( 6 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: 03-20-2007
No outstanding feature, but has lots of draw backs. When driving, the map is not dynamic but stays on the very small region of the next instruction. I don't know how they can come up with this silly idea. The distance to the next action is inaccurate. Usually an exit hundreds of feet ahead is reported to be one mile away. The antenna is very weak, when using the battery but not the DC input it takes forever to get located. Also the route calculation always gives very stupid directions. If you disregard it and drive in your own way, it tells you to turn back all the time, even when you are several feet away from the destination. Generally speaking, it's totally a piece of junk.
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( 4 of 4 found this review helpful ) Posted: 03-02-2007
I bought this just before the holidays to see if I really needed a GPS for my travels, thinking that if I really needed a good GPS, I would spring for a more expensive model. I found that there is really no need to update to a more expensive model! this is a great no-frills GPS. Sure, it doesn't have a hard drive or an .mp3 player, but it does everything a GPS should and pretty well at that. The unit is light and intuitive to use. It comes with a suction mount and lighter adaptor, along with an SD card loaded with maps. A nice touch is the built-in battery, which is nice for shorter trips, where you don't want a lighter cord cluttering your dash. the display, while not the latest or greatest, is crisp and legible in varying light conditions. The voice is easy to understand and is easy to pick-out in when I'm listening to moderate volumes on my stereo. Another review complained that the voice guidance does not tell you what street to turn onto, but I think that is a plus. Besides, the next turns are clearly displayed on the screen. There are several different map views as well, pretty much offering a street level display or a zoomed-out display, plus you can preview your route with a Mapquest-like turn-by-turn lists. Rerouting is also fairly robust, immediately re-calculating your route if you miss a turn. Sometimes, the unit does not provide the quickest route, but that is common with many GPS navigators. My only complaint is that the SD card needs updating; I was driving on the West Coast of Michigan on a highway that was completed shortly after the maps were created and the GPS thought I was driving to corn fields (lol). Also, because of the card, POIs are a little off as well. As for complaints about the GPS acquiring satelites, this is clearly explained in the manual: How long does it take to establish a GPS fix? The first time a GPS product is used (known as the first fix* or factory start), it can take up to 15 minutes to obtain a GPS fix. This is due, in part, to the following: * The GPS product will spend time looking for the satellites it expects to be above its last known position, which may have been a factory in another part of the world. Only once it has realized it has been relocated, will it begin searching the entire sky for satellites. * Depending on how long ago it was manufactured, the GPS product may need to download the `GPS almanac' (data that tells the receiver the approximate orbit paths of all 24 GPS satellites for the coming months), which may take up to 12 minutes. The next time you use the GPS product, it should take less time to establish a GPS fix, as it knows the location of the GPS satellites. *A first fix also occurs if the GPS product's internal battery has fully drained, or the GPS product has been transported a large distance since last being used.
