Why Buying a GPS Makes Me Crazy

Posted by Dan Florio Dec 17, 2007

For the holidays the wife and I are getting ourselves a GPS unit. A nice splurge and a way to forestall lots of arguments on the road. You know, the ones that go..."No, I have no idea what exit is coming up. Why are those signs so small? Oh, shit...that's it, get over now!"

So to fulfill this productive goal of merrier marital harmony we need a GPS.

We have the price range nailed down ($300-500, so we can get a good one). We even have a long trip coming up to really test the new device's paces.

The problem is there are too many choices and all the features I want don't exist on the same unit.

• I want Exit POIs and AAA Roadside Assistance (Magellan).
• I want a feature that sends sound through my FW radio and has an incredibly easy user interface (Garmin).
• And I want Advance Trip Planning and Darth Vader to tell me where to go (Tom Tom).

So the consumer, me and you, have to chart out the pros and the cons and the deal breakers. In an effort to wade through the choss I published a few articles on the subject: Buying the Best GPS and Top Portable GPS Models.

But they won't really help. This stuff is just too complicated. Can't I customize my GPS? Like buying a Dell computer? Now that would be a great start-up idea for someone.

I'll be your first customer.