Customer Reviews:
 Navman is great January 23, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've had my Navman GPS only for about a month now but it is a great product so far. The only thing I didnt like was I had to buy an external gps antenna cause the gps signal wasnt getting through my heated windshield on my truck. But the gps signal reception is great and its just a wonderful thing to have.
 quick shippment, user unfriendly, lost reception from time to time January 10, 2007
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
i don't recommend this product
 It is Ok for that price January 9, 2007
It is not bad, but needs some improvements. Good things about it are 3D display and price. Using 3D you can see the road ahead in advance. It is very useful when you drive in the dark.
It is slow to get signal whenever it starts. Also It is not as accurate as other GPS. When I enter some address numbers it cannot recognize them and set the destination to the city.
Another wish item is the cable used to charge and to communicate with a computer. It is bulky and not easy to use. Usually PDAs have their own cradle, but this does not. That means the socket for the cable in this device can be damaged if you are not careful. I had that kind of experience with my previous cellphone and I needed to buy new one.
 Comparison between PiN 100 and PiN 570 December 6, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I had used PiN 100 for about a year, then accidentally broke it, so bought a PiN 570. After about 10 days' use, here's a comparison between PiN 570 and PiN 100.
1. GPS functionality. PiN 100 worked smoothly right out of box in this respect. But PiN 570 had been giving me quite some headache for about a week until I finally grasped all the tricks after doing a lot of research online and conducting experiments myself.
First trick is that, when the mapping software on PiN 570 complains GPS Device Not Found, go to Settings -> GPS and tap on the "ON" box. Somtimes the GPS is automatically turned off (nobody seems to no why) after you exit your mapping software. Sometimes the GPS is actually off even when the "ON" box is highlighted. So you want to tap on "ON" anyway no matter what it shows, then start your map software again, then the GPS Device would be back after a few seconds.
Second trick is regarding the angle of GPS receiver. When you use PiN 570 in car (in the windshield cradle, in an up-straight position), a common mistake that novice users often make is to unfold the GPS receiver fully to 180 degrees so the GPS receiver points straight up. However, this is a very bad angle for the GPS receiver to detect satellite signals, because a large part of sky is blocked in the car. What you want to do is to unfold the GPS receiver to a smaller angle so that it points forward, to the front of car. That way the GPS receiver under the windshield would have a much easier time receiving satellite signals. PiN 100 didn't have this problem, because its GPS receiver was designed so that you could unfold it to at most 140 degrees or so, hence its GPS receiver naturally points forward, not up straight. In this respect I'd like to say that the PiN 570 GPS receiver design (which allows user to unfold the GPS receiver to 180 degrees) is much worse than that of PiN 100, causing quite some frustrating trouble for novice users when trying to use GPS in car.
Speaking of car windshield cradle, I feel the cradle that comes with PiN 570 is designed much better than the one that came with PiN 100. In the old days when I used PiN 100, it's difficult to keep the Pocket PC in a upstraight position for a long time, because the cradle slips to left or right easily when driving on not-so-even roads. Now with PiN 570, the cradle holds the machine much more stably, never slipping. I am very happy with this improvement.
2. Size and appearance. PiN 570 is quite a bit larger than PiN 100. I used to be able to easily slip PiN 100 in my pants pocket. But with the new PiN 570 I can't do the same. Also, the pure gray appearance of PiN 100 looks more sleaky than the black-and-gray of PiN 570. But that's just my personal taste.
3. Speed. PiN 570 seems faster than PiN 100. When using MS Reader the read e-books, when I try to look up words with Encarta Pocket Dictionary, PiN 100 used to need 5-6 seconds to find a word, while PiN only needs 1-2 seconds, a big improvement that also makes me quite happy.
So overall, after grasping all the GPS tricks, PiN 570 is quite good a purchase. Only problem to me is its size, but I'll put up with it.
Navman PiN 570 - You Get What You Pay For!! November 12, 2006
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I've just bought this unit this past week and this is what I've noticed:
1) The price is very reasonable for a pocket navigation system with a built in PDA.
2) Very easy to transfer maps or synchronize with ActivSync.
3) It's very easy to learn, but the process of entering locations is very cumbersome.
4) The maps are very outdated. For example, I entered my sister's house, which is in a major city and was built 30 years ago and the Navman maps cannot find it. Another example: I enter my work address (I work for a public utility which has existed since 1880 and the building was built in the 1930's) and, lo and behold, this address and nearest cross street is not in the maps. One more example (although I can provide many more): I enter the address and/or intersection of a major casino in Reno, NV, which has been in existence for over 30 years, and this is also not included in the maps.
5) Technical support is only available during business hours on weekdays. Not very convenient for those of us who work for a living.
6) The features do not work consistently. I tried pulling up a destination from my contacts listing and the listing does not appear. This feature worked three days ago. After a few days, this feature started working again.
7) I used the navigation system on my trip from the S.F. Bay Area to Reno, NV, a trip of approx. 250 miles each way. The navigation system worked fine on the way to Reno and recalculated fairly quickly when I deviated from the recommended route. Once I got to Reno, the battery was drained (although I had it plugged into my car) and the software crashed, thus losing all the data stored on its internal memory. Fortunately, my maps was stored on a separate memory card. On the way home from Reno, the Navman took almost a full hour to acquire a GPS signal. Once the signal was acquired, the Navman worked as expected.
8) The mount for the Navman is not designed properly. The Navman cannot be held securely in its cradle when the adapter is connected. The pegs where the Navman sits are not wide enough to accomodate the plug.
The bottom line is, you get what you pay for. For the cost of this item, it can easily replace your existing PDA with a somewhat usable navigation system built-in. If you do a lot of driving and need a reliable working navigation system, I don't recommend you get this.
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