It?s vacation time for the schools and many of us habitually hit the break pedal from work. It?s the time to pack your bags and vroom!
And if you opt for a journey by car, you not only reach your destination in ?Door-step to door-step? fashion, but also get the privilege to see all the towns and cities that fall enroute. As you are the boss, you can stop anywhere you wish and savvy the serenity of the surroundings.
Now that you are travelling by car, ensure that you pack everything you might need including some essential tools and spares for the car.
The other must-have that will help you track your route and stay on course to your destination is a GPS (Global Positioning System) device. You beg, borrow or steal (read buy), but you must carry one.
The GPS navigation device uses 24 NAVSTAR (Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging) satellites to determine your current location. So you always know where you are and where you are headed. It will also save you the trouble to jut your neck out of the car window and ask aliens for directions.
The MapmyIndia Navigator-430 Classic is one such device launched in India recently.
The 430 Classic is a lightweight and pocketable GPS navigation device measuring 123mm(W) X 82mm(H) X 19.8mm(D) and weighing just 190 gms with built-in rechargeable battery. The battery life is rather short, barely two hours standby or otherwise, so please do not forget to carry and use car-charger all the time.
The large 4.3inch (480 x 270 pixels) colour Anti-Glare Display Touch screen is very bright and easily viewable in bright daylight.
It comes pre-loaded with the latest MapmyIndia road maps covering 401 cities (more than 200 at street level), 4,10,000 towns and villages and 10,00,000 points of interest across India connected by roads, and has a simple and easy-to-use software interface.
The moment you switch it on and opt for the navigation mode in the menu, it will immediately pinpoint your current location. You simply type in the name of the location or point of interest you wish to go, and you will see it appear on the map with a route charted for you, complete with names of the roads, familiar buildings and other landmarks in choice of 2D or 3D.
As you start moving on the given direction, this device will guide you by real-time ?talking? directions, turn-by-turn, to your destination along with clear map guidance and your position.
If you miss a turn, it instantly will re-calculate and gives you the new route. To test this feature, I intentionally took a wrong turn to reach my office at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, to my amusement the 430 Classic politely reminded me of this mistake and charted a new route for me though a bit longer but never-the-less kept me on-course all the time but at a price, an maximum retail price of Rs 19,990!
The 430 Classic navigator also has the multimedia capability, you can load and play movies, music and photos on the 4.3 inch touch screen. The audio quality of the inbuilt speaker is not great but you can always connect it to your car stereo or to earphones through the provided 3.5mm audio jack socket.
It comes complete with a set of travel accessories ? adjustable windshield mount, mini USB cable to download multimedia, wall charger and car charger.