Yesterday I was browsing the BlackBerry.com website and saw a link to the Garmin Mobile� for BlackBerry� and I paid a one-time charge of $79.99 and downloaded it to my BlackBerry Bold, I enjoy it, because it is an ACTUAL GPS and it has weather, traffic and even flight statues from different sources but gets integrated into one application. Today as I was driving to downtown LA, it was raining, it took about 20-25 minutes into my trip before the program could aquire GPS, but Google Maps had me locked in within 1000 meters. I just wanted to know if anyone else purchased and downloaded this program and what your guys and gals experiences are.
Let me preface this by saying I have two other Garmin handheld GPS units, and I am a huge fan of Garmin products.
With that said, I purchased it, and am really not happy with it. If you lose cell signal, you will not be able to navigate at all, or worse, your unit will hang requiring a battery pull.
I have been using it now for a about a month, and use it daily for traveling to different sites around the state. The routes it suggests are absolutely the worse possible routes to take. They are never the fastest or shortest. It prefers smaller roads with lower speeds and traffic lights, even when a major highway is closeby.
When it does tell you to take a highway, often, it will tell you to get off at an exit, take a side road detour of a few miles, then it will tell you to get back on the same highway at the next exit. It makes no sense.
Based on my experience, I would NEVER use it as my primary navigation device. Don't get me wrong...you will get there...eventually, but I'm not a fan of getting there the hard way. For places I've never been, I use MS Streets and Trips or Delorme to plan my routes, and use Garmin as a double check and a last mile vector in to the destination.
You can't edit the data points (like changing the speed, to something more useful, like miles to destination), and it would be nice to be able to have the option of downloading some map data to the media card. Another helpful feature would be the ability to download or export the actual and/or proposed track route(s).
I really hope they improve the routing in newer versions, as this isn't usually the norm for Garmin products.
No, it does not work offline. You must maintain cell coverage, else your unit will hang and/or give you a constant "Can not authenticate" message. I've had both happen.
, what a waste of money! I <3 Google Maps
