Basic GPS Nav Recommendations?

I recommend the TomTom ONE. I got a chance to use one the other day. They are really cool and very small like the roadmate. I was able to connect my cell phone to it and get real time traffic reports.

It seemed to do really well turn by turn (DC area) and actually got me better directions on how to get to restaurant we were going to. I was really pleased.

They have a TomTom home program you can put on your computer to assist you with the downloading of updated maps as well. It was pretty cool.

It definitely does. One cool or funny thing is using the program british voices and hearing them butcher american street names. One street that I was on it had idea how to pronounce so it ended up just jumbling up the letters in the middle of it.

But yeah it does announce the names of the road, which is one of the features I was very happy about. I'm really anxious to get a chance to use the realtime traffic updating to try to navigate through the treacherous dc rush hour traffic.

Edit: I was thinking about the 910 when I wrote this. It tells you when to turn and uses terms delineate between highway and regular road, but it does not announce the names of roads.

The Magellan Maestro 4040 is the best value out there for the money: Bluetooth built in, wide-screen, most of the Points of Interest you'll ever need.

If you're considering the Roadmate and want something basic, look at the Magellan Maestro 3100 or 3140 (with Bluetooth).

I just picked up a 3100 today and it is a very easy-to-use unit and seems pretty nice (although this is my first GPS unit). As others have said about that model though, the POI database is pretty lacking. I'm going to check out the PC software in a little bit to see what that has to offer, and how the SD card integration fits in.

The traffic updating would be done through your phone so it doesn't necessarily cost anything depending on the kind of plan you have and what service you have. I still haven't gotten a chance to test it out (so busy with work), I'm hoping I can get it to work with T-Mobile.

Have you made a choice yet as to what you were going to get?

Good choice! You might to consider getting one anyway, for the ability to switch it between cars and basically carry it with you wherever you go.