Foo - In-car GPS system?

Things are looking great for my dear mother. Long story short, she's got a job in an area she isn't familiar with, and is just bad at driving anyways. We're thinking of getting her a GPS unit so she doesn't get lost, just wondering if you guys had any input.

Get the Garmin Nuvi 200. Great price, great starter GPS system. It's portable and there is no wiring. So you can take it on your bike, even! I paid $150 on sale. :)

The bike feature would be nice, but it's not for me it's for her and she doesn't ride ;-)

Oh then she can use it for hiking. (or you can borrow it! :p)

She can use it anywhere!! (there is signal)

Make sure she knows to look before she crosses railroad tracks.

Ha. You read that too? How boneheaded!!

furreals

Get the Garmin Nuvi 200. Great price, great starter GPS system. It's portable and there is no wiring. So you can take it on your bike, even! I paid $150 on sale. :)

I have had my Nuvi 350 since it first came out (2 years ago?) and I LOVE IT! I have used the Nuvi 200 and it is good but I am so spoiled with mine I cant use anything else.

I bought my mother the magellan 3100, and it works pretty good. Intuitive for a gps, and has all the basic features I'm familiar with.

The gps here is inacurate a lot saying you arrived about 100 ft before you get there and so on.

Nuvi 350 .

+1 One of best in the market

I picked up a Garmin nuvi 650 from Costco for $299 - about $150 off retail (its being discontinued). It will call out street names... it does NOT have blue tooth that the 660/670/680 nuvi's have.

Unfortunately its no longer being offered online. :( But they do offer the Garmin nuvi 200W (wide screen). Seems like the only difference is that it does not call out street names just gives out directions.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11247447&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

While it has been fairly accurate as far as streets go, it doesn't always pick the best routes, having said that, it does recalculate pretty quickly once you deviate from its preselected route.

Note: From what I understand, in CA (and another state) it is now illegal to have suction cup attached accessories on the windshield or driver side/passenger side windows. You'll neeed to mount it on your dash or on a friction mount. I have Garmin's. Its kinda big, but it still fits under the car seat or in the glove box when I leave the car.

My wife got a Garmin i5 for me at Costco about a year ago or so. It is basic, but does a very good job. It was being discontinued. It is small and hides in the glove compartment easily. You can find refurbs of this model through Amazon.com, but a Nuvi for $150 would still be a better deal.

Some GPS units come with extra features that really do not have much to do with getting you to a location. You have to decide what you want at what cost.

Garmin provides updated maps and other features (additional languages, etc.) to download from time to time.

Not only do some states not allow a GPS on certain windows, but some do not allow them on the dashboard. Beyond that, you may not want to attach the GPS to a window with the suction cup, anyway. In some places people wander parking lots looking for the ring mark left on the glass by the suction cup. Then they break into such cars because they believe they will find a GPS hidden somewhere in the car.