iQue 3600 Review

Be careful with static!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have owned one of these iQue's for a couple of years and have had to send it in four times for repair. Garmin never imagined that a device that has a dashboard mount might be used in a car!!!

If it is dry and you slide your butt across the seat and then dock your iQue into the cradle...GOODBYE! You sometimes don't even see the spark.

Be sure to touch metal and discharge yourself before placing it in the cradle.

Travis Butler, in his article on the iQue, mentions that NAVTEQ is the source of the data and thus of some of the errors. Of course, NAVTEQ provides the map information database but the application vendor does the route calculation, and it's not always obvious where the error occurs. It's useful to know that Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) also relies on NAVTEQ (this is buried in the help files on Google). Thus if you can duplicate a problem on a device known to use NAVTEQ data and on Google Maps, you have a strong indication that the error is at NAVTEQ. (At least one of the other online map services uses NAVTEQ but I think that at least one doesn't, and I don't remember which is which.)

NAVTEQ accepts feedback online at http://update.navteq.com, and I've received good responses from them on several corrections I've submitted. In several cases they've responded (in a few weeks or months) that they've corrected their database. They didn't even chide me when one of my submissions turned out to be an error in Google's rendering. They "stayed on the line" for a couple of extra responses when I had extra questions about a bad location, which turned out to have been updated more than a year previously but was still incorrect on Google Maps.

That brings up another point -- it's up to the vendor to order updates from NAVTEQ, and I'm sure to pay a pretty penny for those updates. Google Maps seems to be out of date -- for example, the location I noted above was, according to NAVTEQ, corrected in 2Q2004 but is still incorrect on Google Maps. I have not been able to get a response from Google as to their map update schedule.

If you want to sample the error mentioned, go to Google Maps and try zooming in on Cameron LA, or obtaining driving directions to that town. Then check out NAVTEQ's response at http://update.navteq.com/df_view.asp?sub_id=DF40424EE. (So don't bother NAVTEQ about the Google Maps error.)

Edward Reid Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

My car has a Navtek system. We’re a big country,and it hasn’t gotten everything right yet.

I used to drive a few times a year from New York to Charleston. There was one place on 95 where the system wanted me to get off the highway, cross the street at the end of the exit ramp and get back on the highway. I found a similar place in Missouri or Kansas.

Of course there are also one-way streets that are actually two-way, or vice versa. Etc.

--- begin forwarded text

From: Ken Takahashi

I've had my iQue 3600 for about 1 1/2 years and read your review with
interest. Several points are worth mentioning:

1. The reviewer neglected to mention what happens when an iQue
depletes its battery. The contents of the main RAM is erased. This
isn't a problem if everything is backed up, however, battery life is
short and battery life when the unit is off is not very long either. So
if you get a low battery warning while using the unit and cautiously
turn it off, don't let it go for days before backing it up or
recharging since you could lose the contents.

2. A 3rd party remote antenna is available from Gilsson for about $30.
It's worth getting because you can mount it on the windshield in a car,
or even clip to a hat or shirt in the field and the iQue can be at a
more convenient location. The cord length provides a lot of flexibility
for positioning the iQue and the antenna pulls in satellites that the
built-in antenna can't get.

3. Just for fun I tried out my iQue while flying from Denver to SF. The
unit, held to the window reported that ground speed was about 480 mph
at 29,450 ft altitude, and right after that the pilot came on and
announced exactly the same info. BTW, GPS usage is legit on flights
subject to the same limits placed on other in-flight use of electronics
such as computers, etc.

--- end forwarded text