after market gps system for ba-fg

[majdi]

Hey everyone. Just a quick question. I'm looking for a aftermarket GPS system for a ba and Fg. Both cars have premium sound. Just wondering what other people have done and found. Some systems are extremely expensive.

[flappist]

Because it does not have a touch screen any aftermarket that uses you ICC will need a remote and be a bit dorky. It will also be expensive to update and have limited features.

You can get a really good mount from holdmyphone.com.au or off fleabay and place a high end GPS on a variety of points on your dash.
This will allow you to get a unit with all the latest maps (and free updates) and software with speed cameras etc. for maybe $5-600 .

[ryeman]

Got my Tomtom 2050 with free map updates and one years traffic from a stressed Dick Smith outlet marked down fm 400-299-love it!

[wrongwaynorris]

VDO Dayton is what I had in my FG same as facory option but at fraction of the cost . You have the large colour screen so it just plugs in .

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by flappist

Because it does not have a touch screen any aftermarket that uses you ICC will need a remote and be a bit dorky. It will also be expensive to update and have limited features.

You can get a really good mount from holdmyphone.com.au or off fleabay and place a high end GPS on a variety of points on your dash.
This will allow you to get a unit with all the latest maps (and free updates) and software with speed cameras etc. for maybe $5-600 .

Not true , my VDO Dayton 5200 PC has everything in it and is easily updatable . Positive bonus having NO touchscreen to as you dont have to lean out of your seat to program it and no finger marks all over the screen . It also has one massive benefit over Tom Toms , Garmins etc etc . There is a feed from the speedo sender so when you go through tunnels where a Tom Tom etc go dead because you have lost signal it still counts down distance to your turn off point within the tunnel or immediately after it . It craps all over my Tom Tom in the EF .

[FGII-XR6]

ASL ( site sponsor) have both aftermarket and OEM options available. they are the warranty agents for ford so they know what they are doing with you falcon

[flappist]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

Not true , my VDO Dayton 5200 PC has everything in it and is easily updatable . Positive bonus having NO touchscreen to as you dont have to lean out of your seat to program it and no finger marks all over the screen . It also has one massive benefit over Tom Toms , Garmins etc etc . There is a feed from the speedo sender so when you go through tunnels where a Tom Tom etc go dead because you have lost signal it still counts down distance to your turn off point within the tunnel or immediately after it . It craps all over my Tom Tom in the EF .

Well actually it is not from the speedo it is from accelerometers in the unit and yes this is a good feature in places with tunnels.

On the other hand (and I have had two built in satnavs in previous cars) my current Garmin has features:
Free map update every 3 months which as the roads change a LOT is quite useful.
School zones and knowing when they are active so warns you BEFORE you are entering the zone rather than having to look for often difficult to see signs and then working out if it is active or not.
Speed cameras and black spot warnings.
Speed limits and over limit warning which again is useful in areas with hard to see signs.
Ability to update speed limits as they change.
Snail trail so you can retrace a journey either partially or fully.
Can be temporarily moved to other vehicles as required. (which has been a good idea in rentals both here and in NZ, oh it has NZ maps too)
SUNA
Use other maps in addition to the standard road map, that is other Australian maps like shonky etc. not just other countries.

So I think that is a fair trade off against not getting lost when entering a tunnel and not working until you pop out the other end.


P.S. Threads merged

[ryeman]

Quoting flappist,
The 2050 Tomtom HD has all those features and in fact I need to do a course or read the~160 page manual, I don't think I'll ever master it..

[wrongwaynorris]

" Well actually it is not from the speedo it is from accelerometers in the unit and yes this is a good feature in places with tunnels "

Mine has a wire that takes its feed from the speedo sender , I remember it well from when I fited it as I had to drive around immediately after installing it to calibrate it .

[zilo]

The Fujitsu Ecllipse unit as in the Fairlane.

Brilliant unit and we just burn the annual dvd a few times and its cheaper

[flappist]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

" Well actually it is not from the speedo it is from accelerometers in the unit and yes this is a good feature in places with tunnels "

Mine has a wire that takes its feed from the speedo sender , I remember it well from when I fited it as I had to drive around immediately after installing it to calibrate it .

So how does it work out turning and changing exit when you are underground?

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by flappist

So how does it work out turning and changing exit when you are underground?

Easy as it takes input from the speedo if you enter the tunnel with 3 km to your turn off it takes over from the satellite when the satellite signal is lost and counts down as your odometer rises by the same amount .

[flappist]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

Easy as it takes input from the speedo if you enter the tunnel with 3 km to your turn off it takes over from the satellite when the satellite signal is lost and counts down as your odometer rises by the same amount .

No that will only work if you follow the path it expects you to and you have a destination programmed into it.

The "non GPS" navigation system has several sources of data only one of which is the feed from the wheels.
The original reason for this was that early GPS signals had an intrinsic variable error put there to prevent the "bad guys" from using it as guidance system for missiles etc.

I remember seeing the threshold of the runway at Maroochydore airport moving several hundred metres in random directions at various times. There were also not many sats in the constellation and as you need at least 4 for an accurate fix and they were set up by the yanks to cover areas of interest to them not us, coverage in Australia was often scratchy.

This made using GPS for motor vehicles fairly useless as the GPS could put you a couple of streets out and give you silly directions.

In order to compensate for this early car systems also used other input to compare against the GPS signal and correct for drift. This is why sometimes it told you to turn a couple of hundred metres before or after and intersection and then suddenly jumped to the right position as soon as you turned.

This problem is not as prevalent now as there are a lot more sats and the intrinsic error is mostly turned off except for near military installations and in "war zones".

But getting back to the original question. There are several choices in which way you go. No one system has all the features as some are contradictory e.g. can't be built in AND portable or can't be touch screen and not touch screen. (latest FG2 is touch screen for the whole ICC including the satnav).

Pick the features that appeal to you and go for that one.

One other point to be aware of:

TOMTOMs work differently to others as they require the exact suburb or town before entering the street. This is a major pain as often addresses advertised or given out are not in the actual suburb but rather in the "better" suburb next to it or if it is a long road will not accept the street number and you will not be able to program the journey until you get it right. There is no "nearest" function like on navman and garmin.
This is really bad in regional towns that have lots of suburbs, names of which even some of the locals who live there have never heard. I had a couple of TOMTOMs ones and had to take a street directory with me to find addresses before programming them on some occasions and that really defeated the purpose.

[ryeman]

Mines got a nearby button and detour and others which I have yet to master, but I know what you mean at least with my old xxl one.

[mik]

got a couple of aftermarket GPS devices, one is an old? Ancient mio 350 which has some little faults/quirks as most of these bloody things do,
but is easy to use and and does the job most of the time, the other is a recent tom tom, i have to say i was a little disappointed with the tom tom, , as flappy mentioned about programming the address in, it seems much less user friendly compared to my old mio, i sometimes want to throw the bloody thing out the window fair dinkum, it has the speech commands thing as well............. try asking it to go to bulleen, somethings are better on the tom tom, but i will be trying another brand next time.