GPS Chinese 4.3" Review

[Martin]

 The GPS was ordered from Aliexpress on 14-Feb it has arrived 9-Mar. The Sampan probably had unfavorable winds, the item was well packaged to the point of having to cut it open with a knife. The accessories cover all that is needed to mount in a car or on a Bike with a reasonable set of understandable instructions. The only problem encountered was that the unit was ordered as black and gray, the unit received is black and orange, not a major problem but slightly annoying nonetheless. The unit seems to be well built and well sealed probably better quality than the Go Cruise, and I do like the hood on the mount. I had  a look at whether I would be able to mount it in the same position as the GO CRUISE, but the new one does not project as far as the old one, so it looked like I would have to come up with a completely different position. Looking a bit further the ball size is smaller on the newer GPS but the four allen bolts on both the ball mount plates measured the same distances. So as it stands I will keep the old mount set up by just screwing the old ball mount plate to the back of the new mounting. Due to the new one having a hood I will have to put a spacer plate between the ball plate and the mount so I can tilt it a bit more. A notable difference between the two is the old ones mounting system was in metal, and the new one is plastic. On reading the instruction I will also have to purchase a TF memory card. another commonality is the power cable connector which are the same on both units another bonus but as they have inline transformers I will do a voltage check as a precaution. I will mount the unit on Friday and also pickup a TF card I will do another post with pictures and comments on the maps that are supposed installed.
Regards Martin

[Laitch]

 

[WayneDW]

Hey Martin, could you post a link to the unit/source?
thanks

[Martin]

Wayne is this what you require.  http://www.aliexpress.com/item/IPX7-Waterproof-Motorcycle-GPS-Navigation-Water-resistant-Navigator-for-Moto-with-4GB-Flash-Memory-Free-maps/32254967666.html?
Regards Martin.

[Martin]

While the screen size is the same as my Go Cruise the new one is slightly larger. I temporarily spaced out the old ball mount with washers, I will make an alloy spacer later, I also filed out the ball cup to allow it to tilt back a bit more. Due to a slight discrepancy in voltages I replaced the wire to the unit, instead of using the old one which did fit. I am happy with the fit, although due to it's larger size I have had to also angle it in slightly. The navigation program is a lot easier to use than my old one it is intuitive and works out what you are typing in. The old one required you to type in every letter. The keys are large and reasonably easy to use with summer gloves, there is however a stylus which clips to the back of the mount, but requires you to remove your gloves to get it out of it's clip, sort of defeats the purpose. I used to hang a small rubber tipped stylus off the kill switch. Even though it used to get pinched all the time when I failed to remove it, when parked I will probably go back to this.  It  has heaps of extra features calendar, unit convertor, calculator, trip monitor, fuel consumption monitor, music player, picture viewer, sunrise & sunset, clothing sizes, Ebook, video viewer, photo viewer, and five games. How you are supposed to read a book, play games and view videos while riding has got me beat, maybe the Chinese are better at multi tasking. The GS has two ways of talking to you, blue tooth or FM, at the moment I am going to use FM. Tomorrow I am going for a ride to see how up to date the Mapping is.
Regards Martin.

[Martin]

Went for my first run with the new GPS. Overall it worked well, but I still have a few bugs to work out. First thing the supplied stylus is a pain to get at you need to take of your glove to do so, you can program it with summer gloves on but it is easier & faster to remove your glove and do it with your finger. Due to it being larger it covers my running light switch light so I might swap it with my cooling fan switch. It can be hard at times to see in bright sunlight, but all the ones I have seen suffer the same problem to some extent. It gives me the distances in an archaic form of measurement miles & feet (Talk about living in the past), I have gone through the book & the GPS & can't find any cure, I will try the net. I also get a very pleasant one time warning when I go over the limit, not too worried about it and I will leave it. If you decide you no longer want to go to the place you entered, you have to touch the icon in the top right hand corner then hit another icon cancel route this is not in the instructions. The maps are up to date to the point it tried to take me up a brand new road that has not been finished ( Garmin does the same ). But it even worked in a couple of car parks navigating me out. It does not notify you about fixed speed cameras or fixed red light cameras. When you get to your destination you have to cancel the navigation on a pop up screen that appears, if you don't it will try and turn you around to go back ( often an illegal U turn ). I have tried the locate fuel & food features & they work but probably 6 months out of date. The Minister for Finance & Recreation kindly downloaded a heap of music for me, but unable to play due to the wrong format, I will probably fix this or if not my daughter can. For a really cheap GPS it has more than enough features, and the only downside is the lack of speed alerts and traffic alerts. But  I am not prepared to spend another $500 Au to get these features. I expect to be able to fix the problems miles not kilometres,  and the music problem. I am happy with my purchase and if it continues to work and you can put up with the couple of things it lacks I would buy it again.
Regards Martin. :riding:

[Martin]

Laitch contemplating under a palm tree ( Not a coconut tree) by the beach. I was unable to work out how to convert from miles to kilometres, so I emailed the supplier.
Regards Martin

[gazman]

So you call them palm trees. The PO of my property planted 50 of them I now call them rat motels. Hello chainsaw. . . goodbye rats :clap:

[Martin]

Don't have any rats, they get eaten by the snakes.
Regards Martin

[Martin]

 I have solved ( Read the daughter )the music format problem, in the specification sheet in the instructions, it states Audio Player MP3 & WMA. The music the Minister for Finance & Recreation downloaded music from CD with Wondershare it uses WMA. Later in the instructions it states the Audio Player supports MP3 & WAV. The Minister tried to convert WMA to MP3 to no avail.  Got the daughter who was visiting to try. She tried a few convertor programs to try and convert WMA to MP3, it looked like she had succeeded until they were downloaded onto the GPS they didn't play. She eventually converted them to WAV form and they downloaded and they are playable. I have been using a AM FM radio to tune into the GPS but due to it's size I bought a smaller one at Target on special for $6.00 Au. I will try out the smaller radio and also try my phone with Bluetooth. So far so good, the GPS seems to be pretty good. It does a few strange things but no more so than any other GPS. I am still waiting for an answer to why I have all my distances in the obscure archaic miles and feet ( like really who uses that stuff ).I can operate under that system as we did use that system in the dim dark ages before we saw the light. If anybody knows a way of doing this it uses iGo Primo maps, it would be a bonus. I can buy an update on Naviextras for more than I paid for the GPS no way Hose A or Hose B. If anybody has any questions about this unit feel free to ask.
Regards Martin.

[Laitch]

I have solved ( Read the daughter )the music format problem, in the specification sheet in the instructions, it state. I am still waiting for an answer to why I have all my distances in the obscure archaic miles and feet ( like really who uses that stuff ).

We use rods and furlongs where I live.

[Martin]

Good to see your not stuck in the past, and are updating. :clap:
Regards Martin.

[Laitch]

Well, the promotion for your product reads that it comes with three measurement parameters, Martin: kilometers/metres, miles/feet and miles/yards. The conversion method is in there somewhere. It's all up to your daughter and your support group now.

[Bill]

The 'mericans'  have to be different   ... its furlongs per fortnight, and 128 ozzies in a gallon  and 32 in a quart ! . Odd though they do have 10 fingers and 10 toes ....

[Laitch]

750ml in a fifth of Jim Beam though, Martin—a true melding of cultures.

[Martin]

YEEEEE HAAAA Laitch you prodded me into more searching again.  The Honorable Minister & daughter couldn't find it there is no mention in the manual. Even tried the net. But slightly technopbobic and tech illiterate me found it. Took a lot of searching but it was there. I assume Canada has gone Metric, in Canada are all your car speedometers on American vehicles bought new in Canada in Metric or Imperial. And seeing as the Americans revolted against the British and threw them out why are they still using the Brtiish system????
Thanks Laitch a slightly less confused Martin.

[Bill]

Our vehicles have metric odometers and speedos. Been that way for over 40 years.  There sometimes is a small print imperial scale.  Fuel consumption is in litres/100 km. All legal scales for trade are metric but most of us my age can work in both.  Sadly most american cars have both metric AND SAE fasteners sprinkled about them.   Road signs are metric and confuse the Americans  ..... ie "100 kph and "HD do the best you can"

[Martin]

Still don't know why the US got rid of the Brits but kept the most confusing measurement systems ever invented. But got rid of Pounds Shillings & pence and went Dollars & Cents ( Metric ) Even the Brits finally gave in and went Metric.  :dunno :dunno
Regards Martin.

[bocutter Ed]

Even the Brits finally gave in and went Metric.  :dunno :dunno
Regards Martin.

Brit road signs and speedometers are still Imperial last I checked.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Miles are based on multiples of ten.  A mile is 10 to the 3rd steps by a marching Roman foot soldier.  That is one nice thing about the old system, that I can easily measure distances over the ground.   An average pace is almost exactly 5 feet so I can measure up to 500-600 feet in distance in increments of 2.5 feet in the time it takes to walk it.   How does one quickly step off 80m to an accuracy of a half meter or less? 

And when are you guys gonna go metric time with 100 minutes in an hour, ten hours a day, ten days a week and ten months a year?  The whole hours, minutes, days, months thing is so not base 10.

[Martin]

I've had a cop radar my witches hats I can pace 10 metres pretty spot on. You would have to concede that it is easier to learn Metric than imperial. I learnt the imperial system at school and then had to convert about six years after leaving school, it was easy going from Imperial to Metric I would not like to do it the other way round. When it was first introduced and being a tradesman for along while you had to operate in both systems.  I still have a tendency with somethings to convert back to Imperial in my head.All jokes aside Gryph don't you agree that the Metric system is easier. And where these days can you find a Roman foot soldier. Ed you are right speeds in UK are in miles but I find it weird to only half convert.
Regards Martin

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Martin, I was only mentioning that a mile is 10 to the 3rd steps and steps makes it pretty easy to measure distances greater than 10 feet.  I have spent most of my life in both systems and when I worked both sides of the border between the U.S. and Canada(when they let me) I could handle the conversions fairly easily.  Working on my bricks keeps me sort of in shape. 

The worst part for me is that I hate to get rid of old but usable fasteners and my boat and power equipment is SAE so the big job for me is managing it all so as to keep things separate.

[Brad-Man]

Not to hijack the thread, but merely to let the denizens know...

I use MediaMonkey to convert between formats.

For music in my car I convert my CD's to 160 mps WMA files on my flash drives.

Half the size of 384 mps MP3 files.

Now that I have a smartphone I put the same on it.

[Martin]

Huston we have a problem, yesterday the GPS unit went flat while fitted to the bike. Examination with a multimeter showed an output of .7v should  be around 5v. As the old transformer uses identical connections, I did a temporary swap, and it charges. The new one is supposed to charge at 1.5 amps the old one charges at 3 amps, if I use the old one will it damage the unit. I have emailed the supplier but probably won't get an answer back for at least a few day's if at all. At least I'll see what their back up is like. I can continue to use the GPS by either charging with the car charger temporarily fitted, or by charging with the computer. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Regards Martin.

[John Lang]

Gryph -- A decimal calendar was implemented during the French Revolution.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar. Somewhat confusing! It lasted nearly 13 years.

"The calendar was abolished by an act dated 22 Fructidor an XIII (9 September 1805) and signed by Napoleon..."