For all those of us who did not opt for the built-in DVD-GPS nav unit, here is a new and pretty slick alternative:

http://www.garmin.com/products/iQue3600/

The Garmin iQue. It's a GPS integrated into a PDA with voice directions and is based on the Palm OS. Looks pretty sweet....and you could take it from car to car, or anywhere else. The web site says it's $589....and you need a few accessories for in-car navigation, but what a concept! Quite a bit less expensive than the Mazda nav unit. Maybe a good option for those without the built-in unit......just a thought.

 

I've had one for about a month now. Works great. The Garmin car kit stays put on the dash even during hard cornering. When I take it on plane trips (which I do far too often), I take the Garmin 12V adapter and an iRock ( which plays the voice, and MP3's through the rental car's FM radio ). With a 512mb SD card, it can hold a bunch of maps and a bunch of MP3's.

Overall, I've been really pleased with the unit. The only possible downside is battery life. With the GPS on it burns through its internal battery really fast. But the 12V adapter, or the car kit solves that problem nicely.

FYI, it can use the same external antenna as the Garmin e-Map (my previous GPS).

I opted for it instead of the Mazda unit since I spend quite a bit of time in rent cars in unfamiliar places. If you travel for a living, the iQue is a no-brainer.

Dave

 

Too bad they put that funky dash/stereo thing in the 8. Otherwise you could use a Garmin GPS V like I did in my Miata.

 

The Garmin IQ is a great, well thought out device and as it syncs with your PC it has the ability to refer to all your conatcts and can toute you to them easily. Better than having to use an ackward input system provided by a car nav system.

If one is of the PocketPC persuasion, that I highly recommend the PowerLOC Destinaotr software avauilable at www.destinator1.com

Reviews of both products can be found by doing a little searcing with google.com

I have used both products and can't prasie them enough for getting me to where I have to go.

FWIW,

CLaude H.

 

warning! may be a dumb question:
Can you play your MP3's on IQUE and listen to them via the RX8 sound system?

 

Yes, you can play MP3's on the iQue through an iRock (or similar FM modulator) through the RX-8's FM radio. The iRock gives you a choice of 4 FM frequencies. It is available from Radio Shack for about $30.

One advantage of using it to play music while navigating is that is mutes the music when giving directions.

Dave

 

Ok so with this garmin, what are its features?
Can it make driving directions ala mapquest.com?
Can you locate restaurants, stores or various businesses?
things like that

 

Yes, it works very much like a dedicated automobile GPS system, plus all the Palm goodies along with some cool integration of features. Functionally, it is very similar to the Nav system in my Lexus SC430. You can locate, and navigate to, addressess, intersections, restaurants, various types of businesses, atm's. Go the the iQue Site for more complete info.

For those who travel, maps are available for most of Europe and Austrailia too.

Dave

 

Dave, great info - thanks.

How does iRock connect to the FM in 8? Is a wireless conneciton possible? How would you compare MP3 via iRock/FM sound quality with that of the 8's CD sound?

I know it recalculates route if you miss a turn but is this recalculation fast enough?

 

I don't have an IRock personally, but I assume it transmits an FM signal to one of 4 stations. Just have to choose the station setting which doesn't conflict with ones already in your area.

 

This is great info. I am considering one of the remote units and this one sounds like it is WELL WORTH looking into. The advantages make it VERY appealing.

 

Bingo! Give the man a cigar.

FYI, there are 2 versions of the iRock. One is powered by 2 AAA cells, the other is powered by the car. I've seen similar units at Fry's also. The unit at Fry's was car powered only and was tunable over a range, not just 4 presets.

 

It's pretty quick. Not at fast as the unit my OTM, but the iQue has a fast processor. If you miss a freeway exit it should have plenty of time to recalculate a route. If you're in the city and miss a turn it kind of depends on your speed. Since I always obey the posted speed limits , there's never been a problem. If you drive like my alter-ego you might need to slow down and let the iQue catch up.


I'm not an expert on GPS' but I would think that the current accuracy of the GPS would be a factor also. The sooner the unit knows it's off course, the sooner it can recalcuate. The iQue can achieve some very precise locations, expecially in open country with the external antenna and WAAS enabled. If you're in the bowels of the city with high-rises all around... good luck.


-Dave

 

Not only does it do all the things a dedicated auto GPS can do - you can use the Garmin Map software on your PC/Mac to plan a route or multiple routes, and then download them to your iQue and select them as required. I used an older Garmin product (the eMap) to plan my California trip - I had laid out 15 days of routes, carefully planned to avoid interstates where possible and hit all the twistiest roads that people had recommended, then downloaded them to the eMap. Try inputting 15 days worth of custom routes and checkpoints into your built-in GPS! For all practical purposes, it can't be done (Impractically, you could sit in the garage for 30 hours trying to manually input them - good luck)

In this respect, the portable Garmin products have a huge advantage over the built-in GPS NAV units.

Regards,
Gordon

 

At around half the price of the Mazda supplied unit, and with portability I suggest you look at the 2610/2650 units.

http://www.garmin.com/products/sp2610_2650/

And you can use it when you are not in your car.
Travelling? Rentals? On a boat? Overseas? On your motorcycle? On your bicycle? Hiking? Hunting?

No problem.

The screen is a reasonable size, and if you get a mount for it you can put it where it is easy to see, such as overhead..

The 2650 ties into your speedo and backup light, and has an accelerometer built in, so it has dead reckoning capability, so even if you lose the GPS signal for a while it can still keep track of where you are.

 

thats pretty sweet

 

I didn't have a very good experiance of the Streetpilot my friend brough over from the UK when we were touring round Canada, although it could just be him not knowing how to use it properly.

Canada so much bigger than the UK, so we didn't always have detailed maps loaded for every part of the journey, causing it to get very upset if we went off a major route in to 'nothingness'. It also had an annoyinf habit of resetting the exact destination after it was turned back on after stopping mid route - it took us on a mysetery tour of Toronto and announced we'd arrived - in the dead center rather than the hotel.

Probably the worst part was the female voice bleeting on at me, while at the same time 3 softwear engineers in the car arguing about its programmig and trying to second guess the directions - not pleasant.

Cheers
---Dave

 

I've heard very good things about the destinator1 system. I'm amused by the possibility of driving to a mountain bike site with the system, and then actually taking the nav mountain biking with me.

 

Dave,

Can you post some pictures of iQue setup in your 8? Thanx!

Sometimes it's more cost effecient for factory to install certain accessories in the assembly line for all models of the same car. So, I was wondering if all RX8 has the built-in GPS antenna?

 

I'll try to get to it tomorrow morning (Tuesday 10/21).

-Dave

 

As requested....

This is where it all (except the iQue itself) fits:



These are the separate pieces:



This is the assembled picture:



This is the speaker and 12V plug. It's hard to see but there is a volume control on the side of the speaker.



This is the speaker/plug plugged in:



This is the unit on the dash. It's actually very stable.



-Dave

 

Dave,

That's a sweet, thanks for the pictures. iQue 3600 is going to be my Xmas gift to myself!! eBay has pretty good price on iQue, around $450 for new one.

 

How does it stay on the dash like that? Is it weighted?

 

It's weighted and has a non-slip rubber base.

- Dave

 

Don't forget to budget for the extras. You'll need an SD memory card. 256mb should be fine, 512mb is better (especially if you want to play MP3 files too). The external antenna improves performance (accuracy and not dropping signal). I also really LIKE the iRock FM modulator ($30 from Radio Schlock). It mutes the MP3 player when the GPS system needs to give directions. Of course, then you need the Garmin 12V adapter...

-Dave