Compare GPS Systems - With An Expert Eye!
How To Compare GPS Systems (And Why The Most Expensive Ones Usually Suck!)
You've sorted out a budget, you're ready to do the compare GPS systems bit of the buying process (or not) and you can hardly wait!
Every driver know the GPS promise; having one of these gizmos "sitting" next to you in your car guarantees you'll never again get hopelessly lost or find yourself having to pull over and ask for directions, ever!
But even at the supposedly cheaper end of the market GPS systems aren't cheap. With a fairly large amount of cash about to be vacuumed off their credit cards two kinds of buyers emerge.
A few (smart) buyers will stop and take stock, read some GPS reviews and perhaps compare GPS systems before taking the plunge.
Others however aren't quite so diligent. For them, making GPS comparisons is a bit of a chore and the blurb on the box might as well be written in Mandarin.
Fortunately there's a short cut which involves kicking patience out the window, replacing it with a "let's get on with it" approach followed by a tight shutting of the eyes and holding of the nose just before diving in and hoping for the best.
In a day or two thoroughly confused, they're on the phone or back in the shop looking for answers to question they should have been asking the first time 'round had they done bit of homework!
It's about this time by the way that one particularly irritating problem - which can't be pinned on the ill informed novice – rears its head; a misbehaving unit that refuses to suck up for its buyer.
Usually it's one of the cheaper models - but not always.
To produce a budget satnav at an attractive price, makers have to cut costs somewhere and it seems a cheap suction cup design often results from the process.
Unfortunately the unlucky buyers only find that out when they stick the thing to the windshield for the first time and sets off.
At some point during the journey windshield and GPS suddenly part company.
Either it continues dishing out orders from the comfort of its buyer's lap or it attempts to do so from the dark recesses of her foot-well.
Build quality, that's what we're really talking about here.
While poor quality suction cups are an after purchase event, the point being made is that you generally – yes you guessed it - get what you pay for.
But build quality is just one of a number of factors novice buyers should bear in mind when they compare GPS systems in terms of price, features and specifications.
Despite what the hyped blurb on the box may imply some features listed as somehow special are nothing of the sort, being basic to every GPS on the market.
Others features however are not always standard and are both real and desirable as genuine extras.
Two examples of such for instance are weather and traffic alert options that allows your unit to take your car around a problem long before you ever get there.
Or how about community mapping, an idea which cleverly attempts to address the ongoing issue of outdated maps that can lead inattentive drivers up somebody's garden path!
Want to learn more about to look for when you compare GPS systems? Our quickie 20 page tell all beginners guide is available for free.
Just click here => FREE GPS Systems Beginners Guide