Show me the way to go home: GPS on test Gone are the days of thumbing through your dog-eared 1988 AA route map while trying to navigate the fast lane of the M25 in search of your pal's new London pad. For now is the time of satellite navigation. Over the past three years, the market has been flooded with a vast array of navigation units employing the Global …
The article show me the way home is funny right from the start. I wasn't aware that Alcoholics Anonymous made a road map. I can imagine the complications you would run into trying to read your AA map while intoxicated, the little lines all look the same.
But seriously, nice article about GPS, very informative. I am currently looking to get a GPS for traveling for service calls.
Thanks for the information, and ask the proof-checker to have another cup of coffee before trying this again.
Excellent review, though after looking for devices myself I found the Artemis HTC3300 to be perfect (think thats the right official name its an O2 Orbit).
It combines very good software, with good hardware and has the olde speed camera spotting goodness.
Oh and its also a phone, MP3 player e.t.c. so it doesn't get left in view in the car, and I only have to carry one gadget.
Bit dissapointed such a great gadget wasn't in this review (or indeed any GPS capable mobiles).
The important thing about any sat-nav is the quality and accuracy of the mapping. The review should include the cost and frequency of map updates as well as the accuracy thereof. There's nothing worse than finding you've been taken on a nice-looking short-cut round the back streets only to find the council blocked the exit, changed the one-way direction, or restricted a vital turn. Try convincing most sat-navs that it has to find another route!
You say that the Magellan CrossoverGPS is waterproof to IPX 4. That rating is only splash proof (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingress_protection_rating ). Normal outdoor use GPS units are waterproof to IPX 7 (full immersion).
I would not consider IPX 4 to be acceptable for outdoor use. If you are taking a GPS unit into the wilderness (even on a country hike), and using it as your only method of navigation, you must be able to rely on it completely, not just in fair weather. The last thing you want is for your navigation to fail just when you are soaked and cold after an unexpected thunderstorm.
When you consider that the people most likely to buy this unit for outdoor use, are those who are inexperienced, and do not know how to navigate in the wilderness with a map and compass, and are unlikely to bring one as a backup, so when their GPS fails, they will be completely stuck, I think it is irresponsible to sell a unit that is only splash proof, as waterproof, and a good choice for outdoor navigation.
As for boating use, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to rely on a non waterproof unit. If you mount this on the deck of a small powerboat or dingy, then it will get a salt water soaking almost every time you use it. Again if stuff goes wrong and you capsize, the last think you want is to be lost as well.
Am I the only one that thinks the "Coming in for a landing" view is a bit weird? I know it's "cool" and all, but I just find it funny that all the device photos in this review had the same flying behind the car perspective rather than the alternative map style straight down.
My preference, in case you can't tell, is the classic map view. Maybe I'm getting old.
With respect to the non-map view .... yes we are getting old.
Kids dont have much exposure to real maps and have even less ability to read one. If you take a look at any of the games most play, the view is what most experience when navigating a game world, so for them, very intuitive.
As for the IPX-4, the marketing drones should be sent out into the middle of the channel with their GPS units as their only guide home. I have no love for marketing and their missinformation.
I am surprised at the steep price points though, as translated into C$ (~2:1 exchange) I see similar units here market down recently to $200-250 as of late, though the wet navigation capabilities do come at a premium here as well.
I really wonder how they all compare, and not just two, and lightly reviewed at that. Things like mean error, average time to locate, rechargeability, ability to run off external power, etc etc ....
Time for a real article or three on the subject.
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