STVTalk.com

Anyone have experience with this? I use a GPS 5 with my 2001 Accord but am
looking to buy a 2005. Is the approx. $1000.00 extra worth it to get it with
the navi system built in. Seems to be a fair price but I have never used or
even seen Honda's system. Any help appreciated.
Rick

Anyone have experience with this? I use a GPS 5 with my 2001 Accord but am

I fiddled with the display model during pauses while buying an Element
today.

Frankly, I felt the Garmin GPSmap 60C's road navigation is superior for
a fraction of the price, plus you can use it outside of the car. The
maps on the Honda offering looked plain ugly to me in comparsion to
Garmin's.

I'm sure you would be MUCH happier with a StreetPilot 2610 and for less
than a thou too.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com




"RG1202" <rg1202@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041228142302.10335.00001762@mb-m25.aol.com...

Anyone have experience with this? I use a GPS 5 with my 2001 Accord but am
looking to buy a 2005. Is the approx. $1000.00 extra worth it to get it
with
the navi system built in. Seems to be a fair price but I have never used
or
even seen Honda's system. Any help appreciated.
Rick

On 28 Dec 2004 19:23:02 GMT, rg1202@aol.com (RG1202) wrote:

Anyone have experience with this? I use a GPS 5 with my 2001 Accord but am
looking to buy a 2005. Is the approx. $1000.00 extra worth it to get it with
the navi system built in. Seems to be a fair price but I have never used or
even seen Honda's system. Any help appreciated.
Rick

I have used the 2610 and own a 2000 Odyssey w/navi.

How good are you eyes? At my age I need the bigger screen that is
part of the built-in unit. I have a hard time seeing the street names
on the 2610 moving map. This may not be a issue for you.

For going to an address, both units are about the same.

But for me, Points of Interest (Restaurants, Parks, Airports, ...) are
easier to find on the Honda built-in. Not that you can't do this on
the 2610, its just awkward! Let's say you want to find a park in a
city that is more the 30 miles away. You can't just do a find for
Attractions/Parks because it will only give you the parks close to
your current location. Your next option is to spell the exact name of
the park. If you can't find it that way, you need to do a find for
the city that is near the park, but if your not close to that city you
still need to spell the name of the city. The unit will then show you
every city (can't filter by state) the matches that name. Once you
scroll through that list and select the correct city, you can then do
a find Attractions/Parks near the city that you just found. Garmin
could really make things a lot easier!

The 2610 is a very good navigation system, but if the costs were
equal, I'd choose the Honda built-in.

Gary H wrote:

I have used the 2610 and own a 2000 Odyssey w/navi.

How good are you eyes? At my age I need the bigger screen that is
part of the built-in unit. I have a hard time seeing the street names
on the 2610 moving map. This may not be a issue for you.

For going to an address, both units are about the same.

But for me, Points of Interest (Restaurants, Parks, Airports, ...) are
easier to find on the Honda built-in. Not that you can't do this on
the 2610, its just awkward! Let's say you want to find a park in a
city that is more the 30 miles away. You can't just do a find for
Attractions/Parks because it will only give you the parks close to
your current location. Your next option is to spell the exact name of
the park. If you can't find it that way, you need to do a find for
the city that is near the park, but if your not close to that city you
still need to spell the name of the city. The unit will then show you
every city (can't filter by state) the matches that name. Once you
scroll through that list and select the correct city, you can then do
a find Attractions/Parks near the city that you just found. Garmin
could really make things a lot easier!

Or you could zoom out a bit, move the cursor to the city, and then
find nearby Attractions/Parks. This seems the easiest way to me, at
least if I know about where the city is located.

Frequently I like to plan the trip before getting in the car. In
that case it's much more convenient to use MapSource on my desktop
(at home) or laptop (elsewhere) to look for the destinations and
then download them to the GPS rather than having to go out to the
garage and sit in the car.

The 2610 is a very good navigation system, but if the costs were
equal, I'd choose the Honda built-in.

I haven't used the Honda system, but have tried a few others and
have yet to see one that I'd prefer over a good stand-alone
device like the 2610.

Thanks to all that replied. I have since gotten the price down to just 775.00
extra for the Honda system. To good to pass up I think. I still will have the
GPS 5 for portability. I am looking forward to the big color screen in the
Honda. Will report back my impressions after using it a bit. Will be buying the
car tomorrow night.
Thanks again,
Rick

In article <8lo3t01q43t9dp4p3j5bbt2qecocv98hgt@4ax.com>,
Gary H <a.b.u.s.e@wowway.com> wrote:

On 28 Dec 2004 19:23:02 GMT, rg1202@aol.com (RG1202) wrote:

Anyone have experience with this? I use a GPS 5 with my 2001 Accord but am
looking to buy a 2005. Is the approx. $1000.00 extra worth it to get it with
the navi system built in. Seems to be a fair price but I have never used or
even seen Honda's system. Any help appreciated.
Rick

I have used the 2610 and own a 2000 Odyssey w/navi.

How good are you eyes? At my age I need the bigger screen that is
part of the built-in unit. I have a hard time seeing the street names
on the 2610 moving map. This may not be a issue for you.

For going to an address, both units are about the same.

But for me, Points of Interest (Restaurants, Parks, Airports, ...) are
easier to find on the Honda built-in. Not that you can't do this on
the 2610, its just awkward! Let's say you want to find a park in a
city that is more the 30 miles away. You can't just do a find for
Attractions/Parks because it will only give you the parks close to
your current location. Your next option is to spell the exact name of
the park. If you can't find it that way, you need to do a find for
the city that is near the park, but if your not close to that city you
still need to spell the name of the city. The unit will then show you
every city (can't filter by state) the matches that name. Once you
scroll through that list and select the correct city, you can then do
a find Attractions/Parks near the city that you just found. Garmin
could really make things a lot easier!

I have had my 2610 since Christmas and know that most of
the statements above are not true. Its software version
is 4.20, which does not appear to be available from the
Garmin web site--version 3.90 seems to be latest there).

The point about small type I do not contradict.
Some people will find the type too small.

I have no experience with the Honda navigation
system (although I do own a Honda Accord).


But for me, Points of Interest (Restaurants, Parks, Airports, ...) are
easier to find on the Honda built-in. Not that you can't do this on
the 2610, its just awkward!

This is opinion and I have no comment.

Let's say you want to find a park in a city that is more the 30 miles
away.

This is the statement of a specific find problem.

This problem can be troublesome, but possible in the older
StreetPilot and StreetPilot ColorMap (you need to find the
city by any applicable method and then while still in find
mode, find the park)). This process is not clearly described
in the respective manuals.

You can't just do a find for Attractions/Parks because it will only
give you the parks close to your current location.

That is the default mode. There are other choices: by name
and near other.

Your next option is to spell the exact name of the park.

This is not true. You can filter on a substring of the name.
The substring does not have to be a complete word nor does
it need to be at the beginning (or end) of a word. Usually,
filtering alone is sufficient.

If you can't find it that way, you need to do a find for the city
that is near the park, but if your not close to that city you still
need to spell the name of the city.

You can locate the city by a number of methods and sometimes
can use filtering here as well.

a) if it is nearby, find nearest, if necessary, then filter
on a substring of the name, and then select from that list.
b) you can spell a leading prefix long enough to reduce
the list to a ``reasonable length'' and then select
from that list.
c) you can use by other, which uses the map display, which
you can zoom until the area in which the city is visible
and tap that point.
d) when in the find result from one of the steps above,
you can re-find to find another city, address, intersection,
exit, waypoint or point of interest near that point.

The unit will then show you every city (can't filter by state) the
matches that name.

Filtering by state can be effected by using the `near other'
until the state is visible (you may want to pan the map).
That establishes your first find point.

Once you scroll through that list and select the correct city, you
can then do a find Attractions/Parks near the city that you just found.

Just to assure myself that I understood the process correctly,
I tried it on my 2610; it was the first time that I had attempted
such a search. It only took me a few minutes to determine the
method and do it. I am in near Chicago. IL, USA. I looked
for the Dairy Queen near a park with `one' in its name in
Cedar Rapids, IA, USA, using City Navigator North America 6.

a) find city using `near other' zooming and panning to make
Iowa visible and tapping Iowa and giving the first few
letters of its name in the `spell' panel. (By the way,
I also was able to find the city by name and giving only
`Cedar R' of its name.)
b) find Park/Garden under Attractions under All Points of
Interest with a filter on `one'. This found Jones Park
among about four others. (The methods menu now had
Cedar Rapids as its default choice.)
c) find Food and Drink with nearest to Jones Park. It was
not necessary to do a filter as nearest listed it at the
top of the list. (The methods menu now had Jones Memorial
Park as its default choice.)

Garmin could really make things a lot easier!

Perhaps, as I do not have any basis of comparison with
the Honda system.

The 2610 is a very good navigation system, but if the costs were
equal, I'd choose the Honda built-in.

Randolph J. Herber, herber@fnal.gov, +1 630 840 2966, CD/CDFTF PK-149F,
Mail Stop 318, Fermilab, Kirk & Pine Rds., PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510-0500,
USA. (Speaking for myself and not for US, US DOE, FNAL nor URA.) (Product,
trade, or service marks herein belong to their respective owners.)

You can't just do a find for Attractions/Parks because it will only
give you the parks close to your current location.

That is the default mode. There are other choices: by name
and near other.

Your next option is to spell the exact name of the park.

This is not true. You can filter on a substring of the name.
The substring does not have to be a complete word nor does
it need to be at the beginning (or end) of a word. Usually,
filtering alone is sufficient.
When I filter, it is only on the parks in the original list. So you

still need to use the "near other" option and move the map pointer.
For me that is still awkward. With the Honda system, you see the
closest parks on the first screen. You can page down and see more and
more parks till you find what you want. Often I don't even know the
city where a park is located - I just scroll down 3 or 4 screens till
I find its name.

If you can't find it that way, you need to do a find for the city
that is near the park, but if your not close to that city you still
need to spell the name of the city.

You can locate the city by a number of methods and sometimes
can use filtering here as well.

a) if it is nearby, find nearest, if necessary, then filter
on a substring of the name, and then select from that list.
b) you can spell a leading prefix long enough to reduce
the list to a ``reasonable length'' and then select
from that list.
c) you can use by other, which uses the map display, which
you can zoom until the area in which the city is visible
and tap that point.
d) when in the find result from one of the steps above,
you can re-find to find another city, address, intersection,
exit, waypoint or point of interest near that point.

The unit will then show you every city (can't filter by state) the
matches that name.

Filtering by state can be effected by using the `near other'
until the state is visible (you may want to pan the map).
That establishes your first find point.
Again you need to use the "Near Other" to point to the state. If I

was doing it with the honda system, it (not me) would pick the state
from your location and give you an option to change state. If you
would select change state, it would then remember that state and use
it as the default for future find city queries. That seems more
straight forward to me. I didn't say the 2610 couldn't do it, its
just not easy.

"RG1202" <rg1202@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041228191430.11831.00002428@mb-m16.aol.com...

Thanks to all that replied. I have since gotten the price down to just
775.00
extra for the Honda system. To good to pass up I think.

I don't. Too bad you can't compare the two before buying as I have no
doubt you would get the 2610 instead.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com

Thanks to all that replied. I have since gotten the price down to just
775.00
extra for the Honda system. To good to pass up I think.

I don't. Too bad you can't compare the two before buying as I have no
doubt you would get the 2610 instead.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com

I don't think so Darrel. The fact of it being built in with a bigger screen is
appealing to me. Would be willing to put up with a few "differences" between
the two just for that. But we shall see. If i am not impressed by it, I will
let everyone know.

Rick

"RG1202" <rg1202@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041229152858.07117.00002484@mb-m10.aol.com...

Thanks to all that replied. I have since gotten the price down to just
775.00
extra for the Honda system. To good to pass up I think.

I don't. Too bad you can't compare the two before buying as I have no
doubt you would get the 2610 instead.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com

I don't think so Darrel. The fact of it being built in with a bigger
screen is
appealing to me. Would be willing to put up with a few "differences"
between
the two just for that. But we shall see. If i am not impressed by it, I
will
let everyone know.

You won't be able to judge unless you were able to use a 2610 to compare
it with. I'm sure that because you can't compare the two you will be very
happy with the Honda system. Ie. I was very happy with dial up internet
until I actually got and used a broadband connection.

--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com

I've compared both units and would be very happy with the 2610 if I
never tested the Honda unit.

How about the Honda "dead reckoning" feature? I've read postings
about the 2610 losing satellites in urban canyons and when that occurs
you also lose all navigation directions. If you don't know the area
you have no idea where you are going.

Honda uses your vehicle speed and a gyroscope to track your position
when satellites are not available.

I wonder if Darrel ever tested the Honda unit? I think its a clear
winner.

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:47:38 -0600, "Darrel Goheen" <GPS@tvnav.com>
wrote:

"RG1202" <rg1202@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041229152858.07117.00002484@mb-m10.aol.com...
Thanks to all that replied. I have since gotten the price down to just
775.00
extra for the Honda system. To good to pass up I think.

I don't. Too bad you can't compare the two before buying as I have no
doubt you would get the 2610 instead.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com

I don't think so Darrel. The fact of it being built in with a bigger
screen is
appealing to me. Would be willing to put up with a few "differences"
between
the two just for that. But we shall see. If i am not impressed by it, I
will
let everyone know.

You won't be able to judge unless you were able to use a 2610 to compare
it with. I'm sure that because you can't compare the two you will be very
happy with the Honda system. Ie. I was very happy with dial up internet
until I actually got and used a broadband connection.

Hi Gary,

GPS systems that are installed by automotive manufacturers have many
advantages over "stand alone" GPS units. A few are: the display is
typically larger and brighter and may provide multiple other functions
in addition to the GPS information, the display is usually installed in
a location that is convenient for use by the driver (although hopefully
not while the vehicle is in motion), the GPS is well secured in place
and is unlikely to be a mechanical hazard in case of an accident, the
GPS is integrated with the speedometer, an electronic compass, audio
systems, emergency cellular communications, and other automotive
functions; some in-vehicle GPS systems use an attached DVD ROM drive to
provide continuing access to an extensive, detailed library of maps and
points of interest; there is a permanent outside mounted GPS antenna,
the unit is permanently connected to the vehicle's DC power supply, and
the electronics may be covered by the vehicle's warranty and can be
serviced at the dealership.
The only significant disadvantages are that it is impractical to
transfer the GPS from vehicle to vehicle and none of the current systems
provide the Address Book capability and programming and database
flexibility that exist on PC or PDA based navigation systems. It is
likely that GPS will be an increasingly standard feature of future
vehicles thus there may be little concern about being able to transfer
the unit.

We recently took a 6000 mile trip with the guidance of a Harman/Becker
GPS system that became nicknamed Muffin after an automotive computer in
the detective literature. It didn't take long to learn that Muffin is an
excellent navigator. Her instructions were invariably correct and we had
no need of a map other than her display.

Robbie

"Gary H" <a.b.u.s.e@wowway.com> wrote in message
news:32o6t0p714upe1ee1fir9s2j5natr9igqj@4ax.com...

I've compared both units and would be very happy with the 2610 if I
never tested the Honda unit.

How about the Honda "dead reckoning" feature?

I have yet to hear a very valid reason for dead reckoning. Sure it will
still guide you when you are in a tunnel but I've never been in a tunnel yet
that I felt I could get lost going through it.

I've read postings

about the 2610 losing satellites in urban canyons and when that occurs
you also lose all navigation directions.

With an external antenna that rarely happens.

I wonder if Darrel ever tested the Honda unit?

No I have not nor do I intend to. I have messed with the Dodge built in
nav system and it is a joke compared to the 2610. That is the only built in
system that I've personally ever used.

I think its a clear

winner.

I would expect that if you bought it. According to our customers that
have used both the built in units and the Garmin units they have all said
that they would rather have the Garmin. That's all I have to go on other
than the price, portability and upgrade fees that I do know about.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:47:38 -0600, "Darrel Goheen" <GPS@tvnav.com
wrote:


"RG1202" <rg1202@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041229152858.07117.00002484@mb-m10.aol.com...
Thanks to all that replied. I have since gotten the price down to just
775.00
extra for the Honda system. To good to pass up I think.

I don't. Too bad you can't compare the two before buying as I have
no
doubt you would get the 2610 instead.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com

I don't think so Darrel. The fact of it being built in with a bigger
screen is
appealing to me. Would be willing to put up with a few "differences"
between
the two just for that. But we shall see. If i am not impressed by it, I
will
let everyone know.

You won't be able to judge unless you were able to use a 2610 to
compare
it with. I'm sure that because you can't compare the two you will be very
happy with the Honda system. Ie. I was very happy with dial up internet
until I actually got and used a broadband connection.

"Darrel Goheen" <GPS@tvnav.com> wrote in message
news:RbadnfvNuJ7g5U7cRVn-sQ@news.ruraltel.net...

I wonder if Darrel ever tested the Honda unit?

No I have not nor do I intend to.

I would however like to use one just to compare to the Garmin units
first hand.
--


Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com