Garmin iQue M5

Summary: I was pretty determined to get ahold of one of these because I really liked the idea of having a PDA and (a true) GPS, all in one unit. I first tried the Garmin 3600. The Palm organizer functions were awesome, but the GPS integration was WAAY too limited and anti-intuitive to even waste my time with.

I was hoping that the M5 had significantly improved some things... because the 3600 wasn't far off. I hoped that the few negative reviews I saw on the M5 would be due to a particular unit malfunctioning, (or user ineptitude) but unfortunately there indeed are a few things I personally found annoying if not downright problematic. I'm not sure if this is Microsoft's "my-bad" or Garmin's, (I suspect Garmin) but here goes:

1) I would have expected the M5's options to follow standard Windows logic. Some basic options you'd expect are simply not there... such as "view". Garmin forces the user to either memorize the "taiwan-eez" translated manual (although better than the 3600), or fumble waste-ingly through seemingly endless "possible" menu choices where your desired option "might" be found. I'm sure this is certainly achievable over time, but I found the option mapping simply irritating and un-intuitive enough to give up on trying to master. (I figure that if I delve into a product 100% for 3 days or so, I should be able to fully understand how/what I need to do to accomplish my needs. If not, well then...)

2) The unit locked up on me far too many times in the 3 days I used it, requiring resets that affected many of the user specified settings -- including your home location, & map view choices. Ramification of this is that when your map reappears, it's suddenly back to Kansas -- instead of California (go figure)and has to be (once again) redefined.

3) I found the unit's EXPECTED functioning far too unpredictable involving such things as: (a)data entry, (minor, but in some fields it automatically gives you a 1st letter capital, others it won't); (b)what information is retained & what is lost upon reset, (sometimes it would lose certain settings, other times it would retain those same settings -- sometimes retained certain programmed button settings, but other buttons in the same menu were reset(??). So, you're never quite sure what you need to reset and what you don't, until you're using the thing, and realize it's (once again) not the way you set it up to be.

4) One of the options Garmin touts is that you can create an appointment from a contact, but this is misleading -- almost verging on false advertising. Unless I'm missing something--which is always a possibility, you can GET to the appointment MENU from a contact, but there is no link provided between the contact's information and the actual appointment. No name... no address... no phone number, unless you enter it again into the appointment. While I don't recall trying this feature specifically, I have to say that the PDA functionality on the Palm-based IQUE-3600 felt far superior -- but the problem there AGAIN was the GPS program/integration mapping (which is now far better on the IQUE-M5). I actually felt completely dis-inclined to even USE the PDA functions on the M5--not so on the 3600.

5) There is no basic "cancel" option in GPS Routing - I'd think this should have been a pretty logical feature. It does allow you to "stop" gps navigation, and then "resume"... but not to "cancel". You can always just "start a new route", but then my GPS locked up (for the 5th time) -- requiring soft reset...requiring re-entering many preferences...requiring my time...requiring my mental energy and patience... and, well... you get the idea.

6) I'd think that placing an electronic device--especially a PDA--on the dash, requiring constant direct exposure to sun & heat would cause problems for any sensitive device. This would be a logical explanation (in my mind) for some of the reset problems I experienced on the road, and I would suggest that anyone intent on buying this would pay the extra for an external antennae(although the M5 is already expensive). Still, many of my lock-ups were indoors as well...linking contacts and syncing, map changes, etc. The online upgrade (which I did try) required two re-starts to successfully download -- initial map installation resulted in lock-up as well.

Garmin deserves respect though, and in their defense, I think the M5 has lofty aspirations, which I really appreciate and I think the market would relish. However, their logic progression is clearly non-standard and (to me anyway) seems quite "willy-nilly". Now, (though I did get "A's" in college calculus, physics, English & computer programming) maybe my mind simply isn't flexible enough to grasp & manage their menu & mapping logic... But I suspect that ultimately, Garmin just decided that a complete re-write of their existing programming structure is simply to expensive to invest in.(??)

I'm giving the M5 pretty good marks though, because they did do a lot of things quite well. Integrating an organizer with Internet AND GPA must be an overwhelming task and I give them cudos for all they DID do right. Unfortunately, for me... I'm going to have to buy a Palm... and a separate GPS. But please do go ahead and give the M5 a try -- I WOULD recommend deciding for yourself, because for you, you just might love it!