[bimmerdriver]

I read a press release that Garmin will offer a navigation application for the BB8800. (Here's a link.) When I first heard about this, I thought it would an excellent solution and I wouldn't have to shell out for a Nuvi. (I travel a lot.) Now I'm starting to wonder. Apparently the maps will be dynamically loaded. I can imagine that would cost a fortune in data charges and it would also be subject to the speed of the network, which means it might not work as reliably as a unit that has the maps stored internally. How well does the existing BBmaps work with a GPS? Am I worried about nothing?

[Stinsonddog]

Wirelessly posted (8700c: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Stay away from Garmin. See my GPS page for a review of the current products. The BBF Mods that have contacted Garmin are all laughing at them. They are lame in responding to customers. Stay away. There are alot of good products out there.

[hls811]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

Wirelessly posted (8700c: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)
They are lame in responding to customers. Stay away. There are alot of good products out there.

I can't say I agree with this statement - I'm on my 3rd Garmin GPS (Street Pilot 2620, Nuvi 550, StreetPilot 2820) and I wholeheartedly recommend their products and have had nothing but great experiences with thier customer service. Anytime I have a question I've been able to get a quick response from them whether it be email or telephone.

For what its worth, my Pearl is synced w/ the phone features of the 2820 (via bluetooth) and worked perfectly out of the box - no issues at all.
I'm not discounting Stinsonddogs past experience w/ them - but did want to say that in my experience, its all been very favorable.

[Stinsonddog]

Originally Posted by hls811

I can't say I agree with this statement - I'm on my 3rd Garmin GPS (Street Pilot 2620, Nuvi 550, StreetPilot 2820) and I wholeheartedly recommend their products and have had nothing but great experiences with thier customer service. Anytime I have a question I've been able to get a quick response from them whether it be email or telephone.

For what its worth, my Pearl is synced w/ the phone features of the 2820 (via bluetooth) and worked perfectly out of the box - no issues at all.
I'm not discounting Stinsonddogs past experience w/ them - but did want to say that in my experience, its all been very favorable.

YES THEY HAVE A REPUTATION - BUT IN THIS CASE I HAVE SENT MULTIPLE EMAILS TO VARIOUS PARTS OF THEIR ORGANIZATION, AS HAS ANOTHER MOD, AND WE HAVE GOTTEN ZIP RESPONSES OTHER THAN ONE FROM TECH SUPPORT -"I WILL PASS IT ALONG." WELL THANKS -I'LL PASS ON GARMIN.

[MrKyoo]

Originally Posted by hls811

I can't say I agree with this statement - I'm on my 3rd Garmin GPS (Street Pilot 2620, Nuvi 550, StreetPilot 2820) and I wholeheartedly recommend their products and have had nothing but great experiences with thier customer service. Anytime I have a question I've been able to get a quick response from them whether it be email or telephone.

For what its worth, my Pearl is synced w/ the phone features of the 2820 (via bluetooth) and worked perfectly out of the box - no issues at all.
I'm not discounting Stinsonddogs past experience w/ them - but did want to say that in my experience, its all been very favorable.

Your great experience with Garmin was it before purchasing their product or after?

~MrKyoo

[hls811]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

YES THEY HAVE A REPUTATION - BUT IN THIS CASE I HAVE SENT MULTIPLE EMAILS TO VARIOUS PARTS OF THEIR ORGANIZATION, AS HAS ANOTHER MOD, AND WE HAVE GOTTEN ZIP RESPONSES OTHER THAN ONE FROM TECH SUPPORT -"I WILL PASS IT ALONG." WELL THANKS -I'LL PASS ON GARMIN.

Stinsonddog - I wasn't arguing your point, obviously they didn't give you the level of service you deserve and expected - I completely relate to that with other vendors.. I just wanted to post my experience since I've dealt with them in the past.. I was just grabbing my own equal time in case someone is making a decision on whether or not to buy...

Is there a specific issue you were trying to get resolved from them (If theres a thread on this, direct me to it) - I can check my email at home, I believe I may have saved the email address from one guy in particular there who was very helpful, if its something you're still interested in getting resolved, I can get you his info (if I do have it)...

Originally Posted by MrKyoo

Your great experience with Garmin was it before purchasing their product or after?

~MrKyoo

Both actually... I've contacted them w/ questions before a purchase, and then while I've owned the products.

[bimmerdriver]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

Stay away from Garmin. See my GPS page for a review of the current products. The BBF Mods that have contacted Garmin are all laughing at them. They are lame in responding to customers. Stay away. There are alot of good products out there.

Wow! How do you really feel about Garmin?

I've never experienced their customer support, but I've used Garmins in rented vehicles. I've always been pretty happy with them. I read a review of the latest Nuvi on GPS magazine and it was very positive.

Anyway, irrespective of whether it uses Garmin software or not, I'm interested to know whether a BB makes a good vehicle navigation system or whether it's better to get a dedicated unit. I'm also interested to know whether dynamically loaded maps works reliably and is cost effective.

It would seem that the BB 8800 has the potential to replace a dedicated unit, and that is what I'm really trying to verify.

[BMWLotAttendant]

Originally Posted by bimmerdriver

Wow! How do you really feel about Garmin?

I've never experienced their customer support, but I've used Garmins in rented vehicles. I've always been pretty happy with them. I read a review of the latest Nuvi on GPS magazine and it was very positive.

Anyway, irrespective of whether it uses Garmin software or not, I'm interested to know whether a BB makes a good vehicle navigation system or whether it's better to get a dedicated unit. I'm also interested to know whether dynamically loaded maps works reliably and is cost effective.

It would seem that the BB 8800 has the potential to replace a dedicated unit, and that is what I'm really trying to verify.

Hello? Why didn't you get navigation for your BMW? BMW has very detailed maps and excellent IMO.

Oh, and btw, I'm a HUGE fan of Garmin!

[Stinsonddog]

Originally Posted by bimmerdriver

Wow! How do you really feel about Garmin?

I've never experienced their customer support, but I've used Garmins in rented vehicles. I've always been pretty happy with them. I read a review of the latest Nuvi on GPS magazine and it was very positive.

Anyway, irrespective of whether it uses Garmin software or not, I'm interested to know whether a BB makes a good vehicle navigation system or whether it's better to get a dedicated unit. I'm also interested to know whether dynamically loaded maps works reliably and is cost effective.

It would seem that the BB 8800 has the potential to replace a dedicated unit, and that is what I'm really trying to verify.

Both JC and I love Telenav and I am pretty sure MrKyoo is a fan too. Garmin is clearly a leader in the GPS space. Remember that all of the providers are GUI's to the data services. See my page. The BB will give you advantanges of having when outside the car too. With built in its teh way to go. I will tell you that with Telenav I haven't had issues with the downloading of the maps. SPOT is too slow and BBMaps is generally ok. We will see what google does. Since they have enabled GPS for WM5 and Palm, I don't think we are far behind. What else can I answer - and my experience with Garmin is based on interaction I have with many BB software vendors. DataVault, Crypt, BBSpell and Rex are 120% awesome. Garmin is a negative.

[Stinsonddog]

Originally Posted by hls811

Stinsonddog - I wasn't arguing your point, obviously they didn't give you the level of service you deserve and expected - I completely relate to that with other vendors.. I just wanted to post my experience since I've dealt with them in the past.. I was just grabbing my own equal time in case someone is making a decision on whether or not to buy...

Is there a specific issue you were trying to get resolved from them (If theres a thread on this, direct me to it) - I can check my email at home, I believe I may have saved the email address from one guy in particular there who was very helpful, if its something you're still interested in getting resolved, I can get you his info (if I do have it)...


Both actually... I've contacted them w/ questions before a purchase, and then while I've owned the products.

Yes no offense and apologies if I have offended you. The are non-responsive is the problem. Get someone to dialog with me and I will change my tune. There web page for BB's is not clear and no one knows what to do. I have yet to really see this BB product. Why would they ignore me and MrKyoo 100%. Yes, refer them to me and let's see where it goes. Email address at my tips site.

[John Clark]

I am sold on TeleNav in the less than a week I've had it. I left for a 79 mile trip from my house into another city. I live in a rural part of Oregon. Where I live the network coverage is very good. However, half way through the trip the coverage goes to NONE for about 35 miles and then comes up strong again. Before I left, I typed in the city name where I wanted to go and TeleNav pulled up the turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts. It worked flawlessly. Even when I got to the 35 mile stretch of road where there was NO coverage, it all still worked just fine. It cached everything and I noticed no hiccups during the trip. It is a GREAT product and I would recommend it to anyone.

I have had no interactions with, or opinions on, Garmin.

[Stinsonddog]

Originally Posted by John Clark

I am sold on TeleNav in the less than a week I've had it. I left for a 79 mile trip from my house into another city. I live in a rural part of Oregon. Where I live the network coverage is very good. However, half way through the trip the coverage goes to NONE for about 35 miles and then comes up strong again. Before I left, I typed in the city name where I wanted to go and TeleNav pulled up the turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts. It worked flawlessly. Even when I got to the 35 mile stretch of road where there was NO coverage, it all still worked just fine. It cached everything and I noticed no hiccups during the trip. It is a GREAT product and I would recommend it to anyone.

I have had no interactions with, or opinions on, Garmin.

Only thing to note JC is that if you went off track it would not have rerouted you. Great program. Can't wait to get 5.0 and 5.1.

[John Clark]

So, it wouldn't help a LOST pilot who is out of network coverage? So noted.

[bimmerdriver]

Originally Posted by BMWLotAttendant

Hello? Why didn't you get navigation for your BMW? BMW has very detailed maps and excellent IMO.

Oh, and btw, I'm a HUGE fan of Garmin!

It's not for my bimmer, but rather for rental cars when I travel. I don't like driving around DC not knowing where I'm going!

[kjaslow]

I'm also a loyal Garmin user. Garmin for GPS is right up there with Blackberry for me in terms of great devices. That said, Garmin has a microSD solution for Windows Mobile devices. The link you listed for the 8100 is their web-based solution. I would be less inclined to endorse their hosted solutions as I would their devices and software. So, just to add another opinion here, if it's a matter of choosing a hosted solution, I won't be going with Garmin. But the day they produce a microSD product for Blackberry, I'm all over it!

[Stinsonddog]

Originally Posted by kjaslow

I'm also a loyal Garmin user. Garmin for GPS is right up there with Blackberry for me in terms of great devices. That said, Garmin has a microSD solution for Windows Mobile devices. The link you listed for the 8100 is their web-based solution. I would be less inclined to endorse their hosted solutions as I would their devices and software. So, just to add another opinion here, if it's a matter of choosing a hosted solution, I won't be going with Garmin. But the day they produce a microSD product for Blackberry, I'm all over it!

Understood, everyone loves Garmin but they don't exist if they don't answer customers. SPOT is trying to put maps in the pictures folder on the micro sd. If that's all a GPS GUI needs then someone will be on it soon. They can't put the OS on the card. I am not sure how one would zoom without scalable vector maps.

[hf1khal]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

Understood, everyone loves Garmin but they don't exist if they don't answer customers. SPOT is trying to put maps in the pictures folder on the micro sd. If that's all a GPS GUI needs then someone will be on it soon. They can't put the OS on the card. I am not sure how one would zoom without scalable vector maps.

when i heard of this I amailed them too and stil no response. I agree with you, telenave is the way yo go, next in line is wayfinder which if they get their POI and link ot the address book, then I would say it will rule over telenav. However, from what I see, they still do not have a BB 8800 version.

[bollar]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

Stay away from Garmin. See my GPS page for a review of the current products. The BBF Mods that have contacted Garmin are all laughing at them. They are lame in responding to customers. Stay away. There are alot of good products out there.

Do you have any secrets for getting Telenav to respond to their support e-mail address? I wrote to them on Sunday and have not received a response yet.

The question was simple -- does the US version of Telenav serve European maps. My assumption is that it does not, or at least it does not work for me. I've been in Europe for a few days now and Telemap just displays lat/lon and "loading" on the maps page.