Hmm.. considering returning mine. I absolutely love the ability to pre-plan my route at home, but no traffic info destroys my deal. If there were more hacks available, I would love it. As for now, it doesn't seem popular enough to warrant enough people tinkering with the thing.

Sticking with a Navigon 7100 and praying for their firmware update in January. I feel like we're all just beta testers that had to pay for their stuff. Does no one release a completed product anymore?

kassaal said:riceknight said:As for now, it doesn't seem popular enough to warrant enough people tinkering with the thing.
Not sure what you mean... this GPS is relatively new to the market and yet there are over 40 pages discussing this model on the gpspassion forums.

Well, my concern is if HP doesn't release more information, hacks are limited.

I usually use Garmin as they seem to have the best maps.But this looks tempting if it goes back to $199.But I have a few questions, how is this GPS's receiver compare to the SiRFstarIII chipset which is usually considered the "Gold Standard".What is the memory situation, onboard or external? What about the maps do they use "Standard" or proprietary ones? How is the display with sunlight? Thanks

xonebox said:On Amazon it actually mentions that it comes with an accessory that

"Adds real-time traffic and travel information capabilities to your iPAQ GPS. Integrated traffic data on GPS navigation software provides alternate routing options for traffic jams, road construction, and accidents."

It is in the car charge paragraph but obviously it is something esle. Can someone confirm this capability?

I believe its a separate purchase. From the HP site, they advertise an accessory that allows you to get real time traffic:

HP iPAQ Traffic Channel TMC Car Charger.

* Available in a fast-growing number of cities throughout Europe
* Expand the GPS capabilities of your iPAQ by delivering real-time traffic & travel information to drivers.
* Integrated traffic data on GPS navigation software provides alternate routing options for traffic jams, road construction, and accidents.
* Provides continuous updates and virtually instantaneous display.

Kingofthenet said:I usually use Garmin as they seem to have the best maps.But this looks tempting if it goes back to $199.But I have a few questions, how is this GPS's receiver compare to the SiRFstarIII chipset which is usually considered the "Gold Standard".What is the memory situation, onboard or external? What about the maps do they use "Standard" or proprietary ones? How is the display with sunlight? Thanks

This device uses a SiRFstarIII chipset and also includes something called 'InstantFix'. Normally, upon cold start, the GPS needs a stronger signal in order to download new satellite almanac data from the satellites. This data goes stale every few hours. It may take a minute or more to download and may never happen if you don't have a good signal. However, there are some devices on the market that offer "assisted-GPS" (A-GPS) whereby they can download the almanac data from another source, such as the internet (by syncing with a PC) or a cellular connection.

This particular model has a very fast CPU, and supposedly it is able to run the number crunching required to actually predict and generate the almanac data on its own so it doesn't need to download it. This means on cold starts, you shouldn't need to wait the extra minute downloading the data from the satellites to get a lock, and you don't need as strong a signal either. People have been reporting cold fix times of ~10secs compared to minutes for other devices.

It has 2GB flash on-board, with an SDHC slot for more memory.

It runs a custom version of iGo 2008, meaning it uses TeleAtlas maps and the mapping software should be similar to MioMap found on Mio GPS devices.

For those that have one, how good is the battery life on a single charge with typical usage? If it's less than 2hrs, I might reconsider and refuse shipment/return mine back to Amazon. My current GPS gets ~4hrs on a single charge. Thanks in advance.

sprog said:For those that have one, how good is the battery life on a single charge with typical usage? If it's less than 2hrs, I might reconsider and refuse shipment/return mine back to Amazon. My current GPS gets ~4hrs on a single charge. Thanks in advance.

sprog, from the GPSpassion forums: "I am getting MUCH longer battery, at least 3 hours, maybe even closer to 4 or more."

more here

damn it's $249 now... looks like a nice unit

Just recieved my IPAQ today heres my impression so far:

PRO:
looks and feel quality. (comes with a leather storage cover)
Very fast GPS lock
Big beautiful screen.
user friendly UI
Tons of POI
Bonus:it fits perfectly with the stand in my G35 coupe, where the stock navigation screen option is located.
*** yet to try the Bluetooth option

CONS:
it did crash and reboot one time while switching between menus.
choppy map browse.
terrible cheap speakers, low volume.
TTS is bad, can not make out what it is saying in long and complicated streets. I.e. ( EXIT 237/101 )

VERDICT:
For 200 dollars it's definitely worth it. I did not find the firmware update in the content manager app. probably means it shipped with the latest one. (by default auto reroute setting is on)

I got my HP 310 for $199.00 and it's pretty impressive for the price. I don't know if it's worth the MSRP of $449.00, but I do feel it's a great deal for $199-249 price range. The better than DVD quality picture is almost HD like. Nice! The 4'3 screen is put into a smaller body than the TomTom XL & Navigon 7100, which is nice if you're window mounting it. Speaking of the mount, it's better than my two Garmin's or Magellen mounts. The Garmin falls off and the Magellan is stuck like glue, even with the suction lever released. The mount also has a nice grip on the GPS and has rubber, rather than plastic on plastic. Even in a SUV on the freeway, no vibration. The 310 has a MP3 player, Video player and Picture viewer and all were easy to load with a SD card on the computer and then load the card into the unit. There was no firmware updates, but my nice conversation with HP tech support, I was able to confirm that more are on the way. They are aware of the problems.

The pre-set voice was bad. Like a lady talking with her hands over her mouth. How HP released it this way is amazing. I found simply switching to the male voice (English-American) solved the problem. It could be louder, but adjust the dynamic speaker setting that makes it go louder while driving. You can set the speed, so make it for 10 mph. The GPS worked great and I tested this 310 out a lot. Great directions and POI. The GPS at night is very cool with electric blue color with a cool red color as your path to follow. I have yet to see 3D builds as advertised, because I don't live in a downtown setting to enjoy it. I'm sure it's cool as the picture on the box.

The GPS did have 2 errors and restarted while I was tapping through screens. It's a minor problem I believe they'll fix and all will be great. The GPS has performed very well and the Entertainment goodies like MP3, Video, Pictures and the two preloaded video games have worked fine. I connected by Bluetooth phone and that performed perfectly and people couldn't tell I had them on speaker phone or GPS. I did have to enter my contracts in by hand, but that's fine. For $199, I'm not going to complain about it. When these HP 310's do run another $199 sale or even $249, it's worth picking up. It's a fun GPS to use and looks cool. I hope this helps other members that are considering this model. I hope others post their experiences and suggestions. Happy New Year.=)

JAVAWIZARD said:i got mine on monday. the tts is horrible.

How so? It butchers the pronunciation and the speaker volume is too low?