Ok after a little help please as I hope to get down south very soon I need to start to get organise or I'll never get there so I was after some help with these GPS/navman thingies, so what are good cheap one's and where's the best place to get them, thank so very much for any assistance :thank_you:
Quote from: 'ausjack' pid='57589' dateline='1408579928'Ok after a little help please as I hope to get down south very soon I need to start to get organise or I'll never get there so I was after some help with these GPS/navman thingies, so what are good cheap one's and where's the best place to get them, thank so very much for any assistance :thank_you:
I use a cheap Garmin Nuvi and it does the job for me. Make sure you get one that comes with lifetime map upgrades.
Mine was from JB HIFI but I don't see any on special there or Officeworks.
The Good Guys Garmin 010-01114-25 Nuvi 42LM 4.3" GPS $84 with free lifetime maps. 5" model for $99 and 5" Navman for $93.
And don't get me started on the built in navigators that come with new cars. I was after this when looking around recently. I asked about updates and was told that the technicians will update them when they do a car service. I asked about price but couldn't get a clear answer. After a bit of research it appears that the dealership charge you between $200 and $400 a year for the upgrades. Very unpopular and now the manufacturers are offering 3 years free upgrades. Still massively overpriced so deliberately bought a car without one.
Thanks Steve :thank_you: Wow that's good advice to investigate for the built in one's as dealerships aren't cheap at the best of times. I have often thought about that sort of thing with these combo deals like TV VCR and anything like it because something goes wrong with one you loose both.
Combo TVs with inbuilt DVD player are, in my opinion, not a good buy. A high percentage of the DVD units fail prematurely and you end up with a TV set and having to buy a separate player.
For example, Hardley Normal will sell you a Teac 32" TV with DVD for $427. Or you could buy a 32" LG (better quality than Teac) for $397 plus an LG DVD player for $39 (total $436). Ask the question and they will probably discount the package to less than the combo price anyway.
Incidentally, if buying a DVD player or digital recorder it is worth checking out if it has TV operation facility on the remote control. Many do and that saves having to use two remote controls -they will usually operate on the same brand TV and many have codes that can be entered for other brands too.
Back to GPS units; Check out the best offers on-line and Harvey Norman will usually undercut the best one you can find, even if it's on special. Not sure about other retailers -HN is the only one close to me- but, always worth asking the question "Is that your best [cash] price?".
when we bought ours it was from dick smith ,s shop
it is called a mio and it cost us $ 310.00 with no map upgrades , but remember that was when they first came out so the prices came way down since then , but if you get stuck A J remember you can have a lend of ours .. ,, kel ,,
Depends what you want. There are three basic use-cases.
• You want to know where something is.
• You want to know where you are.
• You want to know how to get there.
A map will tell you the first. A GPS will tell you the second. A navigator will tell you the third.
Generally speaking, navigators aren't worth bothering with. the directions they give are often wrong (dad's told him to drive through the neighbour's fence and pool to get to the next street over, and remember those tourists who ended up in Moreton Bay?) and they date quickly.
GPS receivers are great if you need to know exactly where you are, like when bushwalking or surveying. You do the navigating based on knowing where you are and where you need to be.
Maps are the best way for most cases. Paper maps we've had forever of course. Online maps if you have a working internet connection. Offline maps if you don't. Even without GPS capability, the location approximation of mobile devices is pretty damn good, if you're within range of a network node. I can drive from here to Dandenong down the freeway, and have my iPod track me within a couple hundred metres, without GPS.
Unless you need GPS or turn-by-turn navigation, I would say give Apple $239 for one of these iPods. They do a ton more besides navigation:
http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod
AJ.
Most of the Name brands are good.
What Steve said above Re "Free Lifetime Maps"
is the clincher.(Usually 4 times a year)
me I use a Tom Tom 5" thing
at Goodguys at $129
http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/buyonline/Tom_Tom_GPS_5%22_VIA_225_2428999
Might have to scratch that, No Good Guys in Grafton
nearest store is in Coffs.
Cool thanks for the input team as that's the sort of things the bastards at the shops won't tell you :good: and don't worry FP we don't have much here so have to shop out of town a bit and I go to coffs to the markets so next time I'll call into goodguys and suss them :hi:
I use NAVMAN with fre lifetime maps, road holdup alerts and radar locations. Have always had a Navman and find it hard to change to another brand. I think my model is a MY400LMT only had this one for a couple of months. Updated models $142 at JB HiFi.
Hello,
The good thing is you can set them to avoid Toll roads, and if you miss a turn they will work out another way. You may have issues in a City area when surrounded by tall buildings, and dont have total faith. If you plan to pass through / by Canberra, look me up. Mint trip / meal / beer or other drink. Anything is possible !
I am surprised no one has mentioned phones yet.
Many new phones have his built in and can do navigation multiple ways.
Application/s on the phone - I am pretty sure these load all the maps onto the phone, so don't need Internet connection
Or
Google maps which would require a phone service with internet
Quote from: 'humpybong' pid='57619' dateline='1408604227'I use NAVMAN with fre lifetime maps, road holdup alerts and radar locations. Have always had a Navman and find it hard to change to another brand. I think my model is a MY400LMT only had this one for a couple of months. Updated models $142 at JB HiFi.
we have a navman now as well
but I affectionately call her Navgal
hasn't gotten us too lost yet
and we have learnt some local beaut shortcuts using navgal as well
it can take you through tollways or around them
tells you the speed cameras etc are and ifr your speed if you go over the limit
very nifty
I've got an navman as well the only time it's ever failed was because of the information I put into it.
It has a few different voices that can be used male or female.
I use the female voice because I'm forever being told where to go by a female.
So I just feel this is normal.
We have a Tomtom for each car. Mark's is Darth Vader, when you turn the wrong way "I find your lack of faith disturbing" and mine is Homer Simpson "Oooh ooooh we might find an ice cream truck". I've managed to be finding my way around without issue so they haven't been switched on for ages. When I do switch it on it will probably take the entire journey to find a satellite and I'll already be there! I really should plug them into the computer for an update. Took one to Sydney a few years ago and it was great to help find our way around walking about the city even.
Quote from: 'Ozcoins' pid='57621' dateline='1408606887'I am surprised no one has mentioned phones yet.
I did.... or did I get censored again? Happens a lot lately. :)
The most obvious benefit for a noodler is the ability to identify where the banks are.
Select "banks" and it tells you the direction and distance to all those bank branches you've never annoyed before and didn't know existed.
Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='57629' dateline='1408609818'Quote from: 'Ozcoins' pid='57621' dateline='1408606887'I am surprised no one has mentioned phones yet.
I did.... or did I get censored again? Happens a lot lately. :)
Not censored, just ignored.
The Question was about Navman Type devices.
Not iPods, iPhones, Galaxy or flat maps.
ah it's all good people so no fights please as any and all help is most appreciated :thank_you:
I really love some of the comments as they tickled my funny bone :)
Fulvio,
I re read your post and did not see "phone" mentioned (only ipod).
I cannot find the catalogue but Aldi has a $99 phone soon. Would need to check the specs, but it would probably act nicely as a navigator.
Quote from: 'Ozcoins' pid='57642' dateline='1408615793'I re read your post and did not see "phone" mentioned (only ipod).
The iPod is effectively an iPhone minus the phone and GPS, and is WiFi-only. Its good enough for mapping and navigation wherever there is WiFi coverage, which is pretty much anywhere civilised. There are several offline map apps which cover the whole planet, and in practice what happens is that at speed, say on the freeway, your location will jump several hundred metres at a time. At slower speeds, its pretty accurate, though obviously not as good as GPS. Right now, it shows me sitting in the middle of the driveway, about 5m from where I actually am, and at times it shows me out on the footpath, or at the back fence, so I'd call it maybe 20m resolution. Plenty good enough, even on foot.
Of course you can always add GPS and/or a mobile WiFi hotspot, but at additional cost, obviously. Still, doing this would be cheaper than buying an iPhone and paying through the nose for service, since you can get relatively cheap data-only PAYG options for $1 or $2 a day.
As I said in my first comment, it depends what you want. I tend to use mine to find out where I am, and where I'm going, and I use the pedometer a LOT. I don't need an idiot machine telling me which way to steer to get where I want to be. If accuracy was an issue, I'd probably get a handheld GPS that does a lot more than a navigator, minus the wanky stuff.
I thought the question was pretty clear that he wants something that gives him directions.
Yes I find it very stressing to say the least, driving and trying to look at maps or even try and find some place to pull off in road works in just a nighmare so that's why I was thinking about one of these things so navman or tomtom as ubd's are too dear and the roads are changing so much they can't keep up and something that I can fight with might make the trips a bit shorter..with a bit of luck :) Might go to coffs on sunday and see what I can find out, thanks heaps for all your help team :hi:
Yes the phones sound ok but I like the idea of the voice when driving, just sounds a little safer :)
The phone gps navigators will give voice instructions. ...
Eeeeee now I'm confused :)
my kids use google maps
the old mummie dinosaur uses the navgal (ha ha)
ps
it is also mummie who pays for the sons's phone 3g connections
navgal is free to use
Man I went to coffs yesterday and got one of these tomtom 280 http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/buyonline/Tom_Tom_VIA_280_5%22_GPS_2419334 and asked about free maps and lane changes so tried it out last night and I can tell you I'm not impressed as it got me lost and lucky I knew where I was going and didn't put me in the lane that I should have been in but i suppose I at least have maps and yes I was swearing at it within 5 mins..but I wanna be good :blush2:
Thank you so very much for all your help team I really do appreciate your efforts :thank_you:
we had a tom tom one trip and it kept sending us to the DFO in melbourne
no matter where we wanted to go!
that is why I bouight a navman
gee I don't what to do, why is everything always so bloody hard :-/
this is how I feel as it sounds funny with the pommy accent, might have to change it to japanese or something :laugh2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjO1BXzZLpE
I don't need a navman or anything like that as I can't get lost because my missus is forever telling me where to go...........
I don't have a missus and thought it a little cheaper ;)
This is what annoys the B'jesus out of me is false advertising as things should look like the packaging so here we have the box showing what I thought was mentioned about indicating the lane to be in
(http://i58.tinypic.com/2j5zx4m.jpg)
this is the sticker that was on the screen
(http://i61.tinypic.com/ohl2lc.jpg)
and this is what I have :laugh2: but will have a bit more of a play :angel:
(http://i59.tinypic.com/1id4yh.jpg)
I should be able to find my way as long as the maps are right.
AJ, that is pretty consistent with most Navigators. It will not show you the lane you need to be in for every intersection. In fact only a few of the major ones and, around Brisbane, I've only seen it at half a dozen spots. Unfortunately the I/s where you have to be in the right lane to turn left (and vice versa) isn't one of them. That I/s is one where the cars in the right lane turning left stay at ground level and the cars turning right go up a ramp to the left and over an overpass. Those lanes are separated by a steel and cement barrier. I once saw a car that couldn't make up their mind and went straight into the barrier and was up in the air at a 45 degree angle.
The general principle is that if you need to turn left then be in the left lane unless told otherwise.
They are pretty reliable but do make mistakes so always use your common sense especially when putting the address in. Look at the ETA for your trip because you could be heading to the same address in a different suburb. If you know your trip is about 15 minutes but the navigator is telling you that it is 50 minutes then you're going the wrong way. Also don't take the advised speed limit as gospel.
You'll get used to it.
Thanks Steve :thank_you: all these little bits really help as i have no idea...shut ya face belly :)
Ok just thinking about this thing after using it twice now and how they say they avoid tolls, is there any recourse and who on if you do end up on a toll way for some strange reason and getting a bill like I did in brissie? Also thinking about taking this bastard back as the voice bit won't work for me so don't know if it's because I don't speak yank or pom or my voice is too deep for it but the bloody thing asks what was that again and then says the wrong thing and also want to start me in the wrong direction so I really don't know what to do :(
Hello,
The driver is ultimately responsible, same as a " self parking " car. If it responds to voice, you may have to do a fake accent. We drive a rubbish brand of work car, and that is how to make the phone work. As in different Cities the roads often change, you need to keep on top of updates.
Thanks Chris, I'll have to try and work on my pommy accent :good:
For controlling the car, yes, the driver is responsible.
For producing a product that should avoid tolls and does not, the manufacturer is responsible for that. That would probably allow you to take it back and get a refund.
cool, I thought there might have been something like that, thanks Oz :)