Best GPS for on-road and some offroad?

[Flexin' XJ]

Tossing around the idea of getting an in-car gps for a trip Erin and I have coming up in August. I want to be able to enter multiple destinations, have it talk to me about turns and be able to waypoint if I take it off road.

I have been looking at the other threads on here about gps units and been searching for reviews online. If I have to download a hack to get it to do what I want, that is fine too. I just need to find the software.

Any ideas?

[Flexin' XJ]

Any ideas?

[Flexin' XJ]

Bueller?....Bueller?..............Bueller?

[victorymike]

I love my Garmin Zumo 550 but I bought it for my motorcycle. It came with a mount and power cable for the bike and a mount and power cable for a vehicle...which I used in my Jeep. I love it. It talks and came with the latest City Navigator software for detailed mapping. I installed an SD card in it, loaded mp3s, and routed it to my stereo system. It is also bluetooth enabled and I have it linked to my cell phone so I have hands free phone calls where I hear the call thru the automotive speakers and my sound bar (and thru my bluetooth linked headset while on my bike). It was expensive tho. I am sure that you can find a cheaper alternative like a Garmin Streetpilot or a nice handheld like the Garmin 60 or 76 series. You might want to look at the larger marine units that CC did a group buy on earlier this year.

[computeruser]

I've been content with Magellan's Crossover for on-road navigation. I haven't used it much for off-road work, but it is definitely capable of that. The preloaded topo is 90m scale, so it isn't the best; not sure when they're going to finally get the 30m US topo released...still waiting. They do have 30m topo that works on this unit for Canada and Mexico.

I have mine attached to the windshield with a RAM suction mount. The suction mount included with the GPS was not as solid as I'd prefer and seemed to want a curved windshield for best results (not my flat TJ glass) , though it is perfectly adequate for most uses.

And it's a heck of a lot less expensive than the Zumo family, too!

If you want true handheld abilities, too, the Garmin 60/76 series are excellent. No experience with the newer Magellan handhelds, but the new Garmin (Colorado? Whatever it's called) still have some bugs to get worked out.

[mudviper]

There is a thread started on this site about the Magellan cross over and another cross over GPS system. It is very detailed comparison between the two with both on road and offroad performance. The person who wrote it said that the Magellan cross over works just fine for both on road and offroad performance. You can pick them up quite cheaply at Costco from what I hear for a little over $200.

[Gorelord]

Magellan Crossover from costco here, Love it.

[Flexin' XJ]

I read the thread about the Crossover and the other one. I found this site www.gpsreview.net/forums and there is tons of helpful information about almost every GPS unit available.

The experts there seem to dislike the crossover. For both on-road and off-road they highly recommend buying two dedicated units.

They did mention the 30m topo maps for the crossover and it sounded like they were available now. Maybe I misread.

Plus the customer service for magellan seems to be non-existant. Many people have had very bad experiences with them.