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"A disappointment"
1.5 starson by bobsco60Pros: Good display, TTS, excellent mounting system
Cons: Very diffucult to edit a route, Route Simulation is so slow that it would take hours to simulate a 500 mile trip
Summary: I have been looking for a good medium priced GPS for months now. I bought a Garmin Nuvi c350 and a Tom Tom One and sent both back because I could not live with their odd, quirky navigational systems. The Garmin kept wanting to route me via back streets when there was no need to do it, and there was no way I could find to get it to stop. The Tom Tom would allow me to avoid a particular route, but then would not allow me to save the route that I had so painstakingly put together, so that I could use it again in the future. Reviews I read of the Mio C230 were enthusiastic. So I was hopeful that this unit would be the answer.
Unfortunately it was not. I have been using GPS's for 15 years or so. I found the interface between laptop and GPS was so bad years back that I just stopped using a GPS. Now things are much better, but there are lots and lots of problems remaining.
The main problems are whether or not the maps are up to date, and whether or not they are accurate. The next problem is how well does the GPS software use the map information, coupled with user input, to provide a satisfactory route.
With this unit, when I started out setting it up, it did not clearly tell me where I was. I want a GPS to start out by saying where I am. You are at 1200 East Kingshighway, Atlanta, Ga. Is this correct? Etc. And then I want it to ask me for the destination I want. And once I have entered it, to tell me : "You have entered 1450 Distrolio Court as your destination. Is this correct? " And after I have clicked OK, I want it to calculate the route and then show me that route. both in text and visually. And then, when I see that they have routed me over an old bridge that was torn down 2 years ago, I want to be able to edit that route in order to avoid the bridge.
This is almost impossible with this machine because the text description of the route is totally inadequate -- you can't tell which part of the route you are editing, and the things you can edit -- "maneuver" and I think "route" are meaningless to me, and are not described in the quick start booklet or the longer .PDF user's manual file. And when I clicked on these categories to change the route, nothing happened. I could not tell what this machine had done in response to my request.
I can understand that each GPS has its quirks, that each will create a route using criteria derived from user input and from its factory software settings, but being able to alter the route is, to me at least, the single most important quality of a GPS. Of course it will make mistakes. Of course some its maps will be out of date, or simply wrong. But it absolutely has to allow the user to change the route and make it easy to do so.
This unit fails miserably in these regards.
These GPS companies IMHO need teams of frequent travelers to serve as their beta testers. Any grade school beta tester would have told this company what to do in about 5 minutes.
To end on a positive note: The windshield mounting system is the best I have ever seen for a GPS. It is simple to install and remove, very rugged, and very well designed so that the GPS unclips easily when you want to store it in the glove compartment.
One further problem is that, apparently because of recent map updates, the amount of space available for POI's went drastically down. I am not up to date on this, but although this unit accepts an SD card, and some other kind of card as well, it was not clear to me how to use it.
- 3 replies to this review
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Although I am not familar with all the gps units out there you have to remember this is more or less an entry level unit however with some impressive features.
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First off this is a entry level GPS and happens to be in my opinion a very good one. This GPS has more features than some of its higher priced competitors. What more can you want or need for the price. It is small and compact and could be bigger but this is the only thing I can find. I use this unit daily in a commercial vehicle and it has not let me down yet. To the person that wrote the original comment I say to you that you get what you pay for and no matter what you just cant make some people happy. This unit gets a A+!!!!
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First, nice review. I don't agree with the rating, but the comments were detailed and well explained, and I believe proves that this is a better device for beginners than for experienced GPS users.<br><br>But I do want to clarify something. The Mio has two (or three) ways to alter a route. You are right, the instructions are confusing. They are detailed, but awkwardly arranged. Basically, you can use the "Avoid" function to avoid a segment of a route you plan in advance, or the "Bypass" function to route you around an obstruction, like a traffic jam, you encounter en route. The terminology is confusing, but learnable.<br><br>Third way--unlike Garmin, Mio lets you add multiple "Via points," or alternate stops en route. So, you can just tap the screen around the bridge you want to avoid, and "Recalculate." You can also use a Via point to shorten a segment you want to "Avoid," so that you don't "Avoid" more of the route than you want to.<br><br>Less complicated than it sounds, once you learn it, but still seems like it could be easier, and the instructions could be much better.
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