Will a GPS PND bought from abroad work in India?

[nishantgandhi]

A friend of mine is in the USA and I am thinking of asking him to buy a GPS PND for my car. There are some amazing deals on GPS devices there.

However, all of these devices come pre loaded with US and/or Canada maps. What I want to know is that will these devices work in India? The models that I have short listed are the following:

TomTom - One 125 GPS - Black - 1EE0.017.01

TomTom - ONE XL Portable GPS - 1S00.080

Newegg.com - TomTom ONE•S 3.5" GPS Navigation With Text-To-Speech

Nextar - 43NT GPS - 43NT

1. I understand that I have to buy India maps from a service provider such as MapMyIndia or SatNav. But anything other than that needed to make them work? (I have also heard that maps for Magellan units are most difficult to find?)

2. Which companies' maps are most comprehensive?

3. How much do maps and subsequent upgrades cost?

4. Finally,which one of the above models is the best?

(MODS - PLEASE DO NOT DELETE/MERGE/MOVE THIS THREAD. THE LAST TIME I OPENED SUCH A THREAD, I DID NOT GET ANY USEFUL REPLY AS IT WAS MERGED WITH ANOTHER THREAD)

[bigman]

Avoid the TomTom units, no maps for India exist. I would also avoid Garmin, they are great little usnits but not very flexible when it comes to running different mapping options. The satnav software and maps available for India vary greatly so you need to be able to experiment with a box to get what is best for you, e.g. you would not want a mapping solution which has excellent coverage of New Delhi but poor coverage of areas you are likely to travel to.

What you want is a generic box which runs Windows CE.

Not sure about USA but in UK usnits like the Navigo branded ones are easily available for good prices and you can install mapmyindia etc on them withotu any problems.

BRAND NEW Navigo 3.5" Version 3 Sat Nav - UK Maps, Lane Navigation, Postcode Search, TFT flat Touch Screen - ALSO plays MP3 & MP4 - Ebuyer

See if a similar type of box is available in the USA.

[srishiva]

Great thread. I wanted to ask the same question since I keep travelling a lot and see these devices being so cheap. I am not interested in intricacies and want a hardware where I can install the map software from Indian providers or Google.
I know there is a pioneer avic-z2 with bluetooth, GPS, Video/Music playing, 30 GB hard drive.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by bigman

Avoid the TomTom units, no maps for India exist. I would also avoid Garmin, they are great little usnits but not very flexible when it comes to running different mapping options. The satnav software and maps available for India vary greatly so you need to be able to experiment with a box to get what is best for you, e.g. you would not want a mapping solution which has excellent coverage of New Delhi but poor coverage of areas you are likely to travel to.

What you want is a generic box which runs Windows CE.

Not sure about USA but in UK usnits like the Navigo branded ones are easily available for good prices and you can install mapmyindia etc on them withotu any problems.

BRAND NEW Navigo 3.5" Version 3 Sat Nav - UK Maps, Lane Navigation, Postcode Search, TFT flat Touch Screen - ALSO plays MP3 & MP4 - Ebuyer

See if a similar type of box is available in the USA.

You mean something like this one?
MyGuide 2350 / 2300 3.5" GPS Navigation System - eBay (item 110418868819 end time Aug-27-09 15:07:08 PDT)

Please suggest generic boxes running Windoes CE on which I can load Indian maps?

Which Indian maps would be best?

[bigman]

I think the Mio C230 is available in the USA. It can be hacked (but please google to make sure).

Not 100% sure which satnav s/w you can buy in India but there are plenty of places on the net you can d/l for free to try it out.

[tsk1979]

I bought Mio C320 from USA. It is a PND which runs Windows CE
I use it in India and there are quite a few free softwares which take google maps and OSM.

You can also buy Garmin Mobile XT with India maps and try that.

the Unit cost me 100$ from Kadooli.com

I used miopocket unlock from gpspassion forums for the unlocking, so its a PDA cum GPS system for me now, and on long haul flights I use it for watching videos.

My review here
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ps-review.html

[JVH]

Garmin Nuvi is now available in India. Check Landmark stores if you are interested.

If you do get one from US, ensure that Windows CE is activated else you will have to unlock it here.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I bought Mio C320 from USA. It is a PND which runs Windows CE
I use it in India and there are quite a few free softwares which take google maps and OSM.

You can also buy Garmin Mobile XT with India maps and try that.

the Unit cost me 100$ from Kadooli.com

I used miopocket unlock from gpspassion forums for the unlocking, so its a PDA cum GPS system for me now, and on long haul flights I use it for watching videos.

My review here
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ps-review.html

Wow, thats quite useful! Thanks Tanveer.

My questions:
1. Will I need the Glisson MMCX even for usage in India?
2. Is the navigation using OpenStreetMap or Google Map voice aided?
3. Have you tried any maps (e.g. SatNav or MapMyIndia) on this device?

Originally Posted by JVH

Garmin Nuvi is now available in India. Check Landmark stores if you are interested.

If you do get one from US, ensure that Windows CE is activated else you will have to unlock it here.

I am looking for the *cheapest* GPS+PND device from USA (read as under $100 for a new unit).

Garmin in India sells the maps alone for Rs 7,000. Wonder how much their unit would cost!!

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

1. Will I need the Glisson MMCX even for usage in India?

I use it mosly when in hilly areas, In city once I get a fix its not needed. However I use GPS rarely, like when I go to Delhi. So after 4-5 days, without the antenna it takes 5 minutes to get a "cold fix".

2. Is the navigation using OpenStreetMap or Google Map voice aided?
3. Have you tried any maps (e.g. SatNav or MapMyIndia) on this device?

with openstreetmap or google, you have moving map navigation, there is not routing information etc., for that you have to use satguide.
I have not used satguide, but online I have seen people using destinator(satguide) on this unit. It works if you can source the software. Infact all software will work.
Other option is garmin mobile XT. It will have routing and all

I am looking for the *cheapest* GPS+PND device from USA (read as under $100 for a new unit).

Garmin in India sells the maps alone for Rs 7,000. Wonder how much their unit would cost!!

Among the cheaper ones, mio is indeed the cheapest. There are some for 80$ but they are not unlockable easily.

[phamilyman]

there are lovely garmin maps from satguide for 2100 bucks

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

I am looking for the *cheapest* GPS+PND device from USA (read as under $100 for a new unit).

Garmin in India sells the maps alone for Rs 7,000. Wonder how much their unit would cost!!

DO NOT buy from US if that is the budget.

Buy from China / HK and have it shipped to US. Or get it shipped to India.

You would get decent PND for $100. Completely unlocked and quite hack friendly.

Got mine last week from dealextreme. Paid $119 (including shipping) for PND and it has bluetooth that takes care of handsfree calls.

I was able to run mapmyindia/garmin/satuide in less than an hour on that PND.

[JVH]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Got mine last week from dealextreme. Paid $119 (including shipping) for PND and it has bluetooth that takes care of handsfree calls.

I was able to run mapmyindia/garmin/satuide in less than an hour on that PND.

Did you get this unlocked on delivery or did you have to go through the process here?

Nishant - sorry for the hijack.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Got mine last week from dealextreme. Paid $119 (including shipping) for PND and it has bluetooth that takes care of handsfree calls.

I was also going to go for Dealextreme, but decided on mio because it was 4.3" and 26$ cheaper at that time.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by JVH

Did you get this unlocked on delivery or did you have to go through the process here?

Don't have to do anything to unlock it.

When it is turned on, its own UI comes up instead of traditional Windows start button/taskbar.

You need to create a file with a specific name and restart it. Next time it would boot into normal Windows CE. Now onwards you can do anything.

And if you manage to brick it (mess up setting so that it would not even boot). Than its quite easy to bring it back to life. Plug the SD Card into PC, copy firmware installer onto it. Plug SD card back into PND and turn it on.

Installer would format the PND it it would become standard PND with US Maps.

[tsk1979]

Netfreakbombay, what you did is called unlocking
In Mios case you can either do what you did and get up windows CE, or you can use a "unlocker" like miopocket which gives a nice multifunctional windows like UI with good media player and totally skinnable