Customer Reviews

Pharos Drive 135 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

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

 

 

I have used this gps for about 1 month. As far as now, I have big trouble with this product.Maybe I am just not smart enough to use it.There are several problems.
First: sometimes it will spend a lot of time to lock on the satellite signal, > 1 min.
Second: the processor is really slow. very hard to tolerate.
Third: the database of Point of Interest is too small, I even cannot find a nearby Walmart through this gps.
Fourth: the voice system is bad.
I am not able to use any other service from this gps other than the "follow me up" function.
I DO NOT recommend anybody to buy this product.

I had this unit for about a month before I decided that I had enough. Unless you use (charge) the unit every day, the battery dies and you will have to recalibrate the touch screen every time you use the unit. This one characteristic negates any positive this unit may exhibit.

I bought it brand new and I will tell you, this thing is piece of junk. It's the equivalent of that 8 Ball toy you shake for your fortune.

Trust me, pass onto another GPS.

The pure seething aggravation you feel for this thing will outweigh the money you save. I can't even in good conscious put it for up sale, because I know the person will ask me for their money back by the next day.

The manufacture's website is total joke. With non-existent customer service. Save for another month and buy a TomTom.

I have been using this for 1 month now and it has gotten me everywhere I asked it to. Although a little on the slow side (266mhz) it is very accurate and comes with extra features that I personally don't use. The retail price at $300 is a little high, but I would not hesitate to buy this unit for under 200. Also its GPS signal is very strong, I can even get it inside my apt complex.

I got it for $120 + tax from Dell.
It is definitely not the best GPS navigation system you can find but it just plain simple WORKS!

I have been using it for some trips and it turned out to be pretty helpful.
The user interface takes awhile to get used to, but soon you would be using as if you have been using it for years.

The time it takes to reroute is about 10 seconds. This is bad in a major city with lots of streets but good enough for most cities.

I wouldn't say this is the fastest GPS system in the world, but for the price (130$ from Dell), this unit does its job competently. Auto rerouting is kind of slow, but i think this will not be a huge issue since its directions are fairly easy to follow and rerouting does not occur very often. Software design is primitive. UI is of a Win 95 style. Despite its unattractive appearance (for both soft- and hardware), the unit have good signal reception and locks on to it pretty fast. It will have no problem taking you from point A to B.

I have been using this GPS navigation unit for about 4 months now and have found it to be good for the price. The screen is large and overall the unit is accurate. I even get the signal inside my home. It gives accurate directions and is fairly loud. I had been a looking for a somewhat cheap GPS (because I am student) and I am quite happy with this purchase.

Had a very difficult timer getting this unit to work. 9 out of 10 times it would lock up just trying to power it on and calibrate the touch screen. Once calibrated, it would lock up every 3-5 days of use requiring a power off and then try cycling it several times till it woudl finally calibrate and be used. unacceptable to have it crap out and require that I stop the car and fiddle with it to get it operating again so i could complete my journey. prolly just a defective unit, but the POI data was horrid as well so back it went. Even at $130 from Dell, not worth the hassle. Got authorization from Dell to return it even though they say all returns must occur within 21 days.

Out of the box, the GPS 135 was able to sync up while still inside the house. Suction mount was decent. LCD screen was perfectly readable in broad daylight. The performance of the GPS 135 was comparable to my Garmin c330 in terms of navigation, routing, and POIs. While the GPS 135 only has one speaker vs two on the c330, the dedicated nagivation, menu and zoom buttons on the front are invaluable. Even though the unit comes with a small pen stylus, it wasn't needed (unless you have seriously fat fingers). All in all, a great GPS unit!

I purchased this unit for in car travel and I have used it for about 3 weeks. It can pickup the satellites if you are indoors and on the top floor. It will not lock unto the satellites if you are in a parking ramp. Do NOT try to drive and hope to lock onto the satellites. It doesn't have enough power to do that. It will take several minutes to lock on and you may be at your destination by then. The best is stop the car in clear view and the unit will lock onto the satellites in about 30 seconds. After this you will have no problems staying locked on.
I've used it in Nevada and it work great and gave accurate directions even around a street that ended before my destination. The audio is a little tinny, but load enough.
BAD: Battery...it will run down in 2 days and that is with the unit totally off. Pharos says that is normal. So this means you have to charge the battery every two days. This will really shorten the battery life.
If the battery does go dead you have to calibrate the unit and change the date and time. Almost like starting over again.
This is the main reason I wouldn't recommend it.