In our latest review of GPS navigators, the best GPS for the money is the Garmin Nuvi 285W/285WT. It packs quite a punch at a price of $119.99 (down from it’s original price at $249.99). Read the rest of this article to see how we’ve scored the Garmin Nuvi against the rest of the competition, and why we choose it to be the best for your hard-earned dollar.

The most important feature of any GPS is route quality, that is, how well does it actually take you from point A to point B? Even though we’re in the upteenth generation of guidance technology, there are still many complaints that the map takes you on a crazy route, or forces you to drive in circles. This is a major no-no when choosing a GPS. It should at least do what you bought it for!

Next up in importance is guidance quality which is our term for how easy does the guide actually work – in terms of map display, audible alerts like “dings” and turn updates. We want a guide that is clear, easy to understand, and gives us instructions that actually make sense. Poor models will fail to tell you to turn in time (yes, it happens – due to software/hardware lag or delay) and not give you enough instructions ahead of time after the current instruction. Sometimes you need to make a right quickly, then a left quickly, then a right again quickly – and a good GPS will tell you this in advance so you’re not freaking out on the road.

And of course, with lower priority but still important is performance, user-interface, and connectivity. Some models update TOO SLOW due to bugs in the software or just a lack of firepower in the hardware. Trust me, you don’t want to skimp on performance or you’ll see your map suddenly appear upside-down and backwards as it couldn’t update the screen after you turned the wrong way! Most user-interfaces are pretty good nowadays, as they go through so much user testing and feedback. And connectivity is starting to become a must-have, as we’re all using our cell phones, bluetooth headsets, and trying to figure out which route has the worst traffic commute.

Although the higher-end models give you extra-fancy features, they often come at a price that just isn’t worth it unless you’ve got money to burn. That’s why this article is all about price as it’s probably the most important factor of all.

Here’s a pie chart of how we’ve weighted our analysis for this month’s edition of the best GPS review:

Here are the top 5 choices we reviewed, after filtering a lot of the older models and the obviously bad models.

Potential Candidate #1: The TomTom XXL 540S

This was a very strong candidate. Priced at only $149 (down from $299) it scored very well in all categories. The photorealistic guidance was great. Unfortunately it didn’t have a way to disable the AutoZoom function, won’t tell you which side of the street your destination is on, and the preferences screen was 6 pages deep which meant a horrible user experience. We want simple, especially while driving! Note: Don’t push buttons on your GPS while driving for safety reasons. Also, the text-to-speech is sometimes hard to understand. Also, it scored low in guide and routing which meant it didn’t give us good directions.

Potential Candidate #2: The Magellan Maestro 3700

It’s amazing how much better the GPS devices are getting with each version. It has clear voice commands, multi-location routing, and even basic voice commands. But, there were just too many problems in terms of performance and speed. The GPS needed to be restarted all the time. What a pain! And it even had some problems navigating in complex city locations (but isn’t that the point of a navigator?).

Potential Candidate #3: The Garmin Nuvi 255W

Comparing this older model Garmin with the current version, it just didn’t have quite the punch we were looking for. It worked fine for the price of $99 but it still had a few problems. The audio was a bit problematic and the maps were old, which meant that the GPS would get lost and have no idea where you are. There were some dim display problems and it had trouble getting a signal.

Potential Candidate #4: The Magellan Roadmate 1470

We liked the roadmate initially. The screen was crisp and sharp. The menu was good. But the problem was it needed to be rebooted (like the Maestro?). The thing also takes forever to start – not good. Also, it lacks any cool features like bluetooth or voice commands (because we don’t want to be pushing buttons while we’re driving one-handed with a coffee cup on our head and a banana on our nose). Good, but not a winner. And not the best for your dough.

Potential Candidate #5 – And the Winner: The Garmin Nuv 285W (and 285WT for Traffic)

What a beauty! It’s a shiny sleek black and easy to use. The menus were clear and easy to understand (none of this pushing-buttons-until-the-6th-screen junk) and the lock onto satellites was super fast. The voice was easy to understand and the display was visible in day and night. It even comes with a USB cable that you don’t have to buy separately! The bluetooth wireless technology with microphone lets you make calls. Traffic updates too! This was the winner in all categories, and the best gps for the money.

The Winner!

Do you own this GPS (or another one)? Share your comments below!

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