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Ex-forum ?
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martike
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Joined: Aug 02, 2005
Posts: 194

PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:56 pm    Post subject: Ex-forum ? Reply with quote

This is the first message posted on this forum since December 15 - that's exactly a month ago.

I suppose you could argue that no messages here means that all Michelin users are completely happy and no one has any problems, but I think it's more likely they've just given up, bought TomToms, and moved to another forum.

Is it time to officially pronounce that both this forum and Michelin GPS software are no more, have ceased to be, expired and gone to meet their maker, are bereft of life, resting in peace, off the twig, pushing up the daisies, kicked the bucket, shuffled off their mortal coil ?

Is this an ex-forum ?
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tanda
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Joined: Aug 21, 2005
Posts: 617
Location: Gloucester UK

PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still have and use my ViaMichalin, and It still does what I want, without any problems. I think you are right, a lot of people have changed to TomTom or whatever, and the ViaMichelin Forum isn't very popular, but the last person to post was elan2s, and he was the 42192nd person to look at that perticular thread. So while even a few people find it of interest, I think it should stay.
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elan2s
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Joined: Dec 07, 2004
Posts: 143

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:37 am    Post subject: Au Revoir vM Reply with quote

Intersting observation that I was the last post on this forum one month ago and this may be my last post on this forum, period as I have made the switch to TT. Below is a summary of my experience and from that my conclusion that vM is in real danger of simply dieing through lack of users.

Over the past few months I have been considering my options regarding the need to update the maps for my vM software as they are now over two years old. I had held off upgrading from v3 to v4 due to the many luke warm comments on this board, thinking I would do something when v5 was launched.

I was therefore very disappointed to find that not only were vM continuing with their ridiculous policy of only supplying map upgrades with new versions of software and offering a derisory discount for existing users but also that the latest version of vM is not able to run on my Sony Clie TJ-35 pda. This led me to re-evaluate my needs and with that I have been looking at the TT Navigator 5. I know this is not the latest version and therefore does not address one of my issues with vM but it will run on my pda (TT v6 like vM v5 won’t) and I was able to come by a copy at a very fair price. In addition the latest updated maps from TT are available for both v5 and v6 at just €59.95 for the UK or €99.95 for all of Western Europe. Indeed if you buy the v6 versions of the maps you get the upgrade to the v6 software for free – something vM would do well to take note of.

Having now played around with the TT software all I can say is what a shame that 2 years ago when I purchased the vM software it was not possible to buy the TT software for the Palm without buying a PDA as well. In my opinion it is a far superior product than vM v3 in almost every way. Specifics include:

    • Ability to route round congestion
    • Ability to create a complete journey with a number of “via” points
    • Better screen graphics and user interface
    • Easier management of POIs including those from PGPSW
    • Able to use without a destination so it can be used solely to warn of speed cameras (or other POIs!). I had reverted to v2.5 of vM because of this feature being removed with v3
    • POI warnings issued based on distance rather than time so you only get the warning once rather multiple times if queuing in traffic which I found very annoying
    • Clearer instructions, including “do this then do that”, although there have been a couple of instances when it does not seem to know its left from its right but vM was not immune from that either
    • Fewer instructions, only issued when actually necessary
    • Better audio files which are clear even through the small speaker on the pda
    • Knowledge of tolls and congestion charges and ability to route round them
    • Faster route calculation/recalculation
    • Full 7 digit postcode entry and better accuracy (so far). With v3 of vM I had put in the right partial postcode and selected correct road but ended up 5 miles from where I should have been albeit on a road with the right name!
    • Fewer incidents (so far) of daft routing, such as being direct up people’s driveways and down farm tracks – I appreciate a later version of the vM maps might of addressed this as it may have been a TeleAtlas issue
    • Able to have the application on a memory card rather than resident on the pda freeing up memory space
    • Should I get a Bluetooth PDA in the future then the ability to get real time info on congestion and automated re-routing


Downsides so far are few. The only ones at present are that you cannot select and manage the map data on a PC, so you need a 1Gb memory card on your pda if you buy the Western Europe map as it is an all or nothing option also you cannot change the default settings for road speeds so influence the routing selected. However I suspect that the mapping data has better knowledge of the actual speed limits rather than the one size fits all approach from vM. Another possible downside is that because TT is so popular I will be following the same route as everyone else in getting from A to B.

So as the title of this post says it’s Au Revoir viaMichelin. I cannot see any reason to continue to use what is clearly an inferior product and the pricing of upgrades, even I f they were compatible with my pda (which they no longer are) is simply extortionate. I would strongly recommend anyone considering the upgrade to vM v5 to evaluate TT before they part with their cash.
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martinloat
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Joined: Jan 15, 2007
Posts: 26

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:58 am    Post subject: Infrequent posts Reply with quote

Please don't. I (along with half the country) got a GPS this Christmas and am only just getting to grips with it. Forums like this are invaluable particularly for the less than mainline products
I have the Kirrio (now viaMichelin) Palm Tungsten E2 based car kit with viaMichelin v.3.2 software.
My first problem (fixed courtesy of information on this forum) was poor satellite locking due to low signal strength caused by the windscreen of my Renault Laguna - fixed by relocating the antenna to the "spotty" area behind the rearview mirror which is not anti-reflection coated.
My next concern is to load speed cameras onto the maps and this is the only forum that tells me how to do it for v.3 software, although it does also add a concern that no one has got around to updating the viaMichelin database for a while (does this mean I can claim free lifetime membership by spotting missing/relocated cameras for this dB? Wink ).

Perry
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tanda
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Joined: Aug 21, 2005
Posts: 617
Location: Gloucester UK

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Martinloat, I think you will find, ALL the databases on this site are updated at least once a month, if not, twice, so no, you can't claim your free membership, because the ViaMichelin database is out of date,(because it's not), but if you find a camera that is missing, it will be missing from all the other databases too, so report it quick to be the first, and possibly claim a free membership.
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elan2s
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Joined: Dec 07, 2004
Posts: 143

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am not sure if it has changed of late but for some time there has been a problem with the version of the camera database you download by selecting vM as it has not been updated. If you want the latest version you need to select "other" and then download the .asc version
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martike
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Joined: Aug 02, 2005
Posts: 194

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like Martinloat, when I bought my ViaMichelin it was this forum that helped me get it up-and-running (no help whatsoever from Michelin), and it was elan2s who was mostly to thank for that.

Then I upgraded to V3 and pretty soon downgraded back again when I discovered all the “improvements” were actually reduction of functionality and an interface I never did get used to. When versions 4 and 5 came along I just wasn’t interested, and Michelin’s marketing strategy seemed to be designed to deliberately antagonise their existing users in favour of winning new ones. In a way it’s quite satisfying that they now seem to be losing out both ways. A company with such a poor idea of customer support doesn’t deserve any better.

But now my v2.5 is getting a bit dated so I’ve started to look around and TT is the obvious place to go. I appreciate the time and effort put in by elan2s to tell us all about his TT 5, as I will probably also have the same problem as him with PDA compatibility.

My only hands-on experience with TT has been with a friend’s TT One. That does have a PC interface, and its as bloody awful as the TT unit itself is bloody good !

Still, most of my travelling is on roads I know well and I really only use my GPS to give me estimated arrival time, an accurate speed, and as a means to go a different route if the traffic starts to build up. The obsessive interest with speed camera databases shown on this site has never interested me, so there’s little reason to come here any more (I even forgot about this thread for a week).

So in a way elan2s has become like a set of bookends (sorry if you don’t appreciate the comparison). He was my first contact here, and is likely to be my last.

On the other hand, when I am in unknown territory then my VM is still sufficiently useful to get me where I want to go, so maybe I’ll just stick with it a bit longer .....
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michaelj2
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Joined: Oct 05, 2006
Posts: 157

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:56 pm    Post subject: ViaMichelin 980T Reply with quote

I have a ViaMichelin 980T and a Garmin 2820 Streetpilot and have some difficulty in deciding which is better for my purposes. The TMC on the ViaMichelin works really well and the POI information is superb. BUT there is no seperate forum for the GPS unit on this site and therefore I often come to this forum to see what others are thinking.

Why is there not a seperate forum for ViaMichelin GPS units?
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paulhath
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Joined: Jan 20, 2007
Posts: 1
Location: Tadley, England

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have just aqcuired my first gps system to use with my Palm T5 as a post-Christmas "treat" - yes, it's a ViaMichelin kit with v. 3.11 and the BT-308 reciever.

So far, it's worked well, apart from a hiccup crashing my pda a few hundred yards from home (I think I lost satellite reception, things got confused and the bluetooth dropped due to too much processor activity!) Some more "field tests" are planned before use in anger!

With regard to getting upgrades etc, I agree with other comments on this forum - they're non-existent except for much more than I paid for the kit initially!

So, I guess I'm treating vM as an "entry level" suck-it-and-see system for a little outlay before moving on to better things (if I need to!)
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martike
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Posts: 194

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I’ve switched to TomTom Navigator version 6. If you’ve read this thread from the top then you’ll know why I’ve followed elan2s’ lead, and so far I have to agree with him that I should have done it years ago.

TomTom does not list my PDA as compatible, but another model from a different manufacturer which is supposed to be identical is listed, so I took a chance, and it works without any problems (so far).

I’m not saying TTN6 is wonderful in every way, but it is a far superior product to ViaMichelin (although I have to admit that I’m comparing it with VM 2.5, which perhaps is not entirely fair).

I don’t like the TTN6 menus. Why does each menu item have to come with its own icon ? What’s wrong with a simple list ? At least that way all menu entries would fit on a single screen.

But I do like having back many of the features that Michelin removed one by one from their product each time they “improved” it, and the main thing that I’ve gained is way-points which for me was the really big failing of VM.

So I’m off to the TomTom Navigator forum, maybe I’ll see you there ....
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jonandmarkuk
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Joined: Aug 06, 2006
Posts: 832
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:12 am    Post subject: Re: ViaMichelin 980T Reply with quote

michaelj2 wrote:
I have a ViaMichelin 980T and a Garmin 2820 Streetpilot and have some difficulty in deciding which is better for my purposes. The TMC on the ViaMichelin works really well and the POI information is superb. BUT there is no seperate forum for the GPS unit on this site and therefore I often come to this forum to see what others are thinking.

Why is there not a seperate forum for ViaMichelin GPS units?


I have also wondered that. I own a x980T and find it really useful and the 'pacman' mode is very easy to understand giving a much easier view of the exits.
Could we not move this forum into the GPS hardware section. I'm sure other users of the GPS units such as the x980t come onto this forum and don't bother to post questions as there is nowhere obvious for the posts to be put.
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Darren
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Location: Hampshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:06 am    Post subject: Re: ViaMichelin 980T Reply with quote

michaelj2 wrote:
I have a ViaMichelin 980T and a Garmin 2820 Streetpilot and have some difficulty in deciding which is better for my purposes. The TMC on the ViaMichelin works really well and the POI information is superb. BUT there is no seperate forum for the GPS unit on this site and therefore I often come to this forum to see what others are thinking.

Why is there not a seperate forum for ViaMichelin GPS units?

The forum began when ViaMichelin launched their software package. Ideally we would prefer to maintain all discussion of ViaMichelin, be it software or hardware under one single banner so perhaps we ought to rename the forum to ViaMichelin Navigation Software/Hardware?
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jonandmarkuk
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Location: Derby

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think that would be a great idea.
I get the impression that ViaMichelin are more focused on the PND GPS market now (could be mistaken).
Posting a review of my x980T and the replies on it indicate that we do have some ViaMichelin PND users on this forum Smile
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Darren
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Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40
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Location: Hampshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jonandmarkuk wrote:
I think that would be a great idea.
I get the impression that ViaMichelin are more focused on the PND GPS market now (could be mistaken).
Posting a review of my x980T and the replies on it indicate that we do have some ViaMichelin PND users on this forum Smile

I suspect PND's are the greater focus of everyone now. Much easier to support and less piracy issues!
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jonandmarkuk
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Darren wrote:
jonandmarkuk wrote:
I think that would be a great idea.
I get the impression that ViaMichelin are more focused on the PND GPS market now (could be mistaken).
Posting a review of my x980T and the replies on it indicate that we do have some ViaMichelin PND users on this forum Smile

I suspect PND's are the greater focus of everyone now. Much easier to support and less piracy issues!


Yes Smile single platform. I work in support and I know what a nightmare it used to be when we had a wide mix of devices to support. Having standard platforms such as a PND makes like much easier for everyone. (or it should)
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