5 comments about Sanyo NVM-4050 Easy Street 4-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. works well for The 198.99 i paid for it.... It Basically Comes Down To if you want to pay more for more random freatures then pay more.... All i need is a map and blue tooth.... and i love it.. Just the fact that it displays my text messages for me on the gps unit is a big plus No F@#$ messing around to find my phone and read it....... Hope the update cd or dowload comes through tho..... That would be bice



2. I only have experience with 3 GPS units, the Garmin C340, the Mio C230 and this, the Sanyo NVM-4050.
   
   The battery life on the Sanyo is quite good. You can turn off the power button but leave the battery "on", sort of like a sleep state. It can play the MP3 files in the background while you look at the navigation page. You can plug it into your car stereo if you have an MP3 (or auxiliary) input and it will interupt the MP3 playback to give directions for navigation. However, the MP3 player doesn't seem to be able to navigate folders, so be careful how you organize your music on it.
   
   The bluetooth support with my Blackberry 8830 is like a headset. It can do phone calls but but nothing else (no SMS display).
   
   I can't seem to find a way to have it display a list of directions for your route, which the Mio and Garmin units can do. The text to speech is good, but not as good as the Mio. It re-routes very quickly and gives up on the "make a u-turn" thing pretty quickly, better than either of the others. It allows you to avoid toll roads, highways and ferrys in the routing, which can be handy.
   
   Overall, for the price I paid (about $140) I would say I'm very satisfied. It gets me where I need to go and has some of the higher end features that would have cost me quite a bit more.



3. I have had the Sanyo NVM-4050 for a couple weeks now, though I have used it on a longish trip only once (I live just 2.5 miles from work!) In my limited experience:
   
   What it does well:
   - Gets a fix on your position quickly (very well)
   - recalculates routes rapidly (very well)
   - announces turns 2-3 times by the time you have to (except for really short sections - a block or so)
   - once you start typing names, only "valid" characters can be selected (avoids spelling mistakes)
   - "human" guidance - the unit says "keep going on US36 for a while" :-)
   - Nice, bright screen; clear voice
   
   Other notes/features I haven't used:
   - No AC adapter, but I use either my laptop's USB port, or the car's cigarette-lighter (adapter included)
   - appears to have lots of good features (bike/scooter/pedestrian/etc., 2D/3D, voiceskin options)
   - you can search for an address using either the city or zip code
   - bluetooth, music player, 2GB built-in memory + SD slot
   
   What it doesn't do well: Hmmm.... No real deal-breakers here (thus far).
   - It plotted a route from home to work that was a slightly longer distance (3 miles compared to 2.5), but about the same time. Maybe I have to fiddle around with the settings.
   - I also had to read the manual to figure out the difference between the TWO power buttons - one (at the bottom) is a "hard OFF" that resets the clock, and the other (also a physical button but on the face of the unit) just turns the unit off, but keeps settings intact. Battery drain equates to a "hard OFF."
   - On my longish drive, the unit said "keep left... turn left." Actually, the street curved left, while there was a distinct, much sharper left turn as well. I took the sharp left... Then I realized my error. The unit recalculated and sent me back on my way.
   
   Next month, I will be going on much longer drives - we'll see how it holds up. I bought it on sale from another online retailer. Even if I had to pay full price, knowing what I do now, it would be a close call between this Sanyo and (based on reviews/reputation) TomTom/Garmin units.



4. Bought this for $129 on sale at Fry's. At that price it is a steal! Had a lot of reservations based on reviews I read but it works very well. The fact that it has MP3 + Bluetooth capability is incredible. GPS capability works well and is accurate. My only complaint would be the lack of POIs, however it contains details about all of the sites that it does know about, i.e., telephone number.
   
   Comments about the clock having to be reset every time you power it off are remedied by using the power button on the front of the unit. Some people think you have to flip the switch on the bottom of the unit. Not the case.
   
   Bluetooth capability does not work well with Palm Treo but I think that is related to quirkiness of Palm. This feature works great with a Sanyo phone (Sprint).
   
   MP3 support also works very well and is a nice feature to have. What is best about this is that you can listen to music while navigating. The music will pause for a moment while directions are spoken and then music comes right back.
   
   I have my Sanyo 4050 plugged in to the AUX input on the front of my car stereo. Everything sounds great that way including Bluetooth phone calls, GPS Instructions, and of course MP3s.
   
   Finally, people complain about the lack of an AC adapter. I usually keep mine plugged in when driving but you can also pick up an ac adapter for cheap at Radio Shack or you can use a PSP adapter as it has the same power input requirements as the Sanyo 4050.



5. If you're looking for the best of the best then you're probably going to be disappointed by the Sanyo NVM-4050. It's a typical example of a second-tier CE manufacturer: lots of features with rough edges that work well enough to satisfy the user at a price point that'll move units out the door.
   
   The physical design of the unit is OK. It's got some heft to it and seems like it would handle a drop to the floor without any damage. There's a barrel-type power socket and a 3.5mm stereo audio socket on the left side of the unit and a mini-USB socket on the bottom. If you try to use the USB port to charge the unit it will disable the UI because it assumes that it is connected to a computer. The mounting system is sturdy and pretty flexible but there's no integrated power and audio umbilical harness so you'll have to route power and audio out (if you use the audio out) around from the left side of the unit. It's a little messy.
   
   The screen is bright and the touch interface works well enough. There's only one button on the front of the unit (power/menu) and the power/charge light inset in that button is not very bright but it is visible enough to tell if you're charging the battery. You get audible confirmation (beeps) to your input but sometimes the system is a little slow in updating the screen in response to your input.
   
   
   The UI is OK as well. Finding addresses can be a little intimidating at first because the unit throws up a form that asks for zip, state and city. You don't need to know the zip code; just enter city and state. I did a 1800 mile trip with door-to-door address-based navigation and needed to fiddle with the address search function to get it to do what I wanted but I figure that's just the learning curve caused by the unrefined UI.
   
   The GPS can take some time to lock up and the map software seems to like to think that you've jumped onto adjacent off-ramps or parallel streets in urban conditions so I don't think the positional accuracy is the best. It keeps an accurate enough lock that if you're following a route it doesn't jump around as much since it assumes that you're following the plotted route. If you do jump from the plotted route the unit freezes up while it plots a new route. There's no announcement that it's going to go catatonic; it just stops updating the map display until it comes up with a new route.
   
   The voice prompts during navigation are good enough and come early enough before the turns to keep from having to do those kamikaze dives across lanes to hit your turn. The text-to-speech is mostly accurate in pronunciation.
   
   The maps are 2007 vintage and are as detailed as any that I've seen in automotive nav systems. It includes features like railroads, rivers/streams and the like. The sampling of POI searches that I've done for a few spots in the US that I've lived in seem complete. Interstate rest stops are in the POI database as well.
   
   
   
   The MP3/WMA player is functional but limited as to playback modes (random and repeat folder modes) and you have to hop around between the map and the player application if you want to control the player. I loaded up a few 2GB SD cards with MP3s and ran them for hours without any issues. The unit supports up to 4GB cards. You can load your cards with folders and place files in the folders to make playlists (repeat folder mode).
   
   The Bluetooth connectivity is OK too. I paired my Moto Q9 to the Easy Street quickly. The in-call audio quality is good and the caller-ID and dial-out screens are easy to read and easy to use. If you plug the unit into your car audio you've got a good in-car hands-free phone system.
   
   At the end of the day the Easy Street does what I expected it to do. You have to be comfortable around not-completely-intuitive software to get the most from this unit but I think if Sanyo put a little more time in on the software they'd have a killer product.

5 comments about Magellan Maestro 4050 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

1. Other than poor documents, this is a great GPS. I had seen some reviews that were not to good so I was a little leary. No problems with my unit what-so-ever. The maps were a little inaccurate until I went online and updated. After update, the maps, points of interest, shopping etc all were terrific and accurate. A real good unit for my money!



2. I got the Magellen GPS at Costco on a whim for $[...] and returned it the next week. I have had a Garmin for years switched to Magellen for the price. I didn't like the menus, they did not seem to be the most intuitive but with practice, you'd get to know them.
   
   The real problem is that the touch screen didn't work well. I'd poke and poke and nothing would happen, usually on the keyboard. So I started reading the reviews and saw several comments about how bad the customer service is at Megellan so I switched back to Garmin.



3. The Magellan Maestro 4050 is the first GPS I have bought. However I have used the Never Lost Hertz rental car GPS on more then one occasion and was looking for a GPS much the same. The 4050 is that unit. It just works and has all the bells and whistles I could want. If it does or doesn't do something I need or want I haven't found it yet. Price wise it's a bucket of bang for the buck. I had to call their support in order to get my free road advisory service and the free extended warranty given to AAA members up and activated. I was unable to accomplish this on line using the CD that comes with the unit or via Magellan's web site. However customer support had me up and running in no time. Great unit, great price and good support. If your thinking upscale GPS this is a good one.
   BW, Florida ......



4. 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!



5. 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.

No comments about Magellan Roadmate 2000 GPS System (Refurbished).

No comments about Garmin nüvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

5 comments about Magellan Maestro 4000 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I have purchased three Magellan Maestro 4000's for family members and everybody is very happy with them. Not a single malfunction.



2. This was a gift for my college graduation. It has already traveled with me through a few states and has been excellent. Great volume, clear pictures, helpful POIs.



3. I never owned a gps. My cousin came and we used her's to get around the city. I was sold!! I bought the very same one she has for hubby for Father's day. I'm impressed and can't wait to use it when we travel way up north from Florida.



4. Great GPS device. We took a trip to Austin, TX just after receiving it and was totally impressed. Today's technology is awesome!!



5. The screen is big (4.3 in.) the graphics are beautiful, the voice commands are very clear, it works very well, this units packs plenty of volume, so it is very easy to drive to your destination without having to look at it. The sensitivity is excellent, as it tunes to satellites within a few seconds.
   
   My only gripe was with accuracy, as it always showed my vehicle's position about 1/2 block BEHIND at all times, it was also very slow re-calculating routes and that was a bit of an annoyance, but it resolved all this issues by installing the new firmware available as a free download at the Magellan site. NOTE: Updates are PC only, no Mac support that I'm aware of. For some reason the battery only lasts about 30-40 minutes, so the power supply cable has to be connected all the time or the battery quits suddenly.
   
   The POI's are VERY limited in this model, so don't even count on them.
   
   I've became accustomed to hearing the street & freeway exits by name with my Garmin and my older Magellan 760 (an earlier unit that was stolen from my car) but the Maestro 4000 does not speak street names, although the unit became very accurate and much faster after the updates. For those of you who like to hear the street names, this unit does not have this feature and it is not upgradable via the firmware.
   
   In general this a very decent unit at a very decent price, nice display & voice, but it is a bare bones basic unit compared to the other Magellan models costing just a few dollars more.

2 comments about Mio MOOV 200 3.5'' Portable GPS Unit with Text-to-Speech.

1. I bought the Mio Moov 200 as my first automotive GPS a couple of weeks ago. I've had the chance to use the GPS for one long 4 hour trip, as well as around the city here in Minneapolis, and these are my first impressions.
   
   How it looks:
   The Mio Moov 200 GPS is a tiny little thing, at less than an inch deep and about 4 inches wide by 3 high. It can easily fit in your pocket if you don't want to leave it in the car. It has a black plastic casing with a brushed metal surface around the touchscreen. It really does look nice sitting on the dash.
   
   The unit has a on/off/reset switch on top of the unit, making it easy to turn on and off whenever you need or reset if it freezes (this hasn't happened to me yet). The left side has a port to insert your SD card with additional maps, or whatever else you need. There are also rumors that the unit is hackable through the SD port to become a small PDA of sorts. The bottom of the unit has a small USB port that allows you to charge the unit, as well as connect to your home PC. On the back of the unit is a small speaker.
   
   How it works:
   
   So far my impressions of the unit are pretty good. Keep in mind I don't have much to compare it to, but so far it does everything that we've wanted it to. We set up a route to go from our house here in Minnesota to a resort at the Wisconsin Dells - about 4 hours away. It got us there without any problems, clearly announcing any turns we needed to make along the way - with clearly spoken names of the streets themselves - not just a "turn right" or "turn left". The speaker is reasonably loud, even when in a loud car - and we had no problems hearing it. In fact if you're in a quiet room by yourself - it seems almost too loud.
   
   We have noticed a couple of quirks/problems with the unit.
   
   1. Funny pronunciations: the unit will sometimes pronounce street names incorrectly, or call them something they aren't. For example there is a "Dean Lakes Trail" near our house, but the unit calls it "Dean Lakes Triangle". There have been quite a few of these types of instances, but overall it does a good job. Definitely not a deal breaker - just more of something to give you a chuckle every once in a while.
   2. Incorrect POIs: The unit does have a pretty good sized database of points of interest, however, we have found that some of them aren't quite right. For example, on our trip to the Wisconsin Dells, two or three times that we tried navigating to a point of interest (Walmart and a restaurant), the unit didn't get us to quite the right spot. In both cases we were a block or two away. It may be that the POI was old, or something along those lines, I don't know. There has also been a couple of times we searched for a gas station or other POI we knew was there, but the unit doesn't show it. Not sure why that is.
   3. Strange routes sometimes: The unit will sometimes take routes that you may not have thought of, or that aren't really the quickest way to take. It DOES get you there, but not always in the way that you thought it would.
   4. Keyboard is hard to type on if you have big fingers like me. Kind of annoying, but again, not a deal breaker.
   
   Conclusion:
   We've been happy with the unit so far. For the cheap price and the features you get - it does the job, and it gets you where you need to go. I'd buy it again.



2. I purchased the Mio Moov 200 for a long road trip from Illinois through Wisconsin. Simply put the product works exactly as advertised. The text to speech directions are fairly good with pronunciation that is accurate for most streets. Routing is fairly quick and the device is good at re-routing you if you miss a turn generally within three seconds. This model does not have any of the bells and whistles of other devices like mp3 player functionality or blu-tooth, and to be honest they aren't really missed.
   
   The major draw backs of the device are few, but their are a few. First the touch screen is not always responsive to your touches. I believe it is a sensitivity issue with the large surface area of one's figures. Using the touch screen with a stylus offered much better performance. The other major drawback is the refresh rate of the screen. The distances and directions generally appear to update on your screen about once per second. When you re driving slow this is perfectly fine, but I often times found myself blowing right past a turn when in excess of 50 mph on a highway because the screen didn't update fast enough to tell me my turn was coming up. I often mis-judged 1/8 of a mile and under distances.
   
   Other then that the device works great. The voice is clear and very adjustable. The maps are generally very good and the routing functions are simple but effective.

5 comments about Harman Kardon GPS-510 4-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator and Media Player.

1. Works great. Recovers and resets if you take a different route. It has my house 400 feet down the street. It seems to always want to take me on longer routes than it should.



2. The GPS has worked in most occasions. The address entry is intuitive and easy to setup. I have seen the GPS not identify some fairly new locations , however. This has only happened once so I am giving the benefit of doubt to the product. With Garmin, you have the ability to update the GPS software. I will be investigating to see if the GPS maps can be updated with this unit as well. The other Media player capability though is nice. However, I rarely use that feature in the car. The unit comes with a protection for the GPS unit when not in use. That is very helpful if you take the unit of the car and store it in the car.



3. Some of the bad reviews almost scared me away. I bought this unit anyway. I like it. Easy to use, and it is easy to program in destinations. I'm impressed with the software. Solid unit!



4. This is my first gps system. Though I like the features on it it is slow to give direction and in one case was telling me to go left onto a north bound highway when it was clearly marked on the signs to go right for south(the direction I wanted). For the hell of it I got on the north bound thinking maybe there was something I didn't know. No it told me to get back off! Maybe it likes making people go in circles?? I think I will be sending this unit back!!!



5. great item. Just used it through Calif., Oregon, Washington and B.C. Canada and didn't get lost once. Great time saver and easy to use

5 comments about Garmin nüvi 5000 5.2-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I have used a Garmin GPS 60c for years and decided it was time to get something easier to see and work with. This sounded ideal as I drive a Freightliner Truck towing my Travel Trailer. But the truck noise made using the FM connection mandatory. (There goes my books on tape). But the worst is the poor navigation. It could not find my mothers address (it did, but it showed her address as the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America and my Mom lives on Cape Cod) and other common places (such as Goodyear Tire Centers, Flying J's, Rest Areas other than ones on major interstates and Camping World) I called Garmin. I just bought this and they wanted me to BUY more maps. Navteq supplies their maps and the maps for MS Streets and Trips (which almost always finds addresses), so it is a Garmin problem. I just bought the Dash Express for about half the price. Lifetime free automatic updates, LIVE traffic and routing, LIVE internet search and user made favorites as well as many awesome features. I'll review it after I actually use it. Sorry, Garmin, get modern and more customer friendly....the world of technology is quickly out-distancing you!



2. Todate we have not taken a long trip. On a short trip going to the destination the route instructions worked fine, but the return route home was different than that taken to the destination. This maybe due to the original routing of the "fastest" versus the " shortest" route. In the near future we will take a much longer trip and this will give a better chance to test the overall operation of the 5000. We agree that the larger screen is easier to read and follow and the back lighting works great in bright sunlight.



3. This being my first gps unit I cannot compare it to previous devices, but I can say that I love this unit and have been very pleased with the navigation and features. I have one big issue and one small issue to mention though:
   
   BIG ISSUE: Although I'm told I can use my Macintosh computer to update the unit I am finding that software updates don't work and the computer has trouble properly reading the contents of the memory. Using the Web Update software I see that the unit's software is one or two versions behind and I can update to a newer version, but I can't get this update process to complete. Sometimes it stalls, telling me the unit is full and cannot accept an update, other times it appears to complete, but rebooting the device shows the same old software running. This old version works fine, I don't particularly need to have the latest update, I was just trying to be up to the minute. The unit is navigating very well for the most part and I'm satisfied, (but still wanting perfection)
   
   One particular oddity: when I load music files into the unit they show up normal in my Mac's Finder window, but on the Nuvi screen in the car I see two copies of every song. One copy looks normal and plays, the other copy has the underscore ( _ ) character appended to the beginning of the file name and that copy does not play. The unit appears to be in play mode, but no sound comes out and the play progress bar is inactive. I have to skip these "null" copies in order to resume playing music. If I have hundreds of songs loaded in I have to scroll past one or two hundred "null" copies in order to get to the ones that will play! I'm currently working with product support to figure out how to get my Mac and the Nuvi to communicate but we haven't found the magic yet. The Macintosh interface needs some work!
   
   Small issue: the voice prompt is often late with useful information, for example: approaching a freeway on-ramp that has separate lanes for east and west, the voice doesn't use the word west or east until it's too late to change my lane. Looking at the text on the screen I can get that information sooner, but if my eyes are busy watching traffic I can miss the exit because the voice failed to say west soon enough.



4. I just got this device and have been attempting to update the software, you can not register until it is updated. The update fails over and over yet says it is complete until you try to register again. It works with the old software but you can not register it or update anything else until it is updated. I give it two stars simply because it works but it only meets a one star standard.



5. First, I would like to say that I really like my Garmin nuvi 5000. It is the first GPS unit I have ever owned. It is very easy to use and the large screen is very visible in all light levels. However, there are three areas where I feel the unit falls short. First, it needs a rechargeable internal battery that would allow it to be used disconnected from the automobile, even if only for a short period of time. The battery life would be extendable by having a way to switch off the screen and allowing the unit continue to operate. Second, the unit needs a better manual that goes more detail about the working of the unit. For example, it tells you how to add favorites locations to your unit's memory, but it does not tell you how many locations you can have, nor does it tell you if an SD card will add space for more. The third and biggest problem with this unit is the lack of a good internal antenna. My experience has shown that the unit is not very good at acquiring satellites as it is designed. I have experienced the following problems using the unit mounted on the beanbag holder (Garmin's Portable Friction Dashboard Mount) on my car's dashboard: When parked in my driveway with a clear overhead view, it can take more then 2-3 minutes to acquire a good signal lock; Pulling out of my garage and driving down suburban roads at less then 40 miles per hour, it has taken more than 10 minutes to get a good lock on the satellites; Once when driving down an Interstate highway with a wide open sky view, the unit lost signal and took several minutes to re-acquire the satellites; and at other times it has showed it poor design of the internal antenna. To try to solve this problem, I purchased the external Garmin antenna. This antenna is designed with a magnet to attache to the car roof and plug into the back of the unit. This works very well and solves the problem of satellite acquisition, but makes for a messy dash. However, I found that if the antenna is just placed horizontally on the dash behind the unit it works just as well. This brought me to conclude that the unit should be designed with an attached flip up antenna, as come commercial unites have, to improve satellite acquisition. I gave it four stars, because with the added antenna, the unit works great and I would not want to give it up.

2 comments about Garmin nuvi 205W 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. I just received one of these yesterday. It is everything the description says and more. I can't believe the enhancements over more expensive, current Garmins. Do not hesitate. BUY It!



2. I bought the Garmin nuvi 205w after experience and return of two Magellan products for about two weeks, the two Magellans, Maestro 3225 and Roadmate 1412 were buggy and felt cheap compare to Garmin.
   The Garmin nuvi 205w is just great, responsive, clear maps, extremely quick satellite reception from a cold start, you don't even have to be outside, just standing next to a window will do the trick. Built quality is superb, it feels like a little brick, the PC software to load IPO's is great; you can also look for an address on Google maps and click "send" to load the location to the Garmin.
   Accuracy in busy NYC streets is amazing, it will recalculate after half a block when you miss a turn, also, on the Henry Hudson Pkwy it will detect if I'm on the main road or the service road, and they are really close to each other.
   So far I'm very satisfy, easy to use, responsive and does not have anything that I don't need !

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

1. I've used this daily for 3 weeks now. I previously have only used a bottom line Garmin (I2- Back and white, no touch screen, no text to speech). The Pharos is a step up in many ways (color, faster, spoken street names, larger screen) BUT, Garmin's experience in this field shows: While the Pharos is color and larger, it was still easier to see the Garmin screen, especially in bright sun. The auto-night dimming on the Pharos works poorly, way too bright. And even though the Garmin didn't have a touch screen, it was not really more difficult to enter the destination info.
   
   The volume adjustment is difficult to adjust near the louder end of the scale. It is difficult to touch in street names with my finger (medium sized man) though easy with the stylus. The points of interest are much more cumbersome. For instance if you are driving and want the closest McDonalds you have to punch in a bunch of info, then you only get a list accurate to the closest mile. The Garmin easily gave a list and the list automatically updated as I drove.
   
   Anyway, at $100 this is a great deal, and very usable, just not as easy to use as I'd hoped. I bought it because my Garmin broke, otherwise I'd still be using that. Oh, BTW, I don't find the spoken street names much better than the Garmin's "turn right in one tenth mile", though lots of users seem to think spoken street names are a big plus.
   
   Also not well thought out is the power handling. When I turn off the engine, the unit stays fully on, so if you don't want the internal battery to run down you have to manually turn the unit off then manually turn it on when you start, not a big deal, but the unit should go to sleep automatically when you turn off your engine.



2. Pros: cheap for a unit with TTS, clear voice, good map, more streets details than Gamin, some people might not like.
   Cons: Take awhile to get signal from cold start. Very poor POI
   
   Using this for few months now. At first was very happy. Got signal very quick after cold start. Now taking awhile to get, but after initial start, later gets signal is quick. In general, hate it when first start, like it when running. I used to turn it on and car at same time for warming up then do my things. I would rate it 3.5 if I could.



3. I like simple but powerful devices -- as this one. I really have nothing to complain if this one uses some different operation styles from other GPSs. Get used to its own style and you will find it easy to use. The only true shortcomings I have found -- some simple functions that it really should have -- are:
   
   1. no way to know how much power is left in the battery.
   
   2. no way to adjust the time & date.



4. I must admit I had my reservations purchasing this item, as the Pharos brand is not as well known as some of the others, and I could only find few comprehensive reviews on the unit. However, I simply could not argue with all the features that were being offered for such a low price... so I took the chance, and I am glad that I did. The performance was peppy, LCD was bright and easy to read, text-to-speech was clear, GPS tracking functioned smoothly as expected, the interface was reasonable intuitive. The point of interest and the maps seemed a little outdated, but the customer support told me that a new version should be available early next year on their website, free of charge.
   
   All in all, although it may lack the "sophistication" in build/software quality of the bigger companies, I'm very happy with my purchase.



5. This is a good budget GPS. I used it to discover a couple of short cuts to work already. I modified it to support calculator, notepad, photo viewer, word/excel/ppt/pdf viewers, and mp3/video players, etc. in additional to the Destinator GPS program (Thanks daniel53 and others). It's a very nice toy especially for tech-savvy users (5 stars for being able to modify it).
   
   The user interface may not be super intuitive as some high-priced units.
   
   BTW, make sure to try the "avoid roads" feature under the "Manage Route." You can create one or more sets of roads to avoid (or not to avoid).
   
   If Pharos can provide free map updates, as the previous reviewer mentioned, then I'll give it a 6-star rating. :-)