GPS Reviews
February 15, 2010
TomTom Ease Full Review
TomTom
announced the TomTom Ease for the US market last month at the CES 2010 show; it's a US version of the Euro based
TomTom Start, announced last year. The entry level devices are targeted at ease of use with a simplified menu, and some features that make it very competitive as an entry level device like
Text to Speech spoken street name direction. The standard sized screen (3.5-inch), and simple EasyPort mount offer quick stowage in tight places, while the changeable backplates make for a potentially fun accessory play later to personalize the unit.
I picked up a
TomTom EASE at Amazon
for around $100 for the purposes of this review, and have been testing it out around town for almost a couple of weeks now. My concerns were around quality of the fit and finish - did TomTom cut too many corners, is the menu system easier to use, and does the performance stack up against other entry level devices.
Continue reading: "TomTom Ease Full Review"
December 21, 2009
TomTom iPhone Navigation App Update 1.2 - Full Review
I recently reviewed the TomTom iPhone Navigation App, and called it, "a solid first step platform onto which TomTom can build a world-class navigation product. I do want to see further enhancements for the product, including Text to Speech, lane guidance and live traffic feeds, but I anticipate that this is right around the corner, and can successfully be build on top of the existing platform."
Well, we appear to be just around the corner, and TomTom has offered us the version 1.2 to their application for free with a nice list of additional features that make their Navigation app a very respectable player in the space including:
- Text to Speech
- Updated Maps and Points of Interest
- IQ Routes - a way for the TomTom to benefit from actual drive times collected by users anonymously reporting back their speed along roads.
- Advanced Lane Guidance - shows you what lane to be in while approaching complex highway intersections
- Added iPod player support - some limited support for the iPod within the App itself
To some extent this closes the gap with competition that TomTom has with the navigation App, but I give them credit for getting out there with an App early and then iterating quickly to build on success. It's already one of the top grossing Apps in the iTunes App store. I would expect that they will add a for an incremental fee, traffic service onto the App sometime soon. No insider info here, but it's the next logical step in the development pipeline, and they already have the capability to sign people up for live traffic feeds through their standalone platform.
So, the improvements are helpful and certainly worth the free upgrade price. While there have been some issues installing the upgrade, I simply ended up deleting my ver 1.1 on my phone and installing my 1.2 on the iPhone. It just made things easier as I am maxing out the memory with apps, and other junk on there.
Text to Speech
I did not have an issue hearing the iPhone, even at highway speeds, and the text to speech is a nice addition. I have always recommended text to speech if you can afford it as it makes navigating in urban and suburban areas a lot easier when you can hear the road name and then look for the street sign. It inspires a lot more confidence and the added feature performs well. There are all kinds of recorded voices in different languages, but only one "Computer" voice that offers text to speech in the North American version - it's "Samantha"
IQ Routes
The IQ Routes system with your permission, collected actual travel time as stand alone GPS units traveled the highways and byways of the land, in effect correcting their assumptions on travel times on specific roadways. It's a sort of historical average speed across a road with thousands of trips in the database. They might originally think that a road can be traveled at its speed limit, but in fact with two lights and a lot of people turning, the effective time to travel on a road might be 10% slower. You are able to shut off the IQ route capability to test the difference in predicted travel times. In my use, I could see a difference in planning routes, but the difference was minimal in a lot of instances.
Advanced Lane Guidance
I like lane guidance images and use them when available on my GPS navigators. The TomTom App gives you the opportunity to turn it off if you want - Settings--> Advanced--> Lane Images. Often times this feature is reserved for some of the higher end devices, but is finding its way down the product line. It's something I would expect to see in an iPhone App which should be able to support higher end features.
iPod Support
the iPod support can be had by tapping the bottom boarder of the map, and a slider comes up showing a music note and a voice icon. Tap the music note and a Rewind, Play, Fast Forward bar slides out to offer you the opportunity to play whatever is queued up in your iPod function. You are able to start a song or album before launching the TomTom App, and continue to control it from inside the App. You don't have full browse capability or album picking but it's a good start. The image below shows you the bottom of the (portrait layout) screen with the iPod controls.
Summary
Net, I think that these additions are a good next step for TomTom, and they offer a quality set of features built on top of a quality navigation product. I do expect to see traffic enabled soon, and continued development of the navigation capabilities and maps.
October 19, 2009
TomTom iPhone App Full Review
The TomTom App for the iPhone
was one of the early Apps for the iPhone from a major GPS manufacturer and easily emulates their standalone models in functionality and quality. Navigating with the iPhone has been an unmet promise since the iPhone launched with its teaser GPS capability, which until its update this summer would not allow turn by turn direction Apps on the device.
TomTom's iPhone App is a straight forward navigator, not really utilizing the extensive connectivity to perform back flips in the navigation world, but instead elects to put its energy into making a high quality experience for users in a simple interface. This sometimes limiting simplicity offers entry level capabilities in a trustworthy wrapper that I think is surprisingly good. What I cannot capture properly in words is the simple convenience of having a capable navigation device in your pocket wherever you go. There is no wondering if you left your GPS in the other car, no wondering if you left it at home while on a business trip (happened to me recently and it was a miserable experience - tried to navigate with built in Google maps while someone else drove; never again), and no wondering if you will get to your destination; your GPS is already in your pocket.
Continue reading: "TomTom iPhone App Full Review"
July 12, 2009
TomTom GO 740 LIVE Full Review
The TomTom GO 740 LIVE marks the first entry to the US market of a connected service by TomTom, one of the top names in personal navigation devices, making a strong step into the next generation of devices with its access to better traffic alerts, Google Search, gas prices and more. At the base, the TomTom 740 is a fully functional navigation unit offering a top of the line approach to TomTom's version of features, **lane assist, Bluetooth handsfree capability, Help Me!, MapShare, and IQ Routes - a way of learning about travel times based on other people's read world experience.
With a strong base, the TomTom GO 740 LIVE adds on a nice set of features allowing the connected device to help make your commute easier, a search for a destination more straightforward and and overall more informed traveler when you decide to use the connected features as part of your planning process. The ability doesn't come free through, as the connected plan essentially has you paying about $10 per month for the connected services. Don't want to pay the fees? The GO 740 LIVE becomes a regular old GPS, that still allows you to navigate to an on-board set of POI's, with a strong feature set and solid navigation. If you are not in the market for the LIVE connected capabilities, look elsewhere, as there are cheaper ways even within the TomTom line to get a full complement of features without paying for the LIVE capabilities that TomTom includes. As I came into the testing of the TomTom GO 740 LIVE for this review, key in my mind were the question son how well do the connected features work, how are they integrated into the regular GPS navigation capabilities and the bottom line or is it all worth the extra $10 a month for the subscription.
Continue reading: "TomTom GO 740 LIVE Full Review"
March 23, 2009
TeleNav Shotgun Connected GPS Full Review
The TeleNav Shotgun is a the latest internet connected GPS that adds a lot of capabilities to the standard GPS by having a realtime full data connection to the internet over the cellular network. The Shotgun has internet search functions for Points of Interest, gas station searches that include gas price data, a big plus these days. The TeleNav Shotgun adds a conservative number of functions to the featureset, stopping short of some of the far reaching capabilities of the Dash Navigation folks when they launched the first connected GPS early last year.
With the fatter data pipe that the cellular network offers, more granular traffic information can be sent to the device, offering you a more accurate view of what lies ahead. The Telenav Shotgun is targeted at the business travelers who are generally out in the traffic on a regular basis, so the better detail and capabilities should be welcome. Speaking of business travelers, the Shotgun also captures your mileage, offering the easy ability to capture trip distances for mileage reimbursement.
Continue reading: "TeleNav Shotgun Connected GPS Full Review"
December 15, 2008
Navigon 2200T Full Review
Navigon just recently launched the Navigon 2200T, an entry level unit with some pretty un-entry level set of features, like lifetime traffic, text to speech and lane assist, a way to see which lane to be in as you navigate through those complex intersections. Navigon has been on the market elsewhere for a while, but really made their mark about a year ago in the US, where they rocketed onto the market with their Navigon 2100, an earlier entry level model.
The 2200T at its base is a standard screen 3.5-inch unit that offers real time traffic through a TMC traffic receiver that has its antenna built right into unit - something that makes the unit a lot easier to deal with instead of an extra cord dangling from the unit. The unit offers some advanced guidance capabilities like Lane Assist that shows you where to go in a small schematic on what lane you need to be in coming up to an intersection. If that's not enough, you get reality view, a 3-D view, a way to see how you should drive; just like you were flying through the intersection before you drive it. Text to Speech rounds out this list of features before we go and try this unit out.
Continue reading: "Navigon 2200T Full Review"
November 23, 2008
TomTom ONE 125 Full Review
The new TomTom ONE 125 comes to the market at a time of intense competition and high expectations for the major GPS makers as they vie to marketshare and the attention of the millions of shoppers who are discovering the wonders of not getting lost and actually getting to where you want to go without stopping, backtracking or imagine that, asking for directions at a gas station. It also comes to market at a time when shoppers are starting to parade out to stores with cash in hand for holiday shopping.
TomTom ONE 125 vs. ONE 130
The TomTom ONE 125 brings a special edition that may or may not be around after the holiday push. The only difference between the TomTom ONE 130 and the TomTom ONE 125 is that the TomTom ONE 125 has US maps, and not the full North American maps like the TomTom ONE 130. Not a big sacrifice for people who may never venture north to Canada. I predict that it will be a big seller for Black Friday - If you want more info on Black Friday 2008 see all of the Black Friday GPS deals. The TomTom ONE 125 continues the slimmed down design with an ultra thin look, and an innovative mount, dubbed the EasyPort. Fold flat profile and a twist to adhere suction mount make the EasyPort different in the GPS world.
Continue reading: "TomTom ONE 125 Full Review"
November 19, 2008
Alpine PND-K3 Review
Not well known for their GPS products, Alpine is known for their quality car electronics. Their PND-K3 GPS is a widescreen (4.3-inch) gps that comes with US and Canada NAVTEQ maps preloaded, Bluetooth handsfree calling, with text to speech capabilities. The unit features a new interface that was not carried over from its older models. The K3 also comes with advanced positioning that allows the unit to maintain its approximate location when it goes through tunnels. This is type of capability was also debuted on the TomTom GO 920. I found it effective driving through Boston's Big Dig tunnels. The Alpine PND-K3 offers a split screen view when you are heading through difficult intersections on the highways. As one would expect from Alpine, they offer music player functionality that will accommodate MP3 and WMV files. Load your songs on an SD Card (up to 4GB) and supports decent functionality including playlist creation.
CNet recently put up their review of the Alpine PND-K3 and rated it middle of the road. It offered decent navigation, and quick route recalculations when a turn was missed, but they didn't always agree with the routes picked as the best way to get to their destination. Battery life, rated for 2 hours, barely met that hurdle. The price can be steep, but the interface is much improved.
Read More on the Alpine PND- K3 at CNet
At Amazon - the Alpine PND-K3 GPS
November 16, 2008
Garmin Nuvi 205/255 Full Review
The Garmin Nuvi 205/255 were announced earlier this year and are quickly taking their place as solid entry level units in the Garmin line-up. The Nuvi 205/255 offer a series of new features and upgrades that improve on an already top notch interface, making the Nuvi 205/255 my pick for Best Entry Level GPS Navigators. I would urge you to upgrade to the Nuvi 255 for its text to speech (TTS) capabilities, as I feel TTS is one of the best investments to make when purchasing a GPS - it makes the navigation simpler and easier to follow in an ever more complex world of driving.
The Nuvi 205/255 feature several upgraded features:
- New faster processor, making for a faster routing and map drawing.
- New shaded elevation maps.
- Now compatible with optional TMC traffic receivers, or MSN Direct service (Gas prices, traffic, local events, stocks, news, and weather.
- Garmin HotFix capability to automatically calculate and store satellite locations so that you will be able to turn the unit on and go a lot faster greatly reducing satellite acquisition time.
- Geolocated Picture capability - Download geotagged photos to the Garmin to be able to navigate to a loaded picture; works with Google's Panoramio photo sharing community and Garmin Connect Photos website.
The subtle changes don't sell themselves in any huge way as breakthrough innovations, but these changes add up to a whole lot more in use than the quick read might lead you to believe. Garmin clearly did some work here to make the interface better and easier to understand. The tweaks are another step on their continuous line of interface changes that make the units simple enough for all to use.
Let's take a look at what's inside and why these are worth the upgrade.
Continue reading: "Garmin Nuvi 205/255 Full Review"
November 9, 2008
Insignia CNV10/CNV20 Full Review
Update: The CNV-10 and CNV-20 are on sale for $99 and $149 respectively; are they worth it? Maybe.......
BestBuy brought the Insignia CNV10/CNV-20 Internet Connected GPS to the market a few weeks ago as the second Internet connected GPS to hit the US market. There are others out there, the first one being the Dash Express, an internet connected GPS that also connects via WiFi to utilize the cheaper and high bandwidth to update maps while sitting in your garage. Magellan has talked for almost a year about having the Magellan 5340+GPRS come to market (and recently announced that they are suspending development on it), as has Garmin with their Nuvifone. Finally, TomTom has hit the market in Europe with their HD designated units that have a SIM chip in the power cord, connecting their units to the internet; if we're lucky, it might even hit the shelves in the US. OK - you get the picture, everyone is thinking about one, but in the end, Dash was here and now Insignia, but not all the others.
The Insignia CNV10 is the standard screen unit (3.5-inch) while the CNV20 is the widescreen unit on the market that offers the ability to search via Google (nearly infinite Points of Interest as a result, right?), send an address to your unit over the airwaves from Google Maps, but most importantly get high quality, high definition traffic updates to the unit. The higher bandwidth allows for a finer resolution in theory of the current traffic situations versus the low bandwidth TMC system that goes over the FM airwaves. Dash takes this to the next level by making the units separate traffic probes, reporting back the situation that you are in, and if you are stuck, it will warn other Dash units that the traffic is bad at your current position.
The Insignia CNV10/CNV20 units come with a 1-year subscription to the cellular network, which gives you an answer to why the fairly basic 3.5-inch screened unit costs $399; a similar, non-connected Garmin costs under $200, while the Dash Express costs $299 + the cellular plan of about $12 per month. See my Unboxing of the Insignia CNV10 for more product shots.
So, doe the Insignia CNV10/CNV20 offer these advanced features in an easy to use format? Did it keep me out of the traffic commuting around Boston? Read on......
See our Unboxing of the CNV-10 for more information and pictures on the unit.
Continue reading: "Insignia CNV10/CNV20 Full Review"
October 30, 2008
Garmin Nuvi 775T Review
The Garmin Nuvi 775T is one of the newer widescreen GPS units (Announced in
August) in the Nuvi line at this writing and offers several key upgrades over the Nuvi 770 offering that I think are useful and worth consideration when shopping for a GPS. I firmly believe that text to speech and widescreen GPS units are worth paying the additional money for, and being at the high end of the Garmin line, the Nuvi 775T has both. That's not all though, as Garmin has seen their way to adding in a few other goodies to keep people interested and enticed enough to put the Nuvi 775T high on their list. The reason to spend a little more on teh Nuvi 775T is to get both North American AND European maps pre-loaded on the device. If you are heading to Europe and want a GPS, this is a great high end choice.
Let's take a look at the features of the Garmin Nuvi 775T to see what it has to offer....
Continue reading: "Garmin Nuvi 775T Review"
October 26, 2008
Garmin Nuvi 205W, 255W Full Review
The Garmin Nuvi 205W/255W were announced earlier this year and are quickly taking their place as solid entry level units in the Garmin line-up. The Nuvi 205W/255W offer a series of new tweaks that I have quickly come to appreciate and enjoy.
The Nuvi 205W/255W feature several upgraded features:
- New faster processor, making for a faster routing and map drawing.
- New shaded elevation maps.
- Now compatible with optional TMC traffic receivers, or MSN Direct service (Gas prices, traffic, local events, stocks, news, and weather.
- Garmin HotFix capability to automatically calculate and store satellite locations so that you will be able to turn the unit on and go a lot faster greatly reducing satellite acquisition time.
- Geolocated Picture capability - Download geotagged photos to the Garmin to be able to navigate to a loaded picture; works with Google's Panoramio photo sharing community and Garmin Connect Photos website.
The subtle changes don't sell themselves in any huge way as breakthrough innovations, but these changes add up to a whole lot more in use than the quick read might lead you to believe. If these were houses for sale, the 200W/250W and the 205W/255W may look the same from the outside, and offer the same number of bedrooms and baths, but the think of it like the Nuvi 205W and Nuvi 255W just got kitchen, bath and master suite upgrades that make them stand out as easier and more enjoyable to use.
Let's take a look at what's inside and why these are worth the upgrade.
Update: The Nuvi 2x5 series has the ability to use the Garmin ecoRoute program that helps you drive more efficiently. It's not nirvana, but it can help those interested in being a little more gas conscious. See my post "Got ecoRoute?..."
Continue reading: "Garmin Nuvi 205W, 255W Full Review"
October 23, 2008
Jeep GPS Navigator RT-300 Review
It's always a little concerning when I see co-branded GPS units that usually scream "crap" as they attempt to sell a pretty complex piece of electronics based on a commoditized interface. I will say it again, It's easy to make a GPS, It's hard to make a good GPS, and PC Mag just reviewed the Jeep GPS Navigator RT-300 that sounds like it fails to meet expectations and offers a poor quality product that can't measure up to the quality standards set by Garmin and TomTom.
Craig Ellison reports that the interface is a bit clunky and that it is based on Windows CE, which is fairly standard for a lot of third tier units which gather a whole bunch of applications that aren't seamlessly put together and usually provides mediocre navigation at best.
The Jeep Navigator RT-300 comes with a ruggedized rubber cover that may fit with the Jeep lifestyle, but doesn't offer a lot of the attributes that might actually enable the Jeep lifestyle, like off-road capabilities, or waterproof ratings. I can't tell you how many times I was caught in a rainstorm in my Wrangler when I had it; I would have ruined a GPS several times over if I had one due to rain alone. Maybe the new Garmin Nuvi 500
would be a better choice - off road capable, waterproof to 1 meter, and comes with Topographic maps. Jeep had been with Garmin a while ago; maybe they should have locked up a deal on something like the Nuvi 500?
October 19, 2008
Insignia GPS NS CNV-10 Connected GPS - Unboxing & First Impressions Review
UPDATE: See my Full Review of the Insignia CNV-10/CNV-20 - a Must Read BEFORE you waste your money.
The new Insignia Connected GPS unit is shipping and I thought I would grab a new Insignia GPS NS CNV-10 Connected GPS over the weekend to check out the Best Buy house brand's new connected GPS out, then put up a First Impressions Review. The CNV-10 and CNV-20 units just became available and are the second brand of connected GPS to hit the US market; the first being the Dash Express. The benefits of having a connected GPS can be numerous, but for now, the Insignia is counting on better traffic data, better search results through Google, and the ability to email locations straight to your GPS from websites like Google Maps. The Insignia CNV-10 offers a 3.5-inch screen while the CNV-20 offers the 4.3-inch widescreen.
A quick trip to Best Buy had me walk out with the goods and a few hundred dollars lighter ($399 + Tax). The box reminds you that you had better like this or else, with its 15% re-stocking fee reminder. Open the box up and you'll find the diminutive unit set in a large cardboard holder, which when removed will reveal the rest of the ingredients that will make up the entire batch of connected GPS goodness.
More after the Jump......
Continue reading: "Insignia GPS NS CNV-10 Connected GPS - Unboxing & First Impressions Review"
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