Before I go into the review, I’d like to give a little bit of background info. I do not consider myself a newbie to GPS in any way. I have had 3 GPS units (DVD based) in my car over the last few years. I know how far they have come and what is expected of them, at least IMO. As many of you might know I have just moved (its been a month, eek) from NJ to MI and I don’t know my way around just yet. My daily driver has a GPS system from Pioneer that I love. The problem is that it is a RWD Mercedes and when the snow comes (being in MI) the car, and therefore the GPS system inside, will be useless to me. The other car that I have with me is my Ford Escort I bought to drive my dog to the vet, little did I know it would become my winter car because it is FWD. So the combination of not knowing where I was going and no longer having a GPS car had me looking for other solutions.
Along comes a coupon for Belkin.com which lowers the price of the GPS unit and the extended antenna to an affordable <$200 shipped after tax. The system works with both Windows and PocketPC and includes map software for both. What drew me to this system is that it was BT based which means I can just jump in the car with my TR and go…
Belkin provided:
GPS unit
Battery (8.5 hours straight tracking)
USB to Power
A/C connector
D/C connector (cig. lighter adaptor)
2 CD’s
One page manual
I also purchased the antenna as shown in the pic. The other pic with the MS was just for size comparison.
First impressions were two-fold…first, I thought it was horrible that no user manual was included, second, I thought the GPS unit itself seemed solid. It has a nice feel to it, not too heavy, not too light, and has a rubber bottom that seems like it will hold itself on your dash sans some sharp turns.
I loaded up the software and it provided me a map of the US including Hawaii, but not Canada. If you pick Hawaii, the other states go away. You can pick each state you want to install, Cali and Texas are split into two. I selected every state except Hawaii and it took up about 1.6 GB, assuming the software takes some more, I’d say you need about 2 GB of free space to never need a CD inserted…which is nice.
After the installation I plugged in the GPS to the outlet and loaded up BlueSpace NE. It found the GPS right away but couldn’t authenticate it. I loaded up the Navi software and did an autodetect…no GPS found. Ok, removed the GPS from Bluespace…tried to autodetect…same thing. Ok, used Windows wireless link…established connection…no authentication…loaded Navi…autodetect…no GPS. Hmm. I tried going on my porch figuring maybe it couldn’t track inside…nope, same thing. There is a little HTML help file that is installed on the PC but it is basically a help for the PocketPC version, not the windows version. I went to the one page manual to find a phone # for tech support and I noticed what the one page manual states…you must authenticate first…using passkey 0000. Ahh, now I am in business. Went back, did the authentication and bam, picked up the GPS within seconds.
Inside my apartment (3rd floor, top of the building) I was picking up 5 out of 9 sats, which is more then enough. By default the software loads the map which takes up about 70% of the screen…in the other 30% it is split between the GPS Sat info (visual) and the route listing. To me, this seemed to be well laid out…you can make the map full screen if you choose.
You have an overhead view or one of 3 3-D views of the map to choose from. It has a night as well as a day map but you can force it to use either or switch depending on the time of day. It has N up or heading up and can layout the POI (points of interest). I wasn’t expecting the 3-D maps, my Pioneer system has that, I just didn’t think this one would…nice surprise.
You can find a destination using an address, X Street, or through POI search. The POI search is what I found to be most lacking. Here are the choices:
Airport
Bank/ATM
Emergency
Entertainment
Gas Station
Hotel/Motel
Parking
Restaurant
Shopping
It seems like everything is covered, but its not. My Pioneer allows the search of Government, Education, Parks, etc…long story short, i’d need to know my school’s address not just the name of the school. This was a bit dissapointing.
I decided to set a course for my house in NJ. I did the address search…I could pick the street or the city first…then followed the prompts till I found the correct one. Within seconds it mapped it out and a female voice prompted me for the next direction.
The tracking was quick and accurate considering the unit is portable. I had enough time to make the turns and the voice was loud and clear. If I went off-course it would ask me to turn back or re-route depending on the situation. If I asked to go somewhere else it would ask if it should cancel the other route or add a waypoint.
Once you get to your destination you can add it to your ‘favorites’ if you plan to go there often.
Some unusual features are the fog and speed options. I am not sure what the fog does, I assume it tells you earlier that the turn is coming up, but the speed allows you to set a speed and if you go faster, they will warn you. Good if you know a lot of cops are on your route and you don’t think you can pay attention.
My friend bought a system that connects via USB and includes MS Streets and Trips. His does not talk turn by turn directions (a deal breaker IMO) but does auto update itself with new streets and construction/traffic alerts, something this one doesn’t, but I wished it did.
Overall, this does the same thing as my $2,000+ system in my car for a fraction of the cost and with a bit more inconvenience. A solid product for the price but IMO only useful if your notebook is tiny, I think a 15lbs notebook would just ruin the usefulness of the product.
I do suggest picking up the antenna as well, I noticed a huge difference when I plugged it in. It’s a $25 option, but well worth it.
Erik
