Finding a GPS Navigation Device on a Budget

GPS navigation devices used to be for the elite and rich who could afford such luxuries, well no the prices have come down and we common folk can take advantage. I found and tested a few of the GPS navigation systems that all fell under the $400 price tag. I think a good budget GPS navigation device is a great investment for anyone who takes long trips or travels often to new places. These little things help you get where you want to go and now they do it affordably.

The three brands I tested and seemed to be the most trusted were Garmin, Magellan and TomTom. All three devices were best sellers in their classes and all three brands were well known and talked about in high regard. They all offer good and bad qualities and once you have an insiders perspective you can choose if any of them suite your needs or if you want to go in a different route.

#1 Garmin Street Pilot C340

The Garmin Street Pilot C340 was the cheapest of the three devices, which makes it very appealing right off the start, costing just $319 dollars. The Garmin was the cheapest of the three devices but it wasn't the smallest, in fact it was the largest of the three that I tested. The Garmin Street Pilot C340 measures 4.4" inches by 3.2" inches by 2.8" which isn't big by any means, you can carry it no problem one handed. The device sits nicely on the windshield with the included stand, its noticeable but not in the way.

The display is nice and vivid with decent color and you can clearly read and see the maps. It also includes an expansion slot for a 1 gig SD card which is nice if you want to include other trip information or download more maps you can. With the audio warnings activated it will tell you when you are supposed to turn, a few times I found it would tell me to late, it didn't give me enough time to turn. It comes pre-loaded with all the maps for the USA, Puerto Rico, and Canada so there isn't much of a need to download maps if you are sticking to North America.

I was impressed with the Garmin Street Pilot C340 for only $320 it seemed to get the job done. Although I will say the voice alerts were slow and sometimes not soon enough so I could make my turns. It also didn't have some side streets on the maps and they would come in handy if you got lost and ended up on one of these tiny side streets. Overall I would say this is a good device and well worth the money.

#2 Magellan Maestro 3140 GPS

The second GPS navigation system that I checked out was the Magellan Maestro 3140 GPS; although this was the most expensive unit it was for good reason costing just $360. The Magellan Maestro 3140 GPS is loaded with goodies and options for all of your travel needs. It comes pre-loaded with all of the USA, Puerto Rico and Canada and has some nice built in POI (points of interest). This POI system allows you to look up different places that you might want to go to and then directs you to them from where ever you are. This alone makes the Magellan Maestro 3140 GPS well worth the $360 you will spend on it, and then it has automatic redirection so if you miss a turn it will give you a new route to get you back on track! This is awesome incase you inadvertently miss one of your turns, now you don't have to turn around and waste more time. Along with this the Magellan Maestro 3140 GPS also has route exclusion which allows you to tell the device to avoid certain streets or freeways so you can get to your destination the way you prefer.

The Magellan Maestro 3140 GPS also allows you to store your own addresses and POI's so you can easily access them to get directions. This is a nice feature but if you are that good of friends with someone you probably know how to get to their house. This device also shows your location in 2D and 3D formats so you can easily look around and see your surroundings are matching that of the device. The 3D is a very nice touch to this masterfully crafted device.

Overall this was the most feature heavy of the GPS navigation systems that I checked out, I love the alternate route incase you miss a turn, I like the option to search their POI system and find stores and other fun stuff and I can add my own locations to the POI. The only problem I had with the device was that sometimes it would occasionally flake on my route and miss a street or something, but it would later pick up and get me around to my destination. I say if you are going to buy a navigation system this is one of the top devices for under $400.

#3 TomTom GO 510 Car Navigation

The TomTom Go 510 was by far the most fun of the GPS navigation systems that I tested. The reason it was so fun is that you can program it to speak 36 languages (nice for the multi-cultural melting pot that the US has become) and you can make it speak in over 50 voices. The voices range from funny to famous voices that you can choose from which is just a fun thing to have. The other thing I noticed about the TomTom Go 510 was how accurate the little device was, all the turns were well executed and the TomTom Go 510 never missed a street and gave me ample time to make my turns.

The TomTom Go 510 speaks very clearly and is very audible; it is nice to have in the car when you are trying to find your way. It only has pre-loaded maps of the USA and Canada so I guess that is a downfall of this device. It has a beautiful vivid colorful display that was better than the other two GPS devices. It has a slot so you can expand the memory to 1gig with an SD card so another nice bonus.

The only complain I have with the TomTom Go 510 is the device for hanging it in your car, it is very heat sensitive and fell off my windshield a lot. If they improve this little problem then this would be my number one recommendation but until they fix this I still will stick with the Magellan Maestro.