What do you like and dislike about YOUR GPS?

My Garmin e-Map is pretty ancient compared to current models.

Not being an electronic wiz and never read instructions, I just read the co-ordinates then transfer them to the paper map.

Never let me down yet. Farthest Ive ever been out was 30 metres.

To me, the more features something has, the more complex it seems to operate.

Cheers.....Lionel.

I dislike my GPS cos its DED(dead)

AND! my 24 yo polytarp blew apart on the trailer yesterday. They don't make things as strong as they used to.....LOL


Cheers

Mother hen,

I have the female voice on my Garmin Nuvi. I love the way you can ignore her, criticise her or even abuse her. The only thing you can't do is upset her. All she does is say "re-calculating". She is much better than my previous "combined passenger side voice- guided- air bag model. PS windscreen sucker is not as good as it should be.

Skulldug

Hi Mrs Hen,

I think a feature that would be great, is one with rechargeable Litium Ion batteries. All the handhelds I have had, seem to deplete the batteries pretty fast - so one with a li-ion battery which would last longer and which you could just plonk in your ciggy lighter charger overnight - would be the ducks guts ( the chooks guts too).

I have a UHF handheld with that battery set-up it's great.

Willie.

We have s Garmin C510 and I really DO NOT like the non qwerty keyboard. One would think it was simple to do a software update but the mob at Garmin seem quite incapable of doing this.
Ask them and you get a straight NO, can't be done for an answer.

Pooley

Which one? - Currently got four!! Think I have a problem.

Cheers
Greg

Where's Doug T when you need him? :-)

Motherhen, the Garmin Nuvi 760 will do all that you want, other than showing lat and long at the same time as it is showing the map...but that is only two presses on the touchscreen away.
It will log a breadcrumb trail, you can select whether you want to have this shown or hidden.
It's a simple unit to use...it must be, because I can use it :-)

It comes with City Navigator pre-loaded, this gives you the voice navigation which you say you don't need.
You can purchase ($229) a topo mapset :oztopo for your bush tracks.
You can also download free mapsets to give you better coverage of the tracks in the bush.
Check out :Tracks4australia
and :Shonkymaps
and :Contours Australia 2.00 . This is a 10 metre topo overlay that can be used with any other mapset.

This is an actual screenshot (another feature of the Nuvi) from my Nuvi showing Shonkymaps and Contours 2.00. This was somewhere in the Gawler Ranges.

The Nuvi 760 will connect to your phone via bluetooth, so it will work as a handsfree kit for your phone.
It also has an FM transmitter, so it can transmit the phone conversation and voice directions over your car stereo system.
It also has a good media player, and can play your mp3's over your car stereo.

I've got a 4GB SD card in my Nuvi, with approx 1GB of maps and 3GB of music (about 40 odd albums). On a recent 3000km trip I didn't play a single CD....the Nuvi handled all the music duties via the car stereo.
No chance of a CD skipping over the corrugations.

Cheers
Glenn

I have an early model Magellan 320. Nothing complicated. Easy to use. Small in size & practical & does the job requirements of a GPS for me. Had it since being released onto to market in the early 90's & have never had a problem with it [touch wood]. Cheers.

Hi Motherhen,

I have an Magellan Explorist XL.
Reasonable, Afew map errors on the old card.
Have just down loaded the latest base map etc from the Magellam web site and piad approx $150.00 for the latest maps.
It is the DiscoverAus Topo v2.0 maps which include--Streets, Tracks, Camps Australoa wide, Bicycling Australia tracks and Outback Tourer which is based on Hema maps.
I have not had a chance to give them a good workout yet however, what I have seen they appear to be quite reasonable.

Tony

Motherhen, the Explorist XL has a big colour screen that is easy to see, even in full sun, uses 2 x aa and the new discover Aus is very comprehensive. I have never been on a track that it doesn't have.

Coming from a magellan you won't even have to read the manual. You can even get street by street navigation for it.

I think the crossover has the same.

I selected the Garmin Nuvi 250W. Price range, 4.3" wide screen, + other features I wanted. Only thing is the pommie sheila drives me nuts. The Spanish chick sounds hot but I can't understand a word she's saying so I would like to be able to have downloadable voices - just for something different. Maybe Marvin the Martian or Yeosamitey Sam.

Otherwise, great unit that does everything I need.

Louie

The thing I dislike about my Garmin Nuvi 310 is that you can only show arrival time on screen when in navigation mode.

Speed would be much better but is not a doable option.
Is only shown when in map mode which isnt really satisfactory.

However as it only cost me $85 with the recent discounts I wont growl too much

Hello - based on your requirements i.e.
GPS with a larger screen, colour, capable of holding a good detailed tracks software (upgradeable), Track Log, display tracks at the same time as latitude and longitude and direction of travel, simple enough to easily learn to use, the GPS I currently have that may be an option for you (or a similar device/model) is the Mio 720.

Now firstly this is a discontinued model, the current ones are called Mio Moovs. Main reason I like it because it was cheap ($350) and it is capable of being "unlocked" to run other software besides the GPS Nav program and maps it came with (Mio Map). My main interest being to run OziExplorer, while at same time having option for auto routing/voice nav when in town. Comparable off the shelf setup is the Hema Navigator but at $900 was impossible to justify (considering the other gps units I already have). As I don’t think you would be interested in "unlocking" a Mio unit would suggest you consider a Hema Navigator.

The Hema Navigator is a GPS Navigation system with a 4.3inch display, Street Navigation with voice guidance, Hema 4WD track data, speed and red light cameras, OziExplorer and Memory Map Moving Map Software, comes with Pre-loaded SD card with Hema 4WD and 1:250K topographical maps. You then can add your own digital maps (any digital map that can be calibrated - i.e geology maps, topo map, cadastral maps ,forestry maps, tourist maps, airphotos, Google earth images). Inside the box is also a vehicle mount, 12V & 240V chargers and a carry case. Can use 16gb sd cards for map/data storage.

It does all the stuff you require (track log, display lat long etc)...though some of the software may at first appear daunting in its complexity and requires some learning - so may not suit you? The functions of OziExplorer are well documented and it is used by many 4WDers and tourers (and has many commercial applications as well). You will here some people putting it down, but that’s obviously because it didn’t suit their requirements not because the program itself is at fault. Matching a unit and its capabilities to your needs (current and future) is the key to getting device that is right.

The Garmin Nuvis are also definately worth considering for in car use as suggested above as they appear to easy to use and quality of available maps is as good as it gets for this type of device. I have never had one so don’t now specifics but check that the model you are looking at does actually save a track log - some (most?) don’t. I would also check to see the limitations on the track logging - is it limited by a certain number of points, can you save the track log and start a new one? Can you set track log interval? These may be of importance to you. The OztopoV2 maps are based on same source as the Magellan ones you are familiar with (just more current) so you will not be disappointed with those. Lead to believe Garmin are producing their own version of and Australia topo map so keep that in mind.

Cheers
Greg