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- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 107 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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62 out of 63 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Far Better Than Some have Said Here"
Pros: Large Screen, Intuitive Controls
Cons: Not as many extras as some, but still is a great buy
Summary: I spent 4 months researching car navigation systems and read almost every review here and at other sites. Now that I have a 500c and given it a real workout, it is one fantastic system and I wholeheartedly recommend it. For those of us with older eyes that don't focus so well, the larger screen is great & very easy to read, plus it's real nice being able to see more of the surroundings when navigating.
One of the complaints I read here was some difficulty of keeping a lock on the satellites. It turns out other gps units all had the same complaints in their reviews, so I bought an external antenna to put on the roof of the vehicle. I was locked on to 11-12 satellites at all times except when I drove into a forest. I thought the unit would get confused, but it kept giving me progress reports that were accurate. If you buy any gps unit, get an external antenna...it's really worth it.
I drove up the coast on a long trip and the road was washed out in 3 places. I simply drove off on a side road and the unit quickly re-routed me around the problem and back on to the highway. Other people detouring were lost, but not us!
All along the trip it gives timely advanced notification of what the next turn will be. Someone here complained about the "keep right" voice, like what does that mean? Here's what the unit tells you. If you are on a multi-lane road it's telling you which lane you need to stay in to be prepared for the next turn-off. That was so helpful going through the spagetti tangle of 4 freeways in north Oakland that have both left and right exit ramps. I missed one ramp simply because I didn't believe what the 500c told me. As soon as I passed the ramp I was ticked off, but it only took abot 6 seconds for it to re-route me through a nifty sequence of turns that I never could have found for myself and I was back on track amazingly quickly.
There are so many other cool things this unit does that I don't have space to write about here. Find Lodging, Find Restaurants, Find Everything buttons work so amazingly well. It even had stored all the names of the antique shops I wanted to go to! I will say this, most of the complaints you read about are solved if one reads the owners manual. Lowrance is a very user-sensitive company, and it shows that they try to improve their product according to what their customers want. Free upggrades online, unlike some manufacturers who charge to upgrade, is one example. Lowrance upgraded their POI file to 5 million, so the complaint of too few in the reviews is gone.
My wife hates gizmos, and the more expensive they are, the more she hates them. After our trip she said "This thing has more than paid for itself in my opinion." There you have it, guys.
- 2 replies to this review
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I'm always curious about how these units are affixed to the dash, console, etc. There never seems to be enough room for good sightlines.
Good tip re external antenna. -
This is the first review of a Lowrance unit that I have read. Been researching gps units for about 6 months and this is the first by someone who put it to a practical test. Will have to investigate this brand. Many thanks!
Where to buy
Lowrance iWay 500c:
$849.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$849.99 | See Site |
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