Customer Reviews

Navigon N100 LOOX Sport GPS

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

No longer do I have to print maps, stuff them in my pocket, read them while I'm driving, and encounter the inaccuracy that so often comes from online direction maps. I simply type my address into my Pocket Loox, stick it on the dash and start driving. After over 50 trips to unknown destinations, the device has consistently guided me accurately. With the device's built in point of interest database I have found countless instances where I have been relieved from having to know my destination's address. Just type in the point of interest (restaurant, ATM, Hotel, train station, shopping center, tourist locations, schools, businesses, hospitals, movie theatres, government offices, etc.) and hit the "start navigation" button and you're on your way. A couple of times I have had arrived at my destination early and decided to hit a starbucks or an ATM that does not charge fees. I simply enter the interim destination and the device takes me there and back. Given that this destination database is in-part powered by Zagat, I have been able to find not only mundane destinations like an ATM, but to find entertainment destinations like jazz clubs, high quality restaurants, and tourist destinations.

The coolest thing about the loox over other devices I investigated is its portability. It's so small that I can stick it in my pocket and use it as I wander around my destination. This came in handy at an outdoor mall when I was looking for a specific store. By using its points of interest I was able to be directed to the nearest store for the items I was looking for. On a recent hiking trip, the device was very accurate in communicating our position as it related to the surrounding area and our base camp destination.

As with any GPS device, it is mandatory that you are not obstructed by things like roofs (the device cannot be initiated indoors). I live in an urban environment and I have never had a problem being inhibited by buildings or the like, but you need to be outside when you initiate a new trip.

I can't express enough how cool it is to stick this device in your pocket and go. In my car the maps are brilliant enough to easily read, but you really don't need to look at the screen because the voice commands tell you exactly where to turn and when - it even alerts you to the lane you should be in for upcoming turns and warns you when you may be violating speed limits. When I have been traveling for business, the device's knowledge of my location and its accuracy has guided me to countless meetings without any worries.

I did have one difficulty with the device where it stalled and I had to actually pull over and stop and restart the device (because I had become so reliant on its accuracy, I was dependant on it to take me to my destination). I had fortunately save my destination as a favorite and so I didn't have to re-enter the information, just select the favorite destination and hit "start navigation" and we were off. Other than that one time, it hasn't let me down. Cool Gadget!

Well I've had the product about a week. My feelings are mixed. Let me start off by saying I'm a 32-yo computer engineer so I may look at things differently than others. I will say things in the order of worst/most annoying first, and best last.

Dislikes:

The on-screen keyboard is ridiculously tiny. I have it mounted on my windsheild with the supplied mount so it's just arms-length away. The stylus is buried behind the unit and the mounting makes it hard to access so I don't bother getting it out to enter data on it so I use my finger. I probably hit the right letter/number on 60% of the time. Annoying, and forget about changing things while driving unless you like being in car pile-ups.

Entering things is slow for the reason above, but also due to poor user interface design. I can't change the a letter in a street name (that I know of) after it's entered. I have to re-enter the word. Sucks if all you got wrong was "Rd" instead of "Ave" or "St" at the end. There's other annoying things like this throughout the GUI. ie. Switching between MP3 player and map display should be 1 screen press, and pausing and/or going to the next song should be available from map screen with at most 2 screen presses. If they want to tout the MP3 abilities (which I specifically bought it for) they should have made the map/mp3 feature much more integrated.

There's only ~ 300 MB of space left on a 2GB SD card for music if you have the US+Canada map loaded onto it. I'm not sure if it supports a 4GB card because they are typically SDHC and I'm not sure that it supports that. 300 MB is about 50 songs. These days, I'm spoiled with having at least 10x that many on other devices.

Max volume is fairly quiet. The other problem I have (and this may be unique to me) is that I connect the audio out to an FM transmitter so I can tune to a radio station and listen to the Navigon playing MP3's. Now this could be a poor design of the FM transmitter, I'm not sure yet.

Likes:

It's so small. Fits in any pocket.

Long battery life.

I like the mapping GUI. It has a little checkered graph in the corner indicating visually how far you are from a turn, which is visible to me without squinting.

The GPS is accurate, and fast. The display will tell you how fast your car is going and it's a perfect match with the digital speed readout on my car.

Once it's been booted once, it's fast enough to get into map mode (although entering stuff like I said is a pain).

You can do a street-first search, before entering the city which is nice. That's said it should keep a list of recently-entered cities so that it doesn't have to search the whole state/province for you city.

The voice output ("turn left in 600 meters", etc) does not interrupt the MP3 audio and just talks over it. Some people say this is stupid but my freind's unit does interrupt and it's really annoying if you like the song. It should really a configurable option.

It really packs alotta features in for the $$, I think more features per $ than anything on the market right now. Of course cheaper things will come out because that's the nature of electronics.

So in summary it's good but a software upgrade would really go a looong way in useability. I would love to know if the SW can be upgraded because that would be a great feature and essentially you could have what seemed like a whole new unit.

-- Pete

We are house hunting right now and my husband gave me this device so I can find my way around. I can say it really helped a lot, especially for house hunting trips with multiple destinations; you can preload all the addresses in route planning, store them, go back to them, sort them and look for Points of Interests in the area, i.e. where are the schools, the parks, the post office, etc. You feel like a local as they say on the packaging. Driving from the airport to the properties, I noticed this feature on the interstate that really helps you guide in which lane to be for the next exit; with all the traffic it is sometimes really difficult to switch lanes on time but this shows you how many lanes the interstate has and highlights with orange arrows which lane you should be in. I also liked the speed sign that gives you an audio and visual alert when you drive too fast. I found it easy to input addresses, Points of intersts or several destinations on a route. If you make a mistake you easily can go back and fix it without starting from scratch. After 2 or so letters it also pulls up a list so you actually don't have to type a lot. The device is small enough to fit into my purse and looks nice, too. To sum it up. Usefull device that gets you places. I recommend this one. Since this review I upgraded my device now to the Navigon 5100.

This is my first GPS and I'm very impressed with the value. Some comments:
1. When I opened it I thought it was broken. Though I'm pretty technical, being a NOOB at these devices, the quick-set up card did not tell you to install the SD Card and select a map. You must insert the SD Card (and they don't tell you how) or it will give you a "Can't find map" error. I thought the SD Card was only optional and didn't realize that it did not have a separate internal memory. I fault the directions for this.
2. The voice is great, but you can't rely on it. You must double check with the screen. For instance on the road outside my house it says "turn left" when in actuality there is no left turn, the road just curves fairly sharply to the left. The screen however shows the actual route accurately. Also whiile this is not a text to speech model, and usually just says "turn left" the voice sometiomes calls out the name of the road (e.g., turn left on highway 234") giving the state highway number which is not correct as the road is more commonly known as something else (e.g., like main street).
3. Loads of POI's. You can in fact search for POI by name but it is not intuitive - you have to type the name when searching and it filters out your results.
4. There are LOTS of features but you have to really explore. For example, it took me a week to figure out there was a way to just view the map (navigation menu->options->show map) without it
5. My biggest gripe is that the Route Profile gives you the option for several types of route "FAST", "SLOW", "Optimum", "SCENIC"; but it turns out "FAST" Isn't the fastest route, but apparently the route that uses fast roads (like highways instead of side streets). The short route can sometimes be faster. And nowhere does it tell you what Optimum is - my best guess is that optimum means the fewest turns. I tested the different choices on various different routes and on each one the fastest route (according to the GPS's own route ETA) was sometimes given by the "SHORT", sometimes by the "OPTIMIMUM", sometimes by the "FAST". I can't understand why they can't just give you the route that has the fastest ETA. To get the fastest route you really have to try all three and for short trips that's not worth it since the difference will only be 2 - 3 minutes which will be the time it takes to do the comparisons. On longer trips you will want to test out all three profiles.
6. It does allow you to block out your route for 1,5,10,etc. miles, so if you come up to a traffic jam it will reroute you which is useful.
7. The multiplicity of features is very impressive for the price. The portability is great. I mounted it using velcro on my dash instead of the window mount - it's closer. I would agree regarding the screen - if you are elderly or can't see up close, it will be difficult to read some of the words on the screen - better to go with a bigger screen. There's no way to adjust the fonts.
8. It has voice recognition to the extent that you can save a voice command with each favorite destination and it will allow you to call it up using voice. This is actually a big time saver, push one button, say the command, and it gives you the route. No fussing thru menus.

Not the best, but not bad. Good for the price under 2 bills. Able to lock in with 8 sats indoors impresses me, tho it is showing my location off by about 30M/100ft. That also showed up when I was traveling on I-55 South as it didn't recognize I was on the expressway and kept directing me to exit and enter. Knew I was on 55 N on the return trip, tho. Came in real handy when I missed a turn in unfamiliar territory and got me back on track to where I needed to go.

Seems to default to MapQuest-type maps, so not the best routing in urban situations where there are many options, in my case metro Chicago. It will get you there, but it doesn't always pick the best route from your particular starting point. Fortunately, you can override and recalculate if necessary. In rural areas, where choices are limited, it seems to do just fine.

Plusses: very small and pocketable, so it also works as a walking unit. Though I haven't tried it yet, should be acceptable for geo-caching. Plus sight-seeing in an unfamiliar city using the POI base should be a definite plus. Think New Orleans.
Very sensitive with Sirf 3 chipset.
Multiple itinerary planning.
Very good battery life. Plus battery is replaceable if necessary.
Fairly accurate, tho not spot-on. Close enough for government work.

Cons: If you like to travel with the windows down and the radio on, you will not hear this thing, even set on high volume. You might hear something, which will make you look at the unit, but that's about it. That's probably the case with any of these, tho.
The display is hard to see in bright sun.
The display, at 2.8", is pretty darn small for over 40-50 year old eyes.
User interface is just okay. Don't count on doing anything enroute unless you are stopped; best to do pre-planning before the trip. (A Plus with this unit--you can pre-plan multiple stops on a route.)
Route recalculation isn't the fastest, but okay.

Overall, I like this unit for it's small size, but you give up readability when you're driving because of it. But no big deal--think about it--most of the time you know where you're going. When you don't, you've probably looked it up on Mapquest or Google, so you have a fair idea; or you can follow the turn by turn directions the loox gives you. This baby is your back-up, ready to set you straight when you've fouled up. It knows where you are, and as long as you pre-loaded an address, it knows where you need to go. Follow the arrow, and you're there.

I have been watching the price drop on this device now for several months. I read several articles online from various GPS websites and decided to give this unit a test drive. I am currently on a 1400 mile road trip and I have this mounted on my windshield directly below my tom tom ONE. I must say that the navigator is a solid performer, it kept up with my tom tom turn for turn. The display is clear, the directions are good, and the recalculating is rather quick. Altogether I have to give this unit a thumbs up despite its small size and somewhat weak speaker.

I have read other reviews which critique the speed of the unit. I must agree the speed is somewhat sluggish however for the features you get vs. the price you are paying I cannot complain at all. If I had paid the original asking price of $499 when it first came out I would be disappointed, however now that the unit is under $150 you cannot go wrong. Look at it this way - A decent MP3 player will cost you $150 or more. Think of it as getting an MP3 player with a built in GPS.

If you are considering a nice little navigator with a solid build, easy clear menus, MP3 player, picture viewer, calculator and rather long battery life I would have to recommend this unit.

*************************One Month Update*********************

After a month of using this little GPS I must say I am very pleased with it. My only concern is the small screen, however it works fine with the provided stylus. For all the features I am very satisfied. I have been using this as an MP3 player as well with my Jabra Noise Reduction Headphones. The sound quality is great!! You can actually adjust the output of the earphones in the audio settings. I just ordered another one of these from Amazon since the price is now under $100.00. I have registered the first one through the Navigon website-which tells me that they will not be supporting this model any longer. That may be a concern to some, however for the price, if it lasts a couple of years then I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

This is a great little device. It exceeds expectations. The reviews I read were critical of the LOOX's speed... BUT I find it quite fast. It re-reoutes quickly and getting around the interface is no big deal either. The points of interest are surprisingly detailed! I imagine that I'll be able to find alternatives to fast food chains with ease during future long hauls across the US. It even points out supermarkets!

this is the greatest gps ever, it tells you before u make a turn AND right as you are almost upon it, something that has gotten me to miss exits on other devices. this also is the one with the best reviews of all the versions. it may seem like a small screen but it shows everything and clearly especially in 3d view i can see for at least a quarter of a mile which means you glance at it less. it is smaller and slimmer than a treo, i take it everywhere. starting up may take a while(just a whole minute wow lol) but if you take it home with you then you can start it before leaving house but that is the only lag at all cause it will pick your position up super fast once you are moving as well as recalculating i mean it doesnt even get a chance to say recalculating lol. the sound may be average but if you connect via input jack you are fine as music sounds great and sound then of voice is not overbearing/interruptis with music on. yes you can view movies and photos and play music but it allows very little room on card that comes with program so if you wanna listen and navigate then choose your 40 some odd songs or shove in a full extra card that you can't navigate simultaniously with. i LOVE thing thing. beware if you have vista since the dvd that comes with wont load but you can explore the dvd and install what you'll really want and the rest you can dl from navigon website although when i tried to install this way it didnt recognize files on the LOOX but again i tried installing from a vista machine hopefully that's why. when you are on certain highways it will show you a yellow/orange arrow for which lane you should be in pretty neat. one thing that is a bug in this unit is that it states that you can choose optimum/shortest etc. routes yet when i choose then it goes right back to fastest but at least you can set the settings to also avoid highway,rr's etc and since it recalculates so quickly you can ignore certain ways espaecially if you are pretty sure which way is your optimum. it comes with black or white faceplate neat. it also comes with EVERYTHING you'll need for car and the suction cup is super strong as well as the movable arm. i will only upgrade to the 21/51/7100 if this one stops working , no other company for me now or maybe be better off buying this one again lol trust me i did my homework before buying this and am very picky but am also extremely happy.

I've used the unit for a week or so, compared it to a Garmin 650 and the Pioneer AVICD that I have installed in dash. I bought it for out-of-town guests to use in their rental car and for those who might be inclined to take long walks and possibly lose their way back.
The positive is that it's small and "pocketable" while adequate for auto use. I purchased a NavMat for easy portability from car to car. A side benefit is that it can be placed closer for better readability.
The drawback is the SLOW input performance and less than stellar UI. Garmin has it beat hands down for user friendliness. Once you manage to get a destination entered, it takes a while to find the route - as in a minute or more. From there on, it's smooth sailing.
I experienced no issues with the routes it chooses although it tends to admonish the driver to make u-turns if you don't follow the suggested route. You can turn that feature off, but the behavior seems to persist before recalculating. Again, the Garmin is better, recalculating the route immediately upon "missing" a turn.
Regarding the additional features, perhaps the games might entertain a child riding in the back seat for a while, and the MP3 player as well, but the interface is awkward and once the maps are loaded there is precious little space for extras on the SD card. An iPod or game device would be a better choice if entertainment is important.
Overall, since I bought it for portability, I will keep it, but if the small size wasn't critical, I'd surely opt for a Garmin.

It's not the best gps out there but if you are looking for something cheaper than $300, this is the one to go for. It is slow starting up, and a couple roads have been out of date but overall it has worked really well! The screen is very colorful and nice, it has lots of features I like (speed limits, directions if you are walking, night time dimmer) It fits in pocket perfectly and I don't feel like I need a bigger screen at all. So if you are willing to be a little patient it's definitely worth the $130.