Mio Knight Rider GPS user reviews

1.5 stars

"The worst GPS I ever owned." on July 7, 2010 by andrewIm

Pros: large screen

Cons: There were times when we were on a road and the MIO showed us on another road. And I won?t even get into the service support.
No more Mio.

Summary: Hard to use plus things like we tried to use the Mio to book ahead a hotel in the town that we were planning to be at by the end of the day the Mio does not have that feature. Plus, there were times when we were on a road and the MIO showed us on another road. And I won?t even get into the service support.
No more Mio.

0.5 stars

"MIO IS THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE" on June 3, 2010 by wrenchman55

Pros: THIS PRODUCT AND WANTED UPGRADES, AVAILABLE, WAS PROMISED FREE UPGRADES, FINALLY SENT IT IN, THEY WANTED $80, NOT FREE AS PROMISED NOW THE DEVICEIS 20 MINUTES TO LOCATE SATELLITE,,,NOW IT IS 3 WEEKS TRYING TO GET THIS RESOTRED REPAIRED,

Cons: MIOTECH IS THE WORST ELECTRONIC SOURCE EVER, 510 252 6920, THEY HAVE FILLED ME WITH UNFULFILLED PROMISES, AND FAILED EXCHANGES OR DOWNGRADES,
CONTRARY TO PROMISES MADE,,,,THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY EVER, SECOND IS ASUS,,,

Summary: THE PRODUCT WAS GREAT FEATURES BETTER THAN 720T, BUT NOW WITH THE UPGRADES IT IS MERELY A PAPERWEIGHT AND HAS NO FUNCTIONALITY WHATEVER,,, THE NAV IS THE SAME WAY, I WOULDNT BUY IT EITHER AS THE os ARE THE SAME,,,
TO NO AVAIL,,,,THEY DID OFFER ME THE 401, IN EXCHANGE, WHAT A RIP OFF THEY ARE, UPGRADES WILL RUIN YOUR DEVICE

3.5 stars

"Very cool for my first GPS unit" on June 12, 2009 by Bishop_Brown

Pros: 1) Design - really cool design. Looks like K.I.T.T.
2) Shows current speed
3) Cool graphics and icons
4) QWERTY style keyboard
5) Really easy to use
5) Plug and Play
6) Cool computer interface software for updating languages and maps

Cons: 1) No updated maps to download
2) TMC traffic module is very expensive
3) Sensitivity to touch is lacking
4) Limited name database
5) I don't like the Knight Rider logo on the front

Summary: I was planning a trip out of town this weekend and was looking for a GPS unit. What I was looking for was a unit that has at least a 4.3" screen, millions of POI places, was under $160, available for me to pick up locally and basically, looked cool. As I was looking for various GPS units that fit this bill, I came across the Knight Rider GPS unit. Out of all the units I found online, this was the only one available locally for pick up. Like I said, I am planning a trip out of town, so I needed it right away.

Well, I found a "returned" unit at my local Fry's store. Thankfully there are 2 stores in my immediate area. The closest store was out, but the other store, about 20 miles away, did have it - but like I said, it was a returned unit. What I had figured (and I believe I was right), the previous owner used it on a trip and then returned it when she got back home. How did I know it was a female that owned it? LOL, well, when you turn on the Knight Rider GPS, it greets you by name - and her name just so happened to still be attached! What's worse, she didn't erase her home location (I erased all her old info, including where she lived and where she went - she went to L.A., DisneyLand and Universal Studios). You can add your name by selecting it from a database of installed names and K.I.T.T. will announce it when you first turn on the device. However, the downside to this is that the database of names is very small and you can't add new names (at least not yet?).

This is my first GPS unit. I like it, however, the Knight Rider logo on the front of it seems a bit too much. I don't know, but it sort of cheapens it in a way - like something you wouldn't really take serious, like having a GPS unit with "BARBIE" on or MATTEL blazend on the front of it. Small gripe and I'll get over it. I do like the feature that tells you how fast you're travelling. I didn't see this feature listed in the user manual and basically stumbled across it as I was pressing icons on the screen. When you're in map mode, there is a clock in the upper right corner; Touch it and the speedometer appears below. Really cool. I like the fact that the GPS antenna is built in without the need for an external antenna. Seems to work really well, too, in regards to reception.

I have placed an order through a 3rd party vendor for a vent mounted GPS clip and a bicycle mount clip. You can find them available for the Mio 300 - they use the same clip on the back of the unit, just search Google or Ebay. Having this GPS on my bicycle will be over-kill, but it will surely be 1000x better than the speedometer than I currently have, plus it's wireless and of course, it has a map! The Knight Rider GPS comes with a window mounted clip, but apparently, this is illegal in California. This mount (suction cup) doesn't stick to the dashboard, it just falls right off, so I have no other choice but to place it on the windshield. Although illegal, I currently have it mounted under my rear view mirror until my vent clip arrives next week. My only other alternative was to buy some sort of device that I can stick to the dashboard with double-sided tape, or the insanely over-priced bean-bag dashboard mount. I might go to the craft store and buy a small circle-shaped mirror to be mounted on the dash with double-sided tape until the vent clip arrives. I'm not sure if the vent clip will work as well with my current car I just bought as it has verticle vents. The vent clip is meant for horizontal vents, but the details state that you can rotate the GPS unit, once attached, 360 degrees with this vent clip.

I'm really looking forward to what this unit can do for me this weekend. I was all set to print out a bunch of maps of Monterey and Carmel-By-The-Sea, but figured I would buy a GPS unit instead. I would like the up-to-date traffic managment device, but for an extra $100, I can purchase that at a later date, if I find the need to have one. For now, the live GPS tracking and included maps are more than sufficient for what I want.

You can expand the unit's memory with SDHC memory cards, too. I'm not sure why I would use this unit as a portable photo album viewer, but it's there for those that like this feature. As far as I know, this unit does not play MP3's.

Updated on Jun 13, 2009

Ok, I got my replacement Mio KR and I must say that this thing is awesome!! I had plugged in the cigarette lighter adapter to power the unit up and then we were off on our trip in only a few minutes. I set the language so that it would announce the street names (text to speach) and I must say that this was SO helpful. BTW, I'm not sure why other people complained that the K.I.T.T. voice isn't available for TTS because the mail American voice sounds pretty much like K.I.T.T. I've been to Monterey and Carmel once 12 years ago, so I'm not really familiar with the area, but now having GPS, it was really easy to get to my destinations and I had put 100% trust in the unit to get me where I need to go withougt question.

If I can correct my rating, I'd give it a 5/5 stars for meeting and exceeding my expectations. I'm so glad that other KR unit I bought (which was a store return) broke so that I could get this new one. Price was $163 including tax.