vehicle gps navigation system

[06 blitzen]

im looking to get the better half a satnav and most of the knuckleheads at jb, dick smith, harvey norman couldnt give me any info that i couldnt read from picking up the box. sound all informative and helpful but when asked something other than does it have touch screen they go straight to the ticket or box.....so im after some experience and advice.

key features im looking for are
bluetooth;
dont wanna pay much more than 500 if i can get away with it (i get cost price at jb, good guys and harvey norman, so factor that in when you look at the price)
...
some cool things i would like but am not totally fussed if i dont get are
fm transmission,
live traffic update (dunno much about this feature so its in the not fussed box).

so far from looking through websites ive concluded that navman have the best and clearest webpage.
garmin and tomtom are big names but couldnt get a clear comparison of products from their websites.

so far i like
navman my500xt (comes in at a touch over 400 with free maps for 3yrs)
navman my55t (comes in at about 350 with the same map deal)
and i like the garmins...except if i want extras like traffic update its a 2nd cable and that rules it out straight away.

so what do you guys think?
what are you using....and dont say subi's inbuilt satnav!

[senator]

ECUdata scanner with IGO 8 sat nav software, around the $450 for the forum group buy……. plus you have a way to monitor engine vitals too.

[06 blitzen]

its not for my subi....my partners car is a ka lazer...dont think she really cares about engine vitals!

ive had a look at some of the new tom toms, and they are looking pretty good...definatly ruled out the garmin as its just not able to offer an all in one package like the navman and tom tom

[MY10_3.6L]

Guy I do work with some times has a Navman...does the traffic info thing very well, I was ahead of him going to a job near Bankstown Airport, there was a crash in the M5 tunnel, I got delayed for ages, his GPS knew it was ahead, detoured him off the toll road and onto taxpayer funded goat tracks, bypassed the trouble, put him back on the highway and he beat me by about 25mins!!!....money well spent....made me look at Subaru indash GPS and ask WTF???...why a sedan has a reverse camera and not this feature is beyond me!!