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Wayfinder GPS |
west-one
Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 13
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I recently bought the Wayfinder GPS navigation system, I had a chance to try it properly over the weekend and thought I'd give some feedback.
This system is nowhere near as good as the GPS navigation systems available for Pocket PC based systems. It is more like the GPS systems that are built into car stereo's the type with the small LED displays.
Rather than display a moving map view with directions you just get turn by turn instructions. Along with the small turn maps you also get voice instructions (these are provided by a woman with a Swedish accent which can get annoying and in some cases are difficult to understand).
You don't install the maps on your P800 instead the software you install acts as a gateway to the Wayfinder servers, you can connect by GPRS or dial up connection, and the GPS is provided by a Bluetooth receiver (EMTAC).
The system overall worked well and got me where I wanted to go. You can't choose to avoid certain roads or areas but this is similar to many Pocket PC based systems. Re-routing is fairly fast and accurate and the instructions are clear enough to follow.
The main problem I found is that trying to search the database for an address is somewhat difficult. You find an address by selecting a country, city and street, this is OK when you only have one street in the city with a particular name, but search for 'Albert Road in Birmingham, Great Britain' and you get several choices but no additional information such as district or post code to distinguish. If you do the same search whilst connected to the GPS you are told how far away each of the options are from your present location, again not that useful (if you know exactly how far in KM you are from a place it is likely that you already know where it is), the Albert Road exaple gave me options of 9km,11km,10km etc etc, so trying to guess which one I wanted was almost impossible.
It is also worth noting that the P800 version is still in early release (ALPHA 1.0.3) and is nowhere near as complete at the Nokia 7650 version appears to be.
Verdict: With a little effort it works well enough to do the job you need it to, it will get you from A-B. The main fault is the address search, this needs a lot of work. Cost wise it is similar to software available for Pocket PC and the GPS receiver is the same as used by Bluetooth capable Pocket PC. It is on annual subscription though (the benefit of this is that maps are likely to be up to date), there is also the cost of connecting to GPRS for download of navigation information.
If you have a Pocket PC buy one of the navigation systems for that, if not and you really need GPS navigation and already own a P800 then give it a try. |
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__spc__
Joined: Apr 04, 2003
Posts: > 500
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@west-one
Not that i'll be using this myself, but thanks for taking the time/effort to report back.
Steven. 
This message was NOT posted from my P800 that I no longer have |
efjay
Joined: Mar 10, 2003
Posts: 70
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west-one, nice review, I hope you will be giving this feedback to wayfinder so they can hopefully address the points you have raised, could you also advise on the gprs usage you encountered in relation to the distance travelled? Thanks |
jtrascap
Joined: Apr 14, 2003
Posts: 77
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I was thinking of getting it for Europe (I live in the Netherlands) but I had a few questions:
* Does it, or doesn't it, require a bluetooth GPS? Oddly, from their sales pages I'm confused about this...
* How heavy a user of GPRS is it?
* Was it expensive (you can also not answer this - may be too rude, but you know us Dutchies!)
Thanks! |
zaphod
Joined: May 27, 2003
Posts: 105
From: Dorset, England
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@jtrascap
Their support told me that it was only usable via a bluetooth GPS. This is a bummer because I already have fixed GPS in my car as well as the car-kit with serial interface. I don't know if this is because the local serial port is not available to application programmers, if its because they can't be bothered or if they just want to flog as many Emtak's as possible.
You can buy the subscription only I think its about 100 euros for a year for the UK.
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west-one
Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 13
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As far as I can see it does reqiure the Bluetooth GPS. The package deal includes the GPS receiver. When you start the application it automatically searches for a bluetooth GPS.
The GPRS connection is quite fast and the route is downloaded fairly quickly. GPRS usage seems to depend on the complexity of the journey. Motorway or main road driving seems to how a fairly small amount of data useage, more complex local road driving has a higher useage. I think that the quote that Wayfinder give of 5KB per hour of driving is probably correct. The sensible thing to do is use the GPS system sparingly, most people can find their way between major towns and cities, just use the GPS to find the specific location once you're approaching a town or city.
Wayfinder's customer services are very helpful and it looks like they are aware of the search problems. |
zaphod
Joined: May 27, 2003
Posts: 105
From: Dorset, England
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Did you get a 12V power adapter for the GPS? If so I suppose I could leave it powered under dash and whack an external antenna on. |
jtrascap
Joined: Apr 14, 2003
Posts: 77
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Zaphod - much appreciated.
That said...**sigh**
I guess I'll not be getting one then. Still, I can wait. I'm getting better at the Dutch way of driving in circles... |
west-one
Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 13
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The GPS receiver does come with a 12V cigarette lighter adapter, but the unit runs for aprox. 6 hours on a full charge, it's only small and can be moved around freely. I leave my in the glovebox and just throw it on the front of the dashboard when I need to use it.
Like many of these type of receivers if you have a heated front screen or the transflective type coating on the screen the receiver may noot work. It does have an antenna input socket so an external antenna could be used.
Price wise it costs about the same as a navigation system for the PocketPC, remember though that you have to buy a subscription to use the system after the first 12 months. One possible advantage though is that maps are likely to be kept up to date. I live and work in the Midlands, the new M6 toll road was paying havoc with the navigation system on my Ipaq, no better on the Wayfinder yet, but hopefully maps shouldn't take as long to get updated.
I doubt that I would have bought the Wayfinder but someone stole my briefcase with my iPAQ and Navman inside, I already had the P800 so thought I'd give Wayfinder a try. |
zaphod
Joined: May 27, 2003
Posts: 105
From: Dorset, England
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west-one, thanks for the info, I would probably mount the GPS antenna with my other one (under the plastic at the bottom of the windscreen on the outside of the car). Looks like a workable solution, gutted to have to buy a GPS when I already have a NMEA output available on serial. Maybe a serial-bluetooth dongle would be the answer but these are a rediculous price at the moment.
I checked out what was talking to me on the P800 serial port, I got "mRouter - Are you there?". Great protocol from the SE boys!! Anyway, it seems that the data sync app has exclusive access to the P800 serial so bluetooth is probably the only available route in.
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Posted: 2003-08-05 14:56
