Originally Posted by SlowTeg

The real cheap chargers are usually 500mA chargers, but spending a few extra bucks and getting a 1A charger like this Motorola are well worth it imo: http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/B000S5Q9CA

I bought a few of these for our cars and they can even charge the battery (albeit slowly) while the GPS is active.

I do share your sentiment though regarding the phone sometimes being a pita as a nav unit. I've had annoying issues where it couldn't lock on the satellite at times and one time where it froze on a long trip. It can definitely be annoying. Usually though it works well enough for me that it hasn't made me buy a gps unit. The ability to search for something and navigate to it w/o having to type in an address and update the map software is nice.

Originally Posted by deepbluejh

I'll buck the trend and say just get a dedicated GPS. Here is what I have found with using a phone for a GPS:

- It's not as good as a dedicated GPS at picking up a signal
- It's not as stable as a dedicated GPS. Phones freeze and crash. My Tom Tom is 100% rock solid. It has NEVER failed me.
- Nearly all car chargers don't supply enough current to keep the phone fully charged while using the GPS. Basically your phone will run dead on longer trips. If this happens you're left with no phone AND no directions to get back home.
- It's a pain if anyone every calls in the middle of critical directions. You basically lose your GPS during that time. Then you're left fumbling with a complicated device when you should be driving.

I've gotten pissed off at my phone more times than I care to count trying to use it for a GPS on important trips. Now I just use it as a backup while my dedicated Tom Tom serves GPS duties.