Sony NVU44 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech (Gun Metallic)
by Sony
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List Price: Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony NVU44 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech (Gun Metallic)
Customer Review: Some very useful features; But a few basic features missing
Summary: 3 Stars
Good:
1. Navigation voices aren't robotic.
2. When you search for a Point of Interest - for example Pizza - as you travel, it lists all the Pizza restaurants in the general vicinity and indicates their general direction in relation to your position with an arrow; I find this very useful.
3. As you drive, there will be a yellow triangle adjacent to your position. This triangle constantly points to the general direction of your destination, so you know if you are heading towards the right direction.
4. Good POI - both the data available as well as the search function
5. Reliable navigation and map
6. Quick Satellite fix
7. Announces how much time it took to reach the destination at the end of the trip; too bad it only announces it and doesn't store or display it.
Bad
1. No option to "Avoid Highways"
2. Three calculation conditions - Standard, Avoid Tolls, Shortest Distance - all mutually exclusive to each other. Which means it cannot navigate the shortest toll free route. It is either shortest distance or Toll Free, not both.
3. Not built to last; either that or you should be extremely delicate when handling this. The USB socket broke of the circuit board in mine.
4. Does not offer even a basic trip statistics feature.
As of this writing, I believe Sony discontinued its GPS products. And that is not surprising. I do not see their usual engineering or design in this GPS
Customer Review: Great screen and Text to Speach but Routing gives longer paths
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros: Great screen, many POI, text to speech, touch screen. dual display at intersections. Easily picks satellite and starts quickly. Easy to carry in a pocket.
Cons: Routing does not give shortest distance even when setting routing option to shortest.
It is a very useful unit as it has many points of interest and gives you a list of these with their phone numbers. The search feature is easy and fast. Internally it has 2 GB memory full of data.
The main problem is that the route selected is often longer than what you would normally use. Another reviewer on CNET has the same observation. for example to go from Katy TX to College Station, TX it routes you thru Sam Houston Beltway 8 toll road. When selecting to avoid toll roads it routes you even further west through 610 loop. both are much longer paths than SH-6 or Barker Cypress Rd. There is no option that will make it select the shortest path even when you know it. Sony needs to add a feature that allows adding a street to current route to force it to go that way. They also need to give shorter and quicker routes.
Same happens when coming from Rosenberg, TX to Katy, it routes you thru Beltway 8 toll road instead of SH-99 (Grand Parkway).
I am using the updated firmware (1.1) released on 12/15/2008. I did not try the original firmware. The new firmware is supposed to fix this same issue.
Customer Review: Good while it lasted
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoyed this GPS while it lasted. After 3 months of not-so-heavy use, it no longer picked up the satellites. I returned it to Sony and since they no longer have any left in stock (getting out of the GPS business?), they refunded my entire amount. Also, the battery would not hold a charge after several uses which I didn't care about too much since I had it mounted on the windshield and plugged in.
Overall, I liked the interface and it was very easy to learn how to use. The routing algorithm was a bit weird where it would take me off a major interstate too early, causing a longer trip. I did update the unit to the latest firmware and played with some settings but it didn't help. Some addresses where hard to find as I had to type in alternate forms of the street address. However, as long as my defective unit isn't a sign of common problems, I would recommend it as a cheap entry level GPS.
Customer Review: Used it for one day and returning it.
Summary: 2 Stars
Well bought it on sale for $79. Well i don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on GPS device, since i do not need Bluetooth, MP3, TTS etc..
All i need for it to get me where im going.
First of all im not new to GPS devices. I used Tom Tom and and before dying on me it was working really nice but one day for no reason it just DIED. i also used Magellan 1212, So this GPS is my 3rd one.
Pros:
--- Gets good signal right away and thats why i gave 2 stars instead of one.
Cons:
---Not fully touch screen (but you already know that before buying it)
---ALWAYS looking for Toll Roads even if any other street will get you there faster
--- Does NOT ask you if you want to avoid toll roads (which I DO),
and honestly i didn't even find the option where you can avoid toll roads, Correct me if im wrong on this one.
---If you want to try another route and I'm not talking about recalculating, like if you don't want to take I-10 because you know it's jammed up and go through 59 or 45, my Tom Tom would give me bunch of options but Sony just gave me TWO. I tried few other destinations and all it gave me just two options.
Now, I don't know if it just my device acting up but im just telling you the way it is.
In my Personal opinion, just proves one thing: if you really good in other Electronics, doesn't mean you have to stick your head in every department.
Customer Review: poor performance
Summary: 2 Stars
I have purchased it as we have a second car after just moving to another state...boy i regret this purchase. In comparison to my Garmin 360 it's like night and day. this sony will guide you through 20 mp/h streets through one family houses neighborhood while there is a highway right next to it, and i'm talking miles of driving. we use it ONLY if it's absolutely necessary. Luckily for me o got it on sale for ~$80 but even then i would recommend to pay a bit more and get garmin instead.