From: Navigon Average Rating: Binding: Electronics Color: Piano Black Display Size: 4.3 inches Label: Navigon Model: 10000140 Native Resolution: 480 x 272 Special Features: nv:Type^Receiver|Expansion Slots^SD Card|Battery Type^Rechargeable 1200 mAh lithium ion battery|Battery Life^4.5 hours|Antenna^SIRF-GPS antenna|Special Features^Bluetooth Variation Description: Piano Black
Features:
Precise turn-by-turn directions, including spoken road names via text-to-speech
Lane assistant recommends the best lane for you to be in relative to the proposed route
Photo-realistic 3D images of junctions, complete with actual sign text and exit ramp guidance
Free real-time traffic information via the integrated traffic receiver
High-contrast, wide-format 4.3-inch, full-color touch-screen display; unit measures 5.1 x 3.5 x 0.9 inches (W x H x D)
Amazon.com Product Description: In the U.S., German-based Navigon may be the biggest name in gps you've never heard. Navigon has long been a major provider of navigation software to automotive manufacturers for in-dash gps navigation devices, but only recently did they introduce portable navigation devices under their own name. What they offer up, however, demonstrates immediately that this is a company that knows navigation inside and out.
More about Navigon
Navigon...James Navigon The first thing you notice about the Navigon 7100 GPS Navigator is, well, the Navigon 7100 GPS Navigator. It's beautiful. It's the kind of device you'd expect an international spy to have in their rocket car. It's less than an inch thick, and its shiny black casing will go well with just about any car interior. Paying the same attention to every detail, Navigon's included car mount raises the bar even higher, with a design that is not only easy to use, but echoes the 7100's in a way that makes device and accessory become one, adding a touch of style and elegance to any vehicle's interior.
The Navigon 7100 offers a premium navigation experience in a sleek package.
Intuitive, animated menus offer predictive text input, helping you select your destination quickly.
The lane assistant provides guidance to the optimal lane for your route.
The reality view guides you with photo-realistic 3D images of junctions.
Packed with Features When you stop ogling the outside and really start using the 7100, what you notice is that Navigon has decided to avoid media support and instead has focused on navigation-based features. This means the 7100 is packed, offering an array of features that are, at the time of this writing, unmatched at this price point. It provides you with turn-by-turn directions, including actual road names via text-to-speech. It includes built-in Bluetooth technology that enables hands-free mobile phone integration, which not only increases driver safety, but is fast becoming a necessity as states pass laws against talking on a cell phone hand set while driving. It warns you when you are exceeding the speed limit. It offers 2D and 3D map views with incredibly precise road visualizations (more on that below). Its Navteq data contains millions Points of Interest (POIs) such as restaurants, hotels, golf courses, gas stations, banks, etc.
Reality View and Lane Assistant The 7100 has two features that are a great help in negotiating unfamiliar or complicated road systems. Lane Assistant recommends the best lane for you to be in relative to the proposed route, so you won't find yourself trying to move over three lanes when the freeway splits.
Reality view guides you with photo-realistic 3D images of junctions, complete with actual sign text and exit ramp guidance. This makes translating what the navigator is telling you to what you see on the road instantaneous.
Free Traffic for Life This is a biggie. The Navigon 7100 comes is the first GPS device to offer subscription-free, real-time traffic information via the integrated traffic receiver with no additional fees or setup for the life of the product. Be advised on traffic flow and incidents, as well as the best alternate routes. The traffic info starts working as soon as you get the 7100 out of the box.
Zagat Ratings and Branded Icons for POIs All of Navigon's gps navigators offer Zagat ratings and reviews for their POIs, so while this device may not get you a beer, it can tell you where to find the best one. Branded icons displayed on your map make it easier to navigate to a familiar location of your choice.
Superior Software and Hardware The features and functions of the Navigon 7100 are controlled via intuitive, easy-to-use animated menus that use predictive text input to quickly and easily select your city, state and address. Maps and menus appear on its extra-large and elegant, high-contrast 4.3-inch, full-color touch-screen display with an easy-to-read 16:9 aspect ratio for an exceptional view of the road. The Navigon 7100 includes a powerful Samsung 400 MHz processor, a fully integrated SiRF Star III GPS chip, 64 MBs of both RAM and ROM built in, and a rechargeable 1,200 mAh lithium ion battery that is rated for 4.5 hours of continuous use. All this is housed in an ultra-thin, sleek piano black housing that weighs only seven ounces, and measures just 5.1 x 3.5 x 0.9 inches (W x H x D). The Navigon 7100 even comes pre-loaded with complete maps of the U.S. and Canada, providing you with superbly accurate, seamless door-to-door directions wherever your vehicular travels might take you.
Note that the 7100 runs on the Microsoft Windows CD Net 5.0 operating system. A PC is required to use additional map data, and in such cases users require Windows 2000, ME, XP or higher, as well as a CD ROM drive and a USB port. An SD/MMC card reader is recommended as the 7100 not only uses SD cards, but also comes with a 2 GB SD card in the package.
What's in the Box The Navigon 7100 preloaded with North American maps, 2 GB SD card, car charger, wall charger, car mount, USB cable, CD and user manual on DVD, quick installation guide, and warranty information.
About Navigon NAVIGON has been a leader of GPS navigation since 1991, and has a long history of industry innovations. NAVIGON created the world's first dynamic personal GPS product in 1996, launched the industry's first navigation software for the Pocket PC in 2000, and unveiled the first Traffic Message Channel-based (TMC) avoidance feature on mobile navigation product in 2002.
NAVIGON has helped revolutionize how consumers get from place to place with software products for practically any navigation-ready hardware. Personal navigation devices (PND), smartphones, and in-dash navigation systems directed by NAVIGON's award-winning MobileNavigator (MN) software delivers reliable information on millions of destinations in an intuitive, easy to use format. NAVIGON is a valued partner to the automotive industry, and in 2006 strengthened its category competency by acquiring NAVTEQ's navigation software business.
NAVIGON is a privately-held software company based in Hamburg, Germany, with NAVIGON USA headquarters in Chicago, IL.
Best for the Money! I am very happy with my Navigon 7100. While all GPS units have their flaws, I give it 5 stars because I think it has way more features for comparable units. What I like most: I get very good accurate directions with the "fast" setting, with arrival time being very accurate. The spoken directions, although not flawlwss, are loud and clear, but could be better (loud radio) with a front facing speaker. You get ample warning to turn, and the progress bar and arrow in the lower left corner is almost idiotproof. It will take the guesswork out of where the turn is. The roads are broken down nicely, one section at a time. If you take a wrong turn, it quickly reroutes you back on course, but for some reason, if you "block" certain roads in the turn by turn directions, it takes too long to reroute. Reality view is my favorite feature. It will guide you when you approach confusing road splits with arrows and signage! The lane assist is also very helpful in confusing areas. I've also been through a few tunnels, and to my surprise, I was tracked very accurately, with no loss of signal. The free lifetime traffic subscription, was a big edge over the competition for me. I do find you need the external antenna most of the time, but I don't mind because I hide it by leaving it wrapped around my rearview mirror, and then just plug it in when I need it. This prevents an ugly wire showing, as only a few inches can be seen. It works very well, giving you all warnings that are available. You can't avoid and reroute all the warnings, so what I have found to work very well is, I "ignore" all the yellow (slow traffic, etc) warnings, and I "avoid" all the red (major) warnings. Yes, sometimes you DO get rerouted onto small roads, but like my wife said...going slow is better than not going at all! The POI's (points of interest) are extremely helpful. I find most that I look for, even small shops and stores. On a recent trip to Myrtle Beach, it had no problem finding individual outlet shops, a Nissan dealer that I needed, restaurants, and it also found "Dollywood" easily. I really like the Zagats, which contain ratings, reviews, prices, phone number, address, and of course...how to get there. The screen is very bright, and looks good with 3D, and the mount is very secure, and can turn to face either driver or passenger. The most needed menu items (POI's, night view, traffic, etc), are one touch away, which is very important. The speed limit warning is also nice to have. I don't see many posted signs anymore on major roads (I wonder why?), so knowing the limit, and sticking to a certain cutoff will help you avoid a ticket. What don't I like about it? It takes too long to initially receive satellite coverage...close to 5 minutes for me when I first turn it on. That's too long to lock in. Also, the touchscreen sensitivity, although improved with the latest software update, could still be more sensitive. Some people (my daughter included) don't take the time to read the online manual, and never know all the features, or how it works. What I found even more helpful is...take the unit in the house, put it on night view to save battery life, and play around with it on the couch! This is invaluable, as you don't need to be on the road. You can try different route settings, restaurants, POI's, etc. The pros far outweigh the cons. This is a winner and a great GPS!
Navigon 7100 -- Excellent value and features I purchased an open-box Navigon 7100 about 2 months ago and am very satisfied. I live in upstate New York and occasionally travel to DC, CT and other metropolitan areas. The free traffic service sold me on the unit.I didn't want to pay full-time for a part-time feature. Since then and to my delight, the local Clear Channels stations have brought the reporting to our local area. (I've found both local road and limited-access reports of construction, but only for extended projects). I installed the 1.2 software and maps and I found them to be as accurate for my area as those for my Garmin. I like the Reality View and do not find the human interface at all difficult to use. The sound has been more than adequate and the window mount provides a reliable and stable platform. My other GPS mount fell off every time the temperature went above 75.Performance has been excellent. The display is terrific and the features abound. Reality View works great. I will by Fresh Maps shortly.
A few minor criticisms: The lack of an indication that the unit is in standby vs off is mildly annoying. Sometimes I think I have it off (button depressed for 6 seconds), only to find it has been in standby when I return. I would like an alternate voice option, preferably with an English speaker doing the pronunciation. (For example, the word "Colesville" comes out as "Co-LESS-villy" and I am advised to turn onto "Main Saint" (Main St). I found a few local map errors but the inaccuracies I found also appear in GoogleMaps (and my previous GPS for the same area) (obvious since Navteq provides the data). Sometimes, the routing has been convoluted (in my area, Optimum seems better for most destinations that are some distance away), but I have done a few experiments and come to a conclusion. The Navigon seems to take a very conservative approach to attained speed on local, secondary roads. For instance, it allows approximately 6 minutes for travelling the 1 mile from a nearby intersection to my home. A twisting rural road, this road has a speed limit of 30 MPH. Generalizing Navigon's estimate of 10 MPH for this type of road could be one of the causes for routes which seem non-intuitive. In my rural area (and during a recent trip to rural Michigan), this seems to lead to a bias toward highways and away from the country roads. I don't know how many characteristics can be assigned to a particular stretch of road, but this might be a case of the system out-smarting itself.
In brief, I found most of the various criticisms of the Navigon to be unfounded (or at least outdated) in my experience and the unit well worth the price.
Great for the city, Decent for rural areas This is my first GPS. I drove from the East Coast to the West Coast with a stop in Rural Iowa. Worked great around the big cities and almost perfect in the rural areas. For areas that are undergoing constant construction I would suggest getting the Fresh Map update service. It froze up on me a couple times, but I had it on for about 20 hours at a time. All I had to do was hold the power button until it shut off and then turned it back on and it worked just fine. With the rural areas it would get the side of the street wrong or be off by a couple blocks.
I would suggest this to anyone with a few things in mind. If you're getting this to test it of course you are going to find things wrong with it, just the same as with any other product. I don't know any GPS that has perfect pronunciation. If you know the way somewhere don't use GPS it will just annoy you. Make sure you adjust the settings to your preferences because it will make a difference on what route it takes.
Navigon 7100 After upgrading software it still did not show a major highway extension completed over two years ago. Only likes to use main highway routes. does not like short-cuts.
Very good GPS ... 5 stars from me. I have been using Navigon 7100 for about 2 weeks. Overall, I like the product. I have not used any other GPS, so I cannot compare it with any other. Some users have left negative reviews for this. I think most of them never upgraded the software to version 1.2, where most of the initial bugs have been fixed. This software upgrade also upgrades your maps, so you don't have to pay for an map upgrade as soon as you buy the GPS. This unit is not perfect, but there are many features in this which others don't offer or you have to pay for those. I don't want to list all the good features of this unit here as others have done a good job in writing detailed reviews. According to me : Pros) Nice look and feel, Clear graphics, Reality View, Lifetime Traffic Updates, millions of POIs, Text to Speech is clear, Recalculating the route is very quick. I like how it shows the distance when you approach the turn. Cons) These are not real Cons, but thought I'll mention these : Bluetooth volume is low, though I didn't buy this to use it for calling. Sometimes there is a small lag when you click an icon or are typing. But it is not a big problem. It's just the unit is processing some info and takes 1 or 2 secs to respond. The most important point for me to buy this GPS was Lifetime Traffic updates. This technology is not perfect and not 100% relievable yet. So there is no point in paying monthly/yearly for this, as in case of other GPS companies. Some features can be improved, but overall this GPS is very good. I would recommend it to others.
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