Entered CNET Catalog: 07/29/2004
SKU: 310-5769
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Manufacturer description
Use the Dell GPS Navigation System to turn your Bluetooth enabled Axim Handheld into a wireless, portable, in-vehicle navigation system. Featuring a compact, lightweight design, the GPS receiver with Bluetooth wireless technology gives you easy-to-read, turn-by-turn instructions via text, voice and graphics. It boasts a moving map display that gives you a real-time look at your current position, guides you to your destination and updates you on the time and distance remaining. As a result, even if you miss a turn, it reroutes you automatically within seconds. You can smoothly navigate to an address, an intersection or any point of interest with this device's easy-to-read map display and NAVTEQ maps that cover the continental United States. These maps provide information about a number of places you might want to find on any given day. For entertainment, the GPS Navigation System will direct you to restaurants, golf courses, tourist attractions and other venues. For convenience, it will help you find the nearest ATM or bank, plus shortcuts to hotels, airports, and shopping. In addition, it can show you the way to destinations such as hospitals, police stations and gas stations. The included auto adapter can easily charge both your GPS receiver and your PDA as you drive.Product summary
The good: Solid reception; nice user interface; included windshield mount and car charger.
The bad: Bulky; lacks advanced map features of other Bluetooth GPS systems.
The bottom line: The Dell GPS Navigation System's accuracy and ease of use take the stress out of road travel for Axim owners.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 09/15/2004
Encased in an attractive silver finish, the Dell GPS Navigation System's receiver measures 3.3 by 1.8 by 1.1 inches and weighs 2.6 ounces. It's a bit on the bulky side, so it's better suited as an in-vehicle aid than for use on foot. Three LEDs lining the bottom blink blue for Bluetooth, green for satellite reception, and orange for battery charge. The power switch is on the left, while a DC power jack sits slightly below it. A rubber base on the back of the receiver prevents it from slipping on the dash, but it's not strong enough to prevent a tumble on rugged or curvy roads. The good news is that a windshield mount holds your Axim for better display, and the car charger can power up your handheld and receiver at the same time.
The software includes maps of the United States and Canada. Using NavTeq data, it provides information on one-way streets, turn restrictions, speed limits, and more. As with the HP system, you load maps by region or city in 25-, 50-, 75-, and 100-mile segments. Just be aware that the bigger the map region, the more memory it takes. For example, a 75-mile-radius map of San Francisco took 19MB of memory. We advise storing maps on memory cards and saving your PDA's internal memory for other applications. After installing the software on your handheld (with a quick hotsync), you have a plethora of options for navigating to your destination: address, intersection, favorites, recent routes, contacts, and city center, and more than 1 million points of interest (POI). You also can customize display options with day and night modes, 2D or 3D perspective, and more. The user interface is nice and simple, but it lacks the comprehensive POI database of the DeLorme Earthmate receivers.
To test the Dell GPS Navigation System, we paired it with the high-end Axim X30 using the PDA's Bluetooth Manager and were up and running instantly. We acquired GPS reception in a quick 40 seconds. It held strong as we drove around San Francisco, although we did lose the satellite fix a couple of times as we ducked into a tunnel (a common occurrence with commercial GPS receivers). Voice-guided and visual turn-by-turn directions were accurate and clear. Even if you veer off course, the system will recalculate your route and get you back on track. We also liked the real-time information that showed us estimated time of arrival, remaining distance, and more. We managed to get about six hours from the receiver's rechargeable lithium-ion battery, compared to the company's claims of eight hours.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21out of 21 user reviews
Why did I buy this product?
Pros: Nothing Special. It works okay when weather is good.
Cons: Bad reception, out dated map.
out of 21 user reviews
Best GPS option if you already own a PDA
Pros: very accurate, nice interface, wireless, nice POI list
Cons: Windshield Mount is cheaply made, software sometimes crashes
out of 21 user reviews
Not a good Choice for Alaska or Canada
Pros: Easy to read, good sound, good software for the lower-48
Cons: Not great for north of the border. Don't use with SPB shell
out of 21 user reviews
My Dell Axim sat nav never worked
Pros: None I can think of
Cons: Fundementalyy flawed system
out of 21 user reviews
Solid Product
Pros: Good maps and GPS reception
Cons: No traffic function, suction cradle is shaky
I have only used the map in the San Francisco Bay area, but the GPS reception has been good (except when surrounded by tall building or when in tunnels, as would be expected).
The navigation function seems to work well, and choses decent routes, but I have learned not to use it in the City (I am sure this is common to all GPS devices, as in a city like San Francisco, the shortest route most often is not the fastest route).
As for included accessories, the GPS receiver has soft rubber which keeps it in place on the dashboard, and I have had no problems with movement. The cradle for my Axim, which suctions to the windshield, can shake a bit, but you can position it to minimize the shaking.
As a final note, I wish that Dell or Navteq would design a traffic function for this.
out of 21 user reviews
Bluetooth connection problems
Pros: Got it working and was very accurate
Cons: Bluetooth would not connect when I needed it most.
out of 21 user reviews
Doesn't live up to Dells usual quality
Pros: Navigation is accurate and the system hardware is great
Cons: The unit looks clumsy in the supplied suction mount with the flexible cigarette lighter cable attached
This Sat Nav system sucks! It does not live up to the reputation that Dell has for quality and I am very disappointed with it.
For starters, it crashes loads, often in the middle of a journey. That means that you have to stop, reset the PDA, reload the sat nav, reselect the destination and then carry on your way. God help you if you didn't put your destination into 'Favourites' because it can take ten to fifteen minutes to locate where you want to go. And please God help you if you want to go via an intermediate location because in my experience, you can guarantee it will crash then!
Selecting your destination is clumsy and time consuming unless you want to end up on a major road. Post code searching doesn't exist so you have to go via city (or town) name and then street name. The trouble is that most of the residential street names don't seem to be in there so you have to guess at somewhere close!
If you want to visit somewhere on the way to your final destination, you have to program that in second, ie tell it where you want to end up, then tell it via where. If you want to go to more than one place on the way to your destination, tough. You can't program it to do that!
Finally, the driving instructions often leave a lot to be desired. So often I have been approaching a roundabout to be told 'In 200 yds slight left turn then exit on the left'! While strictly speaking this is correct, it means nothing in a driving situation, after all, which exit on the left. Any yes, this happens regardless of which way you need to turn at the roundabout.
All in all, a low quality software product that does Dell no favours. Get the instructions right and add in postcode searching with all street information, stop it crashing and allow more than one stop on a journey and I'll give you 8 out of 10. Improve the in car mounting and I'll give you 9 but frankly, why bother when TomTom already have for not much more money.
My advice, buy the PDA from Dell and the Sat Nav from Tom Tom. They do a similar system for a bit more cash and it's better.
out of 21 user reviews
Good hardware. Bad software.
Pros: Stable signal reception.
Cons: Satelite reception upon turining on is slow.
Software is crap. I used it for about a week, and even thought about returning it to dell: continuous hang-ups, jerky map movement, late indications... I finally bought TomTom 5, and PERFECT.
out of 21 user reviews
Horrible - slow - do not buy
Pros: None - not a good product at all
Cons: Makes the PDA so slow that it is not usable.
out of 21 user reviews
Dell is irresponsible for selling this product in Canada
Pros: The unit seems to be able to pick up the signal alright
Cons: The unit is not usable in Canada
out of 21 user reviews
FANTASTIC, most of the time
Pros: very useful, powerful, timely voice prompts, integration with Outlook Contacts for addresses...
Cons: Sometimes takes a while to latch on to satellite signal
This is the MUST BUY for anyone with a Dell Axim x50 and a car.
Only 2 issues:
1. I have sometimes had to exit out and reboot the PDA to get the software to link with the bluetooth/ satellite. But this is infrequent, and once the link is there, it's wonderful from there.
2. Does not work well when you are near tall buildings. But that's expected.
out of 21 user reviews
Could Be Better
Pros: sleek design, easy to use, compact
Cons: map coverage
out of 21 user reviews
Would be great if it didn't crash.
Pros: Good features, fast. Design is much better than Pharos.
Cons: Looks like Dell has jumped on the bandwagon and outsourced all their software development to India. Apparently they didn't do any sort of Quality Assurance on the software whatsoever. First, the map loading program is broken. It works for small maps, b
out of 21 user reviews
A must have for all Dell Axim owners!
Pros: If you’re an Axim owner, this is a must have accessory. I just purchased an x50v and purchased the GPS package separately to save money. Very easy to setup and install. The additional power accessories and PDA holder are a great addition. The NAVTEQ s
Cons: The GPS receiver which has grip material to keep it from sliding around, but it doesn’t hold that well. Go grab some 3M removable squares to keep it secure on the dash. You’ll have some power cables dangling around the console area of the car, so be pre
out of 21 user reviews
Love it I will never get lost again!
Pros: Easy to use and it works without any problems. I had to leave my car in butt scratch PA to be repaired but I di dnot worry because when I went back a week later it got me from VA to PA and back without any issues.
Cons: Price
out of 21 user reviews
good toy.
Pros: nice toy, looks cool, voice command is cool, better then nothing.
Cons: freezes up, not very accurate.
out of 21 user reviews
Works great in my truck.
Pros: Gets me where I want ot go in the shortest and fastest routes. It also syncs with my contact data base which is very important.
Cons: It took some getting used to after using a Garmin III +.
out of 21 user reviews
Good GPS @ a low cost.
Pros: Inexpensive and lightweight. This GPS gets me to where I need to be. Allows me to pull up addresses directly from my contacts. I recommend a 512mb card.
Cons: Manual is on-line only. In some cases takes you on a longer route although gets you directly to the front door. Maps will be updated spring of 2005.
out of 21 user reviews
dell gps
Pros: It was very easy to install.
Cons: Naveteq map was already out dated from the box! It only managed to find 3 maps from list of 24 contact list in my address book. I really dislike the way I have to put in house number to find address since it doesn't recognize 80 % of house numbers I put i
out of 21 user reviews
works great for me!!
Pros: I used to have a stand-alone gps-- this is far more convenient-- and the fetures to look up addresses already in my pda is great-- love it!!
Cons:
out of 21 user reviews
Looks like Dell has a lot more to learn
Pros: Can't see any.
Cons: It looks like bulk became Dell's middle name and it won't change any time soon. If that was something to tollerate with desktops and laptops in the name of getting a cheaper product, with PDAs it's a straight disaster. Then, a GPS which is only kind of us
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