Portable Nav systems and X5 glass???

[alpac]

I was about to buy the Nuvi 350 from Garmin too but my kids got me the I5 model for Christmas at Circuit City. I was thinking about maybe bringing it back and get the Nuvi instead but I wanted to test the I5 first. I have been using it yesterday and today and in spite of its small size this little GPS unit is really an amazing piece of electronic. I did not put it on the windscreen but near the gear shift in my X5 and it works flawlessly. It acquires the satellites in about 15 sec and is very accurate. For the price difference with the Nuvi ($400) I can buy a very good MP3 player.

[dksavage]

I use a bluetooth GPS reciever with an Ipaq. The reciever has a current generation 'Sirf III' chipset which has quite amazing performance. Search for BT338 on ebay. I can leave it in the centre console and it works fine. On top of the dash is obviously fine too.
Still deciding on the best spot for the Ipaq itself, but generally the voice directions are all I need.

[06SapphireX5]

Originally Posted by alpac

I did not put it on the windscreen but near the gear shift in my X5 and it works flawlessly. It acquires the satellites in about 15 sec and is very accurate.

That is exactly where I put mine, seemed distracting up on the glass. It also worked great to use the footwell power point, just ran the cable under the floormat and up next to the seat and have power to it all the time. I really liked the slim case on the nuvi for travel. It will easily fit in a pocket and that was worth it to me. The garmin interface is awesome, the only flaw I've encountered so far is the voice softwares inability to say some spanish street names in our area.

[john348]

HI I used a PDA and NAVMAN sleeve but this did not work in the middle of the screen (Heated screen on a range rover). I did use an external aerial and then had no problems. I also used a Garmin in the corner of the screen where there is no heater element agan no problems most of the time. Since then I have gone for a PDA running Tomtom with a bluetooth gps receiver. The receiver I can put anywhere BUT it is SIRF3 which is much more sensitive and listens for more satelites and has no problem anywhere in the car (even works in the car in the garage). It locks into a lot of satelites all the time. I will let you know after tomorrow if it works in the X5 when I pick up my 4 month old X5!!!!!! Even though it has Satnav I will still use the pda as it tells me where the cameras are here in the UK.

John (can't wait)

[dhjsu]

Originally Posted by alpac

I was about to buy the Nuvi 350 from Garmin too but my kids got me the I5 model for Christmas at Circuit City. I was thinking about maybe bringing it back and get the Nuvi instead but I wanted to test the I5 first. I have been using it yesterday and today and in spite of its small size this little GPS unit is really an amazing piece of electronic. I did not put it on the windscreen but near the gear shift in my X5 and it works flawlessly. It acquires the satellites in about 15 sec and is very accurate. For the price difference with the Nuvi ($400) I can buy a very good MP3 player.

Can you post a pic of it by your gearshift in your X?

[IFlyX5]

Originally Posted by X5sti

no problem. You can also use a sand bag to mount the Nav. shown as the pic

So how much an 2006 4.8is costs in Chinese currency? And how much is it in US currency?