info on mio C510E/ 710 please

[Dilcymro]

Hi all,
I have been pondering on getting a nuvi 360, have a 310 at present. Then I heard about the mio and now dont know which way to go. The nuvi has TTS, is this really an advantage? I have seen that a few of you have gone for the 710 but I dont travel abroad so dont need all that extra mapping. Also I know a few of you have used the nuvi/garmin gps, so how does the mio compare in the directions etc.
Any info appreciated.

Thanks....Dil
_________________
***************************************
Garmin Nuvi 2415
Where there`s a Dil ---- There`s a way

***************************************

[ravi]

Dil
I'll try and answer your questions as best I can as it may help other in similar situations

Until recently, I had the Nuvi 310D, TT5 on a PDA and the Mio 510e. I just got rid of the Nuvi and the PDA because I felt that the Mio was a better solution in just about every way.

The Nuvi has way better POI's than the other two.

I always found the the Nuvi's routing is fairly dodgy. It will drag you through back (single track) roads for no reson, take you on and off motorways (again for no reason) and sometime just lead you somewhere for no reason at all. This is well documented in various forums.

The Mio's routing is far better. In the month that I've had mine, it only sent me on one unsatisfactory route and I discovered later that was because I'd set it to a 'shortest' route (not really recommended)!

The travel guide on the Nuvi's great but the full one's an extra £60 for the UK and no one seems to have used it at all.

The MP3 player & audio book player on the Nuvi are good and can be used when the unit's navigating. The MP3 player on the Mio has better sound but can't be used when navigating.

The TMC function on the Mio 710 apparently works very well. I chose not to get that one because my previous experiences of Trafficmaster have all been fairly dodgy and coverage is patchy at best in the UK - mainly limited to motorways only;

http://www.trafficmaster.co.uk/page.cfm?key=network-mapnew

The TTS function of the 360 is pretty neat but it makes a real mess of anything in Wales (where I live) and on the continent! Sometimes it mispronounces 'normal' names to and you keep having to look at the screen to figure out exactly what was said! If you can live with "take next left" instead of "turn left into Albany Road", you should be fine.

All Mio's come with European maps on DVD. On the 510, they are supplied on DVD - you just load them as you want. On the 710, they are pre-installed on the unit and on DVD. As SD cards are very cheap at present, this should be no problem is you go for the 510.

The 3D mapping on the Mios are phenominal. The mapping is all done on high res vectors so the whole map can be rotated and tilted even you are navigating and it's all totally smooth. Maps can be dragged across the screen and there's no lag or slow refresh as there is on the Mio and any TT - new bits of the maps just appear instantly. The street names even appear on little signposts after you tilt the map past a certain point! There is lots on animation in the graphics - not really necessary but what's wrong with eye candy?

There are many little touches on the Mio that are really nice and you'll discover them for yourself in time.

One thing to bear in mind is that Garmin and TT seem to be better organised and run than Mio at present. Hopefully this will improve as time goes by.

Overall, you will find that the Mios are initially slightly more difficult to use initially but you will soon realise that this is because they do so much more than the Nuvi. In a week or so, you won't look back.

Hopefully I haven't missed anything...

Ravi

[ravi]

Sorry, made a mistake :

"Maps can be dragged across the screen and there's no lag or slow refresh as there is on the NUVI and any TT "

where's the damned edit button..?

[Dilcymro]

Ravi,
Thanks for all that info, just what I wanted. Regarding your comments on the TTS, thats what I was scared of,especially with so many welsh names in this area.
Second point was, do I go for the 510E or the 710, then thought , dont need traffic warnings, hardly ever use motorways, so I think we shall go for the 510E. Another thing I like the sound of is the pedestrian feature/walkers setting, now whether this will work roaming around the countryside with my camera I dont know , but we shall find out.

Thanks again Ravi for taking the time to answer, very much appreciated.

By the way, did you notice, ceejay is hanging around here now!!!!

Regards....Dil
_________________
***************************************
Garmin Nuvi 2415
Where there`s a Dil ---- There`s a way

***************************************

[ravi]

Glad to help Dil - didn't realise you were form Anglesey!
Someone else in one of the other threads said that Pixmania were selling the 510e for £215 so that may be worth checking out.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

As for Ceejay, I'm always bumping into him everywhere!

Ravi

[Dilcymro]

Thanks again ravi,
have just ordered one from pixmania but it works out about the same price as the others, as the pixmania one has a form of insurance with it that they charge £16 odd pounds for, so I got one there anyway.


Regards....Dil
_________________
***************************************
Garmin Nuvi 2415
Where there`s a Dil ---- There`s a way

***************************************

[anarchyuk]

Hmm after much deliberation it were me that were gonna get one of these from Pixmania but after some people telling me about the returns policy (apparently its hell) so im not bothering there, ill be getting mine from globalpositioningsystems. The price i got mine down to was eventually 211 quid from pixmania, just took off the stuff i didnt need, the loyalty card & the zen enchancement crap, typed in a promo code and got it for that price!

[CeeJay]

Oh no, 8O I've been rumbled
Anyway peeps, got myself one of these and love it to bits. :D
Only had 1 crisis so far. But that's all over now.

But here's a question for ravi, or any other user, if you can help.
Has anyone had any trouble when using the 'Add Camera' button? cos I had something strange happen last night.
I hit the Add Cam button, for a camera not on their database, chose cam type OK but when I went to select camera direction it only gave me the options for left, right or 4 way. No option for up or down. (I needed an 'up' arrow by the way). Tried it using the left and right arrows but it didn't warn me in either direction so had to resort to the 4 way icon. Obviously I now get warned coming from either direction. Not ideal.
So far this is my only niggle because if you edit a camera you usually get left, right, up, down & 4 way to select from. But hey, it's not too major, as all the other makes warn you in both directions anyway.
But if Mio gets that right, this unit is top of the tree. IMHO, and as ravi has said (more than once ) the graphics are spot on.
By the way, I have added other cameras (3 in total) and I did get the up/down option on the others.
As for me, since the TT910 I've been hankering after a unit that I can plug my leads into the unit and not the base, and not have to mount it on the windscreen, and this is it.
No more dodgy connections for me. :D

CeeJay

[ravi]

Hi again Ceejay!
You may already know this but someone else may benefit from it!

In the 'North Up' mode in the map screen, the Mio will add a speed camera to any road but the initial two direction choices, ie, the directions of the single arrows, will be the actual direction of the road. For example, if you click on a road that runs east -west and click 'add camera', then the two directional arrows will be east and west!
If the road runs North west to South east, then the camera directions will be North west and south east.
It's really neat the way it does it. Just try it out on any road on the map and click 'add camera'.

The North up / head up settings may have some bearing on the directions of these arrows so it maybe worth checking that out.

Maybe your road was running east - west so you only had the left and right camera options available?

Ravi

[CeeJay]

Hi ravi.
I'll give that a try, although it has to be said I was trying to add the cams in 3D mode
It worked for the other 3 cams I added, but maybe they were north/ south roads, wasn't paying attention to the compass at the time.
Many thanks.

CeeJay

[CeeJay]

Hi ravi.
Update on my cam problem.
I have now tried this in every view using the left/right arrows and the thing still don't work.
I'll just have to settle for the 4 way arrow for now.
Emailed Mio but don't hold out much hope.

CeeJay.

[TheInspector]

Emailed Mio but don't hold out much hope.[/quote]


You do right not to hope. I emailed them over a week ago and they have not had the courtesy to reply. Support is non-existent and will cost them dearly in terms of people avoiding their products.

[Sallyann]

[TheInspector]

Sal, I suggested to Mio that a representative could pop in from time to time on this forum to help us all out but they obviously haven't. If any of you others want to email them (and mention that they are getting a bad name on the internet through lack of support) it might help.

[Sallyann]

I have sent another email to their support but I don't expect an answer.

Sal

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!