Sears is having 75% off on Sony GPS nav-u™. Is this any good?

[Sojourner]

I don't own a GPS system on dash board yet, other than my Verizon cell GPS.

Anyone know anything about this product? Is it user friendly? Does it cover USA?

Sears having a after Christmas sale...75% off till 27th for 79.99 (199.99)

A tour about the The Sony nav-u™ portable satellite navigation system

Thank you, Gerald

[Lin]

Gerald,

I am not one of the experts on GPS, but it looks to be good for the price.  It seems that the retail is about $199.  I too use GPS through my cell phone.  Although it is very useful, it is less than ideal due to screen size and the odd coincidence of getting phone calls at the most critical times.  Here are a couple of reviews.

http://pebuzz.com/review/788.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/sony-nv-u44-black/4505-3430_7-33240915-2.html?tag=txt;page

[Songman]

This Sony is a nice unit. The 'dual screen' function that gives you a second closer up view of any major turns is very nice. Don Fairchild got the wide screen version of this and it is fantastic. Obviously the wide screen version is more user friendly than this one but the price of this one is not bad. Although I think Don got his wide screen one for less at Costco a few months back. Unfortunately Costco always changes their merchandise and they don't carry Sonys right now.

[bcaddel]

We are also looking for a good GPS system. We currently use Street Atlas USA 2007 on the laptop. I would prefer to have a unit that I can use while driving. The wife doesn't do well with computers or navagation (she is a great driver though). When I am driving I can't see the laptop screen so I have to do without the benefits of the GPS.

I have a couple of questions about this GPS systems

How large of a screen should I look for? Is the 3.5 screen on this unit large enough?

Do the suction cups actually work in holding the GPS unit on the window?

We really enjoy the features of the one we use now but being its a couple years old, and not being able to use it from the drivers seat this unit might be a good selection. I don't see how you can go wrong with the price. It says they don't have any available here in Reno, but I think I can order it and get it within a couple of weeks if I order it online.

[jjrbus]

While out window shopping I have noticed they are selling small laptops.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3839832&sku=H24-KX869

I am not recommending this unit, only useing it as an example!!

Why not use this type of laptop with a program such as streets and trips, Road Atlas etc. and gps antenna?

[jackhartjr]

Most of the truck drivers at our company use the small screens, (3.5") and have no problem with them.

Most of the suction cup mounts work very well!

The best feture is the ability to tell folks when the estimated time of arival is.

(Not to mention finding places to eat, fuel, camp, etc.
Jack

[coachconverter]

I researched those same units a few weeks ago when Costco had them for $99, the reviews were not very good on them and there seemed to be a lot of places dropping the prices on them.

I'm a diehard Sony for life customer, so I was hoping it would have good reviews.... but then again, you know what opinions are like?

Todd

[Songman]

The Sony mount is better than the one on the GPS system I have. The problem with mine is not the cup but in the stalk that it is mounted to. The stalk was glued to the part that holds the cup and it gets so hot in Bakersfield that the glue melted and it came apart!

My GPS is a 3.5" screen like this one and is very adequate. I was just saying that the wide screen works better, especially with the split screen feature.

If there was one selling point that I would have to mention where the Sony is better than mine, and something that I will definitely look for in any new GPS I buy - actually saying street names. On my GPS, it says "take second left in 200 yards", while Don's Sony says "take second left on Hudson Street in 200 yards". That is a major capability to me!

I also have a USB GPS receiver that I can use with my laptop and Streets & Trips. It does have some advantages over the small GPS but overall I would prefer the small one just for convenience.

[Busted Knuckle]

As I have said in the past I bought the BIG garmin 7200 and I love it! We now have 2 of them and one C330 (all garmin). But for Xmas I went and bought dad a "TeleType WorldNav 7100 7-inch GPS" from a suggestion on another GPS thread here on the board! It's cool looking, very light weight, and really thin. Just the way it is made I am more impressed with it over the Garmin 7200's we have. But the truth is yet to come, still waiting for dad to go somewhere and take it so we can see how it performs! We now have one for each bus, so depending on how well we like this one we may get all the buses one of theses and put the others Garmins in mom's van, and mine & dad's pick up trucks. FWIW

  BK 

By the way Robert (one of our drivers had a garmin C330 and traded up to the NUVI, he gave his daughter the old one and say's he loves the NUVI

[Nusa]

Somethings wrong with the math there. 75% off of $200 should be $50, not $80. I betcha it's really an "up to 75% off sale", with the "up to" stuff in small print at the bottom of the page. Typical advertisers trick.