iQue vs StreetPilot

[MattHeywood]

Looking for advice on what to buy.

I need a transferrable navigator with voice commands. I work as an emergency doctor, and so rapid routing bombproof commands and reliability are a must. And I've got to shell out for the kit myself... I don't have a driver, so I've got to get myself around.

I'm torn between these 2 toys. There's only about £50 between the SP and an iQue with enough memory for all UK. I've used palm-based PDAs for years, so I'm happy enough with that. What I need to know is:


Any routing reliability issues? I've heard that iQue tends to pick longer / less direct routes and is more inflexible

How rapidly will either machine re-route if I stray off course?

How long does it take to acquire a route initially?

Will it object to me setting off before it's finished calculating and "pick me up on the way" as it were?

Most of my work is in urban areas, so the commands have to be bombproof. I know the roundabout issue has been fixed, but has anyone any other comments?


Thanks for your help, look forward to replies.

[Laze]

hrm - I tried to reply to this a few weeks back, but it looks like it got lost

I have never used the street pilot - but here are some comments on the garmin

The voice commands on the ique with roundabout fix are good, but not perfect. For example if you have a complex junction with a left turn and a hard left turn the garmin will say "turn left" without specifying which left. I find the turn preview display is very clear if you are willing to glance at the screen while driving.

The garmin route finding can be tweeked by selecting speed or distance, and the type of transport (car+bike, taxi, emergency) obviously the garmin does not have local traffic knowledge so it may route you directly into traffic hell.

The garmin re-routes rapidly when you go off course (normaly about 10-30 seconds. I once managed over 1 min when I joined the wrong motorway ! (got boxed in first time driving in Europe))

Initial route finding depends on how long the route is and how complex it is. A short hop might take 15 seconds a reasonabl hop in a city might take 30 secs to 1 min - going half way across the country might take 1-3 mins. I often find that the routing takes less time than getting the inittial GPS fix.

The IQue has no problems with you setting off while it is still routing. The worst that happens is it finishes calculating the route, finds you are off course and does a small re-route.

The main comment is how do you get your destination information. The Ique as shipped can not take a full post code. (it can do an address search but this does not get everything) Unless you get information as a grid reference I would be concerned about how you enter the destination.

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