I just sprung for the top-line (Prestige) 3597 LMT/HD, my third Garmin. It's not exorbitantly expensive, about $275 from NewEgg. It's a substantial improvement over my old one, which was a higher-end unit from 2 years ago. The new one is the same size, 5" widescreen, though is much thinner and has a much higher resolution screen with a more responsive touch surface, as well as voice recognition I haven't tried out yet. It takes much less time to sniff out the needed satellites when starting a new drive. Like my old one, you get lifetime map updates and traffic service. Unlike the old one, the traffic service is HD digital and provides warnings much faster and more aquarately than the old system, which didn't caclulate slowdows on sidestreets caused by satnav receivers sending drivers onto those small roads, and often didn't pick up on traffic on side roads in the first place. The lane-assistance is excellent - it will open a second window showing which lanes you can be in at tricky interchanges, with spoken instructions like "stay in the 2nd or 3rd lane from the right". Turns are tied to obvious landmarks and traffic lights, not just street names (or worse) just distances. So it will say "turn right at the traffic light after the McDonalds" about ten seconds before your turn, not "turn right on McLadden Ave." which may or may not have an easy-to-find sign, or "turn right in 500 feet" which leaves you wondering which of two nearby entrances is 500 and not 400 or 600 feet away. If there's a particular neighborhood or area you never want to be routed through, you can set it to always avoid that area. It has a Bluetooth link that will tell your Apple or Android device where you were when the car was shut down, so if you forget where you park, you can find it on your phone or tablet; even an iPod Touch will work since you'll need only to dip into someplace with wi-fi to get a map back to where you parked, even though there was no wi-fi signal at the parking space. The Bluetooth can also be used for hands-free calling over the speaker. It's able to warn you of school zones and such, though I haven't figured out how to enable it yet, or maybe that's one of the extra-cost apps. It's not perfect - it still doesn't know the existence of a nearby road half a block from home and tries to route me way around it. It couldn't find the Costco I just went to or the street it's on (it's been there for two years). It also couldn't find the gym/pool I go to, perhaps because it recently changed its name, but neither the old or new name could be found. At least it knew the address. The internal voice isn't as human-sounding as it was on my previous satnav. The included, reusable mount sticks to windows but not the top of my dashboard, and any windshield attachment in my car blocks the forward view a bit. Despite these flaws, its strong points overwhelm them, and it's the best GPS navigator i've ever used, including those built into cars or phones. Finally, here's why I'm not using a smartphone for navigation: First off, most of our carriers charge for data usage. The GPS receiver doesn't use data itself, but tying it to where you are using Google Maps or Foursquare or whatever does, unless you run a usually 3rd-party app like Co-Pilot that downloads the entire area's maps onto your phone (which cuts into your phone's storage and adds complexity). The interface isn't as straightforward as on a good dedicated GPS. But mainly, I want to be able to use a smartphone as a *phone* when needed, sometimes passing it to a passenger for private conversation during a call. I don't want incoming and outgoing phone calls, or changing a musical selection, interfering with navigation. I want my maps and directions always to be there. This post was edited by lee676 on Sun, Mar 30, 14 at 11:13

My Garmin is pretty well out of date, plus with the way these kinds of things improve, almost anything you buy today will be out of date in a year anyway, but that does not mean it cannot perform the tasks required of it. Frankly, I love that basic Nuvi (200?) that I have. Now granted it won't come up with every business, that has to do more with the advertising strategies of the businesses than it does Garmin. The first time I was playing with the business search functions and confirmed that my shop was in the data base, I thought that was really cool. My Nuvi is no longer supported, so at times like when I drove over to Penn State it struggled to figure out where I was because the new interstate wasn't in it's data base. That struck me as amusing, rather than as being a problem. Otherwise it's more than 99% effective at assisiting me when I am moving around in different cities for the first time. I have even taken it with me, and had it in off road mode when I have done some of my solo cross country flights, just in case I suddenly have trouble navigating. While these like anything else aren't perfect, I simply could not imagine life without one for now on. I use it when I go out on a towing call. I use it in the airplane, for a back-up strategy. I use it when I travel to other cities when I am instructing continuing education classes for shops/techs. I use it to drive cross country and simply get to enjoy the ride instead of blasting past everything unseen while on the interstate. The one thing it needs is the ability to select different voices for the drivers support. It takes about five minutes of normal use before the desire to mock the regular voices becomes irresistible. I could just imagine someone like George Carlin (rip) giving me directions. Could you imagine him coming on to let me know when I missed my turn? Well he'd probably have to be turned off and another voice on there when the kids were in the car. Maybe Sponge Bob, or NOT! VBG.

My GPS is a Magellan RoadMate 2000 and only does one at a time. I do the same thing - put destinations in and save them then go from one to another. Since I save most all addresses I enter, the recent list and address list are pretty much the same for me. One thing that might work for you is a mapping software. I like Microsoft Streets & Trips though I hate to admit to "liking" anything associated with the one whose name must not be said. You can make a spreadsheet of the addresses you want to visit. Then you can import that list of addresses from the spreadsheet into Streets & Trips very easily. It will find the addresses and plan a route. You can even have it optimize the route for you. You could print out maps if you like or you could use that list to enter into the GPS to use it to assist you.

cynic, We have factory installed built-in GPS in both of our cars. Both units allow the user to choose the type of route they desire. Ours allow for 'Maximize Freeway'; 'Minimize Freeway'; 'Direct Route'; or 'Easy Route'. The four different routes will all take you to the same place. Since you mention "exit", is it possible your friend had a route programed that did not maximize freeways? Mary, We love our GPS units & would never voluntarily purchase another vehicle without them. We've been using marine GPS since the government released it (2001, I think?) with WAAS. IMO, there's no better company than Garmin for GPS. We've got their marine flagship model on our boat & it's wonderful. It's got radar, GPS, weather imaging, 3-D, sonar, & ties into our auto-pilot & VHF radio. We still chart our course the old-fashioned way as a precaution but truthfully it's more just an exercise to keep our navagation skills sharp. The GPS pilots our boat much more accurately than we could ever accomplish with charts. Garmin, IMO, makes the best GPS navigational equipment available & they've been at it for a long time. Best Buy is having a sale on Garmin today. The sale was just for yesterday (Friday) & today (Saturday). /tricia