Saturday, February 13, 2010

Cheapest Garmin nüvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator


This is a wonderful little machine. It is the basic 800 series which means it has the same engine as the most expensive units without some of the bells and whistles, and yet has all that is convenient and important.

It is highly accurate, and fast. I love the feature where it remembers where I left the car when I take it out of its cradle and will guide me right to my car if I need to. When I go to a site in a mall or a large complex like a hospital I can save the exact location of where I am and use that instead of an address which at times can be vague.

For example when I visit a large hospital here with several entrances it will guide me right to the parking place I chose to make into a favorite.


The voice recognition works very well. I never have to touch the unit to perform any and all of the many options available to me. For example while I am driving I can direct it via voice activated command to take me to the nearest Burger King, of Hampton Inn, either as detour or as a new destination.

I find the volume from the unit sufficient, but I prefer to hear directions through my car stereo system. Since my FM antenna is located at the back of the car the FM from the GPS unit does not work too well. I bought one of those little cigarette lighter FM transmitters, and connected it to the GPS audio output and it works just fine. If you have an audio input to your car stereo you don't need the FM transmitter; just connect your GPS directly through that.

All in all I am very satisfied with this unit, and I am happy to recommend it to any person who is interested in adding a GPS system to their car, or replacing an older unit as I did.
Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

Cheap Garmin nüvi 760 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Automobile Navigator (Factory Refurbished)


I've had Garmin's in the past, and decided to upgrade to a larger screen and smaller unit with this purchase.

The first problem I noticed was that when the volume was set to 100%, the speaker clipped out. Maybe that's why it was a refurb? But if so they should have fixed it. It's very annoying and for the most part the volume needed to be 100% to hear it over the road noise and radio.

The FM Transmitter... useless. When using it, you can't listen to your radio. But worse than that, there's a lot of static no matter which station I tried.

Finally... it displays the speed limit, but this was highly inaccurate. Many roads I was on showed different posted speed limits so I'm not sure how useful this feature is.

I'm still giving 3 stars because the GPS functionality itself is good, including the text-to-speech. But this unit had issues and I returned it to look for a different model without the FM Transmitter and hopefully the speaker will be fine.Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 760 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Automobile Navigator (Factory Refurbished).

Friday, February 12, 2010

Buying Navigon 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-To-Speech and Free Traffic Alerts


This GPS is a far better one than the older navigon model (pocket loox) that I used before in the USA. The representation of the highway lanes for instance is remarkable. What could be better is: a little LED lamp to show the state of loading the accu; the accu itself looses much power overnight; sometimes the GPS takes too long to start working. But for this low price it's an offer.Get more detail about Navigon 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-To-Speech and Free Traffic Alerts.

Buy Garmin nüvi 1250T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic


I agree with that there must be something wrong with this model. I got this model as a birthday gift in August, and the screen's frozen more times than it works. It sometimes shuts itself off, sometimes it won't turn off even if pressing the power button, and sometimes won't turn on...get another model than this one. Generally speaking Garmin's are great...no clue what happened with the 1250TGet more detail about Garmin nüvi 1250T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Purchase Garmin nüvi 1260/1260T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic


Overall it is very nice device. I like the small size, and traffic status features.
I would like to point out couple of things any buyer should be aware of before purchasing this device:

* Bluetooth handsfree feature is of limited use. It not problem of this particular device, just having such small speaker and microphone so far from your face makes it difficult to use due to car noise.

* On small screen devices they only offer ABCDEF keyboard not QWERTY. If you used to QWERTY it is major pain to type on it.

Besides that it is nice little device, very useful I recommend it as inexpensive GPS solution.Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 1260/1260T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic.

Order Kenwood DNX5140 6.1-Inch Wide Double-DIN In-Dash Nagivation with USB/iPod Direct Control/DVD Receiver


Pros:
- Excellent GPS
- The backlight is fine.
- AM/FM Radio is OK.
- Plays CDs
- Plays DVDs

Cons:
- Bluetooth is an add-on (6140 has it integrated, 5140 makes you buy a seperate add-on)
- XM is an add-on (More money, you need 2 special items to get this working, receiver and the connector. It works OK)
- Sirius is the same thing
- iPhone is also an add on (I think)

Gripe:
- We live in the day of having smarter, more open hardware in our daily components (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, to name a few). This software is outsourced and never updated. It freezes and is slow in some instances.

Tip: Buying online is cheaper than Best Buy.

Tip 2: Geek squad will install this if you ask.

Tip 3: You need a double-din adapter to use this if you don't have one. You'll have to google around for "Make Model Year" + "Double din"Get more detail about Kenwood DNX5140 6.1-Inch Wide Double-DIN In-Dash Nagivation with USB/iPod Direct Control/DVD Receiver.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Where To Buy Magellan Maestro 4210 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator


I've used for more than 17 months Magellan Maestro 4040 which was given by my sister to use it. Sudenly, one day it stopped functioning bcs it was nearly 4 yrs old so I decided to go for another magellan product on www.amazon.com which I love shopping ONLINE. I got this product for the price I was looking & I'm very happy with it. The letters & road directions are much bigger on 4.3 inch widescreen than TOM TOM or Garmin. You can see it yourself. Seeing is believing. The only problem was with UPS who didn't ring my door bell despite I was at home. Pls tell UPS drivers to ring the bell all the time when they come to deliver the shipment. Thks.Magellan Maestro 4210 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator Get more detail about Magellan Maestro 4210 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

Shop For Garmin nüvi 260 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator


My first GPS unit was a TomTom One and I really liked it. Not everything about it was perfect, but it was very easy to use. Well, it got stolen and my brother happen to be moving overseas so he gave me his Garmin Nuvi 260.

In my opinion, it's not very intuitive. I recently used it on a trip cross country. I would program in our destination, let the device program our route which was pretty much I-40 west the entire way, and look to see our approximate arrival time. Instead of leaving the device plugged in because it already had a full battery charge, I would shut off the device. After a few hours of driving, I'd turn the device back on to find out how much further we had to travel and it would lose the programmed destination every time even though the battery still showed a full charge. So I'd either have to leave the device on or reprogram the destination each and every time. My TomTom One would keep the route stored until I cleared it out. 1 star

A lot of the times it was pretty quick to pick up satellites and pinpoint our location. It would also process routes pretty quickly as well. There were a few occasion where the device knew where we were but had no idea in which direction I was driving so the little car just sort of looked lost. 4 stars

Ease of use or intuitiveness. If you've never had a GPS unit before, I suppose this one would be very easy to learn and use. However, having owned a TomTom in the past, TomTom's ease of use and intuitiveness are head and shoulders above this unit. I can't speak for other Garmin's because this is the only one I've owned. 3 stars

Battery life. I left this on at one point and got what I thought was a decent amount of time out of the battery. I can't remember the exact length of time, but I think it was somewhere around a couple of hours. For a portable device, if you turn it off to save juice then turn it back on, your destination will be lost....or at least it was on mine.

Yes...I've done all the updates that are available.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't spend my own money on this unit. There have been several times while using it to navigate through LA that I've wanted to throw it out the window. Even though I follow its directions, in some cases after each turn it will say "recalculating". What?!?!? It gets us from point A to point B pretty accurately. One thing I do love is the fact that it tells you whether your address destination is on the right or the left side of the road....something my TomTom did not do.

I don't think I'd recommend this to a friend as I'm sure there are better units out there in the same price range.Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 260 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

TomTom ONE XL-S 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator


Why do I have a love-hate relationship with the XLS, this wonderful piece of junk? I bought it last year, Nov 5 2008, and it works beautifully! Hard to figure out how to use it - the manual was next to WORTHLESS - and once I understood the unit I enjoyed it! None better in my opinion. BUT (there is always a 'but') I own an iMac. Updating the unit last June destroyed it. Spent a full day backing up, downloading new map, etc, and sent it back because it wouldn't turn on. Got a new unit (WONDERFUL customer relations dept - but inexperienced on a mac), tried to update it - same problem. Got a new unit (WONDERFUL warranty!), told map problem was fixed - you guessed it - destroyed that one, too, got another unit just today, with a 2 year old map on it.
I won't hook it up to my iMac again, just enjoy using it (old map and all!). Good software, takes me where I want to go, comfortable in feeling it won't let me down. like an old pair of shoes, I guess.Get more detail about TomTom ONE XL-S 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

Magellan Maestro 3225 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished) Review


I received the Magellan Maestro GPS today and tried it out and I just love it !!! Amazon is an awesome place to buy your needs and wants. Super fast shipping and such great deals. I am very happy with everything I have bought from them.Get more detail about Magellan Maestro 3225 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished).

Monday, February 8, 2010

JVC KW-NX7000BT Double-DIN Navigation Receiver with 7-Inch Widescreen Detachable Touch-Panel Monitor, DVD/CD/USB/SD Card, iPod USB 2.0 with Bluetooth Adapter Top Quality


I just bought this receiver as a christmas present to myself for my Scion Xa.
I had a portable GPS and a portable XM radio MyFi that caused way too many cords everywhere, and I wanted to simplify and consolidate.

This thing is AWESOME!
The Navigation works wonderfully... the text to voice street names are crystal clear, and the voice is very normal sounding and smooth.
The screen is nice and bright and quite easy to navigate.

You can easily bypass the parking brake DVD restriction (I don't condone this of course) by tapping the green Parking Brake wire to the black ground wire.
Much easier/quicker than finding the actual parking brake wire location.

MP3 folder layout is great... I am using a 16GB SDHC card and I loaded it with music... no fumbling with silly proprietary iPods... stick with drag and drop MP3's!
However, one downside is that you CANNOT play Divx movies from the SD card! You can only do that through a burned DVD/CD or through the USB connection to a portable hard drive or thumb drive.

I love that you can detach the unit, and also I love the motion detection so that menus come up when you go to touch the screen/buttons.

The remote is well laid-out, good quality, and very usable.

I highly recommend all JVC products... I now have a home receiver, small tabletop unit for the bedroom, and this car receiver, so they have gotten many a penny from me!

Happy hunting!Get more detail about JVC KW-NX7000BT Double-DIN Navigation Receiver with 7-Inch Widescreen Detachable Touch-Panel Monitor, DVD/CD/USB/SD Card, iPod USB 2.0 with Bluetooth Adapter.

TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator This instant


Excellent product, we purchased one several months ago and were so happy we purchased a second one. We were disappointed to discover that the second one was a much older version of the 720. Get more detail about TomTom GO 720 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Garmin nüvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Voice Command and FM Transmitter (Soft Black) Immediately


This is a wonderful little machine. It is the basic 800 series which means it has the same engine as the most expensive units without some of the bells and whistles, and yet has all that is convenient and important.

It is highly accurate, and fast. I love the feature where it remembers where I left the car when I take it out of its cradle and will guide me right to my car if I need to. When I go to a site in a mall or a large complex like a hospital I can save the exact location of where I am and use that instead of an address which at times can be vague.

For example when I visit a large hospital here with several entrances it will guide me right to the parking place I chose to make into a favorite.


The voice recognition works very well. I never have to touch the unit to perform any and all of the many options available to me. For example while I am driving I can direct it via voice activated command to take me to the nearest Burger King, of Hampton Inn, either as detour or as a new destination.

I find the volume from the unit sufficient, but I prefer to hear directions through my car stereo system. Since my FM antenna is located at the back of the car the FM from the GPS unit does not work too well. I bought one of those little cigarette lighter FM transmitters, and connected it to the GPS audio output and it works just fine. If you have an audio input to your car stereo you don't need the FM transmitter; just connect your GPS directly through that.

All in all I am very satisfied with this unit, and I am happy to recommend it to any person who is interested in adding a GPS system to their car, or replacing an older unit as I did.
Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Voice Command and FM Transmitter (Soft Black).

Rightway RW500JR Spotter 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Dale Earnhardt Jr. Edition) Best Quality


I bought these as Christmas presents, so hopefully they will work okay. The packaging looks brand new, in which they are brand new. I received them promptly in good packaging. So far I am very happy, and I'm sure when they are opened at Christmas, my husband & son will love them.Get more detail about Rightway RW500JR Spotter 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Dale Earnhardt Jr. Edition).