Customer Reviews

Whistler WGPX-550 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

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

 

 

I was a little suspicious at first, with very few reviews around and Whistler not exactly being a known GPS maker.
However, I am glad to say that I am very happy with this purchase. It comes with a 1GB SD card which is filled with all of USA Navteq maps (Canada is on a included DVD if needed).

The receiver is very good, it locks on inside my house where other units have not. It does however take on the longish side to lock-on at cold start.

Routing is good, and re-routes are instantaneous. It's pretty easy to select an address or POI's. It has the usual route customizations like include/exclude ferries, highways, toll roads, and you can select shortest, quickest, major, local etc... routings. You can select to avoid certain roads or make intermediate stops.

The display is bright and easy to read (and cutomizable with different colors), however it is not non-glare.
The touch screen works very well, including touch panning and such.

I wish the actual display screen was more customizable, like expensive Garmin units, I would like to see altitude at all times for example, but you can't ask for everything I suppose. The altitude is visible on the GPS Status screen though.

It has a built in battery which seems to last for a few hours, so you don't need to always plug it in or you can take it "for a walk".

The fact that it plays MP3's and displays pictures is nice, but I will not use that function.

In order to turn the unit off you need to exit the GPS function rather than just shutting it down, sort of like Windows (I believe it runs Windows CE or a version thereof) and that's a little annoying.

I sort of surprised myself by buying this since I have always had Garmin units before, but I have to say that I am very happy and would buy this again.

And commenting on the other reviewer, my unit does not seem to be off by a certain amount of feet, however, if you are in a driveway, it does want to lock on a road until you are about 20 feet away, but I believe this is normal for automotive GPS units.
And about the speed issue, mot cars show a slightly faster than actual speed, so I would say your GPS is the one that is accurate, not your car speedometer.

Just heard back from Whistler customer support. They say they will have map updates about every year. I also asked if they would have European maps, and they said most likely not...

I just purchased this item locally for $399.99. Item is not available on E-bay.

DESCRIPTION: The unit is well designed, built on the Windows CE operating system, with a 200 Mhz processor, 20 parallel channels, and a battery for remote (out of vehicle) operation. Display is not the brightest, has good sharpness, easy to read text, good for car use, and viewable in direct daylight. Does not have an anti-glare screen so that can be a problem. Finger prints show up when using touch screen (GPS comes with a stylus, but it is easier to use finger). Has MP3 player, and photo viewer, remember all maps on the included SD card, there is no or little room for music and photos on the included card, you have to get a 2 Gb card to load US and Canada maps and have a little room for music, and photos. (Remember this is a GPS, not a music player or photo viewer).

MAPS: All US maps are loaded on an included 1 gb SD card. Canada maps are available on the included DVD (which also has the manuals).

The device is easy to use, easy to find POI (points of interest) and has lots of POIs. You can direct input addresses, names, cross streets, or by city. (this is a feature you think would be in all GPS devices but it is not. POIs take up memory). I always look for a local zoo, restaurant, and a Las Vegas hotel or two. This device had them all.

EASE OF USE: Very easy to use. If you have ever used a GPS then you will not have any trouble using this unit. After you install the battery, and the sd card, you just power it up and find a location to go to.

COMPARED TO OTHER DEVICES: I have used the Sony u-70, Garmin c330, Myguide 3200. All about the same price. The Sony lacked POIs (lots of them), the Garmin had little memory and little POIs, the Myguide han only western states in the memory and I could not get the software to work on Windows XP or 2000. Called customer support and got no support. The Myguide is good, but no support, unable to load additional maps, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT. Sony has no upgradeable memory (hardware 1 GB).

IN A NUT SHELL;

THE GOOD: small, light weight, good build (plastic), good battery life (4-8 hrs), lots of POIs, all US maps installed, comes with car charger, cradle, window suction mount, should have a case.

THE BAD: not a very bright display (Sony was the sharpest, Myguide was the brightest). Not the fastest (Myguide the fastest 400mhz processor).

THE UGLY: plastic body, (one drop and I am sure it will break), no anti-glare screen (will scratch, will smudge, will cast reflections, lots).

The gps is good, not great. Has lots of useful POIs, and for the price it is not a bad unit. Get it on sale and you will be happy with it as long as you don't drop it.

I love my Whistler GPS, I went and did a lot of tests - from everything to taking completely wrong turns, stopping at places not on the programmed route, finding a local supermarket via the way points, going to work while skipping a traffic congested highway, navigating to another state without hitting any tolls, I even went on a really bumpy road to test the holding bracket. Everything was right on! It absolutly amazed me, each time the unit got me right back on track, and the bracket held up to everything I could throw at it. I am going to buy this again for my extended family!

I purchased this as my first GPS; I am satisfied with the performance and the price (I paid about $260, not from Amazon). I have not met any major problems with the device. I tried it in couple of short trips and it worked fine with different route options. The route re-calculation was fast. The first time I tried it though I came off the address by a substantial distance; it did it only with that specific address though, my guess it has to do with the map itself (the address was old though). I recently took it on a 5 hours trip from NY to MA and it did a very good job. The device gives voice instructions and it also reads street names if they are composed of numbers, like "turn right on 1st street", so it also says "some" of the street names, that was nice. I experienced a lag in the display with the 3D map view; other views were fine, it is not the fastest processor anyway. The device is built on windows CE, you do not need an SD card reader to add/change files, you can just use Microsoft ActiveSync and the supplied USB cable to do so, just be careful not to mess up the OS files. The battery life was very good, I had to use the cigarette lighter to charge another device and the battery lasted for about 3 and half hours; it would have worked more I guess, the display showed 2 bars out of 3. That was if you are running the GPS software, but on the other hand it died fairly quickly when I ran couple of MP3s. The interface is not very attractive, but it is friendly enough. The display is not sharp for a photo viewer, colors are faded and distorted, it did not have much effect on me because it is not my main purpose, and I do not think I will use it anyway. Even though the device is build around windows CE it is not multitasking; means, you cannot play MP3s and use the GPS navigation software at the same time, I see this is a big drawback, but again I am not looking for such feature. The build construction is sturdy, but all in plastic, a simple drop would probably leave a noticeable damage. It should come with a case or pouch for protection. I did not like that the USB interface cable was not standard, you have to use their cable to charge and manage the device. The package also lacks trip planning software, I would see this very helpful to have. Unlike another reviewer mentioned, the mph readings were accurate. Sometimes the GPS software stalls for few seconds if it loses the GPS signal.

My conclusion: As a GPS, the device will put you safely where you want to go with an acceptable accuracy. The other features are not of any practical use.

Purchased for $299 at CompUSA in December 2006.
The Good:
Price, Nice touch display, User replaceable 3.7V Li-Ion battery

The Bad:
A Windows CE "crash", a few hangs recoverable by battery removal, no maps available outside of the USA, Puerto Rico, and Canada, MP3 player does not run at the same time as the GPS.

Overall: Reasonable features and usability at a fair price.

I am new to the realm of GPS; I have been looking at several different models for a long time. I expect other brands to perform better, but for the price I paid (on another online retailer) I took the leap.

The System comes with:
- Suction-cup window mount that feels very sturdy
- SD memory card with USA maps pre-installed. The card is 1GB
- DVD with USA maps (copyrighted by Navteq in June 2006 [purchased system in early 2007]), Canada maps, and manuals (PDF, can also be downloaded from Whistler web site: [...]rks as of early 2007])
- Battery
- USB cable
- Household plug charger
- Car adapter (cigarette lighter) charger

This is an excellent system. The GPS antenna works very well. It had no trouble keeping track even when I placed it on the seat of my car. I was also very impressed that it kept a GPS lock indoors (next to windows). It is also very accurate. I tested my home address, and my work address and it put me right in front both times. The GPS system acquired telemetry in about 5 minutes in a cold start, 30 seconds after powering off and powering on, and updates once per second thereafter.

The navigation software (wMap) does a good job with directions and does a very good job of recalculating new direction after a missed turn. On my test drive around my home town, I deliberately missed a couple of turns (to take the "back way") to see what it would do. After a few moments of prompting me to "Make a U turn" it went ahead and re-routed me through the back way. Very impressive.
Once you input a destination, you can choose certain parts of the route to avoid. If you know about it ahead of time, this can be handy to skirt around construction and traffic congestion. I tested this by choosing to avoid key parts of the freeway. Once again I was impressed with how the software re-routed the path. It chose very efficient side roads and highways.
The voice prompting is adequate. You get the standard "turn left in 1/2 mile." As another reviewer noted, I was disappointed that does not read aloud the road names. It will announce roads with numbers, but won't for other names. Example: It can say "Enter traffic circle and take third exit to (highway) 67." But it can't say "Turn right on Washington." It will just say "Turn right."

The Unit itself is based on the Windows CE platform.
When you turn on the unit, you are presented with 3 programs to start (GPS, MP3 player, Photo Viewer) and "Settings."
GPS is, of course what you bought this thing for, and where all the action happens.
The MP3 player and photo viewer are rudimentary and really not worth your time.
When I plugged in the GPS to my computer using the supplied USB cable, my computer wanted to setup a HotSync partership. I didn't do this because I didn't want to unintentionally download or upload some files. After turning off HotSync on my computer I was able to access the SD card. If you needed to download a different country's maps, it would be easy as copying a folder.

Physically, the unit is small-ish. About the size of two decks of playing cards and fairly light weight. The shell is made of plastic and feels sturdy for normal use, but would break if dropped from chest high on to a hard surface.

As I mentioned earlier, the price for this GPS system is lower than other brands. There are just a few features missing that would have made this a top-notch system. But for the price, I can overlook the shortcomings.

Ok I got sick and tired of waiting for a good deal on GPS, So I decided to just go and buy one. I bought this Whistler WGPX-550 Portable GPS two days ago. This Product is new to the market from whistler. Once I open the box and turn on the unit, it did turn on quickly, but it took about 5-8 min. to reset the position. Entering the address was easy an esy task(no Zip code). and it worked well from the store to my house, recalculating the route is quick. second day i took this baby for another spin to my work. I was driving about 75MPH and the unit was showing me about 72-73MPH, so its about 3MPH off, unless my car's ODO meter is 3MPH over. but it did took me to my destination without any problem.

The Good.. ITS easy to use and preety accurate for a starter, cheap too. Dont know about the quality yet, but looks tought enough for my dash. 20channels better then all others. Fast recalculating the routs.

The BAD.. ITS about 33feet off, but it tell you to make turn at least 500feet before, so it doesnt matter to me. also about 3mph off, but i dont see difference in getting to my destination. not very bright screen but enough for the day time.

Overall if you could get for around 300 go for it. I am sure you will like it

This is my first GPS system. My first impressions were great. Easy setup, easy to figure out how to use it without even using the PDF manual. I like how it quickly recalculates a route if you miss a turn. I really only have one complaint, but it is major. The maps are so out of date that even major roads that have been in for 3 to 5 years and in at least one case 20 years are missing from the map completely! I have emailed Whistler on this but have not recieved any comments back as of yet (only 1 day). On my very first use of the GPS it told be to Turn on to two different dead-end roads to get home. I understand that this is not a fault of the unit or software itself, its just that the maps are OBSOLETE. If there is a way to update them to where say, Mapquest or Google maps has their maps I would be completely satisfied with the unit.

I expect that using it on major highways or freeways would work flawlessly.

Regards, Dave C

I bought this unit for my son and the troubles began immediately. The touchscreen seemed to vary on which option in which to lock up the unit. The only way to unlock the freeze was to remove power, including the battery. The company refused to replace the unit and sent us new software to load. That did not fix the problem. The problem is obviously with the unit, not the software. Do not buy this product until they fix whatever quality control issues they have, and allow for returns of defective equipment. I replaced it with a Tom Tom, which works great. I still have the defective unit which I use as a portable system for traveling, when it works. The Whistler WGPX-550 is sub par.

When I click on GPS, it complains that either IntelliNavEN isn't there or it's not a valid WinCE program. I've tried putting on the backup from the DVD... nothing changed.

This is very very sad because it was working fine for four days. I felt that this was a good purchase, and it was ready for my family vacation. Guess what? Four hours before the flight to snowy roads in Denver, the unit gave out.

Since GPS Navigation units are the hot items of the season, all the manufacturers in the world are coming up with one, trying to take a bite at the market. It was my mistake to go for the "budget" solution. Time to return this cheap mockup and get a TomTom or Garmin.

Do not get a navigation product from a cheap vendor who's after the quick holiday-shopping money. Do not buy this product, and do not buy any navigation products from Whistler. You have been warned.