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cvanbreda
Canada
3 Posts |
 Posted - 02 août 2006 : 18:50:20
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Hi all;
I'm a newbie on the forum but have been "lurking" for several months. This is a great source of information.
I now have a question. I just purchased a Nextar MN2707 from Canadian Tire for $399. It seems to be a great system although they haven't relased any maps for the US yet (supposed to in the next two weeks). My only problem is I'm going on vacation in the US next week. I'm wondering if it is worth holding on to this or returning it and buying a system with the US already loaded?
The only drawback is that any other 7" system is double the price and 3.5" screens seem a bit small.
I do have MS Streets and Trips 2006 as an alternative, but my wife is not fussy about holding the laptop!
Any comments (on the MN2707) or suggestions on better systems would be appreciated.
Tks
Chris
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Thai
3 Posts |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6817 Posts |
Posted - 06 août 2006 : 17:17:27
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Canadian Tire now also sells:
Garmin GPS Streetpilot i3
Product# 79-3859-4
and:
Roadview Portable GPS
Product# 35-2556-4
Either of the above will do a good job. But if you still can, return your Nextar MN2707. A friend showed me the unit a few months back and he complained about routing issues among other things.
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Marvin Hlavac |
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ve7mdt
Canada
138 Posts |
Posted - 06 août 2006 : 22:09:54
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Friends were trying to buy one in Vancouver on Aug. 4, on the flyer's sale. We didn't know it was available before at this price. We only can find one unit, and it's mostly sold out. So far it is a big improvement over the MN2606 MacVision back in Christmas time. But still not perfect.
GPS: Now it's SiRF III. Before it was an OEM module based on the SiRF II, but it got extremely poor reception due to the GPS board being mounted directly above the CPU without any shielding. now it's very sensitive. The GPS info page however, does not show which sats are locked and which ones aren't, only signal bar on a "histogram".
Map: The less you input, the more likely you get an address entered. No narrowing down of the potential matches while typing texts, unlike iGuidance etc. If you don't know if you have to enter "th" after a number for a street, then like you will get it wrong.
Nav: Old 2607 can't even get East or West on a street and gave wrong routing. No auto reroute on old model. New unit seems to have fixed it.
LCD: very bright and large, w/ wide viewing angle.
multimedia: claimed to do JPEG and yet friend can't find out how.
For value, it's good. But it's hard to say if it has problems or bugs as it's new and the old model wasn't a good track record.
We found some small towns covered, so this is quite a surprise (Powell River, etc).
Mainly my friends want this unit for the large LCD, even we all have PDA and notebooks and have MS S&T and iGuidance etc. |
Garmin Nuvi 750, Toshiba e830, HTC Advantage X7501, [For Sale:] Nextar MN2707 running P7, [For sale:] Clarion AutoPC GPS + Odessey 2000, Magellan Springboard GPS on Visor 2MB, Haicom HI-303III + BT slipper, Holux GPSlim236
iGuidance 4.0, Delorme Street Atlas 2007, Streets & Trips 2007, MapPoint 2004 |
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 07 août 2006 : 20:08:28
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Message to cvanbreda:
I just bought the Nextar MN2707 at Canadian Tire. Price is an added bonus for only $399! and I'm very happy with my purchase. Its very accurate mainly on major cities. The only cons is the slow start-up when locating GPS signal. I do wedding events and its very usefull when locating clients address and doing park pictorials using the POI ,etc.
I'm also waiting for the release of US Maps. I just don't like the idea of paying for the upgrade. If you want to keep it, stick with it and just use mapquest for you U.S. trip. For me I don't like PC based Navigation its not user friendly.
Message to ve7mdt:
Yes, its selling like pancakes. Me too is having problem finding this unit co'z everything was sold out! I just got lucky and search the CanadianTire website where they have stock available.
Message to Thai:
Yes some cities doesn't show. For me I use mapquest as back-up in locating cities outside Montreal. Example here in Quebec ... I'm searching St. Hubert, QC when on the Nextar MN2707 it was Longueuil,QC |
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cvanbreda
Canada
3 Posts |
Posted - 07 août 2006 : 23:30:40
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Hi All, thanks for the great feedback. I decided to keep the unit and have been very happy with how it works in Canada. It does take a little getting used to, but once you pass that hurdle it works like a charm. I'm in the US now it does have all the major routes and even street names in places like Albany, Plattsburg, Augusta and just about everywhere else. The only thing is you can't enter your route until the US maps are available.
Compared to using MS S&T, I'd take this any day, lots of warning of turns, shows the street you're on, the one you will be turning onto, distance to go and time etc. The atuo reroute function works great, no nagging "off course" with manual input required.
The manual doesn't say anything about playing jpegs etc, but it works as a basic MP3 player, though don't expect a lot in sound quality. My unit (without US maps) has about 18 gigs free for MP3s.
I've also found out this one is Linux based and I do wonder when I shut it down using the power button how hard it is on the system.
I guess time will tell, but for the price and a 7" LCd touch screen I'll keep it. I'll keep you updated if there are any cons that show up.
P.S. Being able to set you speed in MPH is great in the US, no more trying to see the small numbers under the KPH. Must be accurate too since no state troopers stopped me (yet).
I also see it is still on sale this week at CTC for the same price (399 CAD) . Amazon is selling it for about 639USD last time I looked.
Thanks
Chris |
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ve7mdt
Canada
138 Posts |
Posted - 08 août 2006 : 03:36:09
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| Slow startup on the GPS? Are you serious? It uses the latest SiRF III and I don't think any GPS receivers can do better in FTTF, look around this site and see. Do you know that to obtain the faster fix time with warm and hot start, you need to have the internal battery charged up over time, so the battery can keep the memory? With all the criticisms on this unit, which many are valid, yours is probably the least valid one. |
Garmin Nuvi 750, Toshiba e830, HTC Advantage X7501, [For Sale:] Nextar MN2707 running P7, [For sale:] Clarion AutoPC GPS + Odessey 2000, Magellan Springboard GPS on Visor 2MB, Haicom HI-303III + BT slipper, Holux GPSlim236
iGuidance 4.0, Delorme Street Atlas 2007, Streets & Trips 2007, MapPoint 2004 |
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 08 août 2006 : 16:42:40
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| hey, i was thinking when the US Map is available ... why don't we share the expenses and just make copy for everyone. would that work? |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6817 Posts |
Posted - 08 août 2006 : 17:46:08
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| I see that you are in business for yourself ( www.hartistic.net ). Would you be able to provide your services if many of your customers started to do what you are proposing here? |
Marvin Hlavac |
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 08 août 2006 : 19:00:27
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hehehe I really don't care if my customers make duplicates. Everybody does it anyways and I have no control over it. :)
and if you don't like the idea ... I respect that. It's just my opinion. |
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 08 août 2006 : 19:03:14
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| I just want to clarify is Nextar MN2707 using SiRF III? co'z it doesn't say in the Manual. |
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steden86
Canada
2 Posts |
Posted - 09 août 2006 : 04:00:08
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| Hi All.. I need help with my new Nextar MN2707... I lived in Sherbrooke, QC and Everytime I'm turning on my GPS, the default adress take me to Ontario.. How do I put my default adress so when I'm opening it, I will see MY ADRESS.. ? |
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 09 août 2006 : 14:16:51
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Hi steden86,
Same thing happens to me when I first bought it... Just let your Nextar MN2707 lock on the satellites ... wait , do some couple of test drive , like i did. The next time you open your MN2707 it will show your address. Hope this will help.
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admin_0
1 Posts |
Posted - 10 août 2006 : 05:35:57
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I am thinking of going to the US (LA) at the end of the month with my kids on a Califonia road trip, so I was thinking instead fo renting a gps, I should buy one, do you think it has enought info fo me to drive in LA and then drive along the coast line? what do you think?
quote:
Originally posted by cvanbreda
Hi All, thanks for the great feedback. I decided to keep the unit and have been very happy with how it works in Canada. It does take a little getting used to, but once you pass that hurdle it works like a charm. I'm in the US now it does have all the major routes and even street names in places like Albany, Plattsburg, Augusta and just about everywhere else. The only thing is you can't enter your route until the US maps are available.
Compared to using MS S&T, I'd take this any day, lots of warning of turns, shows the street you're on, the one you will be turning onto, distance to go and time etc. The atuo reroute function works great, no nagging "off course" with manual input required.
The manual doesn't say anything about playing jpegs etc, but it works as a basic MP3 player, though don't expect a lot in sound quality. My unit (without US maps) has about 18 gigs free for MP3s.
I've also found out this one is Linux based and I do wonder when I shut it down using the power button how hard it is on the system.
I guess time will tell, but for the price and a 7" LCd touch screen I'll keep it. I'll keep you updated if there are any cons that show up.
P.S. Being able to set you speed in MPH is great in the US, no more trying to see the small numbers under the KPH. Must be accurate too since no state troopers stopped me (yet).
I also see it is still on sale this week at CTC for the same price (399 CAD). Amazon is selling it for about 639USD last time I looked.
Thanks
Chris
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 10 août 2006 : 18:26:19
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www.hartistic.net
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 10 août 2006 : 18:28:40
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