Navman PDA.+ LBS

[oldgit]

Following the article in MB&Y looked at the Navman and various other PDA units being sold at EXCEL.Seems a useful bit of kit in that as well as bring OK for road use it can also be used on the water.The show promotion price for the Navman was 399.00 including assorted power leads,brackets,some case or other but most importantly the UK street maps and the software and chart portfolio for boat use.The nearest Garmin could quote for similar setup was nearly 750.00 and the salesman for Garmin stated that I was paying for the quality and back up that Garmin provides.Many posts have confirmed the aftersales sevice of Garmin to be second to none but as most of this type of electronic kit is obsolete or old hat after a year or two,why pay twice as much for something that will be valueless in a very short time due to the ongoing dramatic drop in costs and advances in technology.
Are the days of paying extra for quality when it comes to electronics finished.
My state of the art super dooper camera costing 700/800 quid only 18 months ago is now state of the ark.Around 100 odd quid will now buy you the same amount of megapixels.
IPS? What is that then,conspicous by its absence,loads of cardboard ones around but not much metal to be seen. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Ps.Access to the boat show was fast and easy with space to move once inside.A great improvement on the old Earls Court nightmare.

 

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

what about a navman 5110i I dont know if it does the same as the pda but I got one in america for 316 dollars compared to the engish price at libs of £ 375

 

[oldgit]

Its the cost of the software and the chart folios that bumps up the price dramaticaly if you buy them all separately.
Best price is whatever unit they want to shift + bundled stuff to make it all go.

 

[Alistairr]

Don't suppose you got a contact name and number for anyone at Garmin, I could do with talking to them!

Cheers

Al.

 

[mjf]

Re: Navman PiN 570

I had the old navman PiN based on a Mio168 I think it was.

Just before Xmas SWMBO buggered up the charging lead - went back to Navman who wanted £49 to supply completely new unit. However went for upgrade and now have the Navman PiN 570. The Navman road softwear is now different but mine has full Euro street level maps and a base map with all major roads so you do not need to load up your memory. The improvements are many and its better than before (I liked it lots before).

The Memory Map charts are the same and the software is very easy. I have a couple of SD cards, and have the roads / sea area frequently used on one that says in the unit .Plus the UK streetmap sd that came with the unit ,and Finally another one covering the Channel which I use as back up on the boat.

The oyster case on the stand looks nice if you want to have the unit properly water proof mounted. I use mine (as back up) in a aquapac.

 

[Ocean_Driver]

Re: Navman PiN 570

If it is a car based system you want, I have been looking at the latest little Garmin 3i unit which can be "won" on e-bay for around £150 at the moment. This is highly competitive against the retail price

 

[oldgit]

Re: Navman PiN 570

It was the fact that the Navman gives you both water and road on the same bit of kit for a tad under 400 quids that caught my eye.