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I wouldn't buy anything from Navigon again
I purchased the Navigon Mobile Navigator 5 in Germany for use in Italy. I wanted a TomTom but they were out, so I purchased Navigon. What a waste. Not user-friendly at all--have to continually refer to manual for the simplest things as it just doesn't make sense. Had to call customer service in the USA just to get it to work (had to transfer an executable file...why do I have to do that?) I could understand it telling me to "turn right" when there is no road--because maybe that's what the Italian maps have told it. But no one else with different brands around here are having the same problem (TomTom and Garmin). I will never waste my money again with Navigon.Navigon 2120...a GPS with maps of all USA and Canada
A well made, competitively price GPS unit. This unit is the same as the 2100 except that the 2120 has all the USA states (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and Canada. It comes with car charger and your choice of either windshield suction cup or dash-top adhesive disc for displaying your unit. What is MISSING in this particular product (and included as standard features on the 5100 and 7100 series) are... 1.)A home charging unit 2.)No instruction booklet or DVD. You have to go online to download a PDF file and go from there. 3.)Neither accessory card is included; the Traffic Activation Service* and Zagat POI (points of interest) must be bought separately. the good... 1.)the unit is well sized; my initial concern was that it was small, but once on the windshield it was big enough to easily read without blocking your vision. 2.)easy to program routes with the ability to put in various way points in between your start and finish. (however, see con: 1.) below) 3.)if you 'save' your destinations, way points, etc., you have the ability to 'rename' them; this may not sound like a big deal but you might find it more helpful to have the I-81 north of Harrisburg PA named as such (for ease of recall at a later date) than named the 'Veterans Highway' with no indication where it is. 4.)I liked the snap in/out device that actually holds the GPS; this made the unit easy to put up and take down if you didn't want to leave the unit in your car while unattended. 5.)3D viewing is available for all usages as are voice directions; larger, more detailed maps are used in larger intersections, cloverleafs etc. 6.)the level of luminescence is variable for daytime/nighttime driving; a very nice feature as the daytime brightness is extremely bright at night. 7.)There is a toll free phone number for customer support; I had a question about my unit and called 'support', after a couple redirects from the automated answering machine I was connected to a 'real' person...impressive. 8.)once you register your unit online, any updates that are available for downloaded may be added to your unit through a computer connection. the cons: 1.a)because there was no manual with this unit, learning to program this unit (although in hindsight, this was not particularly difficult) was more complicated that it should have been. 1.b)in route planning, I found the unit invariably would find a somewhat different way to get from point A to point B than I'd expected. It would get me to my destination, but just by a different (and sometimes more circuitous) route. 1.c)if you are following a preprogrammed route on this unit and you miss hitting a waypoint on your route, the unit will continually try to turn you around to 'hit' the waypoint (or until you delete this waypoint). A somewhat annoying feature. I eventually found it much more effective to put in short routes, rather than longer routes with multiple waypoints. 2.)the accessory cards (Traffic* and Zagat's POI) are only useful in selected major centers. 3.)the connector cord to the unit from the cigarette lighter charger went straight into the bottom of the unit. This means you need to have 2 or 3 inches of space between your unit and the dash top or else you could possibly kink the charger cord. Motorola makes a right angle adapter (SKN6182)that solves this problem. 4.)the unit's battery (when used without charger cord) only lasted about 4 hours. 5.)the computerized voice had an unpleasant tinny pitch to it and quickly became VERY annoying; fortunately, it can be turned off. Conclusions: 1.)A reasonably priced, basic GPS that works well. 2.)It is very useful in finding and directing you to particular spots once you are in the general area, e.g. a specific address, a certain restaurant, an ATM or gas station etc. 3.)I found it less useful on planning long trips as it tended to suggest routes and turnoffs that were less than optimal for my chosen trip. Overall...4 1/2 Stars *Also, please note that if you plan to use the Traffic Activation Service you must use the in-car charger cord as it acts an the antenna to receive traffic information for both the 2100 and 2120 units. Addendum: April 28/08 A new software version 1.2 has been released and is available for download from the Navigon website for registered owners of the 2100, 5100 and 7100 series. Hopefully this new software will improve the route selection process used by the GPS and make its suggestions more useful.Keyword : tomtom
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