I am close to buying a Prius. I notice that the Prius navigation system is dvd based. GPS would be nicer. Has anyone tried to retrofit a gps system into the prius?

It is a GPS. The detailed map data is stored on DVD. This is better than the data being stored on CDs, as it is in the Ford Escape Hybrid (and Mercury Mountaineer Hybrid). Not sure what alernative you're hoping for, beyond a removable memory card as some portable GPS units use?

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)

Thanks. I misunderstood the system.

This is what I use. Acutally i interchange it between my two cars.

It is a Hard Drive based system which can be updated via USB port over any CPU after ordering updated maps (DVD) from the Manufacturer. I like it because it loads fast and I can take it out of the car to plot trips in my home or hotel room instead of sitting in the garage inside the car. It has 6 million POI programmed in it for all of North America. Unfortunately what you see here is an old model which i bought 2 years ago ($1200CND), i think there are newer ones out already. Oh yes, it's touch screen and it voices out street names, for example the unit's female voice says" in 250 meters, turn left on Victoria Street, then keep right". I just stated Meters but i can change the settings from Metric to Statute or from meters to Miles.
check out http://www.garmin.com/mobile/products.html#automotive if you're interested.


here it is sitting comfortably on my computer table ready to plot trips or ready to be updated via computer USB Cable. At the bottom is a BeanBag mount, it's heavy and it's rubber padded; i place it on the dash to the left just behind the steering wheel and it never flinches or moves even on bumpy roads.


No removable memory with this one, i think that's only for the older and cheaper less than $800CND units. this one is ready to use out of the box with maps already programmed in its hard drive from the factory. This one came with City Navigator North America V7 which has been out for about 2 years now, but I read that CNNA V8 is coming out soon and should be good for another 2 or so years.


good luck,
gj

CamelFilters: I have the same system (Garmin Streetpilot 2720). I bought it about 6 months ago to replace my Garmin Streetpilot III. The Text-to-Speech capability your refer to is one I especially love in this unit -- having the unit read out street names saves an extra glance at the unit's screen while driving, yet is more precise than hearing only "In .5 mile, turn right, then turn right."

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)

Very nice!,

this unit was absolutely worth it for me too.

Mine is already 2 years old, and now I'm being tempted to buy a new one.
I just checked out the Garmin website and I just saw a new unit with a 7" screen, satelite radio, etc.
It's the StreetPilot 7200, it runs for $1350CND + tax. I could definately use one of those

Garmin units keep their value well. I always end up selling my old units off on eBay for a decent price to finance my new Garmin purchases. My Streetpilot 2720 was financed with the purchase of a GPSMap 76S and the Streetpilot III. We own other Garmin units -- for aviation, mountain and road biking, and hiking/geocaching. (And in the interest of full disclosure, we are Garmin shareholders, though not a lot of shares.)

Did you buy and use the optional traffic data unit that interfaces with the Streetpilot 2720? Most of my commuting and driving is not in areas where I'd use that (vs. just looking ahead and going, "Oh no, not again..." but if you have and use it, I'd be interested in hearing your experiences with it.

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)

At the time when i purchased my GPS, the optional traffic reciever was of no use here toronto, i think it only works in the US. I think i can live without it because it's going to be busy here in rush hour traffic anyway; One really good feature of the GPS is that when I am stuck in traffic, i can browse the surrounding area and find alternative shortcuts using the side streets. This helped me cut through many small streets in small neighborhoods while everyone else is waiting in the main streets for their turn to move 10 inches . I am overall very satisfied with my unit, I have not travelled very much in the last 2 years, only to Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa. There, there are so many one way streets and this unit is excellent, it knows all the one way streets and never puts me against the direction of incoming traffic. It even had all the points of interests like those huge basillicas, old towns, shopping centers, and monuments. I went there without going through a guide book .

The only problem i had was when i went to Buffalo NY, I forgot to take off TOLL ROADS from the avoidance setup, therefore, going back to toronto, it computed to have me drive through 2 different states first and then 2 different provinces back

That was my fault though, i Just set it up to not avoid TOLL roads and it calculated for me to pass through the Peace Bridge and pay (i believe 2 bucks or something) and i was home in an hour and a half.

I like how it sits in the left side of my dash in my Prius; i was asked a few times in the stop lights by other drivers who were curious about it, they wanted to know what it was.