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Well as I mentioned in a different thread, I was on the Road this week.
My trip North was with a passenger, and I did not think she would appreciate me Driving and doing the GPS on my Asus 636N...
So I waited until today for the return trip south for a REAL TEST of its functions!
I think the N stands for Navigator (??????) and it has a 25 mm square GPS Antenna built into the back side of the PDA.
This was the Major Reason I bought this model....
I have owned an Asus PDA before, and knew it is quality built....
Destinator is the software package that comes with the PDA....
I fired it up, aquired my signal and took off down the road.
The first thing I noticed was that the distance revealed on the screen is in Direct relationship to the Speed you are traveling at!
SLOW City Driving will provide levels down to 250 Feet per screen (76 meters) , and will be showing Street Names for Cross Streets as well as what you are on. Slow Driving here is defined as 25 Miles Per Hour, or approx 40 KMH
Increasing the speed to 50-55 MPH (90~~ KMH) provided a 600 foot distance (183 meters) in front of your postion on the screen....
Above 65 MPH provided a 1500 foot distance... or more than 455 Meters in front of your "arrow" position! there were also 2.5 miles and even more distant screens....
Upon the screen (left side) is negitive sign "-" and a positive on the right.
Tap either will allow a short timed look "Out or In".
That was very helpful in seeing approx how far to the next town or major intersection, the quick look is approx 5-6 secpnds, as of yet, I am unsure if this can be altered.
with several negitive taps you can go from 1500 feet to see the entire state and then back!
The map that is projected provided most un-named roads, including several REST STOPS, showing their ~layout~ in exiting and entering freeways and also regular two laned roads.
That was very helpful as I was towing a Trailer BOTH WAYS and its nice to know what your driving into!!!!
(to Moses Lake I drove a 26 foot long U-Haul, and towed my Subaru Forester up on a vehicle trailer.... coming home I had a small auto trailer with me... I had loaned it to the folks that I visited so they could move up to Washington to work.) When I bought gas the first time with the U-Haul, I had to back up quite a ways to leave the pumps.... and this bothered my passenger.... an elderly lady.
The best aspect of the software was within the Mountains when I hit a thick patch of FOG.
I was able to KNOW what the road was going to do with just a very quick glance to the PDA and then back to the road ... I could drive a few miles per hour faster by this manner, and felt VERY SAFE in doing so.
at that speed with a 250 foot screen.... when your marker says you are somewhere.... YOU ARE RIGHT THERE!!!!
IOW, passing a marked street HAPPENED in real time as your marker on the PDA showed you passing it!
It also showed Rail Road crossings as well as tracks in the same direction as your road.
Major geographical items are of course, there, lakes, rivers, even ponds!
Basic map icons are the norm in the sofware, a fourlane freeway is shown as a seperated section of road, including if they "seperate further" from each other as is the case in many areas of Washington and Oregon, two lane roads are shown just as if you had a printed map you were looking at....Bridges are shown as well.
I used this in both daylight, and into the evening, I did not try to search the menu for "night driving" while I was driving, but at my first gas stop for the night, that was just three screen clicks from the map.
The worst traffic I faced was in Portland Oregon... I seldom do my turn offs and interchanges correctly.... With the Asus 636N and Destinator my drive through Portland was a snap!!!!!
I would give this software/hardware combination two thumbs up, Five Stars and a very well done award!
I figure that you folks help so many.... and the purpose of the forums is to help others....
I love my 636N.... and hope others will look at it instead of TomTom or other GPS/PDA's.
That it is multi purpose versus TomTom is one thing... but it beats TomTom's basic price by hundreds.... and the full options TomTom is tremendous....
It is rugged enough (IMHO) to be carried... the 'Car Holder Device" is serviceable and stays in place (I put a bit spit on it to help the suction... )
the unit comes with BOTH a home "mains" power adapter and a 12 volt adapter for the car....
As I am a 12Volt freak, I also set up a small shoulder bag... it has a 5.3 Ah sealed leadcell battery, and a "cig lighter" adapter... I can power the Asus (or my cell phone) for hours with this... if I am away from "regular power sources" I carry the unit (plus small "mains" wall wart charger) in a military surplus shoulder bag.... ready to vacation at a moments notice (Ahhhhh the joys of being retired )
(It will also power my IBM Laptop using a real nice mini inverter... the secret for Mini Inverters is they NEED a Fan in them... or they will heat up and shut off... )