5 comments about TomTom XL 330S 4.3-Inch Touchscreen Traffic-Ready Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I would like to give it no stars, I recommended a TomTom over a Nuvi to my Father. So he got his 330xl on Tuesday and broke the screen Wednesday trying to get the receiver into the new "improved" mount. I called and Dennis at TomTom told me "straight up" there is nothing we can do and they can't even fix it. That of course after trolling all my personal data. They offered me a discount on a new unit, thanks alot TomTom. I told them I would wait for the class action lawsuit.



2. I've had my TomTom for about a month and have not run into problems. I travel to unfamiliar areas a lot with a home party business and now feel confident that I will find my way where I need to go and home again. The voice speaker is plenty loud, directions are given clearly and in plenty of time. The unit picks up the satellite quickly on startup and calculates the trip well. On a recent trip 6 hours from home, I could easily find local banks & restaurants using the POIs. Money well spent.



3. wish I could put some of the routes in that I would take first, before it comes up with the whole route to take. Also very hard to put street adresses in.



4. hi i bought this excellent peice of GPS after reading many reviews in Cnet and other related websites..after very careful reviewing i bought it from amazon for an amazing price and still the GPS is the excellent peice i have bought so far..my previous one being the magellan.. i am sure TOmTom will upgrade its website to have us all the updated maps as early as 2008..well it doesnt have the MP3 play back option in the unit .. i find many pros while 2 cons.. it doesnt support a SD card slot and its mem is 1gb..however it should have street spelling option instead of calling the turns..well its the price that makes it worth..



5. Bought this product after a lot of research online and in stores. Am extremely satisfied. It is very easy to use right from the getgo. The only negative as far as I'm concerned is the user booklet. I had to make a few calls to their technical department when I couldn't figure something out. They were helpful and didn't have any wait time. I think the booklet could have been more detailed in it's instructions. My son bought the exact same one after seeing ours. Love the spoken street names which cost more in other makes and models.

5 comments about Pharos 150 Drive 3.5-Inch Touchscreen TTS Portable GPS Unit, Black.

1. Easy to use, easy to carry. And my wife loves the pink color. Overall, a good value.



2. I am very pleased with the Pharos. I don't have any problems with the directions at all. My daughter bought a high end GPS and always has to reset it. She constantly asks me to use mine when she is driving.
   
   I carry it with me all of the time and it works whether I am walking or driving in an unfamiliar area. I like the fact that is also has the stick to help type the address and make selections. I feel like I am using a Palm device. I love the fact that it tells me when I am over the speed limit. I sometimes go over without knowing it and now I can correct it quicker than in the past. The user interface is easy to understand also.



3. this item is always searching for a signal and I am going to return it.



4. I've used the Pharos 150 for about a month now and its ok but does have some annoying things about it. First you have to depress and hold the power button for 30 to 45 seconds and sometimes longer before it will boots up. The screen is readable but not very bright. The screen is almost invisible with almost any amount of sunlight on it. Conversely at night it nearly blinds you even with "night colored " maps. One thing I find very annoying is that as your speed increases it incrementally zooms out. If you depress the zoom-in button it may or may not zoom in (no rhyme or reason to it). When it does zoom in, it will remain zoomed in for only a few seconds then zooms back out. At speeds around 45 or less it behaves quite well and responds to zooming commands as one would expect. Another annoying characteristic is the sensitivity of audio click for touch screen buttons. It will click at with relatively light pressure applied although the function will not activate unless more pressure is applied to the touch button. It forces one to look at the screen to verify that the selected function did in fact activate. Another complaint is that it tends jump the map in steps rather than scroll smoothly at highway speeds. Its like the processor can't keep up with the movement of the vehicle. The good side is the maps seem to be accurate (at least as accurate as my other two vehicles that have in dash nav units). Route calculation is good but a little slower than I like. All in all, for the price, it's an ok starter unit, but for a few dollars more better portable GPS units are available. As a side note, I have a Blackberry Curve with an imbedded GPS. I downloaded Google Mobile maps (its free) and it does an equal is not better job of displaying the vehicles path in both map and satellite modes. If only the screen was a little bigger..



5. I bought the Pharos's 150 because of its low price and the walk mode. It worked well for me for the first time. The second time I used it, it had an "desination.exe" failure and told me to shut if off. I did and was able to enter the address again. But it turned itself off after about 20 min while I was on the way to a new place. The unit would not turn on and I ended up spending 40 min more to ask around for directions and getting lost many times in light rain. When I got home, I charged it overnight and it still would not turn on. I called customer service and was told to reset the unit and it turned on. I was told that this happened because it was a new unit and once it had been used for a while, this would not happen. I never expected new things to not work well, my mistake!!! I used it for a third time and everything is fine. It does need 2-3 min to find the GPS signal (feels like 10 min). So I gave it a 3-star because you get what you pay for. While it works, it is good enough for me.

5 comments about Garmin StreetPilot 7200 7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I purchased the unit for use in my motorhome. The screen size is perfedt and the unit is very easy to operate. I highly recommend it!



2. I was an early Garmin customer but strayed over to TomTom (big mistake).Garmin mapping is by far the best and I AM BACK.



3. I've had my 7200 for over a year now and it has been put through the works. I'm a state trooper in a rural area. I don't go to work without it now. If I forget it I go back home and get it. Besides having a great screen that is easy to read while driving at high speeds, it will also display the 911 address on a side box. All of the extras like xm radio, audio books, mp3 player just make it that much more useful for those long nights when there aren't so many people out and about. One of the more useful features is the "Where To" feature. The 7200 has a touch screen qwerty keyboard that the letters are big enough because of the larger screen to enter streets, cities, addresses safely. No, it is not recommended this be done while driving in heavy traffic, but sometimes it is necessary because of the nature of police work. One of my favorites is the "Go Home" button. That gives me peace of mind when my wife has taken a trip to the "big city" and it does simply what it says. Part of the initial installation is programming what the user considers their home address. Push the "Go Home" button and that's where you are going. No scrolling through check points, favorites, reference points, or entering addresses. The 7200 comes loaded with the maps installed and unlocked. No more unlocking maps and being limited by memory capacity. I recently spent a stint on border security that involved 13 hours a day in a patrol car, patrolling some very remote areas. If I hadn't of had my 7200 to keep me mentally stimulated during those long days it would've been more mind numbing than it was. As it were I learned about the Battle of Okinawa in Bill Sloan's excellent book "The Ultimate Battle" and "Washington's Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer.
   
   All of that being said, the Garmin 7200 is not a MAP! It is loaded with an unbelievable amount of information and its routing capability is first class. The Garmin 7200 doesn't, however, know where bad neighborhoods are, it doesn't work if your car's electrical system quits, and it doesn't change flat tires. Electronic equipment is making our lives easier and safer, but it isn't the end all. Anybody who takes to the roads for any trip needs to plan ahead. All of the checking tires, oil, gas gauge, fluid levels still need to be done. There are some bad people in this world and they look for people who put themselves in bad spots and are easily taken advantage of. One of my favorite learning points as a trooper was stopping late at night with what appeared at first glance to be a blonde female looking under the hood of what appeared to be a disabled vehicle. When I stopped and turned on my takedown lights the blonde woman stood and turned into a 6 foot something outlaw motorcycle member with felony warrants.
   
   I strayed from the topic, but I meant well. Technology will never take the place of good common sense. I don't think they sell that at Amazon.
   
   The only feature the 7200 doesn't have that I wish it did is NEXRAD weather radar. The weather feature of the 7200 uses weather symbols that are similar to those seen on weather forecasts from the 1960's.



4. This is a nice unit. However it is too large for a standard vehichle. It blocks your view. Also it does NOT have the elevaton as the older smaller version had. Very easy to see the screen.
   This unit should only be used for motor homes.



5. Bigger is better, if you can take it. The larger screen makes viewing easier and will impress all the techno geeks as you pass them by. The big screen makes viewing DVD's much more enjoyable. Size really does matter when your watching your favorite porn. Be careful in your selection. There is such a thing as too big. Right girls. Make sure you have enough room on your dash to allow an unobstructed view of the road. I like the audio books feature when I'm driving for extended periods of time. It's as if someones reading you a bedtime story. If you decide to listen to a book of erotica or suggestive adult content, then you should probably map out all of the roadside rest stops. Just in case.

5 comments about Magellan Maestro 3100 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. 
   I recently purchased mine. So far, very simple to use. I look forward to sitting down and going thru all the options.



2. In general the product has excellent features considering its price making it in my opinion an excellent value. There is one anomaly which is bothersome however. At the final destination the unit frequently will inform you the destination is to the right when in reality the destination is to the left, the same being true for the other opposite final destination.



3. Works fine, reliable just would like to see an enhanced database but works great as a basic unit.



4. Received this in a timely manner from Tiger Direct thru Amazon.com... I liked the unit, it had all of the basic features that I needed but... after a 2 week trial I found that the volume just wasn't loud enough. With the windows open or the radio on at a comfortable volume, I just couldn't make out the audio instructions that the unit spouted, even at it's highest volume setting... Nice unit, but I returned it...



5. GREAT INEXPENSIVE GPS FOR GRANDSON THAT COULDN'T FIND HIS WAY TO COLLEGE AND BACK EVERY DAY IF THERE WAS A DETOUR, WRONG PARKING GARAGE, ETC.!WELL WORTH THE MONEY, SIMPLE TO USE,SEEMS VERY DEPENDABLE AFTER FIRST 2 MONTHS! EVEN WORKED FOR THE OLD FOLKS THAT BORROWED IT ONCE.

5 comments about Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I've owned 5 other GPS receivers and this is by far the best one yet. It's operation is very intuitive. Although I don't live in an area covered by the MSN service I activated the free trial period for a long trip to Florida. It saved us a hour delay through Atlanta taking us through city streets and dumping us back on the interstate on the other side of the traffic jam. While in Orlando it warned us of an impending strong thunderstorm and told us what was playing at all the area movie theaters starting with the closest. Just wish it was available where I live.
   I love to eat, so the POIs, specifically resturants are a very important feature on the GPS. Very often the POIs are way out of date, but so far only one POI no longer existed when we searched it out.
   My favorite feature is the ability to store audio books. Nothing seems to shorten a long trip more then listening to a good book. I use to listen to them on CD which required changing CDs all the time and often missing instruction from the GPS or part of the book because they were playing at the same time. With the book on the GPS the story pauses and even steps back a second or 2 when the GPS gives instruction, so nothing is missed.
   On the negative side, people on the receiving end of a phone call through the Blue-tooth connection couldn't understand my mumblings because of the road noises.
   I think this GPS will last me awhile.



2. I have owned by Nuvi 680 for about six months, and it gets me where I want to go. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes me the worst possible route. I have the most recent map updates (which cost way too much). Recently, on a trip from Las Vegas to San Diego, it wanted me to leave the freeway to spend five miles on a frontage road and then return to the freeway. There was no obstruction or traffic that would justify this. In San Diego, it frequently sent me the long way around. In one case, it wanted me to turn left when I could clearly see my destination on the right. On more than one occasion, I was directed to leave the freeway, when there was an exit closer to my destination (even though I had programmed it for fastest route.)
   
   I am also disappointed in the points of interest. We recently asked for a list of nearby restaurants. We found one about a mile away and found out that there was a well-know restaurant within walking distance. We have had other experiences where major restaurants are not listed.
   
   I previously owned Magellan GPS units, and they gave more helpful directions and showed more useful information on the main screen. My next GPS unit will probably be a Magellan.



3. I purchased this model NUVI to replace a 2008 Toyota NAVS system. It has found addresses when the Toyota's could not. The instructions are clear, it recalculates fairly quickly. I cannot compare it against more expensive Garmins because they have features I did not need.
   
   PRO's. It takes an SD card which can be loaded with MP3's and Pictures. Interestingly it provides good background music in a hotel room when we travel so long as we use a power cord. Because the battery lasts so long we use it as a hand held rather then a mounted unit. (Our choice)
   
   CON's. The voices that guide the traveled route are not as clear as they should be, however they do give you several choices of voice to use.
   
   All in all I am glad we bought this unit. Rather than fight over who gets to take it for the day my wife bought her own NUVI 680 :)



4. The GPS gives some really stupid routing directions, the MSN direct service does not work well, but I think it is the GPS unit or cable, to find out I have to pay shipping to send the unit back to garmin and in a month they will have it fixed and sent back, would be nice if they could just exchange it espically since I bought it new a little over a month ago. The GPS is easy to use, lots of POI but some stores have been closed for 3 years and still list them.



5. The garmin is great. Easy to use, easy to see and a much better buy for a navigator rather than one that comes in your car and costs 3 - 4 x's as much. In sharing our garmin with others, they now have gone out to get one as well. The unit is quick to make adjustments and is extremely handy in finding resturaunts or other locations on the fly. The larger 4.3 inch screen is a must for these while the smaller screen is more difficult to use. The touch screen works well and the menu/search program is easy to navigate. The only negative we've found is sometimes maps aren't as up to date as we would like, but this has happened only a couple times. We aren't big travelers either but still use it enough that we are very happy to have it.

2 comments about Magellan RoadMate 1400 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. Well pleased with my Magellan GPS. Used it recently for a trip to and from Atlantic City and I was able to avoid my usual wrong turns. Highly recommended. Nice model.



2. I bought & returned 6 different GPS units including the Tom Tom, Garmin and a few others. First, when you enter the address (which is by far the easiest address-entering compared to any of its competitors) it knows where you want to go. It always brought me to the exact spot that i needed to find. It has over 6,000,000 points of interest compared to 1-2 million on every other competitor. it is small, thin and very lightweight. THIS GPS ROCKS!!!

No comments about Garmin nüvi 765T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Bluetooth, Free Traffic, and Maps of the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

No comments about Garmin nüvi 265WT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech, Bluetooth, and Free Traffic.

5 comments about Magellan Maestro 5310 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I have shipped this one back and received a new one. The first one I received looked used not new. However, the performance of this unit is not great. I liked the roadmate 800 better. The 800 was faster all the way around. The maestro takes too long to re-route and way too long to search for a point of interest, sometimes as much as 1 minute to locate a POI. The POI editor is too complicated ot figure out and I could not get it to work. I installed the updated firmware for this unit and it did not help at all. There is also a quirkey deal with a message indicating that battery power is being used and it is not. Maybe the next firmware update will take care of this if one is ever developed.
   Magellan also charges for map updates which I believe are pricey $ 79.00 bucks! I believe these should be free.
   The traffic feature works OK, however has not yet informed me of anything I didn't know. After the free 3 month subscription, I will nor be subscribing again.
   I would definately consider buying another brand next time .



2. I received the 5310 in good condition, powered it up and it never acquired any satellites, even though my eTrex was able to acquire them. I read the manual, set the location to where it was and nothing helped. I called Magellin support and their supppost line didn't give a number to push for this product series, so I tried some of the others. After waiting for a while the connection was terminated by Magellin. I repeated this a few times for other products, just to see if I could get a live person on line and never was able to find one. So am returning the 5310.



3. This is a beautiful new toy! I love my Magellan Maestro. I have had several GPS's ... usually settling for value over quality. This time I went with what I knew I wanted...larger screen, brighter picture (the others you could not see the screen during the daytime - this one is very clear and bright!), voice directions that give the names of the road, if I miss a road - being told to make a u-turn (another GPS sent me through a lot of side streets), a trip planner (I am realtor - trip planner is perfect for setting up a showing route) and options on what type of directions...less use of freeways, most use of freeways, avoid toll roads...etc. It also has a list of things that can be shown on your route - gas stations, restaurants (broken down by type even!) shopping malls & more. I love that it has the AAA feature - if you get into trouble, your AAA account info is right on the screen along with the number to call and the specific coordinates of where you are. For a small monthly fee you will also be tapped into the local traffic and can avoid traffic or construction jams. What it doesn't have is the ability to change the voice from male to female or an easy way to resume the trip once you stop...it goes to sleep and you have to start the trip over, then choose the next address. But for all it has right, I am thrilled that I made this purchase. Definitely spend the money and buy this one - it is fantastic!



4. I bought this device to replace my old, PDA-based, gps system. Works as expected. No major-major issues discovered as of yet. Sometimes, however, it takes up to 2-3 minutes to find the satellites. Registering with AAA got an additional year of warranty.



5. This is my second Maestro!! I bought a 3.5" a couple years ago and its performed super!! The only reason I bought this new one was because of the bigger 5" screen! I passed my first one down to my daughter (Lord knows she needs guidence!! LOL). The Magellan are very easy to use and very intutive. My first GPS was a Garmin and its a bit more complicated.
   
   The one option that I purchased with this new one was the weighted dash mounting pad. In MN its against the law to mount it to the windshield so it mounts to the pad and sits firmly on the dash. The bonus is that you can remove it from the dash and hide it out of sight and there is no tell-tale suctioncup mark telling everyone that theres a GPS inside. Thats a real security plus in my book.
   
   I called tech support once for help and they were very friendly and helpful.
   
   The only negative is that it comes with a CD as an instruction manual. To obtain a print version you have to print it out on your home printer. I would like a print instruction manual to refer to instead of putting the CD in my computer. I would even be willing to purchase it as an option.
   
   BOTTOM LINE: Get the Magellan for ease of navagation! Very quick to learn and use. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy EVERY journey!

5 comments about TomTom ONE 130S 3.5-Inch Touchscreen Portable GPS Navigator.

1. This GPS is a very good navigator. It's the perfect size for me and fits in every place in my car. It's exactly what I was looking for, and it's very easy to download the actualizations from the computer.



2. After weeks of researching GPS devices, I finally decided to buy a TomTom. The price is better, TomTom includes Canada at no extra cost, and it is fast and easy to set up. So far, this device has been very accurate and I live in a very rural area. I am very happy with my purchase!



3. This is one of the best products and/or gadgets I've ever had the pleasure of using. From the day it arrived I turned it on (it was fully charged), and noticed how easy and intuitive it was to use and play around with. I thought maybe there was a problem with the contents when there were no user's manual that fell out when I opened the package. It didn't matter -- it was very easy to use. I knew that I could download the manual from the TomTom website.
   
   I bought this GPS for planning our trip up to New York City. I did some searching and reading about a few different GPS's, and eventually ended up getting a low-priced but a newer model from TomTom. What finally helped me decide was:
   
   1)portability (fits in shirt pocket).
   2)support available on the Net.
   3)simplicity of use.
   
   First use:
   Going to checkout the local parks near our home became so simple and nice, that otherwise would have been a difficult and time consuming task, with the unfolding and folding of maps, looking out for street names, or printing them out from Google Maps.
   
   Extensive use:
   Before the trip I entered all the restaurants and places we would like to visit as "Favorites". This is a trip from Virginia Beach to NYC (Manhattan). Never been there before, but with this gadget we weren't afraid to go just about anywhere we pleased. We followed the GPS to Delaware, caught the ferry to New Jersey, and reached our hotel with ease. This route was modified. The original route was given by TomTom to use the I-95 area, but we modified it to go our way which was very easy to do using the "Find alternative" icon.
   
   Basically, we stayed in New Jersey going to Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry (which is FREE), and back to our hotel in New Jersey. And we did this for a few days with the help of this GPS. We didn't bother driving in Manhattan, looking for parking, etc.
   
   The hardest part about this whole trip was figuring out how to use the subway system. We even used our GPS to help us find out which way to go from time to time while on foot (thus the small size and portability). And it's great for a map reference. But I have to mention here that picking up the GPS signal while being surrounded by tall buildings out on the side walk is a little difficult. And I have to guess that it'll probably have the same effect while driving here.
   
   Next, there seems to be some concern with the volume problem that I kept reading about. Ours was o.k. This GPS is very loud at its default of 70%! And clear! We had to turn down the volume while driving on the freeway -- it has a "Link volume to car speed" feature, which I think is ingenious, so it was louder on the freeway, then it gets down to its lower volume at lower speeds. The suction cup is nicely designed, and it's simple to take the whole assy. on and off to put away from vandalism.
   
   There were fancier ones that mention the street names aloud, and ones that give you traffic information, and other things. But all I wanted was something simple and straight forward (turn left, turn right, stay on the left lane, etc. -- TomTom ONE 130 is perfect). Also I thought about getting the bigger 4.3" wide screen, but after using this it's not necessary.
   
   Minor complaint:
   One minor complaint is that when naming your "Favorites" it doesn't let you tap the cursor to any of its area, instead you have to erase the whole thing that has been highlighted or put the cursor at its very end. And when you want to give it a name and the address together, the number portion automatically gets inserted at the beginning which is annoying.
   My solution: enter the name, and when entering the number portion, precede it with a special character like an asterisk then the number, then follow it by another asterisk, then the street name but without any space before it. Also I found it convenient to include the phone number on this whole line.



4. I drive all over the place because I work in promotions, and getting this GPS was the best decision I've ever made. It has vastly increased my productivity when it comes to errands and easily directs me around Boston, a city in which I used to hate driving with a strong passion. The text to voice is a very important feature, especially at intersections with a few roads coming in and I highly encourage getting a GPS with this feature. I've noticed that sometimes it has trouble connecting to satellites, but plugging it in to charge usually corrects that problem immediately. The volume gets very loud and though it's difficult to adjust sometimes, that small problem doesn't reduce my wholehearted recommendation of the 130S!



5. i am sure TOmTom will upgrade its website to have us all the updated maps as early as 2008..well it doesnt have the MP3 play back option in the unit .. i find many pros while 2 cons.. it doesnt support a SD card slot and its mem is 1gb..however it should have street spelling option instead of calling the turns..well its the price that makes it worth..