Question: GPS Navigation Systems

[Zenelia]

Which 2 Types Of Gps Navigation Products Would Be Best Suited For A Customer Looking To Use It Primarily While Driving?


Portable & handheld, handheld & built in, in dash & portable, in dash & built in?

[The Mailman]

Not sure what you are after here but the real question is where can you place the device.

The dashboard versions are invariably the easiest to use as they are built-in and wire free and usually in a position where you can see them whilst driving.

With portable ones they generally come with a holder but handheld devices usually require that you purchase one in order to fit it to the dashboard somewhere. You also have the issue with trailing wires for the power supply especially for handheld phones as the GPS/Bluetooth usage will rapidly use up the battery.

My personal selection would be builtin for car use and handheld for everything else, why have a phone that will do it and a portable one as well. Failing a builtin device then definately the handheld - one device to do everything - its easier and less pocket bulge!

The big issue is then where to place it as different countries have different rules about what you can have and where - i.e. a dashboard mount or a screen mount. You also need to take into account screen glare and I would say that an anti-glare screen protector is an absolute necessity.

[neilm]

You may also need to consder long term 'cost of ownership'

PDA and PND devices generally use mainstream SatNav software available from a number of sources, with map updates cheap and easy to install (TomTom, Co-Pilot, iGO etc)

Built-in and in-dash models are often proprietary systems, and can cost a huge amount to update the maps. It is still quite common for built-in models to cost £500-600 for a new map disk, whereas a new TomTom map can be had for £30-60 depending on the region.

[tonybro]

My BMW has the 'Professional Sat Nav' - widescreen with iDrive input - list cost on options about £2000 - very pricey and not as good as TomTom V6. BMW have been doing a 'special' on the updated maps at £99 for Europe but they are typically £250 ish for the DVD.

They can be copied and are regularly sold on the Internet for far less! Why BMW doesn't make them a comparable cost to TomTom I'll never know...

Adding new Points of Interest is a painful experience with in-dash units, involving copying the DVD and fiddling with the files and re-building before writing to a DVD. Yet with TomTom, you just download and add the database to the POI directory....

The only small positives the in-dash unit has is it mutes/reduces the music/radio source when it reads instructions.

Separate unit all the way for me!