| doggiedog |
I have had it with the SP3. When something better comes out this thing is eBayed.
This past weekend I needed to use it heavily as I had to pick people up and run some errands.
I needed directions to a major bus station and it wasn't listed. I had to go to a government office and it wasn't listed. When I tried to put the address in guess what? It wasn't listed. This thing is a POS! |
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| hockeyplayer |
| I find the POI on the MDX to be more frustrating than it is worth. I believe it just uses up valuable memory space. I think the POI should be limited to emergency locations such as hospitals or auto repair places,gas stations and very noticable locations such as airports,bus stations,sporting and entertainment venues,etc. I always look stupid when I am showing off Navigation system and the location NEVER is in the database. I gave up and carry a phone book. The nav has never let me down when an address is entered and is mapped.My .02. |
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| swall |
| Just think how mad you would been if you had the Acura unit. I have both and I can't tell you how many times I had to go to the SPIII because it has at least 3 times the POI's than the Acura:) |
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| oceanMDX |
quote:
I have had it with the SP3. When something better comes out this thing is eBayed ... I needed directions to a major bus station and it wasn't listed. I had to go to a government office and it wasn't listed. When I tried to put the address in guess what? It wasn't listed. This thing is a POS!
Realize that NAVTECH provides the POI data for 100 % of the nav units for vehicles in North America, so if this data is erroneous, switching to a different nav system won't fix the problem. I too have found lots and lots of errors in the POI data. NAVTECH must address this issue.
However, here's one tip regarding the SPIII with respect to POI data that you may or may not know about. That is, in general, the SPIII will only display POI data for the area surrounding your current location. That is to say, if the bus station or government office was too far away from your location, the SPIII might not display these locations even if they were present in its data catalog. However, if you position the cursor near the approxiate location of the bus station or government office, these locations will then show up on the screen of the SPIII. Obviously, this is done to make the displayed lists short enough to be manageable. :4: |
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| doggiedog |
I tried looking up the government office in Hackensack NJ. It is a major office and it wasn't listed. I then tried inputting its address. Again it wasn't listed. I tried looking up the Hackensack bus terminal and it did not exist even though it is a major hub.
I find the POI data on the SP3 very lacking. If all GPS systems use this map info, I'm better off just stopping by gas stations and asking for directions. |
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| oceanMDX |
| One question: did you move the cursor on your SPIII over the approximate locations (of the office and bus station) and then check the categories data base? |
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| oceanMDX |
Here's NAVTECH's website: http://www.navtech.com/vehicle/enduser_na.html
The relevent part states, "NAVTECH® data the number one choice of the world's leading automotive and navigation systems manufacturers. Every vehicle navigation system in North America and the majority of vehicle navigation systems in Europe that offer turn-by-turn route guidance use NAVTECH data. Navigation systems provide route planning information and turn-by-turn guidance via an LCD screen and easy-to-understand voice prompts that advise drivers of approaching turns.
In-vehicle route guidance is also available to drivers as a new car option, in the aftermarket (both dealer installed and through retail stores) and in car rental fleets".
Note the link for "Driver feedback" ... maybe you could give them some.
In addition: http://www.navtech.com/data/database.html
"When it comes to choosing a place to sleep, eat or fill up their gas tank, our customers deserve to have plenty of choices available.
That's why we continuously work to improve the methods and standards for data collection ... Points of Interest (POIs)
POI information is pre-selected destination information for consumers' convenience and efficiency. Instead of having to a select a restaurant by its address, consumers can choose it by name or nearest location.
We have recently expanded our core points of interest offering to include approximately 1 million entries in 45 POI categories. This offers our users greater convenience as well as access to health and safety facility information (hospitals, police stations, gas stations and more)". |
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| doggiedog |
quote:
Originally posted by oceanMDX
One question: did you move the cursor on your SPIII over the approximate locations (of the office and bus station) and then check the categories data base?
No because I have no idea where they are. I've never been to that city at all but for some strange reason I had to go there twice in 2 days. Once to pick up a relative and a second time to get a passport for my baby.
I tried looking up the directions the standard way, by first going into POI and then transportation and government I believe. |
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| oceanMDX |
quote:
No because I have no idea where they are. I've never been to that city at all but for some strange reason I had to go there twice in 2 days. Once to pick up a relative and a second time to get a passport for my baby.
You've got me wondering now. If you had the map for that area loaded onto the chip, you should have at least been able to look it up using the "address" data base. Can you give me the exact addresses you were trying to find and I'll see if I can look them up on my SPIII. |
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| doggiedog |
Here is the address for the passport office:
One Bergen County Plaza - Hackensack, NJ 07601
The bus station I have no idea. Thinking it a major enough, it should have been in the POI. But as usual, it was't. The bus station isn't the one in North Hackensack either. |
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| oceanMDX |
You've got to be fair - that is one goofy "address". I used Microsoft expedia Streets 98 and couldn't find it after I failed to find it with Mapsource. So I used some ingenuity over the Internet and found a Government office at that "address" which displayed their location (link at bottom of their web page):
http://www.njcommunity.com/servlet/...928251863555543
Note, that the address on the map is "65 Hudson St., Hackensack 07601-7076". "One Bergen County Plaza" is the name of an office building rather than an actual street address. That's insufficient information if you're not familar with the city or if you're using any data base to locate the place. No wonder you couldn't find it.
By the way, I had no problem finding "65 Hudson St. Hackensack" using Mapsource.
As far as the bus station, I would need the address to be in a position to make any comments. |
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| doggiedog |
| OceanMDX, the point of the matter is not that I couldn't find a goofy address, the point is that the POI is terribly lacking. That office building I went to was huge. It is a major governmental building housing not just municipal but federal agencies. Something like that should be in POI. Same thing goes for the Hackensack bus station. I still have no idea where it is. All I know is I had to ask directions for it and everyone seemed to know except the POI in the SP3. |
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| swall |
Oceanmdx:
I found the same info as you this morning after Mapsource and my MDX failed. I was going to respond as you did, but I also checked three different internet mapping systems, including Yahoo! and they failed also. Posting would have not made any difference to someone who believes the SPIII or MDX systems are junk!:) |
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| oceanMDX |
quote:
OceanMDX, the point of the matter is not that I couldn't find a goofy address, the point is that the POI is terribly lacking.
Oh, but it is the point. You complained that you couldn't find the building by inputting the address, when in fact, you didn't have the complete address in the first place! You were inputting the name of the building - One Bergen County Plaza - when you were supposed to input the address - 65 Hudson St. So that part of your criticism of the SPIII (you called it a POS) was patently unfair.
The SPIII has 5 million POI, and that's a lot of information. I'll agree that it isn't complete and that there are lots of errors in the POI data, but that hardly makes it essentially worthless. I'll also agree with you that those Government offices should be included in the POI data base. It would be even better if the SPIII allowed us to input the phone number to get the address - the MDX system has this feature. However, ebaying your SPIII and buying another nav unit - which is what you stated you were planning to do - wouldn't solve the problems that you have complained about.
The SPIII is an excellent tool, but like all technology, it does admittedly have its limitations. Notwithstanding this, its capabilities can only be fully appreciated in the hands of a knowledgeable operator; but then again, that's true for most high tech equipment. I can enjoy using my SPIII because I've taken the time to figure out how it works. :4: |
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| oceanMDX |
quote:
Oceanmdx:
I found the same info as you this morning after Mapsource and my MDX failed. I was going to respond as you did, but I also checked three different internet mapping systems, including Yahoo! and they failed also. Posting would have not made any difference to someone who believes the SPIII or MDX systems are junk!
Yes, I tried Yahoo Maps too, and it couldn't find the building - until the complete address was provided. All the mapping systems I tried had no problem with the "65 Hudson St." address - including Mapsource.
I agree, posting won't likely change a mind that is closed. However, there are many others who read these posts that may actually learn something and benefit from the information and differing points of view. |
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| swall |
OceanMDX:
Good point! Didn't think about that!
:) |
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| doggiedog |
Wait one second.
What do you mean I should have known the address was 65 Hudson street? I went to the government office website and also looked at the forms and they all say One Bergen County Plaza. How the hell I am supposed to know its 65 Hudson? Do you always assume there is a secondary address for every location you look up?
Find 65 Hudson here. They all say One Bergen County Plaza.
If you read my post at all, you'd notice I used the POI system first not the address. You tell me why a major governmental office with many agencies is not listed in POI? And you also say that One Bergen County is a goofy address, well why is something like 1 World Financial Center listed then when according to you it should be 200 West Street? And please don't tell me it is a major building because I know it isn't since I worked there. It is just another office building.
Here is the address for the Hackensack Bus Terminal. You can also see that NJ Transit calls it a main bus terminal location. I did not have the address when I went there because I assumed it was in POI. Something like that should definitely have been in POI.
I personally don't know why you think I am closed minded. Maybe it has something to do with why you are so enamoured with the SP3? I consider myself very technically inclined. I build my own PCs, have tons of gadgets and like technology in general. But for whatever reason, the SP3 doesn't work for me. It is something like 3/10 when it comes to finding stuff I really need on it. It was supposed to be for my convenience but having to double check stuff on Mapquest, making sure I know the "real" address for places just makes things more of a hassle. Why spend $750 for something that I have no confidence in? It is better and easier for me to just Mapquest stuff, print it out and go that way rather than risk not being able to find the location and have to stop at gas stations or call someone up and have them look it up on the web for me.
For me, the SP3 is something I wanted to use when I am not familiar with a location, which means it is not used regularly. I don't need it sitting on my dash just showing me the map because then it would serve no purpose other than being eye candy for the passengers. So when I need it, I really need it but it has been a disappointment for me. It has gotten me lost, taken me on much longer routes, given me wrong directions (like telling me to exit early when I don't need to) and not located places I need to find. I don't expect things to be 100% accurate but for me, its been much less than that. When it works, it works great but when it doesn't I'm sure you can imagine the frustration because it translates into real lost time.
So I would probably rather recapture some of my investment and wait for something better to come down the road than just let the SP3 sit on my desk unused. Because for me, the old way of just Mapquesting and printing out was pretty close to 100%. |
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| TheWorm |
| Anyone looking for one of these might check their Amazon "Gold Box". Additional $150 off their usual $899 price in mine today. Dunno how similar Gold Boxes are, but maybe your Gold Box has it, too :) |
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| oceanMDX |
quote:
How the hell I am supposed to know its 65 Hudson? Do you always assume there is a secondary address for every location you look up?
First, you call their number at 201-336-7024 and ask for the complete street address - that's how the hell you find out. ;) I never assume there is a "secondary address", only a complete one. If I can find out the address from thousands of miles away down here at the southern tip of the Baja peninsula in Mexico without even calling them, why can't you?
quote:
If you read my post at all, you'd notice I used the POI system first not the address. You tell me why a major governmental office with many agencies is not listed in POI?
If you read my post at all, you'd notice I realized that you had first tried to use the POI lists since I agreed with you the offices should be included in the POI list. The reason why it's not already listed is because the POI lists are far from complete - like Rome wasn't built in a day either. For the POI lists to be "complete" you might need as many as 50 million POI - but that's only a guess on my part. The SPIII only has 5 million, so you can't reasonably expect to be able to depend on its POI lists entirely. You have to have the complete address to fall back on when you're looking for a specific location - don't assume that it will be in the POI data.
quote:
I personally don't know why you think I am closed minded. Maybe it has something to do with why you are so enamoured with the SP3?
Actually, it was your calling the SPIII "a POS", that made me think you pretty much made up your mind about the SPIII regardless of what anyone else thought.
There is no question what your experience with the SPIII has not lived up to your expectations. I can only suggest that you sell it if its limitations continue to frustrate you. However, it may be quite some time before the POI lists are exhaustive on any nav system. I won't be selling my SPIII because it has exceeded my expectations. |
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| doggiedog |
quote:
Actually, it was your calling the SPIII "a POS", that made me think you pretty much made up your mind about the SPIII regardless of what anyone else thought.
That's what opinions are aren't they? Just because I did not have the same experience as you and am frustrated because of it does not make me close minded.
The majority of times I have used the SP3 it has not done the job I expected of it. If I need to have to double check everything and make sure I know exactly where I'm going, what's the point of having a guidance system? I'm not asking much. I just want to have the convenience of a device that can guide me where I need to go without hassle and for me the SP3 hasn't done it. Maybe it's not the SP3's fault because it relies on third party Mapsource data but regardless, I am not happy with it. If all GPS systems use Mapsource, then I am glad I did not buy the Nav unit with the MDX since I would be kicking myself for spending $2K on something I really can't get rid of.
BTW: Worm, you can get the SP3 at ecost for cheaper than the Amazon price. That's where I got mine. |
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| oceanMDX |
| Now you know my real name and what I've been doing all along!:22: ;) Maybe you were even the one who reported me! :12: :19: |
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| florida_guy |
quote:
Originally posted by DNLeeper
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The 128 Meg card is not a bad thing either. You are able to load streetlevel maps into it with all of the various points of interest. In my case, I was able to load North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Deleware, Southern Georgia, and Northern South Carolina. Plus, using the software on the computer, I can download 500 waypoints with the click of the mouse.
The quote above is a blast from this past December...
I've being reading all the historical threads on Nav systems and I'm liking everything I read about the Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe except...
If I'm driving from Florida to the Rocky Mountains and then up to YellowStone and then back home by a different route and I don't have a lap top how do I load the different parts of the country as I go along my three week trip?
Those or you who have mounted it on the dash. Do you leave it there when you park the car? I would think that its portability would invite a break in to grab the thing. |
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| edepa |
quote:
Originally posted by florida_guy
The quote above is a blast from this past December...
I've being reading all the historical threads on Nav systems and I'm liking everything I read about the Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe except...
If I'm driving from Florida to the Rocky Mountains and then up to YellowStone and then back home by a different route and I don't have a lap top how do I load the different parts of the country as I go along my three week trip?
Those or you who have mounted it on the dash. Do you leave it there when you park the car? I would think that its portability would invite a break in to grab the thing.
Your three week trip might be a problem with just a 128 mb card. I was able to load maps from ny down to miami and that pretty much filled the 128mb card. You could I guess buy another card, i guess they probably run a couple hundred, and load the next part of trip on that. DO keep in mind, the streetpilot does have the 'base map' for the country in it, so an alternative is to only download the even more detailed street level maps for the areas you will stay at and use the base map for the interstate driving. As to storage, I keep the streetpilot on the console, where I removed the coinholder draw, and i ran a remote powered antenna up to the top of the dash. I did lend it to friend with my storage bag, since they used it on top of the dash, so they removed it each nite when they went into a hotel. It isn't such an obvious mark when sitting on the console, tucked under the lip of where the coin tray was. All in all, it is great!:2: |
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| florida_guy |
quote:
Originally posted by edepa
1) You could I guess buy another card, i guess they probably run a couple hundred, and load the next part of trip on that.
2) DO keep in mind, the streetpilot does have the 'base map' for the country in it, so an alternative is to only download the even more detailed street level maps for the areas you will stay at and use the base map for the interstate driving.
3) As to storage, I keep the streetpilot on the console, where I removed the coinholder draw, and i ran a remote powered antenna up to the top of the dash.
1) Yeah, I considered that idea and went to look at the prices of the cards and they were as you suggest around $250
2) Ah yes, but you see the excitement of the GPS Nav is the potential that I don't have to pre-plan my trip. If the trip was pre-planned I could bring the appropriate maps. I want to be able to pull into Yellowstone and have it be closed because of an early season snow and say O.K. car take me to Glacier National Park. :)
3) What parts of your installation are permanent and what parts did you take out to give your friend? |
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| edepa |
quote:
Originally posted by florida_guy
1) Yeah, I considered that idea and went to look at the prices of the cards and they were as you suggest around $250
2) Ah yes, but you see the excitement of the GPS Nav is the potential that I don't have to pre-plan my trip. If the trip was pre-planned I could bring the appropriate maps. I want to be able to pull into Yellowstone and have it be closed because of an early season snow and say O.K. car take me to Glacier National Park. :)
3) What parts of your installation are permanent and what parts did you take out to give your friend?
1) still, with an extra card the cost is about $1k. Half of the built in. And, after you have the mdx, it is too late for the acura navigatio anyhow.
2) the base map would get you to Glacier too, you may be missing the "points of interest" though.
3) None of the installation is "permanent". I can take the unit out and reattach the antenna it comes with and off it goes. But it is tucked in to place and looks more permanent than it is to the casual observer. Hey, a good thief will rip it off, as well as half the car anyhow. The power antenna i bought on ebay with a 9 foot cable. I inserted it thru a hole behind the "coin holder tray" that i removed, and snaked it across under the dash and up and around until i could get it up in the center of the windshield with a solid view of the sky. I used an outlet splitter into the 12volt outlet so i can plug in my cellphone hands free device and also the speaker/plug for the streetpilot. The voice commands are sufficient that you need not stare at the map screens.
It isn't perfect, but I love it. Then again, I'm biased. :1: |
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