I have used Tom Tom, Garmin, Magelon and Lowarance auto version and for the laptop, Co Piolet and Microsoft Streets and Maps. The Co Piolet is supposed to be better according to most but I lost patience for it and shelved it becuase the Microsoft Streets and Maps was so intuative and easier to use. But it doesn't have the option to to tell you not to go down this road because their's a low bridge like the big rig Copilot Big Rig does.

For a car GPS, the Tom Tom is the easiest to use hands down. It automatically zooms in and then back out before and after turns. Newer GPS's have bluetooth features which will read you bluetooth engabled cell phone's address book and let you search and dial calls and it works as a speakerphone also but it might be considered safer since you have large print to see your phone book instead of hunting around on your phone while your driving. Since I am not retired and work from the road, I'm on the phone a lot working while I'm driving, although I have not gotten one of the bluetooth enable GPS's I refer to. I use the Microsoft Streets and Trips. It sits right on my dash and has never come close to falling even with no velcro or anything and you have a much larger screen than a regular GPS but if yours won't stay on your converters dahs, you could look into the getting a Jotto Desk which is similar to the brackets police cars use to hold thier computers. They sell them in various lenghts to accomadate RV'ers. The software such as Piloet or Streets and Trips gives you much more comprehensive planning ability and is more robust than a stand alone GPS and it's about $120 for the software and the sensor.

Whether you looking at a GPS or a map, I found out the hard way that when you see a road that has a truck load of winds and hair pin turns, that means your going over a mountain. So on top of the hair pin turns your turning going up or down. Go another way when you see somthing look like a line of aint's walking through a drop of whiskey.