Thursday, September 03, 2009

Uncover The Best Selling Automotive GPS Manufacturers And Features

By Michael Torc

This article will discuss the vendors of automotive GPS and what features you need to be on the look out for before you make a purchase. By the end of this article, you will have the required knowledge and confidence to find the device that best suits your driving life style.

Now a few sentences about the top three US companies.

1) Garmin has the deepest and broadest product line. Their Nuvi series is attractive for many buyers. Those devices have a lot of features packed into a sleek design that easily fits into your pocket.

2) The next biggest competitor in the US is Tom Tom thanks to their aggressive pricing campaigns. Their GO 920T was recently listed by Consumer Reports as one of the best devices to buy. Its current price is just over the $400 mark.

3) Magellan is one of the first companies to enter the automotive GPS market. Their Maestro line is the most attractive for similar reasons to the Nuvi line. Magellan uses the tour guides of AAA inside their GPS's which is another great selling feature.

These three vendors of auto GPS units control almost 90% of the United states market to the point that anyone that has done research will see little reason to buy anything else.

The number of features you should be considering are several.

All auto GPS units have touch screens, pre-loaded maps with at least the lower 48 States and a database of pre-configured destinations, also called Points of Interest (POI's).

Some of the more advanced but optional features are:

1) Wide, full color, glare-free screen that is at least 4.3-inches when measured across the diagonal. 2) Speech recognition. 3) Pronunciation of street names instead of "Turn Left Here!".. 4) Redundant point routing or the ability to enter more than one destination for the same trip. 5) Ability to use GPS hands-free through Bluetooth support. 6) Instant traffic and weather alerts.

Extended maps, street name pronunciation, real-time weather and traffic alerts (needs subscription) amount to an extra $200. Garmin Nuvi does these very well. The wider display and Bluetooth can step up the price above the $400 mark. Multiple point routing can add another $50 or $100.

Many other features are offered besides these ones, like digital camera, or photo album... For simplicity, I have excluded these less important add-ons. The competition under the $400 mark is fierce in the automotive GPS marketplace. Above that price mark, the marketplace is dominated by Garmin. I recommend you look at Garmin's 700 and 800 product lines, if you are willing to spend more.

To a first-time buyer, the automotive GPS marketplace seems overwhelming. It is natural to not consider several things. But by reading an article like this will help you wrap your mind around the market for auto GPS units somewhat better. - 2368

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home