jhom

Mapopolis 4.8 with the gpxtomaplet program for geocaching.

Besides all the great comments about Mapopolis being a street navigator, it is an excellent geocaching program. Sure there are several all in one geocaching/topo programs available, but Mapopolis is an all in one program for the no frills geocacher.

PROS:

Simple to use
gpxtomaplet program to plot caches
Fast and accurate
Not a memory hog
Use street nav to get to cache
Use pilot nav to find cache

CON:

Larger compass display for us older folks

squidpup

Thanks for the all the good info guys

axjax

Here's my experience:

Dell Axim X51v ROM A06 w/Globalsat Bluetooth BT-338 GPS 2GB Lexar CF

Both TT5 and Mapopolis v.3.27 worked great for the past year or so. I have some issues with both, but in general... I was happy.

Upgraded ROM to A12 around January 15, 2007

About two weeks after this is when I started to experience problems. It was sporadic then I could not get any satellite readings at all so at this moment I am using paper maps. But with regard to the TomTom5, here's my overview:

PROS:

• 3D Mapping is both "entertaining" and useful... I seldom switch over to 2D.
• Map action is very smooth flowing on the road.
• Color options are very good.
• Voice commands are clear and very understandable throu the Axim's speaker.
• I like the idea that I can load the entire Mid-Atlantic region onto my CF card and plug in just about anywhere in that area and get exceptional directions to the final location... or at least very, very close to it.

CONS:

• As noted by many people, TT's maps are not 100% accurate... I think they are 3-5 years old.
• They should offer a "Route Reversal" feature so that when you take a 2 hour drive to a location and have to go back to your previous starting point... you just punch one button.
• Occassionally, directions will be given that ignore an obvious route (i.e. a ramp that has two directions) and you are directed to go hundreds of yards off course to make U-Turn to head back into the correct direction. This could be a by-product of how old their maps are.
• TomTom does not offer purchasers the option of a first-year free upgrade with reagrd to maps or software. If you followed their plan, you'd be investing hundreds of dollars a year in "upgrades".

Bottom Line:
Sorry, but as much as I like TomTom... I would not buy it again. Mapopolis is a much better choice if you can live with 2D. I have not yet reinstalled Mapopolis since flashing my ROM... and I might consider upgrading to the newer version. Thats if I can get the Axim to see my GPS again. If I can't, I'll sell off everything on eBay and get a dedicated portable GPS and be done with it.

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AxJax
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• Axim X51v • 2GB Lexar 80X CF • GlobalSat BT-338 GPS • TomTom5 • Mapopolis v.3.27
"If God really wanted us to compute, we'd have memory slots in our heads"

Saber11

X51V with Garmin GPS 10 Bluetooth. San Disk 1 gig CF, San Disk 1 gig SD and SeiDio Powered mount. Rhino Case.

After much rending of hair, gnashing of teeth, wailing, etc, I got Garmin Que to operate on my X51v. Great system and I enjoy it, although I find it very hard to understand why I can create routes and waypoints using Mapsource, but cannot download the routes to my Axim. Waypoints, fine, but not routes. Serious lack of functionality. Maps are propriety and expensive to buy and update.



I downloaded VITO Smart Map and Map Manager, and spent about 2 hours figuring it out. No routing, no panning or moving, once the map is in place, no adding graphics. You can add pushpins (waypoints) but that is all. VERY Basic. But for the price, it is a very fun program that can be of great value. Finding maps can be a bit of a challenge but if you can get a good source of JPEG map images, you are only limited by your imagination as to what maps you can put together.

cLOUDFAn

Tomtom 6.03 + x51v + ld-3w

Pros:
route planning w/o GPS
fairly new maps (NA)
fairly good POIs
good UI
voice prompts in time
easy to set up (once I figured out which port is which)

Cons:
found a few map errors (which teaches me to read the signs on hwy instead of following the nice lady in tomtom)
nothing else

Ground Effect

heh axjax, did that rom upgrade ever get resolved? I have an interest in it before I do mine. Or maybe I won't

speedcheetah

A personal comparison of Tom Tom, Destinator and iGo (all on a X50 :) and also my O2 XDA exec. )

Tomtom is certainly the easiest to use and get to grips with quickly for a beginner. I found the UK maps were much better than the USA Maps (particularly on a recent trip to Arizona.)

My own personal favourite is Destinator because I find it works better when you're running other GPS applications in tandem, particularly if you are using the GPS intermediate gateway in mobile 5.

The iGO software I tried was a little clunky for my tastes and it seemed to take much longer to enter a new address, etc. Cool graphics and sounds though.

I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't much matter which one you pick. Whichever one you start off with, you grow to love it and then most things pale in comparison (or are certainly measured in comparison to that first love.)

They all get you there in the end!

Interestingly enough I still prefer to use my old X50 for navigation, because even now it works faster than the XDA exec I have for work.

Noah59

Testing Environment:
x51v WM5 A06, Microsoft bluetooth stack and a Holux GPSlim 236

• Pros
• Very easy to use menu system
• Beautiful graphics
• Very user friendly find alternative route system
• Great routing
• Very fast application load time

• Cons
• Call number feature now only available for smart phone and pocket pc phone edition users (workaround at http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=149825)
• Landscape mode doesn't work properly (jittery display while driving and slow menu response)

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Noah

FunkyCowie

Originally Posted by Noah59

Testing Environment: x51v WM5 A06, Microsoft bluetooth stack and a Holux GPSlim 236 Pros Very easy to use menu system Beautiful graphics Very user friendly find alternative route system Great routing Very fast application load time Cons Call number feature now only available for smart phone and pocket pc phone edition users (workaround at http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=149825) Landscape mode doesn't work properly (jittery display while driving and slow menu response)

Quoted for agreement on my X50v with Visiontac GPS

Amamba

Dell (what else :o) Axim X51v, OnCourse BT-359, iGuidance 3.01

Hardware:

Pros

Small, very portable - about the size of two matchboxes set end to end

Battery life OK, size considered (says 11 hrs IIRC, I've never used it that long)

Being just a receiver, doesn't lock you into any particular software, unlike standalone GPS units.

Cons

Will not work with MS Bluetooth stack, period. Works perfectly with Widcomm stack.

Takes sometimes up to 5 min to get GPS signal. Usially 1-2 min, never instant connection.

Was utterly useless on trip to Manhattan, would lose signal all the time. (Seem to be Manhattan specific issue)

Battery cover feels a bit flimsy.


Software - iGuidance 3.01

Pros

Very nice, accurate and timely voice prompt

Pretty accurate, although there're occasional hickups (this may be related to routing constraints that I select, though). Basically, very good in getting you from point A to point B.

Fast start

No memory related issues even with other programs running (this is why I chose it over TomTom)

Easy finger menu operation while en route

It shows next street on top of screen, and the road you're currently on at the bottom. Some other GPS units I looked at only showed the next road.


Cons

Expensive updates. The newly released v4 is more like v3.2, at $70+ it's a joke.

Getting a map to take you from one location that you're not currently at, to another (as opposed to starting at your current GPS location) takes a bit long, compared to Mapopolis or MapQuest - you have to find a start location, select it as start, then do a route. The response in this case is a bit sluggish, although bearable. (Making a route to some destination from your current GPS location is fast).

It shows side streets you're driving by, but roughly half are usually unindentified. The font size can't be changed easily. There's an unofficial manual on how to change the font size, but at smaller font it's harder to read. I wish it was smart enough to change the font size for smaller side streets automatically.

The 3D view is fairly useless, imho, as it shows much less detail. I am not a big fan of 3D view anyway, so I may be biased.

Favorites can't be organized in folders.

ABCDE keyboard layout instead of QUERTY.

The "Detour" feature is nice, however it's hidden in menu, and it doesn't let you specify custom detour distance (at least I didn't find how to do it).

It identifies ramps from one freeway to another way too late, imho. E.g. it's telling you to take a ramp from I275 onto M14. You'd be in right lane, passing M14 sign, yet the software still shows you on I275 (which is technically correct, but it should show both). This can get confusing when you're in a section where 2 or 3 freeways merge and you're not sure which lane you have to stay in. The voice prompt is good, but more visual guidance is needed in this case.

Basically, I'd say that the voice prompt and routing and memory requirements are strong sides, and the visual display is rather mediocre. I didn't have an opportunity to compare to anything other than now-defunct Mapopolis, though. Also, the X51 screen isn't too legible in bright sun, when it is glancing at screen distracts from driving, and I find myself using voice navigation most of the time anyway.

I would've still chosen iGuidance over TomTom, based on the complaints I read about TT's memory requirements.

LHR

Quoting Saber11, above: “After much rending of hair, gnashing of teeth, wailing…”

I’ve narrowed down my GPS software selection to Garmin M10, OCN6, IG4 & TT6 to use with my Axim X51V A12 for North America.

Below, are my preliminary research findings / impressions from reading various forums, reviews and latest GPS sources. I’ll update this as I continue my research. The ranking is in the order of what I’d likely be purchasing:

#1) Garmin Mobile 10 - seems to be the overall most robust solution
PROS: highly accurate routing, includes both laptop & PDA s/w which allows route and/or waypoint transfers from the desktop to PDA (at least on the Axim x51v),
NavTeq ver 8 map (ver 9 to be released in August), free traffic/ weather/ fuel/ hotel data & other wireless svcs via GPRS/EDGE Bluetooth connection, 3D map view, route to contacts
CONS: 6 million POIs (proprietary?), no TTS (text to speech), no FM receiver for FM/XM/TMC traffic feeds via included Garmin GPS 10X Sirf III-based receiver, no longer free map upgrades even if you purchased a day before new version is released, you’ll still have to pay the $75 map upgrade fee, not as easy to install

#2) OnCourseNavigator 6 – Jake Rich’s review initially made this my top choice
PROS: best 3D graphics, reliable routing, 12.5 million POIs (customizable DB), easy idiot-proof self-install, smooth 3D map view, easy searching of POIs, 30-day money back guarantee, ETA relatively accurate
CONS: TeleAtlas 3Q2006 maps, no TTS, can only be run from SD card, no route to contacts

#3) Iguidance 4 – seems to be most reliable down to which side of street
PROS: reliable routing, NAvTeq 1Q2007 maps, has TTS, tells you which side of the street, best ETA calculations, 6 million POIs
CONS: apparent direct routing glitches mentioned on gpspassion, global search feature not user-friendly, std & TTS voice prompts differ in volume/quality, new version difficult to install, graphics could be improved


#4) TomTom 6 – seems to be easiest to use and most customizable
PROS: fast routing, very nice graphics, most user friendly GUI, TomTom Plus Services, ability to easily import/export POIs, easy to setup and install, stable and robust, route to contacts, highly customizable, up to date maps
CONS: no North Up mode, map errors and routing efficiency?

Pease feel free to update and/or CORRECT any inaccuracies or outdated data I may have missed or misinterpreted.

Rambler358

The current incarnation of the GMXT PPC software seems to be the best yet.

And this is the only PPC software I've found that lets you create routes and waypoints on the PC (via Garmin Mapsource) and transfer them to the PDA. IMHO, this makes it the hands down winner for my needs. :approve:

JakeRich

Originally Posted by LHR

CLIP... #2) OnCourseNavigator 6 – Jake Rich’s review initially made this my top choice PROS: best 3D graphics, reliable routing, 12.5 million POIs (customizable DB), easy idiot-proof self-install, smooth 3D map view, easy searching of POIs, 30-day money back guarantee, ETA relatively accurate CONS: TeleAtlas 3Q2006 maps, no TTS, can only be run from SD card, no route to contacts

Actually, you can route to contacts. In fact, it can import all of your contacts into POI for you if you want it to do that. Takes some time, so they've defaulted it NOT to do that, but a simple edit to SYS.TXT will enable that action.

LHR

Originally Posted by JakeRich

Actually, you can route to contacts. In fact, it can import all of your contacts into POI for you if you want it to do that. Takes some time, so they've defaulted it NOT to do that, but a simple edit to SYS.TXT will enable that action.

Thks Jake for the clarification on the Route to Contacts for OCN6.

As an FYI for anyone looking for the latest Garmin City Navigator North America 2008 DVD maps - they've just been released, here's the Garmin link GARMIN: MapSource Unlock - Update Details for*City Navigator North America 2008 DVD

Only the non-NT version has been posted on the Garmin site; spoke to Garmin and the NT version should be posted soon. Note that the Garmin version nomenclature has changed, instead of v9, they now call it 2008 version.

lawman

City Navigator North America 2008 DVD that what I'm ordering that now. I just saw an update in MyGarmin box when I logged into Garmin to check once a month. Looks to have some map areas updated in the States. So, might be worthwhile to update my maps now with the low price.