Seven Spectacular GPSes from Garmin, TomTom, Others

by Nathan Eddy

(from $135.99) The Pharos is perfect for the small business owner looking for a full feature set at an affordable price. It offers advanced text-to-speech features and an easy-to-read 4-inch display, and its maps cover the 48 continental states (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii). The touch-screen shows your current position, direction of the next turn, remaining distance and estimated time to your destination. In addition, the PDR200 provides spoken directions.

(from $152.99) Easily mountable and featuring a 3.5-inch screen, this GPS fits almost anywhere. TomTom’s Map Share technology allows you to modify street names, street direction, road speeds, turn restrictions and POIs (points of interest), with corrections verified by other users. QuickGPSfix and Traffic Ready technologies provide real-time information on traffic congestion and weather conditions, as well as extra downloads such as detailed city maps and scenic routes.

(from $229.99) Garmin, the world’s leader in navigation technology, has the best display of the bunch-a 4.3-inch, sunshine-readable widescreen display that offers excellent clarity and brightness. HotFix satellite prediction technology gives you fast calculations and will correct your route if you miss your turn, a common feature among GPS systems but worthy of mention. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery allows navigation by car or foot, and the “Where Am I?” emergency locator will always give your exact location.

(from $280.49) Rivaling the n??vi 205W for screen size, the MAX is extremely thin (just 0.75 inch thick) and runs on a Samsung 400MHz processor. It sports 512MB of memory and a lithium ion battery that lasts 3 hours. This device is incorporated with a lane assistant feature, which provides simple-to-view lane guidance so you can make the right turn (or the left turn, as it may be), as well as the standard spoken directions. Navigon also offers an optional FreshMaps Updates feature that keeps routes current.

(from $241.00) This sleek system provides live traffic reports to allow you to navigate around heavy or stationary traffic, as well as a pedestrian mode once you’ve parked the car. OneTouch menu technology makes navigating the system user-friendly, and Bluetooth capability allows for hands-free calling. For those traveling outside the Lower 48, the Maestro comes loaded with a full U.S. map, along with ones of Puerto Rico and Canada. Another nifty feature is a 3-D building map.

(from $259.99)Slim and stylishly packaged, the C520 has a 4.3-inch touch-screen that is far more readable in sunlight than earlier models. It comes equipped with a 20-channel SiRFIII GPS chip and is preloaded with TeleAtlas maps of North America and 6 million points of interest. Integrated Bluetooth technology allows you to use the device as a speaker for your mobile phone. The Mio also functions as a multimedia player and offers 4.5 hours of battery life.

(from $764.99) If you simply have to have the best, look no further than the 885T. Announced at this year’s CES, it boasts a 4.3-inch widescreen display and sophisticated voice recognition technology that recognizes shortcut commands and routes. Digital elevation maps give you a picture of the surrounding terrain, and Enhanced MSN Direct provides you with traffic conditions, fuel prices and even flight status. It also includes Bluetooth wireless technology, the handy “Where Am I?” feature, an MP3 player, a picture viewer and Garmin Garage, which gives you the ability to download custom voices.