kerecsen
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Posts posted by kerecsen
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Great images kb9nvh!
I've filed a bug report with them. Let's see when (if?) they will correct it.
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It's there. It's the round thing.
Well, you can see a small part of the top, but most of it is missing (the way they merged successive pictures (from different perspective) caused the surrounding building to overlay the tower. Look for (the missing) rides on the top of the tower.
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The one big difference between TomTom and all the rest is that TomTom uses TeleAtlas maps, while everyone else uses NavTeq (and Garmin uses NavTeq, but with their own POI database).
TeleAtlas maps are known to be really good in some places and downright deplorable in others. NavTeq is uniformly decent everywhere (at the cost of completely ignoring small (dirt) roads).
TomTom also has (or at least used to have in the latest version I saw) some peculiarities about how it handles distances (e.g. using yards instead of feet), especially in voice navigation -- which may not be a concern on a bike.
Aside from the maps and some british oddities, TomTom is pretty usable and well featured, if pricey. While I haven't tried using it in bike gloves, the UI is designed to be as finger-friendly as possible.
I would recommend that your boss go to some Circuit City equivalent and play around with a few units, possibly borrowing them for a quick ride (in the truck
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I actually like the LegendCx because you can do it all with one hand, whereas the 60CSx requires one hand to hold the unit and another to push the buttons on the front of the gps.
My brain is wired very differently, it seems. I couldn't for the life of me use the legend with one hand (without various fingers covering half the map), but used to be quite adept at entering addresses into the 60cs while driving
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If you need more detail, carry a paper map.
The absence of a decent topo map was one of the reasons I left the dedicated GPS market behind and got a PDA instead. I can scan my up-to-date paper hiking maps into the PDA and use them with perfect confidence (no routing, but I never actually needed it anyway).
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Get a 60cx/csx. It combines the advantages of the 60c and the 600. The only thing you miss out on is the 3D compass, but that's a marginally useful feature anyway.
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what were they thinking??
It belongs to the previous generation of Garmin products, where extensible memory was a luxury, and you had to buy internal memory at $300 a gig. I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with a "Quest x" that has a Sirf receiver and a microSD card slot (but not until Quest IIs stop selling like hotcakes -- if they do currently).
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It seems like the 60cx might be a bit clumsy and a pain to use (entering addresses and all).
The screen seems like it would be small.
And the lack of spoken directions and just the beep seems like a disadvantage.
I have driven and/or navigated through the US along both E-W and N-S axes with a 60cs (I've even done the same with an eMap before that). So it is definitely doable.
Given a choice, my preference would be my current PDA with the fancy-schmancy voice prompted navigation software (and, btw, your list of concerns is right on the money). That being said, I would love to have the 20 hr battery life, the ruggedness and easy operation of the 60cx too
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's a tradeoff no matter which way you go. You just have to follow your mom's advice and get your priorities straight :
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BUT your Pocket PC (aka PDA aka PPC) will only last a few hours maybe even as short as two hours with BLUETOOTH running, and you looking at the screen trying to zero into the cache.
That has not been my experience. Using Memory-map, both my PDA (QTek S110 with bluetooth AND the phone enabled) and my GPS (Holux 236) lasts almost precisely 10 hours in normal hiking use. The backlight is off for most of the time, obviously.
The other advantage of this combo is that they both have a USB charger input, so I can use the same charger for both (and charge them at the office without any additional hardware).
In general, Bluetooth has some great advantages over CF:
- double the battery life (you have two batteries altogether)
- you can put the GPS in your backpack where it gets great reception
- you can use your regular PDA case/pouch/whatever
- it's future-proof -- CF slots are disappearing from the PDAs really fast
- it doesn't use a slot that could host memory
The disadvantage:
- you need to charge the GPS separately (and if you are unlucky enough to need different chargers, you need two chargers)
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In case anyone is looking for a small microSD/transflash card, this price is hard to beat...
See http://www.spoofee.com/ .
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Mine is 2 oz (57 g, Holux 236). The PDA adds 5 and 3/8s (152 g) to that.
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There's no brand or model mentioned so far...
I was wondering about that too. In older Garmins the clock circuit monitored the temperature of the quartz oscillator and corrected for frequency drifts due to temperature. So they should be pretty darn accurate (at least once the GPS has been in use for a few days and the self-calibration circuitry has figured out the exact behavior of the quartz). A solid time reference speeds up acquisition quite a bit.
I don't know if they're still doing that with the SiRF-based models. The SiRF chip behaves very well after a full cold reset, so I assume it's quite insensitive to the accuracy of the internal clock.
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I've just been to Bangalore, India. Since there are no electronic maps available for the area (and actually even the paper maps are limited to main arteries), I scanned a city map into MemoryMap on my PocketPC and calibrated it by looking up major intersections on the Google Earth images.
To make a long story short, my scanned maps worked beautifully... Another big Thank You to those guys!
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You just unplug the computer, open the case, unplug a couple of cables, remove 4 screws, pull out the old unit, put in the new unit, replace the screws, plug in the cables, close the case. Plug in the computer. It's REALLY easy.
That is, unless you have a Sony VAIO. It took me about half an hour and all my braincells to install a DVD burner in a VAIO that belongs to a friend of mine
But if you have a noname or a dell, it can be done in 10 minutes. Honest.
The only non-mechanical operation (i.e. not just blindly disconnecting and reconnecting wires or replacing screws) is the setting for master/slave/cable select. You have to check the jumper setting on the old drive and configure the new drive accordingly.
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Help anyone?
Could you summarize what have you tried (soft reset, port settings, other software, etc.) to avoid repetition?
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...they were glad to take it back and replace it with a new one.
Hopefully you will get an actual brand new one, and not a refurbished piece, because they likely don't have any of those yet
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Depends on what you will primarily use the GPS for. If you will travel around with it quite a bit, the extensible memory will save you from carrying a laptop (or spending 15 minutes updating the map set each time before you leave the house).
If you will use it for caching and/or will go to places where you will have GPS dropouts, the compass might conceivably come in handy (although a $2 keychain compass will do a far superior job). (In fact a Sirf III GPS will do an even better job by not losing the signal
)If you spend your time mountain biking or do some serious hiking, the barometric altimeter will give you more precise elevation plots to analyse for your training regimen.
I used to have a 60cs and personally wouldn't pay more than $5 for the "s" again.
Edit: I think I need to elaborate on this last point: I would pay the $5 because the 60cs is a nicer color than the 60c
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Even if you go the Garmin way, get a 60cx instead. The SiRF III is worth the price difference IMHO.
As for BT vs dedicated unit: it really depends on how you're gonna use it, and how afraid you are of smashing your PDA.
There are two reasons to get a dedicated unit: battery life and robustness. All other factors (flexibility, choice of maps, software features, convenience, price, etc.) are better with the PDA.
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I like the BT solution because:
- it uses a separate battery, which almost doubles battery life
- you can put the BT GPS in my backpack where it gets good reception and put the PDA on your belt where it's easy to access
- the GPS sticking out of the PDA can interfere with your pouch/belt case
- BT is compatible with a slightly wider range of modern devices (laptops, smartphones, etc.)
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What I actually intend to do is use the GPSr/PDA combination in car and the GPSr out of the car, hiking or sailing with maps I upload in the GPSr. If someone has tried it and can recommend a working combination it would be appreciated.
One more aspect I forgot to mention: if you want to use your handheld gps in the car together with the PDA, you will need two mounts (one for the PDA where you can see it, and one for the handheld close to the window -- otherwise it will fly away in corners).
The bluetooth GPSes can usually be just plopped on the dashboard because they are light and sticky enough to stay there without help (if your dashboard is curved, you can always tuck the GPS between the dashboard and the windshield).
If you get a 60cx/csx, you may be able to get away with just putting it in the glove box.
Oh, and prepare to pay twice for the maps, one for the PDA and one for the handheld (unless you get a garmin GPS10, which I wouldn't much recommend otherwise).
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You can get bluetooth adapters in various formats, such as a battery pack or car charger.
However, considering the price, a real bluetooth GPS is probably a much more convenient alternative.
If you want it for car use and have a handheld for out-of-car use, you can get a receiver without auto-off (such as the Holux 236 with SiRF III), take the battery out and plant it in your glovebox with the charger connected all the time. It will just come on when you turn the ignition without any additional hassle.
You may also be able to get a serial cable that goes between your GPS and your PDA, but it won't be particularly cheap either...
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So that brings it to the SiRF chip, I would love to have it, but for me it's not worth the $120 - $170 price difference. Again, I am looking at price.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Garmin realized that their 60 series sales would be approximately 0 if they put the SiRF in the vista series. And I totally agree that it's a major ripoff to charge that much for the useless extra features.
But with all this said, I would rather get almost any SiRF-based GPS than any other that's not. Because ultimately, you want you GPS to tell you where you are at all times and do so quickly. All the rest is just bells and whistles.
I wonder how much marketshare the dedicated manufacturers are losing to PocketPC sales -- I'm sure it's getting harder and harder to sell a singletasker unit for significantly more than the price of a universally useful PocketPC and GPS.
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so I assume that if City Navigator maps are loaded onto the Vista CX, then auto route calculation on the GPS unit will be possible?
Yes, absolutely. However, plan on spending some extra $$$ on a larger microSD card, because the tiny one they've bundled won't be very usable with the current City Navigator. You will only be able to fit one or two segments at a time (and some segments won't fit at all).
As for external antennas, I got pretty darn perfect reception with my BT receiver in all the cars I've tried without external help. Actually, you can pretty much use the GPS from the glove compartment. (This all pertains to SiRF receivers, the Garmin chipset in the Vista will need all the help it can possibly get.)
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My last GPS was a 60cs and now I have a bluetooth sirf GPS.
Based on experience gathered with these I would say
SiRF: easily worth the money -- you can actually use it among big buildings and in other challenging conditions. The quick lock-on time lets you get near-instant directions when and where you need them.
quad helix: isn't worth a dime -- the bulge is annoying and doesn't improve performance a whole lot.
sensor (cs): The compass needs constant care, calibration and nurturing, has to be held just so, and is very sensitive to metallic objects nearby. With the lock reliability that SiRF provides, it is very seldom useful. I would trade it for a $2 keychain compass any day.
The altimeter gives you somewhat better elevation plots and stuff when you are hiking/biking, otherwise the GPS altitude is good enough. It's a bummer that the 60c doesn't have the altitude chart screen though (but there are plenty of PC freeware that will make you a chart from the track log).
flash cards: I desperately hated having to always rotate the maps in my 60cs, just to find my itinerary changed to take me to an area that was missing altogether. I abandoned Garmin mostly due to the lack of flash memory card support.
So all in all, I would go for the 60cx in your situation. (However I would personally never go back from PocketPC+bluetooth to dedicated units
).Edit: DUH, I meant 60cx, not 60c...
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3 Inch Resolution Google Earth Imagery For Las Vegas
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
I didn't notice the vertical line before. I guess they must have wanted to show roads more than buildings, and intentionally got rid of it. It's a bummer though, I'd love to see the ST from the top.