Car GPS Reviews

Read Unbiased Reviews of the Best Car GPS & Top Auto GPS Receivers

Global positioning systems (GPS) devices have enjoyed tremendous sales growth, particularly in the automotive market. In the last two years, sales of in-car GPS units have grown at least two times over. There is one fundamental reason for the popularity of these devices: GPS navigation units help drivers make informed travel decisions. CarGPSreviews.net aims to provide unbiased reviews of the best car GPS devices to help you make an informed decision by presenting the top 10 GPS units.

Progressive innovation has been the hallmark of increased GPS use. They now feature brighter, higher-resolution screen displays, highly accurate maps, more points of interest, and convenient turn-by-turn directional guidance. They can provide real-time traffic information and can be linked to a cell phone to allow hands-free use.

More elaborate models can be tapped to control other systems, such as air-conditioning, heating, and stereo systems. Other GPS devices can playback movies on DVD while your vehicle is parked, remotely unlock car doors and activate the horn and lights, and provide you with news and e-mail.

Many companies produce GPS receivers, but three makers corner the lion's share of this rapidly expanding market: Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. Other notable manufacturers include Navigon, Lowrance, and Mio. The majority of users favor Garmin, but TomTom and Magellan have their own core of rabid supporters.

Top 10 Car GPS

Here's a list of the Top 10 GPS units by popularity, user reviews and sales for :

Garmin Nuvi 760 - Combining a very affordable asking price with the latest features, including text-to-speech technology and a superb user interface, the nuvi 760 also added a feature we haven't seen on any other model - the ability to transmit sound via a built-in FM transmitter. This means the unit can send sound wirelessly through your car stereo, avoiding the common occurrence of missing directions due to low volume levels. It comes with a large 4.3 inch touch screen. With a 480 x 272 pixel resolution, the display is bright and east to read. The nüvi 760 also has integrated traffic receivers and Bluetooth capability for hands-free calling. Like the rest of the wide nüvi 700-series, its premium navigation capabilities, like route planning and a handy locator, give you peace of mind on the go. Experts recommend the Garmin nüvi 760 more than any other high-end GPS. It lands at the top of performance tests, including routing tests against Magellan and TomTom units. The nüvi 760 includes almost every extra feature Garmin has to offer, but is still easy enough for a novice to use.
Read the full Garmin nuvi 760 review.
Garmin Nuvi 680 - Travel throughout North America without loading any more maps with the Garmin nüvi 680 Personal Travel Assistant. Plus, you can receive door-to-door directions while staying on top of local weather, traffic, and more with nüvi 680. The device features a colorful widescreen, hands-free calling, and an FM transmitter, then takes it up a notch by adding dynamic content from MSN Direct, as well as a convenient digital travel kit that includes an MP3 player with sample MP3s, audio books, a picture viewer, a world clock, currency and measurement converters and a calculator. Despite being loaded with features, the nüvi 680 still allows you to navigate with ease. This unit comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded NavTeq City Navigator NT street maps for North America, and includes a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel stops, ATMs and more. Read the full Garmin nuvi 680 review.
Garmin Nuvi 255W - Garmin's nüvi 255W improves upon its highly popular 200-series by adding top-of-the-line features such as FM traffic updates or MSN Direct content to an entry-level line. Garmin also also added some significant improvements with this new series, like a predictive technology that provides faster satellite lock, a redesigned screen with more information, terrain maps, and an exciting new photo navigation feature. The 255W adds complete maps for North America and Text-to-Speech, so you get turn by turn spoken directions with the real names of streets (e.g. "turn left in 50 feet at Nebraska Way", rather than merely "turn left in 50 feet"). The 255W also offers a wide 4.3-inch screen that displays 70% more of the road around you.
Read the full Garmin 255W review.
Garmin Nuvi 360- The Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS is a handy multi-purpose system in your hands: aside from providing detailed navigation systems, it can serve as your guide on the road, personal translator, and multi-media entertainment system. It carries an automatic routing system, turn-by-turn voice directions, and a picture viewer for JPEG files. For entertainment, there is an audio book player and an MP3 player. It also has a hands-free Bluetooth wireless facility, making it the most dependable personal travel assistant you carry in your pocket. Read the full Garmin Nuvi 360 review.
Magellan Maestro 4250 - The Magellan 4250 add a host of features, including text-to-speech directions that give real street names, bluetooth for hands-free phone calls, integrated traffic, and voice command. The intuitive user interface makes the Maestro series incredibly easy to use. Use the big icons on the 4.3-inch widescreen touch screen to search for your destination by address, intersection, or any of 6 million points of interest (POIs), including restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more. Read the full Magellan 4250 review.
Garmin nuvi 260W- The nüvi 260W combines the thin profile and attractive price point of other nüvi 200-series GPS with directions in real street names and a wide screen that lets you see more of what's around you as you drive. Garmin's line on the device is that, "the nüvi 260W gives consumers the most sought-after navigation features, while eliminating many of the premium add-ons. The 4.3-inch backlit widescreen touchscreen on the nüvi 260W gives you 70% more actual screen area than a 3.5-inch screen. Read the full Garmin 260W review.
Garmin Nuvi 350 - The most popular Garmin ever, though discontinued, is still a reliable workhorse. The Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS, is small and light enough to fit in your purse or pocket. Its high resolution (320 x 240 pixels) coming from a 64,000-colour display gives you bright clear reading of maps and other data. You can use its MCX connector to link up with an external GPS antenna, and listen to audio playback through its power-laden speaker built into the back of the unit. Read the full Garmin 350 review.
TomTom GO 730 - The 730 sports a 4.3" extra-wide touch screen that features anti-glare technology for easy viewing even in direct sunlight. Maps of the U.S. and Canada, along with text-to-speech. The latter feature means that you'll hear "turn left on Oak Street" rather than just "turn left in 1/4 mile." It also includes a built-in FM transmitter and TomTom's Map Share technology, which allows users to make some map corrections and share them with others. Realistic and clear visual instructions are provided with high-quality 3D graphics, while spoken instructions tell you where you need to go in your own language. Read the full TomTom 730 review.
TomTom 330S - GPS helps you find your way and, having a TomTom XL330S in your car, is an excellent way to help you find the right direction toward your destination. The TomTom XL-330S is preloaded with millions of points of interest to enhance your traveling experience, including locations of rest areas, service stations, restaurants, hotels, and more. TomTom's software means easy navigation from A to B. Switch on and go right out of the box. Just enter the address on the Touchscreen and start driving anywhere in the US or Canada. TomTom guides you door-to-door with turn-by-turn spoken instructions including street and place names. An extra-wide 4.3-inch Touchscreen helps you view maps and read driving instructions, worry-free. Read the full TomTom 330S review.
TomTom ONE XL-S - For a high end version to its basic GPS line (named ONE), TomTom offers the ONE XL-S which adds to the basic GPS features a wider set of traffic options, with the immensely convenient RDS-TMC system providing real-time information about traffic situations. Both the ONE XL and ONE XL-S are complete with all necessary features, albeit without the luxury frills, of a reliable car navigation system. The difference is the text-to-speech feature in the ONE XL-S, which means you get voice directions. The unit carries complete TeleAtlas map data for the whole of Canada and all states in the U.S. View all data stored in its 1GB memory on its viewer-friendly 4.3-inch widescreen display. Read the full TomTom ONE XL-S review.

Overview Of The 3 Most Popular GPS Brands

Garmin - Since 1989, Garmin has provided GPS receivers for a wide range of users, from soldiers in the U.S. military to the automotive market to aircraft systems. The automotive market accounts for one-third of the company's consumer products sales. The company provides original-equipment GPS systems to Chrysler vehicles, BMW, Harley Davidson and Honda Motorcycles; detachable units are also available, for use in cars or when going hiking or biking.

Garmin also produces GPS navigation systems for the recreational market. In addition to surface navigation capabilities, its marine products provide information on wind speeds, weather forecasts, tides, and charts of the coastlines in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii. Garmin GPS systems for aviation include panel-mounted units (for the retrofit market and older aircraft) and portable units used in general aviation aircraft.

TomTom - The Netherlands-based company, TomTom NV, started in 1999 as a supplier of mobile phone software applications. In 2001, it began partnering with PALM, Microsoft and HP to produce the TomTom Navigator system for PDAs and smartphones. The TomTom GO family of GPS navigation systems was launched in 2004 for cars, later followed by its variant TomTom ONE. The TomTom RIDER line was developed for motorcycles and scooters and TomTom PLUS was designed to provide traditional navigation capabilities in combination with a host of web-based subscription services.

Magellan - Magellan (formerly Thales Navigation) is an industry leader in navigation and positioning systems for consumers, surveying, GIS, and the OEM markets. Its product line includes the award-winning RoadMate portable car GPS series, the eXplorist handheld GPS for hikers and outdoors types, the Hertz NeverLost car GPS, and the best-selling ProMark surveying GPS. Its consumer products also include marine GPS devices for boaters and address navigation add-ons to car GPS. Professional products serve surveying needs in land and marine applications, mobile mapping, and original-equipment units for various industries, including aviation.