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testingcar
8 Posts |
 Posted - 22 déc. 2005 : 01:30:00
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Received my IWAY 350C from Tiger GPS yesterday. I was on Pre-Order since mid November. Ordered it right after the SEMA show anouncement.
My initial thoughts:
1. After powering the unit on; it takes about 1 - 2 minutes sometime to find my location. Not a big deal really since it keeps the previous powerdown location. Just a little surprised for the delay.
2. The FM transmitter signal isn't very strong. This is my really only major complaint so far with the IWAY-350C. I have a Pontiac Vibe that has the factory radio attenna on the rear roof near the hatch. But, even trying it out in the house with a portable radio. I get only about 3-4 feet of range. Is this possibly a FCC issue about controlling the FM signal strength? I was wondering initially how strong it would be; if I would be broadcasting GPS directions to car next to me? But,this is definitely the case now!!!
3. Another feature I'm not happy with is the FIND ADDRESS. It requires you enter the exact information completely to find the location. This is a serious weakness compared to the Garmin 330. The Garmin as you begin to enter the address; it will start to narrow your address name. I'm really in trouble if I can't spell the whole word.
4. Once the GPS satelites are located, the accuracy on the map is relatively good for my purposes.
5. Another annoying little quirk; is when playing a MP3 song a SD card symbol flashes in the lower right corner of the screen (at approx. 1 hz interval).
6. The FM transmitter can drown out a local radio station. With that said; it would be nice if I could listen to the local radio and allow the Iway just step over the local station for directions? This would be a great feature. You have to listen to MP3 or nothing.
Just my initial thoughts.
More to follow........
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maximka
15 Posts |
Posted - 22 déc. 2005 : 15:16:18
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| Does iway 350c has its own speakers? Or I have to broadcast only to my radio? |
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maximka
15 Posts |
Posted - 22 déc. 2005 : 15:18:44
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| What do you think is better iway 350c, iway 500c , Garmin models 320 -340 or Magelan 760 ? has any one used Cobra 4500? |
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testingcar
8 Posts |
Posted - 22 déc. 2005 : 23:39:14
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quote:
Originally posted by maximka
Does iway 350c has its own speakers? Or I have to broadcast only to my radio?
The IWAY 350C has a single built-in "mono" speaker for MP3 and voice directions. But, the FM signal sent to the radio is probably in stereo; also the headphone jack. I really like the over-all performance of the 350c; but the "WEAK" FM transmitted signal strength is really a downfall so-far. I hope there is something they can do about this feature. I have sent an email to Lowrance requesting help with this problem with the FM transmitter. I would think this is a hardware design issue and not a software change? |
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gpspassion
87871 Posts |
Posted - 22 déc. 2005 : 23:43:12
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I for one have yet to see an FM transmitter that works well in a busy urban area. I remember pointing that out to a Radioshack guy upon returngin one there and he said their previous model worked better but had to be withdrawn as it was too powerful and did not meet FCC rules...
Any chance you could share some picutres of your 350? I'll put a link from the front page ;-) Method is here : http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14251
On 3. can 't you hit OK or ENTER after typing a few letters to get a choice of addresses ?
Also wondering if the direct light visibility is as good as on the 500c, the best AIO so far in that respect.
_________________________________________________________________________
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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testingcar
8 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 03:45:56
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GPSPASSION - I'm having no success loading pictures based on the instructions. The files are uploaded fine with some transfer# after? I then try to use the transfer number in my link; with no sucess.
But, back to your question regarding the find address option (Tab 3). This look up query only works for partially spelled city names; not for the street address name.
I don't have any previous experience with other GPS units. I have never used the IWAY-500c. This IWAY350C is definitely a nice AIO package. Screen size is perfect for my Pontiac Vibe; 500C would have been too big. The internal battery is working great so far; but a AC adapter option would have been nice. You always have to take out to the car to charge it!!! |
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gpspassion
87871 Posts |
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testingcar
8 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 05:22:20
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USB Computer Interface Issue: I tried tonight to connect the Iway350C to my Dell Windows XP Home(Service Pack 2) computer. The computer won't recognize the SD memory card in the unit. It also states with the SD card removed; it should recognize the 4gig microdrive. I followed all there new supplemented instructions with no success. I just transfer my mp3's using my card reader. This is not a big deal yet. But, will become an issue when Lowrance has a software update available. Maybe they update via a ROM firmware.
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gpspassion
87871 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 10:34:01
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Thanks for the pictures, I removed the spaces to have them show up directly. So it does ship with the Q3 2005 maps too, infousa POIs seem a bit old with the 2003 date, it's possible they have not released a new version since...
On the connection, is it just the SD card that you can't see? Any sofware you need to install on your PC first ?
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Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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ST-Bob
USA
3263 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 13:26:35
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With XP and Win2K, you may have to go into the disk management tools in the administrative options to give the iWay a disk drive letter. It's sometimes an issue... Thank Bill Gates for this one. Another thing is you might have to unload any special USB-2 drivers from your PC. USB 2 should still work with XP's native support, but I've had problems using the motherboard's USB-2 driver on my AOpen box at work. USB-1.1 ports work best with the 500c and 100m - dunno about the 350c though.
Bob Peloquin
Moderator-Lowrance iWay forum
Massachusetts, USA
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Blrfl
USA
126 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 14:13:11
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Any chance we could see a picture of the Gauge Page? That's the one thing I'm really dying for on the 500c.
Thanks.
--Mark
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IGOR1981
USA
264 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 17:29:35
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I like tabbed menus. That's what I'm working on for my 500c. 
Looks somewhat basic to me. Garmin displays more stuff on theirs.
---
our planet needs more intellectual souls.
Igor the TechJunkie in Erie, Pennsylvania |
Edited by - IGOR1981 on 23 déc. 2005 17:45:11 |
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Keefer
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - 23 déc. 2005 : 20:33:02
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| For an AC Power Adapter, I went to Radio Shack and purchased a 12v 1 amp adapter and a cigar lighter plugin. This combination works just fine. |
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fbarbou
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 24 déc. 2005 : 00:00:30
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I've been using the iWay 350c for a week now. It's my first GPS, so I can't compare it with other models but in the store, it's the one that felt the most intuitive to use and the price, size and weight are reasonable. The Garmins looked quite easy to use too but they're more expensive. The Garmin 2730 seems quite nice but it's expensive and bulky.
It seems that it (at least mine) can do street name expansion in the "Address" find and "Intersection" find. If there are too many choices, it doesn't seem to display them all, though. Typing "YA" for the street brings up choices up to "Yach" but no further, for example. Typing "YAL" brings the "YALE ST" I was looking for.
The reason I mention "Yale" is that it seems that the unit is able to speak that street's name ! I found it out accidentally by driving by a Yale St and the GPS wanted me to turn on it and spoke "Turn left on Yale". I was surprised but I tried it again in a route simulation and it did it again ! Maybe "Yale" is especially dear to Lowrance and deserves a special case, or maybe text-to-speech is already built-in but just not enabled yet.
I was able to see the small disk partition with the sample music and photos on my Mac but at some point, it wouldn't show up anymore and the Mac was complaining that some requests were timing out on the USB bus. After forcing a real power down (not standby) of the iWay, it worked again. I haven't tried a SD card yet.
So far, it seems to be working OK and it's quite useful. It "crashed" (screen turned black) once but when I turned it back on, it picked up the route again almost right away. Once it has a good lock on the satellites, I can put it in front of the instrument panel (without much direct sky view) and it still tracks OK. If I leave it there from the start, it never gets good accuracy at all and it keeps thinking that I'm off route, on a side road a few hundred feet off the highway. I wish it had an external antenna input, just in case...
It would be nice if it could just "assume" that I'm on the right road if the right road actually fits within the current accuracy.
As far as routing goes, it has some occasional glitches, probably similar to what I've seen reported about the 500c and it really doesn't want to use I280 in the San Francisco Bay Area, but that's the same with YahooMaps, so it could be a NavTeq issue.
I haven't had any problem reading the screen in various light conditions so far. In "NightMode", it seems that I can't lookup "Cities" at all. It just says "No items found in the Cities/Towns/etc. category." The other searches seem to work fine.
My wish list so far:
* external antenna input or more sensitive chip, although it seems fine in most cases (and it's nice that it switches to the directions list when it loses signal, so you can keep navigating manually if needed),
* the ability to ask for a re-route,
* the ability to avoid part of a route,
* a mute button. |
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mcaslan
81 Posts |
Posted - 25 déc. 2005 : 02:12:21
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Based on your review I placed my order. I shopped on price becasue no one was in stock or shipping. I called 4 marine stores and 3 diverted to voicemail and told me they'd call me back for the order - none of the 3 returned the call!
eMarine Supplies answered my call, indicated he has 500 on order, has a queue at that time of about 160 and had shipped 8 or 9. He said the best shipping option for me would be UPS ground since the shipment would come from New Jersey and I live in Maryland.
It was nice to find a friendly outfit that was excited the product.
Tx
Neil |
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guanche
USA
23 Posts |
Posted - 26 déc. 2005 : 09:26:28
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I've been using my 350c for a week now and it's a very usable unit, even for my wife who is not a techie (but I am). Here's some interesting observations and thoughts:
1. Extremely bright, crisp display.
2. Once initial lock is established, it seldom looses tracking, and the accuracy seems to be pretty good, even through forest canopy etc.
3. Given the 16-channel and great battery life I'm wondering if chipset is from Nemerix???
4. I can do partial address searches (or any POIs for that matter), but I agree that Garmin's method of narrowing down displayed keys as you type is a better system.
5. No problems working with the internal 4Gb drive through a USB connection I'm using Windows XP SP2).
6. No problems working with SD memory card.
7. Only once the system "hang" while playing music and doing turn-by-turn navigation at the same time. It could have been car vibrations affecting the contacts on the SD card... who knows! However, coming back from a short reset, the unit picked up navigation right where it got interrupted. Nice recovery ability!
8. Music playing starts where you were at when you last turned off the unit: nice (almost mandatory) feature when listening to audio books.
9. Decent FM audio quality on my car stereo.
10. Music playing pauses momentarily while voice instructions are heard.
11. Remarkable POI depth for a unit this small and for the price.
12. Good secondary/forest roads coverage (at least where I live in WA State).
13. There are a number of "hidden" touch buttons like in the satellite screen on the bottom right corner... try it and see what happens.
14. Wonderful Autozoom feature: when you slow down or get near a turn the unit zooms in for extra detail. It is an easily defeatable feature from the main map menu just by touching the scale icon on the bottoms left corner (undocumented).
15. Lots of customized data can be chosen and auto/manually placed on the map screen (from system voltage to EPE).
Overall I'm very pleased with this unit: very compact, capable and cheap. I got mine for just under $400 shipped and I couldn't find anything comparable for that money.
I'm intrigued going forward as to the ability to update maps and POI from Lowrance. Also, I would love the ability to download different kind of maps (like European or topographical, marine, etc.). Also, it would be fantastic if I could download my Outlook addresses (or other waypoints) into the unit via the USB cable.
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I just got the new I-WAY 350C!!!
