What GPS to purchase?

[NegativeZ0]

I'm a GPS newbie and am quite overwhelmed by the number of devices available.
I know I'd like a device that reads the real street names. I'd also like traffic/road closure updates in real time.
The kicker is I'd like a device that has an aux input and output. Idealy it would be nice to run an MP3 player through the GPS and then have the GPS connect via 1/8" to my head unit. This way the music would be interrupted for the direction announcments. Does such a device exist?

thanks!

 

[dhn]

The TomTom 740 has the capability of live traffic updates but has no mp3 player. The 730 or 930 with an additional cost RDS antenna is supposed to give reasonably accurate traffic conditions in the major cities covered. They both have mp3 capabilities and text to speech.

The following link lists a bunch of brands with text to speech, traffic option and music players.

Click here

 

[NegativeZ0]

Thanks for the info.

Can either device pass through audio from an external player? I'd like to connect an MP3 player to the device via a cable.

 

[dhn]

Both the 730 and 930 have an input jack for an ipod to connect to. (They used to provide the connector cable but no longer).

So, I presume if an ipod works, so would any mp3 player. Mind you, both have a mp3 player built in.

 

[jmorisey]

Thanks for the info.

Can either device pass through audio from an external player? I'd like to connect an MP3 player to the device via a cable.

I have the 740 LIVE and the Brodit Dock and Mount from ProClips. The mount has an iPod port to plug-in your iPod and a line-out port to route your sound. Additionally, if you get a BT remote from eBay or TomTom, you can control your music & the device from the remote.

I don't have an iPod, so I can't go into detail how that works, but I do have the Remote and DO route the sound out of the line-out jack.

FYI, the Dock was an additional $44.95 USD plus $24.99 USD for the vehicle specific mount. It did add a little cost to the unit, but it was WELL WORTH it. (Additionally, since I got the 740 dirt cheap at SAMS Club for $298, I pretty much broke even compared to the $370 every place else is asking for it.)

 

[mikealder]

The iPOD lead is terminated with a connector specific to the Apple devices it won't work with other devices. In the UK Halfords (a car accessory chain of shops) were selling these iPOD leads off for ?3 recently.
There is no way to pass audio through a TomTom from the radio etc, all you can do is use an iPOD with the 740 or install music to a large SDHC card and use the jukebox feature on the x20/ x30 devices. If you don't want the music to pause when the navigation instructions are issued you will need to connect the TomTom audio output via Bluetooth as this option lets you specify whether to pause the music between instructions or not - Mike