Customer Reviews

Mio MOOV 300 4.3-Inch Widescreen GPS

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I need a GPS for my daugther, who got her driver license recently and have been calling home asking for direction often :-) After surveying the field I narrowed my choices down to: Garmin 260W, TomTom XL-S, and Mio Moov 300. The main selection criteria are:
1. bigger screen
2. text-to-speech
3. all gps functions, none others (e.g. bluetooth)

Since Moov 300 is fairly new and there aren't a lot reviews it is sort of a risky buy. However, since all 3 are pretty much the same functionality-wise, the tie-breaker came down to price. After a couple of weeks, here are some opinions:

Pros:
1. fairly easy to use (never read the manual).
2. find satellites almost instantly (< 15sec), even inside my house. Note that performance might vary, I can only speak from my experience.
3. Good text-to-speech, announce direction in advance. Again, I read some people complained it announced turns too late, but not yet to me. It usually announces twice, once to remind you beforehand, the other when the turn is near.
4. fast re-route
Cons:
1. Battery is weak, less than 2 hours.
2. Sometimes the route is devious.

Overall, I consider it worth the money if you are not too picky.

This is my fifth GPS. I pick up this gem not knowing what to expect. After the Navicon 5100, this is a joy to use. There were two time that the directions given were "unusual" but not inaccurate. We got to our destination at about the same amount of time, it just wasn't the route I would have taken or thought of taken. But that was just two times out of hundreds so far. The POI menu is outstanding; more categories than you can shake a stick at. Also there are so many different ways to search. I'm never at a loss to find something when I'm in a strange city or town. I also like that I'm able to pick what voice is being used. I have mine set to British Female. It's crystal clear and there is plenty of volume. I can also tune the volume up or down. The Mio Moov is absolutely an entry level GPS, but so is the price. I would definitely recommend the Mio Moov 300.

Bought one for my mother-in-law to try out for a bit first, make sure she would enjoy it and be able to use it. Wanted it to be easy for her, etc... Loved it so much, bought one for myself... but the journey only begins there.

Once I had it for myself, did some research and found some forums online that discuss unlocking the device through the SD Card port, turns it into a full-fledged PDA!!!!!

So not only do I have an excellent GPS, I have the ability to play movies, read PDF documents, store shopping notes and documents, information managers, play music, play games.

My favorite feature is being able to write with a stylus right on the screen and having that information put right into a text file for me to save, not having to type the word, actually writing the word, in cursive or standard writing.

By far in a way the coolest piece of technology I've ever invested in for such a low low expense!!!!

Highly recommended as a GPS, even MORE highly recommended for the "hackability" and ability to make it a full-fledged PDA.

I purchased this unit to use on the road. I have been using a GPS system for about 4 years. I have one built in to my Jeep, have been renting from Hertz when traveling. Decided I would purchase a unit to save the rental fee everytime.

Pros
The unit is able to locate satellites very quickly. The street name announcements are great. The tracking is quite reliable.

Cons
System does not include airports as a POI. I was unable to locate an airport unless I knew the terminal name, not just the city or airport name (ex: can't find Phoenix airport or Phoenix Sky Harbor airport). It could however if the terminal had a name, such as Barry Goldwater Terminal 4. The chances are remote a traveler would know that level of details about an airport. I contacted tech support,below is their response.
Hello, because there are over 120 million poi's in the US alone and not all can be listed. And our map supplier decides which goes into your maps. There is a POI loader that will be coming out soon and will be announced on our website. This POI loader will allow you to look up anything you want and save it to your PC then transfer to a SD card for your device.

I find this to be crazy and not of much use. So I returned the unit after 2 days and purchased a Garmin Nuvi 360.

Hope this helps.

Having owned a Mio MOOV 200, I purchased the slightly bigger brother when I replaced it. I looked at several competitors when I purchased the 200 and chose it because of the features and price. I've come to rely on the instructions, particularly when in an unfamiliar area. In Atlanta last year, we were driving in heavy rain on a very busy interstate. Visibility was very poor. The MOOV had me in the left lane and I was able to find my left exit without the "dramatics" of crossing 6 lanes of rush-hour traffic. It's done that several times.

I like the slightly larger 300 screen. I've got it mounted with velcro on my dash. The top sticks up just slightly, but it never fails to "find" sufficient birds for a good signal. When we travel, I merely remove it from my own car and temporarily use velcro in my rental car...works every time and doesn't leave any residue in the rental when I remove it.

Setting up motels and major sites on our trip is quite easy and I just erase this trip's "Favorites" when we get home. My only "wish list" item is for a way to "see" more of the favorites list item. Trying to sort out which is the right favorite when you've got several items listed is a bit of a pain when all you can see is a list of the numerical portion of the address. It only requires a companion paper list of the favorites, and is really a "nit". I'd certainly buy another MIO when the time comes.

i bought this item a week ago and its my first gps got it for 130 and well i turned it on and got a signal almost instantly big wide screen also a plus hard to find another gps with that screen size for 130 easy to see day and night and text to speech is great warns you before getting there clear loud voice also pronounces street names no wrong routes yet but still only had it a week so well see read all reviews and was skeptical but turned out pretty good dont even need to read the manual, easy to use, also ready to use and cheap price maybe good for beginners like me but if you probably had a gps before you might want to have something more expensive but for me its good and im not a tech geek but i like to stay current on technology and well i like this product

I bought the Moov 300 because it was on sale for $150. At this price, its a bargain. The interface is excellent, its easy to use, and seems durable enough. However, my delight was gone when I tried to find some common points of interest (POI) and when I tried navigating from my office to home. Strangely, this unit had very few museums in it, which is strange because people like to visit museums when they are on vacation and more likely to use a portable GPS. It didn't list either the Children's Museum in Denver or the Denver Museum of Science and Nature, though it did list the Denver Zoo. This was a real deal killer. To top it off, it suggested 17-18 mile routes to my office, when my regular commute is 12 miles. I returned this unit after a few days and got a Garmin Nuvi 255W. Yes, it costs about $100 more, but it does everything I want, has every POI I have thought of, and gets me to work by the expected route. Bottom line: if having a lot of POI or appropriate routing are important to you, do not buy this unit. But if you want and easy-to-use, inexpensive GPS, this is a pretty good choice.

I got my Mio Moov 300 stolen from my vehicle. Was so angry....went on line to get another one, new and could not find one. So decided to get a used one and found one on Amazon.com. I even went as far to get a review on some of the newer models, but found that the new models did not get the 5 star ratings like the Mio Moov 300 received, so bought a slightly used model. Got it and totally love it. Will not leave my Mio Moov 300 in my car ever again. The company should consider remaking the model 300 again, as I love it, easy to use, reliable, directions right on target, and this model has never let me down. I would highly recommend this GPS to anyone looking for value and reliable GPS.

I have a PROBLEM with which Mio has been unable or unwilling to help.

I bought my Mio (MOOV 300 4.3-Inch Widescreen) GPS in the US when I was travelling there - worked well, impressive for it's price. BUT when I reached Australia - I bought an Australian map from the Mio online store - I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO INSTALL the Australian Map on this GPS!!. (I also bought the European map and have had no problem with this).

Surely the Mio GPS isnt so complicated that this is a permanent problem for me?

If a Mio person sees this, please contact me on my email address. None of your support people have been able to solve my problem. If I cant fix it perhaps I will need to jailbreak the device and advise friends with a similar problem that this is their only solution?

c

This is my first GPS, I received it as a Christmas gift and I love it. I'm still figuring out all of the little things but it works GREAT! It lets me know ahead of time when to turn and at what street or road to turn onto, plus the POI's is very good. I find this to be very easy to use; I would definitely buy another like it. I just wish that the home charger would have come with it.