GPS advice

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swordfish1

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Hi all,

I am looking at buying a GPS for a gift. It is for someone who doesn't know how to read good old maps ...

the problem I have is that it looks to me that the ones for a car are quite bulky and heavy, hence you can't slip it in your hand bag when you leave your car in the parking lot. Given the crime rates in SA, I guess it is highly unadviceable to have a gps hanging on your dashboard in clear sight of all criminals lurking around. On the other hand, the handheld ones, are they any good for a car navigation?

What about the PDA/GPS thingies? Are they any good? Must be easy to program and must be able to tell you where to turn etc. Any advice?

thanks
 
I use a Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox and a Fortuna U2 GPS receiver. Unfortunately its seperate but I prefer that way as the GPS antenna is outside my car. There is a Bluetooth version of the GPS receiver but I dont want more toys running on batteries :-)

As for a PDA with GPS built in is OK, but you are still going to have a bulky expensive looking item in the cradle in your dashboard :-)

As for accuracy, MapIT is very good with voice navigation... I just wish TomTom navigator was more resonably priced with SA maps.
 
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RichardP said:
I use a Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox and a Fortuna U2 GPS receiver. Unfortunately its seperate but I prefer that way as the GPS antenna is outside my car. There is a Bluetooth version of the GPS receiver but I dont want more toys running on batteries :-)

As for accuracy, MapIT is very good with voice navigation... I just wish TomTom navigator was more resonably priced with SA maps.
Click to expand...
thanks RichardP, can you give me more details, do you take it with you when you leave your car in the parking lot? How easy is to get it running once you get into the car? Are there any cables and stuff you need to attach or it is all wireless?

I need something that is very easy and conveninent to use, you get into your car, you click few buttons to tell it where you want to go and that's it, it tells you were to turn etc. No cables and stuff like that around.

what price I am looking at for fully functional setup?
 
swordfish1 said:
thanks RichardP, can you give me more details, do you take it with you when you leave your car in the parking lot? How easy is to get it running once you get into the car? Are there any cables and stuff you need to attach or it is all wireless?

I need something that is very easy and conveninent to use, you get into your car, you click few buttons to tell it where you want to go and that's it, it tells you were to turn etc. No cables and stuff like that around.

what price I am looking at for fully functional setup?
Click to expand...

Prices on PDA's dont know ... except the U2 GPS receiver cost about R700 (serial). The GPS receiver lives with the PDA as its only 1 cable, when I get in the car, I just plug it in and place the receiver where the sky is in view. I unfortunately have a wired GPS receiver so I have to conceal the cables (in my car thats easy)
The one I have is
http://www.composite.co.za/template.php?cnttid=44
this is the Bluetooth one
http://www.composite.co.za/template.php?cnttid=38

MapIT is not bad to setup, the PC software you setup your routes and then send them to the PDA... or you can enter an address directly on the PDA (both work). For your application I think the bluetooth GPS is better.. that one I think costs about R1200

Richard

P.S. you will need power to your PDA as the backlight drains the battery in no time. (and its a pain in the arse when the backlight switches off every 10 seconds)
 
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nic777 said:
The last time I went to get an alarm fitted, they had a small GPS unit there, especially built for cars. I think its more what you looking at.

Can't remember the name but it could be a Garmin.
Check it out.

http://www.have2have.co.za/product_info.php?products_id=1108&osCsid=a7d3cf2b6177d3750e2d04dbcb6770f1
Click to expand...
thanks, that is one cool site

I am looking at this
http://www.have2have.co.za/product_...id=37&osCsid=a7d3cf2b6177d3750e2d04dbcb6770f1
and that
http://www.have2have.co.za/product_...=1107&osCsid=a7d3cf2b6177d3750e2d04dbcb6770f1
 
I bought the Garmin Quest last week. It came with Garmap v3, City Select v5 and the European City Select - R6400. It is the smallest car navigation system which fits into your pocket.
 
JayT said:
I bought the Garmin Quest last week. It came with Garmap v3, City Select v5 and the European City Select - R6400. It is the smallest car navigation system which fits into your pocket.
Click to expand...
So, are you happy with it? Is it easy and convenient to use and functional?
 
yea, I bought mine from Cape Union Mart. Taking into account that the Garmap v3 is around R1500-R1700 and the SA City Select v5 is also around R1600-R1800... its not a bad price for the GPS unit and then you still get the EU City select.

It works damn well. I used it various times in Jhb last week and to find my way to clients in CT this week. It also has a much larger memory than other GPS units (around 245MB available for map data). Currently I have the whole of the Western Cape and most of Jhb/Pta loaded and I've used 26MB. The screen is clear and the car adapter, with a built in speaker, allows for turn by turn voice prompts. Searching for a place or address is also easy. Enter your destination no and street and it will tell you which side of the road its on. This obviously depends on the accuracy you have at that time. While driving, I found the accuracy is around 3-6m which isnt to bad.
 
JayT said:
yea, I bought mine from Cape Union Mart. Taking into account that the Garmap v3 is around R1500-R1700 and the SA City Select v5 is also around R1600-R1800... its not a bad price for the GPS unit and then you still get the EU City select.

It works damn well. I used it various times in Jhb last week and to find my way to clients in CT this week. It also has a much larger memory than other GPS units (around 245MB available for map data). Currently I have the whole of the Western Cape and most of Jhb/Pta loaded and I've used 26MB. The screen is clear and the car adapter, with a built in speaker, allows for turn by turn voice prompts. Searching for a place or address is also easy. Enter your destination no and street and it will tell you which side of the road its on. This obviously depends on the accuracy you have at that time. While driving, I found the accuracy is around 3-6m which isnt to bad.
Click to expand...
thanks, just one more thing, why do you need 2 maps (Garmap and SA City Select)? I need map for SA, most comprehensive one with autorouting, don't need european maps and any other fancy things. What is the difference between the different maps? Do they complement each other or what?

thanks
 
If you aren't planning on going overseas or wanting to sell the City Select CD, then the garmap will be fine by itself. Garmap being the newer map, with support for voice prompts, has fewer compatible units compared to the older City Select.

I was impressed with the Garmap because I stay in a private road which never appears in any mapbooks etc. Garmap includes the road and various other private roads in the area.

Garmap info:
http://www.garmap.com/info_V3.asp

City Select info:
http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/cityselectSAFRICA.jsp
 
JayT said:
If you aren't planning on going overseas or wanting to sell the City Select CD, then the garmap will be fine by itself. Garmap being the newer map, with support for voice prompts, has fewer compatible units compared to the older City Select.

I was impressed with the Garmap because I stay in a private road which never appears in any mapbooks etc. Garmap includes the road and various other private roads in the area.

Garmap info:
http://www.garmap.com/info_V3.asp

City Select info:
http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/cityselectSAFRICA.jsp
Click to expand...
thanks JayT!

I am looking at gps-shop.co.za, haven't decided yet on which one to get, but I see that they also bundle them with SA City Select and Garmap. I don't see the point of having both, taking into account that they cost about R1500+ each. I will be much better getting it R1000 chaper, rather than having 2 maps, only one of which will be used?!

I quite like the iQue 3600 ... very expensive (R7500 with the car kit), but seems quite cool and it is fully functional PDA as well, and you can connect it to the net via infrared and a cell phone GPRS. The only thing I am worried is how convenient is to use in a car, as it seems mostly operated with stylus, although apparently the screen is a touch screen as with other GPS devices, but I think the buttons are too small to be pressed with fingers.

Also, I was wondering, how do you enter an address in your GPS? It seems to be touch screen only, how do you enter text?

thanks
 
The Quest isnt touch screen. You use the directional buttons to select the key values and the Ok button to confirm them and continue. Alternatively, planning the route on your pc is much faster and can easily be loaded onto the GPS unit.
 
JayT said:
The Quest isnt touch screen. You use the directional buttons to select the key values and the Ok button to confirm them and continue. Alternatively, planning the route on your pc is much faster and can easily be loaded onto the GPS unit.
Click to expand...
ok then, so it isn't more convenient than using a stylus :)

well, have another week or so to think about it, so if you or anyone else wants to give me some more tips, ideas, advices, will be highly appreciated :)

thanks!
 
For the price you're wanting to pay, you might as well get a laptop and the bluetooth GPS unit. The PDA options are very restricted as you cant do that much on them (refering to the PDA side of things). For a portable GPS, I would still stick to the proper GPS units. But thats my personal preference.
 
yes I sort of know that you can't do everything on this PDAs, but looking at the prices the plain GPS cost R5500 and can be used just for GPS, while the iQue which is R7500 has full GPS functionality + full PDA functionality, and they are integrated, so if you put the address for an appointment in your outlook email, after sync it ends up in the GPS and can navigate you there (or at least that is my understanding). Besides that you get MP3/Audio book and photo viewer.

One of the most important reasons why I am so far leaning toward the PDA thing is because we live in SA, you can't leave your GPS in your car haning on the windscreen, you must put it in your bag every time you leave the car. If you have a pure GPS, this mean you will be carrying with you one "useless" device. If you have a PDA, then it makes sense to carry it anyway.

as I said, have one more week to think about it ... so will see :)

thanks
 
Time to resurrect this old thread!

I just got an iQue 3600 secondhand, but my stylus is busted - can anybody help me out with a spare?

And I want to see if I can rewire the power connector to accept a miniUSB plug, as don't want to cart around different power supplies all the time!

Cheers

Chris
 
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