HI!

New to forum and just getting my feet wet on updating GPS devices so please excuse any dumb newbie questions.

I have a very old Edge A2 in cab monitor for my truck. It has a TomTom GPS built into the unit. The issue is that of course there are no updates available for it. Which led me here.

I have done a little bit of reading about navcores and other such things. My understanding is the best navcore to use is the latest available for that particular device.

Which leads me to my conundrum. How can I find out which device my A2 is based on? It does have a SD card slot which as far as I am aware stores all of the GPS data. Is there a particular file or something on that card that could help me find the information I need so I can locate the correct files to update this thing?

Thanks for any answers.

Bad news:

Alright, I had done considerable research online to find no real evaluation of the A2, so I am posting so others will have an easier time. Here is the deal on the A2, I recieved mine in the mail last week and have been tinkering with it since. I am (like most of us) a gaget guy who likes technology. The A2 v. attitude offers nicer lcd layout, backup camera, and GPS. The same info may be displayed on both the attitude and the A2 except it looks better on the A2. The back up camera is pretty nice (easier to back-up to trailer, parking spot, or just out of the driveway). However, the gps is another issue in itself. The GPS is PDA software (tomtom navigator 5) so it is limited in size of info. You will probably not find POI (point of interest) that you are looking for. Sure it has some, like Airports, some restraunts, train stations and many others.

For me I like to type in the name of the place that I want to go to. I have owned many, many GPS units thus far. On real GPS (not PDA) units, I can type "Harbor Freight Toos" into the unit and push the POI by the time I type "har". The GPS included with the A2 requires you to type in the address of the destination. That could work great if you carry a telephone book in your car and don't mind the extra work. But lets face it, we are not spending that much extra for a gps that is outdated. Additionally, featurse such as trafic, speed camera, bluetooth call support does not work on the A2 (the unit does not have bluetooth installed making the software on a PDA better suited vs. A2.

The current version of tomtom PDA (tomtom 6) still lacks the memory and thus adequate POI but does support an "any point of interest" option that is up-to-date (type in the place name, not the address). However, the A2 does not support the upgrade, which would cost $150 extra if it did. After talking with Edge customer service I was informed that edge's rumorville is talking about buying an updated license from tomtom and will be able to sell or install the tomtom 6 software but still with the $150 or higher price tag from tomtom (no dates, just a rumor).

Therefore, in summary, buy the edge juice platinum by all means, I have been a edge customer for years and love the user interface (simple) it provides. It offers alot of features including shift firmness control (I likey). The back up camera is nice too. It is nice to have one screen vs. two. But, in light of this info. it is not a good choice to upgrade for the GPS. You can get $200-$300 GPS unit that does circles around tomtom 5 w/o bluetooth.

About the mounting location, I have ordered the pillar mount for the A2. Asked Edge CS about it and the infomed me that it is their attitude pillar mount modified to fit the A2. The A2 is larger than the attitude (obvious) and there are no pictures that I can find on the internet that shows what it would look like in the superduty. When looking at my stock pillar, it looks like the "Oh S...) handle would probably have to be removed, but I am not sure yet. I ordered it from PMTdiesel.com for $225 which is expensive vs. the $45 pillar mount that edge sales for the attitude. The pillar mount can come in other colors to match you interior (note- they paint it to change the color from black).

All in all, I am not a disgruntle customer, just wanted to inform others of the draw-backs of the GPS. look into it if you like, but I am reveared by others to know what I am talking about, in regaurds to this stuff (GPS). In my case, I am going to return the A2 and get the attitude for my juice platinum with the pillar mount (looks better IMO)

Source: [Please Register or Login to download file]

Jorre2220 wrote:Bad news:

Thank you for that. Somehow I did not see that while searching for info on this unit.

Hmm.. So being that it's based on PDA software does that mean there isn't anything I can do to get the thing updated with newer maps?