Best Portable Navigation GPS Units
We help you find the right GPS for your needs.
It pains one to imagine what the early seafarers and navigators had to do in order to get to their far-off and as yet unknown destination—it was already a challenge keeping a whole crew of a ship alive by not wandering out of the planned course or going over the edge of the world. Such was their plight back in the days of the flat Earth that when someone pulls out a portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, you either pity Magellan and Columbus, or fell very indebted to these famous souls, among others.
Ever since former President Ronald Reagan issued the directive that enabled civilians to use the Department of Defenses’ GPS, its use has been further developed with the civilian in mind, and in an age where everyone wants everything literally at their fingertips, portability is one notable advancement. GPS portable systems, as many refer to it, have become widely popular and useful. It’s not just a map with more detail, graphical interface, and directions to and from a place, it’s a practical atlas in a nutshell.
GPS portable systems have made it to cars, mobile phones, and handheld individual devices, to mention a few. These devices prove to be very handy, especially for those people who like to—or need to—travel a lot, living out of suitcases, and/or in transition to a new home, life, or what-have-you.
Who likes the feeling of being lost anyway? GPS portable systems get rid of that (assuming one knows how to operate them), and gives the user a sense of control—perhaps this is an important factor in how well these navigational devices are received.
If you’re driving skills are good, but the same can’t be said about your navigational prowess, you just wish there was a navigator on your passenger seat to show you the way. Maybe all you need is a driving Global Positioning System (GPS) device, such as a Magellan 760 Roadmate.
Magellan Navigations, Inc., who, yes, took their name from the renowned Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer, offers the Magellan 760 Roadmate to drivers who don’t know much beyond the next few blocks from their house. In the 760 Roadmate, GPS has evolved into very convenient, perhaps spoon-feeding technology, because it can actually give you voice and visual directions as you drive. And these aren’t just general directions, it can actually tell you where to turn left or right
One can’t help but think more and more people find themselves lost these days, what with the whole GPS device thing—virtually anything and anyone needing to get somewhere can have a GPS installed or a portable handheld brought with him. Convenience has definitely reached the realm of the wayfarer. If only Columbus had a GPS portable in his pockets at the time, but then again, he would’ve found what he was actually looking for and not have discovered America.
A device like a Magellan 760 Roadmate does ease a wary driver’s concern, and brings much convenience for the geographically innocent. Quite handy, fairly easy to use—perhaps it’s time for paper maps and atlases to move over, and let the GPS devices and technologies take the wheel from here.
Buying a car would entail that you know how to drive, and that you’re geographically inclined enough to know what lies a few blocks off and effectively find your own way to a destination. With the present day Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology however, getting to and from anywhere becomes a simplistic task. I was wondering if someone who wanted to buy a private jet or boat would need to consider GPS as much as someone wanting to buy a vehicle would. Thinking about it, they would probably need it more. How about submarines, perhaps? My silly search for a GPS company catering to almost—if not all—all frontiers brought me to Google, and Google gave me Garmin.
Garmin Ltd. is a parent company of a group of companies that make just what I was curious to find: GPS technologies for any terrain or environment. Garmin navigation systems encompass consumer, aviation, and marine GPS technologies and devices. It’s interesting to see such a company, and even more interesting to think about how they will be in the future. Would Garmin navigation systems be popular for individual consumers or just aviation and/or marine navigation needing companies? Could it out market Magellan Navigations with its name and wrestle Tomtom NV from Europe’s top spot?
It’s remarkable how GPS technologies and devices are slowly but surely erasing the need for traditional maps. With this sort of change, GPS companies and their technologies, such as Garmin navigation systems, would then unavoidably change and adjust with the ever changing tides of the modern times.
Directions from the Best
People lose directions just as easily as anything else. So to avoid getting lost, they find ways to know where they are and how to get to where they need to get. In this quest for the lost path, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are indispensable. So then people go into efforts of finding out which is the best GPS device product or technology and/or manufacturer or company. And then they need directions here, too.
Many companies in the GPS industry claim the coveted top spot, the best portable GPS navigation systems, devices, and technologies. Among all the claims, only one can be true, and there’s no solid, definite way to find out. True, statistics, reviews, and surveys might shed light into the truth, but that truth is popular truth—the truth that appealed to the most number of people. So how do you choose between Magellan GPS, Garmin GPS, Tomtom GPS, or what-have-you? They own have their pros and cons, but you might want to stop looking at the company and start thinking about yourself: what you need, and what you want from a GPS device. That’s how you can effectively search for the best portable GPS systems.
The cliché says beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. In this case it proves to apply as well. There is no one best GPS company or product, since the superlative adjective ‘best’ does not attach itself to a company or product automatically, but is affected by who views what; affected by a persons relative judgment, opinion, and preference. What’s best for me might not be good at all to you so stop trying to search for the best portable GPS systems, but search for the best GPS technology for you.
Need Directions? Ask Magellan.
When Ferdinand Magellan tempted fate to throw him over the edge of the flat Earth in search of God, Gold, and Glory, little did he know that his exploits would make him a common household name—not just in history but in everyday use. Magellan Navigations, Inc. has made the explorers name synonymous with convenience by naming their company after him. Their trade is in Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
Maybe you know someone with a Magellan GPS system or a portable device or has a car with a Magellan 760 Roadmate. Since GPS is allegorically and literally everywhere nowadays, it’s not surprising that tourists suddenly pull out their portable GPS devices to see where to go next. And for someone needing directions, a Magellan GPS system definitely has much appeal in its name.
Since 1983, when former President Ronald Reagan issued the GPS directive due to a Korean airliner straying and being destroyed in USSR airspace, the Department of Defense’s technology has grown in popularity and use—and the trend is seemingly poised to phase out the use of maps and atlases in the near future. What might Magellan Navigations’ role be in a future where a technology like a Magellan GPS system pervades every vehicle, liner, and even individual pocket of everyone in the street?
Hopefully, this GPS trend doesn’t testify to more and more people being lost or geographically ignorant, because though the convenience, ease of use, and peace of mind GPS offers is welcome, I for one don’t want to see a day when you can’t ask anyone directions without them looking it up in their GPS portables.
