Sat Nav

July 13, 2006

I’m thinking of getting myself a Sat Nav system for the car and it occurred to me that it would be great if I could also download or input waypoint information for car parks etc... to navigate myself to a starting point when out caching.....

Does anyone know if Sat Nav units do this? Everything I read about them seems to assume that you will input the postcode or street name of where you’re heading. I was wondering if you can also input co-ords (either lat/long or british grid).... Anyone got any ideas?!

2.5k · July 13, 2006

Yes most do, and GSAK is great tool for producing the files

1.7k · July 13, 2006

my cheapo Garmin I3 allows this, but only by creating a points of information file (POI) and then uploading from the PC to the satnav - I can't input them directly. GSAK will create the POI file for you... I think some of the more expensive ones may allow you to input coords directly, but I'm open to correction!

Dave

July 13, 2006

If you are getting a SatNav system for your car take a look at the TomTomGo equipment. It's good and relaible and I have experienced no problems with it. Before going caching, I select the caches I want to do and select parking spaces for each cache or group of caches. I then down load this to my TTG 300 as a POI file. I then use that to get me to the parking spot. With the latest software release you can enter geog co-ords as well as the usual street names, etc.

I don't use my TTG for locating caches but use my PDA for that.

Never leave your SatNav attached to the windscreen when you are away from the car. It only to takes a few seconds to disconnect it and it is not too heavy to pop in a rucksack and take it with you. Also, every now and again clean off the rings that the suction cup can leave. Would be thieves may think that the kit is still in the car and break in to get it - whether it's there or not! From my experience, it is the getting the glass replaced and dealing with the insurers that is more hassle than getting anything taken from the car.

If you are anywhere close to London I could show you my set-up.

July 13, 2006

Thanks all for the advice - funny enough I had my eye on one of the TomTom Go kits, so now I know that it'll do what I want, I think I go for for it and get one. And thanks for the advice about GSAK too - it looks like a useful program.

1.8k · July 13, 2006

The TomTom ONE is very good value aim to spend about £229-239. The about to be released free upgrade to v6 of the software will allow direct input of Lat and Long coordinates on the fly. I have used TT on PDAs for over year but the ONE is far superior, and it has a SIRF III chip so always has a GPS fix (even downstairs in the house!)

I put the ONE, the mount and the power lead in a small camera bag and throw it over my shoulder to go caching - it is so light I just don't notice it.

Edited July 13, 2006 by Learned Gerbil

1.8k · July 13, 2006

I agree with all Learned Gerbil has written as my experience parallels his. The advantage of the TomTom One over the more advanced models is its compactness (and price).

I'm just waiting for the upgrade to be able to input coords directly in the field, e.g. when you are going through the stages of a multi but generally it is so easy to set up POIs via GSAK.

Edited July 13, 2006 by John Stead

3.1k · July 13, 2006

I recently got my Tom Tom go 300 from Amazon for a bargain price of £240.

I'm told there is an upgrade available so you can input coords, but not being very good with anything technological, I'll wait til I meet up with someone that can do it!!!

I love my TTG300... use GSAK to get all the caches on the Tom Tom and away I go.......................... lol!!

July 13, 2006

I've opted for a slightly different approach . I bought a pda with a built in gpsr and preloaded Destinator software. I've added a few bits of software and I'm in the process of trying them out.

Destinator, although quirky and somewhat unstable, does the business most of the time for on-road navigation.

For geocaching I've found that Beeline takes care of almost all my needs. However, this is still early days for me and I have a lot more experimenting to do. Nothing I've played with has made me want to leave my legend c behind.

I'm quite chuffed that I've been able to type and send this through the wifi connection of my pda

July 14, 2006

I'm told there is an upgrade available so you can input coords, but not being very good with anything technological, I'll wait til I meet up with someone that can do it!!!

I installed this upgrade a couple of weeks ago and it does what it says on the can! I have not used the co-ords entry yet as I just use the TTG for getting me to a parking spot that I download as a POI. I do know of one cache where it will be of great assistance and I may give it a go sometime soon. The cache is "Mole's Magnetic Maze" where you have to find a micro and then drive to the co-ords given in that micro, about 10 times!

July 14, 2006

How about using a PDA (with built in GPSr), with Tomtom, Memorymap, GPS gate and Sonar all loaded.

Everything, all in one piece of kit.

July 14, 2006

How about using a PDA (with built in GPSr), with Tomtom, Memorymap, GPS gate and Sonar all loaded.

Everything, all in one piece of kit.

I don't know about others, but I find the TomTom standalone solution more reliable than the PDA software especially in the urban canyons. There is more to life than geocaching - yes really - and my wife finds the TTG very easy to use for her forrays away from home. It's all down to horses for courses.

It would be interesting, though, to see how many PDA users have changed from having just a PDA to having both a PDA and a separate SatNav for the car and their reasons.

1.8k · July 14, 2006

Yes, I use a PDA for caching, but the stand alone Satnav system is far easier to use and less bothersome. Also, the TT1 uses a faster processor than most PDAs unless you spend a lot more money, and because it runs Linux, does everything, like sorting and calculating routes, incredibly fast in comparison to running it on a PDA.

Hazel, the update was released and then withdrawn due to problems lots of people had. It will be relaunched, hopefully soon.

July 14, 2006

How about using a PDA (with built in GPSr), with Tomtom, Memorymap, GPS gate and Sonar all loaded.

Everything, all in one piece of kit.

Agreed. Why anyone would spend £300 on a standalone tomtom unit is beyond me! Have a look at something like the p350 or a second hand 168 for much better value!

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/...escription.html

Then stick tomtom (or whatever road satnav you prefer) on it, GPX Sonar & Memory map or GPS Dash and you will never look back.

No need for GPS Gate on the p350 as it's a WM5 device.

Edited July 14, 2006 by melmur

July 14, 2006

I don't know about others, but I find the TomTom standalone solution more reliable than the PDA software especially in the urban canyons.

That's purely down to the GPS chipset, not the fact that one is a tomtom unit & the other is a PDA. The latest PDAs with Sirf III chipsets will match the performance of a tomtom unit easily.

July 14, 2006

How about using a PDA (with built in GPSr), with Tomtom, Memorymap, GPS gate and Sonar all loaded.

Everything, all in one piece of kit.

Agreed. Why anyone would spend £300 on a standalone tomtom unit is beyond me! Have a look at something like the p350 or a second hand 168 for much better value!

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/...escription.html

Then stick tomtom (or whatever road satnav you prefer) on it, GPX Sonar & Memory map or GPS Dash and you will never look back.

No need for GPS Gate on the p350 as it's a WM5 device.

Ahh ............ well I'm still using a good old fashioned Ipaq 5550 - works fine though.

Edited July 14, 2006 by CrazyL200

1.8k · July 14, 2006

When I wanted to upgrade my Satnav it cost far less to buy a ONE than it cost to buy a PDA that would run TT at anything like the same speed and would have a SIRF III chipset. It was a complete no brainer - why would I spend £100+ extra for a PDA that would run the software much slower? The ONE has proved far less buggy than the PPC version of TomTom as well as much faster, more relaible, easier to see in bright light and easier to use.

July 14, 2006

Yes, but that was then.........this is now. PPCs have moved on a lot. Tomtom hasn't really, they just add another unneeded feature each year and bump the price up a few quid. If you want to pay between £230 - £500+ (depending on model) for a low spec PPC with a locked OS in a different case then that's up to you. There is no doubt that Tomtom standalones are good and have brought satnav to the masses but they are not necessarily the best way to go and I like people to think about the alternatives before being blinkered by TV advertising. Surely you can see the benefits of an all in one device?

The p350 I mentioned earlier has Sirf III GPS, twice as much RAM as a Tomtom One, a faster processor & the ability to install whatever software you want on it and is only £179! Add to that £50 or so for Tomtom or Miomap (if you choose to pay for them) and you have got yourself a bargain.

I'm also curious as to how tomtom one is "easier to use" & "far less buggy" when it's essentially the same software?

Edited July 14, 2006 by melmur

July 14, 2006

I have a much simpler option - I have a husband in the passenger seat with a handheld GPSr - it's voice activated and everything! <_<

Lisa

1.8k · July 14, 2006

The p350 I mentioned earlier has Sirf III GPS, twice as much RAM as a Tomtom One, a faster processor & the ability to install whatever software you want on it and is only £179! Add to that £50 or so for Tomtom or Miomap (if you choose to pay for them) and you have got yourself a bargain.

I'm also curious as to how tomtom one is "easier to use" & "far less buggy" when it's essentially the same software?

T devices do not run the MS OS so do not have anything like the same overheads and the resulting speed comparison is very obvious if you have actually used a ONE compared with a similar speed PDA. I have a PPC that does what I need at no added expense. What it could not so was run TT software as well unless I spent nearly £300. The p350 had not been launched, it was released shortly after I spent £229 on a ONE.

Far less buggy because the ONE does not have the many bugs that are in the PPC version of TT's software. Any TT forum will have details, but some I have experieinced myself and reported to TT but are not present i nthe ONE include -

- Premature secondary warning: TTN5 may advise to eg "turn right, then turn right" when the second turn is still very far away and there are other turn options before it.

- there is no underscore in the portrait soft keyboard, preventing users with underscores in their email address to access the Plus services. Workaround: switch to landscape temporarily

- TTN5 may not restart after being exited. Sometimes when clicking on the TomTom icon on the Today screen it goes into TomTom other times nothing happens (including no red hands at the bottom of the screen). The only way to get it to run is to reset the machine.

- While running, TTN5 consumes nearly 100% of processor cycles. Programs running in the background becme unusable (media player etc). TTN5 also affects the OS reaction to hardware key presses. In 50% of the cases the key press event will not be relayed to the OS. Excessive processor usage also seems to cause rapid battery drain and/or very hot PDAs up to the point of failure.

- degraded GPS performance with the new GPS driver using both third-party and TomTom GPS hardware. Probably due to the higher processor load, but it is also possible this is caused by (unnecessary) initialisation attempts upon connection to the receiver.Workaround: allow the receiver plenty of time to get a fix BEFORE running TTN.

- While running, TomTom does not respect the power save settings of the Pocket PC. It will keep the device switched on until the battery is completely drained. You will have to manually switch off your Pocket PC (or exit TomTom each time you interrupt navigation) to prevent that from happening. Backlight settings are respected.

- UK 7 digit PostCode will not work unless there is a Tomtom folder on the storage card (even though it can be empty). The postcode file has to be in the ZIP folder on the storage card.Workaround: the 5.21 installer adds an empty TomTom folder to the storage card automatically

- If navigating an itinerary with at least one waypoint and then during the journey choosing a point to Travel Via, all existing itinerary waypoints are discarded in favour of the new Travel Via waypoint.

- On some PDAs with a badly written SD card driver if you start TTN5 (installed in main memory) with the PDA off using a hardware button, or switch the PDA off and back on while TTN5 is running, you may get the disclaimer screen up . This is because the map on the SD card can only be accessed after the operating system has mounted the card - that can take up to five seconds.

- When starting the install from a CD, or when starting the install from hard disc but with the CD still in the drive, you may get "Cannot create enough temporary space" or something like that. TomTom have posted a workaround for this: If you get this message when you attempt to install TomTom NAVIGATOR 5 Upgrade pack please follow these steps:

1. Remove the CD-rom from your CD-rom drive.

2. Click on Start, select Run and type %temp%, then press OK.

3. Select the file setup.exe and delete this file by tapping delete on your keyboard.

4. If installing from CD insert your NAVIGATOR 5 Upgrade CD-rom into the CD-rom drive.

5. Now you can install your TomTom NAVIGATOR 5 Upgrade.

- There is no 'back' button when doing Navigate to POSTCODE. All of the other "Navigate to" screens (i.e Address, POI) have a 'back' button. But 'Postcode' simply says 'done'. This means that if you have gone into this screen unintentionally, you have to actually select a postcode to get to a screen where you can 'cancel'.

- the TomTom screen doesn't draw properly after you selected the BT device in the Connection Manager. The selection page stays visible until you tap anywhere on the page and then you find yourself on the menu screen and have to tap close to get back to the main screen.

- slow redrawing/position lag when user created POIs are visible. TTN5 will show the position you were in several seconds ago - hide custom POIs and it shows you where you are now.

- TTN5 keeps losing favourites and POI alert settings randomly, after map switching, after enabling/disabling some poi's categories, and after closing ttn5.

The cfg file is not set to read-only, and the sd card is not locked. Seems to be a timing issue with file i/o.

- The ETA is over estimated by some 50%. Particularly when you are able to drive faster than initially projected TTN does not take that into account until it is very close to the destination. It is not possible to influence that since road speed settings are no longer editable.

- Battery drain if the device is off but TT is not teminated.

As for easier to use, there is just no need ot select softeware, reboot the devic now and again, ensure the GPS is working right etc. The ONE just works perfectly out of the box and is a joy to use i na way that PPCs never are.

July 15, 2006

The p350 had not been launched, it was released shortly after I spent £229 on a ONE.

But like I said, it's different now. Would you not consider it being faced with the same decision today? I don't believe you wouldn't.

Just to keep things in perspective here & to prove I'm not a complete tomtom hater, I'm actually considering buying my dad a tomtom one for Xmas. The One is the ONLY tomtom standalone that's worth the money in my opinion. My dad would not use the PPC for anything else, so it's better for him. Anyone who does caching, will sooner or later want a PPC, so a combined device is better for them I feel.

1.8k · July 15, 2006

So what happens when I need my PDA and my partner needs the Satnav? We are not joined at the hip!

July 15, 2006

So what happens when I need my PDA and my partner needs the Satnav? We are not joined at the hip!

On the odd occasion that your needs clash, you go back to using whatever you are using now & let him/her use the PDA.

1.8k · July 15, 2006

So what happens when I need my PDA and my partner needs the Satnav? We are not joined at the hip!

On the odd occasion that your needs clash, you go back to using whatever you are using now & let him/her use the PDA.

Not a very personal PDA then! Jackie and I are very happy with our solution thank you.

July 16, 2006

i have a garmin nuvi 350. Not got around to using gsak on it yet. i assume i can as its a garmin. anyone else own one of these?if so do you use gsak on it/any tips etc

3.1k · July 16, 2006

I think what must be said here is this....

Not everyone has the ability to understand technological gobbledegook. I like my Garmin legend to cache with and my TTG300 to get me there - simple as that. I then have my lovely cheap palm that I paid £10 for, and I really couldn't care if it falls int eh river, bounces down a cliff face etc... if it gets broken, I'll replace it with another £10 one!

What happnes when all you techno's drop your PPC's in the river and then you can't carry on caching for the rest of the day, and nor can you find your way home???

For us simpletons, TTg300, palm and a GPS is the best set up... please don't insult us for doing so!

1.3k · July 16, 2006

Black n white, non-routing GPS60, plus a relevant OS map, gradely!

July 17, 2006

What happnes when all you techno's drop your PPC's in the river and then you can't carry on caching for the rest of the day, and nor can you find your way home???

Probably the same as what happens when you drop your Garmin Legend in the river, if it wasn't in an aquapac fastened to me with a lanyard. Even if it did break I'm pretty sure I could find my way home without it. Edited July 17, 2006 by melmur

Sat Nav

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