Name: Jeff Jones
Location: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Date: 2006-10-05
Customer Rating: -
Summary: very nicely done with the important detalis included
Comment: We enjoyed the convenience of traveling with our Roadmate 500. When you arrive in a new city somewhere, you are tired and unfamiliar and no matter how much you love each other, getting lost on the way to the hotel is good for some cranky exchange.
The 500 is obsolete as far as European maps are concerned so with an upcoming 3 weeks in Italy, it was time to see how far the new portables have come. My Lexus GX is disappointing and ridiculously expensive for what you get. It is non-intuitive (IMHO) and you cannot change anything underway requiring pulling over in spots equally as dangerous as Toyota/Lexus feels changing while moving is.
It came down to Garmin's sexy and capable NUVI 360 and the fishfinder Lowrance company's iWay 250C. I tried both side-by-side to see how they performed. You cannot go wrong with either one and I found the differences negligible for my needs. Navteq maps are superior to anything else in the USA and Tele Atlas are the benchmark for Europe. Lowrance did that right among other things. NUVI uses Navteq which is apparently very good in Europe as well but Tele Atlas is reprted to be better there.
Both are intuitive out of the box. The NUVI is sleek and slightly smaller and both are about the same weight. The NUVI resolution is superior and the voice street names are great. Lowrance will name some streets and the others are clearly annouced as "Left turn in 400 feet" or whatever. The NUVI sports Bluetooth capability with your compatible phone but the volume is not suffient to make it useable even in a nice quiet Lexus or equivelant so that is wasted on me. The MP3 capability is of little interest to us but we may learn more and find it uselful. NUVI will play your MP3's while navigating which the 250C will not, I don't care.
As far as POI's, the 250C found more for me but it was a relatively small sample so don't make a decision because of this. I found the real resosn for owning either one is the navigation. It is hard to justify paying twice the price for same maps and a slightly inferior voice capability. The auto version of the mapping on the Lowrance is so cool as it knows to give you the grander picture when you have some distance before the next turn and kindly switches to an expanded view when necessary.
The mount on the NUVI is excellant and so is the Lowrance. Both have enroute travel power cords and both have supplementry maps on cards wherever you want to go. I will keep the Lowrance and return the NUVI, the price is just not worth the difference, at least to me, although your mileage may vary...
Name: T. Ngo
Location: NJ
Date: 2007-05-31
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Tiny but Strong
Comment: I have read previous reviews about this unit. However, I have mixed feelings about the issues with the signal acquiring time too slow, and puny CPU when calculating routes. Well, I purchased the unit for my wife's car, because the built in NAV for my car is very useful. We use my wife's car whenever we go for a long distance trip with the kids. So, I thought a portable NAV should be feasible in term of costing. I purchased the unit a little over a week ago, and I'll tell you it works like a charm. The nice thing about this unit is it got the latest map and build version when arrived. I took the little iWay out for a test against my in car NAV, and it works beautifully. Acquiring signal within minutes (less than 2). What I found interesting was the auto re-route function. After setting the destinations for both NAVs, and proceed as instructed. I purposely take a wrong turn to see how the auto re-route wok, and to my amazement, the little iWay quickly auto re-route a few seconds before my in car NAV does! The auto re-route was fast and pretty accurate. I was amazed. I also did a little test on how fast the routes generation work by entering my parent's home address, which is in Montreal Canada. And I'll tell you, the route generations only took less than a minute (say about 30 seconds). Quite fast for a little guy. One other function that I found most often used when on travel is the Find function (iWay) or the Quick Stop (my in car NAV). This function will find the nearest restaurants, rest stops, ATM, GAS, and etc. Very useful feature and a must have. Overall, this little Gem iWay 250c is a Champ. Works great out of the box, easy to use Graphical interface, pretty darn accurate, great price and features for the money. I highly recommend this product to everyone. If you have an issue with your signal acquisition than you must have gotten a defected product. Return and exchange for a new one.
Name: T. Kingston
Location: Scottsdale, AZ United States
Date: 2007-05-18
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Big Bang for Buck
Comment: Bought this unit at a Wholesale Distributor for $169.00, got more than I think I paid for. Unit comes fully charged which is wonderful, when you want to play with your new toy. I did not have any problems with the slow Satellite Acquisition here in Phoenix. Although the Unit does not speak the street names, this may not be so bad for barely unpronouncable street names anyway. The only small issue I have is that the maps seem slightly outdated, however contacted Customer Service any they said they update the software now and again and to check their website periodically. To get all the details on the specs of the unit see other reviews but I can tell to you for less than $200 this unit is a steal.
Name: THOMAS F. OBRIEN Jr.
Location: Washington, North Carolina USA
Date: 2007-06-07
Customer Rating: -
Summary: A GPS Gem
Comment: This is my 3rd (and least expensive) automobile GPS. It is by far the best. On a recent trip a reunion group was given written directions to a classmate's home in a gated, remote location. Many lost their way. I entered the address, ignored the written instructions, and was led flawlessly through complex turns to the location. The touch-screen operation (no push buttons!) is a real plus and the programmable SD card data storage promises a long up-to-date life. The screen size is a bit small, but bright and easily readable, even for a senior citizen.
Name: Kyle M. Lomax
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA
Date: 2007-03-11
Customer Rating: -
Summary: My First GPS and I was using it in 2 minutes
Comment: I recently purchased this item from Amazon after an extensive search and a ton of comparison shopping. I'd have to say that I'm amazed at how easy it was to figure out the basic functions. I was able to take the unit out of the box, mount it to my windshield using the very convienent suction-mount that was included, and find directions to a nearby atm machine, a fast food restaraunt, and then back home. This whole ordeal took about 2 minutes. The color screen is beautiful, the menus are understandable, and there is a TON of data on the included 2 gig card.
This was one of only a few units in the price range that supports turn-by-turn directions on land, and "direct to" navigation on water. I've bought the Fishing HotSpots maps to use on the water this Spring, and I can't wait to stick this thing on my boat and see how the direct navigation mode works.
Only drawback (and why the Iway's are cheaper than Garmins) is the accuracy on your current location. I'd say it gets you within 50 feet of your driveway/parking lot/whatever destination. That's close, but it does think I'm home when I'm sitting in front of my neighbors house. My freind's Garmin Nuvi is more like 5 feet accurate. For half the cost of a similar Garmin, I can figure out those last 50 feet on my own.
I've used the MP3 player and it is functional, but nothing special. I don't care though, that's not why I bought it.
This is a great little GPS. It's versitile but still simple emough to be easy-to-use. Highly recommended.
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