[4ePajero]

CATS' post in this thread made me look into an in-dash GPS / DVD player / radio for the Touareg.

I have always wanted the Kenwood DNX9960 or DNX6960, because they are supported by Garmin.
The cost has so far prevented me from going that route.

Missing Attachment

Christo's post made me look at the cheaper Chinese models:

CASKA (not much cheaper than Kenwood ):

No name brand (from StopShop.co.za):

Missing Attachment

To make sure that I can in fact use these units with garmap's Topo & Rec maps, I sent an e-mail to Garmap, who re-directed me to Planet Electronics. who duly quoted on SA Streetmaps:

The price of the Garmap software (on an SD Card) is R 2499. This price includes VAT.
You can purchase this SD Card through us.
Where are you based? Depending on your area, a small delivery fee will apply.
If you’d like to purchase the SD card then I will email you a formal quote with our banking details on it. As soon as we receive proof of payment we will be able to send the SD Card to you.
Please note that this SD Card is only compatible with units that run on Windows CE 5 or CE 6.
Regarding updates: there will be small free updates which are available for free download. Approximately once a year there will be a big update that will be available for download on our website as well as on http://www.garmapdrive.co.za This big update will cost approximately R 300 to R 400, and will only happen about once a year. This is done via the SD card that slots into the radio.
The Garmap navigation is Garmap Southern Africa Streetmaps 2010. The included countries are: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The maps cover all routable tar and gravel roads in Southern Africa.

I then asked about SA Topo & Rec, and got this reply:

Unfortunately we do not have any such mapping available.
Unfortunately there are no Topo & Rec maps available for WinCE systems.
I am sorry about that.

This does not make sense, and if true, I don't want it.
If one Garmap mapset works on the system, surely any Garmap mapset will?
I use only SA Topo & Rec and T4A.

Anybody with experience of this?

[CATS]

I have no experience on this but I agree.

The mapset is not the issue but the rather the actual program software used to run the mapset. This could be Mapsource on a Windows CE machine and would thus act like a laptop linked to a Garmin GPSr with Mapsource and Enroute(I think it is called) open and running. You can thus 'see' you postion on the mapsource program and use this as your NAV system.

I think the CASKA guy does not know his trade. Maybe give Kevin Bolton at Boltons GPS warehouse a call and chat to him. He will know.

CATS

[4ePajero]

Maybe give Kevin Bolton at Boltons GPS warehouse a call and chat to him. He will know.

I did that, and got this reply:

Sorry but GARMAPDRIVE and GARMAP not the same thing. Also big price difference and GarmapDrive is not available to the majority of Garmin dealers

Kevin also added comments to my posts as follows:

To make sure that I can in fact use these units with garmap's Topo & Rec maps ?????, I sent an e-mail to Garmap, who re-directed me to Planet Electronics THE ONLY PEOPLE I KNOW WHO DO THIS TIPE OF THING. who duly quoted on SA Streetmaps:

The price of the Garmap software (on an SD Card) is R 2499. This price includes VAT. Correct, PLEASE NOTE, THEY ARE SELLING YOU GARMAP DRIVE not Garmap that works on Garmin devices 2 different products ...

....Unfortunately we do not have any such mapping available. Yes only Street Maps Unfortunately there are no Topo & Rec maps available for WinCE systems.
I am sorry about that.



This does not make sense, and if true, I don't want it. SORRY IS TRUEIf one Garmap mapset works on the system, surely any Garmap mapset will? NO this sounds as if it only takes Garmap Drive (not the same)

I sent both Garmap and Planet new e-mails.
How on earth do they expect to sell high tech solutions with low tech knowledge and support?