mitac p560 - review

masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

I can see that this model has been released, has anyone had any experience with it?

Have the power issues been sorted, is the power button in a better location?

thanks

Masrock
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masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

well I've answered my own question partly.

initial part of a review here:
http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/2008/02/16/mio_digiwalker_p560_unboxed

looks like the power button is better located at the top so less chance of accidentally booting the device.

its based on widows mobile 6, so does that mean the active synch fault is no longer an issue?

Masrock
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masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

Well I went ahead and bought the P560.

My first impressions were that I liked it, then i didn't as I tried to install tomtom 6, then overcoming the teething issues, I like it again.

The installation disc from mio would not boot up just asked to send an error report to Microsoft over and over again. so I down loaded activesynch 4.5 directly from the net.

Tomtom was a pain, it loaded fine but when I came to install maps I had to combine the license key with the device code, the device code would not display, 1 hour of teeth grinding later, I managed to get the maps onto the unit- you have to load maps strictly one at a time, even though you can check to load multiple maps at once...well it was annoying!

Previously I have used the mitac mio 168- which has been a great unit apart from no wifi or bluetooth. The volume was loud - good in a car where the radio or cd player was always on.

The P560 has some limitations compared to the 168 - the windscreen attachment is set up for portrait mode only - I like landscape mode in TomTom, the power lead goes to the base on the unit and I found it awkward to slip the unit onto the mount ( due to the slope of the screen) then attach the power lead- I keep the unit low so that I don't interrupt my field of vision. ( to get landscape you have to go into settings/ screen and choose landscape Before you start the tomtom program - which is a bit of a pain to be honest.)

The power button is on the top of the unit so accidental switch on's are minimised - the big fault in the design of the P350 and P550.

I need to play with the set-up more, the volume of the camera warnings seemed too low this morning, but satellite lock was very fast - a big improvement on the 168 and due in part to the addition of the Quickfix software I think.

Wifi set-up was easy at home though many web pages are limited in the windows mobile format, Windows live and messenger worked well and will be useful in boring European hotels when you fancy a quick chat online with your mates.

The P550 does not come with a case included, but my mio 168 case fits well and is still small enough to slip into a suit pocket without looking like your packing a gun. I've also ordered a transformer plug charger and a screen protector from ebay. The unit only comes with a usb synch cable/charger and a cigarette lighter charger cable. -ok if you have access to a car or a laptop.....not generally standard equipment in a hotel room, I like to watch movies from sd card when I have a few minutes and then its good to be able to charge from an electrical outlet.

My SD card is a sandisk ultra II 2Gb.

Any questions? If anything else come to mind I'll post later.

Masrock
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themeldrews · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 47

Hi Masrock,
I am thinking of buying one of these.Some questions then.
What is the speaker volume like when used as a in car GPS.
The Tom Tom software/mapping presumably is all on the card.Is there a recommended card size for the 560.
Speed cameras are they on the device or on the SD card.
Many Thanks

Terry

masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

The speaker volume was a bit quiet this morning but although the tomtom volume was full on, the volume in settings for the P560 unit itself was set to half, I've increased both to max now. If it's like the Mio 168, the volume will be fine, no worries at all. I'm going to try again tonight.

Speed cameras database - well I'm subscribed to the one from this site rather than tomtom's own, so speaking for the database from here, you place the ov2 files and bitmaps on your SD card in the map folder ie in the UK map folder or the German map folder, depending which map you are working with.

I've downloaded some sound files that go in the data.chk file that are store in the system memory not on the card, but it isn't a big file, you get a voice saying mobile rather than a cow mooing or a bell noise that comes with TomTom.

No SD card comes with the unit, but I've just bought an 8gb sdhc card from ebay for about £24 with postage that should work fine, but from experience with the mio 168, faster cards such as sandisk ultra II work better than slower generic ones.

The advertising I've read says that 4gb sd or sdhc are compatible with the P560, I'm not expecting a problem with the 8gb card, - my mio read 4Gb cards easily enough - i take film with me to hotels and planes when away on business.

Fyi I paid £254 for the P560 and £89 for Tomtom 6 UK and Europe.
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themeldrews · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 47

Many thanks for the info Masrock.

Terry

masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

As an update the volume on the way home was plenty loud enough.

Masrock
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themeldrews · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 47

I visited the Outdoors Show yesterday at the NEC.
The MIO's are being sold as part of GPS packages by a couple of companies.
Memory Map have special offers with their mapping and the Mio P360.
Amquet have offers on Mio P360 and 560 and various bundles of their mapping.
Obviously these offers are targeted for outdoor activities and cover OS mapping.
The demos i saw looked good.
The Anquet offers are available until Tuesdaqy 18th March.The memory map offers may be for the show only but it might be worth alook on theor websites.

Terry

masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

Just as an update, I've bought a bundle from ebay - charge lead, cigarette lighter, three pin plug.

The power lead is a neat though fragile looking thing. It comes in a small self winding enclosure that runs a two core cable with standard and small usb plugs. Both the lighter plug and the three pin plug have a standard usb outlet. This works better for me in the car as the self winding lead is more discrete and tidy than the lead the came with the unit, it's also easier to plug-in when the unit is on the windscreen mount.

The 8gb sdhc card works fine but I've had to get a sdhc card/pendrive for fast transfer of larger files - this is quicker than going through the unit. -It only cost £3.

The fix time has been much faster than the mitac. I've not found a way to connect bluetooth to my phone so the TomTom traffic data could be updated on the fly, Maybe that would be asking too much.

Anyone know how to do it?

Masrock
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mikealder · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:57 am Post subject:

What type of phone are you trying to use with the PDA and who is your phone network provider, finally pay as you go or monthly tariff, with answers to these three someone will be able to answer your question -

@themeldrews - Where were Anquet as I don't recall seeing them at the show on Friday?? - Mike

themeldrews · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 47

Morning Mike,
Anquet were part of the Outdoorsmagic.com? stand.
They are a free website with lots of outdoor info and look well sponsored.I have used their site site for info/reviews and it has good links to suppliers.
I notice now that they have extended the offers to their website at
www.anquet.co.uk .The offer needs a code OUT20 to get the discount.
The offers are available until tomorrow.

Terry

mikealder · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:44 am Post subject:

Thanks for that, next time I must remember to walk around with my eyes open! - we did think it was rather strange they wern't there! - Mike

masrock · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 31

themeldrews · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 47

Just received my Mio p560 from Anquet.
Will start playing with it(my first PDA).
The Anquet mapping is all GB OS at 50,000 scale.
I have been looking for powered car mount with built in speaker and a mains charger like the type available for the Mio p550.No luck so far.

Terry

themeldrews · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 47

sorry clicked twice

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