Thinking of getting a GPS -- what to look for, what to stay away from?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:http://www.ottawasun.com/news/weird/2011/01/24/17010436.html

Can't embed this one, but it's great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyKrS8jwSY

wprager wrote:

OK, so I found the additional voices: http://www8.garmin.com/vehicles/voices/

But these are the only ones I've found so far -- Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer, and a few others. No Simpsons. Are there other voices out there that I just haven't found yet?

Also found a program that lets you change your voice file. Haven't downloaded or tried using it yet, but apparently you can change the phrases used in specific instances -- for example, you could get rid of the "Recalculating" and change it to "Doh!" -- now if you can get Homer voice on top of that, peeerfect:

http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=7824

The Tomtom has a few really great voices, most notably John Cleese. I grew up watching Fawlty Towers, A Fish Called Wanda, and of course Monty Python. The man is hilarious, has incredible delivery. His twitter is really funny too.

They have a few other pretty funny voices, also have Homer Simpson, Mr Burns, KITT from Knight Rider, Snoop Dogg, Billy Connolly, Darth Vader, C3PO, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, and Yoda, among others.

You grew up in 12 episodes? Impressive!

wprager wrote:You grew up in 12 episodes? Impressive!

On a constant loop. Still watching them, haven't quite grown up yet. As a kid, I also watched a lot of 3 Stooges. And I only listened to Elvis Presley until the age of about 12. I was a weird kid.

Bass Destruction wrote:

wprager wrote:You grew up in 12 episodes? Impressive!

On a constant loop. Still watching them, haven't quite grown up yet. As a kid, I also watched a lot of 3 Stooges. And I only listened to Elvis Presley until the age of about 12. I was a weird kid.

I pretty much didn't know about Elvis (well, I *knew* he was a singer, and I had seen a couple of his movies -- which were mostly lame) until the day he died. I was working at a summer camp up in the Laurentians, and they played his music for something like 24 hours straight.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:http://www.ottawasun.com/news/weird/2011/01/24/17010436.html

Don't buy this model; that is my only advice.

Dell.ca has the Garmin Nuvi 1450T on sale for $110 (half off) if you use this coupon code: WTHN?C6LMRGK0?

Better hurry as this coupon can only be redeemed 200 times (I got this in my Inbox at 5AM).

Just checked this unit on Amazon.com and it's *on sale* for $250. Maybe I should jump on this -- have been thinking of getting a second one for a while.

Well, I ordered it. Should arrive in a couple of days (Dell.ca is pretty quick). Not sure if I'll keep it or give it to my folks as a Christmas present. Either that or a blu ray player so I can loan them Lost S6 so they can *finally* watch the finale.

Unit arrived today, and I'm just finishing up updating the s/w and maps. Garmin's website and s/w are flaky. I had previously registered my fist GPS so I had an account. Once I remembered the p/w and logged in, I had to install a "Communicator Plugin" -- that was new. It required that I quite Firefox to install -- I get it, it's a plugin, however after I closed firefox it still wouldn't continue (I checked TaskManager -- no firefox). I had to quit the installer than run it again.

Next I go to the my.garmin website and login again, then click to register a product, select automotive GPS category and it finds my device (it was already hooked up via USB). Then I proceeded to update it, choosing the one-shot installer rather than the permanent one that lives on your PC and tells you when new updates are available (this unit has lifetime map updates).

While waiting for it to download and install all the map updates I decided to look around the site. I clicked on the myExtras tab to see if there were any freebies to download. They said no, which was odd. So I check my registered products and it shows nothing. I click again to register my unit but it pops up a box and tells me there are no un-registered products found -- and my plugged-in unit is show inside the box.

So it looks like it *has* registered my unit because it won't let me register it again (no un-registered products found, but the plugged-in one is prominently displayed). But somehow it doesn't *think* my product is registered, which would explain why it says there's no extras for me to download. Maybe it's because the map update is not finished yet, but the registration and map updates were very separate functions.

I'd also read in the manual how you had 60 days after using it (acquiring satellite) to get your free updates (mine has lifetime updates so I don't think the 60 days applies to me -- but who really knows). I *did* take it out to the porch to acquire the satellite long enough to get my location. Maybe I have to drive around a bit first?

Anyhow, weird.

Nice screen -- 5" makes a big difference over 4.3". And the unit is slimmer than my old one. But it doesn't have blue-tooth. Too bad, but I prefer a headset anyway.

Shabbs, whatever happened to that POIfriend.com website? It's no-longer accessible. Did they get bought out by someone? Is there a newone?

Heh-heh. Garmin has some new voice/vehicle "bundles", including Yoda (X-Wing fighter) and Vader (X-1 Starfighter). $12.99 each, though. Worth it, it may be. I wonder what Vader says instead of "Recalculating". It should be "I am altering your route. Pray I don't alter it further." Or maybe "You have failed me for the last time" if you make the wrong turn.