Hope this discussion continues ....
My preference is toward a portable GPS; something I can use in the MINI or take with me when I have to rent a car. The Garmin iQue series is tempting but it seems problematic to locate it so that I can see/access the screen and it still has a good look at the sky. Therefore a PDA that uses a separate - Bluetooth - receiver seems to make sense. Since I'm a Mac user I am inclined to favor the Palm-based choices but will keep an open mind. Cnet has reviewed a number of Bluetooth-based systems; some are Pocket PC while a few are Palm. If anyone has photos and/or experience with this type of GPS please share with us.

 

Here's what I came up with to mount my wife's Garmin SP-III. It also ccepts my Garmin 2610 that I use on my motorcycle Finding the right location was tricky with the airbag just above the glove box, the speedometer, the air vents, and the stereo.

Now I'm working on an enclosure to mount her Alpine 6-CD changer, XM receiver and both of the BlitzSafe interface boxes that were required. There seems to be an amp in the compartment where the wires are located to hook the audio stuff into. That leaves no room for anything therefore I'm coming up with a nice enclosure to house everything.

 

Check out the GARMIN home page. Couple of NEW models from the CES? Look REAL interesting!

 

I have a Garmin GPSMAP 76s, a Garmin Quest and a Vcommand voice-activated nav system. (I love GPS! I had one of the first Trimble portables in the early days!!!)

For the MINI, when a viewable screen is helpful, the Quest rocks. It came with a nice window bracket, sticks well, and when plugged in, even chats to you! At $450 (off Ebay) with new City Select Maps, it was a pretty good deal.

The Ique series from Garmin are very nice. (I am a big fan of the Palm version because of the availability of software for it) However, you really can't use pdas outside in foul weather. The Quest is waterproof, and can be used on a Motorcycle, bicycle, speed boat or sailboat in any kind of weather. It also doesn't need batteries, and the internal lithium one lasts as long as 40 hours.

The Bluetooth devices are clever, but have thier own issues. Believe it or not, few HP Ipqs with built-in Bluetooth work with the Bluetooth receivers! (Whoops, someone didn't do their field testing!) Bluetooth Gpses are in need of power or have to be recharged, and due to their tiny size, easily lost. They aren't very weatherproof either.

Between some friends of mine and I we have...
Trimble Ensign (antique portable GPS)
Garmin Etrex Vista, and Legend
Garmin Quest
Garmin Street Pilot III
Garmin GPSMAP 76S
Garmin Ique Palm
Socket Bluetooth GPS
Several Compaq Ipaqs for the Bluetooth GPS
Pharos Compact flash GPS and software (Also for the IPAQs)
Tom Tom GPS software for the Palm and Ipaqs
HP Jornada 720 with Teletype GPS software and serial and Bluetooth (For the Socket GPS and the GPSMAP 76s and Extrexes)

With all this stuff, I still think the Quest is the best deal. And now there is a nice RAM mount for it that I saw at the DC area Motorcycle show this weekend! Gotta have that!

Hope this helps!
Mike

 

I use a Garmin eTrek Vista, with a suction cup mount that attaches it to the windscreen right behind the steering wheel, next to the pillar. It gets great reception there, has 12volt power from a jack I installed just below the dash, and is quite portable for street walks through cities and forests.
I have the MetroGuide Streets software, so I have very detailed maps onboard.

 

Has anyone picked up the Navman iCN510

A little cut and paste:
The iCN 510, driven by navman SmartST™ V3 software, is packed with superb features including 3D map view, voice guidance, postcode search, Back-on-Track™ rerouting, 'Avoid Areas' so you can dodge the traffic 'hotspots' and customisable Points-of-interests. A new feature to SmartST™ V3 is 'Active POIs'. This function allows you to set an alarm to tell you when a particular POI is approaching and also allows you to navigate to your nearest one, e.g petrol station. The navman iCN 510 is sold with SmartST™ V3 software, street-level mapping for the country of purchase and major road base maps for the United States.

From what I've read, it seems the only real difference between it and the Garmin is that the map data base has to be stored on a SD card. Which became the only drawback, since you must have the SD card to get the unit to work, which can drive the price up another $50.

$329 at Fry's on line.

Anyone got one yet?

 

Reading all of the replies has my head swimming.....have I missed the final decision on which one is the best option? Or am I confused due to what my own personal needs are? It appears that most are leaning towards the Garmin StreetPilot 2610.

Never considered a NAV system, but this morning I realized how important one would/could be. My adult daughter and I are always heading for the hills for outdoor adventures and in areas we have never been before. She is legally blind and I, at my age, require the old reading glasses to manage maps. How I missed the gift of a NAV system is beyond me.

Also recently moved to the Colorado mountains. Will this unit allow me to download the "back country"? Are there options for topo maps?

On a lighter side....can the voice be British?

 

Not wanting to confuse you any more, here is Garmin's Web Site. I have a Streetpilot III and love it. I have E-Mailed Garmin several times with questions and have received great response. Maybe they can answer some of you questions. They now have the 2650 which has dead reconing.

Anyway here's the site and Good Luck on you choice!!!!

http://www.garmin.com/mobile/products.html#automotive

 

have the 2660 &love it no cards,dvd's all map's already installed
just plug &go. around$800.00
doug

 

I have four Garmin units and the Mini system built into the dash.

You can make you own decisions about what you like, but I would offer one suggestion. One of my units is in a Tacoma 4x4 truck. I mounted it to the inside of the glove box door, run a Gilsson-sourced http://www.gilsson.com/ external antenna to it, and let it talk me through. If I need to see the map, I drop open the door. Otherwise it is invisible. I don't recall if the aux circuits on the Mini are constant on, if not, fix that and there is no more boot up time and no nag screen because it does not shut down.
Personally Garmin beats the socks off the Mini system in many respects. I also have the Ique 3600. Great screen, fast processor and they have a bluetooth system coming out.

 

bump

 

Most Garmin units can take Mapsource Topomaps, and Garmin has a 24K Parks West Topo map set and a whole US/Alaska/Hawaii set that are pretty good, but look much better on the color Garmin GPSes. There are also topographic maps of some other countries...

 

Yup. :smile: :smile: That's one of the main reasons why I got it. Sounds silly, but its really cool.

 

I have a Magellan Roadmate 700 and am mostly pleased.

Having an external antenna on the roof gives me the freedom
to mount the unit where it is most reachable and most readable;
otherwise I would need to mount it where the built-in antenna
ges a clear view of the sky.





I'm considerring mounting it more solidly in the empty space under the toggle swtiches.

It bounces around too much on the flexible stick, eg on the Cross Bronx Expressway.

 

I hate the Magellan suction mount. They simply are poor quality fall apart in short order. I found the PanaVise 809-AMPS mount is simply the best. And the best price I've found is here.

http://www.tessco.com/products/getPr....do?sku=437646

The suction mechanism is high quality and has not fallen apart in over a year. And it doesn't let the unit vibrate around.

Rich

 

I want to do this as well... Does anyone have pictures of their aftermarker GPS installed???

 

Yeah, where are these pictures of Garmin 2610 installed please ?


BTW - I've got it from Amazon for 700$ - 200$ rebates = 500 $ !

 

I installed the Pioneer Avic-N2 in my mini a few months ago. This thing is awesome. The system is probably the most expensive or close, but it gives you so much more than a navigation system. It offers DVD, a bunch of extra gauges and great sound quality. I love the extra gauges. There is a GPS operated speedometer, which is great proof when trying to talk your way out of a ticket (It has already saved me!). It's got straight line and cornering acceleration gauges, voltage, direction, all sorts of stuff. I added on the voice command and an ipod interface, which both work great, and the ipod connection puts the controls on the screen, so you don't have to reach down and find your ipod when you want to change the song. i'll add some photos of how it looks. It does cover up the fuel and temp gauges, but i leave my onboard computer on the miles left till empty option and use that as the fuel gauge. Good luck deciding.

 

i've been looking for a portable auto gps which i could easily remove
when the vehicle is parked.

i was really interested in garmin sp 2xxx series and the tomtom's,
but they were just too bulky to carry around on a daily basis
and there aren't a lot of places to conceal items in the mini.

the garmin nuvi c350 seems to have fit the bill.
fits in pocket and light enough that i can attach
the suction mount to the face of the center speedo.
one hand removal and w/ the SIRF III gps chip,
amazingly fast lock-up of satellites even in my garage.

mounting on the speedo lets both the driver and passenger tweak the nuvi


power connection stays w/ the suction mount making installing/removing the nuvi a piece of cake



i'm not too worried about obscuring the speedo since i use the
digital speed indicator in the tach most of the time.

i just uploaded the proximity waypoints for metro DC speedtraps and
traffic cams. (garmin has links for free sources for these)

next project is to get the bits and pieces from mikethemini to have
the voice interrupt the stereo as nav information becomes available.

 

I'm contemplating the Nuvi -- what's your experience been with it so far? I trust Garmin maps more than the TomTom's, & like the fact that the Nuvi seems small & thin & light.

 

i like it quite a lot.

the maps seem fairly good, but there are quite a few complaints that city
navigator 7's POI database isn't as good as the older v 6 database.
(from personal experience, in the inland empire area of the pacific northwest,
quite a few POI's are either really old or in the wrong place).

for pure address to address navigation, it's fantastic. time to lockon
is quite fast even in less than ideal conditions (like inside my garage
w/ the door down). the text to speech (TTS) makes for easier to
understand directions. it actually speaks the exit name and number
instead of 'exit left'...

unlike the current tomtom's, it knows which side of the street an address is on.

i really like that fact that it's very portable and easy to remove when i leave
the vehicle (especially when i'm street parking). and since the suction
mount can stick to the speedo face, it's makes my vehicle less tempting.

it was invaluable when i was in honolulu, where several times, i came
to streets where the lane configuration had been changed for rush hour.
i would have never found my way back to the hotel from the worksite without it.

i'm also thrilled that it works very well w/ my mac.
(garmin has been extremely mac-unfriendly in the past, and probably still is).

the nuvi mounts up as USB mass storage device and firmware updates
can be done by unzipping the exe file and copying them into the
garmin folder on the nuvi. (this is exactly what the pc installer does!!).

[i did hestitate on the purchase since i don't have ready access to a non-locked down
pc from which to do firmware updates, but, as above, it's not a problem]

and VPC 7.0.2 detects it as a USB device, so even the POI loader works great.
(garmin uses a proprietory USB process to talk to thier other
gps devices which is incompatible w/ VPC 7.0)

one thing that's kinda cool, is that the nuvi will voice navigate, play
mp3's or audio books, display a jpeg slideshow all at the SAME time.
it will automatically pause the mp3 and give the voice direction.

(i looked at the magellan RM800, and it can only ONE thing at a time)

the bad:
1) requires a ground loop isolator when used w/ the mini aux adapter
(the stock non-HK radio keeps loosing the aux input when the nuvi
is powered from the cigarette lighter. it's okay when the nuvi runs off
its internal battery)

2) only included a USB 1.1 interface, so uploading mp3's and jpegs is
slow to the flash memory. i'm experimenting w/ using a 512 MB SD
card in the add on slot. this appears to be 10x faster since i've got a
USB 2.0 card writer.

 

I have a Verizon XV-6600 Pocket PC phone on which I run Iguidance. My GPS reciever is a Globalsat BT-338 with the Sirf III chipset. The mount for the Pocket PC is located on the lower portion of the passenger downtube. Basically it's a proclip mount with a Seidio Powerred PDAGPS mount attached. The nice thing about the seidio mount is it's hardwired to the car and has an addtional port so that I can charge the phone and gps receiver simultaneously. So far I love it and since it's a Pocket PC Phone and a tiny bluetooth receiver its totally portable and takes up almost no space in my laoptop bag (very impotant since I travel for work about 70% of the time). I'll post some pictures when my wife gets back from her joyride in my car :-)


All of you considering NAV might want to cruise on over to http;//www.gpspassion.com. It is quite a good website for all things GPS!