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GPS
Q&A
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question you need an answer on.
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Garmin
Questions
Q. Is it
possible to have Metroguide as well as City Navigator in the Street Pilot and
GPSV to make use of the extensive country town street
information?
Q. So, can you
then use the Metroguide's country town street information on a street by street
basis and have the voice prompts like you do if using City
Navigator?
Q. Can I use
BlueCharts on my StreetPilot?
Q. Can I increase the number of waypoint capacities of any hand held
GPS from Garmin, Magellan, Silva, Navman etc?
Q. What
would be the best GarminPlotter to use in direct sunlight, colour or greyscale
screen?
Q. Which Garmin handheld GPS do you recommend for use on a
boat?
Q. When
would it be advantageous for me to buy the BlueChart CD and blank data
cards instead of the data cards having the marine
charts pre-installed?
Q. If I
choose the BlueChart CD and a blank DataCard which size DataCard should I
get?
Q. What basemaps do you supply with your
Garmin GPS?
Q.
I have seen on a site that says Geko101
and Geko201 Australian versions. Is there such a thing as Australian versions of
non mapping units?
Q.
I have a Garmin
that uses the USB port on my PC and everything appears fine except the Mapsource
software doesn't have facility for USB comms. What is the
problem?
Q. When is the Australian City Navigator
Version 5 upgrade available and how do I buy one?
Q. Do I have to buy the version 5 upgrade for
City Navigator Australia or is it free?
Magellan
Questions
Q. How does the street maps from Magellan compare to
Garmin's?
Q. How
good is the resolution on the Magellans?
Q. Why
does Magellan use SD cards whilst Garmin use their own proprietary
cards?
Q. Which Magellan do you recommend for marine
use?
Q.
With the Sportrack, am I
able to upgrade the memory?
Q.
Which Magellan can I put the new Marine CD maps
into?
Q.
When will the marine
maps be available for my Sportrak?
Holux
Questions
Q. I have a Mitac MIO336 and a GM-210 and I need a
cable, which one do I need?
Q.
I have a Mitac MIO558 and a GM-210 and
I need a cable, which one do I need?
Q.
My Mitac MIO won't work with the Holux
Bluetooth GR-230, why?
Q. My Holux GM-270 doesn't work with my notebook but
does with others. Do I need a driver update for my PC?
Q. Can the GM-101 use re-chargeable NiCad Batteries and be charged
whilst inside the GPS?
Global Sat
Questions
Q. I purchased a SD501 SDIO GPS for my iPAQ h3970
but it doens't appear to be seen by the PDA?
GENERAL Answers
Q. What is a
basemap and do I need the Australian basemap?
A. A basemap
is a map that Garmin and Magellan supply with their mapping GPS. The basemap for
Australia on the Garmin GPS is very basic, so much so, it is not very accurate.
It also has very few roads within the major cities, for example, Sydney has
approximately 4 roads. These roads may be up to 1 kilometre out in various parts
of the basemap and often complaints from owners about the accuracy and detail
have been difficult to deal with. The basemap is only important if you are not
supplied the Australian City Navigator or Metroguide as you wouldn't with the
eMAP, GPSMap176, Vista, Legend, GPSV. A free Topo map is available at www.gpsaustralia.net called
ShonkyMaps.
Note concerning
StreetPilot series: All Garmin Streetpilots, with or without
the Australian basemap is automatically supplied with Australian City Navigator
from all dealer's or distributor's within Australia. This is the way Garmin
supply their Streetpilot whether you want City Navigator or not. It is important
to realise that the basemap is overridden by City Navigator and is not used.
Many customers and enquiries are unnecessarily concerned about the basemap in
the Garmin Streetpilot. This is probably due to false information by various
dealers.
Also, if you already have a Streetpilot and want
the USA or Europe City Navigator CDs we can supply them as well.
Other Garmin GPS you will can purchase are the
Bluechart, Metroguide or City Navigator CD for Garmin, DiscoverAus series and
Oceana series for Magellan to acquire the marine or street directory type detail
.
Magellan on the other hand have basemaps that are
very accurate, although the roads are few and far between the number of roads is
somewhat more extensive. Again, consider buying Discover Australia maps. To note
there is an upgrade from your original Mapsend to Discover Australia but is
only available through Magellan Australia. Please visit their web site and
contact them. www.magellan.com.au . There is more information at the bottom of this page on basemaps.
Click here to
view
Q.
What do they mean by waterproof?
A. Waterproof is always a relative
thing; for example, Garmin state their GPS are IPX7, which means they can
be submerged in 1 metre of water for 30 minutes before they may start to
leak. However, the etrex will get water into the battery compartment but
not in the critical areas of electronic circuitry. So, if you do get it wet and
the same for other GPS, check any areas that can be opened and dry them with a
hair dryer on cold or warm air only. For any of you who think a microwave
oven is an option, don't bring the GPS back for warranty! As a point IPX4
is the minimum and is waterproof in the respect of nothing more than a light
shower at 30 degrees above the horizontal. To me anything below IPX7 is
water resistant, but hey, I don't make the standards!
Q. What are the Data Cards for?
A. Purely for storing the proprietary maps
supplied by Garmin or Magellan. You cannot install ExploreOZ or GIS maps
into these datacards for use with the Garmin, Silva, Navman or
Magellan. You need a notebook or handheld computer like the Compaq iPAQ to
install such software. The data cards do not allow for an increase in
waypoint storage as this is done onboard.
Q.
What is a waypoint and why does it matter how many waypoints a
GPS has?
A
. A waypoint is a position stored on the GPS to help you find that
position the next time you wish to go there. For example, if we stood on
top of the Eiffel Tower and pressed the button to save the position it becomes a
waypoint. If you then went anywhere on the Earth the GPS can guide
you back to the Eiffel Tower as the crow flies. The more waypoints you
have the better, however 500 waypoints is often plenty for anyone to store/save
a position as they travel so they can go back to a base camp or a water hole or
a highway etc if they went bush. You can upload these waypoints
to a PC (assuming the GPS has external connectivity) to then store on the PC and
then add more waypoints on the GPS, either by pressing the save button on the
GPS whilst at the position you wish to save or manually input on the GPS (you
can download waypoints from a PC as well, assuming you have the appropriate
optional software). Marine GPS tend to have enough storage for thousands of
waypoints because of the need to change direction (course) regularly to avoid
obstacles or to follow waterways. NOTE: There is
a trackback feature in GPS units (excluding Streetpilots and other auto
navigating GPS) that allow you to follow the track you travelled previously.
Please read the manual regarding the settings and limitations of this
capability.
Q. Can I increase the number of waypoint capacities of any hand held
GPS from Garmin, Magellan, Silva, Navman etc?
A.
No.
Q. Do some GPS have cities as waypoints
built-in?
A. Yes, GPS12XL, Etrex Legend, Etrex Venture,
Etrex Vista and GPS76, for example, have them. This is useful if you have
somehow lost all of your waypoints and these units have the positions of
important towns/cities around the world built-in. This often includes
towns like Broken Hill or Kalgoorlie. For safety sake, have some paper
maps, EPIRB or sat phone.
Q. Which hand held will give the best
accuracy?
A. All handheld GPS have the same accuracy, in
the vicinity of 6 metres 95% of the time. The other 5% it could be as
accurate as 2 metres or 10 metres.
Q. What do you mean by accuracy?
A. It is the expression the GPS fraternity
use. What it really means is that it could be inaccurate by 6
metres. For example, you stand at a waypoint (position) and save it to
your GPS. You walk away several metres and then walk back to the stored
waypoint. You may be standing 2 to 10 metres away from where you were
originally when you saved that waypoint.
Q.
How do I increase the accuracy?
A.
Depending on location. Garmin and Magellan talk of WAAS to increase
accuracy. This is only available to those in the vicinity of USA or
Canada. However, the rest of the world can make use of most GPS that have
capabilities to accept differential signals. These are signals transmitted
from base stations on the ground. Differential is not available world wide
but does cover large areas of land mass on all continents. In Australia
coverage is particularly along the coast with a 250 kilometre radius but less
inland due to hills etc interferring with radio wave propogation. There are
basically two forms of differential signal, one that is free and one that you
have to pay for. Both require the handheld or marine GPS to be wired up to
a differential receiver. A differential receiver is either a dome shaped
or flat disk antenna (and a black box with a receiver inside
often placed in a back sack) approximately 4 inches in diameter. The dome
type is often used for marine whilst the flat receiver is for land.
However, they are interchangeable within their services (free or paid).
Free is limited to the coast and inland of approximately 250 kilometres.
Queensland, NSW and Victoria have total coverage whilst the rest of Australia
has partial coverage. Paid Differential covers the whole of Australia and
overseas but you are looking at approximately $6,000 for the antenn and black
box receiver and $3,000 per year for the signal hire. The system can be
hired if you only require short term usage. Please e-mail or phone us for
further details.
Q. What is the accuracy of
differential?
A.
With a handheld you are looking at approximately 2 metres
consistently. It may be as low as 1 metre or as high as 3
metres. You will need to purchase a differential beacon receiver
though.
Q.
How can I get even more accuracy, like half a metre or
better?
A. Unless you are a geologist or using a GPS
for GIS or exploration work there is no real need to have such accuracy.
Omnistar have a system that can provide accuracy of up to 20 centimetres fairly
consistently but you are looking at spending $20,000 and is a dedicated
system. Signal per annum is around the $5,000 mark. There is Real
Time Kinematic Systems (RTK) that give you approximately 1 cm, but they are in
the vicinity of $40,000 to $80,000 or $550 a day hire.
Q.
If I am wanting to use high accuracy GPS for exploration, GIS,
Asset Management etc, do you have them available?
A .
Yes. We can supply Micronics, Trimble, Ashtech, Novatel, Navcom and Leica.
Please email or phone us for more information.
Q.
Can I use a marine GPS for land use or vice
versa?.
A.
Yes. GPS are not dependant on location, whether it be for air, sea or land
usage. The basics is included in all GPS, such as directing you
to your destination, store, create and edit waypoints. Maps are
just a means to help us orientate visually with familiar objects or
outline. Once you become confident with a GPS, objects and coastlines etc
become less important in respect of where the little dot is on your
screen. We all need a reference to work from to help us identify our
position. The most basic, cheapest GPS like the Geko 101 can be used in
any environment, the only issue then is if you need flight paths to be
displayed, airports and runway icons, marine beacons, or icons to indicate
underwater obstructions and water depths you will then need to reconsider
and choose a dedicated GPS that meets those needs rather than having to
create all the waypoints to represent those markers etc.
Q. I have imported a GPS and now looking for
software for street mapping, what is available?
A. Depends on
the brand. Garmin's City Navigator software (auto-routing) only works with the
60C/60CS/60Cx/60Csx, Colorado, GPS V, iQUE3600, iQUE M5, C320, C330,
StreetPilot3, Streetpilot 2610/2650 and Nuvi series. Garmin Metroguide works
with all Garmin units that accept maps including the aforementioned GPS.
Magellan has no restrictions with the mapping units, you can use any of the maps
as long as it can be loaded either onto the GPS directly or via datacard if the
GPS accepts a datacard. However, you must specify which
model you have as often Sportrak maps on SD
datacard cannot be used with Meridian GPS nor work with the eXplorist or Triton
series. Note:
Be aware that if you buy a Magellan from USA but you want an Australian basemap
you will then have to purchase the Australian base map to suit and that is going
to bring the price up near that of the Australian version. Do remember
that the Garmin/Magellan Base Maps are very basic and if you want street by
street navigation then you will need to buy additional software. Garmin basemaps
cannot be changed like the Magellan can. However, you can create your own map
using any onboard memory that's available. See basemap issues at the bottom of
this page for more important information.
Q. Which manufacturer do you sell more of for the mapping units and
why?
A. For several
years we sold more Magellan mapping units than any other by a ratio of 2:1. As
to why, we do not know the exact reason but believe because there are more maps
from Magellan than Garmin. However, recently Garmin mapping units GPS purchases
have caught up, even surpassed Magellan mapping units which may have been
assisted by several new 3rd party maps, such as ShonkyMaps, OzTopo
and Tracks4Australia. Majority of buyers have made a decision well
before buying from us. Only a small percentage contact us for our opinion. This
suggests that customers are aware of the advantages of one over the other.
This we believe is not necessarily the GPS itself but possibly the
software available. Magellan have more to choose from and appear to be keen to
produce quality maps of Australia for Australians. Our Garmin margins are better
than the Magellan margins, but we sell on the merits of the GPS not what we
gain.
-
Magellan's marine software
called BlueNav (only available on SD card) is good but not regularly
updated and quite expensive ompared to Garmin's BlueChart marine charts.
If something goes wrong with the data card the datacard has to go back to the
distributor. With Garmin you can buy the CD which gives you one unlock
for a chart but after that you have to pay for any chart on the CD. The Marine
Charts detail from both are pretty much identical, however garmin have more
updates. Garmin have just recently enlarged the coverage for each chart but if
you move from west coast to the east coast then you will need to pay for
another chart. For example one map coverage is from Esperance and around the
west coast, Northern Territory and down Queenslands coast to Mackay. The
Eastern Chart covers Fowlers Bay on the west side of the Ayre Peninsula (SA)
around the east coast and half way across the Carpentaria. The Southern
chart goes from Geraldton in WA south along the Great Ausse Bite ,
Tasmania and as far north of the east coast as Sunshine Coast but also
includes Norfolk Island. Magellan also have a comprehensive CD called Great
Desert Tracks which is specifically tracks of Australia and has the main roads
as well with a variation that includes all the contours of Australia. Garmin
has nothing of this nature.
-
Garmin's Metroguide and Magellan's DISCover
Australia cover similar areas, however, DISCover Australia has much more
points of interest information than the Metroguide. For example, recreational
areas, petrol stations, restaurants etc.
Q. I am confused with the different types of street
navigation units. Which one should I buy?
A. Listed under each type are the different technologies
for In-Car Street Navigation. There are three major players in Australia for the
dedicated street navigation GPS, Garmin, Navman and Magellan. VDO have a
system, however, we don't think sales are anywhere near the top three as it is
not what most people are looking for in a street navigator. Not to say it
is not a worthy contender it has it's own advantages. Recently a few more
manufacturers, such as Holux and Tom Tom have come into the fray with many more
to come. They all basically get their data from Telstra or from Navteq and
both of these companies have similar data quality and detail. Depending upon
when they purchased their data and the lead-time to market will determine which
update they have. Most have updated within the past 12 months and Whereis
(Telstra) updates anually.
Dedicated GPS
When we say dedicated it means it is a GPS and
onboard software only, unlike other products out there that are a PC/PDA with a
GPS and software. Currently Garmin are the biggest seller of street
navigation products with Navman surpassing Magellan of recent. In the
dedicated version we have a personal preference for the Garmin Street Pilot 2610
because it has an excellent screen in direct sunlight and is superiorly fast in
calculating your route and re-calculation if you miss a turn. Magellan don't
have a street by street navigator in Australia (only in USA and Europe) and
don't sell the software with this capability, only as the crow flys does it show
you the street location you have typed in. Software in these products are pretty
much the same, thus what you see on a Garmin you see in a Navman. The difference
often is the ability for the machine to smoothly scroll the map across the
screen as you travel, which is dependant on the speed of the
processor.
Other factors are, what limitations in the software
makes it different from another from the same manufacturer? An example of this
issue is with Garmin's streetmap range, all are Mapsource branded but each
variation has it's own name, such as Mapsource City Navigator, Metroguide and
City Select. The most functional of these is City Navigator then City Select a
close second. Metroguide varies from country to country or region to region in
that some can or some can't autoroute. City Select is like the Intel Celeron of
the world, the lesser version of the City Navigator, which is itself like the
Intel Pentium, the bigger brother of the two. Australia doesn't have City Select
but may do soon based on the trends of the products worldwide. City Select has
routing limitations that some people find difficult to do without.
The point about all of this is that the maps you
buy are tied in with the GPS you buy, you can't separate the two thus when you
sell the GPS the software has to go with it. You may say well it's no use
without the software anyway, well that would not be true if it you were to sell
it on ebay to someone in NZ or vise versa. Buying a StreetPilot in the USA will
give you a USA/Canada basemap but you can buy the Australian City Navigator
software locally thus save a few dollars. The advantage of that is you get the
USA City Select or City Navigator to boot! The basemap is totally irrelevant, if
it wasn't then the Nuvi series would not exist with their
pre-installed City Navigator software. Dedicated GPS may have some or all of the
following points.
Pros: Great for those who just want a
GPS Street Navigator.
Cons:
-
Limited in features such as contacting someone
and letting them know where you are
-
Limited in capability such as adding additional
hardware or software.
-
Limited in software choices such as marine maps
may not show proper colours for depths and cannot setup a series of markers
found typically on a GPS for baoting or even other software often found on a
PC.
-
Limited in usability such as may not have
internal batteries to use whilst walking, cannot be used for any other purpose
but as a car navigation device
-
Sometimes memory size limitation, thus curtails
accepting newer updates that are more memory hungry.
-
Unable to use your contact list from Microsoft
Outlook to automatically select their address if you cannot remember or the
need to laboriously manually input the address..
PDA (Handheld computers known as
Personal Digital Assistant)
For Pocket PC (PPC) or Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA) configurations that closely resemble the dedicated Street Navigation GPS
we would choose a Holux/HP/Acer/O2 XDA PDA with either a GPS sleeve or a PDA
cradle with the GPS built-in. CF Card, USB or Bluetooth GPS is also
available. You also have the option of three software vendors for street and
voice navigation, namely Destinator, Navman and Travroute. A PDA with a CF
Card GPS is our preference because this is far more versatile than a dedicated
GPS version and truly portable. Europe is a strong enclave for GPS
accessories manufacturers as Europeans tend to prefer using a PDA for it's
versatility. Garmin have produced a Windows based PPC with street
navigation software. This brings Garmin head-on against the software
vendors and accessories manufacturers as their new Garmin is a PPC with a
built-in flip down GPS antenna, something PPC manufacturers have not taken up
seriously. Now, if anyone wants a PPC and GPS the new Garmin iQUE M5 is
now available, however, Holux have produced one better, a PPC with the GPS and
antenna completely built into the casing (NAV60), which minimises the expensive
cost to replace a damaged flip antenna. HP have produced the hw6515 with a
built-in GPS, however, due to some strange reason they made the screen squarer,
thus all PPC navigation software will not work with it.
The software by Destinator, TomTom, Navman and
Co-Pilot (Travroute) are highly regarded and have features that products
from Garmin and Magellan don't have, that being able to tell you what street to
turn or Trip planning with optimisation of the route capability or even input a
position for you to visit via known co-ordinates. Another great feature using
Destinator or Travroute is that if your PDA is stolen or updated you don't need
to repurchase the software. Considering the price for software is anywhere
between $250 and upwards of $300 you don't want to have to fork out the same
amount again. All the software for Dedicated GPS is available for PDAs and much
more.
We will be setting up an O2 XDA IIi, with all the
software, as it has a mobile phone built in and GPRS (General Packet Radio
Services) capability. Apart from being to access the internet to send images
from the built-in camera it will allow you to send emails of documents or data
on a spreadsheet by using the word and excel software that comes with all PDAs
that use Windows Pocket PC software.
http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/gprs/intro.shtml
Pros: The most feature rich, flexible,
capable and adaptable product for street navigation, marine navigation air
navigation and many PC type software products are available. The Street
Navigation database is identical to the dedicated GPS units and comes from
Mapinfo or Telstra.
Cons: May lock up and require a reset
on the rare occassion, not as resistant to the weather (unless you purchase a
case for it)
Smart Phones
Mobile phone version is in two versions, one with
software by Destinator and Travroute or the version from Sensis called Whereis
(Division of Telstra). The only mobile phone that can handle this
capability are the SmartPhones as they have a Microsoft version of windows for
the phone. The unique difference is that the Destinator and Travroute versions
work like a normal GPS version whilst Whereis version for the SmartPhone is much
more up to date in street information but uses GPRS (the ability to send data
over mobile phone network, such as emails, faxes, images, GPS data etc) service
to provide the onscreen map and position information. To say which is the
more expensive of the two depends on how often you use it. We trialled the
live version from Whereis (GPRS) and the cost was $25 for two days of usage. We
figure this would be chosen by those who absolutely need the most up to date
street directory or a lot of money to burn and think they need the most up to
date streets, towns, POIs etc.
GARMIN Answers
Q. Is it
possible to have Metroguide as well as City Navigator in the Street Pilot and
GPSV to make use of the extensive country town street
information?
A. In short,
yes. As long as you choose the StreetPilot III Australian Bundle you will have a
datacard large enough to fit both City Navigator and Metroguide for the whole of
Australia on the one card (the 128MB datacard will do this) The GPSV has
only 19MB of memory, so, you have to accept a limited amount of mapping.
For example the whole of Australia on the Metroguide is 46MB, but you can select
"cells" that cover the route you wish to take. It is advisable to purchase
a USB datacard programmer as it will take only a few minutes as opposed to 20
minutes to download the portion of the map to the GPSV. The
Streetpilot3 uses an external datacard which alleviated the memory limitations
found in other models. The latest City Navigator has practically the same, if
not more information that Metroguide, thus, you won't need to buy both to get
the most up to date coverage.
Q. So, can you
then use the Metroguide's country town street information on a street by street
basis and have the voice prompts like you do if using City
Navigator?
A. In short,
no. You can flick between the two maps quite easily. choosing the map selection
page you can tick all the metroguide regions and untick the City Navigator
regions. Ticking a mix of these causes the Streetpilot to become confused
and unusable until you fix the selections. The GPSV has no voice
capability but does have a "beep" to let you know there is a turn or you have
arrived at your destination. The "beep" only works with City
Navigator.
City
Navigator/Metroguide Versus BlueChart
Q. Can I
use BlueCharts on my StreetPilot?
A. Yes. However, the limitations of the
StreetPilot over and above the proper Marine GPS Plotters (ie GPSMAP176 or
GPSMAP182) include the limited colours that the Street Pilot uses for the
different depths for water. It is almost indistinguishable between shallow
water and deep water. The other issue is the fact that waypoints are not
really available except if you choose to use the "Via" option which has up to
100 waypoints (SP2610 has 500 waypoints). GPSMAP176 has 3,000 waypoints
because it is necessary to have a large number of waypoints to set up a route
when plotting through a series of waterways and the
ocean.
Q. What
Garmin mapping units can I use for Marine other than the Marine plotting units
by utilising the BlueChart CD?
A. Etrex Vista, Etrex Legend, and the
colour versions, GPSV, 60C/60CS, GPSMAP 76 GPSMAP 76CSand GPSMAP 76S. The
GPSMAP 176 is infact a Marine unit, however, it works very well if the
Metroguide maps are installed. The GPSV and GPSMAP176 are similar in many
ways except the following: The GPSMAP176 has 3,000 waypoints whilst
the GPSV has only 1,000. The GPSV has a much smaller screen. The
GPSV can make use of the City Navigator's auto routing (automatically displays
an arrow with distance to next turn) whilst the GPSMAP176 cannot. As
a side note, the GPSV does make a beep when you need to make a turn or
on reaching your destination only if you have installed City Navigator
maps. GPSMAP276 series you can use for both street navigation and marine without
any of the limitations stated above.
Q.
What would be the best Garmin Plotter to use in direct sunlight, colour
or greyscale screen?
A
. It depends on which GPS you want. We have found the screen on the
GPS176C (colour) to be washed out in direct sunlight whilst the 60C/60CS,
GPSMAP182C, GPSMAP188C, GPSMAP2006C and GPSMAP2010C are excellent in direct
sunlight. I prefer the GPS176 greyscale without question over and above
the GPS176C for use in direct sunlight. The best colour unit we have seen
from Garmin is the dual beam dual purpose GPSMAP188C. It has exceptional
brightness in any condition. If money was not a major concern and we
wanted a combined fishfinder and plotter the GPSMAP188C would be our
baby!
Q.
Which Garmin handheld GPS do you recommend for use on a
boat?
A. One that floats and is
waterproof!! The little extra you pay for the GPS72 or GPS76 series is
worth every cent. Although the GPSMAP176 is a semi-handheld because of it's
size, I don't regard it as a pure handheld, especially the power consumption
limits its usage without external power. The GPS72 and GPS76 series have
the best screens in respect of resolution and screen size of any handheld on the
market. They float and are waterproof to IPX7.
Q.
When would it be advantageous for me to buy the BlueChart CD and
blank data cards instead of the data cards having the marine
charts pre-installed?
A.
If you believe you are going to want more than one chart it is best to buy the
BlueChart CD and a blank Data Card assuming your GPS accepts a data
card.
Q.
If I choose the BlueChart CD and a blank DataCard which size DataCard
should I get?
A. Depends on how many charts you think
you need. However, I am certain a 32MB blank datacard will store 1
chart that covers a third of Australia's waters..
Q. I have seen on a site
that says Geko101 and Geko201 Australian versions. Is there such a thing as
Australian versions of non mapping units?
A. No. That is deliberate misinformation. We have noted on a competitor
web site the exact same thing and proves that certain dealers will do anything
to fool the customer into believing that they are getting a product that is
specific to Australia. The Etrex and Geko range are identical world wide except
for the Bi-lingual units. We believe Australia does not have it's own language
that requires a bi-lingual GPS. Basically any GPS from any manufacture that is
not a mapping unit is not region specific. We can supply a bi-lingual unit on
request.
Q. I have a Garmin
that uses the USB port on my PC and everything appears fine except the Mapsource
software doesn't have facility for USB comms. What is the
problem?
A. There are a number of patches from Garmin including two USB and one
mapsource upgrade. Please go to the Garmin web site and click on their "Software
Updates" button and then choose "Mapsource", the GPS concerned update (ie
SP2610), "USB GPS Drivers- Initial Install", "USB GPS Driver Update". These four
will bring your unit and PC up to todays patches.
Mapsource version 5.4 can be
downloaded here.
Q. When is the Australian City
Navigator Version 6 upgrade CD available and how to I buy one?
A. The CD
is now available and can be purchased through any dealer.
Q. Do I have to buy the version 6
upgrade for City Navigator Australia or is it free?
A. If you
have an unopened copy that is the previous version then Garmin will offer a free
update. However I would advise you contact Garmin directly for confirmation of
this.
MAGELLAN Answers
Q. How does the street maps from Magellan compare to
Garmin's?
A .
Magellan Australia has spent more time, money and effort in producing the
widest and most comprehensive maps for Australia. It is not to say that
Garmin's street maps are unusable, far from that. Garmin have not as yet
produced desert tracks CD and the points of interest are not as comprehensive as
Magellan. If map choice and details were my primary decision maker, it would
currently be a Magellan.
Q. How
good is the resolution on the Magellans?
A
. Depends on which unit you are refering to and what you are comparing it
to. The mapping units must have good resolution. The Meridian and
Explorist series have very good screen resolution. If screen resolution
and brightness was an issue then I would consider the new Explorist
series.
Q. Why
does Magellan use SD cards whilst Garmin use their own proprietary
cards?
A .
Difficult to say but by far the most obvious advantage of the SD card is that it
is readily available from any computer store, including from OctaPC. The
only Garmins that don't use the proprietary data card is the new iQue3600 (SD
data card) and the new Streetpilot 2610 (CF data card). SD & CF cards
you can purchase data cards again from us or other computer shops.
NOTE: In some instances with Magellan the SD card
has to have the maps pre-installed, meaning you can't buy an SD datacard and
then install the maps. Please read the issue with Sportrak, marine maps and the
SD card below.
Q. Which
Magellan do you recommend for marine use?
A .
Any unit that has boating icons, anchor drag warning "highway" etc and
floats. It is not to say the discontinued GPS315 can't be used in a
boating environment, just that to see where all the markers are, a Magellan
designed for marine use is best. A marine version can still be used for
land use. Effectively it is really a land GPS with the added features for
marine. Magellan only have the Triton series and the eXplorist
XL
Q. With the Sportrack, am I able to upgrade the
memory?
A.
No
Q. Which Magellan can I put the new Marine CD maps
into?
A.
All but the Sportrak. However, you will need a pre-authorised card and not any
SD card as it will not work. If you purchase a BlueNav CD and a pre-authorised
card you can then choose any map areas to install by uninstalling the previous.
For those that are looking at more than one map area this is without question
best value for money from any GPS manufacturer on the market. Garmin don't allow
this, as you have to purchase an unlock certificate for each area. Marine
CDs are no longer available and the SD are the only option.
Q. When will the marine maps
be available for my Sportrak? (Please note that the Australian Marine maps are
not going to be made available for the Sportrak)
A.
This is not happening as the Sportrak is now an obsolete model excluding one
model.
GARMIN
BASEMAPS
Q. What basemaps do you supply with your
Garmin GPS?
A1 .
Our Land based Garmin Mapping units have a free detailed Topo map that is far
superior to the basemap. This excludes the StreetPilot series which have the
Australian City Navigator supplied. All StreetPilots/Nuvi are supplied with City
Navigator no matter where you buy the item from. Therefore, the basemap in the
StreetPilot series is not relevent as it is not seen whatsoever. We recommend
that such units with a basemap only should be purchased with the applicable
mapping CD (Metroguide or City Navigator).
A2. Our Marine based Garmin GPS have
either the worldwide marine basemap or the Pacific marine basemap. The Pacific
marine basemap is dearer and have very limited useability, thus we recomed you
purchase a BlueChart CD/datacard to acquire the required detailed maps for your
area. The basemap is insufficient for serious marine use as it doesn't have up
to date marine information or effective detail. We suggest you purchase the
BlueChart CD or pre-installed on a datacard.
The Metroguide has almost every single street in
every single city and major town Australia wide (98%).
City Navigator has 98% of every street in the Major
cities (Including, for example, streets of Newcastle). It practically can take
you to any city or almost every town throughout Australia.
Metroguide - Australia
http://www.garmin.com/cgi-bin/mapgen/mapgen.pl?p=1703937&z=2&w=350&h=350&rz=0&k=1&sc=1
Units that use City
Navigator
Garmin 60C/60CS/60Cx/60CSx/76Cx/76CSx, iQUE3600,
GPSMap276, Quest, iQUE M5, GPSV, Nuvi, Zumo and the StreetPilot series.
City Navigator means exactly that, it contains approximately 98% of all streets
in every major city. In the small country towns you will only get the main road
running through it. This is sufficient for you to travel from, say, Perth to
Sydney by just typing in the house number, street name and postal code and away
you go! City Navigator will get you to, say, Birdsville.
Units that use
Metroguide
All Garmin mapping GPS units. Metroguide has all
the streets that City Navigator has but it also has country towns of a
reasonable size with every street in them. It's limitation is no autorouting but
shows you the direction to your destination as the crow flys.
City Navigator Versus
Metroguide
City Navigator allows true street by street
navigation, whilst Metroguide only shows a pointer to the direction you have to
travel to get to your destination.
Units that use the Marine
BlueChart
All Garmin Marine GPS including the
GPS176 / 276 series, GPSmap76 and GPSMap76S, GPSMAP172C, 178C, 182, 188, 232,
238, 2006, 2010. The 60C/60Cs/60Cx/60CSx, GPSV, Etrex Legend and Etrex Vista can
make use of the BlueChart. It is not advisable to use with an eMap and there are
limitations with the StreetPilot and Nuvi series thus not recommended by
Garmin.
IMPORTANT
NOTES
If MapSource data is loaded into the
Vista, the preloaded Marine POI database will be erased. To recover this data
the Preloaded Map Database file can be downloaded from GARMIN's web
site. MapSource data and POI data from the GARMIN web site cannot be loaded
at the same time.
MAGELLAN
BASEMAPS
Our Magellan Mapping units have the
Australian Basemap in them. However, some people have imported their own
Magellans from USA and find that when they zoom out past 2.5km the USA basemap
is seen. This is because there are two parts of memory within a Magellan. The
basemap is in one and Discover Australia or Mapsend in the other. The Magellan
automatically switches to the basemap at 2.5km if you have the Discover
Australia or Mapsend stored. You can purchase a basemap for the Magellan so that
past the 2.5km zoom you will see Australia. This is available through the
Australian Magellan distrinutor. Please visit their web site and contact them.
www.nextdestination.com.au The price at time of
writing is $300 for the basemap update. For those who want to exchange their
Mapsend for the new Discover Australia, again, you will need to contact
them.
HOLUX
Answers
Q. I have a Mitac MIO336
and a GM-210 and I need a cable, which one do I need?
A. The cable
is the same as that used by the MIO558
Q. I have a Mitac MIO558 and a GM-210 and I
need a cable, which one do I need?
A. The cable
is the same as used by the MIO336
Q. My Mitac MIO won't work
with the Holux Bluetooth GR-230, why?
A. The XDA driver will overcome this issue. Please contact
us for details on how to acquire a copy.
Q. My Holux GM-270
doesn't work with my notebook but does with others. Do I need a driver update
for my notebook?
A. Yes, please contact us and provide the make and model
number of your notebook or laptop so we can quickly assist. Any other
information you can provide can be helpful to us.
Q. Can the GM-101 use
re-chargeable NiCad Batteries and be charged whilst inside the
GPS?
A. Yes and yes. Connect the cigarette lighter cable to the
unit and away you go. A mains charger suited to charging the batteries can be
used as well. Please check our web site for the unit we sell, otherwise contact
us for what is required.
GobalSat
Answers
Q. I purchased a SD501 SDIO GPS for my
iPAQ h3970 but it doesn't appear to be seen by the
PDA?
A.
You may have version 2.10 or earlier but it's PPC2002. HP PPC has the
appropriate install for the SD HOST driver only after PPC2003. Please see this
website for reference
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?locale=en_US&taskId=130&prodSeriesId=322896&prodTypeId=215348&objectID=c00041001
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