One of the best innovations of late that is essentially good for something is the conveyable GPS unit. Whether you are on a long road trip or simply heading to a new location near to home you will love using a GPS to lead you along the way! Have I got a special place in my heart for TomTom or something? Yeah actually, but only because it is the only type that I have used so far.

My better half and I love going on road vacations with our kids to places that we will be able to drive to. I’m the driver and my better half is the navigator, problem is she likes to sleep while I drive. There have been occasions where she has been sleeping and I have missed a turn, and one or two where we have been confused with the directions we printed on the internet. How great it would be to have a GPS to lead us which way to go with nice giant arrows and voice instructions!

Transportable GPS have been about for a little while now and are always getting better. Like every other electronics, they are way expensive when first released, but now you can get yourself a great GPS unit for rather less than you may think.

One of the original models like the cheap TomTom One XL is still a good purchase today, and it is a 3rd of it’s retail price. The great thing about GPS is that you can easily update the maps through the TomTom internet site so that the unit truly never does become outmoded. If you are happy with the functionality of the unit and you don’t need any of the extra features of the most recent and greatest, then why pay for what you do’t need?

If you’re a heavy user of a portable GPS and can use all of the grand features that are presently available then your luck is in. TomTom right now has units such as the Go 740 Live, that might not only lead you to your destination, but you may make hands-free calls via Bluetooth, get real time traffic, gas costs, looking powered by Google via wifi, voice recognition and more!

Should I even purchase a GPS? So many cellphones have it built in, what is the point? Not everybody has a cellphone with GPS capabilities, so yeah there are plenty of us that need a real GPS unit. The great thing about buying a portable GPS is that you do not have to pay extra monthly fees like you would if you upgraded your cellphone to something with GPS built in. Think about it, $30 additional per month for net on your cellphone or an one time acquisition of one or two hundred dollars? Of course if you are looking to save far more, you could buy a cheap TomTom GPS for even less than that!

The one question that remains is what occurs when more and more folk keep getting iPhones and others such as Androids with built in GPS in the phone? No need for another portable GPS… Does this signal the end of Garmin and others? Only the passing of time will tell us for sure!

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Technology and Gadgets