I currently own a MIO that I purchased on Black Friday 06 and planning to upgrade. The Mio is a competent little unit, but I was hoping to get a unit with text-to-speech, newer maps, updated POIs, better interface, and better routing. Here comes Navigon 5100.. at $160 it came with Text To Speech, Lane Assist, 3d reality view, Zagat ratings, and Free TMC! Could it be the magical upgrade I was looking for?

After 1 day owning the unit and using it to drive around, this item is going back to Amazon. And here's why.

1. First thing I notice was the HUGE windshield mount that looks cool, but it's a major pain to use. Rotating the device around was very awkward and I was afraid that it would snap off. Another annoyance: On highways the mount just shakes road vibrations! My Mio didn't do that.

2. You must HOLD the button for 10 seconds for startup and shut-down. In addition, you must click OK to the EULA agreement that you wont use this unit while driving ( you know what I mean ) etc etc. This makes the unit impractical for quick turn-on and go like my Mio does.

3. The keyboards (or any other buttons, for that matter) are TINY. I have relatively small hands and I'm having problems typing my destinations.

4. The UI are clunky. I was interested because I heard Navigon has a very pretty UI, but I'm disappointed. The 'Flash' menus are nothing to be excited about. The maps on most streets are plain white and hard to read.

5. It takes many taps to do the simple things I can do right away on my Mio. For example I can simply move the maps around with Mio while I was in 'navigation mode.' With this Navigon, I need to click on the little button on the bottom right which pops up a menu, and select the button for 'move your fingers around to scroll map' view.

6. There's a 'direct access' buttons for specific types of POI (which allow you to quickly see surrounding POIs with 1 tap) which is very nice, but then it directly routes me to the POI I selected ( I cant just view the phone number etc - to do that I have to do it through the regular POI screen)

6. The fonts are very small. I'm talking TINY small.

7. And here's the killer for me: The speaker is very soft. The unit when cranked all the way up is barely audible on highways, and the sound is already cracking. My Mio is way louder.

So those are the reasons the unit is going back. It's too bad - I really wanted the unit to be the upgrade I had wanted. Just to wrap this review up on a good note, the positives (for me ) are:

1. The unit looks very pretty.

2. Navigation is pretty good and accurate.

3. Voice guidance (when you can hear it!) spells out street names pretty accurately.

4. It says which side of the road your destination is (this is very neat)

5. It can display speed limit, your speed, altitude, etc. Lots of information.

6. There's dedicated 'direct access' button which has its limitations, is a nice feature.

7. Route recalculation was pretty fast.

There you go. I hope this review serves as a caveat emptor - Keep in mind that you DO get a host of features for a very low price, but it has its (for me, major) shortcomings. What that shortcomings amount for you is for you to decide.

I map for a living so this unit makes sense.

I was worried about buying this model when I first read many reviews on this site as well as other sites carrying the Navigon 5100. The price however was too luring at 178$. I am pleased to find that the 5100 works great if you follow the recommendations in the manual.

I am a GIS analyst so i do have experience with maps and creating products similar to google earth. I will say that the Navigon is a great model for a intermediate user. I bought my mom a garmin unit because she will not take the time to read the manual nor does she care about extra funtions like optimum route, excluding tolls or 3d view.

First issue I read about was battery failing.

If you charge your unit for 6 hours (as recommended) when you initially buy your unit you will not have issues with your battery or recharge.

As stated in the manual, powering on takes a while. This is kind of a drag and i'd say one of my "cons" for the model. Powering on and off takes 7-10 seconds.

Many people complained about the unit rerouting with U-turns. This is something that you can turn off so they obviously didn't read the manual.

Rerouting is fast and includes traffic in calculation. Something Garmin does not do. You can also select what kind of vehichle you are in (bicycle, truck, motercycle, car) to add another factor to avg speed and rate calculations.

One of the best features for me and others i work with is the log funtion. If you need to log milage for tax purposes this is a great function. Or if you need to track workers to see if they go home during lunch or leave their car idle for hours this is great as well. With rising gas prices our company saved over 10,000$ due to this tracking.

The GUI is easy to understand if you go through the manual although not as "smooth" and fast as the Garmin unit.

Poi's are outstanding tons of symbology and even better if you get the freshmaps update.It's on sale through amazon for 56$ for 3 years. Totally worth it.

One thing you won't find in the garmin unit is an info button that tells info about the POI as well as a phone #.

All roads come from Navteq or Tele-atlas which is where Garmin gets their roads from. So complaints about roads being different on a Garmin doesn't make sense.

I do like garmin's POI loader. Very nice if you have work data that you need to add to your unit.

I haven't played with the navigon's POI's I suspect if you follow format and add through notepad then your only restriction would be the size of your card.

I must warn it's probably more advanced and not as user friendly as Garmin's POI loader.

Just kidding I got it for the navigation capabilities; however, the windshield mount looks like it was modeled after the alien spacecraft from the blockbuster War of the Worlds movie- so cool!

I've been a GPS user since 2000 when I first rented a car with a GPS system. Since then I've used various GPS software and hardware on Window CE devices and most recently on an AT&T 8525 PDA phone. I switched to a dedicated GPS since trying to run GPS navigation software on a phone gets complicated when calls start coming in.

Quality- Built well, thin, probably couldn't hold up to drops or abuse but overall it's a nice unit. Did I mention the mount? Absolutely beautiful design/concept. It securely holds the 5100 very well

GPS Reception- Folks have complained that this unit takes a long time to acquire satellites. I haven't experienced this. Typically time to acquire 5 to 7 satellites is approx 30 seconds to 1:30. Please in mind that acquiring satellites can be hampered by building (sky scrapers), cloudy days, positioning of the unit on the window (i.e. GPS units need clear visibility of the sky to receive good reception), heavy rain/snow and time of day/rotation of the earth. Overall no complaints; it performs very well.

Interface- For me the interface was very close to one version of software I had a while back on a Windows CE PDA. It does take time to learn the interface so don't think of this as an ATM or self-checkout lane at the store. Read the manual. Overall it works and I can find POIs or enter in addresses with ease. Doesn't seem sluggish to me. Only downfall is that I cannot sync my outlook contacts to it. Several settings are available in this unit for customization.

Screen- A tad bit washed out but not bad. You can still see the POIs, streets, etc. when driving. For the cost it's reasonable. You can adjust the screen brightness. There is a night time mode.

Navigation- The "Optimal" routing setting works best for me. It calculates routes driver would typically take. I've tested this and it works very well. Re-calculating routes works very quickly for me. Calculating a long drive, such as from Portland, OR to Dallas, TX does take some time to calculate but given the distance covered, I'm happy it can do it!

Text to Speech/Volume- The voice quality is good. A female's voice is used. She prompts me well in advance of the street name and direction. The volume when maxxed out is adequate but it's not going to over power your car radio or beat the howling wind @ 55 mph. Typically when I'm going some place I don't know I roll the windows up and turn down the radio. I pay attention.

Versatility- being able to swap between cars is ideal.

Traffic Reception- Stellar! This unit prompts me with traffic condition warnings. There is no subscription for this service as it taps into the local radio stations that broadcast this service.

I was really concerned about the negative reviews on this unit, but overall I'm satisfied and my friends consider me the "return king." Looking forward to many drives and not getting lost.

Cheers,

Brian

Up to this point, I had planned to only write book reviews but feel compelled to write this after the mixed bag of reviews for this product. The listed reviews created alot of confusion for me; I'm always suspicious of the "one-item reviews" that either damn or glorify; maybe this info will be helpful if you are considering a purchase.

I purchased the Navigon 5110 last month (June 08), have used it for several trips, and couldn't be happier with it. In a nutshell, to address some of the issues brought up in the other reviews:

Pros

1. Mount system is ingenious-no velcro, screws, sticky tape, etc...just suction cup it to your windshield and hook up the power to your cigarette lighter. You can use it for any automobile that has a working cigarette lighter (even an old 1970 Ford Oldsmobile). For security, you can detach the GPS from the mount in a matter of seconds. And overall, it has a sleek, minimalist design.

2. Navigation is highly intuitive; I missed a turn in Berlin, took a turn at the next traffic junction, and the Navigon recalculated and put me back on track. I really liked the highway sign visuals-you will never be confused again about major highway turns.

Let me address 2 complaints from the other reviews.

U-Turns: if you miss a turn the voice command will say " Make a U-Turn now." to let you know you missed a major turn. You get this voice prompt even if you are on a 4 lane highway. So you take the next turn/exit, and the Navigon recalculates and puts you back on track. (If you are one of those persons who would try to make a U-Turn on a 4 lane hgihway because the Navigon said so, it would probably be too dangerous for you to own any type of car navigation system.)

The other complaint was about getting commands to make turns too late or too early. I found the voice command for turns to be spot-on in every case-including a 3K, 1K, 500m, 300m and 100m warning prior to the turn. This was critical in busy, city traffic.

3. Voice Commands-I really liked this feature, esp. the female, British accent. I have a slight case of ringing in my ears (tincture) from years on firing ranges and rock concerts from my younger years. Still, with the radio playing, I had NO PROBLEM hearing and understanding the voice commands.

4. Options and Updates-traffic warnings and the ability to get road updates online is a big plus. I'm currently using the Navigon in Europe, but it also has maps for the continental US when I go back to the states. For that matter, I used it in Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin, both former eastern Europe.

Cons

1. Screen-there is one legitimate complaint-some of the numbers are small-ie if you want to read total distance of trip, your current speed, current elevation, you need to really look at the screen to read those numbers. Also, it can be a little difficult to read if you are driving into the sun, but this may be true of all navigation systems.

2. New Destinations-I think this is a Con-I need to check the user's manual. I would like to have the ability to go somewhere and then enter it as a new destination. This may be possible-I need to check the User's Manual.

3. Price-no issues for me for what I got, but like all technology, wait 6 months and the price will probably drop $100.

Highly recommended.

The key features the make the navigon above other GPS's are the True View, a extreamly helpful tool, and the real time traffic reports which are free for the lifetime you own it.

The only things i think could use improvement are, the speaker could get a little louder, although its plenty loud when on the mount it comes with. and the size of the buttons you need to use to enter address are too small but i haven't had any issuse of pressing the wrong one but i keep thinking i will. Also it includes the 2mb memory card and an extra external antena which I've never needed but nice just in case.

Also the mount works great and is a great disign.

This is my first GPS. And I have only used limited models of Garmin and Magellan. So am not sure how helpful my review maybe !!!

Pros:

** Very stylish and looks great on the mount.

** Integrated traffic receiver. Free traffic updates for life. You may have to pay a monthly charge for the other GPS. The traffic update is very fast in California and other bigger cities. It indeed helped me after taking a detour to reach my destination faster. This is the major feature that I considered to make this purchase.

** Very good instructions. Tells us if the destination is on the R/L. This prepares the driver in finding a parking on the same side.

** Zagat rating and description for most POIs is very apt. The contact information is another advantage.

Cons:

** The voice is not as good as the other GPS receivers in the market. This can be improved.

** I bought it during the Thanksgiving sale. So everything worked out cheap. Otherwise it is expensive for the competitors in market today.

** Sometimes takes you to weird destinations. (This could be a problem with NAVTEQ, which is also the software for many GPS' in the market).

This is an excellence GPS device. It is a German design, similar quality as BMW and Mercedes. Very accurate and intuitive. Recently, Navigon just came out with a system upgrade for this device. This software upgrade improves overall system peformance and includes the hibernate mode feature(save battery life). I love the windshield craddle design and quick release button. Moreover, Navigon is the only GPS on the market with the free traffic information. The speaker is very loud with volume control. Yes, you can charge and use the device at the same time. This device has a bookmark feature to create a new point of interest and save it as your favorite. Before you buy, google search for prices. [...]

I bought this device for my wife for christmas and have been happy ever since. The unit looks nice, menus are intuitive and easy to read and the integrated lifetime traffic service is a fantastic feature. If you are looking for a device that can be everything to everyone this probably not for you (and likely no GPS unit is because it doesn't exist). However, if you are looking for a reaonably priced unit with a number of higher end features that can help you navigate your daily life a bit easier, you will not be disappointed by this device.

Navigon 5100 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

After much studying of features among the top tier of GPS providers, including Garmin, Tom Tom, and Magellan, I finally decided on the Navigon 5100. I've used a Garmin when I rent cars, and while they have a great POI database, they don't include free lifetime traffic updates like the Navigon does. Since that was one of the main points of my purchase (I live in St. Louis where they've closed one of the Interstates for two years), I didn't want to shell out more money for a traffic service. Nor did I feel like I wanted to buy one of the much more expensive units that could interface with my cell phone, etc. I supplemented the unit with software that allows you to add your own POI databases to the unit, and now I have something quite workable and more flexible. The preview of more complicated interchanges is nice, and I like how it warns you a mile ahead of your turn so you can start changing lanes early...the Garmin's I regularlly rent don't do this. I'd buy again, and have been happy with it for what I paid.

I ordered this product and I am pretty happy with it except for the fact that the battery runs down a little faster than I thought it would, and also when I purchased it the advertisement said that it would come with a wall socket charger...but it didnt so I had to order it seperately...And it also didn't come with a paper instructional manual...you have to use a CD and look at it through your PC and that wont help you very much if you are on the road and need to know how to work it...lol....But other then that I guess I would have to say it was a pretty good deal and so far it has been working nicely.