AULRO Subscriber Offer - cheap on-road/off-road GPS units

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Originally Posted by pohm66

Ok its been 4 months now since Ranga first posted this thread...Just curious as to the general consensus now of these units.

Are they still a viable unit cos they definitely seem to be a good bang for the buck on paper?

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I keep seeing ads for other units that are half the size and twice the price.

The screen is bigger than a lot I see advertised and I would expect that a lot of their usefulness is determined by the software and the maps you install.

I am probably easily impressed because this is my first experience of GPS, but I think they are great.

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Originally Posted by Ranga

Mate, if worst come to worst, I'm quietly confident I can get it working again. The last thing I want to see is someone bricking there GPS.

Try plugging it into the 240V adapter (you need a US pin adapter) and let it charge. Also, when charging you should see a faint red LED on the left hand side to indicate that it's charging. This changes blue when it's fully charged.

Have you also tried using the reset button?

Last resort, send it back to me and I'll see what I can do.

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Hi Ranga,
It looks like it's last resort time!
I tried charging the GPS using car, usb and 240v adaptor but none make the LED light up at all. I am fairly sure the battery was fully charged when it died.
I'll send it off to you again, but I'd hate to waste your time.
I'm not sure how you can do anything with it considering the computer can't see anything at all when its plugged into the usb port.
Cheers,
biggin

<<Quote If it is, you can get rid of CE if you click the TskMgr icon, then click the Process tab, then select explorer.exe and click on the Terminate button and click on OK.>>

Don't mess about with explorer.exe - thats the main interface with WindowsCE. You corrupt that and it is bricked until you can reflash CE back on it and I'm pretty confident most won't be able to do that.

I posted earlier how to hide of the taskbar.

'start' button: click on it then >>Settings>>Taskbar and Start Menu>>tick box 'Always Hide>>OK

The taskbar will always be accessible it is just hidden. CE is always running in the background literally underneath the shell menu.

Good luck biggin!

Cheers
JLo

Finally got mine today. It arrived about 17 days after posting.

It took about 2 mths over all. Otherwise am quite happy with it from my quick look this morning.

Will have to go back and see about loading maps and stuff on.

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Originally Posted by JLo

<<Quote If it is, you can get rid of CE if you click the TskMgr icon, then click the Process tab, then select explorer.exe and click on the Terminate button and click on OK.>>

Don't mess about with explorer.exe - thats the main interface with WindowsCE. You corrupt that and it is bricked until you can reflash CE back on it and I'm pretty confident most won't be able to do that.

I posted earlier how to hide of the taskbar.

'start' button: click on it then >>Settings>>Taskbar and Start Menu>>tick box 'Always Hide>>OK

The taskbar will always be accessible it is just hidden. CE is always running in the background literally underneath the shell menu.

Good luck biggin!

Cheers
JLo

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Hi JLo,

You've hit the nail on the head, I recall a message after terminating explorer.exe that windowsCE was turned off. I carried on anyway and rebooted, now, nothing - not even a battery charge light.

How is it possible to reboot windowsCE when you can't communicate with the GPS?:eek:

Jeez, I hope Ranga can help. Ranga I'll send it up after Xmas if you still think you can.

Thanks all

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Originally Posted by biggin

Hi JLo,

You've hit the nail on the head, I recall a message after terminating explorer.exe that windowsCE was turned off. I carried on anyway and rebooted, now, nothing - not even a battery charge light.

How is it possible to reboot windowsCE when you can't communicate with the GPS?:eek:

Jeez, I hope Ranga can help. Ranga I'll send it up after Xmas if you still think you can.

Thanks all

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No problem - I'd be very surprised if it's unfixable, as I've never seen one fail yet. If it is, I'd be looking at sending it back to DX. (Note that DX will pay for return shipping if it is dead, and they're willing to accept responsibility.)

There is a way to boot the device straight up into Windows CE, bypassing all the menu system. PM me your email address and I'll send it to you tonight with instructions. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will!

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Originally Posted by rar110

Finally got mine today. It arrived about 17 days after posting.

It took about 2 mths over all. Otherwise am quite happy with it from my quick look this morning.

Will have to go back and see about loading maps and stuff on.

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Seeing as you're local (perhaps) let me know if you have any issues and I'll do it for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biggin

Hi JLo,

You've hit the nail on the head, I recall a message after terminating explorer.exe that windowsCE was turned off. I carried on anyway and rebooted, now, nothing - not even a battery charge light.

How is it possible to reboot windowsCE when you can't communicate with the GPS?:eek:

Jeez, I hope Ranga can help. Ranga I'll send it up after Xmas if you still think you can.

Thanks all

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ranga

No problem - I'd be very surprised if it's unfixable, as I've never seen one fail yet. If it is, I'd be looking at sending it back to DX. (Note that DX will pay for return shipping if it is dead, and they're willing to accept responsibility.)

There is a way to boot the device straight up into Windows CE, bypassing all the menu system. PM me your email address and I'll send it to you tonight with instructions. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will!

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I hope Ranga can help you too! Depends what has happened - if CE is corrupted you might be in strife. If it just the shell then you will be able to reload the YFAP/Resident folder from the SD card after boot. OR reflash the firmware using .wzp & .img file (to big to email) Ranga might have them. But I suspect Ranga has given you a file called YFGOToCE so that should tell you how terminal it is. Just a note on booting from the SD is that if you are using a SDHC card i.e 4gb or larger, you may have problems and it wont boot from the SD card. Don't Panic yet....if this is the case you will need to use a 2gb card. I had trouble booting into CE straight from SD with an 8gb card. Just put the file onto the 2gb card and boot from that.

If I can help PM me.
Cheers
JLo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pohm66

Ok its been 4 months now since Ranga first posted this thread...Just curious as to the general concensus now of these units.

Are they still a viable unit cos they definitely seem to be a good bang for the buck on paper?

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I have had mine for about 10 mnths and no issues as far as quality. Good receiver for a civilian GPS. For the money they are worth it. You get more than if you were to by a branded unit.

Or you could spend $900 odd dollars on a Hema unit with the same functions.
(of course it comes with maps)

While mine turned up in 10 days, DX seem from all accounts, to be a bit overwhelmed at the moment and delivery is being pushed out, so I would put off ordering 'til well after xmas.
Google YF GPS if you want some background on the manufacturer. They aren't little and I suspect supply a lot of the branded units.

Cheers
JLo

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Originally Posted by Ranga

.....I'd be very surprised if it's unfixable, as I've never seen one fail yet........

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You wouldn't believe it. After a couple of days sitting in the box, I decided to get the GPS out and try one more time to get it up and running.
Nothing.
I plugged it into my computer.
Still nothing.
I left it plugged in over night and there was a glimmer of life. The battery charge light was blue.
That got me excited but it still would not run, so I decided to put it back in the box. When I disconnected the computer lead I accidentally pressed the power button again, and guess what? She booted up, good as gold, and has been perfect since.
Thanks guys we're back in business.:arms:

Just one question though, how do you get back the startup menu page after being in a GPS program. It seems to go to a new menu page where a big green battery is shown in the middle of the bottom line, with the date and time on the left of that, and a light bulb and speaker on the right?

Cheers,
biggin.