destinator 3 RANT (acer n35)

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

how poor is desinator 3??????

i tell you now VERY VERY VERY poor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bought ACER N35 today with destinator 3, endless errors and taking me to the wrong place, thought i would take a trip to a KFC in barnet. it damn well took me to behind iceland WTF is that about? so tried again for another local KFC, it took me to a dead end resdiential road?!?!?!

can someone please explain why this does this? is destiantor this poor? also it keeps reading errors such as... i'll be driving everything OK then for instance just now i turned right at a roundabout then it says U TURN BACK TO CRAWLY GREEN ROAD, then it went back to normal again. before you say it i did not take the wrogn exit as it was right near my house i knew where it was telling me to go. Also was somewhere in north london duno where as i went for a drive, it told me to turn left where the lights were so i did and then it was acting as if i took the wrong turn, so it told me to turn around but couldnt as it was a dual carriagway so had to follow the carriagway for 8 miles turned around went back, THEN IT TOLD ME TO GO BACK DOWN THAT ROAD AGAIN. well annoyed after spending £250

so is there ANYWAY what so ever to get TOM TOM 5 or something installed on my ACER N35?? this destinator software is pure rubbish. want something better, i am highly annoyed. please anyone put some input on destinator3 and what other prog i could use that is proven better.

any advice?

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

ok i got so annoyed that i deleted all my destinator 3 instal on my SD card, re installed everything, took some time to get it to work due to it asking for activation key, kept refusing the 1 i have but finally worked, reset my pda completely now when i start destinator its saying im in watford WHEN IM NOT.... really baffled... help??

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

its now located my location, still abit iffy and can jump from place to place here and there, please can anyone answer my first post? thanks in advance.

john306 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 7

Only had Acer N35 since last Friday, but did find the odd glitch when I activated Destinator, like you I found myself initially in Watford!!! soon fixed with a "recalculate".
Had a long trip today and it worked pretty good, the odd " turn left/right" when the road just had a bend in it, but nothing too bad.
One thing that it looks like its gonna have to go back for is the clock that keeps losing time, read on these forums that its a motherboard fault....Great!!!! just what I need after paying £250

Might get tomtom installed and try that out in the future.

steve404 · Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:00 pm Post subject: Acer

John,
I had the fault with the clock losing time and had to send it back to Acer at their cost to be repaired or replaced, it ended up being replaced with a new one which works fine. It really is worth sending back though.

As for finding yourself in Watford, I think upon activation they all do that. Mine found me in London initially until the satellites fix after a couple of minutes then they find where you really are, I dont think it is a fault, just the unit locating where it is. Give the unit a chance, they are pretty good once you sort out its initial glitches.

Good luck,
Steve

john306 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 7

Yeah steve I read you probs on the matter, certainly dont wanna contact Acer and be without it for weeks as I need it for my job.
I'll try to take it back to Comet tomorrow and kick up a stink if they wont replace it.
just checking the time over the last 2 hours and its lost 3 mins, but this afternoon it was like 40+ mins slow after being set correctly this morning, dunno if it was anything to do with having Destinator on all day or what, Most annoying.

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

new problem to mine, damn thing has reset itself after putting all my user information in...ect and speed camera programmes...ect its reset to default??? WTF? can someone explain....?

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

ARRGGH, well im not going to get a answer here im finally decided to take mine back. Its definatly faulty in every single way.

its reset itself again, took me AGES to put all the speed camera software on it and sounds..ect. battery was on 11% so i plugged it in my pc to charge it and it reset itself.

loada rubbish!

WARNING
DO NOT BUY ACER AND DO NOT BUY DESTINATOR SOFTWARE!!!!!
WARNING

john306 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 7

Well I can certainly feel for ya mate.
Took mine out for a "run" today having first set the time again and 8 hours later it was 6 1/2 hours slow, crap or what!!!

Popped into Comet after 7pm and they were gonna get a code off Acer for me to get a replacement but Acer customer services close at 6pm, am gonna try again tomorrow morning.
Thing is I'm most impressed with the Acer in general, it's just the clock thats spoiling things, but I am gonna get that replacement and give it one more go.

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

i dont wana sound like a moaner because im not. but yeah had endless probs with the acer n35, i really want to keep it but so tempted to just take it back to the shop.

regarding the time issue, luckily i havnt had that problem but then again ive had evertything but that problem Laughing Out Loud

.

with my reset issue, can anyone confirm that it resets if you put the usb connector into a multiple usb hub? im sure i read something about that ages ago? would appriciate if anyone can confirm this before i take the damn thing back?

lastly, before i bought the acer n35 i actually read endless reviews ..ect so i know i was going to buy something respected. i was initially goign for the n30 but found it needed a extra external gps reciever. plus the n35 version got a better score in the reveiws.

steve404 · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:07 am Post subject: N35

J4G3D,
I have had no problems with my Acer N35 like you describe when I connect/disconnect to a USB hub. Mine is forever being attached and detached from my PC without any resets.

Is it doing a 'hard' or 'soft' reset, ie is it losing all its information or just switching on without memory loss?

You seem to have had a bad unit, since I had my replacement after a slow clock issue, I have nothing but praise for the unit for the price. it got me out of a sticky situation last week in the Peak District when a road was closed after an accident, it just calmly re-routed me around the scene without fuss.

Steve.

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

im not sure what the difference is between a soft and hard reset BUT.. basically twice now its lost ALL data, literraly wiped everything apart from the history folder in destinator3. strange? ive since took my usb connector for the pda out of the multiple hub and connected straight into a high speed socket in the back of the pc, no problems yet...

nunew33 · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 04, 2005 Posts: 35

A hard reset takes you back to the initialstate (ie you have to realign touch screen)and all databases and settings are cleared.

A soft reset keeps data.

PDAs crash in general anyway,wether you have an acer or HP/Compaq. Acer have a good back uputility and it is worth doing regular backups of the whole system when you get it in a clean state(much easier than installing each app from start and reentering dataandlicence strings).

You do seem to have a bad unit. I have had an acer for 2months with no poblems with the PDA. I have some gripes about destinator, but none of the issues you have.

Some of the problems you describe all GPS systems suffer from, like time taken to get an initial fix. Most car systemsd ont get this as they are always on. Also GP Sisnt as accurate as you may think. Destinator guesses roads by the direction you travel and how approximate your location is to the nearest road. If you look at the GPS screen once its foundyour location you can see the coordschange even when you are static,but all systems experience that. Sometimes if you are on a road with a parrallel road it will pick the wrong one. Also on dual carriageways with a roandabout it can assume you are on the opposite carriageway aandcount the carriageway you are on as an exit hence stating 3rd exit when it is 2nd.

ulfire · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 03, 2005 Posts: 5

J4G3D · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 41

thank god im not the only 1 Laughing Out Loud

.

well its behaving itself lately, 'touch wood'

how do i perform a backup of this device? and why would a PDA crash all the time? ive spent hours putting this ruddy camera software on and extra voice things..ect. would love to back the damn thing up before it crashes.

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