Mio C510

[ravi]

Got my Mio C510 yesterday and after a few hours, I began to realise that this this really is the dog's dangly bits. I have (up until a couple of days ago) owned a Nuvi and before that a Navman 520 and before that TT5 PDA setup and I really do think that this thing is by far the best mix of all those units & systems.
I haven't actully taken it out anywhere yet (will do that today) but I have a feeling that I won't be disappointed!

The only thing that it appears not to be able to do (unlike the Nuvi) is to play MP3's and navigate at the same time. Not too worried about that as the kids have an Archos hooked into the car anyway.

If anyone wants more info etc, just let me know...

Ravi

[ravi]

Cant edit.
Navman 530 not 520

[DeeJay01]

[ravi]

Hey DeeJay,
The 510E has all the euro maps, the MP3 player and every thing else that the 710 has APART from the TMC which I find to be pants anyway (in my area only one road is covered - M4 in all of South Wales!!) I already had a 2Gb SD card so I've just shoved all of europe onto it and a load of MP3's and pix too!

I got the 510E for £239 so you paid £130 for the TMC feature!!
:D

Have you managed to add any POI databases yet??

[DeeJay01]

[ravi]

This is my one worry with this thing. Compared to the Nuvi, adding POI's are a nightmare. I have emailed POIHandler and the guy there said that loads of people had these things in germany and they were all using the add-on poi's. I asked hi how to add them and unfortunately, he's not replied.

If I cant add POI's I'm going to have to seriously reconsider keeping this thing.

I'll let you know if I work out how to do it or if the guy tells me.

Ravi

ps does the TMC work weell? Who provides the service? Trafficmaster maybe?

[lostinweb]

A couple of questions if I may.

The 710 seems to come with the aerial for TMC but with the 510E you can purchase one for £60. Is it only the aerial that is needed for the 510E or does it need an external TMC unit too? I am confused about this issue because the 710 lists it as in-built while the 510 refers to an external system. Also the Mio site states:

"Be aware that you can only receive free broadcasted TMC information. Limited free TMC information is available in France, for Great Britain payable TMC information can not be received."

http://www.mio-tech.be/shop/product_info.php?products_id=384

Does the fitting of the aerial not make it more cumbersome to move from car to car?

Secondly, how is route planning in terms of waypoints? Is it done on the unit, through a PC, how many waypoints can be added etc?

Cheers.

[ravi]

Can't answer the TMC thing as I have a c510 and no need of TMC!

As for routing, it's pretty easy. Just pick a start point on the map, pick an end point and away you go. If you want to add any via points, just select any area of the map and click add via. Do this as many times as you want to. Whan you've selected your vias, click 'optimise' to let the Mio find the best route and order between them (if you want it to). If you want to delete any via points, pick one on the map and click delete. The route will then be re-calculated and re-optimised.
It's all pretty easy and works well.

Only one problem I've found though is that if you have 'Auto re-routing' ticked, you cant plan a route from any point on the map to any other point on the map. The Mio will simply assume that your start point is your current GPS position and route from there. This is a bug and I emailed Mio about it last week.

Ravi

[DeeJay01]

[lostinweb]

Thanks chaps for the very quick replies.

One last thing I need to ask. Sorry. :D Is it possible to plan a route on the pc while connected to the MIO and also to save these files or can you only do this on the unit itself? Ravi also mentions that you can click on the map and then click to select a waypoint, but is it also possible to add waypoints by searching for an address, town, POI etc too?

It looks like I will be going for the 710. For the extra £130 over the 510E I get EU maps preloaded (a 2GB SD card will cost me nearly £40), a bike cradle, TMC (£61 option with the 510E) and some cheap headphones. That brings the price of the two much closer but the 710 will be less fiddly with the built-in TMC.

[DeeJay01]

[ravi]

re waypoints, you can add them from existing poi's, current cursor positions, previously visited places, your poi's etc. etc. It's very versatile!

have fun with it. It's a great machine!!

Ravi

[ravi]

Deejay:
Glad you're happy with it. I would have gone for the TMC model too but as I said before, the coverage is rubbish where I live (Wales!) so there is little point for me. If I lived somewhere less crap (TMC wise!), I'd probably have gone for the TMC model!

As for the cameras, I found the really good. Honestly, It seemed to have all the ones that I came across after a weeks use and I was well impressed with it. I think that the neat thing is that when you add your own or correct ones that are there and sync with the web, everyone else's cameras also get added to your machine, so the whole thing SHOULD get very accurate very quickly (at least thats the theory!).

Regarding the noise, the unit has 4 volume controls (master, voice, keys and dynamic) so it's a question of balancing all these. It's a bit tricky to start with but you can get it right. I'd suggest turning OFF the dynamic control to start with though.
It's pretty loud - I drove 40 miles in a my wife's Smart at 80, oops I mean 70, and that's LOUD and I could hear everything pretty clearly!

What did you think of the speed warning accuracy?

Hope this helps!

Ravi

[DeeJay01]

[ravi]

never had that problem! All mine are good and accurate!

Ravi

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