PREVIEW COMMENTS: Navman iCN510

[pelmen]

thanks Tim

we went along to Dick Smith Electronics today and spoke to someone there about them (more a salesperson than a gps geek) and he said that Dick Smith are in negotiations with Navman about offering the upgrades of new maps through the stores. Evidently since the Navman range has just upgraded to V3 of the software and its now standard in the boxes they aren't looking at upgrade packages anytime in the near future (maybe around xmas). Navman are working with UBD amoung others for the maps and since they have to licence them then the Navman upgrade maps are not expected to retail for below AUS$160 IF they become available. bit of a shame, would be great if these things had an open source facility for the GPSing community to add there own maps and make changes are new streets are paved etc (something that can overlay the existing maps, not necessarily allow users access to the licenced map format).

parents are still deciding if its worth the price though, a grand is a big slab of cash compared to a paper road map and they aren't very gadget literate. i was impressed with the size and clarity of the screen and voices (though the female one seems to shout rather than talk and the male one sounds like James Bond chatting up Moneypenny

I'd be a bit reluctant to recommend they get the Mio versions, there just doesn't seem to be any online support for those so the possibility of ever getting updated maps seems far less likely than with the Navman.

Been exhausting my fingers searching reviews and forums so will just see if they decide they really need it enough for the price or not. Thanks a heap for the help and the great reviews/info elsewhere on this site (was invaluable too when i bought my CF GPS card a while back).

[Scruge]

Having owned my Navman now 21days I've prepared a list of my curiosities.

1) The green pilot light on the front never turns off, even when battery switch is set to off. Its like a beacon to thieves, TAKE ME.
2) Display brightness is still too bright for nightime at lowest setting.
3) POI can't be set if you aren't near or on a street. Large mall and airport parking lots will yeild a message telling you to go to nearest street before setting a POI. Puzzling request considering all the warnings about not fumbling with it while driving.
4) Setting your destination is the most poorly thought out process I've ever incountered. There is only one "Katy Freeway" and only one City of Houston in the state of Texas. Yet when you enter Houston it list 15 and if you don't pick the correct one you will not find your street and be punished by making you go through the process of re-intering the name of the town again until you pick the correct Houston. Once you finally get the correct Houston selected from the list and want to enter your street name "Katy Freeway" , you'll be presented with a list of 25 "Katy Freeways" again you must figure out which Katy Freeway contains the hundred block of your destination. They are all identically listed with no clues as to their differences. If you get it wrong you must restart the entire process over and over again.. There is no means to backup to the list and try a different selection. It just aborts the process.
5) No quick and easy popup menu to turn on and off special features without going through a slug of setup menus. Things like auto zoom and display properties should be readily available, but aren't.
6) I can't make sense of Topo maps when icn510 doesn't even report elevation, which is a basic gps function.
7) No odometer
8) No means to record a trip
9) No means to back track
10) No basic gsp functionality for when you want to go off roading or boating. Whats the point of being small and portable if it only works on streets.

One serious problem I found with mine and the few the dealer still had was with the icn510 12vdc charger. For whatever reason it allows power from the icn510's battery to flow back into your cars electrical system. I noticed the problem shortly after turning my ignition off and discovered my cell phone charger, which was on the same circuit, was still getting power. The circuit normally is switched with the ignition key. Only after I unplugged the navman charger did the cell phone charger LED turned off. I hooked up a VOM to the navman charger and discovered it was draining the icn510's 4volt battery into my cars electrical system.
Could be another unknown cause of car fires, like the cruise control in Ford trucks.
I submitted my concerns to Navman last week via email but haven't recieved a response yet. I'll be sure to post their response if I ever get one.

Bottom line.. its worth $200.. But there is no way would I pay $350 to $750 I see it listed for. There are far better options available at those price points. I paid $300 for mine.. I would guess by the end of the summer it will be closed out at below $200. Keep in mind you still have to buy a $50 SD memory card for it.

[DreX]

There should be a diode somewhere in the Charger
plug circuit

This would only allow power to flow into the Navman not back out
of it

Someone who is up on electronics should be able to work out
what value and where to put a diode

[Scruge]

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!