You Can Trust Our Reviews
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Buying Guide: In-Car Navigation Systems: Finding Your Way Home for the Holidays
Contents
- In-Car Navigation Systems: Finding Your Way Home for the Holidays
- Garmin nüvi 350
- Garmin StreetPilot 2720
- Dual XNAV3500P Portable GPS Navigation System
As the holidays draw near, a familiar scenario plays itself out on highways and byways all across the country. Dad is speeding down the Interstate, in complete denial over how lost he is; Mom is holding herself back from tearing up the paper map, its tiny print almost indecipherable in a moving vehicle. The kids are cranky, and over at Grandma's house, the turkey dries out waiting for lost family members to arrive.
This season there is no need to put yourself through this painful holiday ritual. GPS In-Car Navigation Systems make it easy to plot your path from point A to point B (and any points of interest in between). They can be pricey (the devices in our roundup retail for between $900 and $1,100), but they offer numerous features, such as turn-by-turn directions to your destination of choice, and compact, portable form factors. Some can even alert you traffic jams and potential roadwork on your route and give you a way around them.
The three navigation devices in our roundup—the Garmin nuvi 350, Garmin StreetPilot 2720, and Dual XNAV3500P—offer turn-by-turn directions, and all three have 3D views. None of them are waterproof (which is a moot point, unless you plan on submerging your car underwater, or are driving a convertible in the rain), and all three come with preloaded maps. While the two Garmin devices and the Dual XNA come with an AC adapter, the Garmin nuvi 350 is the only one to offer a battery option. The nuvi 350 and XNAV3500P feature built-in speakers, and the XNAV3500P allows you to play MP3 and AVI files. Want to know what else differentiates these GPS devices from one another? Then check out our comparison table.
Any of these GPS in-car navigation devices could be the one to steer you in the right direction. They don't come cheap, but having one less headache when going home for the holidays? Well, that's priceless.
In This Roundup
Garmin nuvi 350 ($899 list)
This small, lightweight GPS device is preloaded with map and Points of Interest data. It also offers great GPS receiver sensitivity and fast satellite-acquisition time.
Garmin StreetPilot 2720 ($1,099 list)
This in-car GPS offers an excellent non-reflective touch screen and easy-to-use intuitive interface. It also features excellent text-to-speech conversion.
Dual XNAV3500P ($999.95 list)
This GPS device uses an SD memory card and has a 3.5-inch, 320-by-240 TFT touch screen. It can double as a multimedia device and will play audio (MP3) and video (.AVI) files, and display picture (.JPG) files.