I've heard nothing but horrible things from TomTom. As for the Alpine one, the GPS guy told me it sucks, sure it's an all in one GPS, MP3, portable, etc... but the GPS part is horrible, and it's their first attempt at it.

I usually go with Garmin since they have established their name, but some of the Garmin models suck too. For something good but basic, you'd be spending about $400 + extras. I would pick out of the newest models since they are the most updated. To update your machine, you are going to have to pay a fee in the future, like $50.