Customer Reviews

Support GPS-4V106-IUS 4-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

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

 

 

This is a new brand on the market - expect more of these budget class GPS devices as the market for portable navigation gets more commoditized. Mio is another similar budget brand that's gotten lots of press from Black Friday sales ads. Those that missed out on the Mio C310x could have picked up the InVion GPS for a good deal as well. It has the same Samsung 400Mhz processor, larger screen (4" widescreen vs 3.5" regular screen), shiny black finish (I like black better than the Mio's silver color), and Navteq maps (I hear a lot of comments that Navteq is better than TeleAtlas which the Mio brand uses). The InVion also has the new SiRF Star III chip which a lot of the newer and more expensive GPS devices have - it locks onto a satellite signal much quicker and makes GPS navigation more accurate as well.

I bought this unit on Black Friday and used it the same day for a trip to San Diego from Orange County, CA. Voice guided prompts were loud and clear, mapping was accurate. Only thing is on the "Fastest route" setting, I overrode it a few times (I chose a different path) because it made you change more highways than you wanted. No worries however as the unit re-calculated my change of plans and put me back on course - very nice. After all, fastest routes are not always the easiest routes.

One thing the units lacks is that it does not display the street names in 3D view, only in 2D. Probably not a huge thing, but it's nice to see everything in both views. This product also has MP3 and video (MP4 files) capabilities which are nice added features but not too big a deal for most people. Just some extra features that make you feel you got your money's worth :-)

I would recommend this GPS device for first-time buyers or those on a budget. If you can pick this unit up in the $200-300 range, it's a very good buy. Otherwise, not a bad product any way you look at it.

I was hunting for a good inexpensive GPS unit 2 weeks ago, and this sounded like the real deal. 2GB SD card, MP3 playback, 4" screen, and all that for just 200 bucks. Sounded like a steal compared to other products. The reviews were great too (especially the ones on Amazon). Unfortunately there were some issues with my credit card, and I couldn't find this thing in any of the stores, so I settled for a Mio C220 instead. A lot less features, but I needed one quick. At the same time, unknown to me, my girlfriend bought this unit for me as a gift. So I ended up with 2 units to try out side by side.

The Mio does not have any fancy features; no MP3 or photo viewing. It only comes with a 1GB card. But what it does (GPS routing), it does really well. I did have some issues where it did not recognize jug handles, and it pushed me through some tricky turns in NYC, but for the most part, it did very well. When I took a wrong turn, within seconds it would tell me, and have a new route ready within a few yards. The menu system was very intuitive, and the touch screen was reasonably sensitive (though not as much as I would've liked). It looked up POI's pretty quickly, and they were well categorized.

Despite the larger screen, Invion's display looked far worse compared to the Mio. The quality seemed poor and that aesthetic touch was entirely missing, and it felt like the software was developed in some teen's backyard. Now that's not entirely a bad thing, so we decided to check out the navigation features. The most annoying thing on the Invion was that each time you started it up, it made you choose which part of the US you wanted to navigate in. Why should that matter? And what if you wanted to drive from the east coast to central? Apparently you would then have to choose east coast on start up and can only choose a major city in central. Then when you're in central, you turn off the device, turn it back on and choose central!!! This was probably done so the device would have to load only a subset of maps into main memory at a time, but its a very stupid thing to do. Even if you ignore that irritant, the screen is very insensitive to touch. I had to tap everything thrice. The included stylus (3 of them, in fact!) did not help in the least. The map was not as pleasing to look at as that of the Mio, and searching for POI's gave rather erratic results. I tried various query strings for wal mart and the best I could get was walgreens! And its very slow. The Invion doesn't tell you when you've missed a turn and its doing a recalc, which I wasn't very comfortable with. The directions to turn are pretty crazy too. The first prompt is at a mile, and then the next is too ridiculously close. Sometimes the prompts aren't completed by the device for some unknown reason. I couldn't figure a way to see what the next turn was until I was one mile from it, while the Mio lets you easily bring up the entire itinerary turn by turn (including waypoints). Altogether, a major disappointment. I didn't even bother to check out the MP3 capabilities; there was no point when it couldn't even do what it was meant to in a satisfactory manner.

On paper, the Invion seems like a very superior product at an unbeatable price. Even the accessories bundled with the product are unmatchable. Car adaptor, windshield mount, AC adaptor, data cable, 3 stylus pens and even a case. The Mio just came with a mount and a car adaptor. The former has a 4" display and plays MP3 while the latter has 3.5" and doesn't. Nevertheless, as a GPS unit, the Mio is miles ahead. I cannot imagine how anyone can cope with the Invion. Returning it was a no-brainer.

Edit [15-May-07]: Apparently Invion has updated their GPS software which makes it a more attractive buy, or so I hear. I haven't tried it out myself. The Amazon screenshot indicates the older software, but if you click on the Target link on the right under 'More buying choices', that screenshot indicates the newer software. So IF you're planning to get this product, go for the newer software. The older one is a nightmare; different is definitely better!

I should have known that something was wrong when I opened the package and found inside somebody else's packing slip and yellow note page. Apparently, someone returned it and they sent it to me without even checking the contents of the box.
As for the GPS - it seems to know where you are. However, it does not know how to get to your destination. I used it side by side with a Garmin 660. The Garmin took me to the address while the Invion tried to direct me to a location down the road half a mile. That happened every time at different locations.
In addition, the processor seems underpowered and every operation took forever. I have used multiple GPS systems before and this one is the worst.

I got Mio C310X on BF deals and can grab Invion on Cyber Monday deals.
MIO or Invion are both the European player in GPS. Invion has launched their first GPS product in market on BF. They are prety bew player in GPS market but they have launched very good product in low segment of GPS.

If you put both the GPS on windwhield side by side, you can note the difference. Invion outperform MIO in all respect. Maps of Invion are accurate and accuracy of direction is superb. I got reception at my home. Its even shows you whether you are in left, middle or right lane on freeways. Recalculation of road is quick.

Pros of Invion
1. Quicker reception
2. Navteq Maps
3. Video Playback (if you care)

Comes with windshield support and 3 styles for touch screen.

Cons (Compare to $500 plus Garmin Products) :
1. No Bluetooth
2. No Photo Viewer
3. No IPOD support

Use manual has minor mistakes. Manual do not have information about installation if GPS in car. Manual covers information about GPS and its features.

Biggest disadvantage is it can accept max 2GB SD card to store maps as well as music, videos. No i/p for external audio. No additional storage is available except ROM (64MB).

I do not expect Bluetooth as I paid just $150 for the unit.

I did not find the feature such as Direction walk through before you start the trip.

MIO has inaccurate maps, capture the vehicle position after fraction of secs. I am returning Mio next week.

Go get it !!!

I have to drive for a few miles before the satellite recognizes my vehicle. Otherwise, I stare of a map of my house. POI is not very accurate and difficult to search for specific restaurants. (my friend has a Garmin, we type in the first few letters of a restaurant we want to got to and it finds it). Selecting Region every time it is turned on is annoying, plus it doesn't always recognize east cost. I tap on Florida and get Canada or Mid West as my region!

This GPS unit is good. takes about 1-2 minutes on a to get the initial fix and then it is very quick. The software could have been better. If street names could be pronounced with a text-to-speech (TTS) engine it could have been better. some reviewers commented badly on the recalculation of the map. I just did a 400 mile trip and so far had no problems with recalculation of directions if i miss any exit. It is a little bulky for your dash, but you get 4" screen with mp3, mp4 capability. that no other (under 200$) GPS unit can beat. it did crash twice but restarting the unit would generally fix it. also with some 3rd party software, you can run Windows CE, games and other embedded software which is cool .also some forums talk about upgrading the maps and GPS software to better ones. i did not try it yet because i am happy with the basic stuff.
On the whole, this unit is what i needed. dont expect wonders for under 200$.
i also own an mp4/mp3/camera/camcorder/fm player from the same manufacturer. they make awesome product with lots of bundled features and an affordable price tag. the only problem is that there is very little after sales support. though all these devices can be upgraded, there is hardly any upgrade release from the company. so you have to rely on 3rd party forums.
Hope you found this review helpful. enjoy!

I used this unit for about a week before returning it, reason for the return was nothing other than outdated MAPS. There web site has no help on how to get the new maps.
Feature wise this thing is great, It plays MP3s, Video, and the best thing it it has an FM transmitter, thus the Music and directions are coming from you car speakers,
I would buy this unit back, If I know the maps have been updated.
It comes std with outdated maps of US and Canada. The night vision is also great, It has no problem acquiring signal, also had built in battery which seems to last appx 2 hrs.
The accessories it comes with are great also. For a sub $200 you get a lot.

I got this GPS from staples.com. I rarely use it, but only used a few times, then this device refuses to read the content of the SD card, and thus I could not use this GPS. I called InVion customer service, and they asked me to ship the SD card to them for repair. I did as instructed. When they shipped it back, they somehow messed up with my address and shipped it to the wrong address, so I did not get it. I called again, and they shipped a replacement card out, but again to the same wrong address, so still I wasn't able to get it. I had to call many times about their 2nd mistake, after they verified with UPS that they indeed shipped it to the wrong address twice, they promised to ship it to me the 3rd time. They didn't email me the tracking number after they shipped it out, but because they shipped it twice to the same wrong address, I don't quite trust them, so I called them and asked for the tracking number. Then I called UPS and learned that they shipped this item to the same wrong address for the THIRD time! Dear readers, up to this point, can you imagine this whole thing? To ship an SD card to the SAME WRONG address THREE times!!! Fortunately, because of my reminder, they were able to intercept this package with UPS and corrected the address.

It took me more than 2 months from the day I sent my SD card to them to the day I eventually got it back from them because of their repetitive mistakes. And they never even said sorry to me for dozens of phone calls I made.

Conclusion: If you don't want to get into trouble for the poor quality GPS and their nightmare customer service, don't buy this GPS.

1. Opened the box. It GPS did not recognize the SD card. [then I tried keeping the SD card in my digital camera just to find out if the card is working fine or not. I could see some files in the SD card, so I concluded that the SD card is ok and the culprit is the GPS. I tried to search on their website, there is not FAQ and no 800 number to call]. After few tries finaly I was successful in going to the next step.
2)Every time you start the system,it ask to select a region. [Why the hell they need this info ? Isnt GPS supposed to do that ??]
3)I stay in East cost and I am unable to select the east cost!!!
4)Audio info is too bad[dont tell you when to take turns
5)If you miss the turn, it wont tell you right away.
The only good thing I liked is the window mounting device came along with this is good. Other than that it not worth it.
So my recommentation: DONT buy this product.

The select features on this GPS are frustrating. You often have to redo your selections because the GPS likes to make suggestions that don't help. It also won't let you look ahead in your directions and doesn't say street names.