"Tony Thomas" wrote in message
news:tFdyb.363969$Fm2.363152@attbi_s04...
I personally like the Garmin emap unit. Has maps of all lakes,
coastlines,
major roads built in. Has all the exit info for the interstates as well.
You can buy additional memory chips for adding in more detailed maps but I
have never needed to ( I have an 8 mb chip and have never used it). For
the
price you can't beat it.
You can find them for about $150.00 on the internet (try
http://shopping.yahoo.com)

I got the map package with the emap. It also costs a quite a bit; I find
that it is well worth it. You can pull up a very detailed map of the entire
country with gas stations, hotels, restaurants and other points of interest.
Then you can download any selected portion to the unit. 8mb holds the entire
Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area with the suburbs out to about 35 miles.
After this download, the unit becomes a *whole lot* more useful.

In the search window you can type in street addresses and navigate directly
to the front door. It won't do turn by turn, but it still does a yeoman's
job of getting you there.

If you get a yen for a restaurant you can pull up a list of certain types of
restaurants, say - Asian or BBQ, sorted by distance from your current
location. When you select one it shows you the address and phone number and
offers to navigate directly to it. If you have your cell you can make a
reservation on the way.

When I travel to a different city I download the related map before I go as
part of my packing ritual. The few times I have forgotten to do this I can
still use the unit, but I feel a big gap in my ability to deal with an
unknown city.

I use the MOB feature to keep track of my car rental, hotel and where I
parked my car. Even without the detailed map, this makes travel in
unfamiliar places a little easier.

I have been collecting Waypoints from everywhere I visit as a sort of
souvenir thing.

I have been disappointed sometimes because some new developments are not
listed on the map, but when I have done the software update on the mapping
software it fills in some new roads, stores, and related info.

Garmin emap & mapping software gets my recommendation.

Mark Browne