Does anyone have one of these? What's it like? What do you think of
it? Do you get the same battery life as they claim? Is there any way
of putting your own mapping on it such as from openstreetmap?

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:44:29 +0100, Chris Eilbeck
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Does anyone have one of these? .......

Suggest you have a look here:

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/module...iewforum&f=133

Andy

> Does anyone have one of these? What's it like? What do you think of
> it? Do you get the same battery life as they claim? Is there any way
> of putting your own mapping on it such as from openstreetmap?

I did a comparison between this and the Road Angel 7000.

All I'll say is that the Road Angel now sits in my car, as a sat nav & road
safety camera marker and goes out with me on the hill, with Memory Map maps
in it

Dave

In article news:<(E-Mail Removed)>, Chris Eilbeck
wrote:
> Does anyone have one of these?

Nice piece of kit. Mine is playing up at the moment after being used in
heavy rain, but I hope that's just my unit and can be fixed.

> What's it like? What do you think of it?

It's good, overall. It could do with a bigger screen ... but that would
make updates slower and would mean that the backlight drained the
battery faster. The present format is probably just about the ideal
compromise for today's technology. The screen is usable.

I find it slightly difficult to hold (especially in gloves) as the back
of the unit is rounded, and doesn't afford a good grip. Otherwise the
layout and controls are quite well designed.

> Do you get the same battery life as they claim?

Battery life seems quite good -- I haven't actually run it completely
flat so it's hard to say. I do recommend the lithium battery that they
sell.

> Is there any way of putting your own mapping on it such as from
> openstreetmap?

No, not as far as I'm aware. That does seem to be one of the
shortcomings of the unit. It would be really nice if there were a
Memory Map client that ran on the SatMap unit (I gather it's based on
Windows CE, so that shouldn't be impossibly hard as you can run a
Memory Map client on 'consumer' Windows Pocket PC devices (but they
aren't waterproof ... then again, my Active10 doesn't seem to be,
either)).

Cheers,
Daniel.

Chris Eilbeck wrote:
> Does anyone have one of these? What's it like? What do you think of
> it? Do you get the same battery life as they claim? Is there any way
> of putting your own mapping on it such as from openstreetmap?
>
> Chris

Cracking piece of kit plus if you go geocaching you can now do paperless
caching by downloading the .gpx /.loc file from the geocaching site.

You don't have to use a PC with it,routes can be planned on the unit
although obviously a PC with a large monitor makes it easier.

The mapping appears expensive but when you put it at the side of the
equivalent paper maps it seems very reasonable;£200ish for the whole of
the UK in 1:50000 whereas paper maps would be £1400 or so.There is also
site-centred mapping available which can work out cheaper in some cases.

There is a Route Planner/Route Share available on the Satmap site but
this is a rather steep £80 to access.Routes can be planned on Memory-Map
and downloaded to the Satmap via their Satsync software ( free ).

The Satmap is an ongoing project based in the UK and improves at every
software update,and they answer the phone and e-mails.

There is an excellent bike mount available,I find the unit especially
good for cycling.

Battery use via the Li-Pol battery ( extra) is very good and is easily
sufficient for a days walking/cycling.

If you are considering purchase have a look around as there are places
that sell it at a discount.

Sam Salt

In uk.rec.gps, Sam Salt wrote:
>The mapping appears expensive but when you put it at the side of the
>equivalent paper maps it seems very reasonable;£200ish for the whole of
>the UK in 1:50000 whereas paper maps would be £1400 or so.

Really? Looking at Satmap's site it looks like £559.96 for GB (not the
whole of UK).

But for walking in most areas you need 25k. Then the prices get really
silly. I just filled my basket with GB at 25k and it came to £6,413.32
(paper: £3219.97). You'd expect 25k to be about 4 times the 50k price
per square km, but in fact it's about 11 times the price.

>There is also site-centred mapping available which can work out cheaper
>in some cases.

Not at 50k, I think.

--
Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes wrote:
> In uk.rec.gps, Sam Salt wrote:
>> The mapping appears expensive but when you put it at the side of the
>> equivalent paper maps it seems very reasonable;£200ish for the whole of
>> the UK in 1:50000 whereas paper maps would be £1400 or so.
>
> Really? Looking at Satmap's site it looks like £559.96 for GB (not the
> whole of UK).
>
> But for walking in most areas you need 25k. Then the prices get really
> silly. I just filled my basket with GB at 25k and it came to £6,413.32
> (paper: £3219.97). You'd expect 25k to be about 4 times the 50k price
> per square km, but in fact it's about 11 times the price.
>
>> There is also site-centred mapping available which can work out cheaper
>> in some cases.
>
> Not at 50k, I think.

OK NI is missing but England,Scotland & Wales at £199.99 + P&P at 1:50000

http://www.satmap.com/ukstore/produc...oducts_id=3107

Sam Salt

In uk.rec.gps, Sam Salt wrote:
>Mike Barnes wrote:
>> In uk.rec.gps, Sam Salt wrote:
>>> The mapping appears expensive but when you put it at the side of the
>>> equivalent paper maps it seems very reasonable;£200ish for the whole of
>>> the UK in 1:50000 whereas paper maps would be £1400 or so.
>> Really? Looking at Satmap's site it looks like £559.96 for GB (not
>>the
>> whole of UK).
>> But for walking in most areas you need 25k. Then the prices get
>>really
>> silly. I just filled my basket with GB at 25k and it came to £6,413.32
>> (paper: £3219.97). You'd expect 25k to be about 4 times the 50k price
>> per square km, but in fact it's about 11 times the price.
>>
>>> There is also site-centred mapping available which can work out
>>>cheaper
>>> in some cases.
>> Not at 50k, I think.
>
>OK NI is missing but England,Scotland & Wales at £199.99 + P&P at 1:50000
>
>http://www.satmap.com/ukstore/produc...oducts_id=3107

Ah, right. I stand corrected - thanks.

That makes 1:25000 even more comparatively expense. At the same number
of pence per pixel, 1:25000 for the UK would be £800, instead of the
£6400 it actually is. Unless someone can find another deal that I failed
to spot.

--
Mike Barnes