All GPS devices do the same thing. They find where you are and tell you how to get where you want to go. What makes the difference, then, between a $200 unit and a $600 unit?

Garmin offers the following features on their GPS systems,

- text-to-speech (the device tells you where to turn) - Actually saying the street name - Pre-loaded maps of the United States, Canada, and Europe - A huge database of Points of Interest (locations of McDonalds, hospitals, gas stations, etc.) - Real-time traffic and weather - Bluetooth for hands-free calling - Photo viewer and mp3 player - FM transmission so you can hear the GPS through your car’s stereo system - Multiple routing, so the device can plan a route that takes you to more than one destination.

There are other features, but these are the main ones to look for in a Garmin GPS device, or in any other make, for that matter.

For slightly less than $200, you can get a Garmin car GPS system that will come preloaded with United States maps, Points of Interest, and with photo viewer capability. This would be Garmin’s nuvi 200 line.

For $300 - $500, you can get all of the features above except for FM transmission and multiple routing.

GPS devices come in regular or wide screen sizes. Regular is 3.5-inches and wide screen is 4.3-inches. In general, you pay about $100 more for the wide screen version.

There are other manufacturers other than Garmin. Garmin, however, sells about half the GPS devices sold…There must be a reason for that!