Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon GPS-300 4-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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 I called HK to ask what the deal was (maybe my maps were out of date, etc.....)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.

Have been using GPS in my RV for about 8 years now. Started with Delorme on my laptop. OK, but cumbersome. Got a Navman ICN550 next. Really loved that unit, solid and extremely functional. However, maps were getting outdated and Navman no longer supports map updates for that particular model. Soooo -- I needed to move on to something else. Have had the HK 300 for a few weeks now. So far, so good. I have had to re-set it a few times and the battery drains rather quickly, even when the unit is not powered up. Maps are good, GPS functions perform well. Screen is very clear, volume is acceptable. MP3 player is OK, but cannot get Windows media player to transfer a playlist. Albums and songs transfer OK. Unit does not like a 4GB SD card, but 2GB card seems to work well. HK promises that map updates will be available in the future. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

POI's seem rather complete. Entering destinations is easy. A nice touch is that unusable letters grey out on the keyboard when entering a street or city name. This makes entry much quicker and easier.

The unit has nowhere near the flexibility of my old Navman, but it does a good job getting you where you want to go, as the maps appear to be up-to-date and accurate, and that is what a GPS is all about. In the end, it will all depend on the availability of map up-dates. Failing that it will be all but useless in a few years.

I believe one of the reviews I read said you could not charge the battery except with the DC charger. That is incorrect. The unit will charge from the USB port when connected to your home computer. There are so many units out there. You can go nuts reading specs and reviews. I place a lot of stock in user reviews. The HK has good user reviews and this is another one. Will be taking a long RV trip soon and will have the chance to give it a good workout. Will update this review after that trip.

12/8/07 Update

Unit performed very well on a trip from the S.F. Bay Area to Palm Springs. Once in Palm Springs used it in a rental car with an MP3 input. Having directions with music over the car radio was neat. Unit was right on the money with all locations I needed to find. No regrets at all about buying this GPS.

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.

I m a first time GPS user and must say this product is great. Worked straight out of the box, easy to operate, looks great and has very up-to-date maps. In my experience it re-calculates routes pretty fast (as I have tried to test that as much as possible). The screen is bright (even in Arizona sunlight!) also the night view is great. The suction cup for attaching it to a surface is strong and works great.

In some places it took a couple of minutes to get a signal, but no big deal really. (maybe 10% of the time in my case). Very easy to put in addresses or places to go. It gives very good verbal directions, so it is perfect if you are in busy traffic, you don't even have to look at it.
You can avoid toll roads, highways, ferries, u-turns, border crossings and permit needed.
You can prioritize by time or distance.
You can plan trips by address, zip-code, city center, place, intersection, recent places, home or saved places.

I bought this one for my wife and would buy one for myself in a heart beat.

i bought this unit last year because:
(+) nice screen size and resolution.
(+) built-in MP3/WMA music player with SD slot
(+) Harman Kardon brand name

and i returned it after 3-week use in multiple states because:
(-) TERRIBLE algorithm and possibly old maps. the software told me to turn left into no-left-turn roads / one-way / into freeway many times.
(-) slow satellite lock-on time, sometimes even minutes. actually slower than my Sprint Mogul.

you don't want to be a GPS horror story.

I am so disappointed with the HK GPS-300's GPS performance becuase I like it so much. It took over 20 minutes the first time to lock on GPS signal and so long the second time I had to give up on it. Needless to say, it is on its way back to Amazon for a replacement. I will give it one more try.

The screen is gorgeous. Kind of dim in the sun light, but I don't know if there is one in the market that wouldn't. I would rate this screen on the same level with the expensive widesreen Garmin. Menu makes a lot of sense and easy to navigate, map display is clear and provides the exact information you want. No text to speech, but it is ok as you can look on the screen and find out what street you have to turn.

I have not tried the mp3 player yet, but I trust HK to provide solid performance there. One thing, why wouldn't HK provide a JPEG viewer? They have everything there, just add the software capability.

More update when I recieve my replacement unit.

Update:

Received the replacement unit. GPS signal is now locked under 3 minutes, not excellent, but not disappointing either. All I can say is I LOVE IT! The map is very up to date. It even has a new road that was built only within a year ago. Buy it. You wont regret.

My wife unexpectedly purchased this unit for X-mas. I was not quite sure how it would fare. For the most part HK nailed it, my friend has a magellan that he's constantly having problems with and half the time when we're on road trips it is useless (always searching for signal or freezes). I've been using this unit constantly since unwrapping it just to see how accurate it is and low and behold it has not dropped the ball. The only complaint I have albeit a small one is when you get close to your destination it says arrived even though you can be about a 25 to 50 feet away. Mounting is a cinch, I definately recommend this unit.

-Justin

I was looking for a slick GPS in my price range, and came across this one.
Harman Kardon really knows how to capture the attention of the technology-wise individuals. This product is simply gorgeous! excellent performance!
Nice size, touch screen, automatic re-routing really fast, nice guidance, 3d maps, street naming, etc. I have tried to get this device confused by not following its suggestions, and it finds a way to get you back ontrack really fast. Like any other electronic device, is not perfect and needs some resetting from time to time..Not big deal!...overall it is worth it!
It comes with everything you will need to protect it and get going fast; except for a way to charge it when in the house. Accessories are not yet available but i'm sure will be available soon enough.

For those who can't afford a nuby, this is it.

Great and inexpensive GPS system. Easy to operate out of the box after following the battery charging procedure. Unit automatically switches from day to night mode. The unit includes maps for Anchorage, Alaska which was not denoted in the description, the description stated that maps of Canada and America were preloaded. Clarification was requested but not received in a timely manner. I made the purchase with the risk that the unit was inoperable in Alaska.