Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe with Bluetooth Technology
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $29.99 You Save: $238.00 (89%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin GPS 10 Deluxe with Bluetooth Technology
Customer Review: Decent GPS and price. Mediocre software and maps. Absurd installation process
Summary: 2 Stars
The GPS 10 is a decent Bluetooth GPS receiver, but the software associated with is obsolete, routes weirdly, and will immediately require an upgrade. Combine this with the torturous installation and upgrade process and despite a good price you're probably better off looking elsewhere. 1.5 stars off for the software and the maps and 1.5 off for the upgrade and installation process lead me to two stars.
The GPS 10 receiver is the highlight of the package. It took a while to connect with a Palm 700wx via Bluetooth, although that may have been the fault of the 700wx rather than the receiver as the 700wx can be picky about connections. Reception on the unit is ok but not great. You'll not have a problem finding satellites, but periodically you'll find yourself driving in a river rather than next to it. Battery life is also just so-so at 8 hours, but at least it is stable enough to remain on the dashboard without much work and small enough to slip in your pocket when you want to leave your car.
That was the good part. The bad part is the Que software that is included with this unit for PDA is over 2 years old and is incredibly painful to put on your PDA. You cannot install the Que version sent with the unit to the PDA; you'll need to check the OEM page on Garmin's website to find the GPS 10 and download the newer version of Que before it can be installed. Even updated, in general Que feels like a program dating from the late 1990s and isn't particularly nimble.
Garmin's free upgrade to XT Mobile helps somewhat. Unfortunately, while it has much better graphics and some useful functions like searching for gas stations and supermarkets and fairly accurate ETAs, the biggest problem with XT Mobile is that it routes bizarrely. You'll be sent on a lot of 2 lane highways and backroads if you allow it to fully control a long trip; for instance, it wanted to send me to San Bernadino via Lancaster while coming from Bakersfield, an addition of 40 minutes and a lot of treacherous driving that made no sense. What's worse is that it will keep trying to reroute you with no real way of forcing your preferred route, and if it loses a signal you have to force it to redraw the map to your preferred size. It also will not share GPS data with other devices, which can be quite aggravating. In general, it's not good software.
Unfortunately, it gets worse. Garmin makes its money selling maps, not GPS software, and the major point of buying this unit is access to Garmin's Map Installer software with maps to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Map Installer is a real pain. Even the most recent version requires selection of each individual state and province, and if you miss one you get to go through the entire process all over. The real issue is that it took me the better part of an hour and two full reinstalls (with no help from customer service) to get Map Installer to recognize my PDA. The trick? Have Que running, or Map Installer won't see the PDA at all. (Same goes for installing XT Mobile). Worse yet, you don't get European or Asian maps. And worst of all? There are updated US maps available - but you get to pay as much for them as for this unit. About the only good news is that a full map install takes about 1.5 GB total, and with 2 and 4 GB SD prices dropping it's affordable and easy to be able to have everything available on one unit.
The price is right on this and the bluetooth receiver isn't bad, but there are definitely better software packages available. If you're desperately looking for something for cheap, this might be worth a try; otherwise, look elsewhere.
Customer Review: Not too bad...but needs improvements.
Summary: 3 Stars
I recently bought this unit thinking that it was from Garmin and so had to be good. Unfortunately, it lacks many features and the accuracy isn't that good.
Software installation was quite straight forward. I didn't have any problems with this. Software went in the first time without issues. The map loading was somewhat tedious (trying to select all those "squares" for each regions that you want to offload to the pda). The whole north america map is about 1.5 gig. It took quite a while to load all of them up (which I believe is normal with all softwares) and it took a very very long time to split the map into 2 regions so that I can offload to my 2 1gig sd rams. I wish that they would have an option for selecting by States instead of JUST regions of a State at a time (like what they did for Canada).
The GPS hardware itself is alright. Nothing much to comment on. It comes with a 12DC car charger. The little RUBBER cover thingie to cover the power port gets lost so easily (in fact, I don't even know where mine is!). Awful design there! As for lasting 12 hours?? I am not quite too convinced about that.
The version that I currently have (v2.70) does NOT say the street names. It does NOT have the split screen features or 3d drawing as in other softwares. It tells you to keep LEFT at all major intersection when it wants you to go straight (while there is a left turning lane). <--- confused me a few times there!
On my last trip to Michigan from Toronto, it had me going on an inside road while the 401W (highway) was right below it. What was it thinking? I am not sure.
While I drive on the road, if I happen to turn off the pda (to save power), and then turning it back on, I would have to shut down the Garmin software before the satellite would pick up again. This must be a fault in the software. The bluetooth picked up fine, but it couldn't locate the satellites until I recycled the software.
Anyhow, I'll give this product a solid 3 as it needs quite a bit of improvements.
It did however, get me to my destination in the end. So at least I didn't get lost. HOURAY for that!
Tom
Toronto
Customer Review: This is really a good solution
Summary: 4 Stars
I am rarely impressed with this type of technology. There are always some arcane functions/restrictions that almost defeat the entire purpose of the solution. Of course this solution is not without those same quirks. Garmin's whole approach to "protecting" its maps and unlocking them is maddening at best. The maps seriously need updating in some areas. And the worst problem is that the instructions that are available for implementing this are fundamentally useless - if not downright damaging. However if you suffer through this set of problems and the time to get it working, with heavy use of the web to find folks who have encounterd and answered most of the questions, it is actually very useful.
I bought this for use with my Cingular 8525 "smart phone". This is the first nav system I have put on the phone but I have a built in one in a Honda I own and have had one on my laptop for a few years. I loaded the maps and applicaiton onto the phone's micro SD card. The end result actually works well. Much better then the "built in" nav system in the Honda. Actually nearly as well as the Garmin system I had on my laptop in terms of recalculation speed and routing calculation time.
The reveiver has a magnetic mount and is waterproof so it can be put on the car roof for better satellite reception but I get quite good reception with it on my dashboard. Also the receiver is small and easy to carry around so that is a help. Battery life seems to be OK but I haven't really stressed that part yet.
The charging system overall is a bit of a drawback. It uses a 2.4mm pin connector that is not too common. I presume it uses this so there is a simple rubber plug (that can be very easily lost) to cover the charger hole for waterproofing. Unfortunately it is used by only one cell phone manufacturer that I'm aware of so it is not a common connector and you will most likely need to have 2 chargers with you. It does, however, charge from a 5 volt source so you can charge it from a USB source if you can find an adapter tip.
Overall I'd rate this a "buy" if you are looking for a reasonable nav system for your smart phone or your laptop.
Customer Review: GPS 10 Works Well with a Laptop
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an accountant with average PC skills. If you have a laptop with Bluetooth and another person to serve as navigator, the GPS 10 Deluxe is for you.
Set-up was easy. The n-Route laptop navigation software loaded quickly and easily as did the maps of the US and Canada. (On a laptop, you can load and unlock the maps all in one step.)
The GPS/software kit price is 5% of an installed navigator on new car while the functionality is comparable, and the laptop screen view and sound are excellent. Documentation of the software and GPS is thorough and easy to follow. The magnetic GPS 10 module clings securely to the hood or roof of your car.
Turn on your laptop and connect to the GPS 10 with Bluetooth. Then open the n-Route software and the laptop quickly connects with the GPS. You are ready to go (the software permits you to see how many satellites are being used to fix your position).
Assuming that you have saved your home and destination as "waypoints," you can easily create a route using two waypoints (beginning and end). The software/GPS allows your laptop follow the progress of your vehicle and provides suggested voice and visual directions along the way. Of course, you can chose to go your own way at any point, and the software automatically recalculates your route. At the bottom of the screen you can watch the ever-changing status including your current speed, direction, and time and distance to destination and next maneuver.
The maps have very good route detail and lots of helpful information regarding retail establishments and other points of interest, with an easy way to find them, especially when you are looking for something while traveling (gas, food, etc.).
You may need to change the setting on your firewall to disable the automatic detection of new wireless networks that you will encounter while travelingxx in residential areas, which will distract from your navigating.
Defining a "waypoint" by using a street address may take a little practice and some trial and error.
Customer Review: Aged well with time.
Summary: 3 Stars
Update 1/6/2010:
This unit has gotten better with time. Since initial review, I moved to the ATT (HTC) 8525, and a couple of software updates and a firmware update make this little beauty shine. None of the bluetooth disconnect issues exist anymore from the original review. Latest software included 3D view, and performance is much more reasonable on the 8525. Would get 5 stars if the unit would provide GPS to apps other than Garmin. Shame on you Garmin in your closed source, closed access attitude. New maps updates are ridiculous at $100+.
The GPS unit is extremely sturdy, the magnetic mount is perfect, and the power adapter plug cover thingy is lost already (I've owned for a month).
I use the Cingular 8125 smart phone with the device. The GPS is the only bluetooth device I use with the phone. If the phone powers off, or the GPS is powered off, or the phone is taken out of the bluetooth range, the bluetooth partnership is never remembered. If the phone goes to sleep, the partnership is lost. Workaround is to keep the phone plugged in all the time, or turn off sleep mode on the phone.
Software on the PDA is fairly decent, but due to the weak processor in my phone (200MHz OMAP), calculating routes can take upwards of 2 minutes sometimes. The phone sometimes generates exceptions on the Que software when it is not even running.
Worse part of the software is getting maps onto the phone. I live and travel throughout Texas extensively, and about once a month I'll go somewhere outside of the state. I keep all of Texas (about 6 zones) stored on the SD card, but when I want to add say the D.C area, it's a complete reselect of all 6 zones in TX and then the new zones I want, and then the whole thing has to be uploaded through the USB link again. Ideally the software would read what zones you have already, then allow you to add or remove only those you want.