My factory Nav gives directions 3 stories below grade when I park in downtown Chicago. After I picked up my car in Munich, we drove through the Swiss Alps. The signal could be picked up going into and out of tunnels through mountains, but not in the middle. I am amazed that I can pick up the signal 3 stories below grade when I park.

 

I purchased a handheld-garmin. This is not a pda model. It sent me all over the place. Yes, its signal was ok and it was dash mounted and easy--but it drove me crazy, when I drove.

I went to an Alpine trunk mounted model (this is in my 323i) with a 6" dash screen, and its a great system.

I ordered NAV for my 545, and I believe the i-drive will be a much better control system than the dash controls on other cars (eg MB, Range Rover, etc.)

My E60 is in production and should arrive after Thanksgiving.

 

In general both are very useful additions, but the in-built will be more accurate due to its ability to use the odometer and apparantly ABS sensors to provide short-term coverage when the sat signal weakens. Its also much neater in the car.

The pda's have the advantage that they are easier to upgrade and add extras to (i.e. speed camera detection, integration with outlook addresses etc). They also can be moved from car to car and tend to be much cheaper.

some pda type derivtatives have extra hardware devices to assist when the sat signal is lost or confused. an example is the tomtom go device.

 

Wow I had no idea that the built in gps uses the odometer to predict where you are. Does that mean that if I pulled a quick 180 and started driving in the opposite direction, the gps would think i was still going forward?

 

Using the odometer and other inputs is fairly common in car GPS systems, it is called "dead reckoning" (Used extensively in aircraft navigation systems for decades)

Even some of the portable Garmin units can have the car hardwired so that they continue to navigate when there is no sateliite signal. You can also get 3rd party sensors with a gyroscope built in that interfaces with the odometer too.

For the GPS to receive a signal it needs a clear view of the sky, so any time you are in a carpark or tunnel there won't be any signal whatsoever.

 

What other portable GPS's has anyone used successfully?

 

What other portable GPS's has anyone used successfully?
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I use Tomtom navigator v3. I've found that gps receivers vary greatly in their efficiency and usefulness. Currently I have the rikaline X5 gps mouse.

 

I have a Garmin 2620 unit, which I can't fault really. Never had a problem with reception through the windscreen. For travelling around Europe it has been a great help, usually I rent a car so I always take it with me. Good thing about this model is that it has an inbuilt microdrive with the whole of Europe (or US) on it. Itr also has the best holder of all portable GPS units, a little bean bag that stays put.

It has been the difference between spending 2 hours driving around getting hopelessly lost in a city and driving straight to the hotel.

Did have the PDA and tomtom s/w but found it a hassle to preload maps, I also didn't bother replacing this after the suction mount came off round a corner and the screen got smashed.

 

I'm using Tomtom V3 with my iPAQ 4150 together with a wired mouse in the car or together with a BT GPS device (Royaltek RBT3000) out of the car.

Since 1 week i've my new E61 (after E39 and E34 before) and there's one question which probably canbe answered from one of you:

The antenna on the roof should be for phone and gps. Is this antenna build in always? I have a phone installed in the E61 but no GPS. Is it now possible if the antenna is also a GPS antenna to get the signal somewhere and use it for the PPC?

Configuring an adapter for the iPAQ should not be the problem i must only know where to find the cable from the internal antenna (if it is there).

CU
Stefan