Mio P350 + Wifi Card better than P550?

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Hi,
In view of all the GPS sensitivity/reception problems that seem to be experienced by owners of the P550, wonder if anyone has any thoughts about the idea of buying a P350 and extra Wifi SDIO card? (£30 on ebay). Would this ammount to the same thing with better reception, and also less costly?

Can onyone see any disadvantages to this? Any advice appreciated :-)

P.S. I'm wanting to buy a PDA/Tomtom combo (also for MemoryMap use) and like the P550 but am put off by the sensitivity probs reported by the tests over at GPSPassion forum.

Border_Collie · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:33 pm Post subject:

I found the following two items elsewhere, which may help.

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Thanks for the reply. I'd actually read the post you mention about tomtom probs, and it seems there are workarounds for some of the locking onto satellite issues. what concerned me more is a post over at gpspassion where sensitivity of gps reception between P350 and P550 was compared and found to much much weaker on the P550:

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=56706

There seemed to be some people thinking this could be down to WifI implementation interfering with GPS in some way. For this reason, was wondering if P350 + additional Wifi may get all features without compromising signal quality?

doogy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 22, 2006 Posts: 12

Have had my P550 for just over a month and have to say I've been very impressed. I use a Garmin Etrex Legend for outdoor stuff etc and compared to that the GPS on the P550 is fantastic...I can get a fix on 6-10 sats (while up to 11 are in view) indoors (downstairs in the house). I have Mio Map, TTN 5.21 and Memory Map pocket navigator installed on a 1GB SD card. I use Visual GPSce and winfast navigator as tools just to check settings etc but so far every time I've used the unit it's been spot on. I did fiddle a bit when I first got it with GPS settings etc and did have to do one re-install (my fault) but no other problems.
Now the issue of wi-fi card + P350 v P550....for me having one unit with it all is best...remember the P550 also has BT. If you search the many PDA forums, SD wi-fi cards seem to have more compatibility problems than high capacity SD memory cards so beware of which combination you choose. Also, external wi-fi cards consume more battery power and stick out of the unit a bit so may need removing every time you put the PDA in a case. It also means that if you are running GPS software with big maps on an SD card you'll have to keep swapping cards when you want to use wi-fi etc. I use my P550 for BBC News, google etc (specific PDA sites) and for outlook email....both work very quickly and were easy to set up.
On the downside....MIO Support seems to be rubbish...never get a response from emails and the call centre is on a premium rate number at 35p per minute. However, with just a little bit of patience and help on these forums I'm sure whichever way you go you'll be satisfied.

Good luck

Craig

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Thanks doogy... your experience with the P550 is quite encouraging... especially as you are using the same software I hope to be using (Tomtom for in car and MemoryMap for walking). If the unit works as good as a Garmin for walking and without probs in car then it's certainly good enough for my needs. Can anyone recommend an online shop that has good customer service/returns policy, so if I buy one and experience probs I don't have to worry about probs with sending it back and getting a refund?

doogy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 22, 2006 Posts: 12

Just bear in mind lavapies that using the unit for walking will have the restriction of the battery as it's main downfall. I still use my Garmin as it lasts 20+hours on 2300mAh batteries and can be dropped in mud and washed clean...something I wouldn't advise with the Mio. However the P550 is a nice to have addition as a backup and the OS maps from MM look great on the 3.5" display.

Regards

Craig

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

thanks for the reply Craig good advice about battery life... I reckon 4 hours may be enough for my needs though as I only really plan to use it in to confirm where I am on the paper OS map. I reckon I may get one of the waterproof cases that seem to be available for it too. Can you recommend any online shops at all ?

mikealder · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:41 pm Post subject:

For a decent waterproof case that also offers a good degree of protection if you drop the unit try http://www.otterbox.com/ If you want additional information how to get 12 hours life from one of these units when coupled with a home made battery pack that is part of the case give me a shout, its not rocket science - I use mine on a regular basis - Mike

dougproctor · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:04 am Post subject:

I got my P550 from Globalpositioningsystems and because I was having problems setting up TomTom, I returned it to them and they were very good. Get a return number, return it, get a refund.
Avoid Pixmania, their return process is a nightmare! See my post on the retailers to avoid forum.
Doug

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Thanks Doug I actually just read your "retailers to avoid" thread before I saw this post! I'm tempted to go with either them or gpsforless who seem to get a lot of good recommendations too. thanks again.

- also thanks for the casing advice mike they look like a really good option for protecting the pda in rubbish weather. cheers

doogy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 22, 2006 Posts: 12

I bought from Clove Technology...excellent service as I had a problem with the supplied 512 SD card and on calling them at 1pm on the Tuesday a replacement arrived special delivery at 8am on Wednesday. Also..you always get an answer on the phone when you call...just as customer service should be...not some automated system or having to hold for ages

Craig

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Thanks for the tip Craig although I ordered earlier today from globalpositioningsystems. Think I got a good price they did a pricematch with Handtec and i got it for £238inc vat.. ordered next day delivery so will receive tommorow and will of course relate +ve or -ve experiences (hopefully + :-) ... hope I didn't get one with the GPS alignment issue... Hoping for the best!

doogy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 22, 2006 Posts: 12

Good luck lavapies and I too hope you get a good 'un!

lavapies · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Quick update on my experience with P550 .. just received the unit and have installed TomTom and MemoryMap.....

Well -- ups and downs!

Ups: Good fast PDA MemoryMap maps look great and Tomtom looks good too, good bright screen and speaker is plenty loud enough in car.

Downs: Has difficulty acquiring GPS fix in car BUT my Peugeot 206 has a coated windscreen. When I put unit under black dots in middle of screen it gets a fix with 5 sats. So, if others would still manage to acquire a signal behind my windscreen I don't know?

Signal Strength Notes: Both in my house next to window and outside I normally 9-12 sats in view (VisualGPSce) but only using 3-6 max of these. Is this normal, or should it be using more than 3-6?

Thanks folks, any tips appreciated :-)

neil01 · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:10 am Post subject:

I have been reading around this problem because the P550 is quite high on my list to replace my current unit.

From what I can glean, there is no reason why one unit should be be better than the other, other than the fact that there was a fault with some of the chips.

I understand that the faulty units are being replaced.

Until we can be sure that the P550s being supplied are up to spec, there is probably no reason to consider a wireless SD card/P350 solution to obtain better GPS reception. And as for price, many of the SD cards available are around the difference in cost between the P350 and P550, but they don't appear to have any memory! So it does somewhat render the unit with the wireless SD card fitted a little useless for anything which requires SD memory.

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