Nav 740 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator Review

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(More customer reviews)I have now had the Nav 740 for two months. I bought the Nav740 because I wanted to have a GPS device that I have learned to use before I take a trip this summer.
Why I bought the Nav740:
- It cost much less than a Garmin and Navigon with comparable features
- It had more features, such as, multi-stage trips, trip tracking log, set destination by longitude and latitude, etc.
- I had downloaded the manual before I bought the device from the Ingram V7 site and found the features to be what I was looking for.
- I had read that the basic software was based on a proprietary version of the same software that runds the Mio GPS units.
- The Nav 740 unit promises the largest Points of Interest (POI) database that I have seen advertised, something like 12 million.
- It has a removable battery
- It has a headphone jack which can either be used to listen to music or to amplify the GPS voice
- It uses an SD card with 2 Gigs, but I have read that a larger card can be used
- It has an external volume control
The unit has an opening menu of 4 touch "buttons" (software not hardware). One is the setting button for time, date,etc. Another is a calcuator. This is not so important to me, but it can be a help as it has three calculators - normal, scientific and conversions. It might help in a pinch.
Another button is for Multimedia. I haven't used it yet since I have other multimedia devices. I did not buy a GPS unit to play my multimedia.
The last button is for navigation. I find the choices offered with the navigation mode to be fairly well organized and I have used it often. You can navigate by entering an address, a recently used destination, a favorite destination you have programmed in, a POI, coordinates and Work and Home choices that the user programs. When entering an address you can go to the city center, a street intersection or a specific address. Not bad choices.
The Nav 740 has a nice 4.3 inch screen. It is plenty bright except with sunlight light shining directly on the screen. It's a good screen.
It is easy enough to switch between the map view and the options.
Some have complained about the sound of the voice. I find the two tts (text to speech) voices are very clear and the speaker is plenty loud. I tried the two English tts voices (Dave and Samantha) and found that the female voice cuts through the cabin noice better for me. Both are good, however, and work over anything but real loud radio or wind noises if I open the window.
I have found that recalculation is quite acceptable. It is not a supercomputer so that it takes a few seconds. It also has to sense that you really are going in a different direction.
There are three map views: 3D, oriented to North, and "Airplane view". I have used all three and find them helpful, although I prefer the 3D view. You can cycle through them with a tap of "button" on the screen. If I am not careful and the road is not smooth I sometimes hit the Route Options button but that is easy to get out of.
After two months of using it, the unit has only crashed once, and that is when I was going through a certain menu, and I was probably being too impatient. It has never stopped working when I have been navigating.
POIs have been helpful. I traveled to a city using the Nav 740 and since I had time to spare, I checked to see if there was a Starbucks in the area. It had one a couple miles away and took me there. It did not have the location down perfectly, but it was close enough to get me there.
Two cons:
I find that adding favorites to the list should be as simple as inputting an address list, just as the unit asks for to program the Work and Home button. It is a little more complicated. There is not reason for this. A simple programming change could easily make this simple.
When I try to move the map around with my finger, the unit does not do this smoothly. It either jumps back to the starting point or does something else that I don't understand. It's easy to get out of, but this could be better. Fortunately, this does not make or break the usefulness of the unit.
Over all comments.
A GPS unit, and I've looked at many of the current models, is not perfect. There are too many variables that the human brain is processing. I have found that you still have to keep your wits about you and not accept the GPS directions 100 percent of the time. That said, I needed to drive out of San Antonio at night in an unfamiliar area and I set the unit to go Home. It flawlessly talked me through turns through neighborhoods and got me home. I have tried other routes in the country and the unit wanted me to go on roads I would not have normally used. The driver still is master and commander of the trip.
Finally, I have appreciated having the Nav 740. It is good to know where I am and have options on where to drive. I find the unit easy enough to use and there are features that I still need to learn. I am satisfied. Before I bought this device I bought the HP 310 model and found it to be totally unintuitive. Having become a recent owner of an Apple iPhone and seen the ease of use and integration of addresses and map function and all the rest, I just say that if Apple ever decided to make a dedicated GPS unit, they would blow all the competition out of the water, including Garmin. That will be the next generation.

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4.3" 480 x 272 WQVGS color touch screen displayPre-loaded maps of 50 US States Basemap pre-loaded on SD -cardSirfStarIII 20-channel high sensitivy chipset (WASS enabled)Text-to-speech functionality (English only)Turn-by-turn directions in multiple languages (up to 20)11 million points of interest (POI)Built-in 1-watt speaker Rechargeable Lithium-Polymer battery (1600 mA) holds charge for up to 5 hours or 3.5 hours with GPS navigation4 7/8" W x 3 1/4 H x 11/16" DIncludes CD with manual DVD with map loader/backup maps cradle with gooseneck mounting bracket USB AC adapter DC car charger and quick start guide

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Magellan Maestro 3250 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been very impressed with this GPS unit. I have had several before, Garmin and Tom Tom, but this unit is by far the easiest I have used.
The voice functions work well although you sometimes have to repeat words, but I love the fact that using voice commands does not require you to touch the unit AT ALL for some basic commands.
The traffic functionality seems good but I have not had any situations to test it yet. I did have to use the detour function in an area that did not have traffic coverage and it was easy to use and very intuitive.
One complaint on the unit, and the only real reason it gets 4 stars, not 5, is the screen is VERY bright, which works great during the day (I have never seen a unit so easy to read in sunlight), but at night it can not be dimmed as much as I would prefer. The colors can be set to automatically change to night colors, which do help, but the brightness is a little too much for my taste.
Overall, I would highly recommend this unit to anyone.

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This is a refurbished GPS. Refurbished generally means that the unit has been returned to the manufacturer, who brings the navigator back to like new conditions. Some GPS may contain cosmetic blemishes. When a Magellan GPS product is shipped back, for whatever reason, it is inspected, tested, and repackaged for resale. The item can no longer sold as "new," only as "refurbished." Magellan's refurbished items are verified to be in original working condition after undergoing an inspection process by factory-qualified service teams. Each Magellan refurbished products comes with a 90-day limited warranty. Please note that this device does not qualify for Magellan 30-day map guarantee. We've been big fans of Magellan's Maestro line since it came out in early 2006. The Maestro interface is incredibly easy to use, even for those who are not completely comfortable with electronics. At the same time, Magellan was ahead of the industry with useful innovations like multi-destination routing and pre-loaded reviews for points of interest like hotels and restaurants (from AAA). With its 3200 and 4200 series, Magellan has improved the Maestro line giving them a SirfStar III chipset that provides super-fast. satellite lock and making them thinner. In fact, at .7 inches, these are -- at the time of this writing (November 2007), the thinnest portable GPS navigators available. Distinguishing between models is also fairly easy. 3200 and 4200 Family of Navigators Distinguishing between models is also fairly easy. The 3200-series navigators feature a 3.5-inch screen, while the 4200s have a 4.3-inch widescreen display. The 3200 and 4200 offer great, basic navigation with turn-by-turn spoken directions, pre-loaded maps of the 48 contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and 1.3 million POIs. The 3210 and 4210, add maps for Canada and Alaska, AAA travel information (see details below) and bump you up to 6 million POIs. The 3220 and 4220 add maps of Mexico. The top-of-the-line 3250 and 4250 add a host of other features, including text-to-speech directions that give real street names, Bluetooth for hands-free phone calls, integrated traffic (with a free 3-month subscription), and voice command. What Makes the Maestro 3250 Exceptional?

Easy To Use Interface The intuitive user interface makes the Maestro series incredibly easy to use. Use the big icons on the 3.5-inch touch screen to search for your destination by address, intersection, or any of 6 million points of interest (POIs), including restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more. You can even touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination, see name and address, and get an instant route. Turn by turn visual and spoken directions guide you every step of the way. Auto re-route gets you quickly back on track whenever you make a detour or miss a turn. QuickSpell feature intelligently searches and checks spelling when you enter addresses. The 3250 offer multiple view options, including 2D, 3D, and TrueView that shows your upcoming turn using a 3D split screen. Maneuver List displays the full turn-by-turn details of your route. Auto night view adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing. Voice Command and Control Voice Command further enables hands-free operation so you can keep your eyes on the road. Say a command to access the most used navigation functions. Find the nearest coffee, restaurant, gas and ATM or get an instant route home. Plus, you can ask for your location, the distance to your destination and quickly get details for the nearest roadside assistance and more, all with the sound of your voice. AAA-enabled With built-in AAA travel information, the Maestro 4250 gives you instant access to the most trusted source for trip planning, searchable AAA TourBook listings, Show Your Card & Save locations for member discounts, approved auto repair facilities, attractions, events, and more. The Maestro 3250 also provides AAA members roadside assistance details, with exact location and a toll-free number. Plus, the Maestro 3250 is Bluetooth-enabled so you can connect your Bluetooth cell phone directly to AAA for immediate help when you need it most.
Note: AAA member roadside assistance requires AAA membership.

Bluetooth for Hands-Free Calling The Maestro 3250's Bluetooth wireless technology lets you make hands-free phone calls with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. You can store or sync numbers and contact information through the easy-to-use touch screen, and even place calls directly through the Maestro 3250's integrated microphone and speakers.

Integrated Real-Time Traffic The integrated traffic receiver offers onscreen RDS-TMC traffic incident reports in real-time. A free 3-month traffic service subscription makes it easy to avoid accidents, slow downs, road closures, severe weather and more. Your Maestro 3250 automatically recalculates your estimated time of arrival based on traffic conditions and prompts you to reroute when a quicker way is available.
One of the thinnest portable GPS navigators on the market

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Magellan Crossover 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

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(More customer reviews)One the whole, I like my M. Crossover. Generally speaking, it does everything I need it for in regard to GPS. I do not use mine for the audio or visual playback and do not care about those functions. To date, I have done nothing with the computer software either and cannot vouch for that aspect.
The best features to me were in having a GPS unit that I could use to plot courses in the car and yet have a GPS that would work well for hiking. I have driven all over north Texas with the unit and had it mark my travels in both the road mode and outdoor (hiking/contour map) mode. I have not used it in the Marine mode. With just a few exceptions, it has had all the roads I have been on. The exceptions were a couple of very small roads in the middle of nowhere and roads in a brand new development. No surprise. Strangely, it had some dirt roads that I would not have expected. So that was really handy.
In the outdoor mode, I have plotted various key points and had it track my progress, both while driving and while hiking. It has done this all relatively well.
Before I go further, let me say that if I lost this unit, I would not hesitate in getting another. However, it is not a perfect unit and has some shortcomings that are a bit of a bother, but not fatal at all. It has been my experience that all GPS units seem to have various shortcomings, often varying depending on the type of intended use of the unit. I do think the Crossover, with its shortcomings, does enough of the cross over functions to cover my needs sufficiently well and I do not currently see any other units on the market that match it in such versatility.
I have run the unit on battery (most of the time) and while charging in the car. I have charged it with the 120v outlet charger as well. They promise 8 hours of run time and so far I have run as much as 6 on full screen brightness and not run out of power. The 8 hour estimate seems good.
On my recreational property, I have plotted the locations of the property corners, gates, and other specific locations. Subsequent return trips have the show very good match between my previous plots and locations, to just a few feet, well within the unit's specifications. It performs consistently well in this regard, as it should.
The shortcomings...
In the 150+ hours of use with probably 80 or 90 start-ups, I have had it fail to properly boot 4 times. This necessitated the use of the reset switch on the side and after resetting, the unit booted fine.
The green rubber ring around the unit is to help absorb shock if dropped and it probably does help to some extent (I have dropped it once). However, it is prone to slip off when carried in a pocket or pack during periods of lots of motion and the grippy aspect of the rubber can make it hard to extract the unit from a snug pocket if one wants the rubber ring remaining on the unit.
The on screen controls vary with the mode that it is in and as such, the features I like in one mode are not in the same place in the other mode and that can be a bit annoying if you go between modes on a regular basis. This is especially true of the brightness function that is onscreen on the map page in the outdoor mode but not in the car mode.
You can't plot points in the car mode, but if you are in the car mode, the map does not show the icons for gas/food etc. that it does in the outdoor mode. That seemed a bit counter-intuitive.
I have medium-sized guy fingers and sometimes find that I have not been able to precisely press an onscreen button properly. Maybe I need more practice or smaller fingers.
Even on the brightest setting and while out in the sunlight, it can be hard to see the image on the screen. As long as sun is not shining directly on the screen in the car, it does well enough.
As with all GPS units I have used or experienced in the past, letting the GPS decide your route from point A to B should not mean that the traveler should blindly accept the route as the best option, even with the various choices given (fastest, shortest, most use of freeways, etc.). It will get you from point A to B, but what it asserts is the best route may actually be much less than optimal.
I don't know of any other way to charge the unit other than with the accessories provided. You can't take the unit on a 2 day hike and use it all the time without running down the battery and you can't change out the battery. It would be nice if there was a separate battery pack that could be jacked in or a solar charger. Otherwise, the unit is somewhat limited to either sporadic use on multi-day hikes or day hiking because of the battery limitation.
Lastly, while it can track something like 14 satellites, it can lose track of them as well. While hiking in Big Bend with the mountains, signals came and went a lot. It was a bit annoying. No doubt this will happen with other units as well, but the access to 14 didn't seem to make it keep track any more often or continually than with other GPS units I have used.
As I noted above, I would buy this unit again if I had to replace the current unit. I harped on the shortcomings because if you have read Magellan's promo for the Crossover, then you know what it can do and it has been my experience that it pretty well does what is claimed. I only point out the shortcomings such that other potential buyers can make a better informed decision.

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The Magellan 2500T Crossover the world's first full featured, pocket size crossover GPS that you can use both in the car and on outdoor expeditions. Enjoy driving, hiking, geocaching, boating, fishing navigation with this all-in-one GPS. The 2500T is also water resistant to IPX4 standards, and features a sleek, intelligent design with a powerful, integrated antenna, MP3 player and picture viewer.
Convenient Crossover Navigation If you've ever wished for a single unit that could guide you on the drive to the park, on the hike in the park, and up the river to the next park, the 2500T is the GPS system for you. The large, easy-to-read, 3.5-inch diagonal touch-screen is ideal for either showing you the best route to a new restaurant or keeping you on-track during your next outdoor excursion. Simple touch-screen menus make it easy to select virtually any destination and get turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance on the road. Or you can take the 2500T on your next hike, mark waypoints along the way and save the route to go again next weekend. Detailed built-in street maps of North America and light topographic maps of North America help ensure that you'll never get lost again, no matter where your travels take you.
Advanced Auto Navigation The 2500T gives you the tools you need to make sure your next car trip is as enjoyable and hassle-free as possible. Advanced auto navigation features include multi-destination routing, which is ideal for vacations; SmartDetour to route you around slow freeway traffic; and SayWhere text-to-speech, which tells you both where to turn and the name of the street to turn on. If you miss a turn, or suddenly find yourself stuck in traffic, the 2500T will save you time and stress by automatically recalculating your route. Powerful and reliable, this system runs on a high performance battery that offers up to eight hours of use so you can search points of interest and plan your trip with ease. Once you're on the road, you can take advantage of the optional TrafficKit accessory, which makes it easy to avoid traffic with Real-time incident reports. (Note: subscription required for traffic reports).
Easy Outdoor Routing Its sleek and rugged design makes the 2500T easy to take with you wherever you go. The included SportsGuard provides added armor to enhance this system's endurance during outdoor use. As you take on new adventures, you can even add detailed regional topographic or marine maps via Secure Digital memory cards. And whether you're traveling in the car or on foot, you can enhance your trip by listening to music and viewing pictures whether you're in the car or on a mountain trail.

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