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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Need little help !!!
I would like to thank POCKET GPS (Dave) for the reviews of some navigation software available on the market, the best reviews I have seen on the net.
I am from Canada and I am planning a trip in Italy end of september. I am gonna rent a car there and I was thinking about buying a navigation software to help me travel the ''easy way''.
I want a wireless solution (receiver) that I can bring with me anywhere even when I am walking ! (switch on the unit to see where I am and have some clue to where I want a go !!!)
Actually I am looking at 4 different solutions for GPS street routing and navigation package for US, Canada and Europe:
1- CoPilot Pocket PC with Bluetooth receiver
2- Destinator 2 wtih receiver ?
3- TomTom Navigator 2 with Bluetooth receiver
4- Garmin iQue 3600
As far as I am concern and with the information I have, It is not that easy to find to best all around package !
Simply because I cannot try anything where I live, nobody (retailer) are carrying that type of product !!!!
Except for the Pocket PC, I have to buy everything else trough the Net without having the chance to see or try the products myself !
This is why I would like some comments on what to chose.
All the solutions above with the options I need cost nearly the same price and since I am looking for the best solution, the difference in price is not really a factor in my decision making
Could you tell me what would be the best solution ?
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Need little help !!!
Thanks Marc, We really do try our best, and I think this is reflected in the reviews and the support we provide via Pocket GPS.
Looking at the options you have provided, it looks like you've done quite a bit of ground work. A wireless setup, or even Compact Flash card setup are great, my personal preference is Bluetooth, although there are some great new CF cards coming onto the market which we will be reviewing soon. I think we'd have to rule out the iQue as we haven't tested or reviewed it yet as it's not available in mainland Europe or the UK until probably September, so really can't offer any advice on this, although it does look good!
Going for North American and European maps will become very expensive. What I'd recommend is that you look at going for what you're going to use the most. If you think you'll use maps more in Canada, then make this a priority rather than Europe.
TomTom do have software and maps now for both Europe and North America. The thing with TomTom is it could save you money in the long term. If you're not looking for complete European maps, then you could go for North American maps, and then purchase a country set of Italy which would then be cheaper than purchasing a complete Europe wide map.
CoPilot Live is a good option, both for North America and Europe, and North American customers will be able to purchase an upgrade to cover them for Europe and vice versa soon. Navman is another front runner, with European and North American maps, although I haven't heard anything different, but about a month ago they still weren't offering NA customers European maps and vice versa. Destinator maps are very accurate, the downside is that you won't get a complete country wide map, they're broken down into segments which can make routing difficult. Another option for cheapness in Europe would be to purchase a months subscription or annual subscription to Mapopolis. All of these packages have Bluetooth connectivity and will work well with Bluetooth Receivers.
You don't mention what Pocket PC you have (if any), the HP iPAQ 2210 is a good buy (perhaps not quite for Navman at the moment as they're having problems with it), Destinator too are having problems, but this may be fixed now, I need to try this. The other packages are okay with Windows Mobile 2003 (latest OS for Pocket PC's), and if you wanted to go a CF card GPS route than you would have dual storage slots (SD for memory) and CF for GPS. Best of both worlds.
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Need little help !!!
The Live Feature of CoPilot is revolutionary in consumer GPS, and is a great feature, but one that probably won't be used all that much by consumers to be honest. The main reason is that TravRoute have brought together such a great product. Don't forget you get a PC based mapping application (for non GPS use) where you can plot routes, download map segments, and this makes the package superb. TomTom still does have a more of an attractive setup in screens and interface, both products are market leaders.
CoPilot can be less hungry on maps. It really depends how you use CoPilot. If you want full country maps, then it's not far off TomTom, Navman etc. However, if you want to plan longer journeys which require larger map sizes, then CoPilot wins because of the feature to plot a route on the PC and then set a radius for the route, and it will download maps for the entire route with the radius you set, saving what could be hundreds of megs of space. If you're just looking at doing 40 mile trips, then this feature probably won't appeal to you too much.
I'm not sure about map sizes for Canada, in the UK most UK country maps are around 95mb in size, Canada I would think would be larger than this. 256mb SD cards are pretty inexpensive at the moment, 512mb's aren't too badly priced seeing the amount of storage space you get. Go for the largest size you can afford. You won't regret it! IBM MicroDrive's are good, I've been a huge fan of the MicroDrives for over 3 years where I've used them in digital cameras, touch wood I've never had one break or have bad sectors. I find they're very reliable, if you're going to use them out and about when you're on battery power on the iPAQ then you may want to go with SD or regular CF because the MicroDrive obviously has moving parts as it's a mini hard drive, and this will impact battery life more when you're running on battery power.
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