I'm a computer geek, bad. So, of course, my first choice was a laptop with a GPS receiver. It's a dual purpose thing, right? A computer and a GPS map in one. Sounds great, and it works, too. I've used MS Streets and Trips for years, and like the maps and the interface on is a lot. I've also used DeLorme Street Atlas for years, and like the visual and audio feedback from DeLorme much better than with Streets and Trips. Streets and Trips is better for Canada, but DeLorme can find many more businesses, like manufacturing facilities in an industrial park with an otherwise unlocatable address. (I delivered to an address in Del Rio recently where the street wasn't even on any of the maps, Garmin, Streets and Trips, DeLorme, MapQuest, MapPoint, yet the DeLorme found the actual business anyway, a warehouse, even though it didn't have the street in its database.)
The problems with using a computer as your GPS mapping device is twofold. One is, the chances of the laptop getting beat up increases exponentially if you use it while the vehicle is moving. Mounting it securely in an easy-to-reach and easy-to-see spot helps, however. I had a really nice (i.e., $3200) laptop that got beat up and eventually ruined by using it on the road. (The final arrow through the heart was when a lamp clamp broke off and the lamp came crashing down, swinging down and hitting the screen in the exact mathematical center, causing a spider web crack of comical proportions, rendering the screen unviewable.)
The other problem with using a laptop is that it's an unsafe distraction at the precise times that it requires the most of your attention - when nearing close-together multiple turns or tricky interchange exits and turns. You never need to pay much attention to it when you're in the middle of nowhere on the Interstate, but audio feedback alone often isn't enough when you're in the middle of Chicago traffic and trying to negotiate one quick turn after another.
When my laptop finally bit the big one, I decided to spend much less money on a new laptop, and get a standalone GPS unit, as well. Use the computer as a computer, and use the GPS unit as a GPS unit. Killing one bird with two stones, I guess. hehe
The new Garmin c550 was about to be released, and it was delayed two weeks in being released, so it killed me to put off getting one for nearly 4 weeks, but I wanted the c550 for several reasons. One is the Bluetooth capability. Another is the included Traffic Navigation and the automatic on-the-fly rerouting around traffic and construction. Two or three days after I got the thing it saved my butt in Milwaukee when there was an accident in the middle of the construction, which actually closed the exit I needed to take, and it rerouted me around the closed exit and right to where I needed to go. I absolutely would have been late for the pickup otherwise. The c550 also has the much improved language audio feedback. It not only tells you to turn right in x-number of feet or miles, but it will tell you in normal language which street to turn on to, and if there is a rapid turn after that, it will tell you to keep left of right in preparation for the turn.
I mounted it on the dash at about 2:00 off the steering wheel, and I don't even have to take my hand off the wheel to touch the screen. Most importantly, my line of sight with the road stays put when I look at the GPS screen. Looking at my rear view mirrors is much more of a line-of-sight distraction than is looking at the Garmin unit. And the Garmin's audio feedback just blows MS Streets and DeLorme out of the water.
The Garmin also lets you default it to routing for vehicle type, as in a car, truck, monocycle, emergency vehicle, bus, taxi, whatever. You can default it to automatically reroute around traffic, tolls, u-turns, etc. It constantly recalculates the route along the entire trip, so if it finds a better route than the one you're currently on, it'll tell you about it and ask if you want to take it, even if the changes it has found won't be implemented for several hundred miles.
Automatic traffic is only available in the major metro areas, so it doesn't work in the middle of nowhere. But if you see that your next turn is blocked, or the exit is closed, or whatever, you press the DETOUR button and it automatically recalculates you around the next turn. It's really a slick piece of work. (My only complaint is when you do get off route, miss a turn, whatever, and it recalculates, the voice that says "recalculating" sounds like she's annoyed with you. :7)
So, I took the $1600 or so that I would have spent on a new laptop (which was less than half of what the dead laptop cost) and split it between the Garmin and a cheaper laptop. My laptop is still in near perfect condition, and so is the Garmin. I cannot recommend a Garmin unit highly enough. I've tried a TomTom, and while pretty good, many of the features and ease of use just doesn't compare to a Garmin. Lowrance is the cream of the crop of water navigation and fish-finding, but they have a long way to go to be what the Garmin units already are.
The larger Garmin units have more features, like being able to input multiple waypoints, or stopping off points, while the c550 only allows one waypoint. I thought that was going to be a problem, but it hasn't been one at all. My biggest concern was the teeny tiny screen on the c550, compared to the large screen of the laptop. Turns out I don't miss the large screen one little bit.
I still use Streets or DeLorme, but mainly as an atlas, more to get a large overview or to see where one place is in relation to another, as the Garmin really isn't suited for that. A paper map would do the same as Street and Trips in that regard, and I sometimes use one.
I needed to do laundry the other day, and needed to do it at a commercial coin laundry because I needed a large front-loading machine, cause of the sleeping bag. I entered in "laundr" and hit search, and up came a long laundry list (sorry) of places with "laundr" in the name. Found one .9 miles away, and within 5 minutes my clothes were wet.
Bottom line is, a laptop with a GPS is far and away better than paper maps, and usually better than whatever you get via the Qualcomm, including "local directions". It's not a bad method, by any stretch. But it's unsafe, particularly for a solo driver. And it's not cost effective in the long run.
A standalone GPS unit is far and away better than a computer and a GPS receiver. Not even close. As much as I used my laptop for a map, and as much as I liked it, it's night and day compared to the c550.
For what we do, a dedicated, accurate, easy to use GPS unit is an indispensable tool. I would
not want to go back to using a laptop, or paper maps. <shudder>
A standalone GPS unit is relatively expensive. I told myseld for years that it seems like an awful ot of money to spend on something that I can do at a fraction of that with my laptop. It's not likely to ever pay for itself in saved mileage or in saved time. (It could very well pay for itself in not being fined for being late, tho.) But, in personal time saved, in aggravation avoided, and in piece of mind gained, it's priceless. I highy recommend it.
I also want to thank Terry for his mention of his c330 a while back. That pointed me in the right direction of what to look for in a unit, and how to do some of the research I did. If the c550 that I have hadn't been on the near release horizon, I'd have almost certainly gne with the c330.
But the c550 is just an updated version of it, with better natural language feedback, and the included Traffic Routing. Plus Bluetooth. Oh, and it's an MP3 player, as well, that you play from an addon miniSD card. I have an audio cable running from the c550 to the XM radio, so they play through the van's speakers.
