[tsk1979]

I checked it out, does not support external antenna, unless I missed it somewhere. Netfreak, can you confirm whether it has an external antenna port

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

I hope I do not need an external antenna or anything else as of now.

No. You would not need an external antenna for normal use.

[NetfreakBombay]

Looked around, does not have a port for external antenna.

You do not need external antenna. It works fine when I leave it on passenger seat.

PM me once you get it, have all steps to customize it.

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

Bought this one just now online, hope to get it soon and then the actions begins.

I hope I do not need an external antenna or anything else as of now. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Cool, It would reach India in 3 - 4 days. It would land in "Foreign Post Office"

But from there, it would take 3 weeks to reach your home.



One of my colleague went to Foreign Port office since he wanted it sooner. He got it in 8 days from ordering.

Since parcel would be:

1. Opened
2. Examined to make sure contents match declaration
3. Evaluated
4. Re-Sealed

It takes 2 weeks for this to happen. Than 2 - 3 days for parcel to land at local post office and than at your place.

If you are okay with spending 3 - 4 hours at post office you can reach there once HK post status says "Shipment left for India on XXXXX date".

And you can get this process completed in 3 - 4 hours since you can move the shipment around yourself from verification desk to customs desk.


If you do decide to visit POS, carry these:

1. Your ID
2. Printout of DX Invoice
3. Printout of your CC bill / back account showing rupee amount (DX would have amount in USD)

If yo uare sending your driver / peon send his ID proof and auth letter authorizing him to collect on your behalf.

Seal that was put by post office:




Duty calculation (Zero Rupees) :

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Get a waterproof garmin. Garmin maps for India are available easily

Holy hell I just noticed https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=135&ra=true

800 & 900 US$ I mean thats the cost of a decent laptop!

[Zappo]

Ok. If you guys are happy with a chinese unit its fine. I underwent the same research route recently. However I got myself a Garmin finally. I think the build, the quality, the support everything makes it worthwhile.

I got myself a Garmin Nuvi wide screen device. It costed me approx 6700 INR. And thats about it. And I am happy. Its very very fast. Basically Garmin has put in a hotfix in the Nuvi's which now makes catching satellites a breeze. The moment the unit is switched on it has all the bars lighted up. And as I said, the unit is fast and the build quality is just superb.

I am running Satguide for now. You do not need destinator or any other software for Garmin. Just the maps. Of course if you do not buy it from them (pretty juicily priced at just Rs.2k) you will need to crack the code. But 6700 for a Garmin widescreen all inclusive is better than anything anyday. ;-)

P.S.: I also visted Satguide's office recently. They have lot many PND and other devices (including mobiles) in their glitzy front office display which you can buy from them alongwith the satguide installation. Many are chinese no-name brands while others like Garmin, Voxtel, Mio and others are also available.

However, what caught my eye was the set of PND devices marked as BharatNav. The sales guy said its a pune based co. for whom the software is supplied by Satguide. One particular unit was hugeee. It had a 7 inch or a 10 inch display with nice mahogany colored edges. The sales guy said he is not sure of the price but said its much cheaper than anything from known brands.

[phamilyman]

Zappo,

We're talking technology products here. Just like electronic watches or chinese mobiles - these items' technology is at a point where it frankly doesn't matter - they are reliable.

PS: Some of those PNDs have a newer better chipset (MediaTek) than most Nuvis. The brand isnt enough. Else Nokia would be making the best GPS phones, when their phones are have some of the crappiest GPSes.

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

PM me once you get it, have all steps to customize it.

Cool, It would reach India in 3 - 4 days. It would land in "Foreign Post Office"

Wow, That's so detailed explanation.

Thanks Netfreak for help. I will help to check where Gurgaon's Foreign Post office is.

Surely, I will PM you once I get it.

[tsk1979]

Ok, another thing I noticed, the chinese version is 372MHz CPU, and mio has a 64MB RAM 400MHz Samsung CPU(I presume its an ARM)
Probably due to better processing power, I can watch videos without any hiccups on my unit

[NetfreakBombay]

I finally hacked it to attach a 1700 MAH battery that increased running time to 7 hrs. Loaded JVM + mgmaps on it. Upgraded SD card to 8 GB and loaded maharashtra maps in full zoom range.

That made it quite useful for my brother who has to visit interior villages for work (He is a scientist and needs to collect virus samples from field). So he took this PND.
So, I am looking for a new PND.

Originally Posted by Zappo

I got myself a Garmin Nuvi wide screen device. It costed me approx 6700 INR. And thats about it. And I am happy.

Hey is this available in India for this price or has to be purchased from US?

This is a cool price for a unit from Garmin.

Does integration with Google POI search work on this unit?

Does it run Windows CE ?

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

to check where Gurgaon's Foreign Post office is.

Don't think Gurgaon has one. It would be Delhi.

[quickdraw]

Zappo can you please mention any units you came across which are all-weather type models and can be fitted on a motorcycle? Or the next best cheap equivalent? As the Rider2 is ruled out and the Garmin Nuvi Biker version is gonna cost upwards of 35k.

[phamilyman]

60Cx or etrex HCx.

Those are ultra pseud versions you're quoting.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Hey is this available in India for this price or has to be purchased from US?

This is a cool price for a unit from Garmin.

Does integration with Google POI search work on this unit?

Does it run Windows CE ?

Unfortunately not. I got it from US. Here a similar widescreen device (MapMyIndia sells one, but not Garmin) with the maps costs a whopping 27000 plus! I even talked to a few others here and they all just want to push the regular generic PNDs with the maps. Even they also were costing around 17000 to 19000 bucks.

Yes, you can push the POIs that you mark into the device. In fact I believe all the new Garmins now support this feature. However, Garmin runs on Linux based system if I am not mistaken. It is definitely not a Win CE device.

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Zappo can you please mention any units you came across which are all-weather type models and can be fitted on a motorcycle? Or the next best cheap equivalent? As the Rider2 is ruled out and the Garmin Nuvi Biker version is gonna cost upwards of 35k.

I felt the Garmin Quest2 and Zumo are two pretty nice devices. They have their quirks but they are still pretty commendable. I do not know how much the generic ones cost (I did not look much for these since I needed one for the car). As for the pricing is concerned when you look at the TomTom Rider's pricing Garmin looks like a heaven sent manna. It was costing something around 30k I believe. Which is much less than the Rider (well, almost half). In fact some places even had the older Zumo 450 for something around 23 or 24000 bucks.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Zappo,

We're talking technology products here. Just like electronic watches or chinese mobiles - these items' technology is at a point where it frankly doesn't matter - they are reliable.

PS: Some of those PNDs have a newer better chipset (MediaTek) than most Nuvis. The brand isnt enough. Else Nokia would be making the best GPS phones, when their phones are have some of the crappiest GPSes.

Well, so you are talking technology, eh! Then let me tell you something my friend. What you are talking about ("these items' technology is at a point where it frankly doesn't matter") is a very popular misconception about these devices. I have seen enough devices which sport similar chipset and announce a big number of parallel channels as another popular brand, and yet when it comes to the ground realities they lag behind. Some have a flickery screen while others look dull under the sunlight. Then some are extremely jerky. Some have a joke of a speaker that croak when they make sound. Then there are devices which for some reason seem to freeze while searching and are otherwise very slow. One of my ex-colleague got a generic one (Vara/Zara/Kara... don't exactly remember the name), pretty cheap from Malaysia. His device's casing got so brittle under the direct sunlight (open office parking) that it cracked in a spider web form after just 5-6 months.

By the way, your "we are talking technology here" sounded very grandiose and I almost sheepishly looked over my shoulders once only to realize that in this whole thread you posted once at the begining about the Satguide maps being available for 2100 bucks. Does not sound to me like "you" were talking any technology at least.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Unfortunately not. I got it from US.
...
...
...
Garmin runs on Linux based system if I am not mistaken. It is definitely not a Win CE device.

That takes Garmin out of equation. Win CE is required to run ViaGPS / Destinator. Win CE devices can run all these alongwith Garmin.

[tsk1979]

Actually Destinator etc., are just software programs to show maps. If the same map which currently is in destinator format is also available in Garmin format(img file) in that case you can very well use garmin.
The garmin mobile XT software which runs on Windows CE/Windows mobile uses the same IMG files which can be used in normal garmin handhelds.
That said I am a fan of Windows CE systems because they double up as PDAs and EXCEL viewers etc.,
Moreover I can watch videos and movies also on them while traveling in flight etc., Going through the specs of the chinese unit, I am a bit dissapointed, except for the screen, everything else is of inferior spec than the cheaper mio. So you have just a 372MHz processor, and Mio actually as a Samsung 400MHz ARM unit.
No external antenna means in hills and near highrises its going to be a big issue.

[NetfreakBombay]

You need these programs since Garmin just have Navteq maps in India. And in some cases Openstreet maps.

With viaGPS, you get access to maps from CE Data systems. Those maps have coverage of even smaller towns.

Similarly Europa maps are not available in Garmin format.

With multiple formats you can choose which program to run.

E.g. you can use Garmin in larger cities (to use Navteq maps). And switch to mapmyindia to use CE Syatems maps in smaller towns.