Good choice of GPS for local deliveries?

[danoli]

I am after a new GPS to be primarily used for local deliveries collections from customer addresses.

I already have the Garmin GPSMAP196, Garmin GPS-V and the Garmin I3 but am after something a little more dedicated to my needs.

I need the all or most of the following features

Touch screen
Colour
Voice prompts
SIMPLE postcode entry (i3 to fiddly)
SIMPLE saving of found waypoints (i3 to fiddly)
SIMPLE recall or saved waypoints.
Possible address book with other fields (tel, mobile, address etc)
Possible feature to sync the above to Outlook
Ability to input Speed camera datrabases
Input other custom POI databases.


Ideally, postcode entry would be via a touchscreen keyboard, no scrolling letters/numbers, it would be nice for all characters to be present like a keyboard.

I would like to input a full daily route of maybe 10 - 20 addresses, possibly have the GPS calculate the best/fastest/shortest route to hit all addresses in the configured route.

I do not want to use a stylus, must be usable with a finger tounch of the screen. I often have to modify a route on the fly or need to input a new address quickly, the i3 was fiddly, the faster you try to input a postcode, the more likely you make a mistake and end up doubling the time to set your destination.

Any recommendations? I would prefer a Garmin as I have 3 already and would rather stick with them although I would consider an alternative if features were not available on the Garmin.

[Tomo]

Hi,

Im not gonna reccomend a particular brand of satnav as I am biased towards TomTom (have tried Navman for a few days and played with Garmins in Halfords for an hour or more) but none of the units at the moment can "optimise" a route for you.

The nearest you could do is use Microsoft autoroute, enter your start point, waypoints and end point and ask AR to opitimise stops and then transfer these to a PDA either manually or as a Itinary which I think can be done with an add on program. The later way is probably quite fidly to do on a daily basis admitedly. If you knew your drops the night before then could be an idea? I sometimes do this if going to more than 2 or 3 sites a day, just make a note of the order on a peice of paper and navigate to each one in turn.

Cant comment on the Garmins etc too much, but with TomTom you can add POI's quite easily while on route. Takes just a few presses of the screen. You can add a POI or Favorite location by your current GPS position (which I guess would be handy for you), address, postcode, co-ordinates or recent location.

There is an address/phone/number feature in the higher TT's and can even use the unit as a handsfree kit with a compatible bluetooth phone.

Get yourself into halfords and have a play with some of the units.

You can on TT's and Garmin, set a route and then "demo" the route. This will give you an idea of the refresh rate of the screen. Some will scroll smoother than others. On TT's you can avoid part of route (any part of the route) if you know of any local traffic blackspots etc.

Higher end Garmin's may do the same as TT but I cant be sure.

Steve

[peterc10]

You can get all of that using Tom Tom Navigator 5 software on a Windows PPC 2003 (or higher) PDA. There are loads about - I use an Ipaq which is also a phone.

This unit automatically syncs with outlook (mine came with a free copy) using Autosync. So you get all your Outlook address book on the PDA. when you install TT5 it puts 2 additional options in the address book (when you touch and hold a contact), Navigate to and find on map, choose either of those and up comes Tom Tom and tries to do what you have asked

Thats the good news. the bad news is that is very fussy about the way that you enter the address on Outlook. You can't just write it, you have to call up the entry box that enables you to choose street, city etc, otherwise TT can't recognise which is which. It is also not good at finding addresses such as "Flat B, 56 High Street" because it can't decide what "Flat B" means.
_________________
Peter
HTC Sensation
Sygic GPS for Europe (No more TT "support"!)
Copilot for USA
Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount

[Tomo]

[Skippy]

[Thomaso]

Skippy wrote "I'd recommend that you look at a Nuvi or StreetPilot and get the Mapsource maps on DVD with it. That way you can program in your destinations on your PC, plan your route and then upload the lot into the Garmin. Sorted."

My recent experience with the Nuvi 310D was that having planned a route on Mapsource and downloaded it to the device it was unable to display the route or any of the POIs that I had placed in the file using Mapsource. It did, however, contain the Mapsource maps. What did I do wrong or is there a bug?

[TurnerTech]

You need a Garmin StreetPilot 2610/2720/2820.

I use a 2610 and this allows you to enter a set of ViaPoints into a route and then it has an Optimise option.

I am looking for a new house and I used this recently, very successfully, to give me a route around 12 house addresses I was interested in.

The only problem with the 2610 is that it can only handle Postcodes up to the 1st digit after the space. You can enter addresses quite easily with the touch screen.

I think the later models 2720/2820 will handle full Postcode searching. I suggest you try the full postcode searching before you buy rather than accept the maker's claim.

[alix776]

have alook at iGO it won't otimize stop for you but it will do muliple way points
_________________
currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

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