I will be driving across the country in a couple of weeks, and I'm contemplating buying a GPS unit for the occasion. I've often wanted such a thing when I was on business travel to help me get around an unfamiliar city, and this trip might be the kick in the ass I need to make the purchase.
From my (admittedly brief) research, it seems that a handheld/portable GPS is the way to go. Since I won't be in my own car, and since I'd be in a rental car by definition on business trip, I don't want to get a car-mounted unit. (Also...have you seen the PRICE on those things? Ouch.) The key requirement is that it needs to have a basic map of the United States built in (major highways, cities, large geographic features such as mountains and rivers, etc.), and the capability to load detailed maps of selected areas from external data. It needs to have sufficient memory to hold detailed maps of 5-6 cities since I don't intend to bring my laptop on this trip. (Heresy, I know...)
So, here are my questions:
1) What kind of information is contained in a typical basemap, and to what level of detail?
2) External data sets for handheld/portable GPS units are typically sold on CD-ROM. In order to get city data for my en route destinations, how many CDs will I have to purchase, and at what price? Do the CDs have to be ordered from the internet, or is the data downloadable, or is it readily available in stores? If so, which stores?
3) Most units seem to interface to a computer via a 9-pin serial cable. Are there other types of connectors, or is that the standard?
4) Do handheld/portable units provide turn-by-turn road directions, or are they used primarily for orientation?
5) Which units/manufacturers have you used? Which do you recommend? Which should I avoid?
I haven't defined an exact budget for this purchase, but if it ends up being some ridiculous amount of money, I'm going to scrap these plans and stick with the good old atlas solution.
Thanks for any info you can provide...
From my (admittedly brief) research, it seems that a handheld/portable GPS is the way to go. Since I won't be in my own car, and since I'd be in a rental car by definition on business trip, I don't want to get a car-mounted unit. (Also...have you seen the PRICE on those things? Ouch.) The key requirement is that it needs to have a basic map of the United States built in (major highways, cities, large geographic features such as mountains and rivers, etc.), and the capability to load detailed maps of selected areas from external data. It needs to have sufficient memory to hold detailed maps of 5-6 cities since I don't intend to bring my laptop on this trip. (Heresy, I know...)
So, here are my questions:
1) What kind of information is contained in a typical basemap, and to what level of detail?
2) External data sets for handheld/portable GPS units are typically sold on CD-ROM. In order to get city data for my en route destinations, how many CDs will I have to purchase, and at what price? Do the CDs have to be ordered from the internet, or is the data downloadable, or is it readily available in stores? If so, which stores?
3) Most units seem to interface to a computer via a 9-pin serial cable. Are there other types of connectors, or is that the standard?
4) Do handheld/portable units provide turn-by-turn road directions, or are they used primarily for orientation?
5) Which units/manufacturers have you used? Which do you recommend? Which should I avoid?
I haven't defined an exact budget for this purchase, but if it ends up being some ridiculous amount of money, I'm going to scrap these plans and stick with the good old atlas solution.
Thanks for any info you can provide...
