After more than a year ...thoughts on SmartST V1 +SP2 ....

Tekkytyke

Having taken the plunge and bought a Navman 3400 for my iPaq over a year ago I experienced the love/hate thing that goes with using Sat-Nav systems.

'Lowlights' were.... often losing signal ) invariably as I was nearing destination -just when I needed it.)
Being routed up and down a dual carriageway near Sunbury once when it was really busy and I had queued for 15 mins to access a roundabout only to be told to drive back up the road I had come down..then it told me to go around the next roundabout and go back into the traffic jam....Seeing as I had a 4-5 hour drive ahead of me you can imagine how I felt about it!!!

After 30 years of 'clean' driving returning from Stansted to Yorkshire recently up the A1 went through a camera at 81mph at 01:08 in the morning on a quiet dual-carriageway little traffic, good conditions!! Lincolnshire- I should have known!! I saw it - and thought I was OK as I was cruising around that speed all the way back. It also flashed on approach so I did not slow... The annoying thing was the Sat-Nav said 77mph although the speedo did say 83!

Highlights have been...discovering that SP 2 improved the routing (well near me) at least so I spent less time leaving motorways by the first exit only to rejoin them!!
Finding that the double thickness of Anti-static bag 'blue-tacked' on the inside of the sleeve massively improved ttff,reliability and overall signal strength...(forget the cynics, if you have an older model like me - it works a treat)
I recently navigated across Italy from Pisa to a small town in Marche called Amandola and returned back to Pisa Airport via the Garfagnana and Lucca 2 days later. My wife , with whom I would normally come to blows, since the only time we ever row is when she is 'navigating' - and the reason I bought Sat-Nav in the first place- was ecstatic. It behaved faultlessly I have to say and followed the exact route I would chose when I made my 'backup' plan. (The Italy maps are not very detailed it has to be said when driving around mountain towns and in rural areas but it does get you to most major and small towns OK)

I did find that the thing was a lot more stable if you made the point of starting it from where you turned it on... It got very confused if you turned it on some miles from where it was last used (and turned off)

I got most reliability when using a soft-reset before long journeys..

Overall a good (ish) experience saving me quite a few 'deaf and dumb' breakfasts from the spouse. The recent Italy drives even made her appreciate why I had 'wasted money on that da*n thing after the teething troubles since she could sit back and enjoy the scenery instead of me shouting at her as to which Autostrada exit to take while she turned the map upside down for the 'umpteenth time'

Can't say I will rush to change to the latest and greatest until the maps become so out of date as to be unusable :D

lbendlin · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 5:18 am Post subject:

Nice story. One quick advice - The speed displayed by the GPS is much more accurate than the one of the Speedometer. The latter one must show +5% - it's the law... So your true speed was 77, no matter what the speedo or the police would say. (I still wouldn't argue with the police, though...)
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trooperman · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 09, 2004 Posts: 7

8O I also purchased the Navman ST3400 and ST Pro Jan 2003 and Have used it extensively in the UK and mainland Europe. I concur with most of your impressions.

The most attractive feature, is the portability, I use it in hire cars on the continent and by foot when in Paris.

The system was originally supplied with SmartPath software, but I quickly upgraded to Smart ST Pro. Pre SP1, the unit was almost unusable, but SP1 seemed to solve many glichtes, although many do remain.

Highlight with the uinit was using it to Navigate around France whilst towing a caravan. I always had the Michelin Atlas in reserve, but seldom needed it.

On the down side several really irritating bugs and "hit and miss" expericence when searching for locations.

Currently SMART STpro (Sp1 and SP2) locks up on me during every journey - odd, after a few months "trouble" free. Awaiting a response from Navman on this one.

Contemplating the upgrade to V2, but the price is really off-putting especially when you can buy the whole V1 package including 3100 sleeve for £180. Perhaps TomTom might be considered if the maps are up-to-date enough.

In conclusion, despite all its faults I wouldn't like to be without it - the number one tip that I have is to store the current destination as a QUICK NAV so that when the system does play up, a quick reset and then select the QUICK NAV destination, hopefully before missing an important junction !

Tim Buxton · Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:56 pm Post subject:

Lutz,

gambitgander · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:45 am Post subject:

Not sure what the current law is, but I know the police used to work on the 10% rule:

ie: 30mph speed limit, will allow 3mph over (33mph)
50mph speed limit will allow 5 mph over (55mph)
70mph, and so on...

Sure this is still the case.

I do know that the GPS speed being reported is more accurate than the speedo

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