Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zappadelta]

Have been looking at getting one of these. Most of the info is in Korean on the sites, so can get some info, but not much. What kind of GPS do you guys have? Would you recommend it? WHat is good/bad about it? How much did it cost? How is the size? Thanks

[gsxr750r]

I have an INAVI Pro+ 512 (which I've upgraded to 1 gig).

I absolutely love it, although it's all in Korean. I've had it a year and three months. These days, they don't sell that model many places, and if they do, you're better off buying the INAVI 1UP+ model, or something better yet that has TV in it. I paid $400 for mine back then, and had seen this model at $300 before it started disappearing.

INAVI is almost completely in Korean, though. You enter everything in Korean, and no English menus. You can update the maps for free every 3 to 6 months via CF card or SD, if you have an SD model like the 1UP+. You can get the INAVI "Smart" for around 400,000 these days, I think? That has TV in it, and can play movies that are sized right.

INAVIs are sold in HiMart, at COEX Mall's Link-O store, E-Mart, and many places around Korea. I think Bontec looked interesting, too. I don't know much about them -- only seen them in taxis.

INAVI also tries to get you to trade-up and trade-in for a discount, although I didn't find this worth it, as I could probably resell it myself for more and just buy a new one elsewhere.

If you look on www.koreaherald.com , you can see ads from a guy selling "English Navigation" at his shop. I think maybe Ace Motors. I'm not sure how much English there is available in these models, though. I've never seen them.

[eamo]

I have one of these...........as many of you most be bored knowing by now....



GPS is just one of the million different things it does......the newer models have DMB and internet too.

I do use it as a GPS for tricky car journeys. Trips to pensions in the country or to areas of Seoul I don't know well. It's never let me down.

[zappadelta]

So, when you buy one of these things, are there any monthly fees that you have to pay for to download new maps, watch TV, or access the internet?

[eamo]

[Harpeau]

I would love to get one for walking around with. Wonder why only a few cellular phone companies have been marketing them. I think they would be an awesome feature for a phone in this country.

[gsxr750r]

My phone has done GPS for two years, but it's crazy expensive to do, and slow.

Updates to my Inavi are free. The TV is free (terrestrial, which conks out in tunnels). I think you can get satellite, too, at a cost. Almost all of the Inavi models allow you to pay extra and get a service that shows you what road traffic is like all over the city.

You can buy the INAVI software, and add it to Palm-type devices.

Take a look at the PNS model I put in another thread, Harpeau.

[nobbyken]

I got a good deal from a friend of the brother-in-law on a Reo Alpha, with a 512 Mb card.

It crashed after a few weeks, but sofware easily downloaded by my wife from the website sorted out everything (after we bought a 6k card reader).

I think the model is discontinued this year, hence the 280k price we paid.

Everything in Korean, but not too difficult to get the hang of.
I look at the picture more than listen to the voice!

In Seoul and Gyeonggi, it is a pretty invaluable tool.
Without it, I am like a stray animal wandering about.

[zappadelta]

Any opinions on this one here?

http://itempage.auction.co.kr/DetailView.aspx?itemno=A086357100&frm=sellerbest

[gsxr750r]

That is a refurbished model.

If you don't want TV, and you don't mind refurbs, then get it. I own the older model of that one (The 512k Up+). Last year, that model was $500. It's cheap now, because there is no TV. You don't need TV if you don't speak Korean.

By the way, the Inavi's just talk a lot more, when you add more memory (in the UP+ model).

If you don't want TV, that's a good one to get. You should have a Korean help you sign up for the updates (kind of a pain in the butt, because you have to get your ID number listed on the "namecheck" national ID system). When I signed up with them, then Inavi had to make a special exception for me and give me a special ID through the service center, because they had no way for foreigners to sign up (their form would only accept up to 10 characters). My gf had to talk to the Inavi customer service people to get me a special form and ID. The first Inavi person she talked to insisted that foreigners couldn't sign up for their site, but we got through to someone who did it for us. It was a royal pain, and if I had to do it again, I would just sign up in a Korean friend's name.

Once you sign up for the updates, you just run a program that does it all automatically (it's all in Korean, so you need a Korean computer, or an English computer that has all Korean fonts loaded).

You'll probably have that problem with ANY navigation company in Korea, though.

[gsxr750r]

Oh, hey... don't get that...

Go to here http://www.inavi.co.kr/

and look at the PNS personal model that's 1 gig.

It's 259,000 new, and it looks better to me.

[zappadelta]

Actually, I do speak Korean, so I want one with TV. That one looks pretty good. I would prefer one that doesn't talk too much.

[gsxr750r]

But that one doesn't have TV. Go to the Inavi page and look for the ones that do.

[zappadelta]

[Col.Brandon]

Here's a couple of threads I've contributed to previously that may be of use for someone looking for an English-language GPS:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=81874&highlight=Itaewon

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=64047&highlight=GPS

Hope it helps.