GPS? GPS Phone? What do I want?

[magenta321]

I'm aggrevated on the highway quite often. I don't get off the highway often because all I know are main back roads. The ones that the other half of the world is on whenever the highway is plugged. I know back back roads in my own town, but, not in the towns I drive through on my way to work. And yes, I have over the four years I've worked there, tried to learn some other ways. I have zero recall when the next opportunity presents itself, because that's how I am with directions.

That, plus the fact that I don't like the idea of travelling by car in strange areas without a GPS, and the fact that I've spent a hundred dollars to rent one for a couple days, in the past, makes me think I need one.

Now... my contract with Verizon is almost up. In August I could get a new phone. The new RAZR supposedly has navigation. No one I know has the new Razr cause they all got them a year ago. No one (other than verizon reps) has been able to tell me how good the navigation was. No reviews on Epinions, either.

There is a service charge of $2.99 per use (ouch!) or $9.99 a month for the navigation, if I go that route. I hate the thought of that, because I already have a $50 cell phone bill per month.

But, I'll get the phone for free.

The other route is to buy a real car GPS. I don't want a hard wired one, because I want to take it with me, no matter whose car I am in. I don't like the suction cup ones because I have had too many people I know get their GPS stolen. They leave the suction cup part on the window, put the gps in the glove compartment, and poof... their windows are smashed cause thieves really aren't that stupid. Since I'd take it on/off every time I use it I'd not want a suction. I broke the suction cup on the one I rented within 2 days. I was being gentle... I knew I'd have to pay if I broke anything

Beyond that... what am I really looking for?

I really want the one that knows when there is traffic. But, I doubt it would work here. Should I get something cheap to tide me over til the traffic ones are better in rural areas? Just go with the phone and only turn it on in months where I'll need the gps?

This is the one I'm considering, based, mostly on price, but a little on the fact that I can get a bean bag for it Garmin StreetPilot i3 In-car Portable Street Navigator

Any ideas? I'm not too worried about what the card can hold, because I have larger cards.

[Stokes Pennwalt]

That Garmin unit is pretty good. The only thing I'd consider is a bigger flashcard for it. 128mb is a little small, but if you upgraded it to 1GB ($45) you could hold all the roads in your area. Otherwise you end up having to load stuff from the DVD before each trip, which is a pain.

XM Navtraffic isn't worth the money IMO. I'm not sure how much they've expanded coverage in the past year, but I tried it a year ago and was unimpressed. It really only helped me when I had to take a main artery in or out of the city where they had coverage. Since I don't usually do that, I barely used it in a covered area and canceled the service, which was $3/month on top of the $10/month XM radio fee (Navtraffic data piggybacks on the XM radio downlink signal).

In any case I would steer clear of using the cell phone for navi. The fact that they charge $10 a month to use GPS, an otherwise "free" service that all of us pay for already anyway (federal taxes) makes me think you'd be better off with an inexpensive, dedicated GPS receiver. It will do a better job and for less money, at least in the long run.