[DerAlte]

Can't say - haven't seen it. Though I remember having read (in the ICE section) someone in Delhi whose MMI unit's battery puffed up and spoilt the unit, I would take that as a rare occurrence. Look for usable features only and don't get carried away by what you don't need.

I have a Garmin since 2007 and it has given good service so far.

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Can't say - haven't seen it. Though I remember having read (in the ICE section) someone in Delhi whose MMI unit's battery puffed up and spoilt the unit, I would take that as a rare occurrence. Look for usable features only and don't get carried away by what you don't need.

I have a Garmin since 2007 and it has given good service so far.

Not quite sure about other devices but have been using MMI since last 8 months and there is a learning curve, if you use it frequently then you pick up the ropes faster, the way around many functionalities is something one learns on his own and there is o manual or something that exists for this, quite useful on highways and very useful on city roads, i have travelled with this on all kind of towns and cities ranging from Delhit to Pollachi in TN and the response to the multitude of map requests b me was handled with precision, only on one occasion since the time i am using it did i feel it is doing something wrong that too i am not quite sure even now whether it was a mistake by me or by the MMI.

Originally Posted by lifebuoy

@DerAlte,

Is a MMI Road Pilot II at Rs. 6500 worth ?

If you drive around a lot then this is helpful and if you do night driving then this is a necessity. On a rainy night (3 am) in Pune this took me around the city and landed straight into the hotel without a hiccup, i am not quite sure even today how i would have reached the hotel during that night, heavy rains and not a soul to be seen on the roads.

[pganapathy]

I have to ask a question here. How much more useful are the dedicated GPS units than the ones you get on the smart phones. Yes the screen is bigger, no doubt, but are they really that much more effective and accurate.

I have an iPhone 4 so keep considering whether to get a GPS or not. Any suggestions from users would be welcome.

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by pganapathy

I have to ask a question here. How much more useful are the dedicated GPS units than the ones you get on the smart phones. Yes the screen is bigger, no doubt, but are they really that much more effective and accurate.

I have an iPhone 4 so keep considering whether to get a GPS or not. Any suggestions from users would be welcome.

I have never used a gps of the phone, i go by the principle that phone is for what it is meant for, making and receiving calls, imagine you are using the gps in the thick of city traffic at an unknown place and u are getting phone calls too, i am not quite sure whether the phones can handle both at the same time.

The learning curve on using a gps on phone is much higher than on a dedicated device, at least i never got to get it work on my BlackBerry.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by rajeshchand

I have never used a gps of the phone, i go by the principle that phone is for what it is meant for, making and receiving calls, imagine you are using the gps in the thick of city traffic at an unknown place and u are getting phone calls too, i am not quite sure whether the phones can handle both at the same time.

The learning curve on using a gps on phone is much higher than on a dedicated device, at least i never got to get it work on my BlackBerry.

I agree that if you are in rush hour traffic and you need to use the phone, it would be a nightmare, but then I also believe you shouldn't use your phone while driving, especially in a city, unless you are lost and asking for directions. I will occasionally answer the phone while on the highway, provided there is no traffic around me and the call is important.

I find that the iPhone has a fairly easy learning curve and the map and gps software programmes seem to be configured to a similar type of usage and learning curve. One of the joys of having programmes dedicated to a specific software/hardware.

[satrab]

Originally Posted by rajeshchand

I have never used a gps of the phone, i go by the principle that phone is for what it is meant for, making and receiving calls, imagine you are using the gps in the thick of city traffic at an unknown place and u are getting phone calls too, i am not quite sure whether the phones can handle both at the same time.

The learning curve on using a gps on phone is much higher than on a dedicated device, at least i never got to get it work on my BlackBerry.

Had bought a Vx140 in November last year. Was quite easy to use and also never lost the satellite signal. However in June this year, the touch screen stopped working. Couldn't get it repaired. So, before my marathon 4,500 kilometer drive over the past 10 days, decided to get another MMI device. This time I picked up the Zx250 in early November 2012

There are a number of problems with this. The learning curve is very long one. For a product that is priced at the level it is, the user experience needs to be far smoother. But that is not a serious problem.

The absolutely single biggest problem with the Zx250, at the least the unit that I have, is that it keeps loosing the satellite signal. Every few minutes it would keep saying "Waiting for valid signal". A satellite signal should be easily available. It does not depend on cell towers. And I lost the signal in cities and in the open road.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do about this?

[nitinbose]

The biggest problem with MMI or satguide is the poor hardware quality. I would suggest using your smartphone or tablet with "waze" software. This software is free and offers turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance. It does work well for most Indian cities - from personal experience.

[ampere]

If you want a good PND device, best option is get a decent Garmin for 5-6K and spend another 7K for MMI maps. Its comes about about 12-13K.
The basic MMI I think costs 9K (correct me if I am wrong). Another 3K extra is definitely worth the hardware.

Off course if one is happy with smart phone, nothing like MMI on Android/Iphone. But if one wants a dedicated PND, nothing like the Garmin + MMI.

[ssadwelkar]

Originally Posted by satrab

The absolutely single biggest problem with the Zx250, at the least the unit that I have, is that it keeps loosing the satellite signal.Does anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do about this?

Have you by any chance installed a metallic sun film in your vehicle recently especially the front windscreen? Because if you have then that might be the culprit. Just my 2 cents.

[satrab]

Originally Posted by ssadwelkar

Have you by any chance installed a metallic sun film in your vehicle recently especially the front windscreen? Because if you have then that might be the culprit. Just my 2 cents.

No, actually I've never liked using sunfilm. Do a lot of night driving and I feel it affects my vision at night. So, no, no sunfilm at all. But yes, the car does have tinted glass as standard fitting. But never faced this problem with the vx 140.

Also called customer care, they said to take the unit to their service center at Sahar Road. Can't give to the dealer and there's no home service either. Got a bit upset, and said would stay away from MMI, at which the lady saidthat she could understand why I was so upset and perfectly agreed with my sentiments. Quite amazing really.

[shubhu3112]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Excellent review, all the problems listed are spot on, I have been using this for last six months and not once did it mislead me into a incorrect or longer route. One of the other problems i have noticed is sometimes it takes forever to lock on to GPS satellite, and in that delayed connection time you re essentially lost and have to depend on asking folks. This happened to us while crossing HYD.

Apart from this sometimes i felt the inside city routes were incorrect (i felt that way, have no way to validate). While on our return journey when crossing HYD it took is ~2-3 hrs to cross HYD itself in evening peak traffic. I am not really sure if the route it took us through was the most ideal.

Hello,

is anyone aware of the replacement policy of the devices? I bought my Road Pilot II from their website and now i found that the battery is non functional. It does not power up from the battery even after 12 hours of charging. The device works fine when used via the power outlets.

[saket77]

Making this old thread alive;

So, whats the best thing to have now in a budget under 10K. How about going for a Tablet with Google Maps? How does it compared head to head with dedicated gps devices like MMI package? Which Tablet do you guys recommend?
I have Google maps on my Nokia E63, symbian, which probably does not offer turn by turn navigation.

Thanks in anticipation of help,
Regards,
Saket

[nec2152]

Originally Posted by saket77

So, whats the best thing to have now in a budget under 10K. How about going for a Tablet with Google Maps? How does it compared head to head with dedicated gps devices like MMI package? Which Tablet do you guys recommend?

I have completely switched over to using my smartphone for all my GPS needs. I don't think I'll buy a dedicated GPS device in the near future with their current set of features on offer against my GPS needs. So I suggest everyone to look at smartphone alternatives.
Sorry, I have been away for a long time. I'll gather my thoughts and experiences from the past year and post them soon in detail.

That being said, if I had 10K to spare and didn't want to use my existing smartphone or buy a new one, I'd get a Google Nexus 7. That gets you 7" display size, very good display resolution and touch quality which is leaps ahead of dedicated GPS devices MMI or otherwise. A tablet will have thousands of other uses as well. But the size of the 7" tablet might become too big an obstruction for a windshield mount, so you might have to go for dash mounting instead. I prefer the windshield position though.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by nec2152

I have completely switched over to using my smartphone for all my GPS needs. I don't think I'll buy a dedicated GPS device in the near future with their current set of features on offer against my GPS needs. So I suggest everyone to look at smartphone alternatives.
Sorry, I have been away for a long time. I'll gather my thoughts and experiences from the past year and post them soon in detail.

Thanks for coming in; Could you please post the hardware & softwares that you are using as your current navigation system?
What are the advantages that you see with this setup against dedicated navigation devices and what disadvantages against the same, if any.

Thanks,
Saket

[nec2152]

Originally Posted by saket77

Could you please post the hardware & softwares that you are using as your current navigation system?
What are the advantages that you see with this setup against dedicated navigation devices and what disadvantages against the same, if any.

Besides the MMI VX140S that I used in India, I have used a dedicated Garmin GPS unit for a few weeks in US. I had purchased a similar size Garmin device for about $190 in US, which is close to the VX140s price in India. The Garmin device was much better than the MMI VX140s. Besides a better touchscreen, Garmin US maps were much more detailed (developed over the years maybe), the device had lifetime free map updates and lifetime free traffic updates. The traffic feature was close to useless though. Hardly worked properly. Once I stopped at a very long traffic jam, and a few seconds later the device chimed something like - "The traffic ahead looks heavy". Duh..

Advantages of dedicated GPS:

• Dedicated device, so your expensive smartphone is spared from the vibrations, wear n tear, heat from direct sunlight, falling and possibility of the screen breaking and what not. Smartphone screen replacement is very expensive.
• You can leave it in car, if you prefer it that way. Thus you can rest assured you'll never forget carrying it.
• Like what Garmin gives in US, if you're getting free lifetime map updates and free lifetime traffic updates, that is very good. MapMyIndia does not give free maps updates (which it should in my opinion) and live traffic update in India is too far from being useful.

Advantages of smartphone over dedicated GPS:

• Only 1 device to carry. I prefer it this way. Less clutter in your pockets. I would rather buy a very good quality windshield/dash mount to prevent it from falling. Anyways, when I had the MMI GPS, I would either hide it when leaving the car, or take it out with me at night.
• Use Google maps navigation. Best maps and free of cost for life (so far). Requires data connection, works fine on 2G. But you might not get data connection out there on remote highways. Google maps is more than sufficient for city use and slightly outside the city where you can get decent data connection.
• Install Sygic if you want offline maps that work without data connection. Sygic by default uses TomTom maps as far as I know, but you can use MapMyIndia maps with Sygic too. If you're know a techie, or know a techie, or have good goggling skills, there are ways to install this on your smartphone for no cost
• Plug into the Aux of your HU and sound being too low issue is fixed. You'll have to listen to music off your smartphone then.

I have used Sygic on these phones: HTC Explorer, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Iphone 4S. Perfoms very well on iPhone 4s and Note2. Was okayish on HTC Explorer. The Explorer's CPU being too underpowered was the issue here I think.

I have used Google Maps (which is my default Navigation software now) on Note2 and iPhone 4s. Performs very good.

Currently I am using iPhone 4s and Google maps navigation. I still keep Sygic too in the phone if ever data connection is lost. Sold my VX140s already. Figured I haven't taken it out of the house in the last 8 months or so. And I don't need navigation inside the house