The Very Best Gps

[+Quanmeg]

I don't have any clue about what manufacturer makes the best GPS equipment, but I absolutly know who makes the worst one.

 

Pioneer DVIC-D1 is not a navigational system and it barely even qualifies as a toy

 

I'm not talking about Geocaching I am just speaking in general when I say the Pioneer DVIC-D1 is the most over priced worthless piece of junk that has ever been made.

I have been using the Garmin Quest since it hit the market and apparently I am spoiled rotten by it. I have used it for Geocaching as well as road and air navigation with nearly flawless results.

Being tired of the tiny screen and dangling wires I yearned for a professionally installed in-dash touch screen in my new vehicle. BIG MISTAKE!!!!

 

I bit the bullet and paid for the option at the dealership when I purchased my new 4x4

(an option way over $2000.00!!!)

A couple little short trips around my home area and everything was going smoothly (with the exception of this female voice telling me to take right turn when I should be taking left and telling me to make U a turn when I should be going straight. It was obvious from the beginning she was a typical female and the unit was not compairable to a Garmin.

 

For a long time I worked with the unit to learn about how it functions thinking this can't be as big a piece of junk as it appears to be but after countless hours spent I can truly say without a doubt it is an even bigger piece of junk than I ever imagined.

 

The map software indicates that the maps are current to within 2 years but the fine print errors and omissions in the maps are disclaimed so don't take any bets on weather or not that 4 lane divided highway that has been in use for the last 20 years will be on the map I know of at least a dozen of them that aren't and at least a dozen more where you are shown tracking parallel to the highway about 10 miles away. Of course you can buy an upgrade of the map software for about 200 more dollars.

 

Speaking of upgrades I forgot to mention every aspect of this GPS is an option. You spend this enormous amount of money thinking you are really going to get a decked out GPS and when you begin to use it you find out you only have one small piece of it. Rear view camera - extra, DVD capability - extra, satellite radio - extra (plus subscription), XM traffic - extra (plus additional subscription fee)

 

On my first major trip it was no big deal I knew where I was going and although the GPS didn't like it I went the best way. My 4th trip however, was to someplace I had never been before. Sitting in the driveway at home I selected my destination. You would think with a nice big screen it would be so much easier to select your route....NOT... The pioneer unit has this narrow field of vision for that big screen and when you zoom out to get the bigger picture you almost instantly loose all the road names and land marks ...so it is nearly impossible to determine if things are going to go well on your trip. With 99% of my trip complete without any major mistakes other than a few screw ups with voice guidance I was feeling pretty good. 100 miles left to go 3/4 of a tank of gas all is well........ not........60 miles in the 4 lane changes to 2 lane, 70 miles in and the 2 lane changes to one lane (not enough gas to make it back to the last gas station I saw) 72 miles in ...starting up a steep mountain...oh look...snow......30 minutes later 75 miles in the one lane changes to dirt and the mountain is getting steeper.....oh look ...lots of snow......1 hour later 80 miles in coming over the crest of the mountain headed north Pioneer GPS indicating you are on the right track. Now I don't know about most people but, being from Lubbock Texas I never really thought about the fact that the sun usually shines on the south side of a mountain and in the winter it doesn't' shine much on the North side al all. over the top I went....can you tell me why the national forest service would put a steeper road on the icy side of the mountain. 4x4 locked in low creeping around hair pin turns so tight you could roll down the drivers window and touch the back bumper. sliding sideways, front ways...backward and any other way you can think of.....and of course no cell phone service....oh yeah and the pretty red low fuel light has been on for about 20 minutes now....oh look at that......it's a good thing it is dark because it looks like about a 100 foot drop off on that edge of the road.....oh great a fork in the road.... no fork on the GPS just one road....humm there is a sign down on that side of the fork I wonder what it says. " do not travel this road after dark"....ok the GPS didn't know there was a fork but I will go the other way....2 hours later 85 miles in. The fuel will be gone any minute ...that is... if the engine doesn't vapor lock from the steep angle before that. wait I see lights. I'm down..... there is civilization.....there is gas........, I AM ALIVE and

PIONEER SUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A few days later I sent pioneer an email complaining about their product..... of course.....you guessed it....... why did I waste my time.

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Unfortunately, these are common problems in one form or another with most "car" units. Whistler radar detector made a car/handheld hybrid called the "Galileo" that in trying to do both lacked in both (for caching: not compatible with GSAK, Easy GPS, etc. despite being one of the first units to have USB connectivity, only shows DD MM SS.S format, no EPE numbers, just DOP; for car, no voice or autorouting, dated maps). Most Cobra radar detector GPS units (especially their early attempts at car/handheld hybrids, which like Whistler they do not make anymore) have extremely crappy satellite lock/reception, in addition to some of the issues the Whistler unit has for caching, like non-compatibility with common caching/GPS software). TomTom units have very dated maps too (and in my view DO NOT usually give you the best route between places). They also require you to pay for a lot of extras that should be in the unit to start with.

 

I have a lot of experience with this because I own the Whistler unit, and I use my boss's TomTom a lot.

 

Many of the makers of these units have their forte in other forms of car electronics (radar detectors, stereos, etc.) and unfortunately really do not know how to produce/market a GPS, seeing it as simply a logical extension of their current product line.

 

In this sense, I recommend the Garmin Street Pilot or Magellan RoadMate series for a car GPS. TomTom is also OK since they are strictly a GPS maker, albeit only for the car (the satellite lock/reception on them are incredible!), though as I noted their maps are surprisingly dated. Good luck!

[-Oz-]

Yea, so, my grandparents got a gps navigation system in their new Chrysler Town & Country. The thing is a pain in the butt. It took me awhile to figure out how to setup a destination. I had it take me from their house to my house. Sure enough, it told me to turn right onto a street where I definitely needed to turn left. My 60csx has never ever had that problems. All in all I'm rather disappointed with the system which cost a heck of a lot more than my handheld.

 

My brother was looking into a Pioneer system, this thread is very useful.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I was looking at a new Nissan and the dealer started to tell me about the Nav system they offer. I pulled my Explorist 500 out of my pocket and told him it would do more than his $2,000 unit. THat ened that conversation

THese factory units are all overpriced, they are geared to those that really do not know what a GPS is.

[Alphawolf]

Built in GPS receiver suck! Plain and simple...

 

Why would someone pay $1500 to $2000 for a system that will be antiquated within 2 years? Whay not spend $500 for a Garmin C-330 or something, that can be carried in a suitcase for a rental car, or moved into you friends car or anyone else's car?

 

And, when and if they need repairing, you don't have to take your vehicle to the dealership for a day to get it removed from the dash.

I just don't get it...

[+G & E]

I haven't used the system you are talking about but I have a Pioneer product at home. It is a DVD recorder with a hard drive for the TV. It didn't work properly after the first week or so. I made countless calls and still they could not help me. The dealer replaced it with another unit and it was the same for performance. Pioneer gave us some codes to "re-set" the unit and this helped for a day or two then then the problems came back. Finally I searched and searched and then in the back of the manual in fine print was another method for a total reset of everything. I did that, and it has worked flawlessly ever since. I think these new electronics are so sensitive that even the initial install can cause problems. I dont' know if this logic can help you with your built in navigation system, but you just never know.

[hwyhobo]

Out of curiosity, what does Hertz use as their "Neverlost" system? I like it the most of any in-car navigational systems (I use it a lot), but even it has problems in some areas. Once in the Tampa Bay Area it kept ringing and pestering me to immediately turn right. I was in the middle of a long bridge!

Edited April 30, 2006 by hwyhobo

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Out of curiosity, what does Hertz use as their "Neverlost" system? I like it the most of any in-car navigational systems (I use it a lot), but even it has problems in some areas. Once in the Tampa Bay Area it kept ringing and pestering me to immediately turn right. I was in the middle of a long bridge!

 

It's a Magellan Roadmate (don't know the exact model). Actually my boss thinks it does a much better job than his Tom Tom

[+Alan2]

Built in GPS receiver suck! Plain and simple...

 

Why would someone pay $1500 to $2000 for a system that will be antiquated within 2 years? Whay not spend $500 for a Garmin C-330 or something, that can be carried in a suitcase for a rental car, or moved into you friends car or anyone else's car?

 

And, when and if they need repairing, you don't have to take your vehicle to the dealership for a day to get it removed from the dash.

I just don't get it...

 

If someone's getting a car for business and leasing it, another 30-40 bucks a month doesn't mean much to the company as it's all written off to the business anyway. At the end of the lease in 2-3 years, they'd get an updated model and maps anyway. Also, while I might not want fixed car model because I like the flexibility of having the routing and the ability to use a portable unit in the car or woods and be able to add caching waypoints, most people are just interested in driving from point a to point b.

Edited April 30, 2006 by Alan2

[+Quanmeg]

I just hope others don't make the same mistake I made.

[+Renegade Knight]

Thanks for the post. I have a project rig and tha Pioneer (while not first on the list) had some potential for being installed. It did get good reviews on some website or another.

 

What I've found on professional reviews is that they never have to live wiht the gizmo. A place like Cnet (who does ok on reviews) which also has consumer reviews is invaluable. When the Cnet folks and the public both give something a thumbs up, you usually have a winner. It's not suprising to see a great Cnet review and a bad public review and that's the value.

[+Night Stalker]

I rent cars all the time for business. Many times it will have neverlost in it. When it comes times for navigation we pull out my 60CS. It gives better directions every time and it is a lot less irritating when it prompts you to make a turn.

 

By the way if you keep disobeying the directions given by a neverlost long enough it will have a nervous breakdown. (Don't ask)

 

[dave and jaime]

the best thing about the onstar in my 3/4 ton gmc truck is that it can be 'hacked' to output a nema stream to my laptop for the gis software to do the real navigating. problem with these type of products is that you typically have either hybrid products(which rarely do both thing exceptionally) and or companies that are out of their typicial product base(pioneer make decent stereo gear, gps i kinda wonder).

[+Quanmeg]

Thanks ...I took your advise and posted on Cnet as well.

 

Maybe one of these days pioneer will respond to my complaints.

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Built in GPS receiver suck! Plain and simple...

 

Why would someone pay $1500 to $2000 for a system that will be antiquated within 2 years? Whay not spend $500 for a Garmin C-330 or something, that can be carried in a suitcase for a rental car, or moved into you friends car or anyone else's car?

 

And, when and if they need repairing, you don't have to take your vehicle to the dealership for a day to get it removed from the dash.

I just don't get it...

 

If someone's getting a car for business and leasing it, another 30-40 bucks a month doesn't mean much to the company as it's all written off to the business anyway. At the end of the lease in 2-3 years, they'd get an updated model and maps anyway. Also, while I might not want fixed car model because I like the flexibility of having the routing and the ability to use a portable unit in the car or woods and be able to add caching waypoints, most people are just interested in driving from point a to point b.

 

Well said, Alan2. Also, most car GPSr's are geared specifically for car navigation in ways that many (but not all) handhelds are not. Such as just punching 2 addresses and getting directions, voice prompts, detailed street maps with POI's etc. Most of the people buying them want that and not the ability to download waypoints, or the sunrise/sunset time of their location, or knowing their exact latitude/longitude. But yeah, a business leasing isn't going to notice the cost difference vs. a portable that server the same purpose like a StreetPilot or Roadmate.

[+Anrx4you]

I've always wondered why those things cost so much It's nice not having wires hanging in the wind, but not $2,000 nice. You can buy alot of GPS's with that.

[+mitzip]

is a Garmin Rino 530HCx. ;-)

[+Dryphter]

Out of curiosity, what does Hertz use as their "Neverlost" system? I like it the most of any in-car navigational systems (I use it a lot), but even it has problems in some areas. Once in the Tampa Bay Area it kept ringing and pestering me to immediately turn right. I was in the middle of a long bridge!

 

It's a Magellan Roadmate (don't know the exact model). Actually my boss thinks it does a much better job than his Tom Tom

 

I rent cars all the time as well. Since buying my Garmin 60csx I've compared it to Hertz Neverlost. Everytime the Garmin and Neverlost are identical in the turn by turn directions. Neverlost screen is bigger and therefore easier to read while driving, but accuracy seems to be the same all the times I have had them side by side.