MAPS 2006

[martike]

Is this a new product, or have I just not noticed it before ?

When I now look on the ViaMichelin website, under Products/GPS & PDA there's no longer any listing for version 4, just this MAPS 2006.

You can still find version 4 by searching for a product by model and selecting "navigation software", but it's well hidden.

[elan2s]

Looks to be a new product which is not even compatible with v4, let alone the earlier versions. Seems that vM are working to a product replacement schedule of less than 12 months.

For the European versions they seem to be shipping an SD card with a region plus a DVD with all of Europe, fine for those with a PDA that uses an SD card but as a Sony Clie user I would simply be buying a card that is of no use to me at all.

[martike]

If it isn't a version 5 with a new name, then it's a completely new product, and quite expensive too.

It doesn't seem to be an addition to the ViaMichelin range of products, but rather a replacement for version 4. That means that EUR 199 for version 4 was a rip-off for a product which was not backward compatible, isn't going to develop any further, and had a life of only a few months.

[Tuomas]

Hi, this is what Viamichelin's Patches/Updates page says:
"2006 Edition - ViaMichelin Navigation 5"

So the 2006 edition is version 5.

Compatibility restrictions:
Palm®:
Palm® TungstenTM E2, Palm® T5 (except Europe title with a 2 GB SD card), Palm® T|X (except Europe title with a 2 GB SD card), TreoTM 650

Pocket PC® colour (a minimum of 256 colours):
HP iPAQ Rz1710, Rx1950, Hx2190, Hw6515
Qtek 9100
Mio 168, Mio A201, Mio A701, Mio P350
Acer n35
i-mateTM PDA-N, i-mateTM JAMin

So no Zire31 there.. seems I go for TomTom.

[BaggieBoy]

I recently recieved an e-mail from Michelin giving me a €30 discount (€99 instead of €129) off the price of Maps 2006. I looked at the "new" features and decided enough was enough and I'd stick with version 4.

[martike]

I also received the discount offer and decided it's not worth the upgrade (but then I took the same approach for versions 3 and 4 as well). The new features they've loaded in all seem to be about hotel and restaurant information with no obvious improvements to the navigation software. Maybe they think it's as good as it's going to get and can't be improved any further ?!?

Their pricing policy is a bit bizarre though. Do they really expect their customers to pay up to EUR 200 every year (or even more frequently) for a new version ? It seems that their objective is to continually attract new customers rather than to keep their existing ones happy.

I am, however, still reasonably content with my version 2.5, which has just taken me to Sweden and back without any problems at all.

[pafarthing]

Hi,

I just thought I would say I took advantage of the 30 Euros off and purchased this product for my HP rx1950 Navigator. So far I have only taken it out for a short spin, but it seems to improve a number of features:

The voice is now English rather than US;
The road and junction display is clearer;
The voice directions are more sophisticated, e.g., "In a short while turn left then immediately right."
Some glaring local errors have been corrected, e.g., my local junction with the M6 Toll is now correctly identified as a left turn rather than continuing straight ahead;
There is an option to simply track your location without active guidance (if this existed with VM4 I hadn't found it);
and the Michelin Guide information pops up with 'phone numbers etc. if you are looking for a particular attraction.

For my purposes VM is fine, despite some bad reviews, but VM5 does make so definite improvements. And it installed without any trouble.

[martike]

Thanks, that's the first information I've seen from someone who has tried the new product.

But from what you say, I really don't think the improvements are worth EUR 200. The only significant one you mention is the possibility to plot location without active guidance, and that existed way back in version 2.5 but was dropped in later releases.

So the improvements really are based on the inclusion of Michelin Guide information, and that doesn't interest me. I'm staying with my 2.5 until the maps get so out-of-date that I have to update.

Thanks again for your input.

[theonlyone]

Hey Martike!

It's getting pretty lonely here. I agree that VM have finally blown it with existing customers. Like you I baulked at the weak upgrades fielded in V4 (OK - V3 for you) and v2006.

I recently bought a TomTom One after seeing one in use and deciding that it's far superior to VM (the price wasn't bad either). It does most of the things that we always wanted VM to do, and an all in one unit is free from the connectivity nause that bother some. The situational awareness provided by the TT1 is far better than VM, Garmin and most of the other GPS units I have seen.

I have kept VM3 (its not that bad) on my upgraded PDA plus bluetooth GPS, but I won't upgrade further, especially given VMs rapid release of new versions, poor responsiveness to users and derisory upgrade offers.

I admire your pragmatism - we're all getting carried away with the technology of it all. One wonders how we ever managed before

I'm off - thanks for your posts over the last year.

Regards,

[martike]

Thanks for your comments, and I may not be far behind you in moving from VM - I will certainly not jump on their EUR 200 per year bandwagon just to stand still. For that sort of money I expect real improvements.

So I'll probably move to Tom-Tom like you, but I'll prefer a PDA-based product. Not yet though, plenty of useful life left in my version 2.5 ! (It's the maps which are ageing, and there's no way to update them)

If I were using sat-nav every day, and it was really important to me professionally, then I'd probably have a different attitude, but right now I use it seriously only three or four times a year. Other times I always have it handy to help me find my way around road closures or traffic hold-ups, but most of my travelling is over known routes.

[Drifter47]

Just a quick observation regarding ViaMichelin.

Is it just me or do you not find it rather sad that a well loved mapping company (yes they also do those rubber products) that has been going for years, have now lost the plot and could have quite conceivably been up there with the other satnav market leaders. After all Michelin is a strong global brand and would have had no trouble launching a mapping/navigation product yes? Look at this new product of theirs, the X950 T, where is it being stocked? Answer; in a very very few UK outlets and, give them their due here, on QVC.

TomTom on the other hand is all over the place high street, department stores, electrical stores, Halfords and even some mobile phone retail chains. I would have liked to see one as it interested me with the inclusion on the Michelin guides for hotels & restaurants but alas not in darkest Lincolnshire.

[martike]

No, it isn't just you. Your comments are very relevant.

Michelin just haven't got the hang of selling software. Their maps and "rubber products" are "sell-and-forget", but the software business is totally different.

Yes, there may be claims from dissatisfied tyre customers and they may have to replace them sometimes, but that's not the same sort of customer support that's needed for software.

The more I think about it, the more it does seem that they've tried to sell their electronic maps in the same way as they've always sold their paper ones. Here's the latest version and it costs so much. A year later here's a new one, and it costs again. A year later here's a new one .....

They'd have been better off sub-contracting the whole business to a company with the right experience, and restricting themselves to the mapping.

[Drifter47]

martike thanks, it was a relief I thought it was just me with that opinion. As much as I want to buy this latest product of theirs, the X950T?, I am going to keep well clear of them for the time being and I am currently looking through the forums for help on the AvMap GeoSat Travel range.

[rod_r]

I also have VM 5.0 and it is an improvement over 4.2.

Why did I splash out? I have only had the rx1950 navigator package (GB map) a short while, decent deal from dabs. When I registered it at HP European maps were available at 80UKP. I took this to mean new maps on the way. And planned to revisit in late August if no updates arrived. But two weeks ago I got a discount update Email from VM. Now the GB map was not enough for Septembers plans so I took a look. I could get Europe region 3 on an SD card and a DVD (needs registering to unlock) for twenty countries. I plan to use about two countries a year for the next few years meaning 6 or 7 before I feel they will be too old. So I paid less than 20UKP per map. And a free software upgrade and a 1Gb sd card. Slice this anyway you want and it is not a rip off.

I find the new software better. To adjust the sound from the navigation, click TMC or the current road display, then settings then sound and you can set four levels for different functions and back three times to return.

In terms of the mapping displays the bigger next turn icon is easier to read, but means I use portrait mode now as in landscape there is only 50% of the screen left for the map, more like 65% in portrait mode.

Now installation, a breeze from the sd card and more POI free than I know what do with. The documentation is a little better too. The software installed OK after unistalling 4.2/4.6 and I then created a map of a corner of the Iberian peninsular and pushed it on to the PD no trouble. The POI seemed to be missing so I manually dropped them in the POI folder on the PDA via act*vesynch.

Any issues? Yes the maps are still not quite perfect, but have some improvements. Sound and language were disrupted by my map addition but that was easily corrected and may have been my fault.

Now to get the speed cameras, more on POImanager soon.

[martike]

You're right, rod, this does appear to be good value. But the real rip-off is the loss of the previous version. Maybe you had a good deal on that and so you aren't throwing away too much of an investment, but what about those people who paid EUR 200 for a product which only had a useful life of a few months, can't ever be upgraded, and can't use the latest maps available for version 5 ?

Going on past performance, the current version 5 will similarly be made obsolete in a very short time by version 6.

Your assessment of MAPS 2006 as a good deal depends on you keeping it for quite a long time, and will you really do that, or will you be seduced by versions 6, 7, and 8 ?

Anyway, good luck with your new software.

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