|
 :Does the basics of navigation, quality mapping, speed.
Positives:
Nice and small size with a quality feel (although the back bulges outward, it is round and fits into your hands). Map database is fairly up to date, probably around late 2004. Sony's graphics are very sharp and make great use of a small 3.5" screen -- this is the unit's best feature. The unit will automatically zoom in/out based on your speed; for example, at freeway speeds, the unit will zoom out so that more of the surrounding area can be seen, and then when you exit into city streets and slow down, the unit will zoom in so that more street names are visible on screen. Calculations and menu inputs are all very fast. Easily establishes multiple GPS satellites, even inside of my car with 5 metallic tinted windows and a heat rejecting front glass window. Auto brightness dimmer is convenient and normally sets the appropriate level. Sound is clear and loud with a nice "boink" for feedback every time you touch the screen. It has a decent POI database, but allows you to input any address and save it as a Favourite. Also noteworthy is that the voice guidance prompts alert you at the right times so that you do not miss a turn or exit -- many systems have trouble with this.
Negatives:
Does not have a gyro sensor and relies only on GPS satellites so that the system has a little bit of trouble determining the car's orientation at the beginning of navigation. This also means it will not guide you when it has lost a GPS signal. Also, voice guidance prompts should sound more natural (its tone/pitch). Does not say the street name you need to turn at (but actually, it does not matter that much to me because most text-to-speech systems do not sound natural and clear anyway). Does not offer added MP3, picture viewer, Bluetooth features which other systems have. 3D view mode does not display street names, which limits its usefulness (although 2D view mode does show street names clearly). Finding Poi’s are more difficult that other systems since it makes you enter a City instead of just recognizing where you are first (although if you choose "Find Nearby" then that makes it easier).
For my basis of comparison, I have only used navigation systems that have come as built in options. We have an Acura and a Lexus system that are excellent. The Sony NAV-U compares well with them; it just lacks the large screen size and the gyro sensor and has far fewer Points of Interest since it only has 1GB of memory. But it is a great quality product that is sold for a great price.
 :Marriage Saver
I was recently married and our honeymoon included stops at 17 Major League Baseball stadiums that had us driving over 10,000 miles in 31 days. It was the funniest month for both of our lives and we both agree that without this navigation system, things could have been a lot more stressful. We never had to worry if we were taking a wrong exit and never had to stop and stare at a map to figure out where we were at. This or a similar system is a must have if you are planning a road trip and going into unfamiliar areas.
I will admit that being home and using it on roads that I am familiar with that it will sometimes take you a way that you would not normally take and there were a couple of times on the trip that it got a little confused because of new construction, however you just sometimes have to rely on common sense to get through those areas. For what I needed it for and how it performed was perfect and saved us many hours over the course of our trip from having accidentally taken the wrong exit or pouring over a map.
 :Hard to use navigator
Sorry, but I cannot use the interface ... A very competitive price. Bur, I guess I am too used to using the simple Magelan & Garmin products. Sony I notice produce absolutely difficult user interface.
:Tried them all, like this one
I have had tried all major brands of GPS and even though this one gets a little "weird" some times, I must say it is:
- the fastest to get a satellite signal
- as accurate as a commercial GPS can be
- intuitive to use
Sure, it gets a little weird some times guiding me back home... But then, the Garmin unit I had just before this one was even worse. So much so that I returned the Garmin and kept the Sony one. As long as it gets me back home somehow I am happy...
Still, I would recommend this unit, having tried its competitors.
:Great piece of equipment
I live in Europe, so I have to deal with traffic jams all day long. That is exactly the reason I decided for the Sony, it has TMC. And I must say it works excellent, when there is traffic jam on my route, it warns me and giving me 2 choices; ignore or re calculate my route. And the re calculation is just great. The sound is good; I'm very pleased with this navigation system.
The only thing is that Sony doesn't sell the DVD containing the maps of the USA and Canada separately. But since I travel often to the US, my idea was to purchase the USA/Canada DVD separately. Costumer service from Sony, they can't help me, they doesn't know. But anyway, I will find a copy one of these days. Maybe a user in the US can make a copy for me. But anyway the NAV system is perfect.
 
Back To Top..
|
