Two good ones are the Garmin Nuvi, and the Tom Tom XL. GO to Geeks.com, they have both units with 4.3” screens for less than $100.
His point was don't bother buying a built-in unit. They are expensive and difficult if not impossible to upgrade (maps, software, etc.) and even if possible it would be expensive. He used the analogy of a built-in telephone from yesteryear: quaint but pointless.
There are a whole variety of portables on the market. My wife has a Nuvi. Intuitive, straightforward and accurate.
if you have at&t, any of their higher end phones and $10/month for at&t nav gives you their nav system right thru your phone.
turn by turn, alt route, voice directions, traffic conditions, etc.
My Garmin was stolen when from my car whenit was parked. I was quite satisfied with it. But I got a Garmin nuvi which was better. I paid 99 dollars for it because it was refurbished and saved. I bought it at Microcenter if you have that store near you I would shop there and get a refurbished one.
I assume you mean an automobile. I deal with aircraft and system certifications for airplanes, which is quite a bit different than ground-level GPS.
Lurking for the same advice...
Seems like I saw some very good deals on “recertified” units over at New Egg yesterday. But if you must have a new one I tend to the Garmin units although the Tom Tom models come highly recommended. I purchased a Nuvi 255W (4.3”) last year and it works quite well. Pretty neat as it gives voice instructions of where to turn and “recalibrates” if you make a wrong turn. If you don’t know where to go or don’t like to read maps they are well worth having. Can save a lot of grief. Amazon is another good source as it will have free shipping and no taxes. Also Office Depot has a couple of good deals right now and they are probably right down the street from where you live. I doubt if you will get a bad one, regardless.
My brother has a Nuvi, and you just suction-cup it to your windshield and plug it into the appropriate place on the dash... it’s pretty simple, was relatively inexpensive, and works well.
I have a Garmin Nuvi 255W and like it, but the lower end Nuvis do not provide a way to create routes on your pc and upload them to the GPS.