HP iPaq 314 - First impressions

LeNoir · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 17, 2005 Posts: 8

I was recently forced to buy a new sat nav after having my old system stolen. After using this site and shopping around for a while I went for the 314. I have been a long time user of TomTom and then Navigon so my perception is gauged along the lines of those products.

The physical device is nice, huge screen that is crystal clear and no button clutter. The windscreen mount is sturdy but there is not enough rotation adjustment for my liking. The physical thing that lets this device down is the speaker, just not loud enough.

The actual GPS receiver seems very powerful, when I first opened the box and fired her up, I got a full gps signal in my house not near a window which was surprising.

Bugs - there seems to be a bit of a bug when in 3d overview mode that the map occasionally zooms in to 2d mode and does not orientate the screen view to the road i.e. you appear travelling left to right on the screen. this is really off putting and I dont know if that is a general software fault or the way I have got it set up.

3d - The 3d buildings on the map are good, driving around Birmingham it is surprising how accurate the 3d image is compared to the actual building in font of you. If you like gadget stuff you will like this! The 3d overview map is also very good, when you are driving down a motorway there is no point is looking at a straight line on the screen so you set overview mode to come on and you gat an aerial image of you and the surrounding area which is more interesting.

In summary the unit has some strong point and a few grumbles, out of the box I give it 6/10 compared with 7/10 for Tom tom and 8/10 for Navigon. However as I am learning more about the unit and the added functionality I am sure I will be able to get more out of it and the score will increase. I will post back when I have the TMC lead

LeNoir · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 17, 2005 Posts: 8

I got my TMC lead and was keen to experience the joys of updated traffic congestion and avoidance. Unfortunately this is not to be. I plugged the TMC lead in, went to the extras screen and configured the radio stations. Ok, back to the navigation screen, set the destination and no GPS signal. Start driving and let the unit warm up. 10 minutes later no GPS, 1 hour later no GPS.

Something has gone wrong, disconnect the TMC lead and try a soft reset. Press the reset button, nothing. Press and hold, nothing. Ok wait to get home and reset it through the software on the PC. Connect the USB lead and the computer chirps to recognise the device. 5 seconds later it disconnects itself and so on and so forth.

So today I call the supplier (total PDA) to get a replacement unit, not a hope I have to phone hp to get support. So here I am on the phone to HP for 1 and a quarter hours at 8p a minute. They have no idea what this unit is, the best bit is when they told me the fault was with the TomTom software, I had to point out to them it was iGo.

The unit is 5 days old, HP said they will repair the unit but it is on 5 business day collection and return so at best it will out of my possession for 3 weeks.

I can go on but in summary I would recommend you steer clear of this device. I appreciate this could be a one off error, however the support is diabolical.

Infama · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:18 pm Post subject: Re: Its all gone very wrong!

LeNoir · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 17, 2005 Posts: 8

Thanks Infama, I have taken out the battery and it seems to have reset it and all is working as it should be again.

This time the TMC setup bit works, it scans threough all the radio channels states 'TMC Present' but thats it, no information on broadcasts listed. Drove from Brum to Brighton and back today and not one TMC message. I am also regretting spending the £40 on the TMC lead.

To finish on a good point, I do like th way the unit automaticaly switches between night and day mode at dawn / sunset automaticaly without having to touch the screen, very practical!

Infama · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:42 pm Post subject:

Ipaq 310/314/316 firmware update for North America will be on the server to download this week (April 4), the versions for Europe early next week. Both via content manager tool that you download from www.ipaq.com.

Not sure about 312.

Infama · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject:

Firmware updates for Europe and the US now available for download via Content manager!

umern · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 18, 2008 Posts: 1

Hi,
I am thinking of buying an iPaq 314 but from your initial comment and a review on another site, there seems to no way to 'reroute' or 'avoid part of route' option as you have on TomTom.

Have you managed to find such a feature or can you confirm it is definitely missing?

I often use the avoid part of route option on my current TomTom software and dont think I could do without it.

Thanks in advance for your reply!

harry66 · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:28 pm Post subject:

Holding down the wheel brings up a popup menu which has an avoid option.

dougproctor · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:01 pm Post subject:

LeNoir,
Did you ever get this TMC arial working? I ask because I had a hell of a problem with it in that it kept asking for a subscription and gave me the main USA HP page as the link to buy it. And I understood it was free!
HP support (I use the term loosely) knew nothing about the product, I mean they suggested I contact Classic FM to buy a subscription for the product!! That's the problem with outsourcing all your support to India/Pakistan. But that's another story.
I could find no information at all on this, from HP sites or GPS forums, so have returned the thing as a bad job.
I mean, if HP can't give me a link to find out any information, what chance have we mortals!!

harry66 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:39 pm Post subject:

I am keen to buy the TMC unit but cant find much info on it, so if Lenoir you can post some feedback I too would be grateful.

Thanks!

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