No. I can't justify the cost.

Being a gadget freak, you would think I would own one, but the truth is I rarely drive more than 20 miles from home.

Seems like everyone I see with a GPS in the windshield is going 20mph under the speed limit, straddling lanes, and slamming on the brakes to make a right turn from the far left lane.
And after having everything of value jacked from my car on Sunday night, I'm glad I didn't have one.

Cost is prohibitive. However I found a sweet deal on the net at Circuit City for a Garmin c340. A lot of the time a GPS is not necessary, but handy, and sometimes saves my ass when traveling to unknown little backwater bergs for work.

@WorkingOnYourInvoice:
I hate that after-rape, 'violated' feeling that follows having ones car broken into. Thats why my car has no stereo in it, just a big gaping hole where one used to be. I bought the car sans-stereo and I dont miss it a bit (im one of those assholes who rocks headphones while driving.)

Both of my cars have factory navigation and you will never catch me 20mph below the speed limit.
It seems like something you don't need until you have it. I will not go without it again.

I sometime carry a handheld one around with me. Nobody told me I had to spend another $150 to get maps that didn't suck, so it's not terribly useful when it's not hooked up to Google Earth.

dont have it.. i always get confused even if its color coded or something.. i'd rather do the old fashioned way; ask some cute guys bout directions *giggles*

@nutbastard: I still remember the exact sequence of events from monday morning:
walk out to parking lot, walk along side of car. shit, glass on the ground (eyes move up side of car to rear window) shit my window's busted out. walk to back of car, look forward, shit the driver seat is leaned forward. shit the head unit's gone. open trunk, shit the sub's gone. open glove box, shit, the ipod's gone. open center console, shit, my oakleys are gone.
bastard even grabbed the 32 piece ratchet set under the seat and my iphone dash mount.

Though early generation GPS units were designed to get you from point A to point B, every manufacturer has jumped on the bandwagon of trying to give you everything but the kitchen sink on latest models. I'm a sucker for gadgets and got one that among other things include an MP3 player, hands free phone connection, video player and photo browser. Within a day I realized only the GPS functionality was usable and everything else was just horrible and wasn't practical. I think the most practical and useful GPS unit would be the one that gives you the most accurate directions, text-to-speech functionality and real time traffic updates all delivered in a reasonably priced package with no monthly charges. I'm still waiting for one so I can upgrade mine.

and to be a little more on topic, I do use the my location feature on my iphone when I need to. it works perfectly for directions.

I got my parents a Mio C310x last year. Great little device... Seems to get lost in New Jersey (but new jersey is impossible to navigate if you don't live there).

What, no option for us Telenav users? $5/mo on a Boost phone is the bee-knees...

@WorkingOnYourInvoice:

yeah im realy paranoid because my laptop is in my car unless im sleeping usually. not a big deal where i live (middle of nowhere, and good luck getting down the driveway without lighting up the whole house, not to mention the noisy ass gate and the fact that it's impossible to get out if you come down nose first) but sometimes if im eating dinner in a nice restaurant i worry about my car getting broken into. I keep it in a chintsy looking backpack for camoflauge - same with the lack of stereo, and all the trash on the floor of an otherwise nice clean looking car (white civic ex coupe) The trick is to make it look like theres just junk in there. so no usb cables are ever evident, camera always in glove box, car chargers etc. i all hide.

@nutbastard: Yeah I made it my personal mission to keep absolutely nothing of value in my car when I moved into an apartment complex. Looks like I'll need to try harder next time.
Time for a very quiet drive home...

I held off until we planned on driving down to Virginia on a three day weekend last week to the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center.
Perfect excuse to at least try one out, right?

I picked up a little Mio 230, which is about the cheapest one with "text to speech". (tells you the street name)
It worked flawlessly for the trip.
While it's a great little unit for basic A-B trips, I also found with a little research that it's also quite hackable!

I ended up keeping it because of what a capable little media player it's turned out to be!
Many of these little GPS devices are Windows CE machines under the GPS software, and in many cases can be opened up with some very cool results!
My little Mio has a 400Mhz CPU and is running Windows CE Core 5.0.
It also supports class 2, 4, and 6 SD and SDHC cards.
(I have an 8GB card on the way.)
The great TCMP is the media player installed as part of this (with YouTube support installed), which I'm well familiar with from my days as a Palm OS enthusiast.

[Of course it's possible to brick your GPS doing this improperly and most certainly voids your warranty, however I've found my experience to be most rewarding!]

I'm now running a formerly GPS-only machine that has an almost iTouch-like menu and additional functions that I'm still learning about while playing video better than handhelds I've owned that were designed for it.

Crazy shit!

So yes.
Yes I do have one if you're skipping ahead. :D

@strider_mt2k:
Longest. Post. Ever.

@strider_mt2k:
I always just assumed you had carpal tunnel or arthritus or something.

I just bought the TOMTOM GO 720, and love it! I am moving to LA in 2 weeks so I needed to buy one. The streets down there are crazy. I went down last weekend looking for places to live and I wasnt about to start printing out google maps of place to place to go see, but it was super easy with the TT!!

Never driving without one ever again.

Carputer!!!

I got one last year (well about a year and 2 months now) when I stared to travel to Denver for work, came in very handy

Hee!

TomTom 910 - FANTASTIC unit - so good that I even use it around my home and have discovered all sorts of new and exciting routes through the countryside.

@ecobore: I hope to have a home that big one day. ;)

After heavy reckoning the last few years, I am patiently awaiting iriver's foray into this market! :)

@girraffesack: Same here. Once I got a factory Nav system, I found that I could never again have a car without it. I just wish the Mini people could have made it a round screen in the center of the dash rather than the rectangle...

My friend's new top-o-the-line GPS navigator just took us on a 5-mile excursion to a sports bar that turned out to be just a couple hundred yards from where we started.

No, I care about my privacy.

I use the Nokia Maps app on my N95. Before that I just used paper maps.

And the theft thing is a joke over here in the UK. The police even warn about rubbing off the ring left on the window from the suction mount as that will have someone break in to look for a sat nav (it's too much apparently to actually catch the thieves over here, we just let them carry on so they can improve their skills).

No, I have GPS on my phone now ;)

I had a brick, but some punk put a gps through my window and took it.

@WorkingOnYourInvoice: all that and no alarm or tinted windows? =/

@analyticalmind84:your name suits you well. I got complacent. I lived in the grimiest ghetto in Houston for almost 4 years, and was religious about not leaving anything valuable in the car. I got careless when I moved.
Plus, since when does having tinted windows and an alarm make you immune to being burglarized?

I have a Tomtom Go720 in my car. One of the best gadgets I've ever bought. I feel much more zen when driving since I have it.
I never leave it in the car, but I leave the succion cup on the windshield. Anyway, apart from some druggies, nobody's going to smash a car to stel what's inside unless it's in plain sight. Montreal thieves steal the cars themselves.

Garmin Nuvi 350. It's nice, but can sometimes be off. I'm not as impressed with it as I was with the Garmin / Palm GPS that I had.
I think I may go with a Tom Tom (what the GF has) next time I upgrade.

As for theft... I keep it locked. The unlock place is neither at home or the job (the most likely places it would come up missing). So if they steal it, then I get to upgrade early and they get what equals a brick since they won't be able to use it.

It comes in really handy if I need to find a business nearby. It's not only my GPS but also a portable yellow pages.

not yet.

carPC is going in during the summer.

I don't have a car, you insensitive clod!

No seriously, I am a human compass. I get asked directions to somewhere about once a week. But just in case I don't know where I am going there is a Thomas Guide in every car (paper navigation, FTW!).

I have a navigon i bought on amazon being clearanced off for $100. It's small enough to use on a bike, works as well as any tomtom / garmin i've used, and i've hacked it (it's CE based) with some sweet waypoint software for mountain biking purposes (areas without maps).

The freedom to just go anywhere without looking up directions is worth it. Getting speed / trip/ altitude / whatever stats (and avoiding getting lost) on my bike is awesome as well.

My PocketPC

@qbix
What the hell do you mean? GPS just receives signals, it does not transmit (unless it's in a cellphone)

How about offering a simple choice of just "No."

I don't have a GPS, but it's not for the reasons you give me to choose from.
I am not over confident in my personal navigation skills, I am not afraid of anything that I can't fold up and shove in my pocket, and my car hasn't been broken into.
I just haven't felt the need to buy one yet, since I don't travel outside of the area I'm familiar with very often.(Maybe once each year.) When I have I've been able to make due with printed directions from mapquest.com.
Since last July the Google map app on my iPhone has also decreased my need to buy a seperate GPS. And that just got a little better with the latest firmware update.

And offering a vote option for having the GPS in your phone (and in the car)? There are 10 million users out there with GPS-phones already...

I use a GPS only in situations where I am unfamiliar with the roads on which I will be travelling. I currently have a Garmin 60CSx which I use mainly for off-road trail mapping (mountain biking) via an external antenna mounted to my camelbak strap.

The inability to properly use this thing on my mac, along with ANY proper GPS support (except for the VERY expensive, and awful for it's price RouteBuddy) infuriates me.

Telenav on my WinMo

I have a portable GPS that I use in my work van to locate streets for deliveries, I do not know how I worked with out it. It may not be always perfect, but it does better finding places than I.

I ordered the new Dash GPS at CES. With traffic being what it is where I live, I look forward to the multiple route suggestions it gives based on traffic.

I prefer to drive around lost like I have a lot of free time.

Bought an LG last summer and have been very happy with it. Given that I can't find my way out of a paper bag, it's been an invaluable addition to my car- even when just driving around town!

No one else opening up their machines?

Pedestrians.
;)

garmin nuvi 660 and loving it.

Factory installed nav in my '06 Volvo S80 - didn't absolutely need one, but when I saw how it was implemented in the car, I had to have it - the screen silently rises up from the center dashboard, so it was too James Bond to say "Dr. No" to. : )
[tinyurl.com]

I usually have a good sense of direction, and also have a GPS for those times when I'm driving someplace complicated. I've got a Magellan 3250 and love it. Voice is clear, mileage & turns very accurate. Haven't used the POIs much, but have seen them pop up on my screen and noted how handy it is to have gas stations and banks pop up, among others.

Important note: I have a GPS receiver in my car, but NOT a navigation unit. My GPS (eTrex) just tracks me in free space. Pretty useless in a car.