GPS navigators

A growing market offers more bargains and models with traffic info

Whether you want help navigating cross-country or across town at rush hour, it’s a great time to buy a portable GPS navigator. As new models are introduced, buyers are able to get more features at lower prices, including real-time traffic information.

Our top-rated model, the Garmin Nuvi 880, provides intuitive controls, good guidance, and an array of features. Its effective voice-recognition system lets you enter an address, choose a “point of interest” (gas station, ATM, restaurant, hotel, hospital), or change a setting simply by speaking a command. You can operate the device without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road, which aids driving safety. We bought the Nuvi 880 a few months ago for $1,000, but it’s now available for $800 or even less at some outlets.

If you want a good, basic navigator and don’t need a lot of extras, consider one of our CR Best Buys, such as the Garmin Nuvi 200, $150; 200W, $200; 255, $230; and 255W, $280; or TomTom One 130, $170.

Help in unfamiliar areas

Any GPS navigator will track your car’s location on an onscreen map, plot routes to a desired destination, and provide spoken and visual turn-by-turn directions. You can enter a specific address or ask it to find a point of interest. Better systems provide spoken street names rather than the more general “right turn ahead” or similar direction.

In our testing, we’ve found that GPS navigators will typically get you where you want to go, but not always by the most efficient route. And all have minor errors in their databases. They are most handy when you’re in an unfamiliar area, but they don’t substitute for local knowledge.

The highest-rated models make it especially easy to enter destinations, give the most helpful directions, and reroute faster if you miss a turn. But inputting information or surfing menus while driving can be a dangerous distraction.

Traffic watch

Real-time traffic information is becoming more widely available, especially in metro areas, and can make portable GPS navigators more valuable, even when you’re in familiar places. They can alert you to traffic congestion, accidents, and construction, and reroute around them. Traffic flow on some major highways is displayed with color-coded lines. That can be handy, but the quality of the information varies from city to city, and we’ve found it to be limited, inconsistent, and inaccurate at times.

Not all models provide traffic information. Of those that do, some are traffic-capable out of the box, while others require that you buy an optional receiver costing up to $200. Typically, you also have to pay a subscription fee of about $60 annually to get traffic info.

The Dash Express uses an innovative system: The units send vehicle-speed data to a central processing center, which then sends it out to other Dash units. In that way, Dash owners are communicating traffic-flow information to one another, in addition to getting traditional traffic info. But the annual fee is $120, and with relatively few Dash units on the road in some areas, you are likely to see a wide range of results from that system.

Garmin and Navigon recently announced that new models going on sale this fall will provide free traffic information. Instead of your paying a subscription fee, the Garmin units will display advertising when the car isn’t moving. We’ll be testing and reporting on those models as soon as they are available. Check the cars area for details.

With those and other introductions, we expect discounts on outgoing units. So you’ll most likely be able to find good deals on many of the models in our Ratings (available to subscribers). We recommend you first look for models that score well in basic navigation functions, then consider what, if any, extra features you want.