Smart Tech Buy

On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

3 Garmin GPS!

Garmin Nuvi 650 - For my car
Garmin Zumo 450 - For my motorcycle
Garmin Streetpilot c330 - For everywhere else

2 Dell Computers,

And a 65 inch Sharp Aquos LCD!

Everyones’ and our favorite warehouse, Costco.com is offering the Garmin Nuvi 650 (upgraded version of previous Pick of the Day, Garmin Nuvi 350) at a good deal!  Until December 10, you can buy this GPS at $299.99 plus shipping and tax.  Don’t forget Costco has an unbeatable return policy, even for online purchases, which just makes this deal a lot sweeter.

Costco.com Link

 Not a Costco member?  Browse over 35 merchants for the Garmin Nuvi 650 with prices starting at $353.
*Don’t forget that many of these merchants have online coupon codes, which can easily drop the purchase price even more.

To read why the Garmin Nuvi 350 was the Pick of the Day, click here.

The Garmin Streetpilot c330 is one of the most affordable GPS units out there, but don’t like the price fool you.  For those of you that are looking for an accurate GPS system, you can’t go wrong with Garmin.  Don’t expect a lot of extras with this unit as they have been stripped away to make the price more attractive.  Ironically, the Garmin Streetpilot c330 looks very similar to the TomTom Go unit that has increased in popularity and functions very similarly to the TomTom One (previous Pick of the Day and another economic, frill-less GPS).  If you’re bad with directions or exploring a new area yet don’t want to break the bank, check out out Garmin Streetpilot c330 this year as the many other who are.

To find the best deal on the Garmin Streetpilot c330, click here:

To view the full specs, read the entire article:

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While most GPS systems are now portable, it doesn’t mean they are motorcycle friendly.  Enter the Garmin Zumo series which were made specifically for bikers as they could need help with directions too!  The motorcycle friendly features on the Garmin Zumo 450 include a motorcycle mount and a glove friendly touch screen, which has a spelling AI built in to help limit the amount of typing needed.  The GPS is also water proof, vibration tested, and built with fuel resistant materials, to withstand the extra exertions a motorcycle can give.  While this unit does not give audio directions, it’s probably not needed as it could be hard to hear when on the road (for those that want this feature, the Garmin Zumo 550 might be the model for you).  While this unit is a little more expensive than most of the other GPS units out there, the Garmin Zumo 450 works perfectly for motorcycle owners who don’t like to get lost.

Find the best deal on the Garmin Zumo 450 here.

To see the full specs, read the complete article:

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The Magellan Maestro 3200 is one of the newest additions to the Magellan Maestro line!  What makes this different from all other GPS Units?  Well, based on my experiences with the Garmin, it has the best ease of use!

I bought my Magellan Maestro 3200 a couple weeks ago during Black Friday.  (BTW: You can still find this GPS as well as many other at a discount due to the holiday season so do not worry if you think you missed your shot at getting an affordable and dependable GPS unit.)  Immediately, the ease of installation and the activation of the product was better than I expected.  First, I attached the arm and the holder to the GPS unit.  It was really easy.  It just took a few snaps.  Second, I looked for a place to place the unit.  Okay, I have a 2006 Honda Civic and the curved edges of the dashboard did not allow me to put it on.  So I stuck it on the windshield, and that was a big mistake!  I MIGHT get a ticket for lowering my vision of the road, so better to be safe than sorry.  Fortunately, it was very easy unsticking the unit using the suction cups removal lip.  I finally found a spot and it stuck.  Though I was sticking it and unsticking it everywhere, it held perfectly and did not even shake.  Next, I plugged in the power and it worked automatically!  It was great.

The user interface itself is very easy.  Its auto completion system is very good and helps you find the address your looking pretty quickly.  Unlike other GPS systems, I just drove around it and it quickly calculated my position.  BTW there are no service / subscription fees to use it which is a big plus…  The other thing that I like is that the navigation system gives you an appropriate amount of time to change lanes and make a left or right.  In fact, my bosses mother, who does not like technology, now cannot get anywhere with out the Magellan Maestro!

The features that come with this unit are also great.  It has Trip Planner to help you with multiple stop road trip, as well as, a very good POI (Points of Interest) system to help find gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and other interesting sites such as theme parks.  If you are interested in seeing where you are, you can use the Current Location feature with shows you location, latitude / longitude, time, speedometer, compass, and elevation.  You can even use it to listen to MP3s but I have not tested out that function yet.

Find the best deal on the Magellan Maestro 3200 here.

For specs read below
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For those of you that already own translators, MP3 players, coupon books, and the like, you may be looking for a simple, affordable, no frills GPS unit.  If this type of person is you, then the TomTom One GPS is just what you’ve been looking for.  This GPS unit a tiny, portable device that is also one of the most popularly sought after GPS systems this holiday season.

Pure and simple, the TomTom One will get you where you want to go.  It has a built in backside antenna so you don’t need to prop it up, features audio turn directions, and 3D or 2D maps.  The device is very small and features a suction cup attachment that allows for you to stick it on your windshield, which is especially handy for curvy dashboard owners (ie. Honda Civic).  However, do check your local laws as it is illegal to put anything on your windshield other than parking stickers and decals in California.

Not entirely frill-less, one of the features the TomTom One does have is that it will automatically increase its volume as you drive faster to compensate for the increased amount of noise.  For those of you that need more, you can check out yesterday’s pick, the Garmin Nuvi 350 or if you’re a TomTom loyal, the TomTom GO 910.

To find the best deal and specs on the TomTom One, click here.

The Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS unit is one of the the most popular GPS units on the market today.  This model boasts an extremely strong antenna receiver and roughly at the size of a deck of cards, you can take this portable unit anywhere with you.  The Nuvi 350 uses a touch screen interface, which is the main reason for its compact size and allows for multiple variations of your search such as 2D or 3D maps, alternate routes, and the like.

The best part of the Garmin Nuvi 350 are the additional features that you can tag onto the unit.  A foreign language add on allows for direct translation of different languages directly on the display.  This becomes very useful if you chose to also add on the different detailed maps of other countries, which includes important tourist information such as hotels, restaurants, and national attractions.  Garmin’s coupon database is a collection of over 45,000 different locations that offer some sort of discount.  Don’t know how to get there?  Your GPS should fix that problem relatively quickly.  Another attractive add on is an FM radio receiver to allow you to tune into real time traffic reports.  The final icing of the cake, the Travel Kit add on, comes with an MP3 player, photo/slide show viewer, currency converter, calculator, and audio book reader.  Wow is there anything this GPS unit does not have?  Add on a laser handcuff cutter and this would even be perfect for James Bond.  The catch is that none of these add ons come free, but for some they are definitely worth it!

With all of these options, it might be hard to remember that the main function of the Garmin Nuvi 350 is to help you find directions.  But since it’s a top of the line GPS unit, it’s not hard to see why this is one of the hottest units on the market today.

To find the best deal on the Garmin Nuvi 350, click here.

To see the full specs, read entire article

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While out for some time already, I feel that GPS units are finally affordable to the masses this holiday season.  For those of you who were not fortunate enough to have an already built in system with your car, now might be the best time to get your hands on your own navigation system.  There are many different types of GPS units out there, large or small, costly or economical.  Some units have touch screen interfaces while others use voice recognitionsoftware.  Whatever your preference make sure to check back with SmartTechBuy for the remainder of the week to find out which GPS system you should look into if you are in the market to buy one this year!

Hot names of GPS manufacturers include:

Garmin
Magellan
Navigon
Nextar
TomTom

Click here to browse all GPS systems and compare prices