automotive gps navigation

Overall Rating: ( 1 reviews )

1. ( 299 of 299 found this review helpful ) Posted: Dec 18 2007

   
   
   Pros: Great text to spaech. Love the AAA tour book. Traffic reports are great. Comes with software to up load POI's that you designate.
   Cons: Doesn't always recognize the voice activation command and once went into voice activation mode for no reason. Maybe the radio. Sometime tells me that it cannot compute a route basd on my preferences but changing preferences has no effect. This happened after I added the traffic option. As of a few days ago Magellan doesn't have any info on their web site about updates, accessories, or other products related toi thia model. I wanted an additional cradel and power cord and they are not available on the web site.
   

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Overall Rating: ( 47 reviews )

1. Posted: Jul 20 2008

   This is a very handy little gadget. I have had many uses for it already. The amopunt of information contained in this little unit is amazing! Well worth the money.

2. Posted: Jul 7 2008

   I bought my Magellan Maestro 4050 about six months ago on Amazon.com. Sofar I am pleased with all the features and its functioning, but still a bit dissatisfied when I was holding my GPS 4050 at point A and tried to get direction from point B to point C. Magellan Maestro does not have that route. So when you have your GPS 4050 in your hand at point A, you can not make a map direction from point B to point C like you can make through Yahoo map or Google map. I don't know why GPS makers do not think about that?????? Another drawback that sometimes the Bluetooth froze and the touch screen doesnot respond. I have to push a reset on side to make it work.

3. Posted: Jun 25 2008

   My other cars all had intergrated GPS. This is my first "portable". I did not like the mounting hardware supplied with unit, as I did not want it stuck to the windshield. The attached Road condition receiver made a bulky package, but the extra info while traveling made it worthwhile. I love the voice command. After business is complete in down town, "magellam" "go Home" is all that is needed to route me back home!

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Overall Rating: ( 7 reviews )

1. Posted: Jul 24 2008

   The hardware and software interface is OK. But the map is out dated and there is no way to upgrade it.... I do not recommend this GPS unit.

2. Posted: Oct 15 2007

   It is very unfortunate that you cannot get map updates for this GPS. Overall I found it to be well built, easy to use and efficient. However, I have had the unit for over 2 years. The maps are in serious need of up-dating and there appears no way to do that. There are many places in the country that are constantly changing (Palm Springs, Las Vegas, etc.) On my last visit to Las Vegas this device was practically useless as the map software is so out of date. This is a dead horse. Definitely do not buy.

3. ( 0 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jan 28 2007

   The Navman 550 is an excellent transportable GPS product that is easy to program and easy to operate. Its precise voice instructions in addition to its easily read and understood graphics make it a joy to use.

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Overall Rating: ( 79 reviews )

1. Posted: Aug 28 2008

   I love my Garmin StreetPilot, has worked like a charm once you understand how to set it up and use. Anytime I've had to go somewhere I've never been to before, it gets me there, no problems.

2. Posted: Aug 26 2008

   Great product. Since I sent this to her my Granddaughter can find her way around Dallas.

3. Posted: Aug 20 2008

   Waited until the price dropped to pick up this garmin GPS. Easy to use and came with updated 2008 maps. Friction mount does not stay put on my Tahoe dash but makes it for easy storage with a suction cup ring or dash mount.

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Overall Rating: ( 53 reviews )

1. Posted: Aug 15 2008

   After my previous Mio320 was stolen (some buggers busted into my car window while i was out for 10 min only), I explored the newer possibilities and fell for this one- and that was a good decision. For this price, the service is JUST LOVELY. It got all the things that one may wish to have: mp3 player, bluetooth for handfree (works well with my Samsung Blackjack), text-to-speech, fast enough computation, somewhat outdated map (but you can update it). The look is great and sleek, fits into the shirt pocket easily even with a large enough screen. Few minor downsides: 1) Don't particularly like the shrill voice- last version was soothing 2) Could not figure out any hard-button for the VOICE (volume)- so if you are running mp3 player, you need to go to that application (via touchscreen) and then control the volume. 3) Few more hot-buttons for easier access would have been helpful, e.g., connecting to cell phones while on move, instead of going through the whole touch-screen These are just little hick ups, but, all in all, THE PRODUCT IS GREAT for the price and rating any less than 5 would be misleading... and now the last sentence: its too good, do not ever leave it in the car even for 1 min; i learned it the hard way :)

2. Posted: Jul 27 2008

   I use this gps on my motorcycle. I bought a bluetooth stereo headset to go with it(plantronics pulsar 260) it mate fine with now problem. I control the tracks and volume control and even pause and play on the gps. I could not get to listen to the navigation thru the headset though, so I glance down and watch the high lighted route. I have trouble creating music playlist with this device. I wish if it was something similar like windows media player. All the albums that you put on the sd card go in one playlist, so if you put 1000 tracks and you want to get to 920 you have to travel from 1-920. gps passion forum have a section dedicated to the mio devices. search playlist. The battery life is short with the gps but longer while listen to mp3. I always keep the charger connected while in the navigation mode. In the reviews it said the screen is difficult to see in direct sunlight. I have mine on a motorcyle facing up and I could still see the routes and with no voice to assist. I did had some difficulties going to jersey but that was probably due to the fact that I couldn't hear the voice guidance. My sister and girlfriend left queens with mapquest in the car to go to a party in linden, new jersey. I left the bronx over a hr later and I pass them park in a wendy parking lot. The problem they encounter was the street that they was suppose to turn on didn't have any sign, so they follow me and we was there in a few minutes. I reluctantly give her my mio 520 to go back home. Once you go gps you don't go back to the paper map. You just have to realize that gps in general is not 100% accurate.

3. Posted: Jul 24 2008

   I had the Mio C310x first, but it got stolen. Then I bought a Garmin Nuvi350, but it was so bad I had to return it (I didn't use the C520 before I tried the Garmin, so I was only really comparing it to the older C310x). After that, I decided to look for the C520, seeing it has an upgraded version of the interface of the C310x. Here's why I stick with Mio's older C series even now: - A lot more options, compared with other brands, for tweaking to make it work the way I want it to (could even be overwhelming for some users, but I like it a lot) - Animation of the map is the fastest and with highest refresh rate I've seen so far of portable GPSes. This is a BIG HUGE plus while on the road. - Split screen view, which I've been used to on the C310x (though it had less functionality on the C310x), is immensely useful. If you've never had one with it, you won't know why it's so useful! - POI search is extremely fast, unlike Garmin.

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Overall Rating: ( 8 reviews )

1. Posted: Jun 12 2008

   Until a week ago I owned the 2720. Unfortunately a map update failed and I had to send the unit to Garmin. The service folks from Garmin just sent me their latest streetpilot 2820 (free upgrade, just great). So, from being unhappy due to the failed update, I am now quite happy. Also, that took place within 4! work days. Dropped it off at the post office on Friday, got it back on Thursday moring the week after. Really quick. It is a great unit, just like the predecessor 2720, but now also has bluetooth and an audio book reader and MP3 Player (things I will likely not use). Bluetooth is great, though, for mobile phones in cars even though you will need to connect a speaker and micro. The unit does what it needs to do - get me where I want to go. Especially on a motorcycle. Waterprrof, with enough room to save half of the US and CAN (mine is a european unit). I used the previous version for 3 years and never has it failed to get me where I wanted to go. It is fast, has excellent routing, is VERY easy to use, the screen is large and very easy to read even under unfavorable lighting conditions and as I said - support is great and is located in the US or Europe, exactly where you are. No call centers in inner Mongolia or other such nonsense. Whoever had to contact a call center other than in your own country knows what I am talking about. But you will likely not need tech support, since it just works reliably and every day. If you need to have a unit for an MC this is the unit I would recommend. Even more so, since you can use it your car and on business trips, ... It does not come with a picture viewer, but that is useless from my point of view to begin with. The only drawback is the somewhat flacky reception of the GPS signal in difficult areas - namely skycrapers all over the place and narrow roads for example in Spain. Still I always arrived with minimum stress. Far better than what you would get built into cars at a far better price.

2. Posted: Jun 7 2008

   After spending a few days researching GPS receivers that were good candidates for motorcycles I narrowed my list to the Garmin Zumo 550, Garmin StreetPilot 2820, and TomTom Rider. Although the Zumo 550 seems to be the more popular choice lately, I decided upon the StreetPilot 2820 because it has more features (ex: multiple via points on a route and a higher resolution screen). It is an excellent choice for a motorcycle --it can easily be operated with gloves on, it's waterproof, it's easy to read, and it can pair to two Bluetooth devices (in my case a Bluetooth helmet and my Blackberry). The maps that come with this unit are outstanding --I can fairly reliably tell the difference between paved and unpaved roads (something you can't do with Google Maps, for instance). I have found one bug with the device: If you're using the music player and attempt to voice dial a phone number, the Bluetooth connection gets flaky and I need to reboot the unit --I'm hoping a future firmware update will fix this issue. At least I've found a work around to this annoyance --if I manually pause the music and then make (and complete) the call and then unpause the music everything seems to work okay. Garmin technical support while I was trying to diagnose this issue was outstanding. I highly recommend this unit.

3. Posted: Mar 1 2008

   Going on my third season with the 2820, I can't imagine touring without it. Easy to use with gloves, big enough to see without reading glasses, accurate guide, and more. The connectivity can't be beat either, plus it is a very rough and tumble sturdy unit. I was very happy with the XM radio, and in the car I plug it into my auxiliary jack. I'm happy to report that there has not been one glitch or problem over 8,000 mile of bumpy twisties and harsh riding through the elements on my motorcycle. I had the Garmin Quest before upgrading to this unit. There is no comparison. The Quest was way too cumbersome in controls and directions and screen display to be very useful on while moving fast on the road, espically if you wanted to make changes to it on the fly. My only wish with this 2820 unit is that it wasn't so big. You don't want to leave an expensive unit like this on the bike when you stop, and, although it does fit in my jacket pocket, it's very bulky. Overall, I have been very happy with this unit and highly recommend.

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Overall Rating: ( 18 reviews )

1. Posted: Jun 30 2008

   Ok, I have had this unit for over two years. As stated before, yes I had freezing problems and it would reset and loose all the previous places I had been. I tried many times to upgrade the firmware to no avail and did spend countless hours on the phone with the India service center where I feel I knew more about a simple computer than the guy/girl on the other line. Thank GOD I had an extended service program with the store chain I brought it from and they fixed it for me. Hope the map update goes a lot smoother. The Unit now runs great and instead of the 5 seconds to turn the unit off now it's just two. Just wish they had a smaller mounting arm as the OEM one is too long which is funny that the new guys say theirs is too short. No one is ever content.

2. Posted: May 5 2008

   I have had Magellan 6000T for over a year now and it seemed to be working fine overall with the exception of an occasional freeze up. However, from the past 2 weeks, the unit does not display the map and when any key is pressed, it responds after 5 minutes. The issue is not battery-related as far as I could tell since it is constantly charged and the battery indicator is green in color. I had purchased the 6000T for 450.00 last year. From now on I'll stay with the cheap units. At least that way, even if the unit breaks one can discard it with less pain.

3. Posted: Mar 14 2008

   I have had this product for over a year now and was surprised when travelling from Mtl to NYC how this device directed me to drive through off highway country roads. I have tried to upgrade to a higher version of software 1.16 with great difficulty. My PC is asking for the Magellan Roadmate software. The unit never came with it. When finally located my Microsoft PC is advising me not to install it as it does not conform with Microsofts software conditions and it may harm the system. I have tried to contact magellans help ware, but have had no response. After reading all the horrible experiences from fellow magellan owners, i am frustrated enough to trash this unit and proclaim the truth, THIS SYSTEM SUCKS, and I for one do not recommend anyone to purchase a Magellan unit. If the company had any morals they would refund the money or excahnge all of their 6000T units for a model that actually works.

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