GPS Systems and Reviews

Which are the Best Built-In Car GPS Devices?

Are you wondering whether you should spend your money on a car GPS system that is built right into the dashboard of your car instead of a portable device that sticks to you dashboard? Well you’re in the right place to determine not only what the benefits are of purchasing a built-in unit, but also which ones are most popular on the market today.

Built-In vs. Portable

The question many people have when they consider purchasing a car GPS system is whether they should go with built-in or portable. The answer differs depending on the consumer’s needs, so let’s go over some pros and cons that you might want to consider when thinking about purchasing either one.

Portable is … Portable – Many consumers love the idea that they can take their portable units out of their cars and move them to another car if necessary. This is one major selling point for the portable unit. You simply attach it to your dashboard when you’re using it, and remove it when you’re done. The second bonus of a device being portable is that if you want to upload mapping or navigation software, you can do it easily via its USB port.

Portable Units Don’t Offer Large HD Space – One bonus you will find with built-in units that you won’t see in most portable devices is the large hard drive. Some built-in units come with as much hard drive space as a PC, which means you can store a lot of information on your system. If this is important to you then you will want to look past the portable units.

Built-In Units Offer More Extras – One reason that customers enjoy built-in car GPS systems is their features – the main one being a bigger screen. While most portable units have smaller 3.5-inch screens, some built-in units can have screens as large as 7.5 inches allowing you to get a better view of the maps and text directions. In addition, many systems come with a DVD player or other entertainment features that you cannot get with the smaller portable unit.

Built-Ins Make Cars More Vulnerable – In an age where breaking into cars is as easy as breaking into your own bedroom, many consumers are leery about placing permanent systems into their vehicles because burglars can look right in and see what they want. The one plus of the system being built in is that it will be hard for them to take it out without effort, but this means you won’t be able to remove it to secure your device and vehicle if necessary – a luxury you get with the portable device.

The Best Devices

There are a handful of car GPS devices that top the list as those you would want to have placed in your vehicle. Let’s look at them more closely:

Pioneer AVIC-Z2 – This is a system that reviewers love because it is considered to be the ultimate in HDD navigation. It has a huge hard drive – 30 GB – which can easily rival many PCs on the market. But many more features follow this one great asset. For example, its processing speed is astounding, being able to deliver mapping and navigation information to you rapidly. Also, it offers a huge Tele Atlas that has over 12 million points of interest (POI) so that you can find a business or other public location without having to know the address. Some other features of this car GPS system include a huge music library, a large 7-inch screen, DVD playback, 3D landmark icons, point addressing, traffic flow lanes, iPod controls, Bluetooth compatibility, text-to-speech technology, and turn-by-turn voice instruction.

Panasonic Strada CN-NVD905U – Similar to the Pioneer device mentioned above, this one also offers a 7-inch screen and DVD player. In addition, it has an easy-to-understand LCD display as well as touchscreen control with audio. You can enjoy a picture as sharp as your television set so that you can not only see great map images, but also enjoy your movies, making this device one that makes being in your car as comfortable as being in your home.

When you’re ready to get out and buy your built-in car GPS it is important to consider a few more things. One is that many systems are available with the purchase of a new car, so before you spend money buying a new system for your car, consider whether you could save by having one come with a new car you are thinking of purchasing. These car GPS systems are a little bit pricier than most portable units, so you have to make sure that you will get the most out of your purchase.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of GPS Laptop Receivers

Using a computer as a GPS laptop receiver is something that more people are starting to do. Most people carry a laptop with them to work so it is a natural progression to use it for this application as well. It is true it has many advantages, but it also has some disadvantages that you will want to know about as well. Read further and you will be able to discover both sides of the GPS laptop receiver.

GPS navigation systems are probably one of the more popular items these days and for very good reasons. Laptop computers are another very popular item and many people wonder if the two can meet and make one great product. Well the answer to that is yes and no. There are many different types of GPS navigation software out there that will turn your computer into a GPS system. There are some great advantages as well as some disadvantages that you should know about. Let us look at some of these so we have a better grasp on this subject.

Most people right now own a laptop computer so getting the software to transform it into a GPS navigation system is relatively cheaper than buying a GPS unit. This is one of the biggest advantages and drawing card as well. The laptop also lets you store much more than you could with just a regular unit you bought from the store. The screen size is also much bigger so you will get much more detail as well. Companies such as Garmin have introduced software for the computer at a very low price so you can get start for low out of pocket expense to see if you like it. The companies know many times by doing this you are more likely to buy a unit from them.

The advantages of the GPS laptop are many let us look at a few of these in greater detail so you know exactly where you stand. The screen is much bigger in a laptop computer so you will get a much wider view of the rods that you are traveling on. This in turn means you will make much less mistakes that you do with a smaller screen. It is also much easier on your eyes as well which means you can concentrate more on the road as well. A full sized keyboard also is something that people like about the laptop computer GPS system. The track pad allows for quick and easy navigation and trip planning. For recreational travelers the laptop GPS receiver is very hard to beat as they are always traveling anyway.

There are some drawbacks, as well you should know about so you can make an informed decision as well. One of the biggest drawbacks is you have to lug around your laptop computer. With many of the newer GPS units today able to fit in your pocket that is just not possible with a computer and something you need to look at. A dedicated GPS unit can sit on a dashboard out of the way while a laptop computer must sit on the site, which can present other problems as well.  You also will have to deal with longer cords that could get in your way and you will not be able to have someone up front if you use a laptop computer as your GPS unit.

Now as you can see there are many advantages and disadvantages to using a laptop computer as a GPS navigation system. Despite the size and security concerns, more and more people are turning to this as a viable option. The low entry level cost is one of the main reasons and the other is they already own a laptop why not put it to more use. People already understand how to operate the laptop so it is nothing new to them.  Look for the laptop GPS receiver to become even more popular in the years to come. WE take are portable computer with us anywhere we go so it is just a natural progression that this becomes a part of our everyday life. Now that we have GPS software available, it will become even more a part of it. Take your laptop to the next level by installing GPS navigation software on it. You will actually be surprised at how well it works and what it will do for you. No matter what you will never lose your way again no matter where you’re headed once you install it.

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