[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by smsrini

MapmyIndia seems to have some good options for GPS + Bluetooth speaker phone in their PNDs. They also have some good InDash 2DIN Units if you want to go that route.... which essentially will require you to change your current OEM HU in the Yeti.

for indash units, you may want to buy it outside India during any of your travels.

cheers!

No indash fiddlies for me thanks! Standalone plug and play unit only. What about Garmin India and or TomTom India. I would like something with free lifetime upgrades.

[LithiumSunset]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I want a phone holder to stick the iPhone into when I am in the car. What sort of holder should I buy?

Shankar, why don't you try the 'bracketron' cup holder phone mount?

Link: http://www.bracketron.com/products/universal-cup-it-808.

I got it thru' someone from US for 10 odd dollars. It's one of the best accessories I've bought for my car. There is another link for the same product earlier in the thread.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I have given away my Garmin Nuvi 215W to my Dad who is happily using it.

I want to buy a new GPS now which also has bluetooth so I can use my phone with it.

Which one do I buy?

This one will primarily be for India use. On holidays abroad I shall simply rent a GPS machine from the Car Rental fellows.

I also wish to buy a new Bluetooth headset. Is it worth it or should I simply buy that Bluetooth GPS machine?

I want a phone holder to stick the iPhone into when I am in the car. What sort of holder should I buy?

Lastly, is it possible to just substitute all this GPS stuff with my iPhone and its map app?

Inputs on this would be greatly appreciated.

Unless you get a GPS unit with a screen that is quite a bit bigger than your phone, it makes little to no sense given how much more practical it is to use a smart phone (in your case iPhone 4).

You do not have to worry about compatibility issues, blue tooth issues, having to hide or carry the unit when leaving the car unattended for a while, fixing issues etc.

I would suggest a hands free in ear or those headphone type ones blue tooth unit rather than one for the car. You can use the same unit everywhere you go. The only benefit of the in car units is you can use the loudspeaker and others in the car can also talk and hear (if you so choose and need).

I recently saw a friend had a mouse pad size mat on his dash. It doesn't have any glue but it stays in position and a phone kept on top doesn't move either even when driving. Something to do with the material I guess. It is even washable. All said and done I don't expect it to work perfectly at high deceleration speeds, but he says his phone has never moved, even when his car bounced over a speedbreaker at 80 to 100. Bought it in a car accessory shop in Bangalore for a few hundred bucks I guess. Never asked the value. My bad.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by pganapathy

Unless you get a GPS unit with a screen that is quite a bit bigger than your phone, it makes little to no sense given how much more practical it is to use a smart phone (in your case iPhone 4).

You do not have to worry about compatibility issues, blue tooth issues, having to hide or carry the unit when leaving the car unattended for a while, fixing issues etc.

I would suggest a hands free in ear or those headphone type ones blue tooth unit rather than one for the car. You can use the same unit everywhere you go. The only benefit of the in car units is you can use the loudspeaker and others in the car can also talk and hear (if you so choose and need).

I recently saw a friend had a mouse pad size mat on his dash. It doesn't have any glue but it stays in position and a phone kept on top doesn't move either even when driving. Something to do with the material I guess. It is even washable. All said and done I don't expect it to work perfectly at high deceleration speeds, but he says his phone has never moved, even when his car bounced over a speedbreaker at 80 to 100. Bought it in a car accessory shop in Bangalore for a few hundred bucks I guess. Never asked the value. My bad.

I have a Nokia hands free in ear thingy and it hurts my ears over a longer period of time. This is why I thought of a GPS cum Bluetooth device.
My Nokia N8 maps worked brilliantly in Australia over their 3 and 4 G networks.
In India with 2G networks I am not sure how good even the Nokia phone map system is, in remoter areas and anyway I have now migrated to iPhone, whose maps are not as good as those of Nokia I believe.
This is why I thought of TomTom device with Bluetooth built in.
With ref mounting, yes I can buy one of those phone mounts and fix it to the windscreen I guess.
Need to think it through. I am not keen to fit the OE Skoda Bluetooth because I don't want the service mechanics and their grubby paws fiddling with my electronics and electrics in the car right now. Those in dash devices don't work for me because I do not want to change my HU etc. That Parrot device is a tacky thing as is the Jabra clip on unit. Poorly engineered stuff and plasticky to boot.
I am happy right now because I have all the apple devices and I don't have to carry multiple chargers any more.
If I go for a GPS with Bluetooth, this means only one more charger. However, if I go for a bluetooth separately then there are more chargers required.
Its becoming a real pain and I don't have any solutions in my head and hence am slightly fazed...

[ampere]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

No indash fiddlies for me thanks! Standalone plug and play unit only. What about Garmin India and or TomTom India. I would like something with free lifetime upgrades.

- Best would be to get a separate Garmin device. If you know folks, coming from US ask them to pick a good device. Buying Garmin in
India is a costly affair. More than the cost, you cant get hands on the latest product lines.

- You get friction mounts for these devces. Pick that too

- Buy MMI maps for Garmin separately

Thats the best combination you can get.

[shankar.balan]

Actually I had bought the Garmin 215W device in the UK and it came loaded with UK, Northern Ireland, Eire and Euro Maps.Then I came back here after that holiday and bought MMI Maps immediately for the device. It worked very well whenever I chose to use it. This is the device my Dad is using now and he says he is happy with it.

Now I require a similar GPS machine for myself - which is why I thought of TomTom and MMI because both of these have slightly higher variants which come with BlueTooth and with free lifetime Map upgrades. Especially in India, such Map upgrades are really really useful since things change all the time in a developing scenario.

I have decided that I will rent a device whenever I go on a driving holiday wherever in the world it may be, other than in India - much simpler than trying to carry all sorts of different countries maps with one all the time on one's own GPS device. Else I shall try to use my iPhone or iPod touch or if necessary even the iPad on such travels.

The fact is that Nokia's lifetime free Maps are a very good set up - it works well and even the voice guidance is first class. I have experienced it in a need-based scenario in Australia a few months ago when we were on holiday and when the rental GPS device (which was a TomTom) simply would not work or catch a signal because it had been ill treated by the previous user.

I was forced to plug on my Nokia N8 maps and luckily I had loaded all sorts of maps onto it just about 2 weeks before I left on holiday. Along with the 3G and 4G network in OZ this N8 worked brilliantly indeed. The best part was the turn by turn voice guidance and the fact that it worked even when there was very weak signal - because the maps are actually loaded onto the device itself! Amazing experience and the Geelong-Apollo Bay-Great Ocean Road-Warrnambool and then back to Melbourne, Moorabbin and surrounds - in short the whole drive went off beautifully!

I have occasionally used the N8 for local navigation here in India too - Coimbatore, Mysore, Madras and even Bangalore - where sometimes I have been in doubt as to the route. It has worked very well indeed, here, in India as well.

However, I have now migrated to iPhone for various reasons, largely on account of the common eco-system with all my other devices. However, I am somehow not very sure of the maps on iPhone vis a vis Nokia.

Hence my conundrum...

Originally Posted by ampere

- Best would be to get a separate Garmin device. If you know folks, coming from US ask them to pick a good device. Buying Garmin in India is a costly affair. More than the cost, you cant get hands on the latest product lines.

- You get friction mounts for these devces. Pick that too

- Buy MMI maps for Garmin separately

Thats the best combination you can get.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

However, I have now migrated to iPhone for various reasons, largely on account of the common eco-system with all my other devices. However, I am somehow not very sure of the maps on iPhone vis a vis Nokia.

I forgot about your iPhone. Then its even simpler. Buy Sygic Maps (they are the S/W for MMI maps ) for Iphone from App store.
And you are good to go ! Use the phone as a GPS device at least for India.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I have a Nokia hands free in ear thingy and it hurts my ears over a longer period of time. This is why I thought of a GPS cum Bluetooth device.
I am happy right now because I have all the apple devices and I don't have to carry multiple chargers any more.
If I go for a GPS with Bluetooth, this means only one more charger. However, if I go for a bluetooth separately then there are more chargers required.
Its becoming a real pain and I don't have any solutions in my head and hence am slightly fazed...

you get the Bluetooth sets which are essentially a set of wireless headphones with a mic built in. It looks exactly like those headphones that came with a Walkman but is wireless. Of course this will need a charger. The best ones seem to be those nokia BH 503 and similar models. It will need a small pin nokia charger though.

I would suggest you download all the maps on apple and try it. If it is effective and you don't get lost keep the phone/iPad only. If you find it ineffective then only buy a dedicated gps map unit.

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan
However, I have now migrated to iPhone for various reasons, largely on account of the common eco-system with all my other devices. However, I am somehow not very sure of the maps on iPhone vis a vis Nokia.

Originally Posted by ampere

I forgot about your iPhone. Then its even simpler. Buy Sygic Maps (they are the S/W for MMI maps ) for Iphone from App store.
And you are good to go ! Use the phone as a GPS device at least for India.

I recommend Sygic maps for users having iPhone/ iPad and who are looking for decent GPS navigation. Pre iOS 6 days, I used to manage using google maps on iPad very well, without its GPS navigation ability. But after I upgraded to iOS 6 I was in serious need for a decent maps app. Sygic maps turned up with good recommendations and I've been using it quite adequately ever since.

As a quick note of experience - Battery usage is decent (about 10% - 15% for a 6 hour trip), has tonnes of POI, with some practice can handle the interface well, can provide voice directions even when on stand by, route suggestions are good too. On the negative side, rerouting doesn't work all the time, choosing or avoiding via points could take some time to master but nothing that takes away the merits.

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Thanks. I have seen parrot but dont want to mount it using screws etc inside the vehicle. Would prefer a clip on type of unit like the jabra freeway or similar. But this is precisely why I want the two in one capability of gps and bluetooth.

You have a misconception about the product that I have mentioned.
It just clips on to the sun visor. You don't have to use any tool to fix or remove it. You can even carry it in your pocket to you office and keep it on your desk if need be.

Have a look at a video (though I think it is an older model), but looks are almost the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOWAF6EEbcg

[shankar.balan]

S_U_N.
Thanks a lot. Yes I have seen this too. Similar to the Jabra and other makes. Looks very nice. Speakers are a bit tinny sounding though.

pganapathy.
I use a Nokia BH108 or something like that right now. I keep losing these or breaking the ear hook or something similarly dunderheaded. Hence the desire to buy a proper bluetooth and GPS rolled into one.

ampere and mjndnght???
Sygic maps for various countries are devilishly expensive. If I were to load all those maps onto my iPhone I would probably need to spend about 1.25 lacs!!

Just India, Europe, Australia, NZ, UK, N. Ireland and Eire would cost me about 15000/- Rs or so!! Terrible!
Im just comparing this scenario to the fact that Nokia offers lifetime free maps and I had around 50 countries maps on my N8!! Frightening!
I guess this is the downside of migrating out of Nokia.
Anyway my Dad is using the N8 now and seems rather pleased with it.

Originally Posted by S_U_N

You have a misconception about the product that I have mentioned.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Sygic maps for various countries are devilishly expensive. If I were to load all those maps onto my iPhone I would probably need to spend about 1.25 lacs!!

They have a whole-world package which will cost you much less, even though it won't include everything you want, and it wont include, duh, India

I guess they are restrained by the reseller deals they have with map providers.

You still might find that countries a + b + c + d + India costs more than whole-world + India. Do the sums, buy the best deal.

They had a special half-price offer. It started just after I bought. Second -> !

[vijayrv]

I have been using a Garmin 215 for an year now. The major grouse I have is that it doesnt allow me to choose routes. It automatically chooses one route and navigates through the thickest of traffic. I would need to buy a device which would present me with multiple options so that I can choose the best one. I have seen that in some GPS devices abroad, do we have such feature in either Garmin or MMI?
Thanks in advance for your advice.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by vijayrv

I have been using a Garmin 215 for an year now. The major grouse I have is that it doesnt allow me to choose routes. It automatically chooses one route and navigates through the thickest of traffic. I would need to buy a device which would present me with multiple options so that I can choose the best one. I have seen that in some GPS devices abroad, do we have such feature in either Garmin or MMI?
Thanks in advance for your advice.

The only was to ascertain this is if you are aware of waypoint/trippoint, you can add the same and the device would in most probability would route you through your desired option.

[vijayrv]

Thanks ampere. But I am in the market to buy a new GPS device. Would like to know which GPS device has this feature now.