GPS Systems and Reviews

Looking for Cheap Portable GPS Systems?

If you’re looking for some cheap portable GPS systems, you’ve reached the right place. There are not many quality devices on the market that are also considered discount or cheap, however there are a few. In this article, we will look at the handful that have a good reputation in the industry for being accurate and reputable, while at the same time offering great prices for some additional features. Want to know which ones they are? Let’s get started!

Cheap vs. Quality

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that you can find cheap portable GPS systems that will offer some type of high quality performance. But many companies are now finding that if they keep the quality and simply eliminate some of the features they can sell them at a cheaper price. For example, Garmin has been around for several years selling top-of-the-line systems to willing customers, however many of their units can get into the “pricey” category. But recently that have determined that it is just as profitable to offer less expensive products to a capture a wider market – and it worked! Now they have plenty to offer making them and their customers happy.

What Products Are Available?

There are quite a few cheap portable GPS systems (falling at or below the $250 mark) currently available. Let’s take a look at a few:

Garmin StreetPilot c340 – This unit is priced at around $200 and gives a good name to the cheap portable GPS systems on the market. It definitely does not offer everything the more expensive ones do, but what it does offer is standard navigation features, a beautiful 3D view, an easy to understand touchscreen, and a very long battery life (approximately 8 hours). Some additional features you can look forward to with this unit include a photo sharing option, and some games. So while it’s not the most impressive unit, it gets the job done and even offers a few extras, making it worth its

Cobra Handheld Navigator – This portable navigation unit is great because it can be used on the roads and off, making it a versatile addition to the list of cheap portable GPS systems. It includes maps of the continental United States, as well as some cities, territories, and boundaries in both Canada and Europe. So if you like to travel, and like simplicity, this unit with a $250 price tag is worth investigating further.

Magellan RoadMate 2000 – For about 250 bucks, you can get a lot of features in an attractive package. The Magellan RoadMate 2000 is simple, but very handy. First and foremost, it is a great navigation system that offers turn-by-turn voice and visual instruction that helps you avoid traffic and the highways and major roads. It offers an intuitive touchscreen menu that provides access to advanced applications like multi-destination routing, SmartDetour and QuickSpell. And it also offers access to over 1 million points of interests so that you can avoid looking up the address to every business or public location in your city and beyond – it’s already stored in the device for you!

TomTom One – TomTom, like the other companies on the list, is known for releasing reliable systems that get the job done and then some. This particular model is very simple, which is why it comes with a $200 (and sometimes less) price tag. It is extremely accurate with great mapping directions and a user-friendly touchscreen. In addition, it has preloaded 2D and 3D maps of the entire United States and Canada (including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico). It offers audible turn-by-turn directions in over 30 languages and in over 50 different voices as it announces the streets you are approaching. And it has a great MapShare feature that lets you and others who own TomTom devices improve the maps you all share as you notice changes in your local geography. It doesn’t have the MP3 player and other entertainment features that some other devices offer, but it does give you a great deal of functionality for your money. What more can you ask for?

As you see from this article, cheap portable GPS systems don’t necessary equal lesser quality. In fact, you may find that by purchasing the more expensive units, you are acquiring a lot of features you just don’t need. So the next time you are looking at cheap portable GPS systems, don’t turn your nose up at them. Instead see what they can do for you. You might be surprised at their quality.

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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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