 |
A good budget unit
This is a good budget GPS. I used it to discover a couple of short cuts to work already. I modified it to support calculator, notepad, photo viewer, word/excel/ppt/pdf viewers, and mp3/video players, etc. in additional to the Destinator GPS program (Thanks daniel53 and others). It's a very nice toy especially for tech-savvy users (5 stars for being able to modify it). The user interface may not be super intuitive as some high-priced units. BTW, make sure to try the "avoid roads" feature under the "Manage Route." You can create one or more sets of roads to avoid (or not to avoid). If Pharos can provide free map updates, as the previous reviewer mentioned, then I'll give it a 6-star rating. :-)Good enough for me :)
I must admit I had my reservations purchasing this item, as the Pharos brand is not as well known as some of the others, and I could only find few comprehensive reviews on the unit. However, I simply could not argue with all the features that were being offered for such a low price... so I took the chance, and I am glad that I did. The performance was peppy, LCD was bright and easy to read, text-to-speech was clear, GPS tracking functioned smoothly as expected, the interface was reasonable intuitive. The point of interest and the maps seemed a little outdated, but the customer support told me that a new version should be available early next year on their website, free of charge. All in all, although it may lack the "sophistication" in build/software quality of the bigger companies, I'm very happy with my purchase.Good for the price.
I like simple but powerful devices -- as this one. I really have nothing to complain if this one uses some different operation styles from other GPSs. Get used to its own style and you will find it easy to use. The only true shortcomings I have found -- some simple functions that it really should have -- are: 1. no way to know how much power is left in the battery. 2. no way to adjust the time & date.Exiting at first, now.....not really
Pros: cheap for a unit with TTS, clear voice, good map, more streets details than Gamin, some people might not like. Cons: Take awhile to get signal from cold start. Very poor POI Using this for few months now. At first was very happy. Got signal very quick after cold start. Now taking awhile to get, but after initial start, later gets signal is quick. In general, hate it when first start, like it when running. I used to turn it on and car at same time for warming up then do my things. I would rate it 3.5 if I could.Very good, but not as easy as some units
I've used this daily for 3 weeks now. I previously have only used a bottom line Garmin (I2- Back and white, no touch screen, no text to speech). The Pharos is a step up in many ways (color, faster, spoken street names, larger screen) BUT, Garmin's experience in this field shows: While the Pharos is color and larger, it was still easier to see the Garmin screen, especially in bright sun. The auto-night dimming on the Pharos works poorly, way too bright. And even though the Garmin didn't have a touch screen, it was not really more difficult to enter the destination info. The volume adjustment is difficult to adjust near the louder end of the scale. It is difficult to touch in street names with my finger (medium sized man) though easy with the stylus. The points of interest are much more cumbersome. For instance if you are driving and want the closest McDonalds you have to punch in a bunch of info, then you only get a list accurate to the closest mile. The Garmin easily gave a list and the list automatically updated as I drove. Anyway, at $100 this is a great deal, and very usable, just not as easy to use as I'd hoped. I bought it because my Garmin broke, otherwise I'd still be using that. Oh, BTW, I don't find the spoken street names much better than the Garmin's "turn right in one tenth mile", though lots of users seem to think spoken street names are a big plus. Also not well thought out is the power handling. When I turn off the engine, the unit stays fully on, so if you don't want the internal battery to run down you have to manually turn the unit off then manually turn it on when you start, not a big deal, but the unit should go to sleep automatically when you turn off your engine.Keyword : gps
No comments:
Post a Comment