Are you wondering whether you should spend your money on a car GPS system that is built right into the dashboard of your car instead of a portable device that sticks to you dashboard? Well you're in the right place to determine not only what the benefits are of purchasing a built-in unit, but also which ones are most popular on the market today.
Built-In vs. Portable
The question many people have when they consider purchasing a car GPS system is whether they should go with built-in or portable. The answer differs depending on the consumer's needs, so let's go over some pros and cons that you might want to consider when thinking about purchasing either one.
Portable is ... Portable - Many consumers love the idea that they can take their portable units out of their cars and move them to another car if necessary. This is one major selling point for the portable unit. You simply attach it to your dashboard when you're using it, and remove it when you're done. The second bonus of a device being portable is that if you want to upload mapping or navigation software, you can do it easily via its USB port.
Portable Units Don't Offer Large HD Space - One bonus you will find with built-in units that you won't see in most portable devices is the large hard drive. Some built-in units come with as much hard drive space as a PC, which means you can store a lot of information on your system. If this is important to you then you will want to look past the portable units.
Built-In Units Offer More Extras - One reason that customers enjoy built-in car GPS systems is their features - the main one being a bigger screen. While most portable units have smaller 3.5-inch screens, some built-in units can have screens as large as 7.5 inches allowing you to get a better view of the maps and text directions. In addition, many systems come with a DVD player or other entertainment features that you cannot get with the smaller portable unit.
Built-Ins Make Cars More Vulnerable - In an age where breaking into cars is as easy as breaking into your own bedroom, many consumers are leery about placing permanent systems into their vehicles because burglars can look right in and see what they want. The one plus of the system being built in is that it will be hard for them to take it out without effort, but this means you won't be able to remove it to secure your device and vehicle if necessary - a luxury you get with the portable device.
The Best Devices
There are a handful of car GPS devices that top the list as those you would want to have placed in your vehicle. Let's look at them more closely:
Pioneer AVIC-Z2 - This is a system that reviewers love because it is considered to be the ultimate in HDD navigation. It has a huge hard drive - 30 GB - which can easily rival many PCs on the market. But many more features follow this one great asset. For example, its processing speed is astounding, being able to deliver mapping and navigation information to you rapidly. Also, it offers a huge Tele Atlas that has over 12 million points of interest (POI) so that you can find a business or other public location without having to know the address. Some other features of this car GPS system include a huge music library, a large 7-inch screen, DVD playback, 3D landmark icons, point addressing, traffic flow lanes, iPod controls, Bluetooth compatibility, text-to-speech technology, and turn-by-turn voice instruction.
Panasonic Strada CN-NVD905U - Similar to the Pioneer device mentioned above, this one also offers a 7-inch screen and DVD player. In addition, it has an easy-to-understand LCD display as well as touchscreen control with audio. You can enjoy a picture as sharp as your television set so that you can not only see great map images, but also enjoy your movies, making this device one that makes being in your car as comfortable as being in your home.
When you're ready to get out and buy your built-in car GPS it is important to consider a few more things. One is that many systems are available with the purchase of a new car, so before you spend money buying a new system for your car, consider whether you could save by having one come with a new car you are thinking of purchasing. These car GPS systems are a little bit pricier than most portable units, so you have to make sure that you will get the most out of your purchase.
