I have been using TOM TOM for past 3 years which is a good GPS. I bought Navigon cause my Tom Tom map was old so i have invest in map or new GPS i went for GPS. Looking at NAvigon 7100 which offers best feature for money i bought it.

Well main feature of GPS is to take you from A to B, this is what 7100 doesn't do well it make me take internal route rather then HIGHWAY and also there is no way to change that. In Tom Tom every time u click on find alternative it will give u different route and u pick the best. This one doesn't give you that offer which is frustrating. They should have a at least given choice to select HIGHWAY and avoid internal road. Rest all features are great. I will return and buy again when they fix the ROUTING ISSUE which is the main feature of GPS.

We purchased our first GPS unit, the Navigon 7100, a couple of weeks ago and there's a few things I'd like to share.

1) It's not a user-friendly, out-of-the-box-and-start-using-it unit. You can't be lazy -- you really have to read the user guide. Unlike other units we tried in the store, such as the Garmin -- it's not intuitive. The user guide/instructions, which are on an accompanying cd (I would rather that it was printed) also doesn't really cover everything (like the problem I have with its Bluetooth capabilities actually working with my iPhone).

2) The keyboard buttons are TOO SMALL. Frequently, I am frustrated to find my finger on a "J" and it types "O". Sometimes, it doesn't even register my tap at all and I have to tap over and over and over again. Very very frustrating when you just want it to type where you want to go and not have it take about 30 minutes to do it!

3) Like another review, the pronunciation of the street names are off, but that's okay.

4) I like the widescreen very much, it's very easy and clear to read and the volume is loud enough for me to hear, even when I have the air conditioning and the radio on.

5) It takes a little long to load or "recalculate" routes. I guess this is due to the maps being on the SD card and not pre-loaded.

6) It's already frozen on us once in the few short weeks we've had it.

7) I like that it has the Zagat ratings -- that is very helpful when you have no idea where to go or what's good.

8) We were in San Francisco and where we wanted to go was on Post Street. We were already on Post Street about 8 blocks down, and it kept telling us to make a right off of Post Street. It's taken us the "very long way" to our destinations. I'm not overly concerned about it as long as it just gets us there, period.

So, I have never had another GPS unit, so I can't really compare, but I have to say that at certain points, I've wanted to throw this out of the window. Maybe it just takes some getting used to, and I hope that Navigon works on the major issues.

product is worth it except for battery life. As I was told on the phone and via email replacement parts are not available as I am in need of the info disc and wall charger. The car charger fits loosely in different vehs the correction Navigon offered is to buy an adapter??? not good enough

I have used navigation software since PDA version mobile navigator, then to Garmin 650 after a long research, but due to limited functionality of the Garmin nuvi 650, I gave to my mom then switched to Mio C520 after debating between Navigon, Mio, TomTom. It was mainly because of the pricing being Mio being the lowest yet to provide so many funcitionality such as TTS, Bluetooth, TMC capability. I thought I was happy with Mio due to the fact it came with all the function mentioned above and also you can customize Mio's display. However the main part of the GPS navigation was not what I was expecting. The map location is off by more than half block, the map is old, it would give me some funky routing, and the display looked like childish cartoon. Worst part of all is that MIO is so persistant that unless I don't follow the direction Mio is giving it will say make U turn on every turn!

After getting tired of hearing 'make U turn', I decided to buy something else....then I came back to Amazon and found Navigon 7100 @ $270 range! I knew this was selling over at $500 and seeing this at this price, I had to research why it was on sale. 'Is this unit that bad so retailer must to sale to move stock?' after reading the review, my feeling was half and half. Some say no problem, some say too many problem, it was either or.

However after going thru such a bad experience with Mio, I decided to give a try with Navigon 7100 because I felt I hit the bottom alreay.

After receiving the package and observing and using the unit for two days, here is what I think:

1. I was impressed with the look of the unit. It looke bulky in the picture because of the thick frame, but I think this makes the unit shine and stand out more.

2. Once I turned the unit, the map looked so professional as I already knew from seeing the demo.

Some say navigation screen is cluttered, but you see mio first then look at this. This is organized. I agree with some people say data font is too small and it could be bigger, however it is customizable by hacking.

3. It tells you where your destination is either right or left. This is BIG plus and you will know why if you are going to new locations.

4. I think it has to do with Naviteq map, because Navigon is fare more more accurate than Mio (it is with Tele-atlas). I know this because as a ex-Garmin user the map was accurate with Garmin (using Naviteq)

5. Bluetooth: It pairs with my iPhone! Now I can call and answer thru Navigon while driving so that I don't have to use my headset anymore.

Mio could not be paired with many phones including iPhone and tech support told me that they had no plans to get updates for such after contacting the customer service.

6. Traffic receiver: I never tried it before because you usually have to pay for this service. You get this for FREE with this unit and it works. It shows you where the traffic area is and it is a very helpful information. again, you get this for FREE!

7. Reality View: Very cool feature and it does help you when you are on freeway. Seeing is believing. Actually this is main reason I leaned towards Navigon unit.

8. Navigon just came out with update 1.2 with complementary map update. Unfortuanetly 7100 users must wait until 5/14, but I hear update are really improvements for 5100 users. They say it is faster and unit responses better. FYI, MIO just came out with map updates and wants $69.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here are some of glitches and concerns of the unit.

1.Bluetooth: it seems to lose its connection time to time and I must repair. I hope this will get fixed with updates.

2. Button responsiveness: You have to click the button firmly to enter the letter sometimes. But I hear this has been fixed with updates.

3. There is only one TTS voice. Not a biggie, but it would be nice if you had a choice.

4. dashboard mount: it is big so that it catches your eye inside of the car and it can lead to theft.

So far I am very happy with this unit. I must say there are couple of glitches but this is for navigation. As far as GPS navigation goes, this is fine unit.

Not sure why all the complaints. I've had the device a couple weeks, put it to the test and it faired well.

Sure, there could be some tweaks (which is why the 8100 is around the development corner) but all in all a great unit.

Some complained about the traffic feature. Said they never received traffic updates. I guess if you're in a rural area you may not, but to be honest, I'm only concerned about traffic on the highway as that's the biggest drain on the time.

I've received several traffic updates. To my surprise, I was about 3 blocks from the highway route when I received an 'audio' update "traffic alert, please view screen". It informed me that there was slow traffic about 3 miles ahead. Gave me the option to ignore update, or reroute. I decided to reroute and it took me on a side road around traffic and back to main highway. Other times, it simply showed me flashing traffic signs on the highway in various other directions.. basically, though not on your route, it simply allows you to see what's happening in case you want to manually change routes.

Thought that was neat.

Someone else pointed out the start up as being slow. Yeah, when you first turn the unit on it doesn't automatically have a signal and each time you power off/on again you have about a 1 minute delay while the unit it finding a signal. I didn't find this to be a deal breaker. I think if you're traveling you don't know where you are anyway, so to sit in the car a couple secs while it finds a signal is no great hardship. Once locked it was locked. I didn't loose a signal under bridges/tunnels/or wooded areas which was great.

If you're in unfamiliar areas you need a couple secs to gain/regain your bearings anyway, so why so impatient?

My only complaints, again no deal breaker, was the 7100 should have come w/built in fm transmitter, but as I said, that allows them the opportunity to come out with the upgraded 8100 model (surprise, surprise it has a built in transmitter).

Lastly, the routing is a bit ugly at time. When I was out of town, the routing was fine...(guess if you don't know the area you don't know if short cuts exist) but when I try to map to an outlet about 10 miles away...the first route try's to take you a couple blocks over, and back to the main highway when from my cul-de-sac it's a straight shot out and to the main highway.

However, they indicate the patch to be released this month will address the fugly routing issues.

I gave a 4 out of 5 simply for the last two issues. No matter what routing issues, it still routed me where I asked.

Good Job!!

I bought the Navigon after looking at several TomTom's, Garmin's, etc. I really liked the reality view and it certainly helps negotiate city interstate exchanges. The only negative I've found is it occasionally routes you in odd directions, one example had me turning south on an interstate near my house going to the next exit, doing a u-turn and heading back north. I could just entered the interstate going north in the first place. Overall, I really like the unit, however, pay attention for quirks in the turn-by-turn before starting your trip.

Great design and great user interface, this GPS has a superb LCD screen in both day and night mode. The fine tuning of this unit is what makes it so powerful. Features like AVOID TOLLS and "Speed Check" which gives you a subtle warning that you are exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph for example make the unit extremely functional. The unit does occasionally get confused (Chicago - roads above roads confuse the GPS) and roads that dead end near your location (Cul-de-Sacs) seem to throw it for a loop, but other than that its gets YOU THERE or at least very close to your destination.

I have noticed the battery life is very short, so you need to keep it plugged into the AC/DC unit in your car. The GPS sticks to a plate that can be attached to your dash or the window, the dash plate is nice and works well. FYI. Comes with a sticker that tells potential thieves that the GPS in this car is PIN protected. Great idea in theory, but bad in reality, as many people won't deploy the PIN setup, the thieves will smash the window just to see if you have a GPS in the car. I didn't use the sticker.

The unit also has Traffic Warning/Avoidance which I am still playing with, in some cities it doesn't seem to find the traffic channel which it gets from a radio signal (e.g. FM 96.7). Very useful during rush hours. The GPS will route you around the slowdowns/backups.

The unit needs a POI (Point of Interest) update as some major POI's seem to be missing or are difficult to locate.

With all that said... Highly Recommended. Great unit and great tech support from Navigon.

ive had this unit for a few weeks and have used it every day since getting it im an electrician in a school district in cali and service 126 schools and this thing has shown me the way each time now its not perfect it does have delays and sometimes the routes that are being recalculated seem to be a little out of the way but if your lost this unit will get you home

PROS:

GPS acquisition, bluetooth, feature-rich

CONS:

Unacceptable routing and other annoying problems (all software-related)

I bought this unit thinking I would keep it and show-off really! It looks very sleek. GPS acquisition is very quick and solid. Bluetooth works as advertised, pairing was a breeze. Inbuilt mic is excellent and so is the voice quality.

The problems arised when you try to use what you really bought it for... navigation! Strong GPS acquisition means nothing if the routing is bad to start with. Even worse the unit assumes that it is on a certain road whereas you really are on the other road of an intersection. TMC never really worked outside my home! On one instance it was asking me to make a right and the device actually showed me that I had to go straight! I was pretty familiar with the place and knew that I had to go straight.

Biggest problem was getting out of a parking lot! You would get to an intersection and the device would assume you are already on the specific road (and facing in the wrong direction!!!!) and re-route you.

Many POIs fail to show up when you search for "nearby" points of interest even though it is in the database. I wrote to Navigon regarding these and got some standard replies (are you sure you had GPS signal etc.) and was finally asked to call them. The representative asked me send them photos of some issues which I did but never heard back! The product went back to the store as a result. I hear they would be having a map update and a firmware update soon but I am not sure if they will have addressed all issues in the update. As I mentioned, the hardware is excellent and its not surprising given that it has a sirfstar III engine but the software needs more maturity. Seems like they hurried it into the market in time for holiday shopping without testing the produce sufficiently.

I bought this GPS thinking that the real time technology was really neat looking, first of all, it does not appear anything like Navigons's advertisments make it appear. This GPS has major, major problems. The bluetooth phone feature is almost usless, because there is no storage feature on the unit for your cell phonebook. The display is not bright enough and very difficult to read during the day, in additon, you have to put this unsightly loose wire antena, suction cupped to your windshield for the traffic feature --- tacky. Next major problem, the battery died after only 3 hours usage after a 8 hour overnight charge (great), so half way though your trip, it dies and you have no GPS. You also must download the owners manual off a CD and print approxmitly 100 pages, (absurd for the price your paying, a printed manual isnt included) Its complicated to use, and I've owned 3 prior GPS units and none of them was nearly as difficult to figure out and use as this one. Worst of all, it's directional abilities are INACCURATE, taking me on longer, way out of the way routes time and again. The Navigon 7100 has major serious flaws and glitches to work out on this unit. Personally I feel Navigon released this unit prematurely (untested) without getting the kinks out. Needless to say, I returned my 7100 to the store after 3 days of total aggravation, and re-purchased a Garmin GPS.