Navigon iPhone GPS App Review

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Navigon iPhone GPS App Review

Postby Meza44 » Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:57 pm

Review of Navigon iPhone app. http://www.navigon.com/portal/us/produkte/navigationssoftware/mobile_navigator_iphone_us.html

The economy being what it is and having little expendable $$ for my motorcycle trinkets, I could not afford a true motorcycle friendly GPS. So since I already had an iPhone I decided to give one of the GPS company apps a go. At the time the options were limited to TomTom or Navigon. I researched Navigon http://www.navigon.com, due to not knowing anything about them, and found that they have a very good rep in Europe, they are German, but don't sell their units in the US at this time. I was familiar with TomTom and some said there mapping wasn't the best. I chose Navigon for 2 reasons. 1. Reputation and 2. cost, at the time that I purchased their app they offered 4 options for North America. They offered the CA, PR, and US for $99, but then they broke up the US into 3 parts, West, Central, and East for $39. I chose the East only option which covers AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, IN, KY, MA, ME, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VT, VA, WV.

I found the app to be user friendly and having a lot of the same options of a full size regular GPS unit. You can program your home, favorites, or use contacts from the iPhone for navigation points. You can create your own routes, and save a recent route you have ridden. The app allows for the input of all 3 GPS formats. You can control the music function of the iPhone from the app itself. You can even purchase add-ons like live traffic and other features. When you select a destination the app provides 3 options for your route fastest, shortest, and an alternative route.

I use the app in my car and the voice directions are clear and easily understood, I just started using it with my Scala G4 headset and will provide an updated review in a few weeks after using it more.

Cons to the app. The most obvious is screen size, since the iPhone screen is smaller than a normal GPS. You can't upload routes through any form of software. In the beginning there was lack of documentation, but they recently uploaded one to their website. For a motorbike, there aren't a lot of mounting options. I have chosen to use an Aqua box by Ram Mounts and will provide a review of both the app and Aqua box in a few weeks. Like most apps that keep the screen lit it sucks the battery in a hurry.

I hope this helps and it anyone has further points that I did not discuss let me know and I can respond. Since I don't have a true GPS device I don't know how everyone uses their GPS and mostly use mine to go from point A to point B without much exploration, yet.

Here is a link to the PDF manual http://www.navigon.com/portal/de/kundenservice/faq.html?id=10844420&content_identifier=faq&page=1&faqTopic=iphone

Chris
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Re: Navigon iPhone GPS App Review

Postby anoop » Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:57 pm

Very cool. I've been meaning to give this a try over my garmin nuvi 550.

I want to be able to park my bike, grab my iphone and go. I have this mount:
http://www.ram-mount.com/NewProducts/Fi ... fault.aspx
and it seems to be good for that.
My iphone is in an otterbox defender case, so many of the traditional iphone mounts won't work, unless I remove the case --not good for grab and go.....


Another thing is that I hate how you can't normally use your iphone with gloves.
I'm not trying to send a text message while on my bike, of course, [-X but sometimes it's nice to navigate the map without pulling over.
My gloves finally got nasty enough with sweat and rain that I'm able to use the iphone's capacitive touch screen.
(At this point I just use the iphone like a gopro camera.)
Time for new gloves, I guess. :)
anoop
 

Re: Navigon iPhone GPS App Review

Postby Meza44 » Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:37 am

I agree with you about having to take the gloves off to manipulate the iphone.

I wanted something that was completely waterproof, that is why I went with the Aqua box http://www.ram-mount.com/SearchResults/tabid/38/searchBy/description/criteria/065081085065032066079088/Default.aspx they do come in a wide version which may fit with the Otterbox case on.
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Re: Navigon iPhone GPS App Review

Postby RocketMan » Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:20 pm

Meza44 wrote:I agree with you about having to take the gloves off to manipulate the iphone.

I wanted something that was completely waterproof, that is why I went with the Aqua box http://www.ram-mount.com/SearchResults/tabid/38/searchBy/description/criteria/065081085065032066079088/Default.aspx they do come in a wide version which may fit with the Otterbox case on.

that’s what I got to use with a cheepie Nuvi on the bike, rather than spending big bux on a waterproof Nuvi. Total cost was much more reasonable. I just wanted basic GPS functions to help me get really lost when I fail to do so by myself!

MotionX is another good iphone nav app with some nice features, big drawback is it uses google or bing maps by default and thou you can download other map sets to the iphone, they tends to take up a lot of room. You can still record routes and data points without cell coverage and link photos to a gps location which is handy to use in conjunction with taking real photos by taking the same image as one real photo (i.e. taken with an Actual Camera) to help remember where those odd, out of the way places were when you were shooting.

RM
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Re: Navigon iPhone GPS App Review

Postby DogHouse » Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:49 pm

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