Today brought good news for anyone whose been waiting for Garmin's highly rated nuvi GPS units to get less expensive. Garmin has announced the nuvi 200, 250, 270, and the nuvi 600, 650, and 660FM.
Continue reading "Garmin's nu nuvis: say hello to the nuvi 200, 250, 270, 600, 650, & 660FM" »
Fletch, TomTom have some fun new models of GPS on the line up also, just a matter of time before they will announce it. I think same type of user interface but just more abilities at a lower price point. These units should be available in May and everyone PND units are back to looking pretty much like the Nuvi 660 with the 4.3" display but with different software application to drive each unit at different price point. There maybe a 5" display on the works but it will be late Sept before we will get to see it.
This GPS market looks appears to have some price separation and feature enhancements, the low end $199-$399 units will have pretty much no feature and just GPS capability with no TMC, TTS, BT etc, and the mid to high range $499-$999 price range will come with a lot of bells and whistles. It's great for the consumer that have not committed to one yet, but as far as value goes, there is never a best time to buy in on one, I see the day that one will have to pay for real time map update and the hardware will be like a cell phone.
I see that day coming soon with a service fee of around $50 a month with a two year contract, they will get your money one way or another.
Garmin is reacting to TomTom and Magellan price drop and they have to have a competitive price point to keep their NA market share.
I find this rather frustrating because I didn't want all the fancy features like MP3, currency converter etc.
I just want simple rock solid navigation with the street names option for about $350. Why can no one deliver this product?
Royce - that's what the nuvi 200 is. Just navigation - no Bluetooth, traffic, etc.
Fletch, but I understand that the Nuvi 200's don't have the SiRFIII chipset and this site recommends that only GPS units with the SiRF chipset should be considered for future purchases.
Also, I would gladly trade the audiobook, currency converter etc. for "text to speech" operation.
I think that my only option right now is the Nuvi350 but at $400, that's a pretty expensive option. Still, if the Nuvi 200 comes in at the
ROYCE,
TEXT TO SPEECH IS A PRETTY HELPFUL FEATURE. I HAVE PERSONALLY OWNED A NUVI 350 AND USED IT FOR SEVERAL MONTHS. YOU WILL BE VERY HAPPY IF YOU DECIDE TO GO WITH THIS UNIT. IM SURE THE PRICE WILL DROP SINCE THE NEW GARMIN SERIES IS BEING RELEASED!
I've tried to search this with no luck. Has anyone noticed that there is different memory sizes on the Nuvi 200. Friends only have 1GB total memory (purchased 11/07) and on mine (purchased 6/08) has 1.4 GB. There are no SD cards installed in either units.