navman pin

Mate navman suck, i am buying a palm life drive, they rock hard and are cheap as. Then all you need is a BT GPS unit off ebay for around $150. The Life drive is the SAME price as the Pin and has about 100 extra features/advantages.

Robbo,

Horses for courses, the Navman PIN is the MIO 168, it is basically a Windows 2003 CE device with an in built GPS (SIRF II).

I got one and when I first got it the time to obtain a fix sucked, however there is a fix for it (Service pack for the GPS) and once applied it was great, (I assume the new ones would be fixed).
Since I got mine other friends got it too and I assume they are happy.

I got mine to use it with Oziexplorer CE and it does a good job at that, however, if you want it to use it with the software that comes with it (SMart ST) then I recommend you buy the MIO 168 which comes with Destinator (much better software).

The new MIO 168 has the ablity to turn the screen to landscape mode which is a new feature of windows CE...

(I always have my trusty Garmin II plus as a backup)

Good luck

Will

Robbo,
I bought one recently and am very impressed with its abiltiy to guide me to various destinations.

Apart from the australia wide street maps access, I have downloaded a couple ofexcel sheets, one of which is to record fuel useage, cost etc for up coming trip.

One feature I like is the Notes . It acts like a tape recorder with the push of a button and I intend to use this to record petrol consumption , and notes for diary during the day and I can then input them to excel sheet /diary later that day or whenever.
Sure beats recording by hand .

A friend has one and he said that he found it invaluble when looking for a caravan park address/point of interest in a strange town.

Am still learnin but it certainly is the go.

By the way I bought mine at Olbis in Brisbane for $859 on 30/5/05 and it was one of the last of the old model. A new model comes out in early July, so they told me.

Pedro

There is a lot of chat about the SiRF II not being up to scratch and that an external antenna will help. SiRF II with Xtrac Version2.0 or SiRF III are GPS engines that have gained much in the way of tracking satellites in difficult situastions. Thus make sure you buy a PDA type device that has exteranl antenna facilities, or if not available, look at a normal PDA with a CF Card GPS or Bluetooth, thus your not stuck with old technology.

It's like the all in inone entertainment centres, if the tape deck fails you have to take the whole thing in for repair. If you like the idea of going on trips and sending emails or checking emails or the web for weather conditions or to take pics and send them, then at least with a dedicated PDA you get the versatility. The MIO 168 and now the MIO 169 are great little machines but you pay for what you get. Destinator3 is current and if you buy the software separately for a PDA you are gauranteed being able to get the most current version rather than a all in one organising their version ready several months later.

As stated a couple of days ago when a similar thread came up, I have been using my MIO168 for about a year - for trips from Brisbane to Perth, Darwin to Adelaide, Brisbane to Sydney to Newcastle.
With the Co-pilot Live software, you can type in the address yo want to go to - note the route before you leave so you know whrere you are going, then have the voice in side guide you along. You can plan your route on the PC before you leave and transfer it across to the PDA.

I also have the Oziexplorer CE and contour maps for off-road stuff.
The whole set up works well for me.

I would suggest getting the largest SD card you can afford, for putting the maps on (1 gig preferrable)