I'm about to buy the iCN520...

macnoodle · Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:20 pm Post subject: I'm about to buy the iCN520...

... and I guess I need a final roll-call of all the people here who are happy with their Navman hardware and software (for my own peace of mind) - the iCN510 or 520 in particular!

I was leaning towards the Garmin Street Pilot 320 (I have previous experience with Garmin GPS, but not a mapped version), but the size and features of the Navman are just too good to resist!

So, if you have any good reasons to recommend or steer me away from Navman (or the Garmin for that matter), please speak up now! I live in Australia, so any Aussies here: if you have personal experience with these units, I'd love to hear your opinion.

It's my first post here, so please be gentle! Smile

Clogs · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 12

Macnoodle, I'm an Aussie working in The Netherlands for 12 months (plus). I bought a Navman 510 because I was always getting lost. Because it's so small I even take it when I go for a walk. I live in "the sticks" and went for a walk after dinner one night - my logic was keep turning left and I must return to the start. After an hour I consulted the Navman which said I was 5 km from home (so much for turning left) and it guided me home. It's never failed me - in a vehicle or on foot. I've never waited more than 2 mins for a sat lock-on. Usually it's up and running in 30 seconds. I'd buy another one tomorrow.

Simon1 · Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 3:35 pm Post subject:

Another Aussie here - but I live in the UK now so it doesn't really count. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with mine after making loads of comparisons between it and the TomTom Go. I won't list the plusses except that I found the main advantages being that you can make loads of variations to the routing algorithms, and its size.

I wish Navman's customer service was better at replying to their emails but I hear they are pretty good if you ring them. Overall, I haven't had any real probs with it, others have but that's to be expected. None of these units at this price are perfect but I find in invaluable when in traffic or going somewhere new.

ShirleyTempleLives · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 04, 2005 Posts: 6

I've travelled around Spain, France as well as the UK and it's been excellent and that's on a bike. Yes I ignore it sometimes when it talks B...... but that's the same with any software/hardware combination. I'm now planning Denmark, Sweden and Norway and have no doubts about it's ability what so ever.
You'd better check that you can download the Speed Camera data base into a Garmin though before making up your mind.

Does anyone know how I can contact the webmaster about my account???

rossb · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:10 am Post subject:

macnoodle

I have a C320. I dont find its size a problem, I carry it in my bag every day. It weighs just 300grams(1/10 the weight of a laptop).

I too thought about a navman ICN510. I decided against it, as it is essentially a pocket pc in a fancy case. I thought the sound/graphics were inferior when compared to the Go/C320. Have a good look on the ICN510 forum, there seem to be many reports of technical issues, another thing that put me off.

The Garmin has its faults, but I have not seen the same level of problems reported with the Garmin. It is reliable with satellite locks, has the better navtech maps. The main weakness with the Garmin seems to be at the route planning stage. It does not have an avoid function, route planning is limited to shortest or fastest, plus there is no postcode search. Overall though, I am happy with the choice I made, I am now on my second Garmin unit.

Griff · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:34 am Post subject:

no sat nav is perfect but the 510 has been very good i am a heating engineer and visit approx 6 to 7 addresses a day in and around the London area apart from a couple of roads that I have come across that are not in the database it has not let me down gets a sat fix very fast I also have a pocket pc running tom tom version 3 and my personal preference is the 510 having said that they both do the job very well
Griff

macnoodle · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:27 am Post subject:

macnoodle · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 12:59 pm Post subject:

OK, just an update - I found out that the Garmin is definitely ready to go out of the box, no installation required (at least here in Oz).

Also, I got to play with a friend's Garmin unit earlier today, and I think I'm hooked! I really like the simple interface and the speed of signal acquisition. Just when I thought I was all set to buy the Navman... Confused

macnoodle · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 7:48 am Post subject:

OK folks, I did end up buying the Garmin StreetPilot c320. After trying both models (and several more!) at the local GPS dealer, I just could not go past the Garmin!

I am very happy with the unit. It confirms my faith in Garmin carried over from the early days of GPS, when I used a Garmin unit for navigating on cross-country flights (years ago now). The Garmins tend to be easy to use, but work well.

Thank you everyone for your help and feedback!
_________________
----
Garmin StreetPilot c320; Garmin eTrex

	PocketGPS
	Web