Nextar X4B 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is my first GPS. I wanted a unit with TTS and a 4.3" screen. I was looking at the TomTom 720 and the Garmin nuvi 750 when I saw the great price on this unit. I decided to take a chance on a unit costing much less than what I was planning to spend. (In fairness, the TomTom and Garmin have a few additional features like an FM transmitter.) So far, I have not regretted it.
The unit powers up and locks on to the satellites fairly quickly if you have a clear view of the sky. Setup and navigation are fairly straightforward. The onboard stylus is useful but you can use your finger as well. Nextar does not show as much info on the main navigation screen as some others (e.g. signal strength) but I haven't found that to be a problem. It does have a volume control on the side, which some more expensive units don't seem to provide. It comes with the usual complement of chargers and mounts.
The TTS feature works well and the voice is clear and unaccented. I do not have a Bluetooth phone so I am unable to comment on that capability. I will say that both the Nextar and Garmin manuals spend many pages on Bluetooth setup, so it certainly seems to be a technology that isn't plug-n-play yet.
I initially set up an itinerary for a trip from Austin to Pittsburgh. The Nextar came up with a better route than MS Streets & Trips. I was able to easily add stopovers and it recomputed the route fairly quickly. Although having "only" 1.6M POIs, I was able to find most of the hotels and restaurants I was interested in for the trip. I used it around town over the weekend and it responded well to real-time course changes when I took streets that weren't on the route. No lockups or reboots. The unit successfully navigated in and around Memphis and other cities and stops on the route. There were some mistakes, mostly in whether connecting roads were right or left turns. I'm sure this is due to mistakes in the Navteq maps and not anything peculiar to the Nextar.
On a trip to Long Beach the unit also worked well in navigating from the airport to the hotel and then to other POIs. It did have our hotel on the wrong side of the street but I'm sure that's an error in the map.
I loaded some MP3s onto a 1GB SD card and the MP3 player played them just fine. One glitch is that it doesn't have a shuffle mode. I hope that will be added in a later upgrade. I did not try to load/view pictures. A USB cable is provided but has no function yet as there is nothing on the Nextar website to update. The unit was built in July so there is probably little need as yet.
The manual could be better, especially for GPS newbies like me. It has taken some experimentation to figure out how the various features work.
All in all, I am very satisfied. It doesn't have all of the features of more expensive units, but it is a great value for a 4.3" unit with TTS. I lost the slip case and tried to contact Nextar support. After a week I have not had any response.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Nextar X4B 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

The Nextar GPS X4B mobile navigation system assures that your days of getting lost are over!Finding an address or any of 1.6 million points of interest such as the nearest gas station or restaurant is a snap anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.Just enter information in the X4B's 4.3 inch touch screen and let the voice prompt and detailed map guide you to the destination. With the latest TTS (Text to Speech) function, street names are clrearly pronounced in English.The X4B's built in MP3 player will entertain you with your favorite tunes while en route. Just copy your favorite play list onto an SD card and insert into the slot.The X4B moves easily from car to car using the convenient vent mount.A recharageable lithium ion battery assures that the unit stays active. Other features of the X4B include built-in maps of the 50 United States and Canada, 1GB built in Flash Memory, built in Bluetooth for handsfree calling, 2D or 3D map viewing mode, day and night mode, small case design with rear speaker, Navteq Map on board, Intel processor, and a built in SIRF III receiver. With all these capabilities, the Nextar X3 will provide you with worry free navigation on even the most complex routes!

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TomTom GO 910 4-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished) Review

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(More customer reviews)Basic GPS Features
The TomTom 910 comes preloaded with complete maps of the USA, Canada and Western Europe preinstalled. There is a fee upgrade to the latest current maps, despite their latest map guarantee. You will have the latest map - designed for that unit.
Navigation is simple. Your destination is selected by choosing a favorite, `home' or an address. You don't even have to know the exact address. You can get close to where you are going by choosing a city center, zip code, or intersection as well. If you have an idea where you're going on the map, you can zoom in to the area that you are going and tapping that spot on your screen. Favorites can be saved by knowing the exact address, tapping on the map, or plugging in coordinates.
Points of interest can be directly navigated to, but require that you search in the proximity of a destination already selected. In other words, you can't navigate straight to the San Diego Zoo (unless you know the street address). Rather, you select San Diego as your destination, do a search for zoos near your destination, select San Diego Zoo and then tap Go To.
Once you start saving favorites, you can manage them. The icon to manage your favorites is not in the most intuitive location. It's in the settings menu. I think that a subset menu of favorites would be the most logical location to manage - not the same place where you pick what voice you want to narrate your trip.
Many GPS units only allow the user to select their current location as the starting point of route planning. The 910 will allow me to plan a trip between San Diego and Seattle, even if I'm sitting in North Carolina. The itinerary planning feature allows the user to go from point A to point B via point C instead of going direct.
Navigational preferences allow for fastest route, shortest route, and avoiding toll roads, among others. If your route does include a toll, you can ask to drive around it. The 910 will then compare your original route to the toll route in distance and time. If you don't believe the GPS and want to take your own `short cut', it will allow you to and recalculate your route from your current position. This may not sound like much, but my mother-in-law's built in GPS on her Toyota doesn't feature this and becomes very angry with the driver if you miss an exit. It wants you to go back and pick up where it (incorrectly) wanted you to go in the first place.
One of the first things that I did in the settings menu was to turn on all icons. This is the only way to see the icon that allows you to cancel navigation so that you don't have to power off or smash it once you get to where you are going but want to drive around a bit.
Almost Premium Features
The 910 comes with a few extra goodies that require you to use the Bluetooth feature of your GPS in conjunction with your phone. You can get traffic alerts in select cities, add TomTom buddies, download options and premium features such as fuel prices. Even if the service, like buddies, is free, the GPS will use the data transfer feature of your phone to download the information it wants. If you're on an unlimited data plan with your cell provider, then that's great. No worries. But if you pay per kb, you can incur additional fees on your cell phone bill that you may not expect. As for traffic alerts, the cell phone data fee can be circumvented by using a special "TMC" antenna. This is only $160 and will save you from those pesky data fees. In fact you don't have to have a cell phone at all for traffic alerts with this antenna. Unfortunately, it doesn't download any other data.
TomTom Buddies is a unique feature that lets you pair up with someone else that has a Bluetooth phone and TomTom GPS. It will allow you to text message each other (please don't, if you're the only one in the car!) and will allow you to see where they are on your map.
The Other Stuff
The TomTom 910 has a Bluetooth connectivity option. This allows the user to use their Bluetooth enabled phone for hands-free talking, the aforementioned data downloading, and other audio devices. The hands-free features the ability to pair with a cell phone, but you can't unpair it without either deleting the profile, turning off Bluetooth altogether on either your phone or unit, or by switching to another phone. In other words, it's pretty inconvenient to just get in the car and not use your hands-free if you've already paired your phone to it.
The condenser mic supposedly has echo-cancellation, but was extremely sensitive to ambient noise. Adjusting the volume should help, but attaching the included mic to your visor may be a better choice.
The 910 also has a built in MP3 player. Note that this is ONLY an MP3 player and doesn't support any other music format. TomTom Jukebox is an attempt to organize your music, but it's pretty archaic. The MP3 player also supports audio books and has a function to directly download a book to your machine through either your phone or TomTom Home, the PC based docking application.
The built in speaker volume adjusts itself to ambient noise. Use the Bluetooth to connect to your car stereo for a better sound.
Finally, the 910 supports bmp and jpg photos. You can transfer as many as you can fit on the hard drive.
While you're out driving, you can have a slide show of your favorite photos while your favorite music is being played, and still not miss a turn. The GPS will interrupt your show when an upcoming turn is closing in.
The Hardware
The TomTom 910 is an older unit of about 2004-2005 vintage. This is one of the original TomTom form factors and is much bulkier than it's contemporary models. It's orange-wedge shaped and weighs about ? of a pound.
The 480 x 272, 16-bit screen is 4" across and is very visible. Its anti-glare screen is visible in most light conditions, even direct sunlight. It also has a light sensor to adjust itself to ambient light.
The 910 has a 400 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM and a very unusual 20GB hard drive. With 12 GB available, there is more than plenty of room for thousands of high quality songs and photos. You can easily take the unit from car to car and even carry it with you with it's 4-hour Li-Ion battery.
The 910 is also compatible with most 3rd generation and newer iPods (except the shuffle) with a separate adapter. You can access the menu on your touch screen and play the music through the GPS or through the Bluetooth audio device you have paired with it.
At Home
The TomTom 910 comes with TomTom Home, the PC based dock where you can download certain features with a USB cable connected your online PC.
Shortfalls
Overall, I like this GPS. The icons are large and easy to use, but there are some big problems that are probably very much uniform across the TomTom line that I would definitely be aware of before making a final decision on such a large investment.
Other than the favorites, there is no waypoint database that would be something compatible with Garmin or Magellan units. The unit is strictly for auto travel and unlike similarly priced newer units, is ineffective for hiking or other outdoor activities like geocaching. You can't store a track log, you can't download a list of waypoints that someone wants to share with you.
You also must always install the latest firmware to your GPS unit and have the latest version of TomTom Home if you want to continue using both together. Even if that means the incorporation of a change you don't like. For instance, the latest firmware update included a music icon the size of a nickel on the main navigation page. Though convenient to access your jukebox, it's annoying if you don't listen to music. There is no way to turn it off.
Another feature with regards to hands free calling is that it can import your entire phone database. While this is useful in that you can dial from your contact list on the 910 instead of your phone, there is no way to manage that database. You may want some numbers on your phone and not on your GPS. You can't delete individual entries or change the phone number or spelling without changing it in your phone first, deleting your whole paired device profile and starting over again.
As mentioned before, there are some neat features, but some are just not available in the US. As TomTom is marketed for different countries, it's really silly to continue selling the safety camera alert on US and Canadian websites and packaging when that feature isn't available outside Europe.
You can't plug in a USB or power cord directly into the unit itself. You MUST have the window or desktop mount. You lose these, and you can't charge the unit, talk to it, or hook up any other accessories. It also would have been nice to be able to charge the unit from the USB dock without a separate power cord.
Finally, customer service is just about nil. Reaching them by phone is difficult, and to contact them by email is very frustrating. Most FAQs on their website are for things already clearly spelled out in their manual (which is very much lacking in substance). It's simple to use for navigation, but fully utilizing all the available features will be a nerve racking and irritating learning experience.
Final Words
This unit was originally $600. I paid less than 1/3 of that for mine because it has been discontinued. If you can find it for less than $200, grab one! It's a great way to get into the world of GPS navigation. It's got a lot of great features, and if you don't care about its deficiencies, then no harm no foul. It's especially...Read more›

Click Here to see more reviews about: TomTom GO 910 4-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)

For easy-to-use, accurate navigation with a ton of extra features, you need look no farther than the TomTom Go 910 GPS Navigation System (Refurbished). With a few taps on its screen, the TomTom Go 910 lets you pick a destination, choose the type of route you want, and get going with innovative voice instruction and 3D graphics guiding you from door to door.
With a compact and portable design, the TomTom Go 910 can easily travel with you from car to car. Ready to go right out of the box, this unit utilizes simple touch-screen operation on its wide-screen 4-inch WQVGA display with 480 x 272 pixels of resolution and 64,000 colors. The Go 910 provides you with clear, accurate, turn-by-turn voice instructions, in more than 36 languages with more than 50 voices to choose from.
The TomTom Go 910 comes with a 20 GB hard drive pre-loaded with complete maps of the US, Canada and Europe, as well as millions of POIs (points of interest). Feature rich, this navigator allows hands-free calling with most Bluetooth-enabled phones, and includes text-to-speech for reading your text messages, a compass mode, an anti-glare screen, a speeding alert, and a tip function. What's more, this unit has a built-in MP3 player, and with 12 GB of free hard drive space for downloading thousands of your favorite songs, and is iPod compatible for even more musical flexibility. Already equipped with a quality speaker, the 910 also lets connect to your vehicle's audio system, access TomTom Home software for updates and additional information, and provides real-time traffic information, weather conditions, detailed city maps, a pre-installed safety camera database and more.
The TomTom Go 910 is constructed with a high-sensitivity, integrated GPS receiver, and features text to voice so it can read your text messages to you as you drive, a volume that is linked to your car speed so it increases as you drive at higher speeds, a route preview, fast re-routing, a remote control and more. The 910 is built with a 400 MHz processor and 64 MB of RAM, as well as an internal, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery that provides up to four hours of power on the go. The TomTom Go 910 weighs 12 ounces, and measures 4.2 x 3.1 x 2.5 inches (W x H x D). Users should note that this TomTom Go 910 is a refurbished model.
What's in the Box TomTom Go 910 GPS navigator, remote control, carrying case, home dock, car charger, windshield dock, external microphone, audio cable, product code card, documentation pack (with quick-start guide, accessory leaflet, and CD), and user's manual.

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Motorola Motonav TN565T 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It's going to be a long review.
For starters, I've used in-car OEM GPS for the past 2 cars, and I've seen how they have evolved and technology has really improved over the years.
I really enjoy the GPS/bluetooth/audio integration (in my Honda Civic Hybrid) but since this is a hand held unit, I won't complain. Besides, it's fractions of the cost 1/10 of the OEM GPS Navigation units).
The screen size is just right. Even though I've enjoyed the OEM 7" GPS, but this one packs lots of information in the 4.3" very nicely. Even when you are driving at a location with 7 lanes, it highlights exactly which lane you should be driving. It is very updated (there's a location nearby my house finished construction 2 years ago but my new 2009 Civic didn't have an updated map of that Freeway interchange. But this one did. And it is a very confusing interchange, but this one executed the command and routing beautifully.
The speed in pulling up a destination is a bit slow when compared to my in-dash unit. And the GPS signal sensitivity is a bit low (since it has no external antenna. when I am in a car port or under a highway overpass too long, it may lose GPS signal.
The routing announcement is tooooo frequent. I guess if you are in a new area and are stressed out trying to find your destination, it's good to be constantly reminded. But if you are just driving around in an area you are fairly familiar with but just making a detour or need to make sure you are making the right turns, the announcements are too frequent. And there's no way to reduce it too. (You can only choose the types of command to on/off.)
No media player (good or bad? you decide. Some people want it, but I'd like it simple.)
It has great bluetooth/hand free phone integration. As soon as you start the engine, and if the charger is plugged in, the unit turns on and immediately links to your cell phone.
The call display is great too. Clearly displaying who is calling and not distracting your drive. The sound is loud enough and the mic is right at the front right hand corner to capture all of your voices. I don't know whether it has noise cancellation build in, so I don't know if the caller on the other side can hear me well or not.
The traffic update is great. I usually use my iPhone to check traffic condition before I drive home or go to work. With this, it tell me if there's traffic with advance voice warning and red lane indicator.
The screen can be a bit too sensitive when you are trying to enter destination info when driving. So I strongly recommend you stop completely to enter the destination before you even change gear to drive.
The command to turn is the only major complain I have. Many times you are already at the corner and the voice command prompt you to turn. So, do look at the screen if you know you need to turn soon, or it will be too late.
The battery doesn't last that long if you are not plugged in--only 2.5 hours.
The cradle attachment is very well designed and sticks to the windshield like spiderman would do. I wish it came with a pouch to store the GPS unit so you can carry it out side your car. It is another prime target for car break in to steal the GPS.
I tried connecting the GPS to my computer using the USB, but it doesn't do anything to check software update. I can not find any information on software/map update in the user manual or online at motorolla site. I don't know if they plan to support this unit with new firmware or new map updates, etc.
So that's what I could think of so far after one day of usage. I haven't used the call feature to Bing or other services. (It uses your phone via bluetooth to make a call to a 408 area code number to check on everything (weather, point of interest, stocks, etc.) So it's not a 3G or edge network subscription. The traffic update, however, doesn't require your phone.
For a fraction of the cost of an in-dash OEM GPS navigation unit, I'd strongly recommend getting this unit (the lifetime traffic update is a dream come true.)
For most cars, a factory installed bluetooth hand free integration is about $500. Why buy that when you can have a GPS and bluetooth hand free for under $300? Do your math.
To be fair, I've only used a Garmin unit once when I went out of town trip with a friend. So I borrowed a Garmin GPS (don't even remember the model number).
That unit was very nice too, very intuitive in usage. But this one, has much more features built-in and at a lower price.
The only thing missing now is a speed radar built-in. They could make a receiver unit in the cradle and the software in the GPS unit. So when driving it will you know if there's a police with a radar gun ahead. Oh btw, this one tells you if there's photo radar enforcement ahead too.
It really packs a lot of feature in there with a reasonable price tag.
Highly recommended buy.
***Update***
After using it for a week, I want to update additional worth mention features.
1. I've lowered it to 4 stars. Reason for dropping one star? The mix of the following reasons:
a. unable to add previous destinations to favorites; it only shows 10 previous destinations. no choice on selecting one of them and add it to favorite or contact list so you have a quick list.
b. the phone call to BING is a drag. It takes up the phone line to do data stuff like an old modem. I can't believe Motorolla would use this old technology on this device.
c. it's impossible to handle the unit without accidently hitting some buttons (volume + -, mute, etc.)
2. A good feature: I drove with this GPS unit on but without a destination entered. It is still doing it's job even without a destination: a. still warning you of any photo radar spots, b. still has active bluetooth sync to your phone. c. still shows traffic data; d. still shows your driving speed if you are over the speed limit.
Still a recommended buy.

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Garmin nüvi 295W 3.5-Inch Widescreen Wi-Fi Portable GPS Navigator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Update: September 17, 2010
After a few months of regular use, I still like this unit fine. My biggest problem with it is that the battery drains so fast when it's turned off. Even if I disable wi-fi and gps, it drains a full charge after one or two days of no use. The battery also takes a long time to charge compared to a phone, camera, or mp3 player.
Update: August 4, 2010
Just returned from a 1,400 mile trip thru KY, TN, NC, & SC. This GPS worked pretty good most of the time, but it can loose it's postition on the map as well as graphic details if you use the zoom, rotate, or other features while in the course of navigating. On some occassions, I'd wait for a few minutes and eventually it would correct itself. Other times I waited, but I had to power cycle the unit to get it back on course. Also, at gas stops and rest stops, it recalculated the route correctly most of the time. Sometimes I'd get off for gas and the GPS would recalculate my route in the opposite direction of the interstate that I just left! The GPS signal was always strong and satelites were always found within 30 seconds.
Regarding the Wi-Fi, it was compatible with the free Wi-Fi at the inn's where I stayed, but if it was a place where you have to pay for Wi-Fi service, this device was not compatible. This was also the case in Las Vegas.
Update: July 12, 2010
Just returned from Las Vegas. This GPS could not even pick up a satelite at all while walking the strip. Not even on the raised pedestrian bridges where I had a huge view of the sky. However, it got a great signal at The Grand Canyon (of course).
Update: July 2,2010
I dock it another star for the false advertising and poor support.
I purchased the add-on 10 dollar cityXplorer map of Las Vegas from Garmin's website. After I downloaded it, I couldn't find any evidence that it was installed. I emailed tech support to find out how I could confirm that it was installed and working. After three days of back and forth email help from their support I was convinced that I was gonna have to call. I called support, waited one hour to talk to a guy who walked me through the same process that I'd already done. He said, I'll see bus routes on my GPS when I get to Vegas. That's the upgrade?
They don't have this unit on hand to work with, and they are using support directions for other units which don't have the same menu's as the 295W. A few hours after talking to the tech, I got an email from Garmin saying that the cityXplorer maps enhanced pedestrian mode is not compatible with this model. They issued me a refund for the Las Vegas map upgrade. This is an advertised function of the GPS that does not work.
My original review:
My 3 year old Tom Tom was swiped from the car, so I was forced to shop for a replacement. This unit caught my eye right away due to the Wi Fi. I am a cheapskate prepaid phone guy, so the idea of smart phone features without the monthly charges sounded good. The family gave me this for Fathers Day and I've had two days to play with it. Here's my impression:
This device feels good. Solid and light. Responsive buttons and touchscreen. Good resolution and contrast. Navigation is simple, and within 20 minutes I had learned the layout of apps, menus and interface as well as configured the personal stuff(home address, wi fi connection, 2 email accounts, home page, and a couple of bookmarks). Very simple. No manual needed. I connected it to the computer and registered it at Garmin's website. Serial number is behind the battery pack, so write it down first. I downloaded the device update which took nearly an hour. The one-time map update refused to install. I downloaded it, went to install and the file was corrupt. tried it again. Same result. Oh well, I'll try later. I grabbed a different vehicle icon and some geotags and downloaded the pdf users manual while at the website, and then copied two albums to the device.
Web Browser - sluggish but effective. I would use it for banking, news, stocks, etc, but I wouldn't do my christmas shopping with it! The + and - zoom buttons work as good as pinching the screen (apple). Wi Fi signal is fair, but will not reach my garage 50 ft. from the router.
MP3 Player - This is a basic MP3 player that has features like repeat, shuffle, playlist, album art, etc. The internal speaker is not made for listening to music. The headphone jack is oddly not standard 3.5mm.
Apps - Nice practical assortment. All I need in a handheld really. The tools are well designed for their specific purpose. Biggest let down is that it can't import calender and contacts. That could save a lot of time! Email app is great.
Navigation - Google Local Search is a brilliant addition to this GPS. It helped me find some lesser known establishments, and provided ratings for restaurants. Satellites are found quickly when outside, but I must be near a window to get a signal if indoors. Route calculation is fast. Voice guidance is clear and surprisingly good at pronouncing tricky street names. It recalculates a wrong turn in seconds.
Mount - The windshield mount has a quick release button that detaches the GPS from the cradle, as well as the suction cup lever that makes it easy to attach/remove from the windshield. This is much nicer than the Tom Tom set up.
Overall I am very pleased with this GPS. It will be great for my basic traveling needs. I think it will be especially nice for exploring a new city pedestrian style. I think that this device will allow me to leave my laptop at home on many trips, while avoiding expensive monthly charges of an iPhone or Droid. I give it four stars because I like it a lot, but there is room for improvement (standard headphone jack, synchronized contacts and calendars, an included case or wrist strap, maps that download correctly)

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nuvi 295W offers a new take on an old favorite with Wi-Fi® connectivity, a 3 MP camera with auto-focus, dual orientation capability and much more.
Dual-orientation with 1-touch navigation

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Mio C520 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)==== UPDATE October 2, 2007 ====
I bought a Nav-Mat Portable GPS Dash Mount for use in trips to California, where it is illegal to attach a GPS to your windshield. The Nav-Mat bean bag mount simply works great with the Mio C520 and is very stable. Check out the picture under customer images.
==== UPDATE August 21, 2007 ====
The following statement was in my original review and has been removed: "If you plan to use it in Europe, just Google "MioMap V3.3 Western Europe for Mio C220 - C320 - C520" and you should find some UK vendors who sell the SD card."
The fact is that although there are vendors in UK who sell the Europe map, the current Europe maps cannot be used in US/Canada models of C520 due to a license issue. Sorry if this caused confusion. Please read the forums at mionav dot com for updates on this issue.
==== UPDATE August 16, 2007 ====
I updated MioMap to the July 5, 2007 version, still v3.3, following the directions in MioNav dot com, which is linked to the Mio topics in the gpspassion dot com forums. (Search for the topic "Updates for miomap V3.3 are available" and you will find a link to download "MioMap V3 Updater for C320 and C520" from Mio's European website).
This update cures the stuttering problem reported in some earlier versions of MioMap. It also adds a Mute button on the map screen under the Bluetooth button. It does not update the maps or POI data, and leaves the History intact.
==== END UPDATES ====
OVERVIEW:
After doing tons of research to find a competent GPS navigation system under $350, I narrowed down my choice to two models - the Magellan Maestro 3140 and the Mio Digiwalker C520. I would have also considered the Garmin Nuvi 250, but it lacks both text-to-speech and Bluetooth capability which I wanted. If ease of use is most important, I would say the Magellan Maestro 3140, which is a huge improvement over its predecessor, the Maestro 3100, would have been an excellent choice. But since I was not gadget shy, the Mio Digiwalker C520, with its widescreen form factor and advanced capabilities was the unit for me.
The Mio C520 packs in US and Canadian maps with text-to-speech routing instructions, Bluetooth, an MP3 player, a video player, a picture viewer and a contact manager that synchronizes with MS Outlook. The installation is pretty painless. The suction cup holder, which is precision made in Germany, works very well and easily installs onto the windscreen of any car (contrary to what the previous reviewer claims). The Mio works right out of the box with instructions in the tiny manual. If you are willing read the full manual located in the supplied CDROM, and go through a very minor learning curve, you will find the user interface most satisfying and will profit from its awesome capabilities.
It has some cool features, like the ability to display map coordinates and altitude, and has the ability to automatically synchronize time and date with the satellite. It's signal pickup is lightening fast due to the state-of-the-art 20-channel SirfStarIII receiver. It actually picks up the satellite signal from inside my house. If you are further geek-inclined, visit the forums in gpspassion dot com - which show you how to unlock the GPS operating system (Windows CE 5.0) and install custom applications and utilities.
Now consider that the street price of the equivalent widescreen Garmin (the Nuvi 660) is $300 more than the Mio C520, and you can understand why the Mio tops MobilePlanet dot com's current popularity list. The Mio is perhaps among the best GPS' out there at any price!
EXPERIENCE:
On a recent trip to San Francisco with my wife, the Mio turned out to be a real trip saver. It listed our hotel in its point of interest (POI) database and got us to all our destinations without ever getting us lost. Needless to say, it saved us about a couple of hours each day on the trip, even though we were pretty familiar with the Bay Area. Not once did we have to stop for (or argue over) directions! The POI database listed all the major and minor points of interest, including museums, concert halls, gas stations, car rental agencies, seven-elevens, hospitals, etc. It also included hard to find, hole-in-the-wall restaurants. It has restaurants categorized by cuisine, which includes "Japanese", "Greek", "Indian" and so on.
While the routing capability is excellent, it is not 100% perfect. (None of the portable GPS models are perfect). While driving on 101 southbound to SFO airport, it asked us to "bear left on Bayshore freeway southbound" seconds before asking us to take the San Bruno exit to the airport on the right. While this was not a navigational glitch per se, it did have the potential for causing confusion. (Of course, I later understood that "bear left" meant the freeway bears left, not "get on the left lane", duh!). A couple of times it asked us to take left turns in downtown San Francisco that were not allowed. When we ignored it, it recalculated the routes in a matter of seconds, without forcing us to take U turns (which some other GPS models make you do).
Now lets put that in perspective and take, for example, a day trip to Monterey, Pebble Beach, Carmel and back to San Francisco (consisting of, say, 100 routing manoeuvers). On such a trip, the Mio would give confusing instructions perhaps two or three times in total, which meant it was perfect approximately 97% of the time. This is excellent performance in my book. I am perhaps looking at this with a more critical eye than warranted. The important thing is that Mio C520 recalculated the route the moment it realized we were off route, and always got us to our destination quickly.
By considerably reducing the planning chores, the Mio immensely improved the satisfaction of our holiday. We will never go on another trip without it!
TEXT TO SPEECH
The text-to-speech (TTS) feature, which causes the Mio to speak the street names, turns out to be valuable, especially when there are a lot of quick turns to make. The TTS ("Samantha") voice on the Mio C520 is perhaps a bit brusque but pleasant enough. There is a chime before each voice instruction, which alerts you to an upcoming manoeuver. (The TTS voice is in no way "HORRIBLE" or "VERY" chatty as described in the previous review. With all due respect to the previous reviewer, his review is pretty opinionated and unfair). The TTS voice did not stutter even once. The version of Mio Map on my unit is dated May 18, 2007. Note that some earlier versions are reported to have a TTS voice stuttering problem.
SCREEN:
The the 4.3-inch touch screen with 480x272-pixel resolution is vivid and sharp. (The screen is not washed out, as the previous reviewer claims). And it goes without saying you can easily adjust the brightness to your desired level. The touch-screen keyboard is in QUERTY format and has a predictive function, making it easy to enter an address quickly. The automatic night mode feature is pretty neat and wow inducing. It switches to night mode based on time of sunset for the current date, time zone, latitude and logitude!
NAVIGATION PERFORMANCE:
On the subject of navigation mapping data, the conventional wisdom is that in North America, Navteq data is more accurate than Tele Atlas - which the Mio uses. However, the recent buzz is that Tele Atlas has significantly narrowed the gap with Navteq, especially with its latest map versions released after the fall of 2006. A recent comparison of Navteq versus Tele Atlas in gpsreview dot net actually shows the Tele Atlas' mapping data to be slightly more accurate than Navteq's, while another study in gpsmagazine dot com has the results the other way around.
In my own tests, which included comparing the Mio C520's routing with online maps by Yahoo, Google and Mapquest, showed that none of the routing engines were perfect, with Google coming out perhaps slightly better than the others. To my delight, I found that the routes chosen by the Mio C520, which uses the latest Tele Atlas data, is pretty close to those chosen by Yahoo. Rest assured, the navigation performace of the Mio C520 is indeed excellent.
ROUTING FEATURES:
Typically you would enter an address or POI around the current city. Or you can change the destination city, state or country and enter an address or select a POI for that destination. The Mio also has the ability to route to a contact (an address you entered in the contact manager, under Tools->Contacts).
There is a peculiar way you need to enter North American addresses into the contact manager in order for the "Route to Contact" feature to work. For example, consider the address: 111 FIRST STREET, APT# 101, FREMONT, CA 94533. You have to enter 'CA, 94533' in the 'State:' field, 'FREMONT' in the 'City/Postcode:', 'FIRST STREET' in the 'Street:' field and 'Apt 101, 111' in the 'House number:' field. (Note that you need to enter the state and zip code separated by a comma in the 'State:' field). Once you enter the contact address as the Mio expects it, it creates the route to the contact address super fast (usually in less than 10 seconds).
The Mio has a decent job of position error filtering, which attempts to accurately estimate your car's position on the map. Even when driving at 70MPH on a freeway, the Mio is off by no more than 10 yards. It also estimates the car's speed within 2MPH of my car's odometer reading. When driving on regular streets at around 30MPH, the display of the car position is spot on. There are several split-screen views which you can cycle through, giving you the distance to the next manoeuver, the current time, the estimated time...Read more›

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