Dec 4, 2007
As the price of a portable GPS drops to $149 at Staples, these travel devices become a near-essential for your next driving vacation
In my recent post recounting my belated discovery of the portable GPS devices that everyone else has used for years (I'm a late-comer to most technological advances), I mentioned that many brands could be purchased for just slightly more than $200, a hefty sum. That was before the Christmas-season discounts kicked in. All over the nation, outlets of Staples are now advertising prices of $149.99 for a Navigon 2100 portable GPS and $169.99 for a wide-screen Omnitech portable GPS (that used to sell for $299). As with everything electronic, those discounted rates will henceforth be the standard price, and never again will you need to pay those more inflated numbers.
For the life of me, I can't figure out why you'd need to buy the costlier versions of these devices, obtaining such inessential features as "traffic alerts" downloaded to your screen. And it's obvious from the pictorial representation of these devices that all of them are accessing the same basic maps and traffic illustrations.
But one thing is clear: a self-drive vacation will no longer be the same, and very soon, every such motoring vacationer will find their way from place to place with the aid of these astonishing "boxes." Keep in mind that you can also used the GPS for walking around an unfamiliar city, in addition to navigating unfamiliar highways and streets.
Write and read comments about this post.
For the life of me, I can't figure out why you'd need to buy the costlier versions of these devices, obtaining such inessential features as "traffic alerts" downloaded to your screen. And it's obvious from the pictorial representation of these devices that all of them are accessing the same basic maps and traffic illustrations.
But one thing is clear: a self-drive vacation will no longer be the same, and very soon, every such motoring vacationer will find their way from place to place with the aid of these astonishing "boxes." Keep in mind that you can also used the GPS for walking around an unfamiliar city, in addition to navigating unfamiliar highways and streets.
Write and read comments about this post.
Nov 29, 2007
Some GPS devices can also be used for walking the complex streets of an unfamiliar city
In response to my recent post about GPS devices, enabling you to navigate the confusing highways of a new city, one reader wrote in to point out an extra feature of some -- not all -- GPS's.
Not only, he pointed out, is it "great on the road, but also wonderful for walking in cities. We brought it to NYC, changed the 'mode' from driving route to walking route, and had no trouble finding the sites we wanted to see easily and also fairly discreetly." Apparently, they simply whipped out the GPS on occasion to check their whereabouts and the direction of their walk.
In a number of chains offering discount opportunities, GPS devices are now selling for slightly under $200, and it was just such a low-cost device that I recently used so successfully in driving within the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, area.
Write and read comments about this post.
Not only, he pointed out, is it "great on the road, but also wonderful for walking in cities. We brought it to NYC, changed the 'mode' from driving route to walking route, and had no trouble finding the sites we wanted to see easily and also fairly discreetly." Apparently, they simply whipped out the GPS on occasion to check their whereabouts and the direction of their walk.
In a number of chains offering discount opportunities, GPS devices are now selling for slightly under $200, and it was just such a low-cost device that I recently used so successfully in driving within the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, area.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
