On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 13:39:00 -0700, "John DeGrazia" put together some random words that came up with:
Another comment about Navs designed for automotive use. This is true for the Kenwood, the Toyota Nav, and the Nav that I have in my Murano.
These Navs not only have the GPS receiver, but they use gyros to detect heading, and the speed pulse from the car to help clock milage. The three systems cross-check each other, and if you get in an area that you can't get good gps coverage (such as a tunnel), the gyro and speed pulse keeps the Nav on track.
The other thing about hand-held Navs is that I don't know if they are designed for the conditions that you find in the interior of a car. I know that in the summer here (Miami), the interior of a car can get upwards of 140 degrees. My Nav screen gets hot to the touch. When I lived in Minnesota, the interior of the car could vary from -20F in the night and morning to 50F in the early afternoon if the car sat in a sunny spot. The in-car Navs are designed to take these kind of temperature extremes, as well as noisy electrical power and a significant vibration. Are inexpensive hand-held units designed for these conditions? I don't know, but it's important to know this for reliability reasons.
I really like the dual displays, and wish my Murano had dual displays (one car, one Nav) rather than the integrated display it currently has.
Also, and the Kenwood Nav, if the Nav unit dies outside warranty, I can just put another Kenwood Nav in the car without spending big $ for an OEM replacement unit.
Steve in Miami '04 Seaside #7