[saket77]

Originally Posted by nec2152

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

Thanks for the detailed reply NEC. Since I posted last in this thread was in February, I went on to get myself a MMI Vx140S Premium. I decided to go for a dedicated device because I am currently using Nokia E63, which has almost everything that I require from a phone for the time being MINUS a GPS, hence not so accurate navigation on google maps.
I contemplated between buying an android device; phone or a tablet, (E63 has a Symbian platform) but decided in favour of a dedicated PND because of connectivity issues in remote areas- Place where PND would be valuable.

Though, I am still evaluating the device , my initial inclination is towards the positive side. However, the build quality of the device itself is pathetic. It has the latest 7.1 version of Maps and as of now, I have never been shown at a place without a road. Looks like the detailing is satisfactory.

However, just a word of caution to people using MMI, please do not leave it in the car, esp parked in the sun. Apart from the theft threat, there have been reports of battery bursts due to heat build up inside a parked car. A burst battery in such devices means a guaranteed damage to the display screen, which comes expensive.

Regards,
Saket

[saket77]

Found the first major spot (un)marked as no man's territory in MMI. I visited a popular tourist spot near Ranchi yesterday - Panchghagh. The place is about 53 Kms from Ranchi and has a lovely waterfall. The highways is correctly marked and all rivers correctly named, but as soon as one leaves the highway and takes the road to the spot, one can see that there is actually no route charted on MMI maps!

I was shocked at this because it is a very popular tourist spot and tourists flock this place in festive seasons.

Looks like there is more to come.

[nec2152]

Originally Posted by saket77

Found the first major spot (un)marked as no man's territory in MMI.

Do you see this place marked/named in google maps? I'd bet it would be.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by nec2152

Do you see this place marked/named in google maps? I'd bet it would be.

I checked that on Google maps. The place is indeed there, however, only the place is marked and not the route. But better than MMI. I will check if MMI shows the place, but of course there is no route shown.

Regards,
Saket

[saket77]

Finally a day with good MMI experienceS! I was in Jamshedpur yesterday. For an outsider (Me), all roads of the plant area & the colonies look similar. I had to cover 4-5 places which included a school, a relatives place, Dimna Lake, Jubilee Park, restaurants and then back to school. During the whole trip, we did not need to ask for directions even for once. MMI guided me perfectly to all the places I wanted to visit. Good experience finally (and some face saver esp. from wife who has been blasting me for unnecessarily buying the MMI for 12K all this while)

[mail4ajo]

Guys, looks like my inbuilt battery on the 140 has gone for a toss. It works fine plugged, switches off immediately on battery. Any help?

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

... inbuilt battery on the 140 has gone for a toss. It works fine plugged, switches off immediately on battery ...

If it is within warranty, ask MMI to replace the battery.

If it is out of warranty, you can replace the battery yourself. Open the unit, note down the model number of the battery, and get a replacement. If you don't get it in any shop (even in Athipattan St. area), you should be able to get it on eBay.

Better do it now, before the battery swells up and causes more damage.

[narsi_6989]

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[A.R]

Guys, the Navigator (Maps) feature on my Vx140s has stopped working. Nothing happens when I click/tap - no maps. Rest of the features work fine.

Any idea how to fix this? Re - load maps?

Damn, the device now doesn't do what It was bought for!

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by A.R

Guys, the Navigator (Maps) feature on my Vx140s has stopped working. Nothing happens when I click/tap - no maps.

Better to reach out to MMI help desk numbers. This may be the most common sense advice, but I still put it here because we may not do any thing more incorrect and mess up things further.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by A.R

Guys, the Navigator (Maps) feature on my Vx140s has stopped working. Nothing happens when I click/tap - no maps. Rest of the features work fine.

Any idea how to fix this? Re - load maps?

Damn, the device now doesn't do what It was bought for!

Is the product under warranty? If I remember correctly, MMI offers just a six month warranty on its products. Another matter that the hardware & build quality is downright pathetic. It uses Windows CE as platform. Must be a case of corrupt software, Either the OS or the Map application. Does it show the present location as the blue arrow even if there are no maps? At least this way we can be sure that the GPS chip is working.

Go ahead and lodge a complain with MMI. The customer care numbers are: 18002660004, 09999333223/24, 09910007102/03.

Regards,
Saket

[A.R]

Called MMI customer care. Turned out to be a simple thing.. had to reset the path under settings. All is well now. Thanks!

[saket77]

Originally Posted by A.R

Called MMI customer care. Turned out to be a simple thing.. had to reset the path under settings. All is well now. Thanks!

Could you please share the problem that you had in more detail and how did you sort it out? It will be helpful for others in case they run into a similar problem.

Thanks,
Saket

[A.R]

Originally Posted by saket77

Could you please share the problem that you had in more detail and how did you sort it out? It will be helpful for others in case they run into a similar problem.

Thanks,
Saket

Sure. It's fairly simple actually.

Problem: The Navigator option on home screen wasn't working. Meaning - a click or tap on that should ideally open maps. But in my case, would just sit there. I'd tried a soft reset and hard reset already with no go.

Cause: The link to the directory were the maps are stored was lost

Solution: Go to settings, go to About , go to Root Directory, Go To Maps and select the maps folder. Put a tick in the circle at the bottom and click the gold button.
Restart device and done.

[Darryl.Burke]

Originally Posted by A.R

Problem: The Navigator option on home screen wasn't working. Meaning - a click or tap on that should ideally open maps. But in my case, would just sit there. I'd tried a soft reset and hard reset already with no go.

Cause: The link to the directory were the maps are stored was lost

Solution: Go to settings, go to About , go to Root Directory, Go To Maps and select the maps folder. Put a tick in the circle at the bottom and click the gold button.
Restart device and done.

I'm facing the identically same problem with my MMI VX240. Under 'Settings' there isn't an 'About' option.

I tried examining the content of the CF card after connecting to a computer in USB Disk mode, and there's an empty file SHELL.INI, and empty folder LOST.DIR and a folder MapmyIndia with 55 files, 43 of which are empty (0 bytes).

I had some favourites saved, so the fact that one of the empty files is favs.txt suggests to me that the card may be corrupted. Any suggestions?