By Alex Nunez on November 24, 2010 in
There are lots of auto GPS units listed across retailers' Black Friday circulars.Two stores, Target and Walmart, are each offering a pair of GPS doorbuster specials, however. Are those deals worth the bleary-eyed trek to the early-AM store openings? Let's have a look.
Garmin nuvi 1450LMT Target doorbuster vs. Garmin nuvi 1490T at Staples
The deals: The Garmin nuvi 1450LMT will be offered for $159.99 at Target starting at 4AM on Black Friday. Target advertises this as a savings of $160 off the MSRP of $319.99, but the reality is that you'd likely never pay that at retail anyway. Instead, the nuvi 1450LMT usually runs between $200 and $225 (the price has fluctuated on Amazon.com over the last week or so). The 1450LMT includes lifetime map and traffic updates (hence the "LMT" moniker) and functionally, it's roughly the same as the Garmin nuvi 1490T, a runner up in our most recent Auto GPS report and a featured sale item (not an early-AM doorbuster) in Staples' Black Friday flyer for $169.99. There are two key differences between these GPS devices: The 1490T adds Bluetooth hands-free phone capability, but does not offer lifetime map updates (it does have lifetime traffic, though).
Our call: Get up early. Chances are, you already use a headset or other Bluetooth handsfree solution in the car, so skip the 1490T at Staples, set your clock radio, and head to Target for the discounted 1450LMT. The 1450LMT's lifetime map updates are a strong incentive. Purchased separately, a lifetime map update package runs around $70. Avoid that issue entirely and buy the sale unit with the lifetime updates included
Target vs. Walmart: TomTom XL 335-series doorbusters
The TomTom XL 335T being offered at Target is roughly identical to the TomTom XL 335SE being offered at Walmart. The Target model's only important difference is that it includes free lifetime traffic updates. Otherwise, both have 4.3-inch screens, text-to-speech, TomTom's IQ Routes (which factors time of day and historical traffic data into the route calculations) and the all basic features you'd look for in any GPS. They're both Black Friday doorbusters (Target opens at 4AM, Walmart at 5AM), and they both are being offered for $79. (Normally, the TomTom XL 335 models retail for around $100 at online retailers like Amazon.com.)
Our Call: If you were already planning a pre-dawn shopping raid, the Target deal is obviously the better of the two because the TomTom XL 335T gives you free traffic updates for the same price as Walmart's XL 335SE. User reviews for the TomTom XL 335 series are mixed but positive overall -- 3.5 stars at Amazon.com.
Who's got the cheapest GPS on Black Friday?
Walmart wins the battle for the cheapest advertised GPS unit we've seen for Black Friday. It's offering the TomTom EASE for $59 as a doorbuster special (5AM to 11AM) on Black Friday. We don't cover the EASE in our report on Auto GPS units, but while basic, it still has text-to-speech, IQ Routes functionality, and gets decent reviews overall on Amazon.com. GPSTracklog, one of our favorite GPS review sites, calls it a "great entry-level unit" that's "excellent for the money" -- and that's at its normal price of around $100. If you're just looking for a basic GPS that'll only come out for occasional use, this looks like a genuine bargain, especially when you see an older model like the TomTom ONE 130 -- which omits IQ Routes and text-to-speech -- listed for $74.99 at OfficeMax on Black Friday. (A printable bonus coupon available that will be available at OfficeMax.com potentially lowers the price by another $25, but the EASE is still better because of its features.
Our call: All things considered, at that dirt-cheap price, the TomTom EASE may be the GPS most worth rising early for, period, on Black Friday.