I've been writing this column since 1999, and since then, the rule of thumb about navigation systems has been that they cost $2,000. Guess what? They still cost $2,000 or more - at least the ones with all the bells and whistles. These include hard-wired speed sensors and gyroscopes. Maybe that's why you don't see them around that much, because not too many of us have a spare $2,000 to blow on a nav system when we usually just go back and forth between work and home.
Most of the nav systems available today come pre-installed on high-end vehicles as a factory option. These also cost $2,000, but at least it's buried in the lease payment. Alpine, Pioneer, and Eclipse are all still in the nav business, so someone must be buying and installing these products.
Let's face it. Although most of us don't need a navigation system on a daily basis, there is a smaller group that absolutely does, and if they don't have it yet, they should. This includes salespeople, realtors, contractors, truckers, and delivery people - folks who go to new, unfamiliar destinations on a daily basis.
The good news is, while the hard-wired, bells-and-whistles navigation systems still cost $2,000, technicians have been quietly working away in the background making more powerful computer chips at a cheaper cost, driving a revolution in handheld GPS. I don't know if you are familiar with geocaching, but hundreds of thousands of people are basically playing hide-and-seek on the weekends with their GPS units.
The upshot is you can use a handheld GPS as a poor man's navigation system. The downside is you can mount your handheld on some kind of stalk or cradle, but it's probably going to be sitting on the seat next to you, and you're going to be glancing down at it periodically while driving - until that final time when you glance back up from the unit and see a fully-loaded car carrier stopped about 20 feet ahead of you on the freeway.
A better solution might be the next level up, what you might call a middle-class nav solution, such as the Garmin Street Pilot (MSRP $1,166). For about half the cost of a bells-and-whistles model, you still get some nice functionality, including a full-color display with turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts. Mount this thing on the dash of your truck, and you're ready to start navigating with the best of them.