Portable Navigation: Anyone Own One?

I got the Magellan Road Mate earlier this week and the news on this unit is not good for Convertible owners. The voice prompts are very quiet and you can barely here them.I am picking up the Garmin 2620 today and will compare both in the car at the same time. Anyone own either of these units? The Magellan would be fine in a coupe but I can't hear the damn thing in a ragtop. The POI's are pretty miserable on the Magellan as well. If anyon owns the Magellan please let me know your opinion on the unit before I return it.

I'm surprised that Navigation isn't a big deal to most people. I have tried out both the Magellan Road Mate at $999.00 and the Garmin 2620 at $1100.00. The Garmin BLOWS AWAY the Road Mate. I was pretty bummed out cause I wanted the Magellan as I had owned a Garmin previously. The Garmin has 5 million POI's VS 2 million on the Magellan. The Magellan is so quiet that its voice prompts are WORTHLESS in a ragtop. The Garmin also utilizes a remot control that th Magellan does not have. If your buying portable Nav the GARMIN is the unit. If your considering Nav GET IT!! I can't live without it!! I was lost in Florida this week an almost out of gas. All I did was punch in "gas station" and the Garmin directed me traight to a station. Without it I would have been walkin some back road with a gas can!!

I prefer the $50 thomas mapbook. Sure it doesn't have all the fancy gadgets. But I can read a map. And can tell what are major streets. That would likely have gas stations. And for all the time I need to find my way. $1k seems like to much money thrown down the drain.

Navigation is called the Thomas Guide or a Yahoo map. Certainly not worth a grand or so to put an ugly screen up on the dash with a wire hanging down. Better things I can spend $1,000 on.

Ah yes, love to hear that "Live Axle" mentality!!

Still an improvement over your troll-baiting "hillbilly" attitude Jethro,! Oops EXCON!!!

Good to hear from you Martimus!! I always enjoy brightening up everyones day! Funny thing is people will drop$1200.00 on the"Skanker 1000" which does absolutely NOTHING yet a Navigaton system which for people like myself that DRIVE their car is a "waste of money" Its true that for some people navigation is a complete waste of money. If all you do is drive to and from work and go somewhere on occasion then yea its not worth the invstment. I have almost 6000 miles on my car in less than 2 months. One way I make extra cash is hitin garage ales and reselling stuff on Ebay. With Nav I put in 10-20 addresses in the morning and it automatically guides me to every location in the quickest way possible. With the "live axle method" I would be looking at maps all morning long. Navigation takes me anywhere I want to go quickly and easily. By far one of the best investments I make when I buy a car. Unfortunately the Mustang is not available with an option that would be of use to me like Navigation. Best navigation I ever had was on my G35 Infiniti. That system was fantastic. The Garmin portable is one hell of a great unit for a lousy $1100.00 Guaranteed it pays for itself in gas alone over one year. People are still using maps in the 21ST Century? Wel I guess someone has too!!

I have been visiting this site for about 2 months now and I am still amazed how EXCON can get people heated. I have been a member on a F150 forum for over a year and we had a guy there that did the same thing, bashed the F150 all the time. He even complained once about dirt in the engine compartment. He eventually left when he traded his truck for a Titan. We here could be so lucky...

EC really doesn't bother me much. His rhetoric is tired and repetitive. Its just fun sometimes to realize that although he calls the rest of us hillbilly's, he's likely more of a hillbilly than any of us!

Back in the days of kings and kingdoms there were always court jesters, or fools, to entertain. For us, this role is played by EXCON, a fool by anyones definition!!!

Ya know for a guy that says he owns as many cars as you say you have. I can't figure out why you don't still own the BMW.
And as far as mapping is concerned.
http://www.maps.com/navPro.aspx?Nav=None
This system will give you directions to everyone of those "Poor man's ebay sales you go to. It works well and is only $60 for a year. Which translates into 18 years for the price of one Garmin. Not only will that pay for itself in gas. But it will do it in a LOT less than 1 year. Talk about people still using maps. At least those are the people that are smart enough to look it up on thier own. Instead of needing to be told where to go.

Well at least I don't BS about cars I've owned. Oh and my wife's Lexus has navigation. And it's not some ugly screen sitting on top of the dash with a wire hanging down. It's actually integrated and looks nice, and is 50x better than what you have sitting on your dash. I don't feel it necessary to sit and name cars I've owned like you, but if you're going to push, I can play along. And beyond that, I'm still smart enough to use a real map.

Silver, the Lexus units are pretty good system. The best unit available is the Acura Nav. Unfortunately Ford does not give you the luxury of having a factory system and the other options for a built in system are the Pioneer or the Alpine. I have owned the Alpine nd although its a good unit you still need a monitor (ie another head unit) and installation. Now your talking well over 2K and it can't be taken from on car to the next. The Garmin sits on the dash only when your using it an you put it in the trunk or under the seat when not in use. Any good navigation system is not just mapping. It provides POI's POI's are POINTS OF INTEREST and is very very helpful if you driv th miles I do. OK your in another state and have no clue where you are, your on the intrstate and an exit is approaching. A good system like the Garmi will tell you what restaurants, motels, gas stations, hospitals etc are off that given exit. In the mood for Chinese? The Garmin will list all the chinese restaurants in the immediate area, provide he phone number and with on click gives you directions. As with many threads I post I am discussing something that I either now own or had previously owned. Its very easy to say "this product is a wast of money" when youv'e never owned one. I myself can't live without navigation but you might have no se whatsoever for its features. This I can tell you. I have never met someone who bought a GOOD navigation system and thought i was a waste of money. Once you have navigation you never go back. Its as good as TIVO. If you don't kinow about Tivo then check it out. It changes the way you watch TV FOREVER!!

I will admit that GPS's are definitely cool toys to play with. I have a Garmin GPSMAP 60CS that goes with me on road trips, hikes, deep sea fishing adventures, etc. It may not tell me where the next gas station is but, thankfully, those evil gas station owners have finally stopped camouflaging their signs...

Not to defend the ExCon, but he has a point. There have been quite a few threads describing useless expensive Mods. My favorite is replacing premium alloy wheels and tires on new GTs with expensive low profile + size wheels and tires. The Mustang is not available with standard Nav unit, so an alternative to an expensive custom installation is a dash unit with a wire hanging down. If that's what ExCon wants, so be it! If someone else wants + size wheels to better show off their oversized replacement powder coated brake calipers, so be it!

Keep in mind that there is a large segment of those posting here and other Mustang forums who are not interested in Bling or extreme performance. but none the less love cars.

Another great feature on the Garmin allows you to "plan a trip" If your going say coast to coast this unit will provide you with an itinerary of sorts, telling you approx where you will be at a given time and the food, lodging, entertainment, fuel etc at each waypoint along your trip. Lets see a map do that for you!! Another GREAT feature is ATM locations shown on the map as icons at all times. Gas stations also are shown as icons on the map. In MY WORLD there are certain things that I MUST OWN: TIVO, PORNO, NAVIGATION, XBOX, PAINT PROTECTION to name a few. Navigation is worth every penny I assure you!!

I spent 6 weeks in NJ a few years ago on business. My rental car came equipped with Hertz Neverlost. That thing worked great and made my travels much easier.

Duner, thats the Magellan. Its good but the Garmin is ALOT better. They are great to have though aren't they?

Garmin kicks ass. I have a handheld. That thing made it much easier cruising around back there. Between the jug handles and trying to get around the city that thing saved my ass. I like the way it told me "You have arrived". I can see how you need one that you can hear. Any way to hook up an ear piece? Connection to the stereo?

And that is great for your world. In my world. I have a debit and a credit card. Both seem to work just as well as cash. So ATM location, not a big deal. And while I realize it may just be a feature of the freeways in my little neck of the woods. But if many exits on the freeways have these cool signs. That say "Gas this exit". And many times they also list the food and lodging. As for going coast to coast. I did my time driving a truck from coast to coast. Now I'll just take a flight.

Navigation systems are the biggest waste of money IMO. With my wife's car, we had no choice, the package we got just came with it. I wouldn't waste my money on a $1,200 radio option either.