| 14 OCT 2005 |
| Navman
iCN 510 |
Many people have heard of the term
GPS, or Global Positioning System, but are not fully informed in
what it has to offer. Many people have the misconception
that it requires dishing out money to use it, but in actuality,
GPS is a free service which requires no subscription of any sort
or any extra money. GPS involves communicating with the
existing satellites in orbit in order to determine the exact
position depending where you are. By knowing exactly where
you are, this immediately makes it a suitable application when
going on those long hiking trips or just exploring some place
you've never been to. When combined with powerful
software, GPS can provide more uses such as navigating from one
place to another.
Navman, one of the leading provider of GPS solutions, has
created a product that brings GPS capabilities for your car.
It is the Navman iCN 510. This is basically a small
powered device which contains a small GPS receiver. You
aren't just restricted to your car, because this product has an
internal battery, you can easily bring it with you no matter
where you go.
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The Navman box for the product
provides a very good representation of the product itself as
well as what you expect to see when you use the GPS
capabilities. For instance, it tells what features you can
expect with the product, what the maps look like, as well as the
kinds of things you can do.
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The unit itself is actually a Pocket
PC even though the product doesn't specifically mention it.
The reason I know is because the sticker on the back of the
product says that the device is running Windows CE as its
operating the system. The unit has a nice large screen and
a myriad of button on the right hand side, including a speaker
and a soft directional pad. The back of the unit contains
the GPS receiver. |
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The receiver lifts up like an
antenna from the back. The button on the right hand side
are well labeled and easy to press. For example, the home
button will always bring you back to the main menu screen.
The plus and minus buttons allow you to zoom in and out when
viewing the map. Also, the button displaying multiple
pages changes the view of the map.
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When using a GPS
device such as this, it needs to be able to existing maps in
order to be able to use the GPS capabilities properly. In
this case, the maps are to be provided from a Secure Digital (SD)
card. You can easily fit an entire region in as low as
64-128 Megabytes. I will explain later in this review how
maps are installed onto the SD card.
At one side of the device, there is a headphone jack, a stylus,
and a wheel.
On the other side, there is the port for the AC adapter to power
the device as well as a USB port.
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Included with
the package is a quick reference guide, a pack containing 3
CD's, and a soft leather case. It was a very good idea for
Navman to include a case.
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Before using the device, you must
charge the unit first. You can charge it by using the
provided AC adapter, or you can even charge it in your car with
the car adapter. There is a tiny switch at the back of the
unit if you wish to charge or turn on the device. The
device is inoperable if the switch is in the 'off' position.
A full charge took several hours. You can always check the
battery status of the device by going through the main menu and
into the settings.
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Once you have the unit charge, you
can now prepare the maps. First, you will need to install
the first application CD on your computer. This CD
contains the setup files required to install SmartST version 3
software. This software is used to manage and install the
maps to be able to use them with the device. Once you have
the main application installed, you may need to insert another
CD containing the appropriate state that you wish to obtain the
maps for. By following the onscreen directions, you will
be asked to plug in the device to your computer via the USB
cable. You can then select the states or the regions for
the maps you wish to install on your SD card. Whether your
SD card is in your multimedia card reader or in the Navman
device, you will still be able to install the maps either way
directly.
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Now that you have the maps ready and
the unit charged, you are now ready to use the unit. When
you turn on the unit for the first time, the start-up time will
be about 45 seconds because it needs to load the needed maps off
of the SD card. After the unit has started once, the next
time it will be much faster because the device will just be on
standby when you power the unit off.
When you turn on the device, the unit actually doesn't take long
starting up. The majority of the time spent involves
initiating a connection with the GPS. Depending on the area I was in, the GPS could initiate
a connection as low as 20 seconds to even a minute.
This is important to know because if you plan on using this
device, you need to give yourself plenty of time for the device
to initiate a connection. By navigating through the
menus, you can show the GPS status so that you know how strong
the signal is.
If it takes longer than a minute or two to initiate a
connection, it probably means that you don't have a clear view
of the sky.
Once you have finally initiated a connection, you will be able
to immediately bring up the map and let it show where you are
exactly.
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In general, the unit worked as
intended with very few hiccups. The GPS receiver was able
to maintain tracking of the unit. It updates approximately
every second when viewing your position on the map.
Since a GPS receiver is the
similarity between competing products, it is the software that
sets one product apart from another. First of all is the
map feature. When viewing the maps, you see your position
as an arrow pointing in the direction that you are heading.
Every second or so, the arrow will move and the map will move as
well to update your current position. You have the option
of viewing the map in a two dimensional birds eye view, or a
three dimensional view. Choosing which map mode to view
will be entirely up to the user's preference. Some will
find the two dimensional map easier to get a sense of the
surrounding road and areas. The three dimensional map
provides a better sense of direction while driving in the car.
There are a few quirks I'd like to share while I used the unit.
When passing through a long tunnel, the signal would temporarily
lose its connection, but after 2 or 3 seconds leaving the
tunnel, the receiver was able to update and synchronize back
with the device to update its current position. When
turning left or right on a road, there is a slight delay
compared with going straight.
The major additional feature in
the software is the ability to navigate to a specific
destination or POI (Point of Interest). When navigating to
a specific destination, you need to know the exact address you
are going to. The address is entered in a series of boxes.
When entering text or numbers, an onscreen keyboard is provided
to make it easier in entering data. I would have preferred
if the entire full address could be entered on one line and have
the software show the appropriate matches.
A 'Point of Interest' is a specific location. It can be a
store, restaurant, hotel, etc. When you want to navigate
to a Point of Interest, they are broken down into categories
such as Ammenities, Food, Accomodation, Shopping, etc. To
navigate to a Point of Interest, you are required to input the
area the place is located. If you are not sure of the
area, you will be unable to navigate to the Point of Interest.
Although the unit contained the latest maps, the Points of
Interest database is not entirely exhaustive and updated. You
can only depend on the Point of Feature navigation if the place
has not opened recently or has not moved for several years.
For example, I noticed that a Burger King restaurant was listed
incorrectly because it has moved a while back.
When you finally have a
destination set, the unit will automatically take a few seconds
to calculate the route. When the route is calculated, the
unit is ready to guide you to your destination. The unit
helps you on a turn by turn basis. With ample time before
each turn, the unit will announce the direction that you will
need to turn as well as how many feet until you will need to do
the turn. Although most people don't exactly know how much
is 200 or 300 feet exactly, it does give a sense of how far you
will need to do the turn. The routes that the unit
calculates may not be same route that you typically take when
going from one place to another.
Do not worry if you accidentally take the wrong turn or miss a
turn, the unit will automatically know that you went off track
and will automatically recalculate another route to help you get
back on track. If there are no other ways of getting to
the destination, the unit will just tell you the directions to
get back based on the original route it calculated.
When you have a destination set, you can view certain things
such as your current speed, ETA (estimated time until arrival)
or even the number the miles until you reach your destination.
This is displayed on the lower right hand corner of the map.
As always, it is not safe to
touch or operate the unit while driving. The unit has some
small safety features to help deter use while driving. For
instance, if you are navigating somewhere and you touch the
screen of the unit, a dialogue menu will pop up and will prompt
if you are currently driving the car with the yes or no options.
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Overall, I felt that this unit
excelled the most in terms of general navigation as well as
navigating from one place to another. Setting a Point of
Interest as a destination is not entirely reliable but is a
supportive feature when used. As with most GPS receiver
navigation devices, these kind of devices are fairly expensive.
This product retails for $499. My only concerns for the
device is the very soft directional pad on the unit making it
difficult to press it down as a center button. In
addition, the Point of Interest database isn't quite updated
because I'm aware it doesn't have locations that have moved or
have been brought up recently. The strength of this
product is that this unit can be used in or out of the car.
With its internal rechargeable battery, you can bring this unit
with you so you're not restricted to just using it in the car.
Reviewed by
ronald@digitalreviews.net
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