Customer Reviews

Sony NVU83T 4.8-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

One of the big concerns with this product was the fact that most users had mentioned that the routing and the software was buggy. I decided to purchase the NV-U83t anyways expecting a firmware upgrade. Prior to the upgrade (version 1.0) I ran into several issues where the routing was quite terrible, and I found that when searching for GPS signal the unit would not inform you that it was "searching". On April 7, Sony came out with a firmware update version 2.0. I tried this out and it really fixed several issues especially the routing issue and GUI(graphical user interface) slowness. I initially had this rated as a 2/5, but now rate it as a 5/5. I couldn't be happier with the GPS product from Sony. I'd like to express that I have experience with other GPS products such as the Garmin Nuvi 260, Magellan Roadmate 1200, the Sony NV-U83t is the best featured GPS unit. In my opinion, I would definitely recommend this GPS unit.

Users, if you have Version 1.0. UPGRADE to 2.0!!!

Update 7/14/2008:
I updated to Version 3.0, I do agree that the POI was slow, I took a long trip with V2.0 and finding POI was really really bad where it would take minutes to find a location. with Version 3.0, it's a difference between NIGHT and DAY. Upgrade to Version 3.0, not only is the poi searching better, the overall user experience is BETTER. I'm happy Sony is providing firmware updates, this is important since the product itself was released too early. I do believe there will be a few more software revisions, but using the update tool is VERY VERY easy. Good luck with those that do decide to purchase the NV-u83t, it's an awesome unit and I am definitely happy with it.

Bought this unit last week and found it to be great. Read a couple of reviews that rated it 'poor' but they appeared to be written by Garmin employees. All the 'complaints' listed have not proven to be true. The touch screen is very sensitive, mapping seems to be about the same as the last 5 gps' that I have purchased (including 3 Garmins) with the addition of text to verbal which is way better on the Sony. Will continue to test out this unit over the next several weeks on travel but so far, I'd rate it at least a 4 out of 5 stars.

This unit went from average to great with the latest update from Sony...notice how the later 5 star reviews are all with the updated firmware...this is not the same unit performance wise as earlier "non updated" versions...I believe this unit is best of the pack now...

(I had a Garmin 760...hard to see and bad routing...terrible blutooth)

The NVU83T is a feature-rich, reasonably user-friendly GPS device that meets most of my requirements at least half-way. In addition, it offers many features that I will probably never need but it's good to know they exist. Its navigation capabilities are generally comparable with some of the more popular brands and many of its features are only found in the other vendors' higher-end offerings such us support for gesture commands. Traffic information is available via subscription with the first 3 months free.

Besides being a GPS, it can easily pair with Bluetooth-enabled phones as an audio device. A Memory Stick Duo can be inserted to allow for backups of stored information such as address books, phone book and saved routes.

The provided suction-cup mount proved to be very effective. It's been on the windshield for a couple of months already and... it's still there.

A near-complete 31 page manual is available on the disk as a .PDF. The disk also installs the 'nav-u tool' application on a PC to allow for firmware upgrades and other downloads via a USB cable.

As a GPS
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I did read the other reviews before deciding to buy this unit. I decided to go with Sony and not Garmin or Tom-Tom or Nuvi because I already own a Garmin and, while quite reliable, it's not perfect and on most of my local trips where I am familiar with the local roads it does not always take me to my destination on the optimal path. The reviews state that Sony's device too does not always recommend the best path. I can testify that this is, indeed the case. On a head-to-head comparison, Sony was as bad as Garmin on all but one turn - it actually knew about a shortcut Garmin didn't. On the other hand, Garmin knew of a shortcut that Sony didn't. So, it's almost parity.

I am happy with Sony's 4.8", wide display. The touch screen resolution is good enough to allow for a lot of detail to be displayed.

Besides the map, the normal display during navigation would show:

- current direction and speed
- current position and GPS status indication
- a compass showing the straight-line direction for the destination
- current time
- current street name
- ETA and distance to destination
- distance to next turn
- next street name
- next turn instruction
- current position

When approaching a turn you can see:

- a maginfied view of the intersection on the left half of the screen
- a bar indication of the distance to the next turn

While on highway, a display would show on which lane to stay whenever the road splits or merges. The GPS can be set to show exits on the map and to warn of upcoming merges from right or left.

This may seem to be very 'busy' but it does not look that way at all while driving.

The device can be set to display a variety of points of interest on the map, from specific types of restaurants to gas stations to actual towns. The display can also be set to adjust colors on day/night with 7 color schemes available. The map can be either 2-D or 3 different types of 3-D, set a various levels of magnification ranging from a few hundred feet to about 50 miles and so on and so forth.

Gesture commands can increase/decrease the level of magnification by simply drawing a circle clockwise or counter-clockwise on the screen.

Text to speech makes a best effort attempt to pronounce street names. For English you can pick between a female (default) or a male voice.


When traffic info is used, the GPS can be set to automatically recalculate the route to avoid high-volume traffic, accidents or hazardous driving conditions.

The guidance can be set to either 'normal', 'avoid toll roads' or 'avoid toll roads (shortest)'. I can't say that I saw a big difference between the three on local trips, within 50-100 miles from my residence. Sometimes, simply making a left turn rather than a right turn can shorten a trip by many miles, which makes me believe that the stored map does not have very good information on which roads can be engaged through a left turn vs. divided highways. While I do see this something that needs to be addressed by future firmware or map upgrades, I do not consider it as a big disqualifier. I am relying on my GPS to help me find my way back when I get lost, to take me to unfamiliar places and to help me plan long trips and to find my way while away from home and this device seems to be capable of doing all of the above even though not always in the most optimal fashion.

Interestingly, the manual claims that, while driving through a tunnel or through an area of poor satellite reception, the device can sense motion and continue to display your approximate position. I am not sure if this is a unique feature and I was not able to test it myself, absent tunnels in my immediate vicinity.

Many other features and settings are available but I will have to limit the size of this review. I will try to answer any questions that I can answer to anyone who leaves as comment, as soon as I see it.


As a sound device for a phone
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When paired with a phone, the NVU83T can be used a speaker for the paired phone(s), to answer incoming calls by simply touching the screen or to initiate calls, including 'calling home' by simply drawing a 'v' on the screen.

It can be paired with several phones, it can import phone books directly from the phones, stores the last 40 numbers dialed or incoming and there allows for setting the volume and the level of noise/echo cancelling.


Rating
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I will rate the NVU83T as a 4-star. The sheer volume of features and capabilities and the level of customization - to which the review above is only a hint - go a long way toward making up for the sometimes imperfect guidance. I want to make it clear: never did the NVU83T send me to the wrong place or asked me to do anything dangerous - like making a U-turn on a highway. Its directions are not always the best but neither seem to be those from competing products so, relatively speaking, the NVU83T holds its own and it offers some features not always found in other models.

Used this item for two trips. The Sony NVU83T will definitely get you lost. It has a bad habit of telling at the last second to make a turn. This is especially true when traveling on some of the complicated interstates in Oakland, CA, and Washington, DC area.

This unit takes too long to update if you miss a turn.

The bluetooth function doesn't work. and you can't load an address book from a cell phone, or your outlook folder. The loading tool only wants to see XML files.

Sony's support staff can't explain how to load an address book.

I am not sure how well or not well the previous versions ran but for the 199.00 I paid for the unit I think it is a bargain.

positives
- big beautiful screen, high res, clear fonts
-easy access to options
-dual view works great
-gesture commands worked as advertised
-many options to toy with including font size, few 3d views...etc
-mount works great even on rough dash and power cord
is plugged into the mount not the gps
-clear voice with good pronunciation and speaks the exit number

negatives
-would like to see a slightly higher volume available
-option to keep to roads only when free ferries are available

There are so many things that are better than my Tomtom 720. Ease of access to options, better voice pronunciation, dual display, more professional looking map, clearer fonts, more detailed, clear and timely verbal instructions, easy search features for address and pois.

The previous firmware may have not been up to snuff but this one is great

Gps units owned previous include Harmon Kardon, Mio 710, tomtom 720, Alpine Blackbird(what was I thinking). The best of the bunch was the 720 but this one is better. I can do without the garbage mp3 playback through the fm transmitter and the map visuals were no where near as good. The tomtoms are quality units with excellent desktop software but I like the implementation(firware) and hardware quality of the sony better. Give this one a try with the new firmware before before spending much more for a unit from Garmin or Tomtom for the same features(or less).Just make sure you follow all the upgrade instructions to the letter or you will brick your unit.

After reading CNET's pan of the original version, I was hesitant. I tried a Maestro 4250, which got a higher rating, but it lacked stores that opened 3 years ago, and tried to route me on roads and interchanges that changed years ago. Old map data makes any GPS work badly, especially around newer communities. Researching this on the web, I found that nearly all portable GPS units have maps dating from 2006 or so.

Because the Sony has the late-2007 Navteq maps (same as those Google uses) I decided to try it. It found a local restaurant that opened in the past year, and the lookup was very quick, about 2 seconds. It has the 3.0 firmware, which apparently makes a huge difference. The interface is crisp, easy to use, and much higher resolution than the Mastro. Not perfect, though. The gestures didn't do what I expected, and ended up re-centering the view instead.

The mounting kit alone is a reason to buy the unit. The suction cup mounted securely to the pebbly dash of my car so the unit doesn't block my view as other, windshield-mounted units do. It's closer so it's easier to reach, too.

The downside is that routing can be roundabout. I didn't use part of a route it provided when going to the restaurant, then the route coming back avoided those streets, as if it assumed that they must be closed now. (It uses info gathered from your past driving in its subsequent routing. Rather than turn this feature off, I made a point to drive on the streets I had skipped so it knows they are still open.)

Many features can be turned on or off or adjusted. Even the viewing angle of the 3D display can be selected. Voice prompts are clear, well-timed, and explicitly state the street name. Once you reach your destination it even says how long the drive took.

Tighten up the routing and include an AC adapter and it would be a 5 star GPS. In all other respects it far surpasses the other in-car and portable GPS systems I have owned.

The GPS unit works great, navigation has worked with no hitches. I was pretty much able to operate it intuitively the first time I turned it on. Which is a really good thing because the instructions were not particularly helpful and the accompanying CD and softwear were equally as hard to figure out for me. The quick start guide said a wizard would launch the first time the device was turned on, but it didn't, so I had to manually set up the language options, home address, etc., but it wasn't hard to do. I like the screen, it's very clear, the maps are easy to read and the touch screen is very sensitive.

I still am not quite sure what I am supposed to do with the Nav-U software that the CD installed on my PC. I didn't need to update the firmware, it came installed with the 3.0 version, so I haven't had to figure how to do an update. The PDF manual on the CD hasn't got much info about the software on it, and nothing at all about how to actually do anything within the Nav-u application and neither does the support website.

I was a little nervous about the suction cup, it is so sticky I thought it might be an adhesive that would leave goo on my dashboard, but no problems there, it let go with no problems (but stayed in place with no problem either).

All in all I think the Nav-U is a great value, it's got a big screen with good visibility and the text to voice works great. The bluetooth option saves expense and clutter of an additional device in the car too.

The good:
The device looks great, and the supersuction cup works great as well. I have it mounted on my dashboard and it barely moves.
The 4.8" screen is large enough and the touch screen works OK most of the time, not like the iphone but it does the job.
Also the bluetooth paring with my phone works great. I can make hands free calls from it and receive calls, they can hear me crystal clear.

The bad:
The software has a bug for NY addresses at least: (I called SONY about it). It cannot handle addresses for e.g: 42-15 218th street.
It will give you a range of addresses across 218th street for a result which will take you to the area approximately but to me it's useless cause I want EXACT results.
It works fine if you enter: 2 Lexington Avenue.

The ugly:
Not sure what algorithm this thing uses, but it takes the weirdest routes to your destination. For e.g. instead of taking me to a major highway that would take me to another major highway, it wants me to go locally to the 2nd highway (and hit traffic lights) which makes 0 sense to me.. Anyone?

Update 5/30/2008:
Update on my first review
Apparently SONY is using NAVTEQ for their maps. NAVTEQ apparently sucks big time at least for NY hyphenated addresses. It simply DOES NOT find them. E.g.: 32-24 208th street, Bayside, NY, 11361
It will NOT find it. (you can check by going to [...]). This and any other address with a hyphen will not be found, which pretty much makes your expensive nav unit a nice paper weight. SONY issued a rev3 update, but that's only the firmware (it is much faster and more responsive, has autocomplete etc) but the underlying map is still the same. Until NAVTEQ comes out with an update, I cannot recommend this unit at least if you live in NY with a hyphenated address. For all other addresses it works great.

This is the first nav unit I've ever bought or used, so I have nothing to compare it to.
I've used it while driving from Portland to Los Angeles and I stopped in many small towns on the way. It wasn't very useful for getting around an unfamiliar town, as I hoped it would be, but it will get you back on the road to your destination again.
I expected to be able to see a lot more map data when using it. This gives you the bare minimum. It would be nice to see the name of the street you're approaching, or if you can drive around the block without getting misdirected, but unless the intersection you're approaching is a major highway, you're hooped.
On the plus side, the display is nice and bright, bigger than most others and the dual screen feature that pops up when you near a turn is welcome. However I could hardly see the display when I had my polarized sun glasses on.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about this purchase was when I connected it to my (Sony) computer. The 31 pages of "help" for this unit are nearly worthless. The software supplied with the unit doesn't even allow you to do as much from your computer as you can with the unit itself using the touch-screen (bytheway the touch-screen is inactive when connected to a computer). You can transfer addresses from your address book to the unit but only XML files. Do you know how to convert your addresses to XML files? Don't look to Sony for help.
I'll be able to use this when I fly somewhere and rent a car, but otherwise I'll be hard pressed to get my $400 bux of use out of it.