Sat Nav

[davoman99]

After many years in the japanese wilderness, I've now seen the light and have immersed myself in the BMw Styli. What I would like to know is if anyone has any experience of buying satnav stuff from the States. I've been considering the Garmin Streetpilot 2610 which is selling in some Ebay shops over there, quite a bit cheaper than I've seen in UK. Anyone bought something and been stung with import duties or some other nasty costs, any tales positive or negative?

 

[Deleted account W]

Not much mapping of Wales on a Yank GPS

 

[PanEuropean]

Dave:

The huge, show-stopping problem that you will come up against is that the GPSRs have different cartography (maps) loaded on them, depending on what region of the world they are sold in.

GPSRs sold in North America have North American maps, GPSRs sold in Europe have European maps, and GPSRs sold in Asia have Asian maps. It's a little bit like buying a television in North America - it won't be much good to you if it works on the North American NTSC standard, and you plan to use it in Europe where PAL is the standard.

This means, in practice, that you generally need to buy your GPSR in the region that you plan to use it in. There are a few isolated ways to work around this problem - in the case of a person who frequently travels from region to region - but they cost money, and require that the user be highly experienced. Given that you are not yet familiar with GPSRs, my suggestion is that you stick with buying a GPSR from within the region that you plan to use it.

Michael

 

[Deleted account W]

Dave:

The huge, show-stopping problem that you will come up against is that the GPSRs have different cartography (maps) loaded on them, depending on what region of the world they are sold in.

GPSRs sold in North America have North American maps, GPSRs sold in Europe have European maps, and GPSRs sold in Asia have Asian maps.

This means, in practice, that you generally need to buy your GPSR in the region that you plan to use it in. There are a few isolated ways to work around this problem - in the case of a person who frequently travels from region to region - but they cost money, and require that the user be highly experienced. Given that you are not yet familiar with GPSRs, my suggestion is that you stick with buying a GPSR from within the region that you plan to use it.

Michael

Thats what I meant to say

 

[davoman99]

I appreciate that the garmin street pilot would be loaded with the basic U.S maps, but I thought just as the U.K. ones come loaded with good old blighty, any map software could then be loaded up. Wales I'm already pretty familiar with, I'm looking to take in somewhere with a bit less rain!

 

[Mouse]

There are two issues - the basemap and the soft loaded maps.

The basemap is built into the unit, and can't be changed. A US unit will have a US basemap, etc.

But - the basemap is pretty much a "last resort" thing, used only when you haven't loaded more detailed maps into the unit. As such, I have never used the basemap on my GPS. You might want to use it if you are doing a trip covering so much area that the unit's memory can't hold all the detailed mapping for that area.

The other issue is the soft loaded maps - the product is called City Select or City Navigator from Garmin. If you buy a GPS fom the US it will presumably come with a US version of City Select, and so you'd have to buy the Europe version. It's not cheap, so you'd probably spend more than you saved by buying from the US in the first place.

If you already had the soft loaded map CD and wanted to buy a US GPS, it might be worthwhile.

Also watch out for differences in specification - for example the US spec Garmin Quest has less map memory than the European version.

In short, it's probablynot worth the hassle

 

[Pukmeister]

So when I emigrate to Australia, I need to sell my European Nav 2 and buy an Asian Nav 2 instead, right ?????

 

[davoman99]

Thanks for the input. There does seem to be an awful lot of stuff to wade through regarding unlock codes, Base maps, software info. etc. I was leaning towards the 2610 as that is the one recommended for bikes on the Garmin Website.
The cheapest I've seen a new one in the UK was on Amazon.
Using a PDA seems a bit fiddly with the controls, small screen size etc
I won't be rushing in to buy anything just yet, I'll carry on researching

 

[BurnieM]

So when I emigrate to Australia, I need to sell my European Nav 2 and buy an Asian Nav 2 instead, right ?????

Nope
You just need to buy the City Navigator Australia mapset for AU$349 (cheapest to buy in Australia) and load it to your Nav II with a PC

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

So when I emigrate to Australia, I need to sell my European Nav 2 and buy an Asian Nav 2 instead, right ?????

nope - i bought my streetpilot3 with me and bought a CN disc - as burnie says.
Works perfectly..

glad you're thinking 'positive' thoughts though

 

[Pukmeister]

I gave in my 12 months notice with the military yesterday Phil, having missed yet another promotion and not getting any younger. I'm not hanging around here with false hopes anymore, Brisbane will hopefully be getting itself another technician before too long if my Visa succeeds. In the meantime I need to start job hunting over here.

I'd better get myself one of those hats with the corks in and some cans of Fosters and start practising.

 

[Sportouring]

2610 Street Pilot

Hi Gang,

I'm about to put my Garmin 2610 up for sale if anyone is interested? I was thinking of £450.00. It's around 5 months old, perfect in every way, has the latest map sets. It's the full kit as supplied from new.

I'm a Garmin dealer and this is my own demonstrator unit. It's seen only occasional use.

If you were interested, you would need to add a suitable means of mounting and powering for motorcycle use. ( I can sort that out for you, but I'm trying to avoid shamelessly plugging my business here!)

If anyone is interested in discussing this or any other GPS related matter, you can contact me via the web site www.sportouring.com (now that was a shameless plug!)

Safe riding,
Mike.

 

[PanEuropean]

...the basemap is pretty much a "last resort" thing, used only when you haven't loaded more detailed maps into the unit. As such, I have never used the basemap on my GPS.

Uh, that's not quite correct.

The basemap is also what is used to draw the picture on the screen anytime you are viewing the map at a scale of 5 miles or greater (e.g. wide views). Rather than going to the detail maps, and trying to squeeze all that info onto the screen, the GPSR just calls up the basemap and uses it to draw the picture.

What this means is that you can load a set of 'out of region' maps onto a GPSR (e.g. Australian maps onto an American GPSR, American maps onto a European GPSR, etc.), but you won't be able to look at wide zoom levels.

Like I said before - the easiest way to go about things is to get the GPSR from within the region you plan to use it in. If you don't want to pay the new prices, buy a used unit, such as the one listed above.

Michael

 

[BurnieM]

I'd better get myself one of those hats with the corks in and some cans of Fosters and start practising.

Shame, shame, shame....

Get it right; in Brisbane they drink XXXX (thats fourex)