Tom-Tom is a navigation system for a vehicle that ties into GPS. GPS's proper are a pretty wide range of devices with different capabilities. I have a nice little hand held Garmin that my wife bought me a couple of years back. Still works too.

Thanks greywar for the info. I really know next to nothing about this right now. I do want to find out what's working for those who have it and also what to steer clear of.

Pop over to one of Mason's blogs and ask him.  He has really gotten into them, and can help you with selecting the appropriate one (I know I am going to be asking him soon as it is on my shopping list as well).

OK, it depends upon how you plan to use your GPS.

Hiking - A handheld is your best choice. Longer battery life, portability, and topo maps.

Auto - For driving you want one specifically designed for it as they contain the proper maps, voice navigation, and useful points of interest.

Tom Tom - While a very popular auto navigation unit, I personally don't like it. I don't like the map set that comes with them and consider them to be an inferior product all around. A lot of others seem to like them though.

Lowrance - A decent product if you buy one of their higher end products with the more sensitive, higher speed chips. I find them a bit slow when it comes to calculating routes.

Garmin - Product of choice and the leader in the GPS industry. I use a Nuvi 350 which has the high sensitivity receiver chip. The thing stays locked onto a signal when others loose it due to terrestrial interference such as trees and tall buildings. The thing can often hold onto a sat lock even inside a building. I really like the map set.

It's has a very fast processor and calculates routes quite quickly. It also has text to speech which is a great feature. A unit without this feature will give a voice prompt such as "In 500 feet turn left" where one with this feature will say "In 500 feet turn left on Willow Street".

It also has an MP3 player and picture viewer. Once nice thing I like is that you can tell it how you are traveling and it will plan routes accordingly. What that means is you can specify pedestrian, bicycle, auto, truck, taxi, bus (no idea why) etc. Very handy as it does change the way it chooses routes. It also has an off road function which I use when geocaching.

The thing is very compact and will fit in a shirt pocket. The screen is very easy to read. Everything except the power button is touchscreen so there aren't all the extra buttons to wear out or break.

Can you tell I like the Nuvi?

The list price on this model is around $500 but you can find them cheaper online if you shop around. I order mine from PCRush.com and got it on sale for under $400 (Don't recall exact price).

The other Nuvi models (more expensive) come with Bluetooth, wider screens (pointless really but some like them).

Hope that helps. When it comes to GPS just remember a couple of things. 1. Garmin is the leader for a reason. 2. You get what you pay for.

Oh yeah, one other thing I like about the Garmins is that you can download free software that allows you to add/edit your own custom points of interest. I use that to add truckstops, geocahces, and such.

Does it actually have bus routes programmed into it? Because that would have been extremely useful when I was in college.

I have no idea but somehow I kind of doubt it. But then again, there must be some reason that's one of the settings.

Most people who ride the buses enough know the schedules by heart by the end of the first couple weeks anyway, at least the ones that apply to them.

Thanks Mason....you're a doll!! This has been very helpful.

De nada

Ya talked me into it Mason. Just ordered the Nuvi 350 for my Wife (for her birthday which is in 10 days).

Thanks for the advice.

...and here I am still looking at which side of the tree the moss grows on and where the sun is.   

That is so last century.