The Queen of Persia-
First the good news:
The features that you are looking for are very basic (except if you decide to go for real-time traffic) and should come in at well under your budgeted amount. Pretty much any GPS sold will do what you are asking for.
Now, the less good news:
I don’t know GPS models. Garmin and Magellan are the two biggest brands,and I they both make models that get good ratings. I personally got a very basic unit on sale over a year ago for $175, and they’ve come down quite a bit since then.
Your requirements of “SIMPLE, CLEAR & DEPENDABLE” make sense, and I would add audible in a relatively noisy car (if you have kids I need say no more), and easy to put in a purse or briefcase (to avoid theft).
I would use word-of-mouth from recent buyers, as well as online reviews in determining which model to get.
I can ask a couple of people who bought a GPS around Pesach-time and are happy with it what model they have, but that info is likely already outdated.
Any and all posters and lurkers who’ve recently purchased a GPS – here’s your opportunity to be helpful.