Customer Reviews

Sony NVU94T 4.8-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic and Text-to-Speech

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm a relative newcomer to GPS, but I'm learning quickly. I've tried out several, compared notes with friends and read dozens of reviews. The NV-U94T received uneven reviews - some liked it, and some (like CNET) were luke warm. My first reaction, however, when seeing it on display at Radio Shack was very positive, so I took a closer look.

Sony doesn't have the same reputation for GPS that companies like Garmin and TomTom have. I believe that this factor, combined with the initially high price for this device ($399 list until recently), and slightly flakey routing with the first firmware release, all led to this being a somewhat ignored model this fall.

Although the NV-U94T was just released this fall (August 2008?) as the top of the line for Sony's fall lineup, Sony decided to drop the list price from $399 to $199 just last week. While I was admiring the device when it was selling for $299 at Radio Shack before Christmas, when I went back there a few days ago and saw it at $199 (with a 30 day return option, and 90 day exchange option), I felt that I had to take a chance.

In short - it's been great so far.

The display is spectacular. At 4.8", this is the biggest, brightest, clearest display I've seen for anywhere near this price. The processor seems to be very fast: the user interface is crisp and responsive, route calculation is very fast, as is re-calculation when I drive off the recommended route. The unit boots up and acquires satellite signals in seconds.

The user interface is quite good, easy to navigate, and generally requires very few taps to get me to the desired function. Having dedicated menu buttons on the left of the screen, regardless of the display, means that I can always get to a top level menu with a single tap. The 94T supports a number of finger gestures (that got a laugh out of my teenage son!), such as swiping a large roof shape on screen with a finger to indicate that you want the device to navigate home, drawing a clockwise circle to zoom in or counter-clockwise to zoom out (both to presets that you select and set).

The feature set is pretty huge. Bluetooth can be used several ways: the device has a built in media player that can stream through your bluetooth equipped car audio system, and it can also act as a handsfree bluetooth speakerphone for your cell phone (works great). Text to speech is excellent, and you have a choice of voices and languages. There's a built in 6-way accelerometer and some kind of pressure sensor that help to keep track of your position if you briefly lose contact with the GPS satellites. They call this "position plus".

Sony's "super suction cup" mount works incredibly well. It's a fairly typical suction cup, but with some kind of gel disk on the bottom that's a bit tacky to the touch. It's not a true adhesive, so it leaves no residue. But it allows the mount to faster to a textured dashboard securely in seconds -- and can be removed just as quickly without leaving a trace. I like the ability to quickly mount it on my dash and remove it as well: my current car is leased and I'll be returning it in less than a year -- no way I'd put a permanent mount on the car. Also, being able to mount it on my dash is excellent: it's truly NOT obstructing my view out the windshield, and I've heard stories about the police in NJ ticketing people lately for having a GPS on the windshield blocking the view.

Not sure if this next point is common to all wide-screen GPS's, but the 94T goes into a split-screen mode as you approach intersections, showing you a detailed close up of the intersection on the left side of the screen, and the normal map on the right. The close up shows you all the lanes that are available to you, and which ones to use or avoid. Works quite well so far.

The device doesn't always pick the same route I would, but I imagine that no GPS will read your mind and always choose a route using the same logic that you would. However the routes it picks always seem to be within a mile of the same total trip length that I choose, with total trip time within about a minute or two of the routes I might choose in favor of the ones recommended by the GPS. It's actually got me reevaluating the routes I've used for years -- and it seems to be choosing well so far. Additionally, if you keep ignoring a recommended route in favor of your own, I read that it will start to apply a greater weight in its routing algorithm to your preferred routes, and eventually start using your preferred roads.

The unit I picked up this past week as recent 2008 NAVTEQ maps of the US, Canada and Puerto Rico installed with something over 5 million points of interest included. I've read that recent Garmin's have something like 6 million POI's -- not sure what I'm missing, and so far, it's found all my local restaurants, gas stations, etc.

The 94T also has a traffic receiver built in and a separate antenna you can string along the edge of your windshield. The 94T comes with a prepaid 3 month trial for the traffic service -- I haven't tried this yet, and don't plan to subscribe anyway. Hopefully my only future expense with this will be a map update sometime in the next year or two.

I picked up a nice aftermarket case for the 94T at Radio Shack for $20 -- it's designed for GPS's in the 4.5" to 5" range, and fits this one like a glove. The case looks and feels like a large generic horizontal cell phone case with a magnetic flap closure. I feel much safer carrying the 94T in this than having it bare.

Two things about this that I find a bit annoying:
1) I wish Sony didn't force you to use their "memory stick" media for expanded storage. I'd prefer more industry standard mini- or micro-SD, as they can be found cheaper than Sony's proprietary format. Not a big deal, but I prefer standards.

2) I've read that battery life on this device is only about 2.5 hours, while it appears that high end TomTom and Garmin units have double the battery life. I don't know when I'd use this without having it plugged into the car power cable. But I imagine that if I ever needed it on battery, I'd prefer to have better battery life.

Although the built in lithion-ion battery is not supposed to be user serviceable, Sony provides directions for removing it for recycling in the event that you're trashing the device. It looks exceedingly easy to open the device, and if the battery can be found for purchase (online somewhere I'd guess), it looks like it would be very easy to replace it if needed.

Anyway -- aside from the two minor gripes above, I'm loving the NV-U94T. I'll be trying it out on a few trips this weekend (a few hundred miles), and hope to give it a good workout. So far, I'm very happy with this, and at the new price of $199, I think it's a steal. (I'm inserting a link below, and you can pick it up at Radio Shack for $199, or order it directly from SonyStyle for the same price)

- Jon

Sony NVU94T 4.8-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic and Text-to-Speech

UPDATE 1/19/09: I've lived with this, using it every day (although I generally don't need it) to observe how it works, quirks, etc. As some others have posted, it occasionally comes up with a somewhat bizarre route -- but most of the time, the recommended routes are perfectly valid, and sometimes faster than the "obvious" routes that I normally choose.

I've been using this long enough now to finally experience the "learning" feature that I read about. Every day after work I drive south on the NJ Turnpike from Exit 11 to Exit 8A, and then take various preferred routes over to Princeton Junction. The NV-U94T attempted to steer me OFF the NJ Turnpike at Exit 9 every day, taking me on Route 1 south instead. The route is "valid", but doesn't take into account the fact that Route 1 tends to be a parking lot in rush hour. Knowing how bad Route 1 is, I ignore the NV-U94T's directions and continue south past Exit 9, at which point I hear, "Updating route!" and it figures out the new route from there.

Last week, the GPS stopped insisting on Exit 9, and actually guided me down my preferred route -- and did so consistently for the last several days of the week. As I note at the top of this write-up, I had read that the device actually tracks the times you ignore recommended routes in favor of other roads (I believe it was a Sony engineer saying this -- I'll continue to look for the link and will post it back when I find it) and updates the relative "weight" of your preferred road so that their algorithm will eventually recommend roads increasingly in line with your preferences. I was skeptical at first, but the new behavior seems consistent, and is in line with the item I read about the system re-weighting the route.

Last night I friend stopped by with his family, and happened to bring along *his* latest gadget acquisition -- a shiny new Garmin 4.3" GPS (not sure which model -- I think its a 760). We were taking both families out to dinner, and decided to try both GPS's side-by-side to see how they compared.

They both booted up about as quickly. The Garmin acquired satellites almost immediately, and the Sony took about 10 seconds more -- but then both held the signals for the rest of the night. Although the Sony calculates a new route quickly, the Garmin definitely seems to do this faster: about 3 or 4 seconds on the Sony, and almost instant on the Garmin. I'm guessing the Garmin has a faster processor. Note though: even though the Sony takes a few seconds to update a route, it's still fast enough to do this before I get to the next intersection after missing a recommended turn.

The Garmin offers more options for customization it seems, with the ability to download numerous different voice files, while the Sony is limited to 2 choices in English (a male and female choice), and both a male and female voice for 2 other languages (French and Italian I believe). Garmin definitely offers more choices in this area.

While driving the few short trips we took last night, both devices chose identical routes. Both gave similar (though not identical) turn warnings. My friends pointed out that the Garmin simply tells you to "Turn right" (onto whatever the named street is) when you're on top of the intersection, whereas the Sony will say, "NOW turn right onto" (whatever the street name is). I'm used to the NV-U94T saying "Now turn right...", but they found it an improvement in having the GPS make it clear that you are actually AT the turn rather than still approaching it. Subtle usability point -- not a big deal, but I agree -- it's nice having it made abundantly clear to you that you're AT the turn.

The Garmin's display seems a bit prettier: it shows your current road more realistically in 3D perspective than the Sony does, though the difference is subtle. I like the way the Sony displays street names on the map, though, and found them more readable. The Sony displays POI "logos", which the Garmin did not do: my unit displays little logos for items like Wendy's, Hess, etc -- and will even show generic "Italian restaurant" logos (Italian flag), Chinese restaurants, etc.

I noticed last night that the Garmin displayed a railroad track that was under a bridge we were on -- while the Sony didn't.

The Sony has a couple of guidance features that I really like that I do *not* see on the Garmin. When approach a turn-off, the screen changes to a split view: on the right you see the standard nav map, while the left side changes to show a close-up of the intersection, with more detail, and arrows showing you the detail of turn navigation. Additionally, the split view is bisected by a half-inch (approx) wide vertical yellow bar that looks sort of like a tall narrow "VU meter" comprised of a stack of horizontal yellow lines, each representing about 30 feet. As you approach the turn, this gives you a very clear visual guide to your approach, and also summarizes your distance from the turn in feet at the top of the display. This seems to work very well, and when I slow down, the indicator actually seems to update every 10 to 20 feet approach the turn.

Since I first wrote the review, I tried part of the bluetooth capability. I paired my blackberry curve with the GPS, and used it as a speakerphone. It worked perfectly, allowing me to dial by voice command, and the sound was excellent -- in the car. The people I called told me I sounded fuzzy by comparison to my normal "mobile sound" when using a Jawbone 2. That's understandable I guess, since the unit (and it's microphone) site about 2 feet away from me when it's on the dash.

The Sony and Garmin each seem to offer some advantages of their own over the other unit, but in the end, the navigation and core features seem incredibly close. I've grown accustomed to the Sony, and although I still have the opportunity to return it and buy the Garmin instead, I don't feel any urge to do so.

Everything that it says it does, it does. Wonderful! We bought a Magellan 4250 before and it was slow, hard to use, and if we wanted to check out POI's we had to cancel our route first. Not user friendly at all. But the new Sony is everything we need and lives up to our expectations of a GPS system.

I bought this GPS last week and I already had to return it. It was taking a really long (30-40 minutes) for it to find a signal. I was on the phone with Sony for a really long time. They asked me to reset my unit and it worked fine for about half hour. Then it was back to taking really long finding a GPS signal. However, for the short time it worked, it was wonderful. The screen was big, it was easy to use, the double screen for turns was really useful. It even showed you which lane you should be on. Great GPS. I hope I just got a defective one.

I went to a local electronics store looking for GPS systems. They had several brands next to each other, and I was able to see that the screen on the SONY looked much brighter and was much more vibrant than any of the others that were on display. There were Garmins, TomToms, Magellans, and a couple brands I've never heard of before.
The SONY was not in stock at this store, and I wanted to get something for a trip I was scheduled for, so I ended up buying a TomTom Go630. The reason I purchased the TomTom was because I read about all the updates, and that is syncs with cell phones, that you can add voices, and update your own maps using mapshare, plus get traffic updates.
I'm very much a "techy" type person and I love to have gadgets with many bells and whistles. I got home, spent a couple hours downloading the "latest" maps and voices and all the other things I could download for free at the TomTom website (they have a program manager to install once your GPS is connected to the computer). Imagine how disappointed I was after spending a few hours to upgrade this GPS to find out that my house address (or street for that matter) doesn't show up on the map! After calculating and finding satellites, it gave my location as being in the middle of some field!!
I had my house built and just moved in last October, but the development has been in existence for 1.5 years now!! I downloaded a map that was over 2 GB in size, and it didn't have my street!!! On top of that, I used it to try to get to work the next morning and it came up with a route that would have added an extra 25 minutes of driving time! Oh, and I forgot to mention that it wouldn't sync with my Verizon Wireless Razor phone because it wasn't the latest model!! So although my phone could see the TomTom, the TomTom refused to synchronize with it!! That was the final straw. This TomTom was NOT cheap ($399) and was worthless!
I took back the TomTom and went to Amazon to see if they had the Sony... and sure enough... they did!! I had it shipped via the next day service. I downloaded the software from the SONY website and it connected to my PC without any problems. (I run Vista Ultimate) But, before I downloaded any of the software updates, I looked to see if it knew my current location... and OUT OF THE BOX it knew my street!! I then went to the SONY website to download the software upgrade, and saw that there was a NOTICE to all people who purchased this model... some of the models contain a VIRUS!!! Luckily it had the serial numbers of all infected GPS systems... which makes me wonder if that's why none of my local electronic stores have this GPS model in stock. My serial number was not affected by this, so I was very much relieved.
Anyway, this unit is FAR superior to the TomTom!! I have read a few reviews that said that the way this unit calculates routes are a bit "flakey" at times... but so far, every place that I have programmed was routed the exact same way I would go. I also was able to Sync this device to my cell phone!! It was quite simple to do... enter the same 4 digit pin number into both devices, they see each other, and the link was made!! Took less than 3 minutes!!
The fact that this model splits screens and shows exactly how far away you are from where you need to turn is a HUGE advantage over all the other units. And quickly changing from navigation view to "scroll" view is awesome too! You can scroll around to see what is around which is pretty sweet. And the Icons for the POI (Point of Interests such as Restaurants, Gas Stations, etc...) are much better than any of the other devices!
I've not yet tried the Traffic portion of this device, but the fact that it comes with an antenna is nice. Many other units that have this feature require an additional purchase. With this Sony, the antenna actually plugs into the mounting device. This may not sound like much, but the fact that both the antenna and the power adapter plug into the mounting bracket and not the device makes it very convenient to remove the GPS and take it with you. Removing the GPS is easy! You simply press a button and the GPS separates itself from the mounting bracket... you can do it with only one hand!
The speaker phone (Bluetooth) works okay. My wife claims that when I'm using it she can hear me fine, but that when she talks it "echos"... which is common with many speakerphones.
So, even though I've only had this SONY for 1.5 days, I LOVE IT!! I went to a seminar today, and not only did it get me there without any problems, I was able to use it to find a nearby Starbucks to get a cup of coffee!
Finally, the last awesome feature that I wanted to talk about is the approximate arrival time. It's been extremely accurate!! This unit tells you not only tells you what the time will be when you arrive, but tia also tells you how long the trip took when you reach your destination!! (It speaks it to you when you arrive)
If you are on the fence, I highly recommend this unit!! It has a TON of awesome features, and is EXTREMELY easy to use! The screen size, appearance, and user interface make this unit a winner!! Considering that this unit cost less than $200 and outperformed a model that was twice as expensive should speak volumes.

As many have already said, the display is beautiful - and large. The blue tooth worked well and picked up my phone easily, as well as imported the phone book. But the routing was poor and convoluted. It was so lovely to look at, I really wanted to make it work out, but I'm sorry I've had to return it and go with a Garmin.

I thought this nav unit was a bargin at it's present reduced price of $199 on Amazon, especially with the 4.8" screen size, so I bought it. I have been very impressed with the look and organization of the display and the Bluetooth has performed flawlessly. Additionally, the mounting system is the best I've seen in a portable nav unit. The main problem I have had with the product is that the battery life is so short that it is just not acceptable. It is almost necessary to keep it plugged in at all times, that may or may not be a problem for everyone, but it is annoying to me!

The maps have proven to be accurate, but the routing is terrible. The unit will often take a route that is much more lengthy than the most direct route, it's hard to figure out at times. Overall, I would say a good purchase at the reduced price, but don't buy it at the list price of $399.

I read the reviews and saw that some people were having trouble with the gps signal but i bought it anyways. either it was just a luck of the draw thing or sony fixed the problem. This thing is very fast. It locks on immediately. I love the freeway 3D it never puts you in the wrong lane and you will never take the wrong exit again. Living in the same town my whole life i know my way around, and the one problem is this has you take many side streets. But other than that, its been great. The touch screen is also very intuitive and user friendly. BUY THIS over tomtom and Garmin, you wont be disappointed

***************** Avoid this GPS *****************

I bought this on December 15th when I drove from Detroit Michigan to Austin Texas. I have a very bad scene of direction and knew that I would get lost with out it. I bought mine when it was $399. I got this one over the others at the store (Bestbuy) because of the size of the screen. The others were very small compared to this.

Positives:
Large 4.8" screen
Navigation voice clear and easy to understand
Screen is bright and clear
Touch screen

Negatives:
Navigation voice was hard to hear even with the volume all the way up.
- Close your windows and turn down your radio, there is a aux out jack on this, but that means you have to turn off your radio still.
Route calculations can be slow at times, and I found that it only lets you select one option at a time.
- What I mean by this is it will not (at lease not that I found) let you chose it to calculate the shortest route and avoid toll roads, or fastest route and avoid major city's.
Map data updates I haven't seen one yet.
- New roads are always being opened, roads being closed do to construction etc. There is no way to update this and this seems to me to be a big minus.
Live Traffic updates costing.
- I don't remember the cost of this service at the moment but it seems like it was around $10 a month or something like that. Sony should offer this free of charge for there high end unit or have a one time charge that covers it for life. I would be willing to pay $100 for life time use.
Sony's unwillingness to use industry standard flash memory.
- I know Sony is trying to push their Memory Sticks but they could had included a SD or a Micro-SD card slot.
The screen every time it starts up saying "Do not use this device while driving" huh that is the point of a vehicle GPS.

I updated the firmware on mine and lost all my maps, I found out through several calls to tech support that there is no way to download the map's. Mine was still under warranty but I was told by a Sony tech that if it was not covered that I would be charged $109 ($90 short of a brand new one) to get the map data put back on.
Seems to me that $109 is a lot for basically 15 minutes of work. When I asked I thought maybe $30 plus shipping.

I do recommend that if you get this do get the extended warranty for this.

I am not a Sony basher by any means but when I see a bad product I call it as I see it.

Would I buy this again knowing what I know now - "NO!"
I would had gotten something with a smaller screen that works better and has better tech support and has the ability of the user to update the map's.

Why did I go with this one?
Well like I said it had the biggest screen of the ones on display at the store and the Sony name.

If you are buying a vehicle GPS I would suggest looking some place else, do not get this one. I see a lot of potential but Sony came up short on this GPS. There is a lot of things that I have seen just in the little time I have had it that Sony should had done or included with it.

If anyone from Sony reads this re-do this unit a few small changes would make this a great unit that would put any other GPS to shame.

The sad thing is, is that it's not like Sony does not have the money to research and develop something top notch, something that could blow TomTom and Garmin away.

If Sony had asked some one like me to beta test this unit and would take the suggestions this could had been the standard and the one all others would be trying to catch.

What I would like to see in the next Sony NVU:
5+" LCD
Faster route calculations
Better GPS satellite reception
Map data updated by user or satellite
Louder navigation voice
Option to include or exclude multiple things in navigation calculations
I would like to be able to take and enter my addresses on my computer and then upload it to the GPS instead of using the touch screen keyboard
Charge less for live traffic updates $20 per a year or $100 for life
SD or Micro-SD flash slot

Price tells all. Lots of features missing--ie., ability to choose between shortest or quickest route, ability to update maps as I'm able to successfully find an address only about 65% of the time, no "where am I" option, inability to interface with my computer to preload routes prior to a trip, no zoom feature, and mumerous others. The main reason I chose to purchase this item was the larger screen and the automatic split screen when approaching a turn--particularly when traveling on interstate highways. I have to admit that the screen is OK and the menu buttons on the side are nice--other than that, I should have spent my hard earned money elsewhere to garner more fuctionality.

Was amazed by the beauty and added features of the NVU94T at a Radio Shack store that I decided to not go for the highly recommended Garmin and give Sony a chance. Taking it out of the box and playing with it for the first 20 minutes was fun but then one problem after another...
Well, I tried to imagine that I was lucky to get this [...] GPS unit for only [...] but there is a reason for this cheap price...go to the Sony website and try to buy a Sony GPS there- all "not available" or "out of stock" meaning there is something fishy going on...I began having trouble with my device as it froze and rebooted so I went to the Sony support webpage for this model and guess what?
[...]
The device has been affected by a virus and so they urge you to call them - yeah, thanks Sony! But luckily mine was fine and the computer was not damaged.
I DO NOT recommend this device because although it is beautiful and has great features that Garmin should imitate, it is slow and has VERY OLD MAPS...it did not have streets and businesses that have been in my city 5 years and there is no option to update maps (even with money). This deal is no deal at all!!!