MapmyIndia Lx130 GPS Review

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Here is my brief review of MapmyIndia Lx130 GPS car navigator and MapmyIndia GPS maps (version 3.1), which I had the pleasure of playing with for a couple of weeks.



MapmyIndia Lx130 is a car navigation device, which not only shows your current location and maintains GPS tracks, but also provides turn by turn voice navigation.

MapmyIndia Lx130 package



MapmyIndia Lx130 package contains Lx130 GPS unit, 2 GB MicroSD Card loaded with MapmyIndia maps, stylus, AC wall charger, car charger, car holder, USB cable, quick start guide, warranty card and a CD which contains software and hardware manual in PDF format.

MapmyIndia Lx130 GPS Unit

MapmyIndia Lx130 GPS is powered by a SIRF A4/500M processor with 128MB of SDRAM and 64MB of Flash EPROM and it has a 30 channel GPS receiver and runs on Microsoft Win CE.NET 6.0 core version.

3.5” TFT touch screen found on the Lx130 is quite bright and unless you are viewing it in direct sunlight, it is quite easy to read and understand. On the other hand, the touch interface isn't that easy to use and requires a bit of patience, especially in the beginning and at times later on, while typing through the virtual keyboard. While there is a stylus provided in the package, I found it slightly cumbersome to use than my fingers.

As far as boot-up and navigation software loading time goes, it is fairly fast and rarely does one witness any lag. Similarly rerouting is done fairly fast as well (as long as it is locked on to the satellites) and navigating through the map is a breeze.

On board speaker at its loudest setting is loud enough to be heard even while riding a motorcycle at 50-60kmph and in case of a car, would require you to tone it down a little.

Weighing at only 122gms, the Lx130 is powered by a 900mAh Lithium-ion battery and I got an hour and a half of use, with it constantly having to look for satellites and volume set to loud and screen brightness set to around 50%. Since the unit was brand new, battery performance might get slightly better with time, however it is a car navigation unit and is supposed to be plugged into cigarette lighter socket for most of its usage time.

Satellite acquisition time: This is one part which annoyed me the most, at least in my locality (mostly three story buildings), where I had to wait for 8-10 minutes and that too outside my ground floor home, for the unit to lock on to enough satellites to start the navigation process. However at a few other places, Lx130 was able to lock on to satellites in around 3-4 minutes. Satellite acquisition time in a moving vehicle was also on the higher side at around 8-10 minutes. While it might have been a one off issue with the unit I received, I think it would be great if MapmyIndia provided an optional external antenna to speed up this process and provide slightly better connectivity.

Battery Charging: Apart from AC wall charger and car charger, Lx130 can also be charged by connecting it to your desktop/laptop with the help of accompanying USB cable.

MapmyIndia GPS Maps and Navigation Software

Biggest lure of buying a GPS device from MapmyIndia is the maps it comes with. Having heard so much about these maps, I decided to put them to test in Delhi and during my short trip to Shimla.

Map accuracy and navigation: As far as navigation and map accuracy in Delhi goes, it is accurate most of the time and manages to find shortest route between two places. For instance when I had to go to the Chanderlok Building at Janpath, it managed to find a route ~4km shorter than what Google Earth had suggested. And while traveling on the outer ring road, it not only displayed an accuracy of a few meters, but also accurately displayed every single petrol pump we passed! Even in my locality, it managed to locate small petrol pumps with ease and directed me towards them.

Having said that, GPS Maps are still very much in their infancy in India and one can not trust them blindly. While traveling from Delhi to Shimla, it failed to show the diversion right after bypass (showed in the map below) and continued to prompt me to take diversions to get back to the under construction highway. Even though that particular stretch has been under construction for past few years.



While traveling on NH-73, it showed me traveling along side the highway, rather than on the highway itself and in my locality it showed the nearest SBI ATM as being ~14km away, even though there are at least 4 SBI ATMs and banks in 3km radius of my home, with the nearest being only a few hundred meters away!

Map updates: MapmyIndia used to provide map updates for free to its customers and customers had to pay Rs. 500 for the MicroSD card containing the update, however I have been informed that MapmyIndia would be coming out with a new upgrade policy in a few weeks.

Computer Connectivity

If there is one area which needs drastic improvement, it would be the computer connectivity. To begin with, even though MapmyIndia Lx130 comes with a CD, it does not contains any software! So in order to connect it to your computer and access its data, you will have to download and install Microsoft Active Sync or similar software for your operating system. Which I feel, should have been included in the CD itself, especially since it is a free software.

Exporting data and routes from Lx130: While MapmyIndia software gives you the option of converting your GPS logs to KML format (viewable in Google Earth), it only stores the navigation data and there is no scope of exporting altitude and speed logs along with it. While particular points/places can be marked and saved as favorites, there is no option to convert them to KML format and in order to copy them to your computer, you will have to search for the favs.txt file on the MicroSD card, which contains name and GPS coordinates of all the favorite places stored in your Lx130.

Converting GPS log to KML



Right click and choose save as to download exported KML file GPSLog2009-10-8_21-13-2.kml

Having a dedicated software to provide connectivity with the computer and facility to export the GPS data and in turn import coordinates/routes into the GPS device, would make life a lot easier for enthusiasts like me, especially considering that GPS is still a niche product in India and quite a few of its buyers are enthusiasts/gadget freaks, who would love to have such features.

Multimedia features

Lx130 comes with an inbuilt picture viewer, document viewer (.txt files only) and music and video player. All three of these are easy to use and work decently. However at the end of the day it is not a phone or a PDA and such features though welcomed, are basically extras and non essential.

Final words

Although there were a few niggles here and there, my overall experience of MapmyIndia Lx130 was a pleasant one and it did work well in the city and even on the highway (particularly NH-1) and for those traveling in cars, it is a nice option.

MapmyIndia Lx130 Specifications

CPU: SIRF A4/500M
Operating System: Microsoft WinCE.NET 6.0 Core Version
Antena: Built-in GPS high sensitivity reciever (30 channels) 32bit risc CPU SIGE Chipsets
Memory: 128MB SDRAM Built-in/64MB Flash EPROM
Display: 3.5 inch color TFT touch screen
Weight: 122gm
Input Method: Software keyboard
Expansion Slot: MicroSD card (also supports Micro SDHC cards)
Speaker: Built-in 1.0w loud speaker
Headphone: 2.5mm mini jack
USB: USB Client for Active Sync
Battery: Re-chargable Lithium-ion Polymer battery 900mAh
Dimension: 99mm x 74.5mm x 12.5mm

[turbohead]

Nice Review Yogesh

You said it takes 8-10 min (at times 3-4 min) to connect, thats very painful, specially when you are waiting in your car and trying to locate the direction where you have to go.
I had a NAV 200 unit from Delphi which I purchased from MMI in 2007, that was quite fast. I used to take max. 30 seconds to connect and lock required no. of satellites (min. 3 satellites), ditto with NAV 300, which was an upgrade.

Secondly you pointed out that as the unit was new the battery backup was relatively lesser and will increase with time, err...isn't it the other way round ?

[KurtRules]

Detailed review there .. How much does it cost?

[koolharry]

That's a useful review. Very much detailed. How much does it cost?

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Originally Posted by turbohead

Nice Review Yogesh

You said it takes 8-10 min (at times 3-4 min) to connect, thats very painful, specially when you are waiting in your car and trying to locate the direction where you have to go.
I had a NAV 200 unit from Delphi which I purchased from MMI in 2007, that was quite fast. I used to take max. 30 seconds to connect and lock required no. of satellites (min. 3 satellites), ditto with NAV 300, which was an upgrade.

Secondly you pointed out that as the unit was new the battery backup was relatively lesser and will increase with time, err...isn't it the other way round ?

Yeah I was surprised by the amount of time it took to connect to the satellites. Though strangely in my Shimla hotel room, it connected with in 2-3 minutes.

As for battery, like every Lithium-ion battery (same is true in cell phones, laptops etc.), the performance should go up after 5-6 charge-discharge cycles. Sadly towards the end of my review I was charging the unit a bit more rapidly and couldn't drain it fully to see if there has been any change in its performance.

Originally Posted by KurtRules

Detailed review there .. How much does it cost?

Originally Posted by koolharry

That's a useful review. Very much detailed. How much does it cost?

Thanks guys, it costs Rs. 11,990.

[turbohead]

Even 2-3 min. is lot of time specially when you are driving and want to check the directions. Even if you are starting, wait for 2-3 min. seems like ages.
How long does it take to locate the POI's (randomly far) and other locations ?

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Which GPS device are you using and how long does it takes to acquire satellites, after a cold start?

As for locating POIs, once you are connected with enough satellites, it doesn’t take too long, mostly in the region of a lower double digit seconds.

[amitmaggoo]

I feel the time to connect is high in this model. Turbo's as well as my units both take very less time.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Which GPS device are you using and how long does it takes to acquire satellites, after a cold start?

[popsha]

Everything seems fine apart from the price.... almost 12K in my opinion is too high.