SatNav opinions....Im NOT impressed so far!

jabaroon

Hey all,

I recently bought a Garmin C310 (http://www.garmin.com/products/sp310/) on a recomendation. I am seriously un-impressed so far!

First off, it kept crashing (hanging) mid journey. You have to take the front bezel off and underneath is a reset button. Not something that you want to have to try to do when driving!

A firmware update from their site seems to have corrected the issue....but its early days yet!

Secondly, it seems to take a AGE for it to acquire satelites. THe other day I got half way home from work (20 mins driving in city center) before it finally managed to acquire a satelite? Then the following morning on the way to work, it showed me as driving about 10m to the right of the actual road (eg: driving though the front lawns of houses!) and continued to do this for about a mile! (previously its been fine on this road).

Last, but by no means least, the maps on the Garmin for the city center of Dublin are useless. With all of the recent changes (particularly Luas related such as St. Stephens Green), its telling me to drive down luas tracks into oncoming trains! (possible law suit there!!)

So, in summary, I am not all that pleased and am wondering if others have similar or the opposite experiece?

Either way, I think that Amazon will get getting their Garmin C310 back!

Cheers,
Jab

Sam Vimes

it does take aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages for mine to find the satellites. i thought it was because it's a handheld one but apparently not. i wouldn't mind about the 10m to the right stuff. it can't be that accurate all the time. whats the software you got with it? metroguide? city select?

jabaroon

Commander Vimes wrote:

it does take aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages for mine to find the satellites. i thought it was because it's a handheld one but apparently not. i wouldn't mind about the 10m to the right stuff. it can't be that accurate all the time. whats the software you got with it? metroguide? city select?

It think it comes with City select. As regards the accuracy, if it doesn't see you as being on the road, then it doesn't give you directions. If it thinks you are driving through a field, then it stops giving directions and keeps on saying "Recalculating".....pretty useless if you are genuinely in need of directions!

Yesterday, when driving through Fairview into town, it suddenly decided that I was on the other side of the road driving OUT of town?!!....

I really dont believe that GPS is that crap!....surely the are more reliable units out there?

endplate

It does take a while to aquire satelites esp when you are moving it can take an age. Your best bet is to wait by the side of the road untill satelites are aquired. Nearly every software company has a nasty habit of releasing software before it is ready ie any windows operating system is a perfect exampla due to deadline issues and updates are released afterwards as the problems are realised.

You have to really research what software you wish to use cos especially in Ireland there is an awful lot of changes happening with regards roadways and the LUAS lines so it could be a year or two before you can get reliable software accuratly covering Dublin city centre.

Oh by the way I'm working in Holland at the moment and my trainer over here read an article from a newspaper a few days ago that if you are stopped and you have a GPS unit mounted on your windscreen a Dutch policeman can fine you if they feel it's restricting your field of vision. So if we don't want this rule coming into Ireland please make sure everybody does not mount their unit where it can effect forward vision

Rat a Tat

I am using a Medion 440, and, in general, I'm very impressed. The speed of initially finding sats, calculating, re-calculating if you decide to "detour", is very good. My adverse criticism would be regarding the mapping, there are lots of omissions [including a complete town, in one instance!]. I think the maps are from Navteq, and seem to be far more detailed in their UK ones. Anyone out there using this particular unit? Any tips for a new user?

fletch

If there is heavy cloud cover, it can take ages to acquire the satellites, as will any GPS unit.

jabaroon

Someone just mentioned to me that if you have a heated FRONT windscreen, it can adversley effect a dash mounted unit. Dont know how true this is, but I do have a heated front screen in my Mondeo? Anyone heard similar?

endplate

Yup etal heating elements on Fords and the reflective surfave on the Renault cars can play havoc with your gps signal. Open your sunroof cover (if installed) or mount your antenna on the side windows

kevmac

Map coverage discussed at length here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=258397&highlight=satnav