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Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: NUVI 310D New Users Thoughts and Queries
After some time spent trawling the web and reading up the pros and cons of most of available systems, at the weekend I invested some hard earned in my first GPS, the Nuvi 310D from Halfords. I narrowed my choice down to Tom Tom Go710 and the Nuvi 310D but went for the Nuvi because it had plenty of good user feedback, was much more compact and didn't have any widely reported problems with the docking mount.
After successfully downloading the speed camera database and a few days usage I'd say I'm generally very pleased with my choice and am already wondering why I left it so long before buying.
One thing which does bug me , and may not just apply to the Garmin, is that after spending £399 on neat modern little box it all looks a bit 'Heath Robinson' when the power lead and USB traffic lead are attached. It's a shame that a neater more compact way can't be devised to save having wires hanging all over the dash and how long will the sockets hold up with all the connecting and disconnecting the leads when leaving the car ?
Now to few issues which the more experienced amongst you might be able to give some advice with.
1/ Can the number of voice prompts be reduced ? ie when travelling I can get a 1.2 mile, .9 mile, .5 mile, .2 mile prompts of an impending turn or roundabout. Add a couple more prompts at/in a roundabout and it begins to sound like the mother in laws in the car !! I'd prefer may be just one prompt near to the route change.
2/ On approaching an S bend I can receive several voice prompts of a turn left then right when no change of direction is required.This can be especialy confusing when there are actually turnings off the road being travelled on Is this a Nuvi thing or a general GPS thing ?
3/ Can the voice prompt distance be adjusted or changed ? As when approaching a turn the voice will generally prompt the turn 100's of yards before the junction. In some instances there were other roads before the junction which could have been driven down.
4/ The postcode search only appears to search to search to 5 or 6 digits and not the full postcode, ie not the last 2 letters. Is this so ? as entering one or two particular postcodes leads to directions to a neighbouring street
5/ Is it possible to add or annotate details under the 'Where to ' sections ie add golf courses not included under 'Recreation' or annotate location to pubs in 'Entertainment/Bars'.As an example a search for 'Red Lion' brings up loads but other than individually checking out each one there's no other clue than mileage.
Can't really answer any of your questions but can second the kopinion that the Garmin seemd the right way to go.
I too bought the 310D package exclusive to Halfords, seemed very good value for money considering the full Euro mapping and TMC aerial :D Did you get the memory card, when I bought mine they had just received an envelope of unmarked 256Mb cards to chuck them one in as well.
I don't find the repeated turn instructions annoying, they can be usefull when there are multiple turnings off the same road, but its the repeated warnings for the speed cameras that becomes a little tiresome even though it is a pleasant 'bong' sound.
I'm still not sure where to place the TMC aerial, tried routing it up the A pillar, then tucked between dash and screen, but then it doesn't seem to function that well.
Bought my 310D on Saturday. It's a nice little unit and easy to use, although I havn't tried anything too technical yet like loading the speed camera database. Any suggestions as to how large an SD card is required for this, I'm assuming the 256mb one supplied isn't large enough.
My phone isn't bluetooth but I understand that Nokia sell a bluetooth adaptor. Anyone know if these work with the Nuvi?
So far no problems with the Traffic receiver...worked perfectly up and down the A12 (Essex) as soon as it was plugged in and the unit powered up.
On the downside, I am having some issues with routing however, I read in other threads about the nuvi liking country lanes but some of the routes in takes are just crazy. Even set to "bus" and "faster time" it takes me off a main A road and down lanes only 1.5 times the width of the car, just to rejoin the same A road a few miles later. Given that it likes the country lanes, some of the mapping needs to be improved too, it gets quite confused between turning left, keep left and a change of direction of the road (ie. 90 degree bend) especially at junctions with more than one road, although a quick glance at the visual indication is usually enough to keep me on course.
Anyone used the nuvi in london? Driving back from Essex to Putney this afternoon I was hoping to learn a new and possibly quicker route but ended up turning the nuvi off. Having told it I didn't want to go over the QE2 bridge and therefore headed anti-clockwise round the M25 from the A12 I was told to go to all the way round to the M4! Forcing it to recalculate as I turned down my usual route (M11) it then tried to take me through the City which I wanted to avoid for the traffic and congestion charge. Eventually managed to persuade her to go over Tower Bridge (my usual route would be throught the Rotherhithe Tunnel) and then got fed up when advised to go via Clapham Common.
Sorry for such a long post but despite the ease of use and neat package I'm dissapointed with the routing. Does anyone have any suggestions?! Do tomtom and other makes have the same problems? Maybe my expectations were too high, the nuvi does get me from A to B although I can't say I trust it yet to do this in the most efficient or quickest way.
n4nick,
Get used to the mad routing. That's what the Nuvi does. Mine led me up one way streets, dragged me along miles and miles of single track roads, made up horrendously long routes when a simple, straight alternatives existed. On one occasion near Salisbury, it sent me 3 miles up a single track road (about 8 feet wide and said 'Make a U turn'. I had a tracktor coming the other way and I had to reverse 3 miles down this road and towards the end, I accidentally scraped the side of my car (new) against a rock that was sticking out of the side.
The TMC did not work in my area (Wales) and even when it worked elsewhere, coverage is only for some MAJOR A roads and all motorways.
In the end, I retuned it and bought a Mio c510. It's way better and way cheaper. I do miss the Travel guide, translator etc. but I don't miss the routing. No way!
That looks like two of you who got 256mb SD cards and I didn't. Ideally I'd like a bigger capacity but I'm still off to the store this morning to claim mine !!
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:15 am Post subject: Re: NUVI 310D New Users Thoughts and Queries
RDS wrote:
Now to few issues which the more experienced amongst you might be able to give some advice with.
1/ No, I don't think you can change the number of prompts.
2/ I think you get this because the name of the road changes so the Garmin figures that it will make an explicit instruction to turn. It is odd to get a turn instruction when you are following the main road but it's better to be safe than take a wrong turn.
3/ You get used to this. When people first get a Sat Nav they often turn as soon as they get the turn instruction, (in 400 yards turn left). Once you get used to the fact that the Sat Nav is always going to warn you 30 seconds before the turn you will get on OK. It's better than getting warned 100 yards before the turn and having to make an emergency lane change.
n4nick wrote:
My phone isn't bluetooth but I understand that Nokia sell a bluetooth adaptor. Anyone know if these work with the Nuvi?
Dude, trade your phone in on a new one. They all have Bluetooth these days and your phone provider will probably give you a nice shiny new one for free! _________________ Gone fishing!
Joined: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 2225 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:42 am Post subject:
n4nick wrote:
although I havn't tried anything too technical yet like loading the speed camera database. Any suggestions as to how large an SD card is required for this, I'm assuming the 256mb one supplied isn't large enough.
The unit itself has enough spare memory for things like speed cameras, but not enough room to load any of the European maps onto it. As such, the 256Mb card should give you enough for 1 or 2 European countries - any more and you will need something larger like a 1Gb card (although given these can be picked up for around £20, it's not a big charge).
Quote:
Sorry for such a long post but despite the ease of use and neat package I'm dissapointed with the routing. Does anyone have any suggestions?! Do tomtom and other makes have the same problems? Maybe my expectations were too high, the nuvi does get me from A to B although I can't say I trust it yet to do this in the most efficient or quickest way.
Yes, TomTom has similar, although different routing problems. Neither will know shortcuts better than someone with local knowledge. Sometimes you will find it can work out a faster route than you know, and sometimes you will be able to beat it hands down. However, SatNav comes into its own when travelling in unknown areas, or visiting an unknown address - it will get you there, it may not take the best route, but it will get you there. If you allow for this, you'll have a good time with your SatNav.
Joined: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 2225 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:52 am Post subject: Re: NUVI 310D New Users Thoughts and Queries
RDS wrote:
Now to few issues which the more experienced amongst you might be able to give some advice with.
None of your 5 "issues" can be configured by you - Garmin could tweak some of them with firmware changes, but I'm not sure many will change greatly - they have done some work on the distances of the warnings, so they may tweak it further.
As for the postcodes - even a precise full postcode can cover 3 or 4 long roads, and the co-ordinates provided in the map data point to the geographic centre of the postcode - so some postcodes will always be a few roads out.
As for the cables - it would be nice if Garmin produced a new mount with the traffic plugging into the mount, but this would require a change to the unit too (currently the rear connector does not have any data connection, only power) - if we see this feature it will be on new units, and not the current ones.
Where have you routed your TMC aerial mate? I've tried being tidy with it and routing it under the door rubber up the A pillar, but then the reception is cack
seems to work ok just draped accross the dash, but that just looks naf
Thanks for the comments regarding routing. I guess with better programming and mapping the systems will improve over time and until then a combination of sat-nav, road atlas and local knowledge will probably give the best results :D
By the way, has anyone looked at the mio 710. Seems to be selling for about 60 quid less than the nuvi but is similar in terms of features (even has a built in TMC receiver) and size. I hadn't even looked at mio until ravi mentioned he returned his nuvi for the mio 510 and this didn't have the routing problems. Any views?
Legohead, regarding the TMC, i just left it draped across the dash, yes, it looks naff but so does the power cable draped over the dash and given the comments on some threads, I was just happy it was working. I don't intend to leave the mount etc. on show in the car when un-occupied so looking untidy isn't really an issue. Driving out of London today there was a roadside "traffic management" sign advising drivers not to leave sat-navs in cars.
Joined: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 2225 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:05 pm Post subject:
n4nick wrote:
By the way, has anyone looked at the mio 710. Seems to be selling for about 60 quid less than the nuvi but is similar in terms of features (even has a built in TMC receiver) and size. I hadn't even looked at mio until ravi mentioned he returned his nuvi for the mio 510 and this didn't have the routing problems.
One thing I like about the 710 is that as well as notifying you of speed cameras, and giving an overspeed warning, it can also show your average speed as you go along roads with the SPECS cameras. Now, that would be a nice feature for Garmin to add.
The only question I have is how easily do they make map updates available? Some of the SatNav companies seem to be concentrating on new units, and not providing software / map updates to their established user base - this is certainly one area where Garmin seem to be doing it right.
Oh, and I think the TMC data is provided by iTIS, which again (in my opinion) makes Garmin a better option (as they use Trafficmaster / RAC Live).
........... it can also show your average speed as you go along roads with the SPECS cameras. Now, that would be a nice feature for Garmin to add.
It's already there (on a 360 anyway, so presumably it's also in the 310). Just go to the trip screen, reset the trip as you go past the first SPECS, the unit will then give you Moving Avg and Overall Avg since last being reset.
Joined: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 2225 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:48 pm Post subject:
Sorarse wrote:
swing wrote:
........... it can also show your average speed as you go along roads with the SPECS cameras. Now, that would be a nice feature for Garmin to add.
It's already there (on a 360 anyway, so presumably it's also in the 310). Just go to the trip screen, reset the trip as you go past the first SPECS, the unit will then give you Moving Avg and Overall Avg since last being reset.
Ah, but on the Mio it's automated, and does it for every SPECS cameras range. I had the same feature using CheckPOInt with TomTom2 on my ipaq and it is quite useful, but not enough to sway me to the Mio.
Have had a Nuvi 310D from Halfords for 3 months. Am not new to Sat Nav but find the Nuvi a delight to use.
Installed a 2 gig card into SD slot and then loaded all of European street level maps from the supplied City Navigator DVD, (but excluding UK and Ireland as these are already preloaded in Nuvi RAM.). This took just under 1 gig of the 2 gigs so could have managed with a 1 gig SD card. Street level mapping for all Western Europe now in place!
Could have put just French maps on Nuvi without SD card if sample stories, tunes etc first removed. Understanding the process of how maps get moved from DVD via PC running Mapsource software to the Nuvi took some puzzling out,but once understood, works OK.
Took car down to France and Nuvi behaved faultlessly. Open roads, in cities, small villages all no problem except where new roundabouts installed or realigned on some roads. One incidence of it knowing of a track between two points which it preferred to slightly longer tarmac road option. Great to leave the Michelin Guide on seat in back.
In UK, no real problems except that you need to look at display to see whether instruction to turn left is actually a turn as opposed to a sharp bend with a minor road going straight on.
The predicted time of arrival constantly amazes with its accuracy.
Sometimes try to outguess the Nuvi with short cuts but normally get lost and have fall back on Nuvi to sort out. Never been taken down wrong way road but occasionally turned early as misjudged the distance before turn.
Wants to use M25 when I do not and does not give up easily. Thats just sat nav weakness.
Its Bluetooth phone connection function is fine (with Sony Erricson W800i) but mike on Nuvi picks up too much background noise for other party to hear you properly.
No problems with TMC which gives useful info but sometimes shows a problem as being ahead of you when it is behind. I f the Nuvi is guiding you then a warning triangle appears if there is a problem ahead. Not sure how effective the reroute option is as some times after saying 'avoid' the warning remains.
Have Nuvi on facia (not screen) so passenger and driver can both see. TMC wire not elegant but works well running vertically in centre of screen using sucker pads supplied. Power cable also messy. Nice to take Nuvi out of car and set up routes with timings before the journey.
Overall, a great product which I would now hate to be without.
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even though it is a pleasant 'bong' sound.
