A GPS Website Review - gpsmaps.jwpixs.com

A good GPS Mapping website is like a treasure chest for GPSr owners. Imagine if you have the highest end in a GPS unit, but no good maps to run on it, it will be like a car without wheels, it will be a handicap.


This is especially true if you bought a Garmin unit such as the Nuvi 610 in Singapore. The Garmin maps that comes with it, even if they said it is the latest version, is way backdated. Even streets and buildings that have been around for years could not be found. Yes, it is indeed a disappointment.


This is where the 3rd party maps come in. and thus the review of gpsmaps.jwpixs.com. The first thing you will notice when you visit this website is that, the animated gif file would have caught your attention, reminding you that this is a GPS Mapping website. This is shown below.








The layout of the website has a simple look to it, and yet rather effective. You have a menu on the left of the website as shown below.




As you can see, you have linking tabs to "Downloads", "Links", "FAQs", etc which is rather self explanatory, and easy to locate. I guess most people will be most interested in the Downloads section, as this is where all the maps are located.

Here comes the interesting bit. When you arrive at the downloads, you will notice that this website reserves the best maps for downloads for "donors" only. Anyone can sign up at the website, but only members who donate a minimum of USD$10 becomes a donor. It is next to nothing if you ask me, for the high quality and updated maps that you will be getting. If you have used Garmin maps which cost in excess of USD$100, and yet it disappoints, you will know what I mean.




The main focus of maps provided on this website is for the region of Singapore and Johor, which are all heavily detailed, with plenty of POIs incorporated, and of course fully routable. In fact, I have never seen any other maps available for this region that is as detailed as this. The Garmin maps don't even come close. All in all, I highly recommend this website if you need quality GPS maps for Singapore and Johor.

TomTom GO 720 GPS Preview & First Impressions

On my recent trip to TomTom, I was able to play with the new TomTom GO 720 and wanted to give you my first impressions. The TomTom GO 720 was recently announced, and while it’s not yet available to the public, it will be by the end of July/Early August. I think there are a couple of things going on with the TomTom GO 720 that are worth noting.

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GPS navigation systems

Before we dive into the types of navigation systems and buying advice, it's always good to get a little background on the technology and have a basic understanding of how it works. Originally developed in 1973 by the US Department of Defense for military purposes, the Navstar GPS network consists of 30 satellites orbiting the earth every 12 hours..

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Review: Garmin nuvi 680 at GPSmagazine.com

GPSmagazine.com has posted an extremely detailed review of the Garmin nuvi 680. The review takes an in-depth look at the new MSN Direct features, as well as other GPS navigation features. Ultimately, the review says that although the MSN Direct features are interesting, they're not worth the $300 price difference, and the nuvi 660 is a better deal.

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Changes to Malsingmaps.com

If you are unaware as to what Malsing Maps is all about, it is a community website with forum that offers routable GPS maps for free for the region of Singapore and Malaysia in particular.

The big change with Malsing Maps is 2 fold. Firstly, they have switched to a new forum hosting. Things are still a bit messy at the moment, but is getting sorted out. This is not such a big deal for members. What is creating a bit of a wave for members is that they have locked their "free maps" from their August 2007 version onwards. What this means is that not everyone will be able to just download and use the new maps. Well, only people who contribute will be granted an unlock code. The reasoning behind that is to encourage participation. For new and inexperienced users of GPS, and in particular Garmin Nuvi users, they are adopting a wait and see attitude as to what the community will come up with in the upcoming weeks to help them.

Garmin Nuvi 610 GPS Review

Garmin is one of the leading manufacturers of GPS systems in the market today, and the finished quality of the product does show. The build quality and the user interface all are top notch.

Today, I will review the Garmin Nuvi 610. This is a standalone GPS system, and the first thing you will notice is the "wide screen display" at 4.3" instead of the norm at 3" +/-. This is great as it is easier on the eyes, you will get to see more on screen. The next thing you will also be happy to notice is the extra bright screen. It is so effective that even under direct sunlight, you will still be able to see the screen clearly, unlike a lot of other GPS, which is hopeless when they get a direct light on them.






One of the most crucial things in a good GPS unit is the mount. One with less movable parts is ideal, so that vibration can be minimized. I think may of us will agree that a poor mount that shakes the GPS unit under every bump on the road is no good to us, we will get a headache trying to focus on the screen!

Thankfully, the mount on this Garmin is very good indeed. Very sturdy, and almost no vibrations even when driving on less than desirable roads. The mount is a pressure suction type, which helps in securing it very firmly to the windshield.





The next thing you will notice is the "flip-up" external antenna. It is recommended that you flip the antenna at an angle parallel to the ground to get maximum effectiveness in signal acquisition. Talking about signal acquisition, this unit is very quick in getting a fix, less than 1 minute even in cold start from my tests.

The Nuvi 610 like the rest in the lineup, has a SD card slot, where you can plug in a preloaded map in SD card format, sold by Garmin. They have maps for USA/Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and many other countries. Therefore, they are readily available. I am not 100% confident to comment on the accuracy of the maps for other areas (as I have not tested them), but I can comment on the Singapore/Malaysia maps.

It is vastly outdated! Yes, even with the latest version "just released", places which has been around for years can't even be found! So let us not talk about new streets and buildings. They don't come cheap either. For maps of Malaysia/Singapore, I found the free maps at Malsing Maps are 100 times better and more accurate. So go and get them there if you need them. They have a lovely community there to help you should you have any concerns regarding the maps.

Okay, so what does this unit offer? Firstly it offers turn by turn voice directions and maps can be viewed in 2D or 3D format. Personally, I prefer to leave it in 3D mode. It just seems nicer. It also has a day/nite mode which automatically switches according to the internal clock. All this is great. But it has more. You can set custom POIs, connect a phone via bluetooth to make hands free calls, load in your favourite pics to use as a start up screen, and listen to MP3s. So, it is pretty feature rich.

However, this model does not come with TTS (text to speech), meaning it does not read out road names, which is not a big deal. Personally, I prefer it this way, as reading out street names just means too much talking.:) All in all, I highly recommend this model, I have been using it for 1 year, and very satisfied with the performance.

More info can be viewed here.

Need Free GPS Maps for Malaysia/Singapore?

In my humble opinion, the best maps available for Malaysia and Singapore, and free too. Updated daily. Dead on accurate, far better than the standard Garmin maps.

http://www.malsingmaps.com/forum/index.php