HacVision Cease and Desist 20GB GPS with 7 inch Touchscreen

[speedoo]

Is it safe to assume that replacing the hard drive, in case of failure, would not be terribly difficult?

To take it a step further, how difficult would it be to replace the HD with flash memory, for example with two or three 4GB cards?

I ask these questions because I anticipate this unit will bounce around quite a bit. Not good for a HD.

[cutecaroletx]

I’ve been using HacVision products for years, and they are great. I woot using a HacVision computer, drive to work in my HacVision car with GPS (4 times out of 5 I don’t get lost), sleep on my HacVision bed, and make love to my HacVision virtual wife, model 4.0.2 (My HacVision mistress, model 5.3.1, just dumped my ass).

HacVision pre-cooked toast is kind of subpar, but that is really the only product of theirs I can recall not liking (and, it was a refurb).

I highly recommend this product, especially if you are too lazy/stupid to read the description.

I am cracking up in laughter over here! OH my…that pain in my side is simply killing KILLING me…YOU are so hilarious! Thanks again for making my rather maudlin afternoon a truly FUN one…hugs!

[Alaska_Wooter]

Alaska Wooter, remember that every time you start your car, you’ll lose power to this unit.

The two best links for information on this that are still active that I’ve found are here:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37648

and here:
Hot or Not? 7" Touch-LCD with GPS for $399 - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

There’s some inconsistency. Every bit of info I’ve found on the 2607 indicates that its U.S. maps are major streets only at 10km resolution (meaning virtually no local streets would be covered or included. This seems to be borne out by the “2 million points of interest” in both the reviews and the woot description. These 2 million points of interest are mostly in Canada, according to all the reviews I’ve managed to find. The woot description doesn’t have anything directly to say about this. It says “2006 NAVTEQ US maps loaded”, true, but those could be the major streets only data.

Second, every bit of info I’ve found on the 2607 also specifies that this unit does not have auto-reroute… yet the woot description says otherwise.

Third, every single review I’ve found on this says that the 2607 base routing is terrible, that it picks really poor routes, one step at a time, doesn’t do comparison matching of routes, doesn’t validate routes. This is the sort of GPS you read about that told some moron to turn left right into a building… and he did it. Every review I’ve read agrees the 2707 routing is much better.

Could it be that the firmware/software on these were somehow upgraded to 2707 spec before woot got them? If that’s the case, then these units become much more valuable. But it’s unclear if that’s happened, other than the “Updated firmware version 3.4 Build 1.7.3.2” in the item description.

I’m really conflicted here. I’m definitely in the market for a hand-held GPS, and this price and this screen size are great. But I don’t want to buy it and then find I’m stuck with an unsupported, non-updateable piece of junk. woot’s return policy does not provide confidence in this regard.

You are correct about loss of power during ignition start for my truck, even though it has an unswitched 12 vdc receptacle. However I will mostly use it in my RV which has an independent 12vdc system that will not lose power during startups.

As for the inconsistencies between the web reviews and the woot description, I agree. But if it doesn’t pan out to be what they say, then I will promptly return it to woot. I understand they have a pretty good reputation when it comes to returns… even when the manufacturer let’s you down. And if that’s a problem, my VISA card people have been good at resolving issues with merchants in the past.

[kwikvette]

You’re not a linux user are you? The reason it’s not listed as linux compatible is because that wasn’t part of the spec so they didn’t officially test it. This has nothing to do with variations in linux distributions–a kernel module is a kernel module, and besides, this is USB which is pretty standard. Chances are this unit will work fine with something like “gpsbabel” a command line tool that converts between GPS protocols. You’ll probably interface with it on something like /dev/ttyUSB0

BTW, the operating system on the device could be Symbian and it wouldn’t make any difference on your desktop PC. All the computer sees is a USB device, whether it’s running embedded linux, MacOS, or straight code with no OS is completely transparent.

http://www.horrordvds.com/.../misc/pictures/nerds.jpg

NERDS!

[xminbr]

I have a handheld basic magellan GPS (brown) with the streets software (2002 era). The screen shot of this 2607 looks similiar in detail. Is anybody familiar with both systems and can i expect the same detail of mapping? Has anybody found the software on the net yet?

[mainal50]

Will this work with a MAC ???

[mainal50]

Orrrrr, you could just go to Costco and buy the Garmin Nuvi 660 and pay $500… thats what i would do, but i bought me a Holux GPSlim 240 blue tooth receiver for my Cingular 8125… works great.. and it only cost me $75…

Will you get a discount from COSTCO???

[ricp3090]

The word “HacVision” does not have one hit on google or yahoo. How can a company make a product and not have one mention on these search sites. I would like to have something like this, but not sure a company named HacVision is going to have great support.

apparently you don’t value reading as highly as the rest of the world. Maybe that little thing that woot does called a description would help with your quandry

[limarick]

I went to the Navteq website and don’t see any listing for this device in the upgrades. Do they support it or not?

[genie776]

OK. 7" SCREEN IS EYE POPPING BUT NO BATTERY WHATS THE POINT! USELESS. GOT ME TWO GARMIN STYLE NAV CAMS WORK LIKE CHARMS, NEVER A COMPLAIN IN FACT JUST NEED ONE SELLING THE OTHER ON EBAY, BREAKING EVEN.

HERE IS THE LINK IF YOU INTERESTED.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=012&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=220119524745&rd=1&rd=1

OH! AND IF YOU ARE THE LUCKY BIDDER AND MENTION THIS LINK FROM WOOT! I WILL THROW IN A FREE SD CARD SIZE? 1GB HECK! ITS FREE!

SECRET CODE FOR SD 1GB (WOOTNAV2007)

[jcanale]

I went to the Navteq website and don’t see any listing for this device in the upgrades. Do they support it or not?

Just spoke to the customer support people at Nextar and this item is not supported at all for anything, meaning repair, upgrade, or service.

[jessiebyrd004]

Sorry, hand-held in the sense that it’s small and mountable. I’ve got my laptop with a GPS antenna and Microsoft S&T if I need something more portable (which isn’t often).

show-off!..

[jklyank]

Will this work with a MAC ???

As with most things, no.

[aquatsr]

c’mon woot u should at least get the name right “HacVision”?? thats not even the correct name. its MacVision!!

Brilliant!

[jestertrek]

::grins at Jessiebyrd:: Here, you have my permission to be a show-off, too:

Promo Codes, Coupons & Cash Back | Rakuten

That’s a really good price. If you can live with their 2006 version:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4057324

That’s an even better price.

Like I said earlier, though, it becomes annoying, having a laptop in the passenger seat all the time. The text is hard to read at that distance, too.

And I decided to pass on this. I’ll wait for woot to pick up a Garmin or maybe a Magellan.

[bobpaul]

Will this work with a MAC ???

Sort of. The map loading software requires Windows, but if you’re happy with the maps that are preinstalled (and you’d better be, as they’ve discontinued this product and I don’t think will provide new maps) then the rest appears like it will work.

From what I’ve read it has a 30GB drive partitioned into a linux / for the OS and maps and a 20GB FAT32 for loading MP3s. When you plug it into a PC it shows up as a mass storage device like any USB harddrive or thumbdrive. MP3s are loaded by copying files to this disk.

So, short answer: probably yes for MP3s, no for loading maps. I’m running Linux, and I’m getting one…

[casperswoot]

To any Californians, how much is the fine or is it a fix it ticket if you have something mounted to your windshield with the suction cups? Has anyone ever been pulled over for this? Seems very petty to me, like dice hanging from your rear view mirror.

[ducss750]

Straight from the…ummm… AppleVision website FAQ - obviously somewhat out of date.

“Q. I was told it came with major US city maps too, is it true?
A. It comes preloaded with Canadian maps only. U.S. maps will be available later July 2006. For now, U.S. Major Highways are viewable when you scale to 10KM.”

Also from the FAQ:

“Q. Does the unit have an internal battery?
A. Please note that this unit doesn’t have an internal battery but it comes with A/C.”

I’m from Florida, ANYTHING that comes with air conditioning is worth the $$$!

(he-he)

[i95rr]

After so many negative things about this, I’ve decided to pass. Think I’ll go watch the game

[i95rr]

I wonder if there is an american version of this that is much better? You know one with a 7 inch screen.