These replies are all very helpful - thank you. I am going to do lots of searches on the Garmin products as I do want good service if I have a problem. The Garmin 350 looks nice but it does have a smaller screen and I would like something larger, since most of my business travel is solo. We shop at West Marine a good deal because we have a boat and I may look at their prices once I decide which model to go for.
I did notice that many of the models include MP3 players and Bluetooth blah - blah and picture displays, which to me is just overkill but I suppose I am in the minority....ha! Ha!

I bought a refurbished TomTom 300 on eBay for $190.
Came with a 1 year warranty from the factory and works great.

The big screen requirement you have is going to be difficult to meet with a non-built in device. None of them have particularly big screens, but all have voice commands, so you are really not trying to drive and stare at a screen.

EmilyC, the 2730 is, alas, no longer the flavor of the day...but Garmin's web site lists newer models.

EmilyC: The Nuvi 350's screen is about the same size as that of Garmin's StreetPilots, the Magellans, and the TomToms, I believe. The Nuvi 6x0's have a slightly wider screen, which is sort of nice, but I think it's more important that it's brighter, and therefore easier to see in bright sunlight. In my experience, the Nuvi's touch screens are more responsive to touch than Magellans' are, which is quite nice.

I agree that nowadays pretty much all of the portable GPS boxes designed for automotive use give spoken instructions, so that you don't need to watch the screen all the time while driving. But not all of them have text-to-speech, and that's worth looking for.

I haven't found much use for my Nuvi's MP3 playing capabilities. I have an iPod, and I wouldn't want to use my Nuvi for that purpose anyway. The Nuvi does have the ability for FM music broadcasting, so that you can play songs on it and listen to them through your car radio. While it's doing that, it will pause the music when it's time for a new turn instruction, and then resume the music when the turn instruction is done. It sounded good in theory, but in practice, the sound quality of the music played through the radio is really bad, so I never end up doing this.

I've found it nice to store photos in my Nuvi and look at them while traveling sometimes, but other than that, I don't use the Nuvi's non-map-related features at all.

Thanks for all this terrific discussion. I am currently thinking about getting the Garmin 350W with the wide screen. To re-iterate, if I choose Garmin, I can always download European maps, right?

You might want to consider the Garmin 370 - it comes pre-loaded with European maps and will usually cost less than the 350 and upgrading with europe maps. I got one before my trip to Germany and Belgium last month and it was great.

In cities with one way streets and difficulty finding parking we navigated to our destination then drove around looking for parking - the Garmin helped us find our way back since we could hand carry it after parking.

I would definitely check out prices online using a site like www.pricegrabber.com
The prices including shipping range from $480 to 850. I used a price alert to nab a terrific sale price.

EmilyC, I've never heard of a Garmin 350W. Maybe it's a brand new model, or maybe you meant the 250W? The 250W seems like a good choice to me. I might have bought it myself if the 2xx series had been around when I bought my last Nuvi. As you've probably discovered, the 2xx series is a lower-priced alternative to the 3xx series, but the 250W probably has all the features you need. The only thing I suppose you might miss is the MSN traffic information.

The 270, like the 370, 670, and 770, has both Europe and North American maps built in. But it has the smaller, not-as-bright screen. I think there's no way to get both the built-in Europe maps and the wide screen in the 2xx series.

The 250W does have an SD card slot, so I'm pretty sure that you could add the Europe maps later. To correct you a bit, you wouldn't download them, but rather buy them on either an SD card or a DVD-ROM (they're about the same price, and if you get to that point, I could talk about why I chose one method rather than the other).

Just to be absolutely positively sure, you might want to call Garmin tech support at 1-800-800-1020, and verify that you'll be able to load the Europe maps into whichever unit you choose. It's a relatively painless tech support call -- you shouldn't have to wait too terribly long on hold, and the tech support people are really nice and know what they're doing. Also, a little-known secret is that you can also call Garmin's retail store in Chicago at 312-787-3221, and ask someone there about compatibility with the Europe maps. They seem to know the product line pretty well too. They're open on weekends.

Sorry for the mistake - I am looking at 200W and 250W.
How expensive are these cards to add in the European info?

I bought a Europe SD card for $216.08 from thenerds.net. I believe the DVD version was just about the same price.

Pretty expensive, hence people's interest in the x70 models, which have the Europe maps built in. I guess if you really want the wide screen and the Europe maps, it could almost be worth it to buy the 670, which thenerds has for $725 right now.

Holy moley....I had no idea that it would be that much!

Yeah, seriously. So at thenerds.net (just to choose a representative retailer), the 250W costs $290, and if you paid $208 for the Europe maps, your overall cost would be $498, for a unit with the wide, brighter screen and both sets of maps. It might actually be less expensive to buy the 670, which I think is the only Nuvi with both the wide screen and the Europe maps built in.

By comparison, the 270, with both sets of maps but the smaller, not-as-bright screen, costs $362 at thenerds.

save

Garmin has a very nice comparison chart on their website. Now, I realize that neither the 200W or the 250W has the newest feature which identifies the name of streets. I think I'm back to the drawing board because it seems important to include this newest feature if I am spending this much $$$.

You're right, I hadn't noticed that. The text-to-speech (TTS) feature really is quite a useful one.

You could also look into Garmin's StreetPilot c340, which sells for as little as $208 on pricegrabber. It does have TTS, but it has the smaller screen, and a lower-sensitivity receiver. And the StreetPilots are a slightly thicker and less compact than the Nuvis, though they're still no more bulky than most other brands of automotive GPS units.

All of my recommendations have been Garmin products. It's about time for a disclaimer: I don't work for Garmin. I have generally found their products to be better engineered than the Magellan GPS products, but I'm not at all familiar with the other brands.

Thanks for all of your help! I finally ordered the Garmin Nuvi 350 with spoken street name from "Walmart.com"

I hate to revive an old thread but I feel this might just add to it.

What about using a GPS while hiking? Can you mark points and then have it get you back there later? Or maybe some other features I don't know about.

When hiking, I guess being 50 feet off to one side is crucial. Are they that fine?

I'm just starting to look at this whole "can of worms". Maybe one type doesn't do the other function?

Just starting so know nothing.

I would post another query with the title " GPS for hiking".
I think that you'll get better results. There is also tons of info on the Garmin website with products made specifically for trail use.
Our GPS on our boat is very specific and lets us know if we venture even a few feet off course.

Lots of hikers participate in alt.satellite.gps, asking the same kind of question.