Part of what we do is to let you know about vehicle accessories, equipment and products we use and find useful on our travels. We’ve been traveling around Africa for about 15 years on a regular basis and have used everything from local directions to hand drawn maps and map books to GPS devices that made the journey a bit easier to plan.
But we have to ask ourselves if the modern age has taken some of the ‘explorer spirit’ out of Africa travel… Here’s my take on it: I have found that maps are an integral part of our expeditions – from planning to the actual navigation. But with GPS devices becoming the norm, I realized that using a GPS makes the journey less stressful as it takes lots of the unnecessary unknowns out of the picture, which allows more time to enjoy the actual trip. You know the exact distance to your destination, the approximate time it will take, and things like fuel and shops are indicated. A road trip into Africa offers more than enough surprises and interesting situations to keep the explorer in us alive and well!
I’ve been traveling with a Garmin Zumo 660 for a while now and found it extremely useful and recently decided (after traveling for over 5 years without a car radio) to install a multimedia system that is an all-in-one unit – perfect for exploring Africa! It is a built-in system that replaces the radio, cd player, GPS, bluetooth device, ipod adaptor, cd shuttle, dvd player and a few other functions I’m still figuring out. The word ‘multimedia system’ has a whole new meaning to me! The units are manufactured by CASKA and fits almost any vehicle brand.
For our purposes the navigation functionality was an important consideration. This part of the device uses Garmap Drive with the latest mapping and offers the following functionality:
– Intuitive user interface
– Allows for spelling mistakes and still gives results (really easy and usable interface)
– Plug and Play convenience
– Pre-loaded onboard maps
– Turn-by-Turn voice prompted navigation
– Automatic route recalculation (without the nagging ‘recalculating’ voice prompt when you just turn into the filling station)
– 2D or 3D map display modes
– Automatic day and night mode
– Safety camera alerts
– Intuitive itinerary feature with route optimisation
As of December 2011 the Tracks4Africa maps can be used on the CASKA systems too! It comes loaded on a memory card inserted into the front of the system. This was the deciding factor for me as Tracks4Africa is something we don’t leave without.
Everything on the unit (hardware and software) has been designed with ease of use in mind. It is great to use and works really well!
We asked CASKA to offer our readers and members a discounted rate for their multimedia units. Now you can get one of these systems fitted at a 10% discount in time for the December holiday! Just download the voucher, contact Planet World and quote the discount code – CA1 – to qualify for this offer (only one per person). It will make the perfect Christmas present for dad, and any future road trips much more enjoyable!
This special offer is available through Planet World, the official distributors of CASKA. Contact them on 0860 656463 to get your vehicle specific multimedia system and installation done.
Let us know if you’ve used one of these too. It will be good to hear your opinion about it.