goodbye missed junction

one finds out quickly about his/her (true) competency in a particular matter/area when `the going gets tough'. we had been driving around the vermont south/burwood/glen waverly area trying to take a sneak peak at houses we hope to shortlist for rental. taking pride of my map reading skill and armed with a 2006 edition melway (street directory book), we navigated our way in the last 4 days. whilst we get to our destination eventually; a lot of time were actually wasted and patience tested because often times, I have to pull over to the side of the road to recalibrate my position and recap on the routes to our destinations. not to mention numerous missed junctions and 3 point turns i made. i lost count. my own patience is wearing thin. after 4 days, i ate humble pie.
so i bought a gps navigation system today.
checking with my cousin han chung and also scouring the internet to find out the best value gps navigation system out there, i settle for the mio moov360.
i bought it from a harvey norman(hn) store nearby my place. (truth be told, i have never stepped into a hn shop in singapore to buy anything from them) i paid $348 for the device which i thought was excellent value. thanks to a large part to everyone who told me to bargain. i have never thought of bargaining in an electronic superstore, but i was told in no uncertain terms that i must counter-offer. the sale price was $368, which for a start is a $35 saving from the original sticker price. when i casually told the sales associate that i had a lower offer elsewhere, he immediately offered to match the price. i was actually unprepared for the amount i was willing to pay but i blurted out $348 as the price offered. this brand/model is not available in the nearby shops, so i was surprised when he agrees to sell me at the said price after a couple of minutes of checking around. i bought it with a grin in my face.
the gps system will be godsend for cecilia, who has a poor sense of direction. i guess she will be the biggest benefactor from this. i plan to key in her all her favourites/frequent destinations before i return to singapore so she can look like a pro navigating around melbourne.
so, goodbye melway 2006, hello mio moov360 (australia edition)