Navman 4100

matt_e · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:58 pm Post subject: Navman 4100

I thought it was about time I upgraded to a bluetooth GPS. I had been waiting for a handheld GPS with BT capability but as far as I can see the only one like that is the Fortuna GPSmart Bluetooth which seems a bit bulky and the battery life isn't so good.

I like the idea of the Navman 4100 because it takes AAA batteries and has good battery life. I would be interested to hear from any on these forums using a 4100 (or 4400 if they are exactly the same). Any problems? Is it small enough to be pocketable? Any solution to the charging 3 of 4 batteries? Are they still only available from NavCity?

Any alternative suggestions to what to get? My current gear is ipaq 2210, Garmin Etrex Summit, TomTom Nav2 and Memory Map Navigator.

Cheers,

Matt

Dave · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 10:35 pm Post subject:

When writing the review running the Navman on Duracell's I managed to get approx 15 hours usage out of the GPS, not the 30 hours quoted by Navman, but you may find using Ni-Mh batteries will give a longer battery run.

Charging 3 batteries is tricky, you could try and find a 6 battery charger, although most go in 4's.

matt_e · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2004 12:44 am Post subject:

Hi Dave. I haven't seen a 6 AAA charger but I'm sure there must be some around. I was thinking about it and it may not be the most economical way of doing it but by buying 9 AAAs and charging some in 4s and some in 2s you could probably manage it. Please let me know someone if my maths are wrong. I suppose you can only buy them in 4s so maybe you would have to buy 12? Confused

I think I might actually be best keeping my Etrex as well as getting the Navman. At least that way I will have the option to use the Etrex where I don't trust keeping my H2210 safe outdoors. On that subject, what are people using for protection when taking PDAs out in the wilds/on boats etc?

Matt Thumbs Up

Dave · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2004 10:14 am Post subject:

Don't worry about having to keep the 2210 away from water, dust etc, just get an Otterbox, they really are superb!

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/armor3600.php

Otter do a smaller version which we also reviewed here
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/otterboxes.php

matt_e · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2004 11:18 pm Post subject:

I might just invest in one of those Dave. I had previously avoided them due to price (US$ price almost equivalent to UK£ price). Seems silly not to make use of the iPAQ where it could be most useful though.
Matt

matt_e · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:50 am Post subject:

Dave,
Please excuse my ignorance but on the Navman 4400 TTFF table, why are the warm and hot tests 0s and n/a?
Thanks,
Matt

Dave · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 1:23 pm Post subject:

We don't have any for the Navman 4400 because the software we use to dub a warm and hot fix should wipe the data in the ephemeris tables and simulate a warm and hot fix, which then gives us a level playing field across all devices, but the Navman 4400 wouldn't play ball when we tried calculating this with our software.

matt_e · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 4:24 pm Post subject:

That's interesting. Does that have any 'real world' significance? I presume that apart from being a bit slow on the cold TTFF it otherwise functions as well as any other current BT GPS? Just want to make sure I don't buy something that turns out to be non compatible with some future development in GPS utility or mapping software etc.
Cheers,
Matt

Dave · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:54 pm Post subject:

Well certainly the warm and hot fixes wouldn't be slower than the cold fix, so really there shouldn't be much to worry about. We didn't achieve the suggested 30 hours in our testing on alkaline batteries though.

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