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The Best GPS Solutions for Business Travelers

The ten best GPS units and applications for business travelers

By , About.com Guide

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GPS solutions are such a great option for business travelers. Not only can they help you navigate around town and avoid daily commuting traffic tie ups, but they make it much easier to find your way around a new city, state, or region when you’re on a business trip.

Luckily, over the past few years the prices on GPSs have dropped significantly, and the features you get have increased. Travelers may also want to consider GPS applications (or apps) that run on a smartphone.

Read on to find out my selections for some of the best GPS units and GPS software for today’s business traveler.

1. Garmin Nuvi 3790T

Garmin
A high-end stand-alone GPS unit that's really slim, with a great color display. The Garmin Nuvi 3790T is one of Garmin's latest models, and it shows. In addition to being thin, the unit has a highly-sensitive touch screen, with multi-touch capabilities (like an iPhone) for pinching or zooming. The power cord includes a receiver for real-time traffic updates. Perhaps most interesting of all, though, is the unit's Voice Command option. The Nuvi 3790T includes voice control, which lets drivers or users select menu options, search for a destination, and more using basic voice commands.
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2. ALK Technologies CoPilot Live

CoPilot

The CoPilot Live GPS app from ALK Technologies, Ltd. is a full-featured GPS application for an Apple iPhone (they also have version for the iPad, Android, and Windows Mobile smartphones). CoPilot Live is an impressive GPS solution and works much better than other iPhone GPS applications I've tested. Based on my testing, it's highly accurate, easy to use (once you get the hang of it), and well-designed.

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3. Garmin Nuvi 1200

Garmin

A solid, basic GPS for everyday use. Easy to carry around, not expensive enough to worry about if it gets stolen, and easy to use.

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4. TomTom XXL 540S 5-Inch Widescreen

PriceGrabber
The TomTom XXL 540S is a 5-inch widescreen GPS unit that comes preloaded with North American maps, advanced lane guidance (which I really like), and 7 million points of interest (POI). The product also includes a "fold and go easy port" mount, that makes it easy to slip the unit in your purse or pocket, when you're done.
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5. Garmin Nuvi 1300

Garmin
The Garmin Nuvi 1300 is a lot like the Garmin Nuvi 1200, except that the 1300 is a wide screen model. Although I tend to prefer smaller screens when I have to put the GPS in my pocket or take it with me, when navigating, the wide screen version wins. Thus, if you don't mind the slightly larger size, definitely go for a model like the Garmin Nuvi 1300, with its wide screen and text-to-speech directions.
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