sneekyb

Hope this works well in the car. Recently bought my Axim with the TomTom 2 nav kit. The software is good but i hate having all those cables in the car, hopefully the Holux will eliminate the need for them.

Also the cable for Dell supplied by TomTom is rubbish and constantly falls out of the Axim. This is another reason i must change my gps receiver source.

I've had several probs with the TT2 software stopping working and needing fully re-installed. This has happened twice now. Also all my SD data was gone when i last turned the Axim on. It kept asking me if i wished to format the SD card for use :( Not happy cause i'd installed all the TT2 software on it.

Any ideas what may have went wrong?

chamberc

Out of curiosity, where did you purchase the GM-270U and how much did you pay? Thanks!

walkabt

Here is a thread that talks about the precision plus being slower and Semons agreeing that the GM-270 is better for Navigation use.

FYI:
http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showt...hlight=semsons

sneekyb

I had read several reviews from sites and users and decided that for the little extra cost involved the Ultra would be the best option for me. The trade off in speed is seemingly not that bad and i get the benefit of the signal holding in more difficult areas.

It's costing me $206 (£127) including the postage from http://store.yahoo.com/semsons-inc/holuxcfgps.html

sneekyb

Ok minor update for you. I did a little more research on the Ultra and standard Holux CF GPS and found alot of interesting info (gpspassion) which has now made me sway towards the standard model.

I've emailed Semsons and will hopefully be ok to change my order and also buy the external antenna from them.

Thanks

chamberc

Quote:

Originally posted by sneekyb Ok minor update for you. I did a little more research on the Ultra and standard Holux CF GPS and found alot of interesting info (gpspassion) which has now made me sway towards the standard model. I've emailed Semsons and will hopefully be ok to change my order and also buy the external antenna from them. Thanks

Yep, I was just about to buy the ultra and switched back to the standard after reading those posts. I bought it with the external antenna...

sneekyb

Just received an email from Semsons and they have made the changes to my order that i wanted :)

The comments on here and on gpspassion really helped me make my choice.

Thanks everyone :)

AximTT

I found a good user feedback from GPSpassion.com forum by paulkbiba. I think this should help decide between the regular version or Precision Plus.

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...66&whichpage=5

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just back from an 800 mile (round trip) drive from NJ to Buffalo. I used Routis and my new Holux CF Ultra. The following are my observations:

Routis:

The software performed perfectly. I have done this drive many times, as my daughter was in college in Buffalo (and this was her graduation), so I am familiar with the route. Routis routed me exactly as I have come to drive. The ETA was "dead-on" accurate. I know driving times from all points on this route and Routis was correct for all of them. It is clear that Routis uses a combination of calculated time and averaged time as it changes in real time as you speed up and slow down. When I was caught in thundersorms and slowed from 75 to 50, Routis would change the ETA. Clearly this was averaged, because the ETA would take 5 or 6 minutes to change.

Of the software I have used, Routis is the most sophisticated in giving directions. It uses such terms as "turn right" , "Bear right", and "Stay right" correctly. The voice prompt is very clear and easy to interpret. One annoying factor is that the voice sort of "explodes" with a plowsive before each sentance. Another good point is that it is the only software I know (Pharos, Mapoplis, PocketMap) that gives you a series of directions all at the same time - see below.

On the other hand, while you can use POIs as a destination in a route, Routis, unless I am missing something, does not display them on the map. This means you can't display rest areas or gas stations, which Mapopolis and PocketMap do so well. Also, the display is a bit "thin". It doesn't give you city names (like Mapopolis) or areas of water, parks, etc.

Despite this, in my experience Routis is the most stable and reliable software I have seen to date.

Holux Ultra

I have done this route many times and when I go across the NY mountains and valleys around Cortland (about a 50 mile stretch) every unit I have used (Pharos, Magellan Meridian, Garmin, Holux Regular)has gotten an intermittent lock in good weather, and no lock in bad weather. Coming home, I was in a continual series of thunderstorms and downpours. The Holux Ultra registered lock on 9 of 9 satellites. This is an incredible performance. For the more experienced of us, imagine sitting in a thunderstorm, and the bottom of a valley, and getting 9 of 9. This was really exciting.

The downside is that the Ultra seems, and many people have commented, to exhibit a lag. With my regular 270 it pretty much follows me exactly. The Ultra is always a little bit behind. This doesn't make much difference, as a practical matter in most circumstances. However, in going through a cloverleaf, the 270 would follow me through, but the Ultra caused Routis to recalculate in the middle of the cloverleaf. The advantage of Routis, however, is that it had already told me what to do ("Turn right, bear left, stay right") so I did not need to follow the display. I found that if I stayed at a 1 mile resolution that was all I needed.

All in all, between the Ultra and the regular, I will take the Ultra as my main unit. This may be because I am a regular shortwave listener, and have antennas all over the house, and used to have my own satellite dish in the yard to get and display weather satellites in real time on my computer (the internet made this obsolete - and made my wife very happy), so signal is important to me. I would rather have a assured lock above anything else.

This will be cross-posted in the hardware section as it applies to both.

sneekyb

One of the many worthy posts i read. I bought the external antenna so even if the cf card is struggling at anytime i'll have that to fall back on.

MichaelE

Interesting comments on the valleys scenario AximTT.

I'll have to test that out with my Holux 270 Standard and the external. I used to use a Garmin GPS III+ along with my notebook and on a drive to Livingston Manor, NY I encountered similar conditions.. Heavy Thunderstorms, and in valley driving and I can't recall the Garmin cutting out on me (unless in a tunnel or something). I'll have to take some closer observations of the Holux now.

For now it seems to be fine though. Mind you my only testing with it has only been from South Jersey to Philly so far. Thus June we'll be going from South Jersey to Disney and that should be a better test. I've got two ARKON mounts (one for the Jeep and the extended version for the Minivan) and the setup seems to work fairly well. I just need to adjust to Mapopolis a bit more... :D

__________________

Code:

+--------------------------------+ MichaelE | CTO | Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard | To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. href=" To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. target="_blank">The 9 Day Project +--------------------------------+ Dell Axim X5 400MHz +--------------------------------+

Gman949

A good place to purchase this CF GPS is BuyGPSnow.com. I paid $249 with no tax and free shipping. The GPS bundle includes an antenna, carrying case, the Holux 270 CF GPS and most importantly, a unlimited download of maps from Mapopolis which never expires. If you choose this GPS bundle, make sure you purchase the one with the Mapopolis DOWNLOADED maps. You will receive an e-mail with a registration number that directs you to a Mapopolis web site where you can download your maps. The maps include the US and major Canadian cities.