AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

In the last few years, portable navigation has quickly gone from an accessory to a necessity for everyone from business-travel road warriors traveling across the country to the soccer moms driving across town. And sales within the same period attest to that fact. According to GPS-navigation market researcher C.J. Driscoll and Associates, approximately 250,000 portable navigation devices (PNDs) were sold in 2003, and that figure multiplied more than 20 times by 2007, with 5.6 million units sold. A couple of interrelated factors—lower prices and increased competition—has fueled the proliferation of PNDs hanging from the windshields and dashes of millions of vehicles. Five years ago, PNDs hovered around the $1,000 mark and only a handful of companies offered them; now you can get one for less than $200, and many more manufacturers have jumped into the market.

In order to stand out, PND suppliers have begun adding more features to their products—larger screens, more detailed maps, traffic information and, more recently, what’s known as “location-based services.” While most navigation systems have always been able to tell you the fastest route to your destination and about Points of Interest (POIs) such as gas stations and restaurants along the way, now you can also find out the price of gas at stations in a given area or get a review of a restaurant just up the road.

You usually have to pay a subscription to get access to these services, although most come with a free trial period. In some instances, location-based services are included as part of the package, as with mobile-phone based navigation, which is starting to seriously compete with PNDs. Either way, with the price of gas at record highs, it may be cheaper to shop for your next fill up—whether for your car or your stomach — using a nav system’s location-based service rather than driving around looking for the best fuel prices or the best place to eat.

Portable navigation has almost killed the paper map, as more and more people use the handy devices on a regular basis. Now the next-generation of PNDs is poised to make its predecessors just as antiquated in a few years. Plus, who has the time and money to drive around looking for something, when a PND with location-based services can save you both?

Magellan Maestro 3210

Magellan is another big name in the portable nav biz, and its Maestro 3210 offers a long list of features at a very affordable price. Although it’s thin and pocketsize, the Maestro 3210 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen and such exclusive Magellan features as QuickSpell that lets you enter a destination quickly and SmartDetour to route you around traffic. While the Maestro 3210 doesn’t have MSN Direct, Magellan has partnered with AAA to offer Auto Club members exclusive access to AAA TourBook guide information to locate AAA-approved restaurants, lodging and other services while on the road, including ratings and discounts. AAA roadside assistance is also on tap. Price: $199.99. www.magellangps.com

Garmin C580

Garmin is one of the biggest players in the PND market, with an expansive model lineup to prove it. For example, 13 of the company’s PNDs are available with MSN Direct, and of those, four come with an MSN Direct Receiver (a plug-and-play accessory that pulls in MSN data and pipes to the device via an FM signal) and two with a free one-year subscription to the service. The lowest priced one, the StreetPilot c580, allows adding custom POIs, such as school zones or traffic cameras, and can be set to alert you when you approach one. It also has built-in Bluetooth for connecting a compatible mobile phone and using it hands-free. Like the Alpine and Pioneer PNDs, the StreetPilot c580 can download info on traffic, weather, gas prices and movie times via MSN Direct. Price: $589.27, plus $50 a year for an MSN Direct subscription after a free one-year trial period expires.
www.garmin.com

Pioneer AVIC-F500BT

Pioneer is a longtime car-navigation innovator, and it showed why with the introduction of its AVIC-F500BT “hybrid” navigation system earlier this year. Designed to work as either a standalone PND or permanently installed, Pioneer calls the AVIC-F500BT a media “gateway” since it has built-in Bluetooth for hands-free calling with compatible phones and a USB port for connecting an iPod or other portable media player—all controlled via voice commands. Besides a long list of nav features, the AVIC-F500BT also offers MSN Direct so that you can get traffic and weather reports as well as gas prices and movie times in over 100 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Price: $600, plus $50 per year or $130 for a lifetime subscription to MSN Direct following a three-month free trial period. www.pioneerelectronics.com

Navigon 2100

Navigon offers several systems that come with lifetime traffic information and are loaded with ZAGAT Ratings and Reviews of restaurants, hotels, nightclubs and attractions in over 71 cities in the U.S. and Canada at no extra charge. But the latest Navigon system, the 2100 max, also offers DirectHelp to provide instant access to directions and phone numbers for emergency services such as the nearest hospital, police station, towing company or pharmacy at the touch of a button, and it will indicate your exact location to help service providers pinpoint your location. It also boasts Navigon’s exclusive Reality View that provides photo-realistic renderings of complex interchanges and Automatic Speed Warnings that notify drivers when they’ve exceeded a posted limit. Price: $299. www.navigonusa.com

Dash Express

Dash Express, like many nav systems, receives traffic updates from a variety of sources, such as highway cameras, road sensors and law enforcement agencies. But as the world’s first Internet-connected in-car nav system and by using cellular and Wi-Fi for two-way communication, it also sends and receives information from other Dash-equipped vehicles on the road to paint a more accurate picture of real-time traffic flow. And because it’s Web-enabled, you can use it to find everything from a pizza to auto parts to a plumber by calling up Yahoo Local search on the device. Then it’s just a matter of pushing a button to get routed to a destination. Price: $399.99 plus a monthly subscription starting at $12.99. www.dash.net

Verizon VZ Navigator V.4

Verizon Wireless was one of the first cellular carriers to offer mobile-phone based navigation, and the company recently released its VZ Navigator Version 4 for select phones. In addition to voice-prompted turn-by-turn navigation and rerouting offered by most nav systems, VZ Navigator also offers routing based on both real-time and historical traffic patterns in 75 U.S. cities, while a detour option lets users compare estimated arrival times and conditions before selecting a new route. The service can also find gas stations based on the best prices, get up-to-the-minute weather conditions and forecasts and find movie listings and start times as well as info on concerts, plays and sporting events. Price: $9.99 per month or $2.99 per day on select Verizon Wireless phones. www.verizon.com

TeleNav

TeleNav is a third-party mobile-phone navigation service that’s available on a wide variety of phones from 11 different wireless carriers in the U.S., including Verizon. Like VZ Navigator, the TeleNav GPS Navigation service provides routing instructions on a phone’s screen as well as via voice prompts. But if you’re looking for more than just the way to a desired destination, a Biz Finder lets you search for products and services from over 10 million constantly updated POIs, while Fuel Finder will locate the best gas prices and then route you to that station. A Wi-Fi Finder searches for Wi-Fi hotspots, while another feature finds parking spots. And if you forget where you parked, Spot Marker will help you find your way back to your car too. TeleNav GPS also offers real-time traffic in 50 U.S. markets. Price: $10 per month to $2.99 a day, depending on the wireless carrier. www.telenav.com

Alpine PMD-B200

Alpine has always been a leader in car navigation, but the company held off introducing a portable until it could bring an innovative unit like the PMD-B200 Blackbird PND to the market two years ago. Like its predecessor, the second-gen PND-K3msn has 6 million POIs and mapping for the U.S. and Canada, including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A built-in SD card slot and speaker allows the PND-K3msn to double as a music player, and it has Bluetooth for hands-free calling with compatible mobile phones. But the new unit also adds location-based services from MSN Direct, allowing it to receive live traffic info, weather reports, gas prices and even movie times via a receiver integrated into its mounting cradle. Price: To be announced.
www.alpine.com