Customer Reviews

Nextar SNAP7 7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It goes without saying that this unit needs a lot of space. It is about 4 times the size of a 4.3 inch screen. I have used the unit for more than 5,000 miles in a Sprinter based RV, I also use a Garmin 765 at the same time so the comparison is between these two for navigating.

The Snap7 has several outstanding features which I really love. The large screen displays more information than the Garmin, including miles and direction for the second turn as well as next turn, speed, distance and time to destination and very good lane information. In a city, it does a much better job of showing which lane to use than does the Garmin. I especially like the feature that it will zoom out to either 5 mi/in or 20 mi/in range until close to the next manuever. It does a beautiful job of showing terrain like mountains, lakes and city boundaries. Useful on a cross-country trip. It is excellent as a second unit

The negatives- The screen is hard to see in bright light, not nearly as bright as the Garmin. The voice is very poor,almost unintelligible. I use POI Factory a lot for camping areas, rest stops, favorite locations, etc and can find no way to download the POI's into the Snap7. In fact the installed POI's are awkward to use. The most important deficiency is the routing. At least a dozen times it calculated a different inferior route than the Garmin. The Garmin nearly always gave better directions no matter what settings you used on the Snap7. Only twice did the Snap7 give better routing than the Garmin.

I am happy I bought the Snap 7 and would recommend it, expecially if you have a vehicle with a large windshield and do a lot of cross-country travelling. With the low prices of GPS's now it is feasible to use two units for different purposes.

The big screen works great if you can find somewhere to put it (I mounted it in the CD tray which is below the radio in my accord.) The mount is strong with three way movement, but the suction cup slips loose easily with the softest touch of the loosening tab, which can be annoying. The screen is easy to read, with good colors and picture, and the sound is easily loud enough for the highway in my car (full volume). The options and features are great. They could be overwhelming for people who want to click and go, but the simple mode is simple enough. You have to play with it for a little while to learn your way around all the features, but you can do almost anything you want as far as navigating. The bottom line is you don't get weather and traffic, but for relatively cheap you get a huge screen and a great navigator. The nav is fast and accurate, and the voices are great.

I have 3 SNAP 7,s and 2 SNAP 3 and they are the best GPS I have had. I also have a Garmin 7200 and a Lowrance but for the screen on the SNAP not being quite as bright as my others the SNAP out preform all. The accuracy of the maps and the voice adviser of the SNAPS cannot be beat

SERIOUS error on my part. The Snap deserves a 5 STAR rating. 2 Star by error. In addition, I have added another SNAP 7 to my RV.

Purchased this unit via Amazon. The price was unbeatable. No qualms with the map detail - - it shows street names and I enjoy the green signs that display showing exit names on expressways. The screen does not do well in sunlight. It bleaches out thus making the display somewhat difficult to read. Although the option menu suggests you can choose from a variety of "skins," only the default skins for night and day are included. Neither the Nextar website nor any other sites offer skins for this device. And I am not the type to tinker with the internal program in an effort to customize colors or other features. The unit will power down automatically when the ignition is shut off. However, you must push the power button to turn it back on. Small inconvenience but I would have preferred an automatic on and off. So far as routing goes, I have yet to be "taken for a ride." I use the unit mostly in the Metropolitan NY and NJ area. But it performs equally well in some of the southern NJ hamlets I visit. I do not care about playing MP3s, viewing photos or using the unit as a bluetooth device. I wanted and purchased a GPS. In that respect the unit is well-worth its modest price. Do not be dissuaded because "Nextar" is not a well-known brand. If it works - - who cares what the name plate says!

Here is the email I received from them:

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 5:23 PM, Service Nextar <service@nextar.com> wrote:

Dear Nextar Customer,

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately there aren't any map updates available for your unit and there isn't a way to change the maps that are in your unit. It is most unfortunate that we couldn't assist you further regarding upgrading material for the device. Our goal is to provide quality Customer Service and Technical Support. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Have a wonderful day!

Thank you for your continual business!

Sincerely,

Nextar Customer Service

Customer Service Representative # ga8349

Subject: Nextar Contact Form Confirmation Ticket#4812: SNAP7, Map Upgrade

Category : GPS

model_no : SNAP7

ReasonOfContact : Map Upgrade

Message : What is the latest map upgrade for the Snap7

Don't get me wrong, this GPS is pretty sweet. Easy GUI, giant screen (just don't get pulled over becuase the officer thinks its a DVD screen), voice promts (ok, kind of quiet on the interstate), good POI lookups, all around good GPS. The only downside is the fact that the maps are slightly dated. I've looked and looked for an update to the 2009 maps and have been unsuccessful as of yet, I'll try and update. I would think it would be easy since you could just either update the files, or purchase a new Nextar flash card. Either way, it meets my needs, but could be better.

The Nextar SNAP7 is a nice sized GPS with the normal GPS product features. Satelite acquisition is a bit slow, but the large size screen and brightness are worth the extra start-up time. Navigation is accurate and rerouting is quick. Suction mount is usable and allows flexibility in product placement. Overall well worth the price especially if you have trouble seeing those other small 3.5 or 4.3 inch GPS screens. I would recommend this product.

Our first GPS was a 15" laptop. We had a van and had plenty of room to put it between the 2 front seats but we had to downsize to a smaller car and the laptop was no longer an option. So we bought a 3.5" Invion. After using a 15" laptop for 3-4 years it was hard to like the tiny 3.5" screen of the Invion. The Invion was not only too small for us but it was not user friendly as we had issues maneuvering through the menus. So we've been looking for a GPS with a larger screen but there aren't many available. We found the StreetPilot 7200 (discontinued but still available), Nextar Snap7 (released early 2009 but hard to find reviews on it) and the soon to be released RoadMate 1700. Well we need one for our trip in early October so the RoadMate 1700 is not an option. After looking at the StreetPilot 7200 for $285 and the Nextar Snap7 for $163 we went with the Snap7 even though we could not find a lot of reviews (this was one of them [...]).

We used the Snap7 for a 400mi trip and we could not be happier. The menus are easy to navigate, the GPS was accurate and reliable. Going from a 3.5 to a 7" screen made a big difference. I cannot speak about the 3D view as we use 2D which we really like. We do not use the turn by turn voice (we find it annoying). The Snap7 does not have Bluetooth or live traffic ability but we wouldn't use them anyway. The screen seemed to wash out a little in the sun but so did our laptop.

The true test for the Snap7 will be in Oct when we take a trip to Vermont and New Hampshire. Longevity will also be a question mark as I never heard of Nextar but with new devices being released at reasonable prices longevity might not be an issue.

One issue we have is the time zone keeps resetting, hopefully it's just a setting we overlooked.

We give the Snap7 4 out 5 stars even though we used it for only one trip.

Note: We drive a Saturn Vue and use the window mount in the center of the dash. Yes the Snap7 is large but it doesn't impede the view although a shorter person my have some issues.

I got this for my husband because he drives several states for his work. However, old school that he is, he didn't use it for his work. But we have used it about a dozen times for presonal trips. We were for the most part pretty happy with it but now it just froze up. We have tried everything from charging, changing sim card etc. The PROBLEM lies herein... there is no longer a nextar.com website and all of their customer services numbers state they are no longer working numbers. So, I would really hesitate to purchase any GPS system from Nextar if all anyone is doing is selling out the rest of their inventory.

Excellent so far. Great Value. If you need a GPS to get you from point A to Z without any fancy gadgets or hype invest in this one. Awesome size for Large SUVs.