Customer Reviews

Pharos PSD80 Pocket GPS Navigator and SDIO GPS Kit with Car Charger

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Overall a decent product for road navigation. I use it with my Dell Axim X50v PDA. My only complaint is that it's only really usefull for roadtrips. Don't think of taking this thing Geocaching, camping, hiking, or backpacking. There's no topographical map support unless you buy third party software (and hope it works). The Ostia software could also be a little more user friendly. Getting a signal can be tricky at times too.

After receiving this product, I immediately set it up with my Samsung i700. Well, it didn't take off right away but after playing around with it for about 15-20 minutes, I got it working. Well, of course the real test is when you get out on the road. Here's my experience with this contraption.
So, here I am about the walk out the house and remember that there is a universal car charger that comes with this so I look in the box and it does NOT work with my phone! I call the company, Pharos, and they tell me to call Samsung for an adapter. Basically, they just said "you're own your own". STRIKE 1!
Fine, I'll just bring a spare battery just in case. O.K. I'm driving, it's tracking. I plot a destination, it routes the trip and tells me where to turn. All good right? Wrong! My phone is setup to save battery power and after a few minutes the phone goes into power-save mode and basically shuts off. So, I power the phone back on and the GPS receiver does not work anymore! STRIKE 2!
So you must be asking "well what did you do?" Answer: Reboot my phone. Don't worry, it gets better. I finally get smart and turn off the power-save feature so my phone will stay on constantly and drain my battery prematurely (I mean who wouldn't want that?). But remember, I'm smart... I brought an extra battery! So, I'm driving, it's tracking, it's telling me where to turn, and as I'm in route to my destination. The party I am expected to meet with at this new location decides to call me. Hmmm... "So what happened?" That's right, this GPS device decides to drop dead! STRIKE 3!
Well, at least it didn't disable the phone functionality.
So, if you're in the market for a product which does NOT work well with your Samsung i700 and does NOT have a "UNIVERSAL" car charger, then this product is definately for you! Make sure you tell your friends. And remember, "Friends don't let friends buy crap!"
P.S. Buy a city/state map, they're a lot cheaper!