Auto GPS Brands and Links

Related reports

If you want to navigate using your smartphone, our separate report on GPS apps picks the best apps for iPhone, Android and more, with prices ranging from free to $90.

Helpful auto GPS links

GPS unit or smartphone? More and more people are skipping dedicated GPS units and simply using navigation apps on their smartphones, The New York Times reports in an article titled "Sending GPS Devices the Way of the Tape Deck?" If you're weighing the pros and cons, CNET offers some useful advice in its article, "There's a Map for That: GPS or Smartphone?"

The GPS testing team at ConsumerReports.org posts the latest GPS news on this blog -- and it's free, unlike ConsumerReports.org's formal ratings charts. You'll find prices and previews of upcoming GPS units and GPS smartphone apps, and staffers give their general opinions of the products they review.

Magellan, Garmin, Lowrance, Morrow and Bendix/King all make GPS units specifically for aviation use. Information on aviation GPS units can be found at Avweb and Avionix.

Marine-use GPS units offer extras such as fish finders and resistance to salt water. Joe Mehaffey and Jack Yeazel's GPS information site includes reviews of marine GPS models.

GPSPassion.com has news and user reviews.

User forums provide feedback and information from owners and prospective owners of GPS systems. Some examples include the user forums at GPSMagazine.com, GPSReview.net and GPSCity.com.

A Sept. 15, 2010, report from the Government Accountability Office says the possibility still exists that the U.S. GPS satellite cloud could break down, as new satellites to replace aging ones have been delayed -- a problem the GAO first reported in 2009. Popular Mechanics reports on some alternatives to GPS satellites that the Air Force is researching.

Auto GPS brands

Manufacturers' websites are also a good source of information and specifications:

Garmin

Magellan

Motorola

TomTom