Hi Folks,

is there anybody out there who has tested, used or seen the full featured Offboard Navigation system Wayfinder?

It's available for 7100v, 7290 and 8700 (and loads of other mobile phones).

Check it out here: h ttp://www wayfinder com (sorry - no direct URL at this moment - exchange the " " with ".").

I installed the trial today and i'm really excited but I'm just wondering that there are no reports at all about this here.

Greetings
plant

runs fine non GPS but cannot get it to work with my Hlux GPSlim236 and the 8700. It says it see the GPS but it sees it even with bluetooth off so I think it just sees the entryin the bluetooth devices.

Well, I just got wayfinder to work with my GPS. It seems that wayfinder only communicates using NMEA. It does not work with Sirf.

My Holux was in Sirf mode and, well, was not easy to get back, had to do surgery.

Anyway, Wayfinder is slightly different that Telenav. It works well though. It does not have the technical problems with the 8700c like telenav either and is a one time fee, not monthly.

We finally have another real option for GPS Turn by Turn navigation for the BB 8700.

What is the difference between NMEA and Sirf? Why did you have to do surgery?

In my opinion, the US points of interest database in Wayfinder is weak, especially compared to Telenav. Other than that, I've found them both to be equally as good during navigation. Right now I'm using Telenav, since it hasn't rebooted my berry. The only thing I don't like about Telenav is that the company won't give even a hint as to when if ever the 8700 issue will be resolved. If anybody asks them in their forums when/if they will support a particular device, they basically use a canned response of "you'll know when we announce it".

On the other hand, I don't know what Wayfinder's plans are either. If they told us that the US points of interest was going to be improved in some sort of time period, I'd probably switch in a heartbeat just because of the cost.

I was able to get Wayfinder to work using my GPSlim 236 without making any changes at all on my BB Pearl (T-mobile).

EDITED: Actually, I have found the way to make it work. Make sure the GPSlim 236 or any other SiRF/NMEA compliant GPS is ready via Bluetooth and already reading the satellite signals (blinking both blue and orange lights) before doing anything.

With Bluetooth OFF completely (no Bluetooth icon showing). Start Wayfinder. Once Wayfinder is completely initialized, go back to the home screen without closing Wayfinder (just click the Red Phone key on the Pearl or Hide the application with any other Blackberry) and turn Bluetooth on. If you wait a moment, you can see the pair between the phone and the GPS receiver start and then once you go back into Wayfinder, everything works.

The turn by turn directions are pretty nice and it does recalculate within about 10-15 seconds with a completely new and updated route. The entire route is downloaded and a data connection is only again needed to recalculate. So it seems that if you plan on taking a trip where there is no GPRS, you can see it up in a GPRS area and it should still navigate once you are in an area with no coverage...haven't tried yet though.