Garmin Ique 3600 Gps Pda - Refurb Deal?

[+Ellteejak]

So I am looking at the Garmin IQUE 3600 PDA that are selling refurbished (with Mapsource City Select Software key) for around $250.

 

Tell me what is wrong with getting one?? I think the car kit costs maybe $50 (does autorouting??) and an external attenna cost maybe $50 on top of that.

 

The combination replaces my PDA and GPS I have now. The only weakness I see is:

 

1) Battery life - think it can last 8 hours? I can attach an external AA battery adapter if I need it.

 

2) Fragility - I can get a hard case for it.

 

3) Antenna - it is not SirfIII, but I can buy an external antenna and use that if I really needed sirfIII.

 

4) Maps - looks like the map unlock key is included, but does that mean I need to download all the maps? Or get a copy of the Map CDs from somewhere else? Will I have autorouting, or do I really need to car kit, to activate autorouting?

 

5) Screen visability: In sunlight I have trouble seeing the screen, but I can turn the device at an angle and see it better.

[+Ellteejak]

This guy is saying he only gets an hour on his Ique 3600 with GPS on!! That absolutely sucks!!!

 

This would make the whole IQUE deal a dead deal.

 

********

 

"I have the iQue 3600 which is a Palm OS PDA with a built-in GPSr. Battery life is not compatible with my geocaching habits (with the gps circuitry on, I am lucky if I get an hour of power) and the fact that it is very fragile has caused be grief and cost me money (I am on my 4th one - although I should say that two deaths occurred in the office). I now use it mostly in the car where I have a power adapter. The moving maps, with caches superimposed, and autorouting with voice navigation is pretty slick. For the intricacies of finding the cache itself once the car is parked, I generally use my Etrex Legend."

[+Ellteejak]

Palm web site says the Ique should get five hours in the field. Still pretty crappy. I am betting any other PDA gets the same crappy field time before the batteries die.

 

This web site says the Ique DOES NOT comply with the NMEA standard thus you can not use other software (like mapopolis, or other cousins). Again making the IQUE 3600 a bad universal solution. The other article says you only get 90 minutes battery usage!! OMG stay away from this unit for portable use. Stay far away.

 

http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?news...eview=iQue+3600

 

This guy is saying he only gets an hour on his Ique 3600 with GPS on!! That absolutely sucks!!!

 

This would make the whole IQUE deal a dead deal.

 

********

 

"I have the iQue 3600 which is a Palm OS PDA with a built-in GPSr. Battery life is not compatible with my geocaching habits (with the gps circuitry on, I am lucky if I get an hour of power) and the fact that it is very fragile has caused be grief and cost me money (I am on my 4th one - although I should say that two deaths occurred in the office). I now use it mostly in the car where I have a power adapter. The moving maps, with caches superimposed, and autorouting with voice navigation is pretty slick. For the intricacies of finding the cache itself once the car is parked, I generally use my Etrex Legend."

Edited March 12, 2006 by Ellteejak

[+Red90]

Using it, you will get 3 hours in the field with good battery. The car kit is mandatory. That is what makes it great. The receiver is as good as any traditional Garmin unit.

 

You must use CacheNav (included with Cachemate) for cache locating. The built in routing is not good enough for the close up stuff.

 

The Maps should be included.

 

This is the iQue forum.

 

iQue FAQ page.

[+Ellteejak]

Red90,

 

You are making me think, and think on this!! Thank you!!

 

Other tests are showing only 90 minutes of usage with full backlight, and GPS reciever on the whole time.

 

You are saying three hours?? Well that is better than 90 minutes, but what if I forget when I disconnect from my car, and leave the backlight on, and leave the the unit in active GPS mode. Guess I better get that backup battery.

 

I am still on the boarder about getting this thing. It is a better price than a separate PDA and a bluetooth GPS that is for sure. What about using other software on it besides the Garmin stuff. Others have said it IS NOT NMEA compatible thus will not run other software. Is that untrue? Are there software wedges/tools/modifications to do this?

 

 

Using it, you will get 3 hours in the field with good battery. The car kit is mandatory. That is what makes it great. The receiver is as good as any traditional Garmin unit.

 

You must use CacheNav (included with Cachemate) for cache locating. The built in routing is not good enough for the close up stuff.

 

The Maps should be included.

 

This is the iQue forum.

 

iQue FAQ page.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Ellteejak

[+Red90]

3 hours with the GPS on and the backlight on low (normal Geocaching use).

 

5 hours with the GPS off and the backlight off. This is a standard "test" for battery life, it has no practical use. If the GPS is off, then there is no reason to keep the unit on.

 

This is based on my own experience with a good battery.

 

To control the backlight, you install a free program called "BrightiQ". It automatically adjusts the backlight dpending on whether it is in the cradle or not and whether it is night time or day time.

 

The item below is a cheap way of getting 3 times the battery life using rechargable AA batteries.

Nomadic AA external battery pack

 

With all of this, I still own a normal handheld GPS. It is needed for caching in rough environments and long hikes. It is only a pDA and needs to be handled with care. The iQue is nice because it stores all of the cache page information. With Cachemate and Cachenav, you can go from the cache description to a navigate screen directly. Also it can be used for any other PDA functions.