I use a Tomtom Go 920 and I like it alot, I just put in on the cigarette lighter area (open up the wood trim) and it just fits the width and it won't slide around. It angles up a bit and I don't have any problems viewing it. I don't like to leave the suction cup on the windshield as I think it's a thief magnet, and if I put it away everytime it's kind of troublesome. For my purpose it's perfect since I don't use it everyday, and whenever I need it, just grab it from the center console, turn it on and GO.

Lots of neat little features, like BT calling, remote, europe and US maps, voice recognition, FM transmitter, and many customization option. The two features I think it's cool is the remote and voice recognition. I never though I will use the remote but this BT remote comes in pretty handy when navigating. The voice recognition is useful if you know the address (or have two cross streets), will be nice if I can find POI using that. You still have to tap once to get the voice recognition activated (have to setup a shortcut so it has an icon in the main screen), but after that you speak the city, they will give you choice (like #1 through #4). So far while driving the city and street names show up everytime (sometime not the #1 choice), and it comes in really handy.

Good thing is I got it from costco ($400) and can return it if I don't like it, but this one will be a keeper for sure. Don't think they have this on costco anymore, but amazon has is for under $500. Mine doesn't have the T in the model which means it doesn't have the TMC traffic thing. Check out the reviews at gpsreview.net. From what I read the graphics on the garmin is better, but it has a slower refresh rate (due to better map/graphics) so the garmin may seem a little more choppy as it navigates.

Go to bestbuy to check them out. Definitely try out the 920T and the voice recognition (pick the dialog one) and see how well it works for you. You can setup a shortcut for that so don't worry about going thru the multiple screens just to get to VR. I read on CES that garmin will come out with the 800 series nuvi which will have voice recognition, but it's not out yet, plus count on spending at least $700-$800 on that...

 

I had the TomTom 910 in my last 4 cars. Absolutely LOVED it. Got through three of them though, not the most reliable units. But in terms of speed and features, it absolutely blows the inbuilt SatNav from BMW or any other manufacturer out of the water. In the UK you can buy them for around ?200, and that includes global maps, 20Gb harddrive, mp3 playback, speed camera warnings, TMC traffic warnings, Bluetooth handsfree calling, all right out of the box. Compare that to the BMW system which is slow, has bugger all features, doesnt even do full postcode searches, speed camera warnings, etc etc which comes in at around ?2500 with bluetooth (add USB option for external MP3, no built in hard drive).

I _HATE_ the inbuilt BMW Nav. Anybody who has ever used a TomTom will know what I mean. But ... I can't stand the ugliness of a tomtom stuck on your windscreen with cables trailing down to your cigarette lighter. I would rather pay ?2000 and have a slower and crapper system just to avoid that. In the E60 with HUD, satnav is pretty cool, but the tomtom still blows it away.

I really hope by the time the F10 comes out, they have something like TomTom built in, with a 64Gb Solid State drive for global maps, WiFi so you can upload updates and personal POIs, space for 20Gb of MP3s.... *drool*. But more realistically, the system will just be a slight evolution of what they have now, running map disk DVD 2010-02.