Garmin 010-00781-00 Dakota™ 10 Portable GPS System
Choosing the Best of Portable GPS
In the world of portable mapping and navigation systems there are tons that can give you a good experience for your money. But what about when you’re looking for the best of portable GPS? How do you locate what is thought to be the cream of the crop? Normally, this search ends after a heavy amount of research on what products are out there, what features they offer, what they cost, and ultimately, which are better than most. However, in this article, we will pinpoint some of those units that have the good reputation to go along with their product. So if you’re ready to learn a little bit more about the some of the better units out there, let’s get started!
In-Car or Outdoors
One way to help you figure out the best of portable GPS devices for you be it mapping or navigation – or both – is to determine what type of activities you think you will participate in with your device. For example, if you are a person who doesn’t put foot to pavement except between your car and the nearest building, then you will probably want to pick a standard portable navigation unit. With these units you can map out where you want to travel by entering the address for where you are now and where you intend to end up. After you’ve entered the addresses, the device will create a map showing how to get to your location. In addition, it will give you turn-by-turn instructions to your location (and alerts if you are about to miss your turn) to ensure that you cannot get lost along the way.
However, if you are a person who would not travel anywhere unless you were on foot then you would do better to get your hands on a small outdoors device. There are a ton of them available on the market, and the good news is that many of them are really good. The major benefit to these devices is that, like the in-car unit, you get accurate maps and directions to locations on the streets and highways of the United States and beyond – and you also get maps of trails, mountains, rivers, lakes, and other places that the typical in-car device will not offer. Also, the outdoors devices are usually smaller than the in-car portable version so that it can fit easily in your hand as you navigate. And it also will likely offer the ability to track and save waypoints, which basically allow to you travel back to the location you found after it has left behind electronic breadcrumbs on the device’s screen.
By determining which of these two types of devices you would prefer, you will be that much closer to narrowing down the best of portable GPS devices out there for you. Now let’s look at a few available units that have good reputations for accuracy, reliability, and durability.
Best Reputations
The following units are those that have good reputations for offering great quality navigation to customers, which is ultimately why they end up on the best of portable GPS devices list time and time again.
Garmin Nuvi 660 – This navigation device from Garmin is probably one of the most-known and highly-respect units on the market today. It falls into a reasonable price range (as these systems go, at least) of $600, and is meant to stay in your car. It also comes with a boatload of features, including turn-by-turn navigation, multi-destination routing, preloaded 2D and 3D maps, a travel guide, millions of preloaded points of interest, and a language translator. A few other features you might like include hands-free calling, an FM TMC traffic receiver, and MP3 player.
Magellan SportTrack – Another popular device that is often recognized as the best of portable GPS is the SportTrack from Magellan. It is meant for the outdoors enthusiast and offers a lot of great features including the ability to track several of your hiking routes at the same time with nine large navigation displays, as well as the ability to store up to 500 waypoint and 2,000 track points so you won’t have to rely on an odd-shaped tree to mark your favorite route again.
So are you ready to locate what you think will be the best of portable GPS? You may have found just what you’re looking for in this article. But to be on the safe side, it is a good idea to spend a little bit more time searching for what will work for you. Then once you make your purchase you can honestly say that you’ve found the best of portable GPS device for you.
