If you are going back to school in a new city, I can't overemphasize the value of purchasing a good GPS. The best purchase I made over the past couple years was a Garmin 550c when I moved to Boston (based on GPS Mag's rec). With its notorious streets, Boston could have been a stressful experience, but the GPS makes it doable. Should be on the shopping list for anyone moving here.

Don't forget for the world traveler, if you are planning a trip to Europe you should consider the TomTom 910 current street price of $399 is a bargain since the EU map software is almost that price from Garmin. The Garmin Nuvi 270, 370 and 670 is also an excellent option. Waiting to see if Magellan is going to offer an international version of the Maestro and RoadMate units. My bet is they will.

Unless you REALLY want MSN Traffic, which has been problematic (is anything Microsoft ever problem-free?) it makes no sense to go with the 680 over the 660.

Fletch, on the Garmin site, they make a nice mention of your site "When it comes down to it, the crew at GPSMagazine always goes above and beyond the typical product review…"

They talk about your review of the 350 and provide a link to GPS Magazine.

Congrats for all the recognition.

I forgot to provide a link to Garmin mentioning of this site. Catch it before it disappears!

http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/08/gpsmagazine-rev.html

GPS4ME:

Has Tom Tom fixed all of the bugs in the Go 910? Have they improved their customer service?

I would have to say tomtom have NOT fixed the bugs. Bought a 910 to take to Europe - it searched for the maps then froze irrevocably. I did not bring the TomTom to USB cable with me and couldn't buy one anywhere. Ended up buying a Garmin 250 for the trip (Czech Rebublic and Italy) and it's been perfect!TomTom customer service couldn't help me find a cable or anyone to help me.

Tony

" Has Tom Tom fixed all of the bugs in the Go 910? Have they improved their customer service? "

I don't think that is a fair question to ask me, TomTom or ANYONE! Fixing ALL of the Bugs in ANY navigation system is next to impossible.

I know for a fact there is NO perfect GPS system including the Garmin units that is so well like in NA, there are bugs in every unit, and for some, it may not be discovered immediately, for others that are use to one manufacture or model may have a different expectation of a new product they purchase.

By the way, for all the Magellan critics, they just went from a 16% NPD NA market share to a 26% NPD NA market share, taking market shares away from Garmin and TomTom. There will be TONS of new models coming out with unique features this Q4 and it should be interesting to see how this all pan out.
Magellan under the charge of their new CEO Nelson Chan have done wonders for the Navigation industry, you will find their customer support will improve with new exciting products being introduce this Q4.

Garmin being #1 like Magellan once was will find it difficult to stay on top, since Garmin is more of a reactive company, and they (Garmin) have done a wonderful job for introducing a quality product with ease of use user interface at a fair market price. Dan Bartel earns his wage by being on top of his sales numbers and Garmin is lucky to have such a team member.

I would like some to consider the GPS product you selected and purchased at the time based on price point for what you paid for is really what counts. The cost of EU for Garmin products is not cheap and the TomTom 910 is still the best value for having EU / NA, TTS, BT etc.

I would say although TomTom having growing pains, they are a class company and being the world largest GPS manufacturer and commanding the largest share of the PNAV retail market in the world can't be all wrong.

I am not saying they are so much better than Garmin, but there are unique features that is specific to TomTom and their easy user interface with many different features do make their unit very attractive at the price point they are at.
I would say TomTom will start to put pressure on their paten rights they purchased from Horizon navigation and TA against their competitions such as Garmin, Magellan, Mio etc, this will increase the cost to produce a product for their competition and offer TomTom a slight price advantage.
I am sure TomTom will focus closely on improving the mapping software and product, but like Microsoft, they are not perfect and either is Garmin, Magellan, Mio, Pioneer etc.etc.

Garmin is a class act and deserve to be where they are, and as more and more features and improvements are being develop and implemented in these new systems, there will be more and more bugs discovered. Look at the space shuttle, you figure if NASA can't get it right with the amount of resource they have, how much better can a GPS manufacturers produce a quality PNAV system with such limited resources? The cost of development and mapping is a big part of the bottom line cost for GPS units. You will see units being offered at $85 this Q4, how much quality can these manufacturers put in these disposable GPS units? The price point is what is killing everyone, we all want it for free, and the unit better be a perfect unit and we want it now!

They have fixed most if not all the bugs that I have reported to them, working with TA and TomTom in the past has been helpful, the idea is to improve their products and not to bash them on the forum. So if you really wish to help the PNAV industry out, consider posting recommended features or errors that could be used to improve their products instead of a blanket assumption that ALL the bugs needs to be fix before someone consider purchasing the product, because that will never happen since I notice every time one bug is fix, it can cause another bug to pop up.
So think of not a perfect unit as much as if this GPS unit can be more helpful to you to have it compare to not having it.

The reason why I favor Garmin is because of their reliability and top-notch support.

However, I am extremely dissatisfied with their dumbing down of their software; no matter what model or price. You can buy a $300 Garmin unit and it will essentially be the same routing software as a $1000 one. The only differences are bells and whistles, most of which I don't care about and wider and/or somewhat brighter screens (though this means less battery life).

That's why I explore other units, including the Maestro which offers tons of routing options the Garmins don't have but used to have. The time is ripe for Magellan and other manufacturers to go for the "kill" because Garmin seems to be resting on its laurels. Garmin hasn't come out with anything cutting edge in a loong time. All new models are pretty much the same ole same ole, and as I mentioned their software depleted when compared to 26xx/27xx of yesteryear. If you're looking for a gps to mainly route it makes absolute no sense to buy a higher end Garmin unit because it's no different than a lower end model.

That said, Magellan seems to be making mistakes despite their gain in market share that might hurt them in the long run. They are being pretty darn slow in offering their 2.04 (or better) update to current owners even though it exists. There are way too many bugs (I wonder what the return rate is). And most importantly, their support is pretty much non-existent. I've read of countless examples of customers inability to get through or Magellan just ignoring then and not returning calls or emails. I've read and witnessed a support staff that aren't technically savvy and who speak atrocious English.

This isn't being said to bad mouth Magellan but are the cold hard facts. People, including me, are somewhat forgiving and try to be patient but Magellan just seems to test that patience.

This is where Garmin shines. I just wish that they become more progressive as I wish that Magellan becomes more workable and reliable.

I do believe that if Magellan gets their act straight, Garmin will have a lot to worry about.

GPS4ME:
That is by far one of the most insightful things I've read at GPSMagazine in a long time.
In my experience, all of the devices have their credits and debits. Full disclosure, I'm a former Magellan owner and current Garmin owner. My nuvi 350 has been plagued with problems since the second week. I'm back in the market and I'm either headed down Maestro ave. or GO 720 blvd. But that's just me. I go on long trips that I like to plan in advance. Garmin's pre-plan solution has paled in comparison to the demos I've seen of new Magellans and TomToms.

I guess that's the real point here... what's great for one person doesn't always necessarily make it better or worse than the competition, just a best fit with the user.