X50V Gps Street,Voice Software Suggestions: Been a Long time
I have an x50v with wm5. i am looking for suggestions on the best GPS software for my device.
I had tomtom 6.0, and iguidance running off an sd card that failed and since we moved I cannot find my original disks, so I am in the market for new software, I liked both i used before but I bought those a few years back and figure there must be more or maybe something better on the market.
I live in Canada and travel to the US a lot and sometimes europe.
Well what do you people suggest can i and should I upgrade my operating system and buy something else if needed or buy tom tom and iguidance(intellinav) again.
My antenna is a bluetooth holux gps slim 236 , worked great always.I also have a couple of older holux GM 270 and 270 ultra antennas somewhere in a box.i was part of this community when it first started surprised I had to re-register but nice to see a lot of people now in comparison to when I bought the X5 the day it came out, wish I kept that boat anchor:)
So what do you guys think , or should I just buy a window unit? and which of those is the best of the best.I'm still leaning towards the pocketpc software if new stuff is out there.
thanx
P.s. Sorry if I posted in wrong spot or something it's been a while.
thanx
Danester:)
Mapopolis is gone - they shut down last year but registerred users can still get maps - for now.
I have a Q and I use MotoNAV which is Destinator 6 rebranded for Motorola and has 2006 maps.
I have also used Mapopolis in demo mode (their maps had a 10 day demo period - perfect for a short trip), as well as Detinator 5 for the Axim.
I've used a CF GPS card and GoPass GPT600 BT and Motorola T505 BT GPS receivers. The Moto and GoPass are both SiRFstar III, which are among the most sensitive of the receivers.
So the answer is always: "It depends"
Do you want a dedicated unit for the car? They are currently a smash & grab target due to their popularity.
Do you want to use your PDA - in other words, do you take your PDA everywhere with you? (I use the PDA capability of my Q qhile on the road and my Axim at home, so I have nav s/w on both.
One thing I'm seeing alot of lately is that just so many people have these on their windows - blocking part of their view of the road - not good. Do that many people not know where they're going or is it just a new toy they need to use?
One thing I'm seeing alot of lately is that just so many people have these on their windows - blocking part of their view of the road - not good. Do that many people not know where they're going or is it just a new toy they need to use?
Well there are a lot of private "carriers" out there and just general "errand" runners who don't necessarily need directions. It is nice to be able to look at the screen and see that the road you are looking for is coming up. Maybe you are doing something and not paying as close attention to side street signs as you are multi-tasking while driving (bad, I know, but sometimes impossible not to) and see that the road you were looking for is coming up.
I think many other people just "have to have it" in a materialistic sense, more as "form over function" as they probably don't actually use it unless they "need" to.
Considering buying TomTom?
I did. Here's my objective story on our experience with the TomTom's BT product that works with Axim's. I’ve gotten so much incredible advice on this forum on getting the most from my Axim x51v, that I’m returning the favor with this post.
In June '06, I bought the BlueTooth Wireless NAVIGATOR 5 for my Axim x51v. It came with the "US & Canada" maps, and I also purchased the "Western Europe" map set. I have continually upgraded my US & Canada maps, so my issues with their maps are NOT related to having old map versions. Presently I'm running the most current versions of their "USA & Canada" for NAVIGATOR 6/TomTom GO Series/TomTom ONE/TomTom RIDER. And I’m running TomTom ONE on my PC which always downloads the latest maps into the Axim.
RELIABILITY & CUSTOMER SERVICE: Five Stars for customer service. Maybe Three Stars for reliability. My TomTom NAVIGATOR 5 Wireless BT lasted 15 months, and then went completely dead. I babied that unit so it was not abused. TomTom customer service promptly replaced it with a brand new NAVIGATOR 6 unit. I've had multiple interactions with TomTom's Customer Service and each has left me very impressed. Once I complained about the quality of their maps and they sent me a free upgrade coupon to future maps.
MAP ACCURACY
I’ve spent two years now using the heck out of this Axim x51v + TomTom NAV 5/6 BT combo. In 2006, I used it everyday on an eight-week backpacking trip through Europe. Here in the USA, I travel over 100K miles/year on business trips. One day I’ll be using the TomTom driving in the Bay Area, and next day I'll be using it in a rental car as I drive to a customer in Raleigh, NC, or Chicago, or San Diego. You get the picture.
As is stated in countless online forums, the TomTom maps for North America are not kept as up to date as GPS maps from several TomTom's competitors, nor are TomTom's mapping algorithms as good. TomTom is dependant upon their atlas supplier to fix errors, but any TomTom user can clearly see in successive map revisions that the many many (US & Canada) errors are not getting fixed quickly. This is because TomTom relies on a map supplier that is very Europe-focused for ensuring maps are accurate and debugged; meanwhile, it is well known (and blogged about by TomTom users) that TomTom's map supplier doesn’t pay much attention to the USA and Canada, leaving those quite bug-filled and inaccurate, and error correction is very slow to show in new map versions. The dependency the GPS suppliers have upon their map providers are the key reason GPS providers are all currently waging takeover battles to acquire a major mapping company before their competitors do.
Let's hope maps improve now with Tele Atlas having now been acquired by TomTom. The other major supplier, Navteq, was recently purchased for $8.1 billion by Nokia. Garmin, is a Navteq customer, but it does have a long-term contract with Garmin which they claim will not be in jeopardy by the Nokia acquisition.
Anyway, I cannot recommend anyone buy TomTom for use in North America, based on how inaccurate I have found their USA maps to be, and how poor their routing algorithms are. Now, if you only drive within just a few cities, it may be possible that TomTom has accurate maps for your area. Ask your friends who own TomToms and drive in your area.
I have hundreds of examples of how screwed up the USA & Cananda TomTom maps are. I’ll just bore you with a few.
We lived in San Diego for a few years. We laughed at the TomTom whenever we drove to the beach on the Ted Williams (56) freeway, as the TomTom showed us driving through open forest. Totally absurd that TomTom cannot even get a major freeway into their maps. I went to TomTom to update maps and they charged $50 for a "new" version which STILL didn't include numerous major roads/freeways such as the Ted Williams. Finally, I recall the Ted Williams was accurately included in the newest NAVIGATOR 6 maps.
Obviously, I don't use the TomTom to drive from my work in north San Jose, to my home in central San Jose. Yes, I know the route, but also I don't want to listen to TomTom giving me absurdly incorrect directions all the way home. Understand, this is a route, which if mapped correctly (as Google Maps does) simply involves driving a few blocks to a major freeway, driving for 20 minutes on that major freeway, and then exiting where our home is few blocks from the freeway.
TomTom completely screws that simple route up. It correctly directs me from work to the entrance freeway, but then it does a very odd thing: every few miles it directs me to EXIT the freeway, and if you follow those prompts to exit the freeway, it next tells you either to get back onto the same freeway, OR it sends you down some city street on a completely absurd path to home. The best part is when I'm heading south on the Almaden Expressway, only a half mile from my home. The TomTom directs me to exit RIGHT, when it knows my home is a half mile off the LEFT side of the Almaden Expressway. You see the TomTom thinks that street has no left turn, but in fact that street has TWO left hand turn lanes which are obviously not in the TomTom maps. If I was insane enough to follow the TomTom and take that wrong RIGHT turn, it would add over a mile as the stupid thing drives for miles to reach my home which is on the OTHER side of the Almaden Expressway, when all the TomTom kernal needed to do was know about left turn lanes and correctly exit LEFT from the expressway! I could go on and on about TomTom mapping problems.
Know this: I always print the routing from Google Maps off our home PC before leaving for any address I'm unfamiliar with. The TomTom mapping and routing is so poor, I use the TomTom as a backup for Google Maps! Then I wonder, "why do I even have the TomTom, if I'm always printing the Google Maps?" Maybe it is for entertainment so I can laugh as I drive and watch how foolishly the TomTom routes compared to the much more efficient Google mapping.
EUROPE MAPPING For Europe, TomTom is great. Maps are very accurate. For our backpacking trip through Europe, I used the Western Europe TomTom maps with the x51v. It was fantastic. Walking in Paris and can't find that highly rated French Brasserie? Just wear the BT module around your neck, turn on the Axim and pen the address into TomTom, then watch it spit out walking directions. It was fantastic for walking or driving in Europe!
GSP NAVIGATOR RECEIVER QUALITY
I must explain that both of the TomTom BT Wireless GPS receivers I've owned were at times very slow in locking onto the sat's when you first turn it on. I would say that 25% of time, you have to wait MINUTES, sometimes up to five minutes, from turn on until the receiver locks onto the satellites, at which point you can finally use the GPS. I'm talking about blue-sky clear, completely unobstructed skies. Picture yourself in a hurry to get somewhere but you're sitting in your car waiting for the TomTom to lock onto the satellites so it can start routing the map to your destination. It will drive you nutz.
Positive comments?
USER INTERFACE
Everyone pretty much agrees the TomTom UI is one of the best available for its ease-of-use, and graphics.
ADD-ON VOICES There are some really great, funny routing voices you can get for the TomTom. Guys usually find the Joe Pesci voice very funny. However most women hate it due to it being an R-rated persona based on his Goodfellas role. The Jack Nicholson voice is also good. Keep in mind the voices are generally all imitators, but some are quite good imitators. If you hunt around on the internet you can find them for a good “discount”
ROUTING SPEED I’m impressed with the routing speed. I’m running on an Axim x51v running WM5, with the Intel PXA270 processor, 624 MHz with 64MB RAM and 256 MB ROM. It routes most complex hundred mile routes in only seconds.
MISC
It was fortunate that NAVIGATOR 6 upgrade software fixed the issue where TomTom would crash if you put the Axim to sleep. Now you can run TomTom, arrive at your destination and then put the Axim to sleep without turning off TomTom first. Then when you re-awaken the Axim, TomTom wakes up as well and remembers your last route.
Anyway, with all positive and negatives considered, we are now about to buy our second GPS system (for wife) and we will not buy TomTom. No way. We just cannot take their routing and map inaccuracies anymore. My wife hates the TomTom even more than I do.
I’m either going to try either the Garmin Mobile® 10 for PDA, or the iGuidance 4.0 + Bluetooth Receiver. The reason I’m leaning towards the Garmin products is that my friends who own the Garmin GPS units (not units designed for PDA’s) swear they are the best, and also the web reviews are very positive.
Do you use a Garmin Mobile® 10 with your Axim? Can you post pros/con's on your experiences with the Garmin Mobile® 10 for PDA?
Last edited by vrudny; 07-19-08 at 06:30 PM.
Reason: Ensure accuracy, objectivity
The Following User Says Thank You to vrudny For This Useful Post:
Strange - I just voted and noticed I'm the only one. iGuidance works well for me with my Holux GR-271. Is it the best, I'm not really sure. To many personal preferences. I wanted a GPS that plugged into my PDA so I could use it for the car, hiking, and the golf course. I also didn't want to spend $500 on the whole package. So, for me, it was the best. :)
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I have an x51v, and use Infogation's Odyssey Mobile 4.0 Software, with a Visiontax VGPS-700 unit.
Search the forums for a review of the software. I agree heartily with Jake Rich's assessment. All in all, it works very well. It uses the Navteq maps. The voice prompts are excellent, though it does not announce street names. The interface for plotting a course is great, and it interacts very well with my GPS. The little Visiontac GPS is a fantastic unit, very quick to get a fix, very accurate, and great on battery life.
The complaint from Odyssey users seems to be about the infrequency of map updates. So far it looks as if it has been at least a couple of years since Odyssey updated. They also complain that tech support is not responsive. I wouldn't know, because I have had absolutely no difficulties with the product!
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