[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by ampere

Best option would be to get a Garmin hardware and Map My India maps. Thats the best possible combination available at the moment.

The combination is good, but there has been no release after v7.0(2012) for Garmin devices from MapMyIndia.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

The combination is good, but there has been no release after v7.0(2012) for Garmin devices from MapMyIndia.

Thats very true. Even I am trying to check on the same. But still their maps are very good. Even the older versions.

[vickzkool]

Originally Posted by ampere

Best option would be to get a Garmin hardware and Map My India maps. Thats the best possible combination available at the moment.

Thanks Ampere , however i do not wish to buy Garmin Hardware for just a months holiday , I already own tomtom so was just querying their India Map worthiness as I did not find any reviews online for their maps , maybe because they have launched the Indian maps recently , will cost me £34 so not bad on the price front and I'm much more used to them as I use tomtom for daily drives here in UK.

[Samurai]

GPS in India is more like the pirate's code in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean". It should be used as guideline, and not to be trusted completely.

Therefore, any map that goes with your device should do fine. So get the Tom Tom with the India map.

[Safety is Param]

Just came across this on Google Maps!
Per them, there's a Noida / Greater Noida Expressway in Bangalore as well!!!

[Sudipto-S-Team]

My Duster comes with a SatNav system, which I found is wholly inadequate during a recent trip to North India. Is it my inadequacy to use it properly or is it just a bad SatNav system? Or are all satnavs like this? Will buying a Garmin Nuvi be a significant improvement on what I have?

Some opinion from someone who has used the Duster SatNav would really help.

[Waxeloquent]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

My Duster comes with a SatNav system, which I found is wholly inadequate during a recent trip to North India. Is it my inadequacy to use it properly or is it just a bad SatNav system? Or are all satnavs like this? Will buying a Garmin Nuvi be a significant improvement on what I have?



Some opinion from someone who has used the Duster SatNav would really help.

IMHO please buy more expensive/advanced stuff than Garmin NUVI. I bought one and found it was completely useless even in a major town like Pondicherry and I had to go back to Google maps. For example in Pondy there is a famous tourist spot Matri Mandir and my Garmin just would keep repeating no match found. Similarly it was not able to locate Club Mahindra/Zest
Big beach. These are just couple of examples. Also, their customer care, support is wholly inadequate. Please do not go by "free life time update" claim. Their on line support through Garmin Express is sub standard. Again these are my personal experience. Please consult a few more users and invest.

Cheers

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Samurai

GPS in India is more like the pirate's code in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean". It should be used as guideline, and not to be trusted completely.

Tell me about it! On my recent trip to RJ, heres what Grandmaster Google did.

When travelling on Pushkar bypass to join NH-8, instead of asking me to take a sharp right, it directed me straight into a village with super narrow streets and gigantic speedbreakers. I was a little tipped off when I saw most of the traffic turning right and when I looked at the screen, my doubt was proved right.


When travelling from Ranakpur to Kumhalgarh, Google kept asking me to go via the blue route - from some Parshuram Cave road. I enquired with the locals before venturing though and everybody denied pressence of any such route! Instead I travelled through the gray route and took a shortcut (green). Now, interestingly this shortcut is marked only halfway. The road surfaces etc are pretty similar throughout. The intial part has a few steep u-bends, not sure if that confused it.

[gsurya]

Any reviews or opinion on TomTom navigators in India? There are some pretty Diwali deals going on now on their models.

[rajivr1612]

I had downloaded Navimaps app from Playstore last week. Also downloaded south India maps(182mb). Paid Rs.600/- to get route guidance feature. During my Kerala trip last week it proved immensely helpful. Routing through Kumily was precise. In Trichy there was a diversion and it recalculated pretty fast and accurate.

[ottocycle]

Nokia HERE maps are now available for Android (officially available for Samsung Galaxy phones but they work on other android phones as well). I think they are worth a try.

Here is a link

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

My Duster comes with a SatNav system, which I found is wholly inadequate during a recent trip to North India. Is it my inadequacy to use it properly or is it just a bad SatNav system? Or are all satnavs like this? Will buying a Garmin Nuvi be a significant improvement on what I have?

Some opinion from someone who has used the Duster SatNav would really help.

Invariably, all of them are bad to terrible. Google Maps is the best when it comes to giving you information, but when it comes to routing, all of them fail. I think it comes from too many book worms sitting and doing the digitisation of maps without any genuine field work or attempt to adapt hand-me-down products Made-in-America to Indian conditions. If you know the routes, you will soon realise how bad they really are. Needless to say, it is pointless to use a GPS device to find your way from, say, Delhi to Agra, but the real test comes when you want to drive from, say, Kalyan to Dahanu, and the results can be disappointing. Having seen these products at close years ever since they were introduced in India, I find little improvement in quality or attitude of the vendors to understanding what India is or what Indians want.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

Some opinion from someone who has used the Duster SatNav would really help.

To add to HVK, you can only use the GPS as a means to validate what you already know. In other words, use it to confirm the route that you plan to take. Its a good servant, but a very bad master. Leave it on its own for a minute and it would take to totally different journey!

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

If you know the routes, you will soon realise how bad they really are.

I think that was my case. Thanks HVK-da and Ampere

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its a good servant, but a very bad master. Leave it on its own for a minute and it would take to totally different journey!

+1, I think this sums up my experience with GPS too.

In my experience, useful way of working with GPS is:

1. Plan ahead (specially in unknown cities / highways), look for routes in multiple maps (Google maps/Garmin maps/MapmyIndia/Openstreet Maps etc) and prepare one based on what seems to work. Most of these can be referred to, for free; online.
2. Save the planned route in device.
3. If you have access to someone who has driven recently, use that info to update route
4. If GPS wants to route through narrow/unpaved streets, pause and replan