[tejas08]

Can somebody suggest me a good GPS Navigation device? I am planning a road trip to Gujrat very soon. So need something reliable as I am unaware of any roads in Gujrat.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note and have used this for a while. It has its own shortcomings

1. Battery Life (2 and half year old phone runs out of battery very fast with GPS and data connections on.
2. Of late, the smartphone has been struggling in Voice Guidance. It used to be amazing sometime back. I do not know the reason of this. Might have something to do with the recent repairs carried out on the phone.
3. Even my Cellular network provider's coverage is not that excellent

Will be keeping my smartphone as a back-up.

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Can somebody suggest me a good GPS Navigation device? I am planning a road trip to Gujrat very soon. So need something reliable as I am unaware of any roads in Gujrat.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note and have used this for a while. It has its own shortcomings

[*]Battery Life (2 and half year old phone runs out of battery very fast with GPS and data connections on.[*]Of late, the smartphone has been struggling in Voice Guidance. It used to be amazing sometime back. I do not know the reason of this. Might have something to do with the recent repairs carried out on the phone.[*]Even my Cellular network provider's coverage is not that excellent


Will be keeping my smartphone as a back-up.

Hi, couple of months back I downloaded Navimaps from play store and also downloaded south India maps. Paid I think Rs.599/- for full version.
Though my phone SE Xperia Neo V is three years old and bit laggy, the app worked smoothly and it even re-calculated routes perfectly. I used it for my Chennai-Kerala-Chennai trip in October this year.
You may give it a try.
Thanks.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Can somebody suggest me a good GPS Navigation device? I am planning a road trip to Gujrat very soon. So need something reliable as I am unaware of any roads in Gujrat.

Depends on what you want. If you intend to keep the device for a few years, then Garmin with Lifetime Maps (LM suffix in the name) are the best, but for a one off, MMI are cheaper. Quality wise Garmin are definitely the best though their maps are not as detailed (mofussil areas) as MMI. I have been using Garmin for over four years.

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Hi, couple of months back I downloaded Navimaps from play store and also downloaded south India maps. Paid I think Rs.599/- for full version.
Though my phone SE Xperia Neo V is three years old and bit laggy, the app worked smoothly and it even re-calculated routes perfectly. I used it for my Chennai-Kerala-Chennai trip in October this year.
You may give it a try.
Thanks.

I forgot to add, it is offline, so no mobile network required.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Hi, couple of months back I downloaded Navimaps from play store and also downloaded south India maps. Paid I think Rs.599/- for full version.
Though my phone SE Xperia Neo V is three years old and bit laggy, the app worked smoothly and it even re-calculated routes perfectly. I used it for my Chennai-Kerala-Chennai trip in October this year.
You may give it a try.
Thanks.

I guess these are offline maps. Might try that on my tab and my tab is without a SIM slot but with GPS. Going through the various threads gave me this idea after I posted my query over here.

Edit: Just saw your second post. Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Depends on what you want. If you intend to keep the device for a few years, then Garmin with Lifetime Maps (LM suffix in the name) are the best, but for a one off, MMI are cheaper. Quality wise Garmin are definitely the best though their maps are not as detailed (mofussil areas) as MMI. I have been using Garmin for over four years.

It will certainly not be a one-off case, but yes it won't be used very extensively. I am actually confused between Garmin Nuvi 42LM and MMI Lx340. Would the lack of detailed maps compared to MMI as you mentioned, hamper the navigation. I do not plan to go anywhere off-roading or a very very remote place. If you take Google maps as a yard-stick, would both of these be better than Google Maps?

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Has anyone here used the Duster MediaNav? I would like your opinion on its quality and dependability. Have you tried to update the map? Is it free or they charge for it?
I have tried to use it but got pretty frustrated. I am wondering if it is my inability to use it to its full potential or whether the map is actually useless and a Garmin would be better.
Some opinion from actual users of the Duster MediaNav would help.
Thanks
Sudipto

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by tejas08

It will certainly not be a one-off case, but yes it won't be used very extensively. I am actually confused between Garmin Nuvi 42LM and MMI Lx340. Would the lack of detailed maps compared to MMI as you mentioned, hamper the navigation. I do not plan to go anywhere off-roading or a very very remote place. If you take Google maps as a yard-stick, would both of these be better than Google Maps?

If you are not going off roading and in remote places then it is a Hobson's choice. Slightly better maps from MMI and far better quality and free lifetime upgrades from Garmin. Both are as good or slightly better than Google, who tend to be current alright, but too optimistic at times.

[tharian]

Cross posting from the Android thread.

I downloaded the HERE map on my phone and planning to update the map on my Garmin device with the same. Is it possible?

The size of the file is 1.5gb

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by tharian

I downloaded the HERE map on my phone and planning to update the map on my Garmin device with the same. Is it possible?

No, the operating system is different. You may be able to find open maps for Garmin on the web.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

No, the operating system is different. You may be able to find open maps for Garmin on the web.

Downloaded the map from the Garmin site which happened to be HERE version as well. But since it's on the GPS device, looks no were close to the Android one.

[carpacman]

Guys

I am driving down from Bangalore to Cochin and have saved the route I plan to take on google maps. I am planning to use this map on my Moto X GPS to navigate my way. Any idea how much data I might consume for the same.
I checked with Airtel on this but they are clueless (not surprised)

Cheers

[Carpainter]

Hi all,

I've been thinking of getting myself a GPS device for my new car. As sgiitk suggested MMI looks good as far as map content is concerned which is more important in my case than the built quality of Garmin. But the thing is should I go for Navigator series like the Lx355 and the likes or should I go for AVN-R series which is probably OEM supported unit. Is there any problem with map data update with these OEM kind of devices? And how are they as far as ICE head unit is concerned.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Carpainter

... MMI looks good as far as map content is concerned which is more important in my case than the built quality of Garmin. ...

Better get a Garmin unit. MMI, which doesn't engineer it's hardware, will never be at par with Garmin. Quite a few here have had problems with battery swelling up and causing problems. I have been using a Garmin unit for the last 7 years - absolutely no issues.

As far as maps are concerned, one can get MMI maps in Garmin format, and use them in Garmin devices.

I tested Garmin (Garmin CN maps, MMI maps) and Google in my drive through Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu regions 10 days back. All of them are very deficient when it comes to rural roads.
* Garmin maps had all the roads I travelled, but no road or place names (says "Take a right on Road")
* Google didn't have a few very decent roads which were suggested by locals as either shortcuts, or to avoid many hairpin bends
* In MMI a lot of roads were missing, which were present in Garmin and Google maps
* Google routing is the pits. Coming from Kushalnagar, Garmin suggested I take the Piriyapatna-Hassan Road and join the Mangalore-Bangalore Highway (NH48 - definitely much faster than the SHs in that area). Google initially routed me by the Madikeri-Kushalnagar-Hunsur route, but when I took the Piriyapatna-Hassan Road, Google kept insisting I take a diversion and rejoin the Hunsur SH

The Piriyapatna-Hassan SH is, well, not a driver's dream, so I thought let me take the deviation suggested by Google. Bad decision! Garmin kept telling me to take a U-turn and rejoin the original route. From 40', the road gradually tapered to 10', and when it went through a village - even that was blocked for drainage construction. The villagers suggested taking the 'kal dari' (a walking path through fields) which joins another road after 2Km. Offroad it was then, for the next 2Km - with Garmin patiently urging me to keep driving off-road till I reached the road, and Google having no clue!!!

In hindsight, I should have stayed with Garmin's route. The Mysore bypass (KRS Road) to Mysore Road was a nightmare - road that can only be classified as off-road, and terrible traffic.

[Chetan_Rao]

Navigation is a hit & miss in India, even in urban centers. On a recent road trip, G-Maps constantly gave me the runaround while driving through Pune, pointing me to take turns at the wrong end of one-way streets, closed streets or routes that needlessly take me away from the path I should be following. I finally gave up, asked a local policeman for help and was on my way within minutes. I wasn't and still am not comfortable depending on navigation devices in India.

[SchumiFan]

Team,

I am not sure if this question has been answered. I recently went on a trip to a religious place near Chidambaram in Tamilnadu. I usually check for guidance on Google maps when I was driving abroad and it usually is very reliable.

However, I made a mistake of not accounting for road conditions in India and trusted Google blindly. Result was that we had to take the journey on road severely damaged and eventually increased the time of the journey.

Is there a way that we can find the most popular route for a particular destination or word-of-mouth is the only way to find the best road to travel, yet?

Maybe Google can add an option of review when a person searches for a route, helping others know how the condition of the roads are?