Gps

[BobnJeep]

I'm moving to Southern Cali, and I want a GPS to help me find my way around town and to some new wheeling. Who has an old one that is capable of holding some maps and can give turn by turn directions. Nothing fancy, just something somewhat capable.
Any suggestions as to any new ones out there under $300?

[danno]

I have been using my Garmin GPS V for several years now. Its a great little unit which does turn by turn and all of my offroading tracking. You will need to upload the detail maps for the area that you are planning to visit using a computer, but it holds quite a bit (mine currently has all of AZ, CO, NM and UT).

The turn by turn features work quite well... I have used it all over the country and I use it at least once a week in my car. It actually gives better directions than my wife's Lexus with the built in GPS nav system.

The screen is in black and white, but it is easily readable and has a backlight feature so you can see it at night.

I bought mine originally from an online retailer called www.thegpsstore.com for 400 bucks and I had no problems with this retailer.

Their current price on this unit is $259.95

Good Luck

[BobnJeep]

Thanks for the reply. I did a check and found a "refurbished" Garmin V for under $200 shipped. It comes with the everything I need, so that's what I'm buying.
Garmin V (http://www.compuplus.com/i/GPS/GPS-Navigation/Garmin-GPS-V-Deluxe-Portable-GPS-Receiver-Refurbished-0100022603-1004637.html?sid=2373l21ck3y457y&comboid=836)

[BobnJeep]

Just got it in the mail yesterday. I loaded some cities, and then thought of some more I wanted to load, as well as a trip I mapped out. When I loaded the new stuff it erased the ones I had loaded previously. Is this normal? Now I have to get everything ready that I want loaded, and then load it all at once, and if I want to change anything I have to do it again?

I'm probably just a neophite, and I will learn eventually. BTW, if any of you have any pointers it is a Garmin V.

[Headspace]

I have 3 Garmin GPS systems. What you need to do is save your d/l maps on your PC in Mapsource and then you can append new stuff to the saved file. Each time you load into the GPS it erases everything and reloads it. No big deal as long as you create a saved maps file and append or modify it and then reload it.

[danno]

Ditto... Otherwise when you are loading the maps you will have to make sure that you have all of the cities that you want selected each time you update the unit. Mine holds all of AZ, NM, CO and UT. I think it is usually broken out by county. How much of Southern Cali were you able to get in yours?

[BobnJeep]

Ditto... Otherwise when you are loading the maps you will have to make sure that you have all of the cities that you want selected each time you update the unit. Mine holds all of AZ, NM, CO and UT. I think it is usually broken out by county. How much of Southern Cali were you able to get in yours?
Not that much. I wanted to do all of Cali, Nevada (just for trips to L.V.) and Az, but it said it couldn't handle it (not even close actually). So I loaded just the counties that it takes to get from Prescott to some friends in Phx, and then to San Bernardino and Corona. Of course, I do want to check out the ocean after I get there as well as a huge chunk of the Pacific Coast Highway as I can do in a weekend.
Also, I'm not using my computer right now. I will load it again in mine when I'm set up out there.
So to sum up;
Prescott, Phoenix, SW Az, and due West to L.A., is what I had in there, with a bit of room to spare. Now I have to do it again, but this time I will use your suggestions, Thanks!