Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Garmin Legend H Handheld GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Garmin Legend H Handheld GPS Navigator (Electronics)
The Legend H is my first GPS receiver of any kind. If that's you situation, be prepared to spend quite some time on the web or in the library researching how to use this unit because the Garmin supplied 'manual' isn't worth the paper it's printed on. And don't expect to find any help on Garmin's web site either. A brief example: The Legend H is WAAS-compatible so naturally you'd enable WAAS. But if your Legend can't see one of the two WAAS satellites (mine hasn't yet), the accuracy of your Legend is reduced. No mention of this in the manual; there's no index entry for WAAS.
Garmin Legend H Handheld GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Garmin Legend H Handheld GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Mio MOOV 310 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Mio MOOV 310 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
I had to buy a GPS for work. I am an EMT. This product is not very accurate. It will tell you to take a left but the left could be a one way. If my intentions of buying this GPS was for personal use I'd give it three stars. The screen however is perfect size. Its big enough to read yet small enough not to compromise driving safely. I had to buy another GPS for work and went with a tom tom. I keep the mio for my personal vehicle, and the tom tom for my ambulance. I would not recommend this if you are buying for an ambulance,firetruck or police car. As for personal use if you do purchase this item be prepared to make tons of U-turns. And have a map as back up.
Mio MOOV 310 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Mio MOOV 310 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Scosche IPCHRGPCA1 Car Charger/Cassette Adapter for iPod (Electronics)
Scosche IPCHRGPCA1 Car Charger/Cassette Adapter for iPod (Electronics)
I bought this adapter last week from a local retailer. After reading the reviews I was ready to take it back. I did a test run of it today and the sound is pretty good, better than the cheaper one I had before. The WOW and extra stars is for the durability of the charger. It fell out of the car and got run over. With the plastic casing in pieces I plugged it in on a whim and low and behold it still worked. It is now held together by electrical tape and duct tape but I am pretty pleased with everything overall.
Scosche IPCHRGPCA1 Car Charger/Cassette Adapter for iPod (Electronics)
BUY Now Scosche IPCHRGPCA1 Car Charger/Cassette Adapter for iPod (Electronics)
Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System (Electronics)
Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System (Electronics)
Out the box, the left rear (sur) channel is not working.
Customer service tells me to have it repaired (a brand new
unit?) rather than send me a new unit. The good thing is the
repair is free. How long will this take though.
Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System (Electronics)
BUY Now Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System (Electronics)
Mio C220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Mio C220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
While not a Garmin Nuvi, this GPS is incredible for the price. Pros: Extremely fast screen refresh rates for navigation and route recalculations. It came out of the box ready to go with the entire US database already loaded on the SD card. No need to do anything other than insert the card, turn on the device and go. The battery was even charged enough to use it for a while. Audio is very good considering it's compact size. Very good high contrast screen resolution even in bright sunlight. Cons: Inability to store canned routes. All in all, a no-brainer. Highly recommended!!!
Mio C220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Mio C220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Magellan RoadMate 700 3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Magellan RoadMate 700 3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
I have owned a few Garmin units over the years and was always generally pleased with them. This was my first Magellan and I must say that I have been extremely impressed.
The screen quality is incredible. Regardless of lighting conditions it is always easily visible. It is also the largest display available in a portable unit.
I especially like having the entire US mapping built into the unit. No downloading or swapping memory cards on extended trips.
I have found that the voice prompts are clear, audible, and make sense MOST of the time. It does have some quirks such as telling you "Left Turn Ahead" when the road on which you are travelling has a large curve or similar change. Again. play with it for a bit and you will learn to discern the quirks. The proposed routings, even on back roads, are not always perfect but are usually pretty close to what a knowledgable traveler would do. At the very least, it will always get you there and it has never tried to send me up a one way or into a lake as some other units have. In some instances, increased "intelligence" about certain roads would be welcomed. In Pennsylvania there are a number of so called highways which are more like parking lots with traffic lights every 1/2 mile. In these cases, the RoadMate does not always have the smarts to know that there are some roads which are hardly the "fastest route". In some instances, the parallel "secondary road" is a better choice than the "highway" but the Magellan does not know this.
I do like the ability to exclude a current road from the route. This has bailed me out of a traffic jam in unknown territory on more than one instance.
I do agree with criticism that it should be easier to add a waypoint to the address book and I hope this might be addressed in a future software upgrade. The database of restaurants, attractions, etc. appears to be very complete and thorough as I have discovered in numerous states. Even local pizza joints are listed.
The unit seems to lock onto signal quickly and holds it well. Most of the time I am in the blue signal which shows WAAS. Yes, WAAS was another big plus on this unit in terms of accuracy.
I agree that the unit should ship with more than the vent mount. The vent mount either works very well or not at all depending on vehicle. However, a quick call to tech support and they sent out a windshield mount ASAP when I simply mentioned having trouble with the vent mount. Yes, it should also ship with the PC cable as it does on the 500. Finally, while the touch screen works well, a remote would be a welcome accessory when cruising down the road at high speed.
Bottom line is that right now this is probably the best portable GPS unit available. Maybe not as good as the $3,000 custom install but perhaps better in other ways. I demand a lot from my electronic toys but I have no regrets about this purchase.
UPDATE: Several years now since I wrote this review and the RoadMate is still hanging in there over many journeys. What has really impressed me is the software updates. Magellan has updated the interface, added voice announcement of street names, etc. I consider this a real testimony to supporting their products rather than forcing them into obsolesence so that yoy buy the next model. If you purchased one of these and have never upgraded the software you are really missing out. I have tried several other brands and newer models. While features like bluetooth are nice, I have yet to justify the cost of replacement. One of my newer cars has built in GPS. On really long trips I still take the RoadMate as it often finds roads not shown on the DVD based system.
Magellan RoadMate 700 3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Magellan RoadMate 700 3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor (Electronics)
Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor (Electronics)
I've had my Garmin 305 for more than 6 months now and I absolutely love it! It's helped me train and finish a marathon. It was a wonderful help with my 20 weeks of training. I programmed it with my interval training sessions sessions -- it was very, very easy to program my different training sessions (for example, run 4 minutes/wal 1 minute). It also helped me when I got lost on my long runs -- I went from running 3 to 4 miles at a time to running 20 miles (that was my long run) so I got lost. With my Garmin 305, I marked various locations and it directed me back to them so I could find my way home.
I would not have been been able to train for my marathon without it! OK, maybe I could have, but it would have been a lot less fun, a lot harder, and I would have gotten lost.
One more thing -- I'm a pretty small woman, and even though the wrist unit is pretty big, I found it pretty comfortable to wear.
Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor (Electronics)
BUY Now Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor (Electronics)
Garmin GPSMAP 60CS Water Resistant Hiking GPS (Electronics)
Garmin GPSMAP 60CS Water Resistant Hiking GPS (Electronics)
First of all i think that this gps is awesome, the display is brilliant, the colour screen is wonderful, the battery life better than expected however the aquision of signals and locking on to signals sucked big time. I am a forest ecologist and i am currently working in two forests in Jamaica. I previously had a magellan 330 map GPS and this baby would remain locked under the canopy of any forest, whether it was clouded or not (of course a few times it could not pick anything up). But i lost the bloody thing (insert crying face here) and had to search for a new gps. I was impressed by what this GPS had to offer but my main concern was it's sensitivity in forested environments because the last garmin i borrowed flaked out as i passed under one (1) tree...and unfortunately this gps (despite having an antenna) lost reception as i hit the edge of the forest..the magellan did not even loose reception in this forest..i was and still am bitterly dissapointed... So i am now faced with the prospect of having to purchase an external antenna to boost its reception...but saying that the base map that came with this baby was good enuff for me to use in Jamaica (considering that other base maps i had only showed Kingston!)...This base map had small and large towns...I have bought the world map cd and can't wait to see how detailed it is....Also compatibility with macs suckx big time..I have a 1.5 GHz powermac g4 (just showing off here!) running virtual PC 7..but the gramin software cannot pick up the gps...bummer so i might have to use a regular PC (oh for shame!)....but all in all it worked really well in my vehicle picked up and remained locked and this is in Jamaica...
Pros: Screen quality is excellent, battery life superb the altitude feature is great the base map is adequate for somewhere like Jamaica (especially since i couldn't get any detail before)...when the signal is lost it can re-aquire the signal pretty quickly if conditions are good..Oh yeah and it's very easy to use....
Cons: Not Mac compatible (big bummer) reception is very poor in real outdoor environments even under a tree with a large canopy (if the canopy is continuous by the time u hit the second canopy the signal is lost)...when there is cloud cover it gets even worst...Oh also it's very difficult to import waypoints from other brands into the garmin software despite having similar file formats (.wpt)..I had to enter them manually (up to 50 points!)....
Conclusion: A great product, the size and weight is fine, the clip that somes with it is a big plus ( i just clip it to my backpack and forget about it)...It is a worth while upgrade.
[...]
Garmin GPSMAP 60CS Water Resistant Hiking GPS (Electronics)
BUY Now Garmin GPSMAP 60CS Water Resistant Hiking GPS (Electronics)
Nextar X3 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Nextar X3 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Easy to learn, A first gps as good as Tom Tom 130s and Garmin 255w. both 3.5 screen. I paid 89.95 + tax.If you can get it under a $100.00 its a steal.
Nextar X3 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Nextar X3 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Walkman Car Connecting Pack for MD Walkman and CD Walkman (Model# CPA-9C) (Electronics)
Walkman Car Connecting Pack for MD Walkman and CD Walkman (Model# CPA-9C) (Electronics)
This is one of those products that simply works great. I've been using mine for about a year with my Apple iPod and I couldn't be happier.
You simply turn on your car stereo, insert the adapter into your cassette player as if it were a tape, insert the plug into your MP3 player, and start up your music. Easy! In fact, I never even looked at the instructions that came with it.
I think the sound is pretty good and it always works.
I had tried an FM transmitter and, maybe because I live in a very populated area, could never find a free FM frequency for the iPod, so threw it away.
One of the reasons I bought the car I did was because it had a cassette player so I could use a cassette adapter. Some cars are starting to come with inputs for MP3 players, so I expect that will be the way to go in the future.
Being able to play my iPod in the car for my long work commutes has saved my sanity!
Walkman Car Connecting Pack for MD Walkman and CD Walkman (Model# CPA-9C) (Electronics)
BUY Now Walkman Car Connecting Pack for MD Walkman and CD Walkman (Model# CPA-9C) (Electronics)
Garmin Portable Friction Mount (Electronics)
Garmin Portable Friction Mount (Electronics)
This item works great. I travel to California now and then and it is always an issue how to position my GPS since you can't attach it to the windshield. This solves the problem. It is very stable (more than I thought it would be) and the holder slips out to make packing a breeze. Lots of swivel gives you just about any viewing option you need. And then you can lock that position in place. The price is great here on Amazon. You can't go wrong. I use it more than I had thought (not just in California). When I park the car I just move the whole thing to the floor which hides the fact I have a GPS in the car. I never took the windshield mount down in the past, which was a dead giveaway. Great product. Price is right!
Garmin Portable Friction Mount (Electronics)
BUY Now Garmin Portable Friction Mount (Electronics)
Pioneer CD-XMPCAR1 XMp3 Car Kit (Electronics)
Pioneer CD-XMPCAR1 XMp3 Car Kit (Electronics)
It's awesome except w/out car or house antenna you don't get reception for xm all the time.
Battery life it great and easy to use.
Pioneer CD-XMPCAR1 XMp3 Car Kit (Electronics)
BUY Now Pioneer CD-XMPCAR1 XMp3 Car Kit (Electronics)
Rapid Car Charger + Home Travel Charger (110-240v) with IC Chip for Apple Iphone 3G 2nd Generation, Ipod Nano 4th 2nd Generation, IPod Touch
Rapid Car Charger + Home Travel Charger (110-240v) with IC Chip for Apple Iphone 3G 2nd Generation, Ipod Nano 4th 2nd Generation, IPod Touch
A disappointment. The wall charger actually sparked when I plugged it in the wall. Thinking that maybe the polarity was wrong (the blades are not asymmetrical, so you can't tell), I plugged it in the other way. My Touch 2G would not charge and now I'm scared of frying my Touch to try to again. A friend of mine ordered the same thing and told me hers didn't work either. Not worth returning, it'll go into the landfill. Sorry I can't give any info on the car charger as I purchased this set for the wall charger only.
Rapid Car Charger + Home Travel Charger (110-240v) with IC Chip for Apple Iphone 3G 2nd Generation, Ipod Nano 4th 2nd Generation, IPod Touch
BUY Now Rapid Car Charger + Home Travel Charger (110-240v) with IC Chip for Apple Iphone 3G 2nd Generation, Ipod Nano 4th 2nd Generation, IPod Touch
Nextar X3-03 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Nextar X3-03 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
I opened the package, hooked it up to the wall outlet and started reading the manual.
As soon as the battery was charged fully, my preference you can turn it right on if you choose, I decided to see if my city had any POI's. I turned it on, input a few personal options and entered in my home address, I then located the POI's and found on in my home town that I had never been to, selected it as my destination, and off I went. It was great, turns were on the spot, the maps were awesome and the speed alert saved me from a possible speeding ticket!!!
You will not be disappointed!
Nextar X3-03 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Nextar X3-03 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Garmin nьvi 255 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Garmin nьvi 255 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
After spending a few weeks researching this and that, I decided to go with the Nuvi 255. I would have liked a 255W, but just couldn't justify the cost. Besides, the 255 screen is sufficient. I chose it over the 205 for the extra maps and text-to-speech, which is a really nice function.
PROS:
The size seems small until you actually mount it on your windshield. Then it's just right. And the GUI is very simple and straightforward. There are a lot of "aftermarket" vehicle icons that can be just dropped onto the unit. It charges relatively quickly through a USB cord. I think with a little ingenuity, I'll be able to mount it to my motorcycle bars too. This thing is half organizer/phone book, half Nav system, which since I don't have an I-Phone is really cool. It's great to be able to look up a phone number and call a restaurant without booting up my PC.
CONS:
Even though there's 6 million POI, it's missing some surprising ones (a Walmart and a Lowes plaza, for example) that have been around for a couple of years. So to get there, you have to find something near them and that's a pain. Same with roads I KNOW are there, but not in this 2009 map software. Then there's the town names that seem questionable at times. My only other small gripes are that you can't change the text-to-speech voice...unless you want a lame elf voice or Death or something. And for some reason, mine doesn't want to charge if the unit is in use, which is kind of aggrivating.
VERDICT:
Seems solid, easy to use, and a genuinely decent product. Sometimes I know better than the direction engine (I'm sure you get that with any GPS), but if I didn't, I'd trust it. Seems to lack features of an upmodel unit, but for the money, I feel I've gotten a good value.
Garmin nьvi 255 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
BUY Now Garmin nьvi 255 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)