Navman iCN 550 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

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(More customer reviews)I borrowed this unit from a friend for an 1100 mile car trip from Florida through North Carolina. Here's what I found:
Pros:
1) You can look up Points of Interest without knowing the category. This may seem trivial, but let's say you want to find how to get to Kennedy Space Center. If you have to look up by category (like you have to do with the TomTom), you have to decide if it's a Monument, National Park, Tourist Attraction, or Govenment Building. It's much simpler to say "find Kennedy Space Center"
2) If you want to find the closest point of interest, it's nice to see the location relative to you first. You can even click an icon to get detailed address information. Sometimes the closest grocery store is 2 miles behind you, but you'll find another 13 miles on your current route ahead. That is VERY helpful.
3) While driving, you can see on the bottom of the screen your current address (e.g 860 Anywhere Street). It keeps updating as you pass new addresses. This is great for use in what I call "passive" mode. Where you basically know where you're going, but could use a bit of help reading the house addresses. This Navman tells you your current location by address!
4) Your next street turn for a route is displayed at the top of the screen. So when it says "turn left in 100 feet" you can see the street name that you should be turning onto. Since this system doesn't "speak" the street names, this is the next best thing.
5) Nearby street names are displayed on the grid. This can be very helpful for giving you some perspective of what's around. Especially helpful for using while walking around town (it has an internal battery).
6) You can easily do advance planning by changing states and then browsing points of interest nearby your hotel. I found this impossible to do with the TomTom. I was able to plot a route on the TomTom from the airport to my hotel, but had a hard time seeing what restaurants were near the hotel.
Cons:
1) I couldn't figure out how to upload more up-to-date POIs posted on the web to the navman. I didn't spend a lot of time on this, but unlike Garmin, Navman doesn't supply an application to do this for you.
2) Like all GPS systems, this is only "mostly" correct. We were on a new on-ramp and the GPS told us to turn left now. It was trying no doubt to get us back to the old freeway on-ramp. Another time we missed our exit and decided to turn around and enter the freeway the other direction (against the advice of the GPS which wanted us to take surface streets). No matter, it recomputed our exit, which we took. It then got very confused on the exit and told us to get back on the freeway. We ignored it and turned left like it was originally telling us and got "back on track". We were only .1 miles away! Common sense is needed with these devices.
3) Another point of confusion is when entering a parking lot for an "unplanned" stop. Depending on the configuration, it can start issuing wrong directions (it may think you're still on the road). More common sense needed.
4) The default voice is a bit hard to hear in a noisy car. The UK voices were much clearer.
5) I had trouble seeing the device with my sunglasses on. The polarization blocked out much of the LCD. I didn't have this problem with the same glasses with a TomTom.
All in all I highly recommend this device. I found the grid like nature (seeing current address), locations around you, along with the great POI navigation to be the best features.

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BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED & RETAIL BOXED WITH THE FULL NAVMAN WARRANTY!!! iCN 550 is simple to use, packed full of clever features and comes with comprehensive 3D European maps pre-installed for seamless cross-border continental travel. The iCN 550 has "Fuel and Park" buttons to allow you to quickly find the closest petrol station or car park. Get the latest SmartST in-car navigation software available. It features 3D maps view, voice guidance and Back-on-Track route recalculation. GPS Type : Automotive Trip Computer : Back-On-Track Antenna : Built-in Functions : Distance, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival), Speed Features : Optional external GPS antenna connection, Built-in HDD Display Type : LCD Display Size : 3.5 in Display Color Support : Color Connector Type : USB, DC power input, Antenna PC Connection : USB Included Accessories : SD Card, Remote control Included Software : Navman SmartST V2005

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