REVIEW COMMENTS:Navman iCN630 V2 Preview

[StarKnight]

Received the 4 CDs pack this afternoon :D
I have updated it and this is the first impression:

- Maps now take much more space. With previous version I could fit the whole Italy in a 128Mb SD... now it takes almost 250Mb to fit it ! Yet don't know if this is due to a better resolution/coverage or are just useless extra data. Do you know if iCN630 support 512Mb SD cards ? With this new release they are highly required !

- Italian software version sucks. Many menu voices don't fit on the screen so the go out of their placeholders or are horribly cut. Do you know if there is a software that I can use to change localized text so to make by myself a much better work than Navman did ?

- Finding a street is easier now because you can search for names in the middle eg. I can search for "Via Alessandro Manzoni" simply typing "Manzoni". With previous version I had to type in "Alessandro Manzoni". So far I could find every street I was looking for (inside Italy), they all had the correct city name in the DB.

Tomorrow I'll test it on the street and I'll let you know how it goes.

[buckrogers]

All credit must go to Navman for the free upgrade. The 3-D view is very helpful and more intuitive

Having used the icn630 for some time now I must say that the route finding is an improvement and as of yet I can find none of the old bugs (which were quite a few) or any new ones.

One sad point is that it seems your old favourites get trashed when you upgrade, also it would be nice if there was a utility that allows you to edit and restructure them (can't be difficult, well trust me it isn't) It would also be nice if you could use a PC to create your own Favourites.dat or FavVer2.dat database without having to sit in the car thumbing around on the icn630.

POI’s too, has anyone tried finding Center Parcs if you call them they will give you directions and ask you where you’re coming from (they don’t understand that’s exactly what you don’t want) and their address was not actually the Parc itself, how difficult can it be!

By the way if anyone has had a low temperature problem with their unit let me know, mine refused to work below 7 degrees Celsius, however I have engineered a fix for that (and No its not “Software”)

On the whole the icn630 is a great unit and I wouldn’t be without it. A testimony to the fact is that people as me how I get to such and such place and I say "I don't know"

My unit has never lost a GPS lock, except for under bridges, and has always got me to where I wanted to go. Link that with the Origin B2 and you’re away, shame they can’t be combined.

If anyone has doubts about GPS systems like these, try living without them once you’ve had them for a while, they are truly fantastic!

[ICNman]

[buckrogers]

By the way, the old map system had bugs it seems that nothing is perfect.

V2 now ditches the shortcuts menu and replaces it with "Favourites" the 1st 10 of which are actually shortcuts and never get sorted alphabetically (don't worry it is an improvement you can now go stright to your address without thumbing to destination 1st) Some of the menu fields now seem to remember data which is useful.

Pressing the "OK" button provides route information when in 3-D mode(quite good) and it is now possible to check out a route by setting the 'start' and 'end' destinations, you can see the route itself and a list of instructions.

Route calculations seem much, much faster and generally closer to your preferred route.

There is now a "Settlement" icon, which seems to be a sort of "town" locator ... very strange.

As for postcodes.. well they do seem useful.

I'm not bothered generally, but my house no longer exists and the old maps and the new ones consistently get the priorities and turns wrong. However I would still get there!

[buckrogers]

To ICNman,

In fact I do share your sentiments.

One often gets the impression that us "users" have nothing but problems but in some ways these are opportunities, chances to produce and evolve good a system.

If everyone said "What a truly fantastic system", "great product", "great support "I bet Navman's sales would multiply 10 fold.

It seems that the hardware is very good to excellent, good display, etc. and so on, but if it fails in it's prime task (route finding) the I agree we should be concerned. Its like a Rolex that can't tell the time.

[ICNman]

Hi buckrogers,

Can you try and give us a little more information on the 'settlement icon' which you mentioned a little earlier and where/how it can be found. You've now got me looking all over the place.

I done some more tests on it lastnight, and yes your'e right, the route calculation is incredibly faster than before.

if you are unable to provide any information regarding the above, then not to worry.

Regards.

iCNman

[buckrogers]

Hi ICNman

[Can you try and give us a little more information on the 'settlement icon']

On my unit its under "Destination"

Address
Intersection
Settlement
Points of Intrest
Postcode
Recent

Hope this is helpful

[knarf]

Hello other iCN 630 owners,

After I had installed the new software and played with it, there were 2 things that were not good with my navman.
- first : when I loaded 3 countries (one on the navman and two on the SDcard) and I selected only one countrie in the menu, the icn loaded all the three countries include the two I didn't select.
- second : If I go to the menu Settings/User and there are the options to clear Favourites/Recent/Shortcuts & Avoid Areas, I can't select the Avoid Areas (only sometimes [by accident] I can select it but not on the normal way).
I live in Holland and I selected the Netherland language of course. Has someone also these problems

__________________
Frank

[StarKnight]

After some days of testing the new firmware these are my conclusion:

Pro:

- Route calculation is faster than previous version
- You can search for streets and roads without knowing their full name

Contra:

- Maps are mostly wrong. There are roads that never existed and other that do exist but are not present in the navigator. I also found streets where you can go in both directions mapped as one-way streets

- Language translations are very poor. Some text strings don't fit in their placeholders and go out or are cut.

- Firmware is unstable. In two occasions during the route trip it gave me an internal error (the black screen with the red writings) and I had to unplug it from the power source to turn it off and on again.

Of course all these problems never happened with previous version and Navtech maps (tested for 7 months) !!!

Now my final opinion about this upgrade is:

DON'T DO IT !!!! KEEP USING THE PREVIOUS VERSION AND COMPLAIN WITH NAVMAN FOR THEIR DECISION TO LEAVE NAVTECH !!! TELE-ATLAS REALLY SUCKS !

[anglefire]

I can't say I totally agree with StarKnight.
It's not crashed on me yet. The old version has on a couple of occasions.
The maps are no better than the last version, but I've not noticed any glaring errors yet - except one industrial estate which the roads are shoen as grey not yellow for a minor road. Perhaps considered unadopted?

As I have said before, the lack of the M6 Toll is not good.

Routing is much faster. And the same destination does take you to different places which can be strange.

The 3D display is very good - you can "see" much farther in front and can decide to take a different route if desired.

You can select a destination from boot up - rather than having to ESC back to the map screen and then go back into the menu.

However, I am based in the UK and will be able to comment on the europe maps later in the year, when we drive to southern Germany.
_________________
Mark

Website

The answer is 42. Now what is the question?

[ICNman]

Hi Guys,

Don't forget that Dave mentioned he will be releasing a full review of the V2 update very soon. I think everybodys looking forward to that.

I have finally switched back to the V1 software, and I'm happy like I've been from day 1. I use it for my work and need a reliable database more than the 3D maps and the other good features. Although impossible, wouldn't it have been wonderful if we could use the Navtech maps with the V2 update?

I think there really isn't much more to say on this topic. The TeleAtlas database is rubbish and thats all there is to it.

However, I didn't have any hardware problems with the V2 update.

Regards.

iCNman

[StarKnight]

This is a very sad situation because I can't decide if switch back to V1 or keep V2...

V1 was more reliable and the maps were almost perfect... but it had two great problems:

- Slow routing calculations (of course better than Garmin but still too slow). Now they are ok.
- I had to know the full name of a street wich is very odd because at least here in Italy we are used to know only partial names (eg. only the surname of the person it's dedicated). This was a great problem to me because I alway had to search somewhere else for the full name.

I waited so long to get an upgrade... and now I have it wich corrects the problems above... and introduces new ones

I'd really like if Navman would go back to Navtech maps... I would pay for this... I don't want free upgrades if these make my navigator useless

Please Dave... if you are in contact with them ask if in the near future will be possibile to pay for an updated version of the firmware wich uses up to date Navtech maps ! I'd really appreciate it !

[kevmac YTY]

Here's my take on V2.

Pros: TeleAtlas maps are more up to date than Navtech's with a lot more of suburban Dublin mapped.

3D is a great idea that works perfectly - I never use the overhead view anymore.

TeleAtlas use the names of roads rather than National road numbers. This is important in Ireland where directions are given with road names not codes. For instance if someone asked me how to get to Galway from Dublin I would say take the road out by Lucan and then follow the signs through Kinnegad. No one in Ireland says: Take the N27 right through and then turn onto the R124 because the country is small.

Cons: TeleAtlas have reduced the radius of maps for Dublin by about three miles so roads just after my home that were on Navtech's are now missing.

On the periphery of the Dublin map radius the car is actual travelling along about 6 metres away from the road on my screen - this has to be bad mapping as once you get near the city everything snaps into place.

All in all I am happy with the upgrade and look forward to Ireland being fully mapped in 2005.

PS Could someone point me in the direction of the V2 PDF manual online or could someone email it to me? I use an Apple Mac and can't get the manual off my disks.

[ICNman]

[kevmac YTY]

Well, I'm guessing that TeleAtlas will mirror Navtech who are already in Ireland mapping at the moment (see my other thread).

And who says that Navman will stay with TeleAtlas? That agreement will have a finite commercial timespan.

The V1 PDF manual was on the U.S Navman site until last month so I presume there is a V2 PDF manual, that comes with all new iCN 630s, available?

Can anyone help out?

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