Although not strictly relevant to this forum, I thought someone might be interested in my latest toy - the Blaupunkt Travelpilot E1 sat nav - which I've just had fitted in my car. I had been getting frustrated with the plethora of wires needed when using my Streetpilot III in the car. That, and the map (version 5) was getting out of date. The Streetpilot is fine on the bike, providing I turn off the automatic recalculate, and orientate the display North up. I considered the new 2600 series Garmin, but felt that it was a lot of money to spend for an untidy car solution. So I bought the Blaupunkt. The unit costs around £470, around £100 to fit plus a few other bits & bobs (my Audi required a can-bus converter which cost £100). Total cost was £670. The unit is single DIN sized & directly replaces a normal stereo. Since the Audi standard unit is wider, the dealer fitted a couple of blanking plates. There is no screen, just a monochrome matrix display which show roundabouts, turnings, distances etc. Also, 'bitching betty' talks through the car speakers so a visual map display is not essential.
In terms of routing, the E1 provides the usual choices of shortest & fastest. Additionally, it has Dynamic routing for use with TMC (not enabled in UK), and an Optimum choice which balances distance & speed. The map CD, which sits in the unit as in a normal (single) CD player, only has to be in the unit for the route calculation. Thereafter, it can be replaced by a normal audio CD. Any re-routes should be ok because a corridor of 'map' information is loaded. A traffic jam recalculate facility is provided, and all calculations/recalculations are extremely quick.
Destination/POI searches & input are as better as my wife's BMW navigation system, and include 5-letter post codes. Only the UK nav CD was provided, which gives Europe main roads. A France CD costs £93, which is comparable to other sat nav systems but not to the Garmin's Europe wide coverage.
In terms of functionality, it's difficult to compare with the Streetpilot. I've lost the map screen, and the ability to plan on the PC. However, I'm not limited by card memory, speed is much improved & it looks better in the car. The Streetpilot seems much more suited to the bike.
Overall, at the price, I'd give it 9/10 & can strongly recommend the unit as a cost-effective in-car sat nav system.
In terms of routing, the E1 provides the usual choices of shortest & fastest. Additionally, it has Dynamic routing for use with TMC (not enabled in UK), and an Optimum choice which balances distance & speed. The map CD, which sits in the unit as in a normal (single) CD player, only has to be in the unit for the route calculation. Thereafter, it can be replaced by a normal audio CD. Any re-routes should be ok because a corridor of 'map' information is loaded. A traffic jam recalculate facility is provided, and all calculations/recalculations are extremely quick.
Destination/POI searches & input are as better as my wife's BMW navigation system, and include 5-letter post codes. Only the UK nav CD was provided, which gives Europe main roads. A France CD costs £93, which is comparable to other sat nav systems but not to the Garmin's Europe wide coverage.
In terms of functionality, it's difficult to compare with the Streetpilot. I've lost the map screen, and the ability to plan on the PC. However, I'm not limited by card memory, speed is much improved & it looks better in the car. The Streetpilot seems much more suited to the bike.
Overall, at the price, I'd give it 9/10 & can strongly recommend the unit as a cost-effective in-car sat nav system.
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