Fran, the key is how old the maps in the GPS are. By the time they end up in consumer hands the maps could be a couple years old (or more). Two years ago on my way to Chesapeake for the regional, I was on a stretch of road that had been reconstucted and move a ways from where it originally was. The GPS showed where I was, but as far as it knew I was in a field and it wanted me to return to the road as it knew it. It is also frustrating that all the hotels and restaurants may not be in the data base.

That said, the accuracy of the GPS is quite good. It can generally show the specific intersection you might be at, and even which side of the intersection you are sitting at.

The maps are updated periodically. I know there is an updated map for my Garmin unit, but it is not a freebie.

You can establish waypoints and save them in the GPS. I try to do this before I leave home on a trip. Sometimes it is easy to find where you want to be, sometimes not. Many lights are in a park and you can often find the park in the waypoint choices. Sometimes you might know an address or intersection that you can set up.

Some units do allow you to input lat/long coordinates, but you do have to be careful - there are variations in how coordinates are expressed and you may have to learn to convert from one style to another.

I do all this at home, transfer the information to my GPS and then look at where the map puts it, comparing it to maps on my computer to be sure the location is accurate. You ccertainly want the GPS to take you to the right place. Whenever you are using a GPS you also need to do two other things: (1) have a good, old fashioned road map with you, and have plotted on it where your lights are. (2) have a general idea of where you should be heading - don't blindly trust the GPS.

All that said, buying a GPS is no different than so many other things: the more you are willing to spend, the more you will get, at least to a point. You have to decide what each feature is worth to you. When I bought my GPS 3 years ago, it was worth an extra $100 to have the maps built into the unit instead of having them on an SD card (but I can use an SD card to add additional maps and such). It wasn't worth yet another $100 to the cost to get blue tooth and supposedly live traffic info. FWIW, the unit I bought for $450 3 years ago sells for half that now and they have created even smaller units. There are so many to look at that the decision can be difficult. You may want to look at units that allow you to either input lat/long coordinates directly into the unit or that have included software that allow you to plan your trip on the computer and transfer the route to the GPS.

A GPS really is handy for a variety of reasons, including the proverbial 'peace of mind' that you can eventually find your way back to civilization with it.