Harman Kardon GPS-300 4-Inch Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player

Other products by Harman Kardon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 3.8 x 5.4 inches ; 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000QSF2FY
• Item model number: GPS-300NA
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,561 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 19, 2005

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The 4-inch widescreen LCD display offers a wider map view than standard GPS navigators.

Harmon Kardon is lauded within the trade for its high-quality loudspeakers and A/V components, and now the company has leveraged its expertise to develop the Guide + Play GPS-300, a portable GPS navigator with an integrated MP3/WMA player. The GPS-300 sports a sleek, 4-inch widescreen interface that gives users access to a robust navigation system with a simple touch of a finger. The interface lets you toggle between device menus with ease, perform a point-of-interest (POI) search to find nearby restaurants, coffee shops, or bookstores, and access the music player at a moment's notice. More significantly, the GPS-300's navigation and music functions are tightly integrated, so you can see and hear all the important navigation information even while playing MP3 files--a rarity among portable navigation devices. Users can even set volume priority between the two functions.

The 4-inch widescreen LCD display, meanwhile, offers a larger map view when in GPS mode than standard navigators, with a 480 x 272 pixel resolution to ensure a clear, crisp viewing experience. It's also a breeze to supplement the built-in U.S. and Canada basemap thanks to the Secure Digital (SD) card slot, which accepts cards as large as 4 GB. As a result, you can install European street maps, rural U.S. street maps, topographical camping maps, and a host of other map types. And, of course, you can add MP3 and WMA files via the cards as well.

The GPS-300 offers tightly integrated navigation and music functions, with the ability to prioritize the volume levels.

A pocket-sized, virtually invisible portable mount secures the slim GPS-300 for automotive use, with a ball-and-socket joint providing an almost unlimited number of viewing angles. As a result, you can easily position the screen so that it can be seen from anywhere in the vehicle. Other details include 3 million points of interest, 2 GB of internal flash memory, a USB 2.0 high-speed interface, a rechargeable battery that runs for up to five hours per charge, a 12-volt power cable for in-vehicle charging, and a carrying case that's perfect for travel.

The GPS-300 measures 4.5 by 3 by 0.8 inches (W x H x D), weighs 7 ounces, and carries a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
GPS-300 navigator, 12-volt power cable, USB cable, portable vehicle mount, user's manual.

Product Description

GPS-300 Portable Navigation + Audio device offers a highly intuitive and easy to use navigation device. It also offers playback capability of music. All access and control is via a 4" WQVGA touchscreen (widescreen format). In navigation mode, it offers easy-to-understand spoken instructions and visuals in the the lanquage you select (English, Spanish or French). Turn-by-turn graphics with all vital information is displayed and Maps of U.S. and Canada are built-in along with full point of interest database. The MP3 player offers browsing by Artist, Album, Genere, Song or Playlist and will display ID3 tags for Artist, title and album along with album artwork. MP3 & WMA audio formats are supported.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great GPS for Bargain Price, July 4, 2007

By	TraveLots (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

I wanted to get my Dad a GPS for his summer road trip. I have a GPS-500 myself and knew it would be easy enough for my parents to figure out. From the pictures of the product it looked like the GPS-300 had the same easy to use interface as the 500. Thankfully it did. My dad had no problems learning to use the device. GPS locks quickly and the interface is snappy.

The 4" widescreen is a huge plus compared to other $300 GPS devices. 3.5" is just too small for someone my parent's age to see. I haven't seen anyone else offering a screen of this quality at this price point.

My parents don't use the music player, but I can confirm it is the same player as my GPS-500, with the exception of video and DRM support. It lets you browse by album, artist, genre and playlists. Music is played from the SD Card slot.

At this price you can't go wrong. It's as good as other products costing much more including the nuvi. In my opinion, the graphics and UI are the best of any PND at any price. If you need video and/or DRM go for the GPS-500. Either way you won't regret your purchase.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wow... the other reviewers are dead wrong about this one., March 6, 2008

By	Fletch (Ohio) - See all my reviews

I purchased the HK GPS300. I also have a Tom Tom One XLS. Let me tell you....there is no comparison. No GPS is perfect and I understand they to guide and help and not to think for the drivers, but the HK GPS300 is not the answer. I saw the rave reviews and there was a great deal on this unit at Sears, so I thought I'd give it a try for my other car....
Here is my out of the box experience with the HK GPS300... took forever to find GPS Signal, but finally did.... did not have my home address, even though my house has been here since 1973 (my street was listed though). The HK300 said I had reached my destination more than 1/4 mile before I was at the house. I checked for the grocery store down the street. It did have the grocery store in it's POI database, but said it was only 600ft my house when it is over a mile a way! I don't expect perfection, but I would expect to be in the general vicinity of the destination otherwise what good is it?

I'll try this thing for a few more days before returning it, but there is no comparison with this unit and a Tom Tom or a Garmin...Sorry HK, but only people who have never used a GPS before would give this item a favorable review. BTW.. I called HK to ask what the deal was (maybe my maps were out of date, etc.....) the guy said I don't know what to tell you, but it is, what it is...your unit has the most up to date maps and I really don't know what to tell you other than that. .....What do I do when I spend $$$$ on something that terrible, I take it back and get my money.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love It, August 18, 2007

By	David Lundgren - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My wife got me the 300 for my birthday... although it's clear it will be bouncing between both our cars depending on who's going where! We are both completely impressed with it.

I second the comments about the screen size and clarity, the solidness of the windshield mount, etc. I also have to say that the thing "feels" like quality... the design is very much in the Apple mode, logical, intuitive and solid.

Software is great. Has the type prompts that you expect in the more expensive GPS systems: "Make second right here", use of street names on the maps, really nice three dimensional perspective. We tried to confuse it in downtown Albany by doing everything wrong and it didn't get rattled at all. I'd love to see one of these that would start to insult you after the third time you ignore its advice!

According to HK, they will be providing updates to the maps approximately annually... the maps in it are from October 2006 and are the newest available. It does have a grid of streets near our house that are new within the past year and haven't even been accepted by the Town yet, so I'd say it's pretty complete. You can't change the voice, so it's a guy and you're stuck with him, but we've already nicknamed him Rocky.

For the price, or even for more than the price, Rocky's well worth it, and someone you want with you if you're not sure where you are. No one is getting lost with this guy on the dash. Big thumbs up.


8/21/2007, Update

OK, having had this thing for a few days now, and having learned a bit about the GPS world at large, I can still enthusiastically recommend it! We went to an outdoor concert in a nearby city last night that I am completely and happily unfamiliar with. While the GPS 300 didn't have the name of the park in its database, I sort of knew where it was and just used it to navigate to two large green areas on the map. The first was a cemetery, interestingly enough, the second was our destination. I could have just entered intersection names and gotten there if I'd known the exact streets, but we found the place very quickly.

After the show, now in full darkness, we just headed for the nearest exit without a thought to getting to the "best" one, and hit the Home button once on the street.

They're all supposed to do this, of course, but for the money this thing does it really well. I've now learned that you can pay a thousand dollars for a big-name unit that won't even show you street names on the map unless you're on a programmed trip! I can't imagine what they're thinking.

I've also read lots of reports about the way various units say "Recalculating" when you differ with their recommendations. As a software/user interface guy, what's the point of that at all? Don't tell me you're recalculating, just do it and get on with the day. The HK works this way... Rocky just sucks it up and gives you the new route, instantly.

The darkness bit also reminded me of a trip to Charlotte, NC, where even though I had a map, under the dim map light in the car at night, my 50 year old eyes couldn't make out the street names anymore... I rode around (I'm a guy, we don't ask for directions) until I got a glimpse of the buildings of Uptown and reoriented myself. I won't have to play that game anymore!

I've also realized that accessories can be a big deal. The GPS 300 came with a very nice slide-in case to protect it while it's hiding in the console when the car is parked... apparently plenty of these don't provide you with those nice extras that are actually necessities.

I can report that I'm returning the favor and buying my wife one of her own for her birthday upcoming. It's the first piece of technology I've ever gotten that she likes as much as I do.

I'm not here to throw any rocks at Garmin or TomTom here, since everyone does it differently and opinion is always subjective. That said, HK is really onto something with their excellent take on the midrange GPS market.