The title is self-explanatory but I am in need of some advice as to what to buy. I am just about down to choosing between Tomtom and Navman and am in fact leaning towards the TomTom GO 910 but would like to read what others have found out from experience.

The TTS aspect impresses me greatly and would only buy a GPS that has it. The main use will be navigating around greater Sydney.

Besides the one built into one of our cars (the one that tells me to "make the next legal u-turn" when I go wrong...the meddling woman! ), we have a Garmin in our second car. We've been very pleased with it, especially my husband. It does latitude and longitude and has all the bells and whistles.

Wish I could tell you more about it, but he is the expert and is asleep. I'll check with him in the morning and see what he has to say about its capabilities.

We also have a Garmin, they have the best information for Southern Africa. You should check which is best for where you live and what is included in the package for the price. We have found the realy 'good offers' do not include download kits so you end up paying more at the end of the day.

Check internet sites for information, they are realy good.

Okay Roos, our Garmin does much more than I expected. It is a Garmin etrex Vista cx. Some of what it can do:

1) Gives your longitude/latitude
2) Gives your altitude
3) Establishes a track so you can find your way home (I think that's easier than dropping bread crumbs )
4) It will, of course, give you directions (via a colored line) to a pre determined destination
5) Turns itself off after a pre determined length of time
6) Gives you your speed
7) Gives distance to next way point
8) Gives estimated time of arrival
9) You can download updates
10) It has enough memory for all the U.S., as well as part of Canada.

You may not need all this stuff if you are only using it to navigate Sydney. The best part of it for me is being able to find my way home! I couldn't find my way out of a wet paper bag.....

Ain't that the truth, Dave! I keep buying a new Mapsco every year or two as well as using the Garmin. Which brings another point to light. I use the GPS as well as a map. The GPS gets me there with detail, and the map gives me a better idea of the particular part of an area to which I am travelling. I like to have a picture in my head of the area in general.

It's also interesting to compare Microsoft's Streets and Trips with the Lat. and Long. of the Garmin. Quite often Streets and Trips is off by at least a half mile! We can have the laptop on in the car and literally follow along as we go with an additional software program. Once we discover Streets and Trips is off, we put in the real Lat. and Long. on the computer, thereby being more precise as to exactly where something is. We took a touring around Finger Lakes wineries a couple years ago and found at least three out of the fifteen we visited were placed wrong on the map by Streets and Trips. I don't think that is a very good percentage.

When we go on a long trip, we map it with Streets and Trips as well as the built in GPS on our SUV. We invariably wind up using the built in GPS. A good example of using GPS is that when we depart from New York, I simply punch in "home" on the auto's GPS device and it will take us all the way home. Hooray for GPS!

We use Garmin in our truck. Besides all the goodies that have already been mentioned, we use it for finding:

a) shopping
b) hospitals
c) rest areas
d) and literally anything else we need while on the road.

We have used other GPS systems, but we have found Garmin to be the best for our needs.

Thanks people, Jar in particular. I`m now investigating Garmin now as a possibility. One of the major retailers here has a cheap GPS and I`ve heard some good things about it but staying with a brand name would certainly be better for me.

Glad to be of help roos -- just one more note. One of the reasons we selected the Garmin was because of its high rating with Consumer Reports and other recommendations from subject matter sites and magazines on the web.

awww they take all the fun out of being lost.

That doesn't bother me in the least Copago -- I still find ways to go in circles! In fact, when I go out with my friend we always make a circle on purpose if I haven't accomplished it on our drive. Our husbands just shake their heads and can't figure it out!

Yikes, you sound like my Mum! Turn her around in a room and she can't tell you where the front of the house is!

A friend and I were once off on a road trip through lots of country towns and zigged when we should have zagged and we ended up in a little town not on our route. We popped into the pub to get directions and see if there was a another way over to where we wanted to go instead of backtracking. We stayed two days.

My dad used to get my little sister to direct him home. If she'd say "go around the round-a-bout" then he'd drive around the roundabout until she told him very firmly "dad, stop being silly, you know what I mean"

Thanks once again all. I`ve decided to buy a Garmin StreetPilot c510 GPS tomorrow. It looks to me like a nice entry level unit and has all the functions that I would prefer with none that I really don`t need. I just read last months edition of the consumer magazine "Choice" (which we subscribe to) and the Garmin unit topped the list.

Yes, we went with "Consumer Report" magazine here in the US. Hope it works well for you. Let us know how you like it once you have had a chance to put it to use.
June

I tested it out today Jar and it works well! I think I`m the first to get one in our street,there`s only 6 houses, and I showed it to the neighbors and even went for a drive with one. I was impressed with the unit,as was my neighbor, and was absolutely stunned when I got to the desired destination and the voice stated which side of the street it was on! Lol ok so I`m a techno primitive at times but WOW!

Good for you Roos! The GPS that is built into our auto will re-figure the route if I make a wrong turn. If it cannot figure a new route, then a very nice woman has the audacity to tell me, "Please make the next legal u-turn." Now I have a computer telling me what to do!

Hey Roos - how goes the new GPS?

I'm sorry I didn't get to this thread sooner.

GPS units is Australia are a little on the ordinary side - while they all use different software (some of which is upgradeable, some is not) - they all use the same map information. This is handy to know when someone complains about the wrong street information in their GPS unit - yours will be the same.

They will tell you to make turns that are signposted as "No Left Turn" and "No Right Turn", and will plot a path that hasn't been feasible for some time. Gimme my UBD any day!

Hiya Ambulance, after reading your post I`m not so sure that I want this GPS in the same house as me,maybe it also kills people in their sleep!

Hehe, it has told me to turn right a couple of times at places where I can`t but then it does recalculate in less than 5 seconds when I turn at the next right and sends me back on track. So far I have no complaints ( I`m really blown away at how great it is), but I have used it only locally,tomorrow it will get a real work out and if it plays up will cop a beating! I will change the female voice to male though before I hit it.

Ecnalubma, what is a UBD? I've not heard that term before. So far my built in GPS has not asked me to make a turn on a one way street. yet. Of course that may be because she is busy telling me to make a legal u-turn!

a UBD is a brand of street atlas .. not sure what is stands for though!

It`s a street directory Jar.

Glad to know that your Garmin is working well. I know that I can't drive without mine.