This article will discuss the vendors of automotive GPS and what features you need to be on the look out for before you make a purchase. By the end of this article, you will have the required knowledge and confidence to find the device that best suits your driving life style.

Now a few sentences about the top three US companies.

1) Garmin has the deepest and broadest product line. Their Nuvi series is attractive for many buyers. Those devices have a lot of features packed into a sleek design that easily fits into your pocket.

2) Tom Tom is Garmin’s biggest competitor in the US that has attained this position due to fierce pricing. Consumer Reports recently listed the GO 920T as one of the best GPS devices to buy. If you buy it now, it will cost you a little over $400.

3) Third place is occupied by Magellan, one of the first companies to enter the automotive GPS market. Their Maestro line is the most attractive for similar reasons to the Nuvi line. Magellan uses the tour guides of AAA inside their GPS’s which is another great selling feature.

These three vendors of auto GPS units control almost 90% of the United states market to the point that anyone that has done research will see little reason to buy anything else.

There are a number of features you should be considering.

All auto GPS units have touch screens, pre-loaded maps with at least the lower 48 States and a database of pre-configured destinations, also called Points of Interest (POI’s).

Some of the more advanced but optional features are:

1) Wide, full color, glare-free screen that is at least 4.3-inches when measured across the diagonal. 2) Voice command recognition. 3) Pronunciation of street names instead of “Turn Left Here!”.. 4) Advanced re-routing or the ability to enter more than one destination. 5) Bluetooth capability so that you can use the GPS hands-free while focusing on traffic and road conditions. 6) Instant traffic and weather alerts.

Extended maps, street name pronunciation, real-time weather and traffic alerts (needs subscription) amount to an extra $200. Garmin Nuvi does these very well. The wider display and Bluetooth can step up the price above the $400 mark. Multiple point routing can add another $50 or $100.

Other, relatively superfluous features, like ‘photo album’, are offered. For simplicity, I have excluded these less important add-ons. In the automotive GPS marketplace, the competition under the $400 is quite fierce. Above that price mark, Garmin dominates the marketplace. If you are willing to spend more, I recommend you look at Garmin’s 700 and 800 product line.

If you are a first time buyer you may feel confused or overwhelmed. It is natural to not consider several things. An introductory article such as this can help you get prepared for the automotive GPS market, considerably better.