I am looking for a new vehicle GPS. Some of the main requirements:

- Screen size minimum of 5 inches

- Voice recognition

- Audio turn-by-turn street name directions ie: "Turn left in 2 kms onto Main Street." Not just "Turn left in 2 kms."

- Lifetime updated maps

- POI database

Does any have any personal experience with a GPS that has the same or similar functions? I am not bound to any one brand such as Tom Tom, Garmin, Magellan etc.

Please do not recommend any smart phone or tablet based apps as I am only interested in a standalone solution.


Thanks.

I have a Garmin 2555LMT which has a 5" screen, turn by turn directions and one feature I was looking for was intersection views, so you can tell what an exit looks like and it tells you what lane to be in for your route. Very handy in the big cities like LA. It also has a traffic feature that has near real time traffic. Lifetime map updates as well.

What it does not have is voice recognition, so I can't talk to it and have it follow commands. It was not a feature I was in the market for, although I can see some advantage in certain circumstances. That feature seems to add a fair amount to the price of the unit and I was trying to stay under $200, which I did with my Garmin. They do make a unit that does all the things you ask for, I am sure most, if not all brands do.

I have had an earlier model Garmin and had excellent results with it, mostly. There were a few occasions when it pointed me to take a route where there was no road. This past summer in San Diego we were going to Balboa Park and the GPS said to turn right on TRAIL. No road there. After some investigation, I saw that there was a hiking trail right there that would take you where the GPS wanted you to go. Just hard to take a 2.5 ton SUV up a steep footpath! That older unit also did not have the lane assist/intersection view feature and I missed a turn a few times in heavily congested areas of freeway.

So, the GPS is not an end-all gadget. It will HELP you get to places but it is also not perfect. I left Disneyland going to I-40 and it wanted me to turn somewhere that I felt was wrong and it turned out that the GPS was correct and could have saved me a few hours of slow traffic driving, had I listened. You need to learn to live with it and to double check with a map from time to time too.

I hope that helps. There are some good sites on the Internet that compare units, features and have some reviews. Just have to search a little.

Thanks for the info. I have visited some sites and read reviews. One thing I am leery on is the reviews themselves as many are slavishly glowing in excise praise etc which given the recent news about online product reviews in general being poisoned by less then honest people, meaning they may have a stake in the company or are paid to write these reviews. At least on this forum, we don't see this problem and people here are upfront about no affiliation etc.

As for GPS not being the end-all gadget, I agree. I currently have an older Magellan that has been both a great help, yet on the flip side, has been less then stellar with it's direction finding a few times.

The real issue with any GPS is the data that it depends on. If a data set is not accurate, the route you recieve may be flawed. Like telling me to turn at TRAIL. Most of the makers actually do some sort of verification of the data but it seems to never be 100%. I think there is a dependancy on existing maps and other forms of satellite data that are combined to produce the data in a GPS.

I can say that I am content with both of the Garmin vehicle GPS units that I have, although they are not perfect. The newer one, the 2555LMT is a big improvement over the one I used up until this past summer. I have not had a fault with it so far. I have not tried other brands and they may, or may not be the same or better.

One thing you can do is add POI's from sources like Google maps and those have often been inaccurate in the navigation, so take that for what it is worth. I also added the City navigator software for San Diego and LA last year to my old GPS and although it adds loads of POI's, it is also much more cluttered if you are tryiing to get to a specific place. Too many points available can be probematic too.

Good luck in your quest, I am sure you can find a good GPS for a good price, they keep getting better and cheaper.

I'm using a Garmin 3490LMT. It has a 4.3" display and LMT (lifetime map and traffic) so you get to update the maps as required and the traffic warnings & routing won't stop. It does have the lane recommendations and goes to a split screen to show exits. I like it.

I am biased because after all these years my data base is all Garmin and getting me to switch to another brand that is incompatible would be a hard sell.

That said, I use a GPS in the truck for traffic routing and time estimates. My previous Garmin (760 w/ LMT) paid for itself when driving in LA and routing around traffic taking me on a route I would never have tried. The delay was minor compared to staying on a conventional route with heavy weekend traffic on I-10, I-5, I-405. It took me southeast across LA to pick up I-15 and there was no problem. Traffic is critical, display size and many other features are not.

Thanks guys.

The Garmin 2555LMT that Izzy mentioned looks good however it seems to be superseded by the 2595LMT which is not that much more expensive at a local store. Time permitting this weekend, I will take a drive over for some hands on, look and feel.

Yes, I seen that. Thanks. The local store told me that with the minor price point difference along with the voice command feature makes the 2595 a better buy overall so they won't stock the 2555 any more....but will order in the 2555 if someone really wants it.

I specifically did not want the voice command option. I can see some potential value in it but I like to keep things a little simpler and I like the hands on. I am not yet sure I even wanted the traffic feature. I don't need it on most of my drives. I never even put the GPS in the car when in my home cities. I know my way around.

The thing I found that I don't like about the traffic feature is that it is a big thing that hangs on the power cord, right near the GPS unit. So, it is dangling in front of the dashboard all the time, banging against the radio face. Sort of a weird way to make something. Luckily, I have a cubby bin in the center of my dash and I just drop that piece in there. That also keeps me from putting other things in the cubby bin though.

If I take another trip to LA next summer I will possibly see some benefit to the traffic gadget, otherwise I am not sure I needed it. I was mainly looking for the 5 inch display and the lane view feature on the split screen.