I am considering using my older IPAQ 3715 (bluetooth enabled) for NAV. I have been playing with the Garmin 350 but am not that crazy about the MP3 player on it.

I would like to set up as follows.... Run axillary input to stereo from IPAQ to play MP3's and occasional NAV. Have the NAV voice override the music. I have bluetooth in MINI already so the phone will override everything.

I see there are a number of Bluetooth units out there with different satellite detection SiRF III etc.

I think I need the receiver, Nav software, and maps - correct? Looks like some come bundled - others not. I would like to have the voice and street names read. Is that a function of the Nav software?

Am I missing anything? Will I loose anything from the Garmin setup? Recomendations... headaches.... praises welcome!

 

Get yourself a Blackjack 2. It's a PDA phone running Windows Mobile 6, has built in GPs, and run Telenav, and lots of free navigation software (Google Maps, MS Live Search....). It's blutoothc sincs up with Mini and address book.

 

Get a good bluetooth Nav unit and iGuidance v4. It now reads out the name of the streets. Very good and accurate software. It's cheap. You're looking at $50 for the bluetooth receiver and $100 for the software.

BTW I had a Garmin C330 . I actually disliked it. Inaccurate and no advanced features. I switched back to the Pocket PC solution.

 

Thanks for the replies. I live in ruralsville so the phone option probably won't work. We don't have AT&T here and spotty service at that. I do need to upgrade the phone so my bluetooth will work properly (I can receive calls but can't dial) but that's another issue...

Does the nav software live on the PDA/phone or in the Nav unit? Are there incompatibility issues with different Nav units to software?

 

PDA software lives on the PDA. Bluetooth unit just provides the sattelite reads. There is hardware to hardware incompatibility but not hardware to software.

 

After several products and much use I highly recommend CoPilot. It recalculates routes very very fast and I'm thrilled with it. If you have a competing product they often offer a $99.00 deal to switch. Publisher is at www.alk.com. Works with any GPS the PDA likes.

 

Hey freeman, welcome to the MINI world on LI!!