GPS Systems and Reviews

Affordable GPS Tracking Devices

There are tons of tracking devices on the market today. This is because, like with any other product that finds it’s becoming extremely popular within a short amount of time, these devices have become an incredible commodity among customers, meaning different companies are now releasing their own versions, whether they’re good or not. When this starts to happen, you have to watch for those that are cheap in price and quality versus those that are affordable, but are still reliable. In this article, we will look at what the general price ranges are for these products, as what as some affordable GPS tracking devices that are good in quality but reasonable in price.

Price Ranges

There are some tracking systems on the market that are pretty much going to be expensive no matter what, but they put out an excellent product. For example, the Garmin company releases the most reliable and fabulously attractive systems available, but most of them are going to fall into a higher price range (they do offer a handful that are affordable though). My point is; being the Bentley or Rolex of tracking systems, you have to make a decision that Garmin is either charging too much for their products, or they are worth the price because of the quality you’re going to get for that price. If you’re not looking for the cream of the crop, however, then there are some slightly more affordable GPS tracking systems that will give you the basics – and a little more – for not-so-high price tag. 

So what are the basic price ranges for these systems? What is considered reasonable usually falls between $200 and $600. Anything above $600 is definitely seen as pricey (however, you still may be getting a great product for that price without being cheated), and anything below $200 is probably not going to be accurate, or attractive, and simply not worth purchasing unless it is from a reputable company and on clearance.

Who Offers Affordable GPS Tracking?

Now that we have an idea of what is too expensive (and too cheap), let’s look at a few brands and models on the market that offer reliable systems at a decent price.

TomTom

This company has been on the market for several years and is known for putting out a reliable product. In addition, most of their products easily fall into the affordable GPS tracking category. One of these devices is the TomTom GO 720. Aside from the fact that it has an attractive interface that is easy to read and operate, it offers an SD card slot, USB/power port, a port that connects to a traffic receiver, and a headphone jack. In addition, there is a reset button on the device that is useful, but hopefully not necessary.

On this device, you can also set up and auto day or night mode and there are tons of options for navigation audio and music. For example, if you want listen to your music through an internal speaker, via line-out, through an FM transmitter that routes to your car stereo, or through Bluetooth hi-fi, you can do it all. But probably the best perk of this device is Map Share that allows you to connect to a community of TomTom owners. Through this community, you can edit map information that shows up on everyone else’s maps in the event the device is inaccurate. Not bad for a $450 price tag.

The GO 720 is not the only affordable gps tracking device offered by TomTom, however. They also offer TomTom One, which sits at about $200 cheaper than the GO 720 – but also offers fewer features for the price. Luckily, the features don’t fall away completely. This product offers an SD slot, 3.5-inch touch screen, great pixel resolution, the option of 2D or 3D map views, night mode, driving directions in text or as images, and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, all in a sleek design. You have to admit, for the price you get a lot of great options. It is for this reason that there are no surprises when reviewers label this device the best budget device on the market.  

Garmin

I know I just finished stating that Garmin doesn’t really offer affordable GPS tracking systems, but I also noted that there are a handful of devices that can be considered reasonable for their features. One of those devices is the StreetPilot c550. Falling into the price range of about $410, it doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles you can expect from its more advanced siblings, but it does have some great features.

For example, the c550 offers preloaded maps of the entire continent North America. In addition, you get specific street text-to-speech functionality, an MP3 player, and a free 3-month subscription to TMS Traffic. It has a moderate screen size of 3.5 inches like the TomTom products, but does offer an antiglare coating, which is perfect for sunny days. Overall, it doesn’t offer what some of its bigger counterparts have, like the Nuvi 660, but it gets the job done – so if that’s all you need, you may have found your new best friend.

Magellan

Magellan is a company, like the above two, that has a good name in the industry for being reliable and accurate. It is also known for putting out affordable GPS tracking systems that give you a good amount of features for the price. For example, the Magallan RoadMate 2000 comes at a $200-$250 price tag, and offers similar features to the TomTom One. Some of those features include an easy to read mapping screen, great reroutes and accurate instructions. The only disadvantage of this device is that it’s not as attractive as the others, but for the price it offers the features that you need and is reliable.

Finding affordable GPS tracking systems is not difficult with so many companies putting out new products everyday. What is difficult, however, is weeding out the crappy products and getting your hands on those that are reasonable in price and quality. The list above gives you some devices that fall into a decent price range and still provide good quality mapping and navigation. However, there are other affordable GPS tracking systems out there, so don’t stop your research here. Keep looking until you find the perfect device for you!

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