July 9, 2006

Road Angel Navigator

Filed under: GPS car navigation, Road Angel — Administrator @ 5:50 am

• Premium Navigation - The very latest maps with the most complete Australian road network coverage from Sensis®, Whereis® and UBD®.

• Over 540,000 Points of Interest - Across over 50 selectable categories.

• Comprehensive Road Safety Warnings - Pre-loaded with Road Sense, Australia’s only professionally surveyed, dynamic map of road safety hazard locations.

• Integrated Road Safety Display - Shows accurate GPS speedometer, road safety hazards and speed limit at hazard.

• Built-in Quick Help Tutorial - Turns novices into experts.

• Turn-by-turn instructions - with Voice Assist™ Includes Australian male and female voice guidance.

• 2D or 3D Map - With variable perspectives that provide a realistic view of the road ahead.

• Pick stops from the map - Just ‘tap and hold’ a road to add a destination address.

• Detour and Avoid Roads - Gets you around unexpected traffic or street congestion.

• In-car proDock - and Windscreen Bracket The professional docking station eliminates cable clutter, has an integrated loud speaker,
volume control and an automatic charger. The proDock eliminates the need for awkward remote controls – just click Navigator in
and out to make destination settings.

• Pocket-size Light, 200g, with long-life - rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

The Good Gear Guide has reviewed the Road Angel and write:

“While Sentinel have tried to market the Navigator as a ‘portable’ device, at 87 x 120 x 22mm and weighing 200 grams, we feel it is just a little too large to carry around comfortably. That said, it is nowhere near as big as solely in-car units and Sentinel have included a docking station allowing the unit to be easily detached and taken elsewhere. Furthering its portability, the unit also offers voice assisted navigation in different modes - one for driving and one for walking.

Our biggest gripe with the Navigator was the 3.5″ LCD touch screen. We found it to be highly reflective, difficult to read in sunlight and with a poor viewing angle. These problems were only exacerbated when we used the Navigator while walking around in day light conditions.

But we had no problems with the map rendering of the Navigator and found the audio prompts to be both precise and easily understandable. The next turn instructions are displayed at the top of screen with the available menu options on the left. The map colour scheme was also clear (day and night modes are available), with the route displayed in green and your current position easily visible on the map. The emphasis on safety was again evident, as the vehicle’s current speed is prominently displayed on every screen.

When the Navigator is first turned on, it takes well over a minute to fully load up and display the main menu options. Pressing the Destination button brings up a window of recently accessed locations, or you can enter a new destination, such as Address, Favorite Location, POI or preset Home/Office locations. Entering in an address involves typing on a QWERTY keyboard and at times, we found the keys on the onscreen keyboard a little too small for our fingers.

Searching requires you to select a state, suburb and then a street and street number. While the street name is not filtered by suburb, the Navigator helpfully displays the nearest matching addresses in nearby locations as well as cross streets in a confirmation screen. After the destination is correctly entered, the unit then prompts you to save the location as a favorite, a feature which we found quite handy.

The Points Of Interest (POI) database was another strength of the Navigator, with around 540,000 locations stored. As with other GPS units, users have the option of customizing proximity alerts based on the type of POIs; for example, you can have the unit alert you to the nearest Restaurant, or more specifically, the nearest Winery, Cafe or Roadside Diner.

While Sentinel have certainly taken some time and trouble with the Road Angel Navigator, we were also impressed by the professional CD accompaniment. The manual on the CD is comprehensive, easy to understand and the demonstration video featuring Peter Brock is a nice touch. It’s small, but significant little extras like these which make purchasing decisions that much easier.”

For the pdf file onthe Road Angel click here

July 5, 2006

Garmin Nuvi 310 GPS

Filed under: GPS, Handheld GPS, Garmin, GPS devices, GPS car navigation — Administrator @ 4:19 am

The Garmin’s nüvi™ 310 is one of th most versatile GPS around. This pocket-sized Personal Travel Assistant now comes with hands-free Bluetooth® wireless technology in addition to the popular features offered in the nüvi 300 — making it the go-anywhere travel companion.

Place hands-free calls with Bluetooth wireless technology
The nüvi 310 along with its counterpart the nüvi 360 integrate wireless technology with a microphone and speaker that lets you make hands-free mobile phone calls. Simply dial numbers with the nüvi’s touch screen keypad to make a call on a compatible Bluetooth phone. To answer calls, just tap nüvi’s screen and speak directly into its built in microphone.

In addition, easily look-up and dial numbers from your personalized phone book or from your phone’s call history log. Don’t know the phone number for your destination? Simply find and dial it from nüvi’s extensive points of interest database — including hotels, restaurants, stores, and attractions.

Navigate with Ease
The nüvi 310 comes preprogrammed with regional European map data, and includes automatic routing, 2D or 3D map perspective, and a fingertip touch screen interface — making navigation easy. It also supports configurable vehicle icons — fun, customized car-shaped icons in a variety of colors that show your position on the map.

The nüvi accepts customized points of interest (POIs) such as school zones and safety cameras. It even provides traffic alerts (in select cities) when used with a compatible traffic receiver. By adding traffic services and a receiver to your nüvi 310, you can avoid traffic tie-ups by simply pushing a button to calculate a new route.

Enjoy Travel Kit full of entertainment and useful tools
Navigation is just the beginning. The nüvi includes many “must have” entertainment and travel tools including MP3 player, audio book player, JPEG picture viewer, travel alarm, currency converters, and more. In addition, optional software packages such as the Language Guide™ and Travel Guides™ can be added for language and content support.

Customize with Optional Software
Optional software available on plug-in SD cards, lets you instantly add new features to your nüvi — without connecting to your computer.

Full Specifications
Receiver: high-sensitivity WAAS-capable GPS receiver by SiRF
Display: 2.8” W x 2.1” H (3.5” diag.), 320 x 240 pixels; bright, TFT display, 64K colors, with white backlight and touch screen
Unit dimensions: 3.87″ W x 2.91″ H x 0.87″ D (98.3 mm x 73.9 mm x 22.1 mm)
Weight: 5.1 ounces (144.6 grams)
Battery: built-in lithium ion battery — between 4-8 hours of battery life depending on use
Bluetooth wireless technology for hands-free calling
Includes Garmin Lock™, an anti-theft feature
Supports FM TMC traffic alerting
Preloaded maps for one European region
Fingertip touch-screen interface
Look up addresses and points of interest
Choose 2D or 3D map perspective
Upload custom POIs, including alerts for speed zones and safety cams
Built in Travel Kit includes MP3 player with sample MPs, audio books, picture viewer, world clock, currency and measurement converters, calculator and more
SD memory card expansion slot
USB interface for loading data

Garmin Nuvi 310 GPS with MP3 Player from Garmin - FREE Courier Delivery - 1-3 DAYS FOR DELIVERY


June 28, 2006

TomTom Rider

Filed under: GPS, Handheld GPS, TomTom, GPS car navigation — Administrator @ 4:59 am

The TomTom Rider is the first GPS that can be used for bikes as well as a car. The great thing about the TomTom Rider is it is rugged, water resistant, fits both motorbikes and scooters and provides you even with clear spoken instructions in your helmet using the wireless Bluetooth connection. It’s so easy to use that even with gloves on you can still use the touch screen. Just plug in, switch on & RIDE: no installation or activation necessary.

EASY
Just plug in, switch on & RIDE
Simple touch screen operation: Drive mode tailored for use with gloves on
Clear and accurate: turn-by-turn spoken instructions
Crystal-clear 3D and 2D graphics
Compact and portable design
Door-to-door planning in your region
View route: review and test the calculated route before you actually start driving
Dynamic status bar: improve readability by customizing status bar
Tip feature: discover everything RIDER has to offer through useful onscreen tips
Extensive guided tour: pick up the features even quicker and get the maximum out of your TomTom RIDER

SMART
Water resistant and rugged
Fits both bikes and scooters: with a mounting kit of four pieces to adapt to your 2wheels.
In helmet spoken instructions: Bluetooth TM headset included
Bike speed linked volume: volume of voice instructions will increase/decrease depending on speed of your bike
Anti-glare screen: always an optimal view, even in direct sunlight
A choice of routes: quickest, shortest or avoiding toll roads
Itinerary planning: plan your trip by defining multiple waypoints and destinations
Integrated GPS antenna
You can use RIDER also in a car: Just fit the optional car mounting kit on the windscreen of the car, switch on and you’re on your way.
RIDER recognizes if you are in a car or on a motorbike: There’s no need to adjust RIDER for use in the car – it automatically switches from glove-friendly to in-car mode for driving, and it allows you to make and take calls any time on the move too.
Multi lingual: speaks more than 30 languages in over 50 voices
User interface: now including 18 languages
Thousands of points of interest available
Call a POI: directly call a point of interest through the RIDER
Make it your own: save personal favorite addresses for quick route planning
Compass mode available: displays compass on screen to have even more orientation while driving
Get free scenic routes: offered by TomTom PLUS

CONNECTED
Ready for TomTom PLUS Services: get scenic routes for free and try out traffic service for free for a month
USB 2.0: for faster data transfers
Hands-Free Calling via Bluetooth™: connection with a compatible* mobile phone
(For safety reasons it blocks outgoing calls while the bike is moving, but if you choose to accept an incoming call it is automatically routed to your helmet. When the bike isn’t moving or you have stopped for a break you can make and receive calls normally.)

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
Integrated GPS receiver based on SiRF Star III with 20 Channel All-in-view tracking
CPU: 380 MHz
32 MB RAM
3.5 inch, 320 x 240 TFT colour LCD touchscreen
115mm x 92mm x 58mm, 310 grams
Internal rechargeable Li-Ion giving approx. 5hours
Operating temperature: - 10 to + 55 °C
Water resistant and protected against any wet weather conditions
(test: TomTom RIDER was subjected to a sustained jet of water at high pressure from all directions and suffered no harmful effects)
Bluetooth headset battery Talktime: 10 Hours
Bluetooth headset battery Standby: 250 Hours
Memory card (SD card) with software and maps
USB port and cable for PC connection
Bluetooth headset included for clear wireless spoken instructions
Alternative power source: 12V motorbike battery
Mounting kit (4 pieces) to fit most bikes and scooters

Source

April 20, 2006

Mapping software: Streets and Trips 2006 with GPS Locator

Filed under: GPS mapping software, GPS locator, GPS car navigation — Administrator @ 8:38 pm

Tracey Capen from PC World Canada provides review on Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006.

Streets and Trips 2006 is easy to use and complete but it has issues similar to in-car navigation systems: lack of usability tools.

Microsoft’s $150 Streets and Trips 2006 with GPS Locator is quite a bit simpler to use than the Delorme software. Once you become familiar with the icons in the toolbar, getting directions and finding services is relatively fast and easy. Click on “Find Nearby Places”, and a well-organized list of service and location categories (restaurants, ATMs, museums) pops up. Choose the ones that interest you, and you’ll see a category-specific icon for each place on the map.

The procedure for adding or removing categories for display is a bit cumbersome. It’s also a bit annoying that you cannot simply type in “Starbucks” and have all local Starbucks shops appear on the map. As well, the data probably isn’t as complete as that of online mapping services: I found a relatively new neighbourhood Peet’s Coffee using Google Local and Yahoo Local Maps, but the shop was missing in Streets and Trips 2006. On the plus side, searches seem lightning-fast.

Streets and Trips gives you a few interesting tools for planning your driving vacation. You can specify the times of day you wish to drive (which the software then uses in its calculations), obtain travel time and trip cost estimates (including gas) and get construction alerts along your planned route.

You can also save your trip details as a web page–to toss up on your road-trip blog, for instance. But I found no way to save favourite locations or addresses, and the updated construction-info wizard that is supposed to pull the latest reports from the web failed to note that an exit near work has been closed for months.

The small GPS receiver’s USB cable measures 6 feet, long enough to reach comfortably from the dash to a notebook in the front seat. Directions were generally good: in my test the software created the best route from point A to point B and back again. But, the in-car navigation capability was disappointing, as poor voice prompts and the lack of automatic redirection after a wrong turn (a standard feature in most GPS navigation systems) put me off course.

Bottom line: This package is great if you want an easy-to-use mapping system in your PC, with a vacation’s worth of routes and services. But, as an in-car navigation system, Streets and Trips 2006 lacks key usability tools.

Fugawi GPS Mapping Software

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