Good GPS. Don't buy it

If you are thinking of buying this to save money over other car GPS units, you should reconsider for two main reasons.

First, it is unsafe. You will probably put your laptop on the passenger seat or between the front seats if you have the room. You can't mount it anywhere on the dash. Having used a Garmin 2610 for years and now this, I've found turning your attention away from the windshield is dangerous. You are going to look at the GPS when you have to make turns or lane changes. Glancing toward a small dashboard mounted GPS at those critical moments leaves you with your peripheral vision on the road; glancing at your laptop on the passenger seat makes you blind to the rapidly evolving road situation. (Ever have someone at an interchange either suddenly brake in front of you; or cut in front of you, then brake? If not, I'd like to move to your city.) I've also found that turning your head toward the passenger seat briefly disrupts your orientation -- which is just when you don't need any disruption at all. Yes, I do have the screen in "vehicle up" mode. It's the physical turning of your head that changes your orientation. It is brief, but noticeable -- again, just when you don't need any discontinuity in your situational awareness.

Second, it is hard on your laptop. Your computer's hard drive is a gyro whirling at 5000 to 7000 RPM with a reader head just microns off the disk surface. It was not designed to absorb the torque on the spindle or shock to the read/write head that bouncing over potholes or speed bumps, and curving around entrance ramps puts on it. The laptop's screen hinges were not designed to hold the screen against those forces either. The screen wasn't designed to be used in direct sunlight, which no matter which way you're driving, the motion of the car and sun will eventually put the screen in direct sunlight. If you are like most of us, that will be just when you really need to see where you are. In fairness, a portable dash mounted GPS will also get sun glare, but you reach up and swivel it a few degrees and you're good to go again. Even without direct glare, your car is so bright inside that you'll have to adjust your laptop's screen brightness to maximum to have a fighting chance to see anything. I've found that leaving the GARMIN 18 in its night color scheme all the time gives me better visibility during the daytime, but that's often the difference between seeing some faint markings on the screen and nothing. I've had to lift the laptop off the seat and hold it just right to see what's going on. You don't want to have to do that.

Other items:

Initial satellite lock is very rapid. However, this unit has taken up to 15 minutes to relock after losing signal when going through a tunnel or sitting under an overpass waiting for the light to change. This seems to be a problem in cities more than out in the country. Of course, in the country you can only be on the road that just came out of the tunnel. Rapid relock isn't imperative. In the city, there are a lot of alternatives and that's when you want the assistance. I have found myself trying to avoid stopping under overpasses just to keep this from happening.

Laptop battery life is not going to be enough to get you any distance down the road. All the power saving schemes to extend battery life will have to be suspended lest your computer screen shuts down or your laptop hibernates when you least expect it. You either need a 12v adaptor or a dc to ac inverter for sufficient power to keep the laptop going. If you don't have those now, then an external car powered source is a necessary additional expense.

When you arrive at your destination, are you going to leave your laptop lying on the seat while you're away? I didn't think so. Now you are going to have to shutdown your computer, disconnect all the cords and store or take your laptop with you. Do you make trips with frequent stops? Imagine all that -- and the reconnect and bootup routine to get going again. With the other car GPS units, you just tuck it under a seat when you want to conceal it, then pick it up when ready to go again. Though this is a USB unit, mine has never resynched with the software once it has been disconnected requiring a complete shutdown and restart.

Are you going to want to see supplemental information the Garmin 18 software has available while you're driving? Of course you are. You may want to see the upcoming routing information, or the status page. You'll either have to operate a mouse or poke your stylus at the appropriate tab. When you do, you are a moving road hazard. The Garmin people seemed to have assumed only someone sitting at desk would want to read that info, so they put it in type about the size you're reading now. Try to imagine looking across your car, locating, and reading this info at 65 MPH.

Some recent car GPS units will announce the names of the upcoming roads. My old 2610 didn't and I couldn't imagine why I'd pay more for that feature since the road names were displayed on the unit and as visible as a road sign. I wish it was included on the Garmin 18. Too bad it isn't.

With my Garmin 2610, I could plan routes at my desk computer checking various alternatives then download them to the GPS when I was done. With the Garmin 18; though the software is on the laptop, it doesn't let you experiment unless the unit is connected. This is an annoyance.

If your laptop is limited to normal landscape orientation, you aren't going to like the ridiculously small strip of map Garmin has left for you. Almost two thirds of the screen will be taken up with menus and buttons across the top and tabbed information strips across the bottom.

The software is too finicky when searching its database of street, city, and business names. By this time, Garmin, you should have developed or bought a fuzzy search capability.

Garmin recommends having someone hold the laptop and read off the pertinent information to avoid all the objections above. If you're going to do that, then print off Mapquest before you go and save yourself $100 and a trip's worth of anxiety.

Save your money and use it toward a real car GPS. While that seems expensive, remember you are putting a very expensive laptop at risk every time you jostle it over rough roads (and they're all rougher than your desktop), or you brake hard, or you pick it up to see what's on the screen. Remember, Garmin isn't going to pick up the cost of fixing your laptop. If that doesn't convince you then think of the irritation of connecting, booting, shutting down, disconnecting, lugging, storing, reconnecting, and rebooting the laptop at every stop. That will soon make you wish you'd spent the extra money.

Finally, no matter what, the increased risk to you and your family is not worth it. You are more valuable to your family and friends than the 200 plus dollars you are going to save if you buy the Garmin 18 instead of a self contained car GPS unit.