If my husband and I want to purchase a navigational system to put in the car, one that we could use in other rental cars and one that is voice activated,which would you recommend ? We live in a small area and do not need it except for on the road trip as to Maine and Boston or areas like that. Thanks

I've heard a lot of good things about Garmin.

My wife bought a Garmin Streetpilot C330 for me for Christmas 2005. She paid about $600. Now you can get that same model for about $250-275. We just use it in the States when we travel, and purchased and downloaded the European software for our 2 trips to Germany/Italy/Switzerland. For the purpose you are talking about, it will do exactly what you are looking for.

The Garmin Nuvi series is replacing some of the Streetpilots. The Nuvi 200 is comparable to the Streetpilot C330, but is more compact and cost about $100 more. Here's a good site to compare models.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134

If you decide on Garmin, don't buy directly from them. You can get some good deals on line by doing some research. Check out costs/shipping/tax. Some companies have no tax and/or shipping.

We got a TomTom 300, refurbished by the factory with 1 year warrenty from eBay.
$190

Already proved its usefullness when we were looking for a house and on several day trips.

We purchased a Garmin Nuvi 670 and love it.

We bought our son a Magellan - buy a Garmin. The Magellan is fine, but Garmin seems better.

One word of caution. In many locations these devices are becoming prime theft targets. Most people stuff it under the seat, lock in glove box or even trunk - but if you leave the holder visible on the dash, it is still apparent that there is one in the car. So be careful.

I just got the Garmin Street Pilot 340, for $330 at Circuit City, when they had a sale. It is like the 330, but has voice, which is helpful. I don't need the extras which come with the Nuvi.

Both the 330 and 340 have voice but the 340 will speak street names (e.g. "Turn right ON ELM STREET in 500 ft.") whereas the 330 will speak the distance to the turn from 500 down to 100 feet and then superimpose a picture of the turn with street name on the screen. Speaking the street name is a nice feature that I wish I had.