Need advise on getting gps and more.

lib03 · Apr 27, 2005

Greetings, I have had a Jeep wrangler(95) for the last 5 months. as of last night I traded it in for a 03 liberty limited edition. I absolutly love it.
However i still have some stuff to work on. I need to purchase a gps unit, for extended trips into the west va mountains. I was wondering if any of you had any advise for me as to what to chose. I also have to use this as a commuting vehicle since i work in the DC area. I was just wondering about stuff like a lift kit, a sound system, I like the one thats in it but would like alittle more(im 18) lol. You know a pair of subs or sumthing.
I have been looking at some of the pics you guys have been posting and they look pretty basic. My wrangler was totally custom. I have noticed a huge difference in the ride quality and im loving it. the wrangler was a vehicle that would beat you to death. It almost did about 3 weeks ago..
I have noticed that the rear suspention is much stiffer than the front.. Does anyone else have this? is it normal?
it would be awesome if i could just get some recommondations as to what to get. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Se7enLC · Apr 27, 2005

For GPS, I went with a mouse GPS mounted on the roof, connected to a PDA that I just leave sitting on the console (at some point I'll get a windshield mount). The mouse GPS are very inexpensive (mine was ~$50). PDAs are more expensive (mine was $250), but they have a lot of other uses, and you can load whatever GPS software and maps you want.

For sound system, I installed an alpine deck (the 9830) that I bought from crutchfield, along with the iPod CD Changer adapter. I haven't replaced the stock speakers, yet, but that's because they sound pretty nice for stock. The install kit from crutchfield is very nice for the KJ, I have photos of it in the link in my sig.

The difference in suspension might be because (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) the front suspension is independant, and the rear is straight.

chaz0_man0 · Apr 27, 2005

I would suggest a PDA GPS system or a Garmin GPS unit. Depending on your use.

I use my GPS unit outside alot.. geocaching, marking trails, finding property corners/boundaries exc.. So I use Garmin.. Waterproof and rugged.. Garmin antenna works well under trees and stuff.. Also I can create custom parcel maps/trail maps for the garmin.

If all you do is road trips I would get a PDA GPS or a high end Garmin StreetPilot unit. Something with turn by turn directions and address input.

It all depends on how much you want to spend...

PDA GPS ~$300-$600+...

StreetPilot ~$600-$1200+..
Garmin GPS ~$200-$500+...

ibny · Feb 17, 2006

Garmin 340 GPS Unit

I would highly recommend the Garmin 340 unit. It powers up quickly and has all maps of North America pre-loaded with over 6 million points of interest. The touch screen display is just the right size and the windshield mount s very strong. I mounted mine low on the windshield just to te right of the factory gauges. It runs for hours on battery or you can leave it plugged in all the time. I plan to remove the radio trimplate and run a powered wire to my unit from the top of the dashboard. This will allow me to easily remove it to use in another car, and also will eliminate the dangling wire to my in dash power plug. Cost new on Ebay was about $625 including shipping. Well worth it IMHO.

diesel00 · Feb 22, 2006

Sorry for the newb question, but I was thinking about getting a PDA GPS. I was wondering who I would get the GPS service through? Is there a monthly cost.

billforde · Feb 22, 2006

diesel00 said:
Sorry for the newb question, but I was thinking about getting a PDA GPS. I was wondering who I would get the GPS service through? Is there a monthly cost.

There is no monthly cost to use GPS. All you need is a GPS reciever.

Corwyyn · Feb 23, 2006

billforde said:
diesel00 said:

Sorry for the newb question, but I was thinking about getting a PDA GPS. I was wondering who I would get the GPS service through? Is there a monthly cost.

Click to expand...

There is no monthly cost to use GPS. All you need is a GPS reciever.

Yep, every time you pay your taxes you are paying your annual subscription for your GPS usage (biggrin) I've been looking at these myself. I have a Garmin GPS V and a Lowrance iFinder GO (christmas gift from a friend) but I think the PDA with an SDIO GPS and decent navigation software would be nice (unless I can convince myself to ditch the V and my Ipaq and get a Garmin GPS/PDA combo). The one I have been looking at is the Globalsat SD-502 because it has the newest receiver chipset and 512Mb onboard memory (most of the SDIO GPS receivers have no memory storage).

dnm45227 · Feb 23, 2006

I got my son a Palm Lifedrive PDA, can't comment on the GPS capabilities though (don't have a receiver for it, but they do sell them). I can say that I'm fairly immpressed with the PDA. It's has a 4 gig hard drive, 400+ mhz processor, can handle word, excell, powerpoint, itunes, has bluetooth, and wireless built in, and has an sd slot to import pictures from a digital camera, or to load software in.

Sorry didn't mean to jack the thread, but if your thinking about a pda it's worth looking into the lifedrive.

Dirtnapper · Sep 24, 2006

I use my Garmin 76csx... you can also plug this into your laptop and use nRoute...it gives you everything right on the laptop with realtime tracking etc. if you should want a larger screen.