Portable GPS in the 996.

Do you use one? I recent purchased the LowranceWay 500c and love it except the lighter adapter keeps poping out due to the vibrations from this car and the sort of loose fit of the lighter outlet.

How do you keep people from smashing a window and stealing it when you park?

I use the Tomtom Go 300. Occasionally it is a little bit 'off' on street addresses but it does an extremely good job routing, etc. I like the 3D views and the bluetooth traffic feature is pretty cool. It has about four hours of battery life, so I only run the cord every now and then.

I have the Street Pilot 2660 and C330 by Garmin. I had the 2660 first, but it was too bulky and there was no place on the Porsche dash for it to sit on. The C330 attaches to the windshield and is more compact. I found it perfect for the C4S and the 987S. It also runs on batteries when you simply want to walk around. I now use the 2660 for the bigger vehicles we have. As for the popping out, why don't you try one of those 2 to 1 adapters? The C4S has only one lighter, so I use the adapter to plug the GPS and the radar detector on those long trips. You may find one where the GPS unit you have fits snugly. As far as break-ins, that's the beauty of the portables. You either take them with you or hide them in the trunk.

You need a special adapter to fit US plugs. The dealer carries them. Apparently all ligher sockets are made to European standard.

i use the navman icn510. decent unit. always been accurate for me. navman link the stupidity of the tomtom commercials would keep me from buying one regardless of price.

I take it out of the window and put it behind my sear or pull down one of the rear seats over it.

Ah, thank you my good man..

Extremely happy with my Garman i3. Doesn't have all of the fanciest features in the world, but it is extremely accurate and tiny- I hardwired it in and put it in the lower dash corner under my state inspection sticker. It is completely hidden from outside the car (because of the sticker) and perfectly located for my eyes while on the road. If I want to remove it, a quick clip release and it fits in my pants pocket.

UNC, got any pics of your setup or install? I am probly going to get a GPS from Costco to replace my old unit that is now obsolete.

I put the lowrance 500C in my Cabriolet and am quite happy with it. It sometimes takes a few minutes to find enough satellites to locate me and the default for highway use is silly for Los Angeles, but changing the settings to favor freeways produced sensible directions. I also hooked it up to the aux input (disabling the CD changer) and very much like having an MP3 player. I haven't completely eliminated alternator whine, even with a ground loop isolator, but I am hopeful that rearranging the path of the wires will solve that problem.

I forget that it has the MP3 player built in. I have, already, an MP3 connected to the aux input but I would like to have a hardwired for power, though.

DJ- I'll try to take some tomorrow.

You guys might want to take a look at this little nugget, just released at CES. I think this is the one I am getting. Alpine Blackbird PMD-B100 Portable Navigation Device Alpine of America, Inc., the market leader in the manufacture of high fidelity and high performance mobile equipment has recently launched it's latest innovation a portable navigation device (PND) called the Blackbird PMD-B100. The system can be docked to system and it also has an integrated traffic receiver. With the Global Positioning System, it can give turn-by-turn navigation information from the pre-incorporated comprehensive NAVTEQ� map coverage information for the maps of USA (including Hawaii and Alaska) and Canada. Just follow the voice instructions to reach virtually any destination address. The device runs on the Microsoft Windows CE platform. All controls and functions are easily manageable from the larger touch-screen in-dash monitor or with an optional. The 3.6-inch digital LCD delivers 16.7 million possible colors and anti-glare technology for easy at-a-glance visibility. You can extend and update the Map information by connecting it to a computer using a built-in USB 2.0 connection or you can directly put in information using the built-in SD/MMC card slot. Are you bored with all the stereotyped functionalities of PMD-B100? Don�t be: unlike conventional navigation devices the PMD-B100, Portable has the capabilities of playing all your favorite music tracks, it supports all formats like: MP3, WMA, and WAV. The ever entertaining FM produces an incredible sound coming out of super quality amplified speaker. The complete box pack includes a cigarette lighter power adapter that works in all vehicles, a carrying case and wiping cloth, a PC mini-USB cable, a replaceable 1200 mAh lithium polymer battery, owner's manual and quick reference guide. Blackbird (PMD-B100) will be in markets in January at an estimated retail index of $750. Alpine Blackbird (PMD-B100) Features Included: General Turn-by-turn Maps of USA and Canada onboard 6 Million Point of Interest (POI) locations 7 POI map icons Mounting cradle with built-in FM modulator and amplified speaker USB 2.0 Connection for map database updates Centrality Atlas II ARM9 CPU with embedded 16 channel GPS LCD Display 3.6" digital LCD with anti-glare touch screen and 16.7 million possible colors Ambient light sensor automatically controls display brightness. Remote control sensor Music Playback Playback from MMC/SD Card Slot Stereo audio jack for headphones MP3, WMA, and WAV Playback Alpine Blackbird (PMD-B100) Specifications: General Power Requirement (Hand-held Mode): AC Adapter: 5V @ 1.5A Power Requirement (Cradle Mode): Cigarette Lighter Adapter 12 V @ 2A Stereo audio jack size: 3.5mm Stereo audio jack output (S/N): 90 dB FM Frequency Selection: Frequency Band (14 Selections)- 87.7 MHz, 87.9 MHz, 88.1 MHz, 8.3 MHz, 88.5 MHz, 88.7 MHz, 88.9 MHz, 106.7 MHz, 107.1 MHz, 107.3 MHz, 107.3 MHz, 107.7 MHz, 107.9 MHz Chassis Size (W x H x D) in: 5-3/4" x 2-7/8" x 1-1/16" Weight: 0.5 lb LCD Display Screen Size: 3.6 inch LCD Type: TFT Active Matrix Number of Picture Elements: 230,400 pcs (320 x 240 x 3) Effective Number of Picture Elements: 99.99% or more Illumination System: LED Battery Battery Type: 1,200 mAh lithium ion battery Dimensions (W x H x D): 62mm x 7mm x 39mm Weight: 1 oz (28g) Remote Control (Optional) Model Number: RUE-4140 Battery: 2 x "AAA" Weight: 0.06 kg (2.1 oz.)

seems pretty cool but you're limited to the sd card capacity no internal hd??? So you limited currently to what about 4g I think is the biggest sd now? Also it appears that there is no line out merely a headphone out with 90 db s/n?

This is my third GPS, Garmin IQue-3600 amazes me with it's feature and convenience.

Here's some (blurry cam phone) pics of my Garman i3- hardwired using the original power cord to an additional 12v cig. outlet that I installed behind the dash. Works great. Voice is loud and clear, no blur or glare, auto-adusts for night and daylight, very accurate, and updates available via the web. It also uses as flash card to load the maps on (comes with 128mb). Don't need the mp3 functionality and didn't want a big unit- this one fits the bill perfectly. Plus, I can very easily remove it and put it in a pocket if need be.

I was getting some alternator whine from my lowrance unit, which I have hooked up to the aux input on a Porsche CDR-220. I moved the wires some distance, which are now not noticeable, but didn't manage to eliminate the high pitched alternator whine. Oddly, the whine goes almost completely away sometimes, but this may be when the alternator isn't working very hard. I have a Radio Shack ground loop isolator on the aux input wires, and get the noise even when the lowrance unit is off but the radio is tuned to aux. It isn't in the speaker wires -- I only get the sound in the aux setting. Anyone have an idea what else I might try to eliminate it?

I'm with Mike. We have two. I use it in the boat, car, even sometimes in the helicopter at work. Not to mention it's a PDA, MP3 player, slide show and video device. Cool stuff for the price and it works just like the Garmin Street Pilot. You are limited to the amount of maps by the size of the SD card you're running. I'm using a 512 and I can fit Florida and most of the southeast US, including all my marine maps with plenty of room so spare.

Garmin NUVI ($899) just bought is over x-mas. Has the size of a small digital camera...big screen, fits in your car under the rearview mirror....and looks great. Sorry but tomtom and the other systems are huge and ugly.......this NUVI is small and fits in your back pocket..has MP3 player and photo album build in..not that I ever use these features, but you nver know.....

I have the TomTomGo 700. Its great. Very fast. Internal HD. I also painted the face plate to match. Battery lasts 4 hrs so I usually don't use the cord. It also has bluetooth to use as the cell phone hands free.

you can't beat the garmin ique for the money. $500 for the whole package (car mount, memory card, unit).

Here is a photo of the iway installed in my Cabriolet. It is *much* brighter than the picture suggests, and there is no difficulty reading it in direct sunlight. As a GPS unit, it is good and bad. The good aspect is that it has everything, is easy to update, and very readable. The top thre bad aspects are first, that it is a bit quirky about freeways. There is a slider control for preferring/avoiding freeways, but it seems very sensitive, either taking you way out of your way to stay on freeways, or, if you move the slider toward avoiding them, staying on surface streets always. There is some hope of a software fix. Tee second problem is that it won't come on with the ignition -- you have to push a button even if the power is switched. The third problem is you have to guess the right category to search for things, and some are hard to find. This, again, could be improved with a software fix. Relative to my wife's built-in Acura GPS, the lowrance unit has more stores, points of interest, etc., is slightly worse on the quality of directions, and way better in the flexibility of maps because the software allows dragging and resizing the maps google-maps-style. The lowrance is a bit slow to find the satellites (2 minutes) and I've ordered a step-up Gilsson antenna which reports say solve this problem entirely. I attached it to the aux input of the stereo (disabling the CD changer in the process, but with 10MB of MP3s, this is a much better solution). Alternator whine was very difficult to deal with and the imperfect but acceptable solution was to fiddle with the cable routing until the problem isn't too bad (not noticeable at normal volumes). A ground loop isolator made the problem worse, not better. I hid the wires from the unit under the dash, but you can see them emerge briefly on the left side of the photo.

So your power cord doesn't pop out after about 30 mins of driving? I enjoy the 500c thought its the first Portible one I've used I have no idea what's good or bad. I have found that when I go to the screen that shows the Sat signals it seems to lock on by the time I get back to the main screen or by the time I input my destination. It did take me quite some time to lock on when I'm near the Capitol though.

I recommend TomTom 500, reason you can place the maps of the USA on a 2GB Card and the maps of Europe on another 2GB Card, makes travel and use of rental cars easy. Also subscribe to traffic update to avoid the traffic jams while traveling and the radar cameras to assist in not getting any tickets. TomTom 700 sounds great but I think it would be the better choice if you only use in USA or Europe could be wrong on that so if anyone travels with a 700 let me know I would love to get one. Thanks

Has anyone used the traffic functions of the tomtom? It is obviously a cool idea. However from combing gps forums it appears that it is in the infanancy and doesn't work very well. Further, the fact that tomtom doesn't use navteq maps kills it. How good is the nav if it tells you to go the wrong way?

I have only used the Tomtom traffic and blitz camera function in Germany and I can say that it has saved me from several tickets and helped me to avoid traffic jams along Autobahn 3 and 6. I have never used the traffic function while driving I always just check it prior to my departure. Not sure if that helps you.