V.6 has landed

[adamski49]

Les and Michael - I think someone else did this recently. You need to phoine Garmin for the unlock code as you only get one chance. When it locks (or apparently locks) it's worth going away from the PC for half an hour to see if it recovers.

PanEuro - As Burnie says increase in tile/segment size is the real problem. In CS v6 I now have to select a large part of East Anglia just to get my home in whereas in v5 this same area was 4 tiles and I only had to select one of them.

Also new or changed roads shouldn't necessarily mean more memory. I suspect this is added detailing as you mentioned. Maybe there should be an option to reduce the amount of detail to upload to the GPS unit giving those with less memory more of a chance.

One last point the CS v5 update was better than v4 as it allowed more map area to be uploaded to the GPS unit so as far as I'm concerned v6 is a step backwards or more likely a step in the direction of the latest GPS units on the market.

For those interested theree is no direct replacement for the V - I emailed Garmin and asked.

Cheers

Adam

 

[ebbo]

As this is the first time I have done an upgrade, when I registered last night the last page locked up on step 7, so I hit the button again and it sent me to the start, when I thought I would have to begin again it listed V.5 & 6 as registered but I had no unlock code, do Garmin send it by post, mail it or did I loose it in the process?

Exactly the same thing happened to me, give Garmin a ring, once they establish your identity they are quite happy to give you the code over the phone

Phone 01794-519944 Fax: 01794-519222

 

[adamski49]

Any V owners after a RAM Mount please see FS&W section

Adam

 

[PanEuropean]

Hi Adam:

Yea, I well understand and comprehend the comments you made in your post of 31-01-04 13:41 above.

When the GPS V was released a few years ago, it was intended to be the "jack of all trades" GPSR - small enough for hiking and other handheld use, powerful enough for autorouting, and with huge (at the time) built in memory for maps. When it was released, there were no Garmin (non-automotive) handhelds that even came close to it. The GPS V was based on the same hardware platform as a number of aviation units that preceeded it.

Now, in 2004, Garmin has a whole range of handhelds that have quite awesome capabilities - the higher end eTrex units hold road maps and have more memory, and it seems there is an even newer Garmin handheld unit on the market (not sure what the product name is, a 60 or something like that) that offers both automotive and handheld capabilities.

What seems to me to be happening - and I have no inside view here, this is just what I percieve from looking at the website and following the product releases - is that the aviation and automotive units seem to be becoming more purpose-specific, whereas the handhelds seem to be spreading out and incorporating features that are of use to the automotive community.

My guess is that the GPS V replacement has already arrived, so to speak, and can be found in the handheld product category, not the automotive product category.

PanEuropean

 

[michael d]

top marks to garmin had a reply to my e mail already re unlock code difficulty,
i am very very sorry a code was generated but not delivered .the code is ...................
best regards Loy
and there was me thinking id have to wait till monday

question is is Loy male or female ??
mike

 

[BurnieM]

I do not believe the products becoming 'one use' specific is what people want.

In the last month 2 people have asked me how to load street maps to their marine units (both over $2000) and have been more than a little frustrated that they cannot.

I have just purchased a GPSmap 176 (primarily a marine unit) for 4WDing and motorcycle use.
The concept of a GPSmap 276c appeals to me if it has; standard memory cards, even faster re-draw, auto-routing is nice (but not essential), customisable data fields, multiple datums etc.

While the 2610 has a lot going for it (mainly faster processor and large standard data cards) it is non-customisable and at a premiumu price point.
Surely a single flag could enable/disable all the dozens of setup features that I have on the GPSmap 176 (and to a slightly lesser degree on the GPS V) ?
A sort of basic/expert user switch ?

Apart from standard memory cards all of the above is doable in firmware in a short time period. Garmin simply has to decide to do it.
How about it Garmin ?

 

[PanEuropean]

Michael: Loy is a guy, one of the best persons there is in the cartography support section of Garmin in Kansas.

Burnie: Garmin is starting to do what you suggest (the basic/expert switch) with the SP 26xx products. The menu presentation of the SP 26xx appears to be pretty simple, only giving (more or less) the same features that the SP III has for customization - meaning, not much - but there are several areas within the menus where you can press "menu" a second time, and it will reveal an "expert" layer that allows for quite considerable customization.

It is unfortunate that the automotive GPSR's (GPS V excepted) seem to have the most simplistic user interface. Most of the aviation and marine units allow the users to highly customize the unit. Garmin is, I think, concerned that the bulk of the automotive users would just get confused if more choices were added, and that the automotive units might gain a reputation as being "complicated" for the average Ma and Pa if they had too many features available. By example, see what Magellen is doing with their latest top of the line auto unit - just turn it on and point it, that's all.

I think, though, that they have found a good middle road (compromise) with the "double MENU press" method of revealing more features.

PanEuropean