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Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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4.0 stars
"Good Portable GPS"
Pros: Excellent Signal Acquisition, Nice packaging
Cons: Clunky Software, Poor Online/Phone Support
Summary: This is my second portable GPS Unit.. My previous GPS unit, the Navman iCN510 worked well, but lost signal frequently and required map downloads. Many state maps were missing from the software.
The AVIC S2 suffers from none of those issues. The Pioneer unit worked out of the box and immediately acquired a satellite signal. The SiRFstarIII chipset is head and shoulders above my old Navman for both signal acquisition and most importantly, accuracy. This unit is accurate generally within 10-20 feet.
Packaging of this unit is excellent, which is what I expected from a consumer electronics company with Pioneer's reputation. The case design was clean made of high quality materials. Screen quality was excellent, crisp and easy to read. Navigation is accurate, although 'turn' directions can be dicey as the unit sometimes asked you to make turns where you can't. If you are paying attention to the road, this is a minor problem.
Although the software is functional, it is moderately counter intuitive. You really have to experiment with the unit and read the software directions to understand how to use AVIC S2 to its full potential. The menus are mostly self explanatory, and the user interface is nice, but the overall way the software menus are organized leave a bit to be desired. Although the unit comes with a USB cord to sync the unit to the computer, utilizing Microsoft Active Sync, syncing is pretty much pointless. There is no added functionality other than recovering the unit to its original configuration or updating the map software.
Where this unit really falls down on the job isn't functionality, but the support documentation and the folks at the Pioneer telephone support department.The documentation was sparse,and I had some difficulty installing the software on my PC.I had to make three separate phone calls to get that problem solved.
Overall, I am satisfied with the unit.
Pioneer AVIC-S2:
