Garmin: nuvi vs. StreetPilot

[garrett]

my parents' 30th anniversiary is soon, and my mom is thinking about getting my dad a GPS. he really likes both the 60CSx and nuvi 360. However, i really think he will get the most use of a GPS while driving, which would make a nuvi or streetpilot a better choice.

my dad does like the fact that the nuvi is slim and is more practical to carry around than a streetpilot.

does anyone know any major advantages/disadvantages specific to the nuvi 360 and StreetPilot c550? (Disregard any price differences)

TIA

[xonetruthcrewx]

The nuvi is much smaller and has internal batteries, so it can run for a while without a cord. It also has a built in speaker. It also comes with a windshield mount. My fried has one, i was checking it out.

I have a streetpilot2720. I like it. It does have to be plugged in always though and the speaker is built into the cord. Kinda weird. A bit bigger than the nuvi. Dosent come with a windshield mount either. I had to buy that seperate. The only thing that the streetpilot has on the nuvi is that it has the option to add the live traffic crap. whatever. i had never seen the streetpilot in real life. i ordered it from amazon. it had great reviews. if i had to do it again, i would probably go with the nuvi. hope this helps.

[xonetruthcrewx]

Errrr. my street pilot is totally different than the one your looking at. go to garmin.com if you already havent. the specs are very thorough. good luck with your choice.

[amgraham]

My dad got a TomTom 910 and we burnt it up within 3 weeks (it was cumbersome to operate anyway). He replaced it with the Streetpilot c550 and I just used it on a trip over the weekend and it worked great. It was really user friendly, had great signal, and just worked well overall. It's not all that big but certainly not pocket size. I have not used the Nuvi but I did like how compact that one was too but it really wasn't worth the extra $100+ for what we do.

[MTL_4runner]

My dad got a TomTom 910 and we burnt it up within 3 weeks (it was cumbersome to operate anyway). He replaced it with the Streetpilot c550 and I just used it on a trip over the weekend and it worked great. It was really user friendly, had great signal, and just worked well overall. It's not all that big but certainly not pocket size. I have not used the Nuvi but I did like how compact that one was too but it really wasn't worth the extra $100+ for what we do.

Good to know because I was looking at maybe getting a TomTom 910. My sister got a TomTom 500 and she really liked it, but I only used it a bit so I can't really comment much besides that I found alot of the maps needed to be updated in a major way (I don't think that issue was unique to the TomTom units though).

Is there a place/link that has all of these reviewed online side-by-side?
It would be nice to have a feature comparison and shootout among the in car GPS systems.

[MTL_4runner]

I was looking at GPS systems this weekend and I was looking at exactly the same 2 units (Nuvi 360 and the c550). I really like the form factor of the Nuvi 360 (it will fit in a pocket quite easily) and seeing as GPS units are the hottest item for thieves right now, that would definately come in handy. I really liked the Nuvi 250 form factor the most but the features on the 360 were far better (POI info, street announcements, travel aids, hands free phone, etc) for the money spent. The c550 does have real time traffic updates but from what I read they aren't always accurate and I really don't commute much so that feature doesn't interest me at all. The only thing holding me back on the Nuvi 360 was that I spoke with one of the garmin reps and they told me that the Nuvi 300 series would be getting a facelift for 2008 so I should hold off as prices for the older 350/360/370 would continue to drop. If it weren't for that I would have bought one on the spot.

BTW Circuit City has the c550 on sale for $450 right now on their website and the 360 is going for $500.

[MTL_4runner]

Is there a place/link that has all of these reviewed online side-by-side?
It would be nice to have a feature comparison and shootout among the in car GPS systems.

I also found the answer to my own question....

Here's a really good site for GPS comparison (Nuvi 200 series vs 300 series):
http://www.gpslodge.com/archives/010541.php

Here's another comparison (Nuvi 300 series vs 600 series):
http://www.gpslodge.com/archives/007744.php