Navigation GPS recommendations for driving?

I'm in California, so with the new laws about texting I would imagine that using the GPS on my cell phone might get me ticketed.  Anyone have either love or hate recommendations?  I was looking at the Garmin 350.

We've got a Garmin nuvi 760. No complaints here. Garmin do GPS right. If you have a Costco membership then keep an eye out for sales on them - you can end up getting a bunch off (ours was $100 off).

costco has a tomtom that's rated below 3 stars by consumers...I won't buy anything that has poor consumer ratings like that!  I do have an amazon gift card for $50 burning a hole in my pocket plus a $30 credit for signing up on their credit card so amazon will likely be the source.

I've been using GPS on my cell phone because I got a 30 day free trial when i renewed my contract and replaced my phone.  It has come in handy, especially while I was on vacation over the holidays but once the free trail is up it will cost me 10 bucks a month to keep it active.  I can't see myself paying that.  When you buy a Garmin, et al, do you have to pay a monthly service fee?

Give me a Thomas Guide over GPS any day.

you cant go wrong with garmin

i just bought a Garmin Nuvi 205. it's little, cute, simple to use and seems to work great so far (haven't gotten out to test it all that much yet). i've heard nothing but good things about garmin, so that's my recommendation!

Part of my current interest in a GPS is that you no longer have to pay a monthly fee.  You used to and for the models that have constant updates you still do, but for the most part you get the initial mapping software and are free to update it or not as you choose by buying the upgrade CDs.  I've also been using my cell phone for the mapping function and the few times that I've gotten lost I've been very happy to have it.  The iPhone has a better version than my Blackberry, but I still have another 18 months to go on my contract.  Yahoo maps and map quest often come up with different directions, I'm not sure which one is best most of the time, but the phone directions are hard to modify or choose specific freeways and I'd also like the function of being able to find local stores.

I have the current COSTCO coupon book which has the Garmin Nuvi 750 GPS for $199.99 (the high end of my price range).  This one barely has a 3 star rating.  People either love it or hate it, most of those panning it had problems with it out of the box or were upset about the lack of a user manual.  With costco, the return policy is good so if I hate it I can take it back.  Also, the reviews on Amazon were close to 5 star with the negative ones mentioning the lack of manual and power adaptor.

They also have the Garmin Nuvi 250 for $149.99 with a much higher rating, but only 5 reviewers.  It gets about the same rating on Amazon, for $50 buck more I'm inclined to go with the newer unit with more features.

The Magellan 1430 has no reviews on costco and 2 stars on Amazon...pass.

The Tom Tom reviews are lackluster at best, indicating that they're slow and hard to reach a satellite in cloudy areas...I frequently have coastal fog...pass.

I could go with an in-dash unit, but there aren't very many reviews on that and since I'm just burning CDs for now I don't really need it.

Before you spend more for the newer model, make sure it's worth it! some of the bells and whistles that come with the more expensive models might be things you just don't need. my coworker got a fancier version of the one i have because it's bluetooth compatible. not something that i needed so wouldn't have been worth the upgrade for me. some are able to connect to the internet to check traffic and stuff too.

there's also the whole speaking of the street names thing. the one i got says "turn left in ___" and displays the street name on the screen. some of the fancier versions will actually say "turn left onto Main Street"

A laptop with wireless connection and good ol' fashioned luck that someone has a router on without insane privacy connections.

Don't laugh.  I've had to resort to that when my cell phone died and I was lost. 

I'm trying to get away from carrying more things that can be stolen...I'm actually veering back towards a traditional map that you can buy at any gas station if you get lost...I don't really need to spend $200 bucks just for the sake of conveniences...or so I say now when I'm not lost.