A GPS Chartplotter For My Car

For Christmas, my in-laws gave me a automotive GPS for my car. I’ve used a number of different marine GPS chartplotters on boats — and I just love them — but I had never even thought about getting one for my car.

It turns out this was a very cool, and very thoughtful, gift. This handy little unit easily attaches to my windshield with a little suction cup, and automatically locates where I am and displays the map, the road I’m on, the direction I’m traveling, and shows upcoming crossroads.

Even better, I can use it to plot a route to a particular location. I just punch in the street address and the GPS automatically determines the route and gives me turn-by-turn instructions for getting there. It has a handy little “detour” button, so that if I come upon a bad wreck on the highway or something, it gives me an alternate route.

It comes pre-programmed with a multitude of service stations, restaurants, motels, and such, so that if I want to go to the nearest Chevron station, for example, I can use the touchscreen controls to select “Fuel,” scroll through the list of Shells, Citgos, Chevrons, etc., select the one I want, and automagically the unit tells me how to get there.

The display is excellent. Even in bright sunlight, the map is bright and clearly readable. There are several default settings that can be customized for the user’s preference, such as having the map show north up or route up, and whether I want the unit to default to the shortest route or the fastest route. I can save favorite locations, which will be very handy when we visit my brother-in-law in Tennessee, whose home we always have trouble finding.

There are fancier GPS streetmap units on the market, which cost a lot more money. I wouldn’t mind having one that would let me scroll the map around at will, save waypoints with the press of a single button (like the MOB buttons on the marine chartplotters), make telephone calls, and get traffic reports. But all those features add a lot of expense, and this handy little unit serves its purpose well.