a GPS I'm NOT recommending...

[Bonsai]

We had a thread about what GPS to recommend a couple weeks ago... I posted about my iQue by Garmin. Well, let me tell you it's worse feature... the battery. My daughter uses the GPS sometimes at night (plays games on it) and she let the battery die completely. Guess what happens them? You lose everything you put on it. So the drug book is gone (I have the reg. # and CD ROM) Bejweled is gone (don't have that reg #) and everything else. (addresses, maps, etc) I will say, I don't know if all PDA/GPSs do this, but I'm not too happy about this one's performance.

[Darrell Aubert]

I have the i5 from Garmin. Costs like 300 bucks on buydig.com. I absolutley love this thing. And it doesn't erase your info when it runs out of battery.

[MarkS]

I have Dell X50 pocket pc. Great little machine. Address book, email, mp3, video, etc. And of course GPS through either a SD slot plugin GPS unit or a car craddle that sticks to the windscreen and is powered through the lighter socket. Then you have a choice of GPS software you can use. And it has a battery backup to hold any info if the main battery dies.

Mark

[AndrewMSV]

Just as a parenthetical statement to Bonsai's:

The Garmin Nuvi 350 that I highly recommended in the last thread has one feature I want as wishlist items...

A sleep button. The unit is always on or off. You can't just let it chill out in sleep mode for the next 20 miles while you're on a freeway for a extended period of time. You have to turn it off if you want it to conserve battery life. If you turn it off it takes a while to locate the satelites and get started again... sometimes up to 90-120 seconds in total. That's too long if you're driving 80 mph. You will have missed several exits by then. And if you're on the New Jersey Turnpike and miss an exit, it's like seven miles before the next one. The unit should have a sleep function where you rest the screen and save battery life and it'll just power up when you touch the screen again or something. (To its credit, it still remembers which trip you are on if you turn it off so you don't have to re-enter your destination.)

[Darrell Aubert]

Doesn't it come with a car adapter for power?

[Bonsai]

Doesn't it come with a car adapter for power?

Yup. But my 9 year old daughter was using it in her room (playng games on it, not navigating) and she used it until the battery went completely dead. :(

[AndrewMSV]

Doesn't it come with a car adapter for power?

I can't tell if you're talking to me or to Bonsai - I'll assume you're talking to me since your reply was directly below mine.
The answer is, yes, it does come with a car adapter. But it is unsightly, as all cabled peripherals are.
Besides, I have my iPod's FM transmitter in the socket. And no, I'm not going to get one of those lovely, multi-car-adaptor plug things.

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:Ko0Lv-jwtyh96M:http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/dmart2_1877_76298051

[Bonsai]

Besides, I have my iPod's FM transmitter in the socket. And no, I'm not going to get one of those lovely, multi-car-adaptor plug things.

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:Ko0Lv-jwtyh96M:http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/dmart2_1877_76298051

iPod FM transmitter?? Oh no, Andrew. You have to base the purchase of your car on the availablity of an iPod adapter which plays your iPod right through your car stereo. I bought a Scion Tc last November, and that was the only option I got. And guess what? The BMW 330i you are buying me comes with it as well! (BMW was the first car to offer the adapter built in)

[AndrewMSV]

iPod FM transmitter?? Oh no, Andrew. You have to base the purchase of your car on the availablity of an iPod adapter which plays your iPod right through your car stereo. I bought a Scion Tc last November, and that was the only option I got. And guess what? The BMW 330i you are buying me comes with it as well! (BMW was the first car to offer the adapter built in)

Well, my current car was made before the invention of the iPod.
My NEXT car, however, will be a different story.