Customer Reviews

Nextar Q3 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

"WOW!

1.What a winner this "Q3" is. Fast and accurate acquiring satellite signals, even in my living room. Comes with AC AND DC adapters. My car accessory socket is ignition controlled and turns off when I am out of the car. I have to re-charge it in the house.


2.I set up all my "Destinations' and "Favorites" in the house so I love that it has the AC adapter included.

3. It has an SD/MMC slot for playing MP3 music and talk I have on my PC. I transfer to the SD/MMC card and insert it into the "Q3" to listen. It may also play MP3 while navigating but I haven't yet been able to do both at the same time.

4.It fits very nicely into my shirt pocket so I can "Plan n Play" at the coffee shop.

5.Once I learned the "Menu tree" I can get around the menus pretty easily. Since this is my first experience with a GPS device and GPS Navigator I had a bit of a learning curve.

6.It comes with two books, one for the hardware showing how to install it and how to set it up. The other book is primarily for the software. It duplicates much of what is in the hardware book. My "Q3" screens look a lot different from the screens shown in the books. I don't know if my screens are the latest version or if the books show the latest version, but THEY ARE DIFFERENT. This difference made it more difficult to learn how to use it.

7.While just driving around the "Q3" was able to pinpoint my exact location including altitude. It offers North as a fixed display or it offers "heading" with North as it North moves around in relation to your heading. Just a tap on the "compass" toggles back and forth.

8.Displays are included to show 2D, and 3D in variations of perspective and depth. Very nice! It gives a feeling of "horizon" perspective.

9.I found the names of streets and roads were not as the actual street signs showed in many cases. It seems to prefer the US-# or the State Road #'s if known. Many local streets have "City" or "Town" names that are used locally. One US-64 is shown on the "Q3" as 'US64' but the street signs say "Four Seasons Blvd". IF I enter the name of this road, it tells me it doesn't exist. Street number can vary by a block or more in many instances. I suspect this is true of most GPS navigators. Updated maps usually come out every 1-3 years.

10. One point six million "POI's", points of interest still don't include MANY restaurants. etc. Some of our local schools, which are four years old, still are not listed under the included POI's.

11. If the "Q3" will save data to the SD/MMC card I have not found out how. If the "Q3" will download data to the "Q3 Flash Memory" from the SD/MMC card I have not yet found out how to do it.

12. Accessories and upgrades are listed on the NEXTAR website but are still not available online or from the supplier. BUT, I can see the potential of this little guy and I love it's size and accuracy.

14.If I have set a destination and am on the road, if I make a turn different from the Voice Instructed action it IMMEDIATELY RECALCULATED THE NEW PATH! within 10 seconds, and it is always correct in the instructions. Hard-drive based models are very very slow and not very often recalculating it AUTOMATICALLY without asking, But the "Q3" does it automatically, instantly!

15.Support gathered from the website is WAY BEHIND AND SLOW if non-existent! These are becoming hard to get because they are so popular they can't keep them on hand for sale. If you want one you'd better grab it NOW!

16. SUMMARY. i don't work for NEXTAR! I bought mine from HSN who is SOLD OUT at this time! It took me a week of many hours to learn what I do know about the "Q3", and suddenly I fell in love with it. If I need to know where I am at any given moment, it tells me, address, city, street, longitude, latitude, and elevation, and CHECK THIS OUT!

The SPEED indicator is more accurate than my speedometer! and it has an alarm that CAN tell me if exceed the speed limit or it I exceed a Preset Speed Limit of my own choosing.



I returned the competitors' GPS Navigators for refund , not accurate, too slow, can't acquire or maintain satellite readings.

NEXTAR Q3 IS HOT!"

I bought this item three weeks ago after reading the glowing reviews. The GPS started off well with a good signal and very good reception (7/12). Then I tried to use it on routes I know well with disastrous results the first time when it tried to get me to use one-way streets. Fortunately, it does recalculate the routes. Unfortunately, it does so very slowly. You have to wait by the roadside for it to redo the routes. Customer service is very poor. They charge a shipping fee of $25 for any warranty item they might agree to send you. Of course, you have to pay for shipping on your end as well. I returned the item to Amazon.

I had been looking at various GPS units for some time for my wonderful, but directionally challenged husband but was put off by the price and the monthly fees required by some. When I found this unit was offered by a local department store at a deeply discounted price I decided to check it out. I was very pleased because:

1. There is no monthly fee involved.

2. The screen is large enough to read.

3. The unit gives directions as you go along, both written and verbal, including updates 'in one mile turn....in 1/2 mile....in 500 ft etc'

4. When a turn has been missed the route is recalibrated, first prompting the driver to correct the error then ultimately selecting an alternate route.

5. There is a wealth of information, besides route ETA, speed (with the option to set a warning), altitude, local points of interest including restaurants, gas stations, etc.

We took this along on several trips since getting this, one of several hundred miles, others a bit closer, and were quite pleased for the most part. For the most part this was like having Mapquest in the car with you. It had some of the same problems as Mapquest (addresses might be slightly different, recent changes to route not noted etc) but had the advantage of being able to recalculate the route if you for any reason deviated from the plan, like to stop at a restaurant. There were a few minor problems some were caused by our reluctance to really read the manual, preferring to just push buttons and figure it out, others are inherent to this product.

First the on/off switch is in the back and must be operated with a pen/bent paperclip. Once started it did take a long time to locate the satellite and load. Another issue is that, like mapquest, local names are not always used and addresses may not appear exactly like they are used. In addition we discovered that a very small (pop 300) town we were looking for was not available on this unit. Most of these problems were minor inconveniences.

I highly recommend this product particularly for those who have not had a GPS before. It is quite user friendly and forgiving of operator error.

This is my first GPS. It does everything that my bosses fancy built-in does but for a lot less money. While it comes with manuals, almost anyone can have it up and running in minutes. I didn't realize how compact it is until my nephew bought a Garmin. The Nextar is MUCH thinner which makes it more practical about where you can put it in your vehicle. I couldn't be happier! I found it accidentally while looking at Circuit City's web site. They don't sell it in our store here. Can't wait to use it in a major city as a hand held to find restaurants and POI's. With one week left on the year warranty, it died. While not eager to help, customer service walked me through the process. I sent it back (on my dime) and today...3 weeks later...I received a brand new one...not a refurb but a new one...complete with all the accessories, etc. I am delighted! Highly recommend. Oh, by the way...the fancy and expensive Garmin that I mentioned above...it crapped out on my nephew after 3 months.

Purchased this device from reading the reviews. The Nextar came the day before Thanksgiving and after a 1 hour read of the manuals, I programmed in the pertinent info required to ensure precise directions. The Nextar took me exactly point by point to my destination. On several occasions we took a slightly different route not recommended and the nav quickly corrected our route. There is only one complaint about the device. The speaker is a little scratchy. Other than that it is exactly what I was looking for and I highly recommend it.

I have been using the Q3 for over a year now, and will stop just as soon as I can replace it. The unit works most of the time, but tends to scramble the maps or just lock up during a longer trip. The MP3 player skips. The maps were outdated when I got the unit and so far the company has no updates to maps or poor software. Attempts to contact tech support have been thwarted by Nextar. They have made it clear to me that once they have your money, you're on your own. I will never buy a Nextar product again.

Thanks to Nextar GPS Navigation System, I don't have to worry about making a wrong turn, due to not seeing the street name clearly. At only 54, I am experiencing not being able to read the street name. The Nextar System tells me when to turn, which way to turn and makes my driving easier.
My only issue is with being able to listen to the music, the driver was not available on the website, and customer service did respond once, telling me that they will get back to me.

This product is very easy to use. I did a lot of research before I bought this item, and it was the best one I could find for my price range. It doesn't do that thing that Tom Tom's do, where you can ask it questions, but you don't need to, because it will repeat where you turn a few times. It plays mp3's. You should buy a SD card if you want to do that though. The only reason I give it a four out of five, instead of a five out of five is that when it's cloudy outside, I can't seem to get a signal. And when I say cloudy I mean atleast 80% clouds or more.

The Q3 is an amazing box. I have not been lost since I aquired it. Great unit!! Can't beat the price!! Super reliable!!

Bought the nextar Q3 gps for our vacation this summer. Took it out of the box charged the battery. Put it in the car hook up dc cord only to find out 3 hours later when the battery went dead the dc cord wasn't working. Called customer service they promised to send new cord in 7 to 10 days. Three times they promised to send a cord and on the fourth try they wanted me to buy one. I will never buy another nextar product nor should anyone else. The customer service is terrible they have no problem lying to their customers. I hope it not too late return it too the store