| Author |
Message |
    
Dirk
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:09 pm: | 
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This is for my DII.. I want something that is easy to setup, neat looking (no wires hanging about), color if possible, and that fits nicely on the dashboard. If anyone has one right now, please tell me about yours. Thx. |
Erik G. Burrows (Erik)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:19 pm: |
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You're going to have a hard time keeping the wires down. I've got a Garmin eMap mounted on top of my dash, with a remote antenna. That plus the power/data cable gives me three to deal with.
Wires aside however, I love my eMap. |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:26 pm: |
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well of course i have to put in my .02 about my Garmin 176. it is not color but the 176C is. just a little more $$ i am sure.
but the best thing is the size......bigger than most out there = easy to read on the road/trails. had just about every function you will need as well.
i just drilled mine into the dash and have been very happy with it. hard wired the thing and ran the cable along and under the dash cluster and under the seat. can't see the cable at all.
go to Garmin's site and check it out yourself. you would be very happy with the unit i am sure. |
GPS virgin
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:35 pm: |
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So are trails found on GPS units? I am trying to understand what exactly is the advantage of a GPS other than on long trips
GPS virgin |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:47 pm: |
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IMHO, here's the big thing.
Sometimes, when you're off in the wilds, or even not-so-wilds, you might be looking at a map, and think you're near Point A, but you're really over at Point B. Sometimes, the scenery just looks the same. With a GPS in hand, it helps you realize that you're over at Point B instead of Point A. It is a map-reading aid, it does NOT do anything for you if you're clueless about reading a map.
Now, with a decent map-database, you can download topo maps, other people's waypoints for trails, make your own waypoint-trail records to give to other people, or lots of different uses.
Hope that helps a bit....
-L |
Paul T. Schram (Paulschram)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:51 pm: |
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Stay away from Magellan products. Their customer service is nonexistent. I have had a call and numerous e-mails in to them for two weeks and no response other than a computer generated "We're forwarding your question to the appropriate department". Their tech service answering machine says that they will return your call in 24-hours. It's been two weeks. When I called to order some stuff that was displayed on their website, the silly little girl on the phone said they didn't make it and then shuttled me to tech support where the minimum wait was three minutes on a toll phone call.
I'm really sorry I didn't spend more money and get a good one.
Paul |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:11 pm: |
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FWIW, I favor Garmin.
-L |
Dirk
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:32 pm: |
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Thanks for your inputs.
Carmin 176 looks like its designed for marine. It's decent price, I'm not ready to drill any holes on my dash though. There's a newer version that has color.
Emap is affordable and portable, but the display looks little small, and it's in greyscale.
The Magellan product requires professional installation, i'm not up for it.
Here are the ones that I'm likely to purchase.. if you have any experience with any of this, please let me know:
I looked at Carmin Street Pilot III.. that sells for $625 at pcmall.com, which isnt bad at all, but looks like it'll eat lots of batteries ..
There's another one that i'm considering, which hooks up to my Palm M505, called Navman at RandMcNally's , that sells at $199. This is pretty reasonable since I have the Palm. I dont know how accurate this stuff is ... anyone heard of it? |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:37 pm: |
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If you don't want to drill holes, you can use sticky-pads to glue it in place.
Color is good on a monitor, but for a handheld, I'm happy with grayscale. Eventually, if the technology improves and the price drops, maybe then, but, not at that premium.
I'd suggest, if you're using it in a vehicle, to use an adapter instead of batteries.
I've not messed with any of the Palm stuff... can't help you there.
Good luck,
-L
PS: browse this site: http://joe.mehaffey.com/
FWIW.... |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 04:18 pm: |
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Dirk... what are you going to use it for? Street map directions? Or mainly for off road use? Do you need to move it to other vehicles or will this be in your Disco all the time?
Either way I would keep away from the Palm GPS units. You would be better off getting something that would plug into your laptop if you want to go that route.
Garmin make good units but there are others out there depending on your needs. The GPS units I use are the Garmin III+ for the Disco for off road use. Garmin eTrex for Kayaking and two different VDO units built into my other cars for street use. |
Dirk
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 05:28 pm: |
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Lelie.. thanks for the link.. really great info there..
Al.. I'm mainly using it for street map directions.. since i dont do much offroads.. looks like Leslie and you are not recommending the Palm stuff.. then i better stay away..
I guess it comes down to Street Pilot III...
As far as portability, I only have one vehicle so it's gonna stay in my DiscoII.. Does anyone know if Street Pilot III is useful for offroads too? |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 05:57 pm: |
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The Street pilot should be over kill for off road use but will work. For street use I would look for Maps that you can update and a GPS unit that will give you directions via voice. I think the Street Pilot III will do both. |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 10:54 am: |
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the 176 is a chartplotter, but works just as well as anything else for car use. the only thing that really makes it a marine use is the bluecharts that are preloaded on the unit. nothing really makes it a marine use only. |
Mike D1
| | Posted on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 11:37 am: |
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I have the 176C and it's awesome. It runs on batteries or the lighter outlet or it comes with a hard wire set up (tiny hole in top of dash). It comes out and can go in a pack for hiking, it's water proof and has a bigger screen than the Street Pilot III.
Just get it! |
Rob Davison (Pokerob)
| | Posted on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 12:34 pm: |
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gary, does the 176 have a reprogramable screen? on my lowrance i can jage it into 50+ different view and change it up, so i can have mhp , trip distance, altitue and all that stuff.
i'm thinking about getting a 176 for the range
rd |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 08:36 am: |
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well i am not sure if it does all that your lowrance can. i mean i know i can change the format of the screen for sure. meaning that i can have the map large or small and have it in one part of the screen area with other 'attributes' on at the same time. but it has about 5 or 6 different 'views' as well. you can have just the map screen up or one with 4 major uses on it.......speed, average speed, elevation, time, directiion, trip, etc. there is a compass screen, elevation tracking screen and others. can't remember them off hand. but i am pretty sure we are talking about the same thing.
just was informed by my local office this morning that you cannot have the GPS on while driving. only police and RV drivers can have a screen on their dash. this includes a laptop or any other screen devise. informed me this while i was getting lectured about not having covers on my Hellas. i am such a bad ass. |
Richard Yeomans (Rickthebrit)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 10:51 am: |
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Now my 2c worth...I have the Garmin GPS V and just love it - it's hardwired in my D1 to try and keep it neat, and comes with a dashboard mount which is attached with sticky pads. I wanted a unit that I could use for backpacking as well as in-car use. The maps are great, but the only shortfall is the amount of memory. I have California loaded, but if I want to load the Topo maps for off road, I have to delete the Road map first.
The maps are very detailed - I was using mine this weekend to find restaurants in the area - it even has these sorted by type!
The greyscale screen is fine for me - it has a slightly slower refresh rate than the 176c, but I still find it well readable while driving.
I went the Palm + GPS route for a while, but it's nowhere near as comprehensive as the Garmin, then I switched to Compaq Ipaq + Pharos GPS, while it has a nice display, it's pretty basic. |
Rob Davison (Pokerob)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 12:37 pm: |
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thanks, g
sounds like we're both PA crazy when it comes to uncovered lights and GPS's on the dash...
rd |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 01:00 pm: |
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well i am getting covers as we speak. will be a week or so, but will have them now. i mean he must have seen me before. i have had them on there uncovered for well over a year. this town is not all that big, but he saw me and busted a U turn in a second. i had a feeling he was coming for me. 2 incidents with 2 cops in 2 days. lovin' it!!! the other was party related. all good.
but as for the Garmin. i am 99% sure ours both do the same thing. maybe a little different, but not much. |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 02:05 pm: |
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Whoa.... you're party was good enough to get the cops to pay you a visit? heh heh.....
Do tell!!!
And, FWIW, I finally ordered the Garmin GPSMAP76S... it should be here Wednesday... I'll fill you all in on my personal thoughts on it once I break it in....
-L |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 02:10 pm: |
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oh it was really nothing. it was just really late and after many beers and other friendly intakes we decided to get our bikes out and set up all kinds of little obsticles and courses.
sounds pretty stupid, but at the time we thought we were being pretty creative and funny. got pretty good though at 2 a.m. or so. but some of the locals were not happy with our tone. officers came to visit, but were cool about it all. activities were then taken inside. |
niall forbes (Forbesn)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 04:41 pm: |
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Garrett,
What about all the cars that come from the factory with in dash navigation or computer systems? Can they be turned off? I think the cop was probably mistaken or trying ot flex his muscle. Either that or there are a lot of illegal cars being sold in your neighbourhood ;-)
The party games sound fun. Did the lacross team join in? |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 05:03 pm: |
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Not only cars with GPS's but what is considered a screen? Many new radios have an LCD screen. WTF? I know that you can't have a TV visible to the driver of the car while the car is in motion but a GPS? That would make my two other cars illegal for having built in NAV systems. I don't think so. |
Rob Davison (Pokerob)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 05:19 pm: |
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hehe.. um
i been pulled over at a sobriety check point and complimented on my truck. they never asked about covering anything, been going for 5 years now. trooper and disco.
rd |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 08:18 am: |
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yeah good questions. i mean there are all those rental cars too. some are built in and some are not. i mean the 'turn by turn' units HAVE to be on. that is their sole purpose. hmmmmmm. i will have to have a little chat with one of the officers when i go and turn in my little slip that i must do or i will get a ticket. the ticket would be $92 or if they caught me with the lights ever on would be $360. ouch. i mean i can't count the number of times i have lit up some college drunks at 3 am in the morning stumbling along the back alleys. haha.
he said specifically the only people/cars allowed to have any screen are cops and RV's (with the reverse camera screen). even a laptop on in the passenger seat is illegal.....according to him. he was also trying to make it clear that i was lucky for him giving me 15 days to get it fixed. ugh.....things are slow in state college in the summer. no college punks to pick on. it was about 7:30 am and i was not really thinking about debating. i should have though.
i will post back here when i go back to get my truck inspected and will get this all ironed out. |
niall forbes (Forbesn)
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 03:51 pm: |
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Garrett, you were probably smart to sit there and keep quiet. Now you can deal with it without risk of the 15 day grace period suddenly turning into a zero day grace period. |
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