I need a good GPS for a Car

[Chris42050]

My Dad gets lost all the time when he has to drive by himself. He was thinking about getting one of those GPS things for his car but he hasnt gotten it yet. I thought I would buy it for him for his birthday that is coming up soon. I know they cost a lot but he needs it badly. I have been looking at them and I am pretty damn confused. Here are the things I am looking for:

1. Needs to be able to transfer from one car to another easily.
2. Needs voice prompts to tell him when to make turns and stuff.
3. Needs to be very easy to use.
4. I would like to spend around $500 unless I can get a good one for cheaper.
5. This is the tough one. We live in California and he pretty much only drives here in So-Cal and to Las Vegas. I know the cheaper ones use CD's to load the maps and stuff but he is pretty technologically challenged so I would like one that either has all the maps preloaded (which costs more) or one that I can just load all of So-Cal and Vegas into it for him and then be done.

If any of you have these GPS things or just know about them can you please post which one you might think would be good for my Dad's situation. Thanks.

[magking1971]

Get the Garmin V, It comes with all the cables and software.
It will route you where you are going and It will beep and tell you what turn to take and everything.

http://www.gpsdiscount.com/products/index.html?p=648

[Aegis]

Does he have a laptop or PDA? A Garmin GPS18 works great with a laptop for around $130

[PyRo]

I thought about getting one of those once but then I realized a $13 map is cheaper than a GPS. And they don't get stolen as often.

[Chris42050]

Aegis- No he doesn't have a laptop or PDA.
Pyro- A $13 map would not work for my Dad. I print out the directions for him on mapquest and he still gets lost all the time. I need something that will guide him on the fly, even when he goes the wrong way. He has no sense of direction. He misses streets and offramps and makes wrong turns all the time and then he calls me up cause he is lost.

[Muzikman]

If all he is going to be using it for is car navigation I suggest the Garmin Street Pilot. I have not seen the new c320 and c330 in person, but have used previous StreetPilot models and they are very nice.

[Chris42050]

Okay Thanks guys. I have seen 2 major companies for GPS, Magellan & Garmin. 3 of you suggested Garmin and none of you have even mentioned magellan so I will assume Garmin is better. Thanks for the Help.

[Muzikman]

It's like comparing Cocker and Mags They are both good systems, I have just always used Garmin so it's what I know and like. The Magellan users will say the same about their stuff.

That being said...I would get the Garmin

[guysdaman]

i've been looking at the TomTom Go...small, easily transferable from one car to another, color touch screen, easy menus, and it has gotten great reviews. I think they retail for around $500-$600. Check it out.

[Chris42050]

i've been looking at the TomTom Go...small, easily transferable from one car to another, color touch screen, easy menus, and it has gotten great reviews. I think they retail for around $500-$600. Check it out.

Okay thanks, I will check it out. That's pretty funny too. My Dad's name is Tom.

[Chris42050]

One thing that would really help me out is if someone knows how loading the maps works. Basically I need to know if its possible to load all of So-Cal & some of Nevada (Las Vegas) on the ones that require you to download the maps into the gps. If I was able to load all of that at once he would probably never need to download a new map again. Does anyone know if you can download maps of a whole area (like 2 states) at once?

[PyRo]

Probably depends on the one you buy. I would imagine as you spend more you get more storage space untill you get to the ones that have maps of all of U.S. and Canada.

[Muzikman]

I know the StreetPilot uses data cards and you can fit most of the country on one of the larger data cards. So two states would be no problem.

[evo.end3R]

Eclipse "E-COM" and any indassh screen...

[Chris42050]

Probably depends on the one you buy. I would imagine as you spend more you get more storage space untill you get to the ones that have maps of all of U.S. and Canada.

Thats what I figured. I guess what I am trying to ask is: does anyone know how much memory (roughly) the GPS would require to load 2 states?