Customer Reviews

Navman GPS m Series for Palm m125, m130, m500, m505 and m515 series handhelds

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

 

 

To start with the positive: The unit actually does a good job getting a gps position and displaying it on the map. I use it with the Palm m515 and it was a very tempting combination given the low cost of the unit (100 USD, now it's even cheaper). It came with a device for mounting it on the windshield of the car and a recharger that fits in the cigarette lighter and that all works fine.
It seems an obvious thing to combine a gps receiver with a color screen palm pilot that has both memory and processing power to do a decent job as a navigation device. However, the software is terrible. As noted by others, the Rand McNally software can only find directions if you are online, and it often picks strange routes. It will only do directions to and from a given address, not just a waypoint on the map.

But the worst part is actually the part of the software that is installed on the Palm Pilot. It does not display simple (and useful) pieces of information such as instantaneous speed and direction (other simple gps units do without a problem). It frequently tells you you are off route even if you are not, and every single time I have arrived at my destination, the software has frozen up and crashed the Palm so I had to reset it through the pinhole in the back. I don't know of a single other Palm application that is this poorly written.

I should say that if you just ignore the false 'off route' warnings (this requires you to have studied the directions in some detail before you go), it will guide you reasonably well to your destination (you'll know you have arrived when your Palm crashes). I have not had it give directions that were flat out impossible, just ones I wouldn't have picked myself. So it is reasonably useful. The mapping features are not bad, either. You can zoom in or out and recenter the map relatively quickly, and that is useful if you get lost. Which you probably will if you decide to go someplace new guided only by this unit...

Addendum: inspired by another reviewer (thanks!), I bought the Delorme StreetAtlas USA Handheld 2004 software, and things work much much better.

2 stars for the hardware side, a generous 1 star for the software.
Hardware: Good=fairly compact, includes holder and car power cord which also acts as a charger for your rechargeable Palm.
Bad=slow to acquire satellite signals, sometimes 2-3 mins. despite a good view of the sky(moonroof); doesn't receive signals well from anywhere else in the car; if you don't use the car cord, will run the Palm's battery down quickly.
Software: Good=I'm still thinking... Can look up street names if you've downloaded the appropriate area to your Palm.
Bad=I'm not going to complain about the need to do trip planning on a PC(not a Mac) but it would be nice if it would let you plan your own route in addition to the take-it-or-leave-it Internet-sourced directions. The PC software has a kludgy pseudo-Windows interface that has crashed my Win98 system more than once. The Palm software also crashed my Palm m130 and forced a reset. The Palm software is slow on my Palm m130. In map view, the screen blanks out so much when redrawing (especially with large maps) that the utility of the device is limited (but this refers to maps stored on an SD card, if you can fit the map in internal memory, it's noticeably faster). This forces one to use the directions view which I could not feel in sync with. Indications for turns were not consistent enough to be trustworthy. When you go off course, you'll need map view to get back on course, the directions view is useless. Sometimes the map doesn't match the actual road, causing an "off route" message despite really being on the right road.
If you don't need a car, the unit works fine outside (until the battery runs down) with a full view of the sky.
If may be better than nothing, but reviewing a printed road atlas works faster and if you don't have a competent copilot, is less distracting.

I think this is fantastic! The only down side that I can think of is having to upload your trips beforehand. But that is a limitation of the handheld, not this device. I took a trip from Upstate NY through Philly to the Jerey shore. And back. Another trip to Washington DC. This performed flawlessly for what it was designed to be. Beeped a little before my turns or exchanges. Tracked pretty well and only lost signal a couple times, ony to regain it moments later. I bought this along with a rebate and the deal was great. I recently bought the laptop version as well. That is how much I like this item. Unless you are nitpicky or expecting something this is not, you'll be pleased.

I read a few of the reviews before I purchased this model, some good, most bad. I had a few reservations about the item myself @ first, and initially rated it only a 3. But after using it alot locally, and then travelling South with it, I find nothing wrong, with this GPS, or the software. I recently travelled to a town called Littleton, NC, where only about 700 people live according to the 2000 US Census. All of the local roads, where there. If a small town like that has that kind of detail, then the software is pretty good. BTW, did I mention I live in NYC, and downloaded most of the city to my Palm. All of the local streets appear. Inferior software would not be so detailed. There are other Software compatible with this unit, and I will eventually try, but for now, this works for me!

Pros:
compact unit, i like the car kit
i had no problem setting it up with my Palm m130
GPS was very accurate, acquiring took about 10-15 seconds, not bad at all, after that, it only acquired after losing the signal, which wasn't very often.
Cons:
the software! really awful when it comes to giving driving directions. for instance, it told me ways to go which were either impossible (like driving over water!), or using local streets when highways were more appropriate. too bad mapquest can't work with this. looking up the directions on the internet seems to be an unneccesary step, since the maps are already on the CD! highways that wind and curve were a problem, since it couldnt follow that accurately, and said 'off route'. also, a better piece of sotware would help with the refresh rate on the palm, which is ok if you dont load a big map (<100k) it's really a shame, since a better piece of software would make this useful

The Navman is so cool! I am besides myself! I am still amazed as to how it works! Anyway, last month I bought the Navman navigational system with a new Palm m515 because I really needed to upgrade my old Palm IIIe and I have always been intrigued with navigational systems so I decided to go for it. I have only had the system for a month now, but I will give my assessment:

1. ***Complete GPS solution with mounting hardware and vehicle power adapter* It comes complete with everything you'll need to set it up. I highly reccommend a color PDA because the color maps are wonderful and the backlight function on the Palm m515 is awesome especially at night.

2. ***Rand McNally StreetFinder® Deluxe mapping software*
The mapping sofware is good. It allows you to create and download maps unto PDA. It also allows address-to-address direction mapping which you can also download to the PDA. I noticed that you cannot create address-to-address direction maps on the PDA itself, this has to be done on the PC and then downloaded to the PDA. In addition, if you want to reverse the directions you'll have to create another map and download it. As in all mapping software, it is not perfect so one has to be careful.

3. ***Turn-by-turn directions with audible prompts*
I love this feature! It works when you create create address-to-address direction maps and download them to the PDA. I was able to drive and navigate well (and responsibly) with this feature. It is especially useful at night when you cannot read dimly lit street signs.

4. ***Over 1 million points of interest and business locations**
This is another very useful feature of the mapping software. It allows you to mark points of interest on the map and download them to the PDA. The other day one of my co-workers wanted fish and chips for lunch and since I had downloaded restaurants (as points of interest) with a map of the area, I was able to find restaurants serving fish and chips with ease. The co-worker was impressed!

I have to present both sides of the coin, so, while using the Navman I have encountered an error which has occured a couple of times. It happened when using the address-to-address directions after I had arrived at the destination. It seemed as if the software was confused about whether I had arrived at the destination or not. It presented a message that I was off the route. Then the PDA locked up with a memory error and I had to reset it. Notwithstanding, I am enjoying the Navman a lot. It is just so cool. For those of us without nav. systems in our cars... this is it!

4 stars since the included SW is so terrible. I bought "Delorme Street Atlas USA 2004 Handheld" to run on my M125. Works great.
Navman does tend to eat batteries, but what Palm add-on doesn't.
Original SW was so bad, it couldn't catch up driving down the road. I had to pull over to let it catch up so I could turn the Palm off.

GPS module works great, but included SW will make you mad.

The software often picks route 100's of miles out of the way for no reason. You cannot pick your own route at all. The Navman 12v connector is VERY weak. Mine broke within a few days. The GPS pulls the Palm's battery down in no time at all - 2 or 3 hours. Navman's web site states the 12v cord powers the Palm too - not so according to their tech support. I have recently purchased a Magellan gold handheld GPS that works great. I can even drive Delorme software on the Palm from the Magellan. DON'T BUY THIS THING!

I bought this attachment to my new Palm in an attempt to help out with road navigation while driving to geocaches in locales unknown to me. The software included really only gives directions from one street address to another. I can't get a) my Latitude/Longitude coordinates onto the map except manually (and then only to the minutes, not seconds) and b) the instructions to tell me how to get to a point on the map rather than an address (which I just wouldn't have). When I mounted the unit in the car, it really wasn't readable while driving due to glare and smallness of type on the map. It would work well with a navigator in the passenger seat, I suppose.

The GPS is working fine, near as I can tell, given the limited testing I've done. I need to find some other software that will be more suited to geocaching that will allow the Navman GPS attachment to interact with the Palm with point of map capabilities.

this thing is trash. half the time the thing cant even figure out where it is. and when it does u drive a little farther and it gets lost again. Also it cant give you directions while you are on the road. to find directions you have to first use your computer and then transfer the directions to the palm. and I still cant figure out how to use my sd card with the product. I wish I could send it back.