each model we tested but rather will discuss a few important ones. You don't need that many waypoints to get you through a trip, even a pretty long one. They're also very easy to save on a computer and then delete after you're back home. If, however, you plan on holding on to waypoints from multiple trips, conducting involved science surveys, or embarking on a mapping mission — you might want to aim high. The eTrex Touch 35 offers the best capability in the smallest package.
Geocaching is a relatively new outdoor activity, essentially using a GPS unit or GPS software for a scavenger hunt of sorts, looking for hidden treasures all over the world. Most GPS units are set up for this somehow, and some of the ones we tested have preloaded geocaches so you can unpack and play.
A huge draw for the geocaching crowd is that a modern GPS unit — with text display — allows them to go paperless. For easy entry to this worldwide phenomenon, the Garmin eTrex 10 , thanks to its accuracy balanced with affordability. The cut-off point between basic units and more sophisticated ones is usually an electronic compass. This allows a unit to display your heading while held in place.
In contrast, you have to be moving for a differential compass to work properly. For some, this is a great advantage — say during a whiteout next to a cliff edge. Many mountain guides prefer an electronic compass because it makes navigating faster and easier. Only the eTrex 10 doesn't offer an electronic compass. Another feature that separates high-performing devices from base models is a barometric altimeter, which uses a small sensor to detect air pressure and calculate altitude instead of relying on positional data alone.
Barometric altimeters also allow you to track weather patterns and trends, which can be really useful in the mountains when knowledge of a coming storm is crucial. Only the baseline-level eTrex 10 doesn't come with a barometric altimeter. A camera, microphone, and voice recorder can be nice add-ons to fully document adventures or field data. You can use these media options to mark a waypoint instead of typing one. We loved this option when looking back at our past adventures.
Photos also help keep you on the trail when following a track. This is especially helpful for outdoor guides or scientific surveys. While many options boast a photo viewer, the Oregon t is the only GPS in our review to include a camera. But extras like that also come at the price of the added size. Another great feature is smart notifications. You can sync your smartphone to your GPS and receive text messages or social media updates on the unit. High-end units like the GPSMAP 66st sport this high level of technicality, but it does take some time and know-how to set up.
If you don't want to take your phone out of the backpack while staying connected, this may be an option for you. GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews.
Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content.
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