Product Description

Turn your laptop PC into a powerful street navigator with the GPS 18 — a GPS sensor bundled with nRoute™ and City Select software that automatically guides you with turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts to get you safely to your destination. Similar to Garmin's MapSource® software, nRoute features an easy-to-use interface, making it intuitive to operate so you can focus on driving. It offers auto-routing and voice-prompting capabilities to virtually any address. The GPS 18 ships with fully unlocked MapSource® City Select® CDs, which provide full coverage of the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico (North America version) or major metropolitan areas throughout Western Europe (Europe version). Map detail includes highways, interstates, business and residential roads, with turn restrictions, speed categories, and other navigation features. It also features more than five million points of interest including restaurants, lodging, attractions, shopping, emergency services, post offices, and more. The GPS 18 includes a 12 parallel channel, WAAS-enabled sensor, available with either a PC or USB connection. The receiver includes an integrated magnetic base and is less than three inches in diameter. Traveling with your laptop on business or vacation? The GPS 18 is a simple, convenient, inexpensive way to turn your PC laptop into a personal navigator to get you where you're going.

Product Details

• Color: BLACK
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: 010-00321-00
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 6.00" h x 4.00" w x 9.00" l, .22 pounds
• Native resolution: n/a

Features

• 12 Parallel Channels & WAAS-Enabled Sensor
• Available In Either A Serial Or Usb Connection
• Designed To Plug Into Most Laptop Pcs
• Offers Automatic Routing
• & Voice Prompt Navigation To Virtually Any Address

Amazon.com Product Description
Traveling with your laptop on business or vacation? Garmin's GPS 18 global-positioning sensor is a simple, convenient, and inexpensive way to turn your PC laptop into a personal navigator. The GPS sensor is bundled with nRoute and City Select navigation software that automatically guides you with turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts to get you safely to your destination.

Similar to Garmin's MapSource software, nRoute features an easy-to-use interface, making its operation intuitive so you can focus on driving. It offers auto-routing and voice-prompting capabilities for virtually any address.

The GPS 18 package also includes City Select North America map data with detailed maps of the United States and select cities in Canada. This data is fully unlocked, and map detail includes highways, interstates, business roads, and residential roads, with turn restrictions, speed categories, and other navigation features. Its more than 5 million points of interest include restaurants, lodging, attractions, shopping, emergency services, post offices, among others.

The GPS 18 includes a 12-parallel-channel, WAAS-enabled sensor/receiver just 2.4 inches in diameter with an integrated magnetic base. The receiver connects to your PC via a USB interface, high-speed 2.0 with USB 1.1 compatibility, and it's powered via your computer so you'll never have to change batteries.

What's in the Box
GPS 18 sensor with USB connection, integrated magnetic base, automotive windshield mount, nRoute with City Select North America map data (full unlock), owner's manual, and a quick-start guide.

Customer Reviews

Great product with a few annoyances
For the money, this is a great value. If you already have a laptop, then for $129 you have most of the functionality of a $1500 built-in navigator. For basic functionality, it's a 5 star item. I have used around New England for about two months, and have navigated back roads and highways. Resolution, maps, screen displays, ETA, position, etc, are all superb. Once you have selected a route and are on the way it's better than the built-in units, because it has a bigger screen (your laptop) with more information.

But without a touch screen, it's a little clumsy to use, and you have to plan on putting in destinations while stopped somewhere. It's not a bad process, takes only a few minutes, but it's slower and not as smooth as a Honda Navigator (point of reference).

You can save any waypoints or routes and recall them easily. You can show gas stations, atms, etc. It talks to you, and anticipates turns, etc very well.

Overall, a fantastic value for the price. Any defects are forgiven. When they produce a pda or tablet version, so that you could use a touch-screen, it will be a huge hit.

A great system. I'm putting a laptop in my car to use it
I've tried out the three popular GPS systems for laptops and find this the best. The other two; Delormer, and Microsoft have a long way to go to match the Garmin usb unit. They all have good features its just the Garmin does it best. For example, when aquiring satelites, by the time you've got the program booted the Garmin is ready to go. The others can take several minutes and clicking around to get them running. Not a good thing when your in a hurry. Next comes auto-routing. The Garmin excels in this area.In normal use, its very good and faster than the others. Garmin makes a lot of GPS units unlike the other 2 and I think they've got this right. However no GPS I've used is perfect at routing, it's just far less likely to take you out of your way. And if you don't believe or like their route, the Garmin has a handy feature in that it automatically and quickly reroutes itself when you don't follow its direction. Within a block of ignoring its directions it has replotted a new course for you. This handy feature lets you head in the direction you want and then if you get lost, you can just start following the GPS again - handy for us know it all guys that occasionally get lost. The other units are not nearly so friendly in this regard. They want you to follow their map or else. The Delormer unit, while better than the Microsoft unit, has the habit of being late in its direction and also likes to give you directions that amount to simply going straight on the same road.
Some other handy Garmin feature: 1)The map changes to night time display automatically when the sun goes down.This is much easier on the eyes while driving 2) There is a button you can press that will find a route from where ever you are to home. Just press the button and it will show you the way home. 3)With a click you can set your PC clock to GPS atomic time. 4) The unit will let you select two items to display on the map, such as expected time of arrival, and time or distance to next turn. As with any product there could be improvements. The search feature is not as friendly as I'd like. To search, you're expected to type in the name only, not north, drive, etc. You then pick from a long generic list of names that might not even exist -so this is a bit funky. However, if you can find the location you want on a map, you can right click it and route to it. Overall this is a great unit and I have now installed a laptop in my minivan so it will always be available. I would not do this with the other units because they require too much fiddling around with to make them work and this is too dangerous while driving. (I've made a tray to hold and hid my laptop that fits between the two front bucket seats and rests on top of the plastic base for the seats. The tray also acts like a table between the seats.)
I must tell you however of a few facts about this soft. The unit in the box I got had old software and old maps. You need to go to Garmin's website to download the updates for the software and you need to request Garmin to send a free CD for new maps. Both were updated around June 05. Once you load these in, you need to unlock the maps. There was an unlock code in the box that worked with the original maps, but so far, I have not been able to successfully to keep the updated maps unlocked. Everytime I turn it on it wants me to unlock them again. Perhaps connecting to the internet and registering will help. Even with this issue, I will give it 5 stars

NMEA compliant
All of the previous reviews are pretty much on the money. The unit works great, very accurate. I do wish it was easier to change the routing the way Delorme uses VIAs, maybe there is a way i haven't found yet.

My main addition to info for everybody is that using a little $10 program called GPS Gate will turn the Garmin 18 USB from a proprietary Garmin format to a NMEA compliant device. I had a copy of MS Streets & Trips and it worked fine. Just do a google search for gpsgate and you can try it for 2 weeks before you buy. That removes the only downside I thought this product had, now it can work with any application looking for a NMEA compliant GPS.