Heys! Fiirst post chock full o' questions! :) Your thoughts?

Bouncer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 2

Hiya! First post so be gentle. Smile

I bought the Navman SE (3450 as I recall) sleeve for my Ipaq about 8 months ago. The software version I have is 1.95 (Service Pack 2) which is two CD's of the US. I'm now getting ready to do some travel through Europe and was wondering if I can buy the european map set. Navman has a really odd way of doing their version sets so I'm trying to figure out if I need the 1.96 set or a later set.

I'm also concerned about the switch from Navteq. I do not use my system enough to be anywhere near as well versed as the rest of you appear to be in the pro and con arguments. What I'm trying to get at is that, as I read it, the 1.96 software is Navteq Europe, but the newer stuff would be Tele-Atlas (sorry if I get the names wrong). Would this, to your knowledge present a compatibility issue? I'm not even sure you can buy the 1.96 software anymore and by god Navman USA makes it damn near impossible to find out through their site.. they don't even list a way to buy the europe software seperately at all! (that I could find).

Which brings me to a question about an alternative... would it be smarter to just bag the navman software and go with TT? If so, should I go with TT2 or TT3? I apologize in advance, I'm just trying to put together a solid system I can use on both sides of the Atlantic without having to change out software and such everytime as I have quite a few trips back and forth coming up.

Oh, one last question and I promise. Smile

What mapping software covers the Mid-East and Gulf states? Anyone know about that or am I more or less out of luck there?

Thanks for any thoughts you may have!

Regards,
-Bouncer-

Tim Buxton · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 10:25 am Post subject:

Hi, and

to the forum.

As far as I can recall, we never had V1.95 here in the UK. We moved from 1.91 to 1.96. You can buy European maps, but most shops will have V2, not 1.96. In the UK, if you used V2 with SP2 you could use these with 1.96 maps but not 1.91. You might be able to get some information from the US support as to whether you can use your 1.95 maps with V2 software.

You are quite correct in that 1.96 used Navteq data whereas V2 uses TeleAtlas. My own personal take is that 1.96 provides more accurate mapping but V2 offers better (more sensible!) routing.

If you decided to bin the Navman software that you already own and move to TT then the latest release here in Europe is V3, which isn't compatible with V2, which is current in the US, so that would still mean having two lots of software on your PDA.

Just to throw another spanner in the works, Navman have released V3 of their software here in Europe. Currently this is only for their iCN range, but the PPC version is allegedly on the way. Again, this is backwards compatible with V1.96 data.......

So to summarise, firstly I'd find out if your V1.95 data is compatible with V2 software. If it is then I'd attempt to source a copy of SmartST V2 for Europe.

You say it isn't shown on the US website, but I found it here.

If the two are not compatible then perhaps Mapopolis would be an option for you, as with almost anything else you'd need to buy both US and Europe packages anyway. At least (I think) Mapopolis would offer a common platform, it uses Navteq data and you can try before you buy.

Finally, I know nothing about mapping software for the Middle East.
_________________
Tim

kartracer · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 2:35 pm Post subject:

Another option might be to stick with the Navman software while in the US, and install another product such as TomTom or CoPilot alongside it for use in Europe.
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Kam

Bouncer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 2

Wow!!! I looked and looked and never ever saw that. (I thought I was pretty thorough too!) nice find!

Oh I see what I did wrong. Apparently the navman.com and navmanusa.com are ..the same company.. with different sites.. and different options.. because ..they are all.. schizophrenic!

:/

Anyways, thanks for finding that. Now I need to figure out how to get the details on the product to open up so i can see what version it is etc.

Man, they make it difficult for you to buy from them!

Regards,
-Bouncer-

Tim Buxton · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 2:55 pm Post subject:

www.navman.com is the website of the New Zealand 'Head Office'. Navman is NZ based, although it is now wholly owned by the Brunswick Group.
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Tim

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