Garmin cfQue 1620 and hx4700.. Thoughts.

[globaloffice]

In a word... wow!. Put this setup together a couple of days ago, and I have to say I was more that pleasantly surprised. Takes some tweaking to get it right, but I've had it in the car for 3 days now alongside my StreetPilot III, and it's everything the SP III is in a whole lot less package. I'm a happy traveler!

-Roger

[amyct]

I am pleased that you have found success with you IPac and gps, could you give me more information about the gps unit you purchased, does it run on blue tooth, and what kind of tweeking did you ave to do? I am a first time buyer and have heard many horror stories about units not being compatable. thanks :D

[globaloffice]

The Garmin cfQue unit is a CF based unit that combines GPS capability, 64mb of onboard memory, and all of the features available in their upper end mobile products. In my case I opted against bluetooth because we frequently use the GPS out of the vehicle and I was looking for something that was single unit. More on the cfQue is here: http://www.garmin.com/products/cfQue/.

If you're familiar with the Garmin units like the Streetpilot series, you'll be instantly at home with the cfQue, as it uses the same maps, the same display pages, and the same voice prompting. Literally, side by side except for screen size they''re the same. I have the basemaps loaded to the cfQue and the detail maps loaded to the SD card. Loading VA, WV, MD, all of PA, NJ including the DC, Baltimore, Richmond, and Philly metro areas with the POI data, routing data, and detail maps was 135mb on the SD card. The program and the basemaps were installed to the cfQue and occupy 28mb on the unit. If you desired you could load less detail maps and install all to the cfQue.

Program launches on insertion of the cfQue or can be launched normally. iPaq buttons can be remapped to GPS function at your option.

Only drawbacks I found were that some of the default zoom levels were large on the VGA screen, as were some of the status banners. They are all configurable as to size and what is displayed, unlike the Streetpilot series where they are fixed.

It's only drawback that I was really hoping for was the ability to have a compass/bearing style screen like the Garmin Vista, so it could be used in geocaching or something similar. Alas, that's one screen lacking. Sats, status, trip chronograph, all are there. Plug in an address and tap "route to it" and it's 33-50% faster at routing than the Streetpilot, probably because of the hx4700's processor.

Comes with a beanbag or stick-on garmin mount, a PDA holder for the dash, the cfQue and all the mapping and software. I paid $196 for the unit. I'm tickled with it and I'm a cynical computer geek! :-)

-Roger

[k7lvo]

I prefer the Bluetooth, but I love the Garmin maps and would like to use them with the Belkin GPS. Can you confirm whether or not the Garmin map program that you're using with the CF will work with NMEA or is it Garmin specific?

Thanks...