Garmin cf Que 1620 North America (010-00290-00)

by Garmin

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 12 x 10 inches ; 1.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000AR6T2
• Item model number: 010-00290-00
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 9, 2006

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

The cf Que 1620 is a CompactFlash GPS module with street-level, turn-by-turn navigation applications for personal digital assistants (PDAs) that operate on the PocketPC platform. This module features Garmin's new Que technology, which delivers high-performance GPS location, mapping, and navigation capabilities to handheld devices.

Features

• Location awareness, address and points-of-interest look-up features, electronic mapping, automatic route generation, and off-route recalculation
• Basemap with highways, major streets, rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and significant borders
• 64 MB of memory that can store detailed map data from Garmin's exclusive line of
• MapSource cartography (MapSource CD-ROMs can give the user access to detailed backcountry contour maps, digital maps of fishing lakes, and electronic offshore navigation charts)
• PC software provides trip planning plus waypoint and route storage
• Voice guidance (on PocketPCs equipped with audio capabilities)
• Sleek design doesn't add bulk to your handheld
• Flip-up antenna can be adjusted to optimize GPS reception -- whether the PocketPC is secured in a vehicle with a PDA mount (included) or carried by hand
• Measures 1.7" W x 2.0" H x 0.5" D (4.3 x 5.1 x 1.3 cm) and weighs only 1.5 oz.
• Installs securely in a standard Type I or Type II CompactFlash slot
• Universal PDA mount (included) allows optimum positioning of PocketPCs on most dashboards and windshields
• Comes with the MapSource City Select (U.S./Canada or Europe)

Box Contents

• cf Que 1620
• MapSource City Select CD-ROM
• Universal PDA vehicle mount with automotive friction mount
• Quick-start guide
• Installation/Application CD with manual and basemaps
• Basemaps included on CD: Americas Autoroute, Atlantic Autoroute, Pacific Autoroute, Worldwide Autoroute

Product Description

Cf Que 1620 010-00290-00Garmin International part number 010-00290-00

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Satisfied User, September 19, 2004

By 

Mike W. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garmin cf Que 1620 North America (010-00290-00) (Office Product)

I've been using the cf Que 1620 in my HP iPAQ for over 4 months now and am very satisfied with it's performance. Unlike the previous reviewer, I have not had major issues with the GPS unit locating satellites. I have used it in many areas of the US and Canada.

For the initial setup, it is very important that the correct Base Map for the area that you are physically located in is installed, otherwise, the GPS cannot coordinate with the satelite with the mapping software properly. Normally you would choose the North American base maps. The unit shipped from Amazon only includes the North American City Select maps which are needed to get local roads, landmarks, and Points of Interest. Maps for other areas of the world are available from Garmin. In addition, the documentation is fairly complete and will explain how to get the GPS to find the satellite quicker under "Initializing the GPS Receiver" in the Applications Guide.

If you purchase the unit and it comes with the version 5.0 of the City Select maps, contact Garmin and they can get you upgraded to the current version. This happened to me and since I had purchased the unit just before the upgrade occurred, they upgraded me for free. I thought this showed excellent customer service. The upgraded maps had all of the exit number changes that have occurred in my area as well as new street names for new housing developments.

Some basics: Your Pocket PC based PDA will need to have an empty CompactFlash (CF) slot for the GPS antenna that comes with the unit (it also has 64 MB of memory space in the same assembly). Since my iPAQ had a Secure Digital slot (like many PDAs) but no CF slot, I had to purchase a CF sleeve for the iPAQ as well. I'm tempted to buy a iPAQ 2215 since it has both slots in the case (no need for the sleeve).

A couple of specifics: It is a very good idea to make sure you are running MS Pocket PC 2003 operating system. My iPAQ originally came with Pocket PC 2002 and the Garmin had many problems locking up along with very slow performance. Once I upgraded, the difference was tremendous. The Garmin CF Que 1620 is now very stable and fast. The bigger the memory card, the more maps you can store. For example, a 512 MB SD card is able to hold the Northeast & Mid Atlantic U.S. from Virginia up to Maine, the Dallas - Ft. Worth area, Southern California, Idaho, and Utah (with some room to spare).

The Negatives:
- Having to add the CF sleeve made the unit thicker than normal. As a result, the supplied dash mount does not hold the unit as securely as it normally would (it still is adequate though)

- The speaking volume for directions is too low if you have a noisy interior (or if you play your music loud). I found two solutions for this. 1) I bought a set of portable powered speakers and connected them through the headphone jack. 2) Bought one of the Belkin Tunecast II Mobile transmitters to broadcast the directions through the radio (which I take on trips with a rental car - nice and small).

The Positives:
- Excellent customer support. As I mentioned above.

- The unit responds very quickly when a re-route is required (especially with all of the construction that is going on seemingly wherever I'm going...) It always gets me back on-course. Its great to get around traffic jams too.

- Lots of flexibility in choosing how the maps will be displayed while driving. For example, the default is for the unit to zoom the map back and forth depending on your location while I prefer to see more detail of the side streets along the path that the car is taking. Uncheck the Auto-zoom box if you don't want the zooming.

- I tested it head-to-head against the Hertz NeverLost GPS system. It was as good and at times much better during my test in Southern California. The Garmin user interface was much easier to use.

- Lots of POIs (Points of Interest). I'm on the road alot and I really appreciate how it can find my hotel, nearby restaurants, fast food, golf courses, airports, gas stations, etc. quickly and accurately.

- The unit also comes with a matching version of the software that loads on your PC. It is very convenient to create the Waypoints (which I can use as Origin or Destination points) on the PC, then have it download into the cf Que. From there, you just select the Waypoint and tell the Garmin to Route to It. It gives you the estimated time of arrival along with the mileage. You can also configure your iPAQ to show Turn-by-Turn instructions with a touch of a button.

Overall, it is an excellent unit. Now that I've used it for a bit of time (everything "high-tech" has a learning curve), I'm more impressed with it every time I use it. Even my techno friends are impressed. Well worth the money. As usual, Amazon got it to me quickly as well.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Took a chance, February 4, 2005

By 

N. Brown - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garmin cf Que 1620 North America (010-00290-00) (Office Product)

This device works wonderfully and is very accurate. I have an IPAQ 2215 with a 1gig SD card and I have not had any issues downloading maps, routes, etc... If you are thinking about doing some research on this, stay away from pocketpcmag.com. The 'mantra' of the 'expert' on that site is if you are not buying bluetooth then it sucks.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Perfect!, August 10, 2005

By 

M. Miski - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garmin cf Que 1620 North America (010-00290-00) (Office Product)

I've puchased Garmin cfQue1620 for my vacation trip from Philadelphia, PA to Toronto, Canada and back via NY City. I've used this unit with my Axim X5 (400 MHz running under MS PPC 2003).The unit worked fine, with few hickups; while routing to the hotel that I was planning to stay in Niagara Falls (Canadian side) it was directing us to a special bridge on the river that only special card holders are allowed to pass (perhaps Garmin people will fix these issues when they hear these hickups from users). The second hickup occured in Toronto where the unit missed the exit that we supposed to take for shore destination (perhaps I was driving a little fast comparing with US standard ;-)...). Nevertheless, I'm very happy with this purchase and wouldn't leave my home for such a trip without cfQue 1620, good job Garmin!