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Magellan GPS Companion for Palm V-Vx

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07th of January 2009

With the GPS friend attached, your Palm OS Handheld Organizer becomes a complete travel tool that won't only save you time but totally removes the phrase "Where am I?" from your vocabulary. regardless where you go or what you do, the GPS friend and your Palm organizer will give you all the info you have to get you where you're going. The GPS friend is the ideal for the Palm V/ Vx series of handhelds for anybody needing the mix of a Palm V/Vx handheld and a GPS receiver. The GPS friend works equally well with either the Palm V or Palm Vx handheld. Install NAV friend or Map friend software into your Palm V Series of Handhelds and the days of folding maps and searching through endless pages of map guides are a thing of the past. Highways, streets and a host of points of interest can now be stored into your organizer and found on a map in a times notice.

Review:
There are two hard reasons to purchase a GPS: navigating unfamiliar regions by knowing one's exact position on the planet, and the sheer coolness factor of having such a device. The Magellan GPS friend meets both the geek chic and practical utility tests by working with an present Palm handheld. The price is low enough that a recurrent traveler should not think twice about substituting this device for bulky, obvious maps although you may miss the charm of meeting strangers in unfamiliar empty neighborhoods.

The GPS friend snaps right into the Palm V or Vx's serial connector, and uses own batteries to avoid running down the Palm handheld's power. The unit comes with two software packages, one for wayfinding and navigation and another for attaching position to street maps. The unit uses the standard GPS interface, so any Palm application that can use a GPS has access to this device's telemetry.

you will find yourself turning to the GPS friend time and again. The accompanying CD ROM will include in depth maps of the complete United States and territories and protectorates like Samoa. Maps vary from some kilobytes to some number of hundred kilobytes based on the scale of detail cities get more detail, so if you have some number of megabytes free on your Palm, you will have to pick and decide which maps to download.

The CD ROM organized each map into a set of folders by state or territory, , then by county. You may also use search features in the Mac or Windows operating system to find city names, but the CD ROM uses truncated MS DOS style naming, generating Poughkeepsie residents possibly out of luck unless they search on "poughkee."

Downloading maps is as easy as adding the data file to the installer list in the Palm OS desktop application. The Map friend application allows you to decide to view maps if you are not in the geographic area of the map. You may also use it to delete any installed map.

The most useful mix of alternatives in Map friend is turning on GPS Scrolling and GPS Position from the Navigate menu. The menu does not change depending on if the features are on or off we had to rely on tiny text in the lower right that reads "GPS POS + SCAL" to show when both were enabled.

it may on occasion be hard to get a fix on our position when we were near buildings or inside. In our testing, we had to be in a clear area for the fix to take, after that, the unit performed well in a car over city streets. The up/down scroll button on the Palm may be used to dynamically scale up or down. The maps automatically add detail with street names and landmarks as you zoom in closer.

We steadily found about a four second lag while traveling at 30 mph. And you do not want to use this device when behind the wheel. The display requires too much attention and could because you to veer into someone's lane. Hand the Palm and GPS friend over to a navigator in the passenger's seat.

The Nav friend software offers wayfinding tools that let you to mark positions , then trace your way between them. The software is rather clunky and does not supply turn by turn info, nor does it integrate with Map friend to let you overlay a path over an present map. Nav friend could surely help for off road activities, like wandering aimlessly in the woods which we aren't wont to do. But given the restricted battery life and the citified nature of the Palm, we doubt you will take this on your next mountain sojourn.

We tested the unit with some other Palm OS applications, as well as the Vindigo city guide. Vindigo uses intersection info to offer contextual choices for dining, dancing, and entertainment. It worked seamlessly with the Magellan, as we drove down a street. Vindigo kept updating intersections from its selection menu, and we could find restaurants up to half a mile away as we cruised about.

The Magellan unit is a great bargain, and comparatively easy to use. It requires most likely 60 to 90 minutes to become comfy with the Map friend software, after which it became nearly second nature to use. Glenn Fleishman

Pros:

• Full set of U.S. maps on CD ROM
• Fast learning curve for most features
• Uses own batteries rather than tapping the Palm's power
• Fully matched with other Palm applications that use GPS data

Cons:

• Nav and Map Companions do not speak to each other and use different interfaces
• Mapping lags some seconds behind real position while in motion

Find your way home with your Palm V or Vx handheld and the GPS friend by Magellan. This lightweight, 12 channel global positioning system receiver clips onto your Palm and links up to GPS satellites in minutes.

The friend works with your Palm to display your position on a map, track a course, and supply navigation details like speed, distance, and time of arrival. Software is available for applications like golf, mapping, restaurant guides, and more.

The GPS receiver interfaces with any Palm mapping software application that reads NMEA 2.1. The friend comes with bundled Palm software applications for street mapping and outdoor recreation. it is powered by two AAA batteries for up to ten hours and does not drain your Palm's batteries. It measures only 6.5 by 3.25 by 0.88 inches and weighs only 3.9 ounces.

It comes with a user's manual, quick reference guide, two AAA batteries, and a CD ROM containing Map friend and NAV friend software. The Palm V or Vx is sold individually. it is covered by a one year warranty.



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Magellan GPS Companion:
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