[k_ajay]

Gents,

Can anyone here please help me with Feedback on the SatGuide 3.5 PND product which SatGuide is selling for Rs.9999/-?

I'm considering buying this since most here are going for SatGuide devices/maps. Is MapMyIndia so poor in comparison? I was with the impression that they're more advanced and offer the best GPS experience in India. Guess they just have a better packaging/marketing team.

Btw, how good is the accuracy of the SatGuide maps? Will I be able to get perfect directions on national highways too [say, from BLR to MUM]?

Please let me know at the earliest you can.. Thank you..

ajay K

[trammway]

I would still suggest buy it from India as the support available at calling distance. Today my return from office with the updated maps are perfect and every other small lanes are properly mapped. Next week I will be visiting Tiruvannamalai -> Coimbatore -> Waynad -> Chennai in Jeep, you know what Garmin covers all these places and the roads I'm going to travel, another travelogue with Garmin is on its way to find Team-BHP :-)

12,600/48(USD Conversion) = 262.5USD, that comes with Garmin 215T unit with 1 year warranty and India maps and unlimited updates from local vendor(I'm sure it is a SatGuide's map as after updating it today it claims OneIndia and some version number and supports upto 628 cities, Ref for OneIndia is very much in Satguide's site in here: http://www.satguide.in/product/satgu...armin_pnd.aspx)

If you buy a Device in USA and Maps from MMI: 100$(Device) + 20$(Shipping) + 182.3$(with 2 year updates) = 302.3$ (Still no local warranty)

If you buy a Device in USA and Maps from MMI: 100$(Device) + 20$(Shipping) + 20.6$(with no updates) = 140.3$ (Still no local warranty)

Hence buying a Garmin Nuvi215T for 262.5USD that comes with 1 year replacement warranty and local support is worth the buy, so before ordering please think about it. Also this vendors stocks many other models form Garmin, and there are GPS enabled Garmin mobiles are on sale too.

Check the maps prices that I took for the above calculating from their respective sites.

MMI Map price for Garmin device from MMI website as follows:

MRP: Rs 7,000/- (I guess this is base price for the map and its software, not the device)
With One map upgrade: Rs. 7,990/-
With 1 year upgrade plan: Rs. 8,250/-
With 2 year upgrade plan: Rs. 8,750/- (@48INR per USD = 182.3USD )

SatGuide for Windows,Symbian phones,Laptops,Garmin PND = Rs. 990 = 20.6$(I Don't see any update plans for this product and also not sure if it free also)

[evo]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Congratulations Evo. Waiting for a candid feedback. I am assuming you got this at the price of a RoadPilot, that is INR 7,990 -correct?

Aye aye, its at that price. I`ve never used a GPS in India ever, so am super excited about it.

Originally Posted by MX6

Welcome to the world of Garmin with Satnav, fellow Garminers!

And MMI owners, can someone tell me what route MMI suggests from Chiplun to Pune please? refer to my earlier post in this forum.

I will give it a try once I lay my hands on it.

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Guys,

Has anyone tried getting goods delivered to India using 20north.com? If yes, how reliable are they? Posting in this thread since I am planning to buy/ship my Garmin unit from them.

The website did seem quite attractive, its like the Citibank service but cheaper.

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Ordered for the Lucca today @7990/-, should receive it in a couple of days as per the customer service executive.

Lets compare the time it takes to reach, will see how logistics change with cities.

Originally Posted by k_ajay

Hi All,

I'm currently considering getting a GPS PND and was looking into the recent 10 pages on the thread. When I saw a 4th such post on Satguide's claim of excellent customer service, I wanted to really put it to test.

So I left my name, number and email on their website, and I got a call in less than 5 minutes since I did the above. A guy named Raja started explaining the line-up when he applied brakes and said he'd first email me all the details and follow up with a call to explain them all, again in 5 minutes.

I won't say if post sales experience is this good, but I was shocked when I got a call in say, 4 minutes..

Will read the rest of the posts and come back with some queries.

Thanks
ajay K

Both MMI and SatNav seem to have excellent customer service. I`m hoping this remains as true for Support as it is for Sales.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by evo

Both MMI and SatNav seem to have excellent customer service. I`m hoping this remains as true for Support as it is for Sales.

for satnav. Any mail from my side has prompt replies. They left out the SD adapter for Micro SD card. I mailed Raja about this the moment I received the courier. Within 5 mins I get a reply from him that they've shipped the adapter along with the airway bill number!
The maps worked the moment I popped the card in. So didn't have anything to ask them yet. But SatNav rocks!

[cool_dube]

A very basic question for MMI navigator users - are the MMI maps available on their PNDs same as those available on their website (www.mapmyindia.com)?

[Ford_madhan]

Have anyone tried this map available at Garmin site?

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=65217

Any Feedbacks?

[Thad E Ginathom]

"Powered by NAVTEQ" --- so its the same as what you get free from Nokia, and the coverage will be less than MMI.

[trammway]

I hope many of you know that I'm a regular Jeeper and use my jeep for all the commuting purposes be it to got to office or to offroad.

The Garmin Nuvi215T is must gadget for every jeeper I would say, I'm sure MMI, SatNav, Garmin and Hilux were all giving good Navigation devices, I'm impressed with the Garmin's handsphone speaker clarity with the open jeep travel. In spite of all the extra noise in the jeep with wind coming in from all the side, I could very clearly communicate to other person on the phone. I have attended couple of calls while on the jeep and impressed with it.

I will give 5star rating to it now!

[MX6]

Originally Posted by trammway

I hope many of you know that I'm a regular Jeeper and use my jeep for all the commuting purposes be it to got to office or to offroad.

The Garmin Nuvi215T is must gadget for every jeeper I would say, I'm sure MMI, SatNav, Garmin and Hilux were all giving good Navigation devices, I'm impressed with the Garmin's handsphone speaker clarity with the open jeep travel. In spite of all the extra noise in the jeep with wind coming in from all the side, I could very clearly communicate to other person on the phone. I have attended couple of calls while on the jeep and impressed with it.

I will give 5star rating to it now!

In Maharashtra they have started pulling over people on mobile (with or without handsfree/ blue tooth/ what ever, even if you are pulled over to the side of the road and have started suspending licenses.
I used to use the bluetooth in my 265wt. Now stopped it fearing these draconian rules.

Garmin has always been 5* for me.

[k_ajay]

Members,

Are there no SatGuide PND users here? Can anyone please give me feedback on your experience with the SatGuide PND devices on accuracy and coverage please?

Also, my request to those members who've just got the Blaupunkt TravelPilot Lucca; can you please give your feedback on this product? I'm worried about spending 10K and then having to live with inaccurate positioning and coverage. There are posts where members have indicated that the MMI maps show your vehicle travelling on a parallel road, when your actually on the right one. Such issues will throw me off if I am to rely on their navigation.

Request you gentlemen to please provide guidance as I need to make a purchase by 4pm today [04.05]. Thank you.

ajay K

[jaaz]

Hi, trammway & MX6,

I've gone through your feedback and comments - still curious to ask a few questions:-

I'll be travelling to UK and then to US. Whether Satguide/MMI will be value for money or should I buy in UK or US. I guess US is cheaper than UK.
- This will be my First GPS Device.
- I don't require this in my place - Bangalore as I know nook & corner.
- I don't travel much outside Bangalore
- In US Garmin is popular and how about Tom Tom?
- In US, is it possible to buy along with Europe Maps?
- Within Garmin - which is the best and VFM Model?
- Or shall I go for GPS enabled Mobile Phone?

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by trammway

I would still suggest buy it from India as the support available at calling distance. Today my return from office with the updated maps are perfect and every other small lanes are properly mapped. Next week I will be visiting Tiruvannamalai -> Coimbatore -> Waynad -> Chennai in Jeep, you know what Garmin covers all these places and the roads I'm going to travel, another travelogue with Garmin is on its way to find Team-BHP :-)

12,600/48(USD Conversion) = 262.5USD, that comes with Garmin 215T unit with 1 year warranty and India maps and unlimited updates from local vendor(I'm sure it is a SatGuide's map as after updating it today it claims OneIndia and some version number and supports upto 628 cities, Ref for OneIndia is very much in Satguide's site in here: SatGuide Provide the best GPS Software for Laptops and Mobile Phones)

If you buy a Device in USA and Maps from MMI: 100$(Device) + 20$(Shipping) + 182.3$(with 2 year updates) = 302.3$ (Still no local warranty)

If you buy a Device in USA and Maps from MMI: 100$(Device) + 20$(Shipping) + 20.6$(with no updates) = 140.3$ (Still no local warranty)

Hence buying a Garmin Nuvi215T for 262.5USD that comes with 1 year replacement warranty and local support is worth the buy, so before ordering please think about it. Also this vendors stocks many other models form Garmin, and there are GPS enabled Garmin mobiles are on sale too.

Check the maps prices that I took for the above calculating from their respective sites.

MMI Map price for Garmin device from MMI website as follows:

MRP: Rs 7,000/- (I guess this is base price for the map and its software, not the device)
With One map upgrade: Rs. 7,990/-
With 1 year upgrade plan: Rs. 8,250/-
With 2 year upgrade plan: Rs. 8,750/- (@48INR per USD = 182.3USD )

SatGuide for Windows,Symbian phones,Laptops,Garmin PND = Rs. 990 = 20.6$(I Don't see any update plans for this product and also not sure if it free also)

Get a garmin from the USA ($100, free shipping at amazon/newegg = Rs 4500), add Satguide maps (Rs 990). For Rs 5490, you are good to go. If you want map upgrade, you can get it for Rs 490. Any day a better deal than a Garmin 215T from MapMyIndia at Rs. 12600.

[trammway]

Originally Posted by jaaz

Hi, trammway & MX6,

I've gone through your feedback and comments - still curious to ask a few questions:-

I'll be travelling to UK and then to US. Whether Satguide/MMI will be value for money or should I buy in UK or US. I guess US is cheaper than UK.
- This will be my First GPS Device.
- I don't require this in my place - Bangalore as I know nook & corner.
- I don't travel much outside Bangalore
- In US Garmin is popular and how about Tom Tom?
- In US, is it possible to buy along with Europe Maps?
- Within Garmin - which is the best and VFM Model?
- Or shall I go for GPS enabled Mobile Phone?

This is my view, if you are travelling in US you can get one Garmin from the store out there as you can save something on shipping and issues related to damages in the shipment.

If you don't travel much and know the place you live, basically why do you think you are looking for GPS ?

The top players in GPS market globally are Garmin and Hilux, there are plenty of other players in this field.

I think you should get some models that comes with US and Europe maps in built but it should be an higher model due to data space it requires.

Garmin got a wide range of products its all depends what kind of purpose you have, the major facts that helps in deciding a GPS are:

1. Screen size (smaller better for off the vehicle carrying purpose and larger is better for in the car solutions, so decide which fits in to your category)
2. Battery life and capacity (off the vehicle GPS tracking, the bigger the screen the larger the battery requirement)
3. Options for maps and other goodies / accessories
4. Number of satellites the device can bounce (depends upon the chipset, the good ones are Sirf Star III, Atlast III, Atlast IV etc.)
5. Processor speed (400 MHz to 500 MHz) required for rendering the map in good speed, otherwise expect to see boxy images.
6. Warranty
7. Total cost of Ownership

In addition to the basic points above, I like to evaluate the below areas as well:

1. SD or Micro SD card slot for external map/software options
2. Bluetooth & Speaker for phone usage

There are lot more features that can also contribute to one's decision making

1. External antenna support
2. Ability to mark and survey the trip for future maps
3. MP3 player and FM transmitter (so you can use the device to transmit songs to your FM player in the car)
4. Radio frequency support (for RF usage if you have permission to do so)
6. Reverse camera & Sensor add-on support

In the past I have used O2 Stealth mobile with the assist of Hilux 240 external Bluetooth enabled GPS receiver for my navigation purpose with maps availed along with the device. you know what when you use mobile for any other purpose such as GPS navigation, Wifi, Music or Games you are loosing your mobiles battery and at times you end up in a situation where you will not be able to use the mobile phone for making calls.

So I would like to leave the mobile only for making calls and use it once in a while taking pictures for my blog, but then it is my way of looking at it.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by jaaz

Hi, trammway & MX6,

I've gone through your feedback and comments - still curious to ask a few questions:-

I'll be travelling to UK and then to US. Whether Satguide/MMI will be value for money or should I buy in UK or US. I guess US is cheaper than UK.
US is cheaper than UK. Surprisingly I got a good deal from UK. My Garmin costed me 8600 INR inclusive of shipping. SatNav maps are definitely VFM. I don't foresee any specific advantage with MMI maps for the exhorbitant price they quote.

- This will be my First GPS Device.
GPS is not only for getting routes. You can then have your tracklogs (trip logs). It's fun. Have a look at the great logs HVK has done. Incidentally, he writes down most of the things! I let my GPS do the logging. Then import the gpx files in and create the logs.

- I don't require this in my place - Bangalore as I know nook & corner.

Once again. Most city roads, maps go for a toss. If you are in chennai, you'll get used to so many changes in one-ways from time to time. Bangalore is full of oneways. Sometimes maps don't realise it's a fly-over and ask you to take left from top of the fly-over. They are so used to fly-overs with multiple exits like in the west where you take an exit ramp. This fools the PND in to asking you to take a left or a right in the middle of nowhere! But Navigators become fun in analysing your drives later. It gives you suggestive mileages calculated, time taken to cover distances point by point, altitude related details, geo-tagging etc.

- I don't travel much outside Bangalore
Get the PND. The travels will start automatically!

- In US Garmin is popular and how about Tom Tom?
Tomtom is popular only in UK. My suggestion is Garmin. You easily get maps for Garmin from our own SatNav and MMI. Magellan is good too. But I prefer Garmin. With their good battery life (mine's almost 4 hours on stand alone) and the hotfix which latches on to Satellites like a dream in a jiffy from a cold start.

- In US, is it possible to buy along with Europe Maps?
It must be possible. Because Lot's of people travel from US to EU and vice-versa. But then those would be costlier than the standard US piece with pre-loaded US map and EU piece with pre-loaded EU maps. You can always source the US map or EU map from SatNav for a nominal price in India. In a way, a garmin with an SD card slot can hold up to 6 geography maps (6 separate files). So if you buy in US with US maps, come back and buy the India map from SatNav. When you travel to EU, you can buy the EU map from SatNav before going. Those guys are so prompt that it gets shipped and delivered in 24 hours!

- Within Garmin - which is the best and VFM Model?
Depends on what you want. There are Garmins that play audio/ video. There are garmins that's not wide screen. There are garmins that don't have blue tooth. I have a good music system. So didn't want a garmin to play music. I feel video will be distracting while I drive. I have a portable dvd player which my daughter uses in the rear. So I ruled out Video options as well. Blue tooth comes in handy in pairing your phone. Garmin devices also read your phone contacts and you can dial them/ chose them from the device itself! Wide screen ones are bigger and makes reading better for me. Hence I landed the 265WT (T option would come handy if I go to US or EU). Now you decide what is good and chose accordingly. Also check the garmin site before ordering indiscriminately from Amazon or other such sites which are still selling out-dated models.

- Or shall I go for GPS enabled Mobile Phone?
Defeats the purpose. Mobile phones come with small screen. So touching them to search for POIs while driving becomes a bother. Battery life of phone takes a hit. You need a car charger and pray that it doesn't discharge faster than it charges (like some MMI PND devices I've heard off).
You can have the mobile with GPS as a add on. But if you don't mind shelling 7 - 8 K on a PND, I'd suggest to go ahead and give it a try!
Else if you are not going out of Bangalore which you feel you know about completely, stick to a gps enabled phone.

And yes, my wife commented, that she's more confident of driving now with the Garmin telling her where to turn so that she doesn't need to keep looking for the road and can concentrate on the traffic!
She feel's it's better than me prompting her turn left, turn left, what the hell? turnnnnn lefffffffffttttttttttt.........

Originally Posted by trammway

4. Number of satellites the device can bounce (depends upon the chipset, the good ones are Sirf Star III, Atlast III, Atlast IV etc.)
5. Processor speed (400 MHz to 500 MHz) required for rendering the map in good speed, otherwise expect to see boxy images.

Garmin doesn't give these details anymore. They've officially stopped stating which chipset (receiver) and what processor speed the unit comes with.

[cool_dube]

Just talked to the only Garmin 'authorized' dealership in Bangalore. The only model they have in the 2xx series is the 215 (not the 215W) with a 3.5" screen. Cost is INR 12,500 plus 12.5% tax which comes to INR 14062.5 with one year warranty and pre-loaded SatNav maps (yes, they have tied up with SatNav). Not a VFM deal in my opinion. I am tempted to order a 4.3" screen unit (say a 260W) online (20north maybe) and get SatNav maps.

Thoughts?