Nextar ME 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Buy Now

I purchased this GPS unit around August of 2009 at Target. Target had the units on sale for $89.99 at the time. It wasn't the best GPS unit in the world, but I was pretty happy with it. It did always get me where I wanted to go, however I often felt that my girlfriends Garmin took more sensible routes.

My feelings about this unit changed in November when daylight savings occurred. We fall back an hour but the GPS failed to do so. Instead the little Nextar unit can't decide what time it is anymore. It jumps around from between 2 hours ahead or behind the actual time and never stops. Me calculated ETA is never correct from this point forward. There apparently is no way to set time manually and turning off auto GPS time doesn't help. Nextar's solution of a hard reset also failed to do the trick.... great! I opted to hold onto the GPS unit a little bit longer as I needed it for a 5 hour trip, which is when another problem popped up.

Towards the end of November the sound started to go on my GPS unit. At first the voice simply cutout or got scratchy every once in a while. As time progressed the sound the voice commands became incomprehensible and then sound stopped working all together on the unit. Nextar's solution? A hard reset, which obviously failed to fix the unit.

The unit is under warranty and Nextar agrees to take it in for service. I think everything has gone quite well and am pleased with the service I received over the phone. A few minutes later I receive an e-mail from Nextar detailing how to send the unit back to them. The e-mail asks that I include a money order or cashiers check for $25 with the unit for return shipping and handling!!!!! So, I have to pay to ship it to them, and I have to pay them to ship it back to me? What kind of warranty or service is this? I've dealt with a lot of companies and none of ever asked that I pay a return shipping fee on an item in warranty. Realistically, it would cost me $4-$5 to ship it to them, but they need $25 to do the same? That's more than 1/4 of what I paid for the unit in the first place.

I ended up taking the unit back to Target and exchanging it for a Garmin. Lesson learned. I would have considered a Magellan except for the fact that Target doesn't carry that brand.

I'll admit the Nextar wasn't all bad. It does have a lot of advanced features for the the price. You would pay a lot more for features like lane guidance and multi-point routing if you bought a Garmin or Magellan. However, I don't feel the Tele-Atlas maps are as good as the Navteq maps after now experiencing both. What could be a decent little GPS is very much let down by the horrid service Nextar provides and the apparently poor build quality or quality control of the company.

If you were to ask me, I'd recommend pinching a few extra pennies so you can pick up a Garmin or Magellan GPS unit.Get more detail about Nextar ME 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

Harman Kardon GPS-510 4-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator and Media Player Order Now

I'll make this short and sweet. This unit is a piece of junk. I've used Garmin and Tom Tom in the past, and I had my share of complaints about the particular quirks of those units, but they both blow this thing away. I bought the Harman because I figured, even if the GPS function has deficiencies, it would be more that compensated by the media playing capabilities of the unit. I was wrong. I never had a chance to use the media functions because I couldn't get past how lousy the GPS works. Aside from being very difficult to follow onscreen, it CONSTANTLY took me to dead ends and roads that don't exist. The other frustration was that, despite a nice 4" screen, I still had major problems with the size of the icons and my slightly large fingers not being able to hit the icons I was aiming for. My frustration with this crappy excuse for a GPS has reached a climax, and I am officially dumping it today.
Pass on this one.
Get more detail about Harman Kardon GPS-510 4-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator and Media Player.

Pharos 535e Traveler 3.5-Inch Screen Portable GPS Unit with Wi-Fi and Windows Mobile Office Decide Now

I bought this with my Xmas and bday money combined; for me it was expensive. I ignored the fact that it was a GPS (cause it requires more money to get), and thanks to my house's WiFi network, was able to get it on the 'Net within 1 hour of recieving the package. The webpages are a little messed up unless they come in a ".mobi" or a "m.website.com" format, but many major sites offer that. Just search '__________ mobile', and a alternative might come up. PPT Mobile is only for viewing powerpoint, not editing, and apps are widely available at some websites (.CAB format). It met my expactations, if not better!Get more detail about Pharos 535e Traveler 3.5-Inch Screen Portable GPS Unit with Wi-Fi and Windows Mobile Office.

Magellan Roadmate 3000T Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player (Factory-Refurbished) Right now

I bought this unit hoping to like it but it has buttons all over the sides, look at the picture. You can't pick it up or hold it without activating a button that screws up your settings. I quickly sold mine for something you could hold without pressing a button.

Also the hard case is
overkill maybe because of the problem I mentioned they overcompensated. I suppose it might be alright if you leave it in the mount but my window is so far forward I need to handle it to input and can't hold it without pressing a button accidentally.Get more detail about Magellan Roadmate 3000T Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player (Factory-Refurbished).

Low Price Magellan Maestro 3225 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

I have had this for about 1 month. I would recommend this product. Here is my experience so far:

Pros:
Awesome GPS Locking (faster and never looses the signal)
Text-Speech feature
Directions okay (this GPS loves U turns - you hear them more in general)
User Interface okay (some options need multiple clicks to go thru)
Screen is clearly visible in both sun light and night time
Device is lighter, smaller, fits into pocket very easily
Good dashmoard mount
Comes with wall charger and car charger

Cons:
Directions are not perfect sometimes (asks for too many legal U turns)
Maps date back to 2007 (you can get the updated 2008 maps within 30 days from Magellan for free almost - $10 compared to $79 regular price)
1.3 million POI (instead of 6 million) - you can download 6 million POI from internet free (Search for AnandTech) which I did and it is very easyGet more detail about Magellan Maestro 3225 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

Save Bushnell Onix200CR GPS Navigation System

Bought this product because i lost my garmin. What a mistake!!!!!!!!! Basemap is has nothing on it. Takes for ever to lock on to satallites. screen got scratched wiping the rain off of it with a soft glove. Tried to have bushnell refund my money got no support took them a week to even respond to my e-mail.Get more detail about Bushnell Onix200CR GPS Navigation System.

Discount Valor NVG-606W 6-Inch Double-DIN Touchscreen Navigation System

Just bought this and installed. It worked initially, but then on the second power-up, it only says "Navigation System not Found". It says "Bad Card" on the SD. I tried several other 1GB SD cards to see if it would read the MP3 files. It just says "Bad Card" on every single SD card I tried. I reset the unit several times. Called Valor Tech Support, but they could not figure out why.

Don't waste your money on this. I will return to Amazon and try the Kenwood unit.

I also tried using Windows XP, instead of Vista to download & unzip the firmware from the Valor website for the NVG-606w. Did not work.

It seems like there is something wrong with the SD card reader.

After trying several SD cards, it would finally read the MP3 files. But then when I power it off and on again, it would say "Bad Card" and "Can't Find Navigation System".

Lesson learned: Buy a high quality unit from kenwood, Pioneer, or Panasonic.Get more detail about Valor NVG-606W 6-Inch Double-DIN Touchscreen Navigation System.

Cheapest GARMIN 010-00401-10 StreetPilot(R) C330 GPS Reciever

Very disappointing. And their online support sux. The webpage with frequently asked questions wouldn't come up. Get more detail about GARMIN 010-00401-10 StreetPilot(R) C330 GPS Reciever.

Cheap Nextar 3.5-Inch GPS Vehicle Navigator (Black)

I had a nextar 3.5 GPS which was stolen out of my car. My wife and I used it on our cross country trip last year . It was God send. That is why I purchased the same one.Get more detail about Nextar 3.5-Inch GPS Vehicle Navigator (Black).

Buying Nextar X3-02 Gps Navigation System with MP3 Player

It works alright, but there are no map updates! Roads change so often and a lot of the newer addresses I put in cannot be found! Nextar does not offer map updates, which will make this obsolete in no time. Very unfortunate, because it works fairly well otherwise.Get more detail about Nextar X3-02 Gps Navigation System with MP3 Player.

Buy AMCOR 3900 3.5" PROTABLE GPS

I've owned this unit for about 4 months now. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the negative reviews here. This unit does have a very low battery life and is practically unusable without direct power plugin to your cigarette lighter connector. It is also unfortunate that AMCOR provides no map updates. Multiple times, I've been unable to find destination addresses on the unit, even for areas that have been around for more than 3 years. I would not buy this brand again.Get more detail about AMCOR 3900 3.5" PROTABLE GPS.