Sat Nav & GPS Blog

Every week we hear from customers whose sat-nav have been stolen, lost, stopped working or are corrupted and who are desperately looking for a way to get their ‘favourites’ back.
Unfortunately, up until now when they were gone they were gone forever.

What’s more this is happening a lot more often than you would think.

But now, we have the solution – Backup!

You can take a full backup of all your favourites on your sat-nav and store them on myPOIs.  We will keep your 3 most recent backups so if anything does ever go pear-shaped, you will be able to restore your backup to your sat-nav in a matter of seconds.

Backup is a doodle to use and only takes a few seconds. We will even remind you when you should backup.

Just yesterday, I met the National Sales Manager of a retail chain who had dropped his sat-nav.  He lost the locations of all the stores, supplier details and other client information he had painstakingly added to his device.  Last week, we were dealing with a doctor’s surgery that had lost all the locations of their patients.

Regular backups of your sat-nav makes a lot of sense, especially if you are using it for work.  It can really save you a lot of stress and hassle somewhere down the road.

The Backup facility is part of the Premium and Premium + subscriptions but can also be bought on it’s own for less then €10.

It’s a fact that Irish consumers pay more than a lot of their European neighbours and with everyone tightening their purse strings coming up to Christmas it may seem a logical choice to buy from international online discount superstores.  Sometimes you can save between €20-50 but what a lot of people are not aware of are the hidden costs that may occur.

So what should you watch out for….

• .ie domains – often these online discount superstores have .ie domains (for example pixmania.ie, expansys.ie) but actually have no presence in Ireland at all and even some stores that claim an Irish presence don’t hold stock and have it shipped in when you purchase it. So if you want to buy from an Irish store, make sure that there is an Irish address, the company is registered in Ireland, carries stock and there is someone at the end of the phone to talk to.

• Warranty – what are they offering? Probably a full manufacturer’s warranty but where are the manufacturers based and what is the stores return policy? If you have a fault with your system, you will have to fork out to get it shipped back (most likely outside of Ireland) to the online store or manufacturer for a warranty replacement.  Under the Sale of Goods Act when you purchase from an online store, your contract is with the store and it is their responsibility to sort out your problems – try explaining this to a customer support representative based in France.

• Support – can they help you with your purchase? Probably not.  When you decide to spend a couple  of hundred euros on a electronic device you want to make sure that you are buying the right product for you. Larger online stores tend to not be able to provide you with this service.

• eBay – a number of manufacturers will not provide warranties when their products are purchased on eBay.

I’m not telling you not to buy from these online discount superstores but merely advising you of the risks.

For a while we were only selling Garmin products because we felt that they were the most efficient and sophisticated GPS devices on the market …until now! We have added two more brands on to mysatnav.ie which we think are high quality systems – TomTom and RAC.

TomTom Go x30 series

The TomTom Go x30 series is a plug & play, widescreen, lightweight, easy to use GPS with a high sensitivity GPS receiver.  With clear voice instructions and a high quality touchscreen this GPS allows you to plan your itineraries with ease and choose the route you want.  Unique features on this TomTom range are:

• IQ Routes – Calculates your route based on the real average speeds measured on roads.

• TomTom MapShare technology -Make corrections to your own maps and benefit from thousands of corrections made by TomTom users everyday.

RAC 300 + Route 66

With the demise of the Airis T920, we have always been on the look out for a similar lost-cost navigator that uses the excellent navigation software from Route 66 and we think we have found it in the RAC 300.

The RAC 300 features the latest Navteq Q3, 2008 mapping (equivalent to Garmin’s 2009 mapping). The Route 66 software continues to be one of the best GPS navigation packages available with the easiest street searching functions that we have come across.

Garmin have announced the availabilty of Mapsource City Navigator Europe NT 2009 Map Update (version 11).  This release will update any system that had City Navigator Europe Version 10 or earliar.

To see the level of map detail available on Version 11 click here.

To purchase this map update click here.

Garmin have released a few new addtions to their nuvi range, all of which come preloaded with the latest 2009 (version 11) maps.

nüvi265 nüvi265w

Much like their predecessors, the nüvi 255 and nüvi 255w, these systems are both simple to use, low cost personal in car navigators with the exception that they have Bluetooth® wireless technology for hands-free  calling.

nüvi765

The nüvi 765 is the latest addition to the 700 series. So what makes this different from the nüvi 760? The nüvi 765 has a brand new feature called Lane Assist, providing drivers a clear illustration of what lane they should be in when approching busy intersections or when navigating through unfamiliar cities.

To follow up on a previous blog post – “Do not update the firmware on your nuvi 7xx series!!!”, Garmin have released a new firmware update, version 4.10 which seems to have fix the freezing issue that was occuring with version 3.10.

To download the new firmware – click here

Get Free Speed Camera & Accident Black-spot Location Data Now!

Localised POI data for your GPS has always been a thorny issue. When it comes to Ireland, most GPS manufacturers don’t have any real incentive to provide anything more than basic street-level mapping. But we’ve got a great summer offer for our customers to give you all the data you could ever want on your Sat Nav. Read on to learn more.

mypois.ie was developed to address the terrible lack of rich Point Of Interest (”POI”) data, and to date the site has built up a great database of over 15,000 POIs. (Did we mention you can head on over and register for free?) Users can view all POIs on the site, and with a free registration they can also easily sync these to their Garmin Sat Nav devices.

There are lots of great POI datasets available, and we’re delighted to have up-to-date speed camera and accident blackspot location data available to premium mypois.ie users. Our hope is that this data will help drivers appreciate the dangers on the roads, and apply common-sense when driving.

To add to the holiday cheer, we’re currently running a very special offer in conjunction with mypois.ie – for alimited time we’re introducing Deluxe Packages. Buy any of the following n&umml;vis or zūmos and we’ll throw in *FREE DELIVERY*, *FREE 1Yr Subscription to myPOIs Premium+ (Incl. Safety Camera Data)* + *FREE Garmin A/C Charger OR Carry Case*.

You’ll get access to 25,000+ POIs available for instant download, including speed camera and accident blackspot data.

That’s an instant saving of up to €100, but hurry – this offer is only available for a limited time. Click any of the following links to avail of this offer:

• nüvi 860 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, A/C Charger)
• nüvi 770 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, A/C Charger)
• nüvi 760 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, A/C Charger)
• nüvi 710 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, A/C Charger)
• nüvi 200W Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, CarryCase)
• nüvi 250 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, CarryCase)
• nüvi 250W Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, CarryCase)
• nüvi 255 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, CarryCase)
• nüvi 255W Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, CarryCase)
• nüvi 270 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, CarryCase)
• zumo 500 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, A/C Charger)
• zumo 550 Deluxe Pack (incl. Delivery, myPOIs+, A/C Charger)

So don’t waste any time – avoid accidents and penalty points this summer with our great summer driving offer!

Cute Garmin video from the US:

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If you’re completely new to car GPS and satellite navigation you might find some of the jargon and features to be, well, a little alien. Don’t worry however – we’ve put together this short guide that should help you to take those first steps to GPS expertdom!

First off – GPS (Global Positioning System) is a navigation technology that uses satellites to show you your precise location. In-car satellite navigation (satnav), which uses GPS and street level mapping, allows you to enter a street name or address in a town and then tells you exactly how to get to there with concise turn-by-turn voice and on-screen directions. This technology can also be used to help you pinpoint your exact location if you manage to lose your way.

The latest in-car GPS Satnav systems are very portable so you can easily transfer one unit between two or more cars. The real beauty of modern GPS systems is that they can be used anywhere. Going on vacation? Simply bring along your GPS when you travel and use it in your hire car. Map coverage for Europe is generally excellent, and most GPS units come with the ability to update/upgrade the installed maps to cover the countries you’ll be travelling in.

Typical features of GPS are:

• compact, easy to set up, simple to use
• pinpoints exactly where you are by using its GPS receiver
• many ways to enter or select your destination
• displays full colour 2D/3D maps and directions
• clear turn-by-turn voice instructions
• a variety of mapping options – single regions or Western Europe
• automatically recalculates your route should you miss a turn
• allows you to plan your routes and stop-overs
• fully automatic when driving
• temporary or permanent fixing to your car’s windscreen or dashboard

A GPS system is the perfect travelling companion when driving in unfamiliar places – you no longer need to rely on maps, poor road and street signs and you’ll get to your destination safely and quickly. It takes the hassle and stress out of driving abroad.

If you have any questions about car GPS don’t be shy – leave them below in the comments!