Navigon 7200T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigation with Bluetooth, Text-to-Speech, and Free Traffic Alerts

by Navigon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.9 x 0.7 x 4.5 inches ; 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001EJN9OA
• Item model number: 10000340
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (259 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #15,476 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 26, 2008

Product Description

Amazon.com

Amazon.com Manufacturer's Review (August 22, 2008)

For those looking for both style and substance, the Navigon 7200T combines an elegantly designed black housing with an extra-wide 4.3-inch flatscreen  that provides photo-realistic images of virtually every highway intersection and exit complete with sign text and lane guidance. Pre-loaded with maps of both the U.S. and Canada, the 7200T comes with free real-time traffic updates (for the life of the device) and allows users to reroute with the touch of a button. Other features include Bluetooth handsfree communication when paired with your cell phone, text-to-speech capabilities for turn-by-turn directions with street names, ZAGAT restaurant ratings and reviews, and millions of pre-loaded points of interest.

The Navigon 7200T features a widescreen 4.3-inch LCD, real-time traffic updates for life, Bluetooth communication capabilities, and voice destination entry.

Never miss your exit again with the photo-realistic Reality View Pro with actual road signs and lane guidance.

The features and functions of the Navigon 7200T are controlled via intuitive, easy-to-use animated menus that use predictive text input to quickly and easily select your city, state and address. It comes pre-loaded with complete maps of the U.S. and Canada, providing you with superbly accurate, seamless door-to-door directions wherever your vehicular travels might take you. It's powered by a 600 MHz Centrality Titan I processor and runs the Microsoft Windows CE Net 5.0 operating system. You can load additional optional maps via MicroSD memory cards or by connecting to your PC with the USB 2.0 port.

Free Real-Time Traffic Updates for Life
Only Navigon gives you free real-time traffic updates for the life of your device. No subscriptions or additional hardware needed. Just open the box, turn it on, and get instant access to traffic information ahead. The Navigon 7200T alerts you of traffic troubles and provides alternate routes  for more than 110 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Whether the jam is caused by congestion, accidents or construction, our familiar red-yellow color-coding with incident icons makes it easy to tell exactly what's going on, where it is and with one click, the best way to get around it.

Voice Destination Entry
With the Navigon 7200T, you can focus on the road ahead without having to manually type in an address again. Simply speak the city, street and number and the 7200T will input each one field by field. In case you need additional guidance, Navigon's simple to use iconic menus will lead the way.

See upcoming landmarks with Landmark View 3D.

Landmark View 3D
Landmark View 3D shows the best-known buildings across the U.S. and Canada in richly textured 3D. From the Empire State Building to Grauman's Chinese Theater and hundreds of landmarks in between, the Navigon 7200T lets you enjoy a new dimension in navigation.

Reality View Pro
Never miss your exit again. The next generation of Reality View provides more coverage in more places. Reality View Pro displays photo-realistic 3D views with actual road signs and lane guidance for virtually every highway interchange and exit you will encounter.

Lane Assistant Pro
With the newest generation of Lane Assistant you'll never question which lane you should be driving in again. Lane Assistant Pro provides clear visual lane guidance complete with lane maps and arrows that indicate exactly which lane will keep you on course.

Bluetooth Hands-Free with Contacts
The 7200T features Bluetooth technology that turns your device into a hands-free speakerphone, so you can hold on to your conversations while keeping both hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. Plus, the touch screen allows you to access your phone contacts and with one simple touch place a call. As an added feature, you can import your Microsoft Outlook contacts to your 7200T with Navigon Sync.

Advanced Text-to-Speech Voice Guidance
Keep your eyes on the road and let Navigon's advanced text-to-speech technology audibly guide you turn by turn with actual street names. Providing you more than simple turn-by-turn directions, the 7200T gives you additional guidance with full street names. Advanced phonetic technology ensures street names are pronounced clearly and correctly.

See what POIs are at the next exit with the help of Exit Guide.

Exit Guide
With Navigon's Exit Guide, you won't have to guess what points of interest are in the next exit or the next ten exits. This feature lets you scroll through each upcoming exit by number and search for the right restaurant, gas station, hotel, rest area, auto repair shop or store.

Innovative Design
The 7200T takes Navigon's love for design one step further with a device that was crafted to attract attention. The ultra-thin, jet-black exterior is complemented by an innovative, 4.3-inch Flat Panel Touchscreen, a technology that results in a sleek, frameless design. Beauty is more than skin deep and the 7200T delivers on the inside with a software interface and map that is elegantly designed and intuitive.

ZAGAT Ratings and Reviews
In addition to millions of POIs, the Navigon 7200T puts ZAGAT ratings and reviews for over 27,000 locations in 110 cities across the U.S. and Canada, at your fingertips. So whether you're looking for the best restaurant, hotel, golf course, nightclub, or attraction--you'll always know the perfect place to wine, dine, stay and play.

DirectHelp
It doesn't know CPR but it can help you find someone who does. Just push a button and get instant directions and phone numbers to the nearest hospitals, police stations, tow truck companies and pharmacies. The screen will display your exact location, so you know where you are and they know how to find you.

Fast and Friendly Software
Powered by Navigon's next generation software, the 7200T is fast and easy to use. You'll be able to enter your destination and generate a route in less than half the time. The Smart Speller feature anticipates and predicts the street you're searching for, requiring fewer screen "clicks" than any other portable GPS device to get you on your way. Smarter and more intuitive POI searches via our widescreen tabbed interface make looking for a special destination easy.

Instant Fix II GPS Receiver
With Navigon's new SiRF InstantFix II GPS receiver, your device will lock onto a GPS satellite and find a signal in a matter of seconds. Plus it can even minimize the effects of tall buildings and trees, so you have a strong signal wherever the road may take you.

Other Useful Features

• Multi-Destination Trip Planning. Plan your entire trip at one time.
• Millions of pre-loaded points of interest (POIs), including restaurants, gas stations, retailers, and more.
• Speed Assistant. Displays speed limit and can warn you if you are exceeding it.
• Auto-off Feature. Turns off your system when you turn off your car.
• Auto Day/Night Mode. Adjusts your screen for better daytime or nighttime viewing.
• Navigon FreshMaps. Optional subscription to keep your map up-to-date for three years.

What's in the Box
Navigon 7200T, pre-loaded maps for U.S. and Canada, car mount, adapter for dashboard mounting (plastic disk), car charger, Quick Start Guide

Product Description

For those looking for both style and substance, the NAVIGON 7200T is a standout among other GPS devices. Behind the 7200T¿s elegantly designed extra-wide Flat-Panel touchscreen you will find an experience unlike any other with features that are both useful and exclusive to NAVIGON. Like Free Real-Time Traffic Updates, alerting you automatically of traffic issues ahead and rerouting you with the touch of a button ¿ all for the life of your device. Features like Voice Destination Entry allow you to simply enter addresses by voice while Bluetooth Hands-Free and Reality View Pro make navigating the road ahead easier and less stressful. Landmark View 3D adds a new dimension to your navigation experience with hundreds of landmarks displayed in richly textured 3D. The 7200T also includes a host of other features that will help guide you through your travels, like Advanced Text-to-Speech, DirectHelp, and Lane Assistant Pro.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

141 of 150 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had the eyes I did 20 years ago, November 4, 2008

By	egale - See all my reviews

This review is from: Navigon 7200T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigation with Bluetooth, Text-to-Speech, and Free Traffic Alerts (Electronics)

I have owned Garmins and Tomtoms. This gps looked very promising. It displays all the info Tomtom displays but Garmin doesn't plus it has a nice bright screen like Garmin, not TT. I was hoping for the best of both.

The good is that the 7200T routes well, no problems there. The lane assist works well although Garmin and Tomtom's implementation is a little better I think. Whereas Navigon displays the static reality few for a long time. Garmin and TT pop it up for a few seconds then go back to showing the lane assist diagram.

The Navigon is very wordy with its verbal instructions which is good. But with all the words, it doesn't speak 90% of the highway exit numbers. It rattles off the town and road, etc, etc but no exit number. What it does do though is display the exit number on the screen. This is ok if you have the eagle eyes. The fonts on the 7200T are tiny. It takes my old eyes 5 - 10 seconds to focus on the screen's small print after driving. It doesn't sound like alot but taking your eyes off the road for that long is dangerous. Don't know why they don't include exit number in the instructions.

The 7200T also displays street names. Unfortunately, every road that is not part of your route is displayed as a pencil line and each road is displayed with its street name in micro font size. Forget about being able to read them.

Another short coming is the 7200T's POI database. It is very small and is missing most national retailers, gyms, health clubs, doctors, dentists and who knows what else. Its POI search is also horribly broken. You have 3 choices. NEARBY - gives you POIs within a very small radius, too small. The next choice is CITY. Unfortunately, you have to know the exact city. Most other brands search NEAR CITY but not this. If the POI you are looking for is actually one town over, you will never find it. If you are in unfamiliar territory and don't know the adjoining citys to search individually, you are out of luck. The third choice is STATE. Most POI categories are not included in STATE so this choice is totally worthless.

On top of this all, the screen sensitivity is not great and the buttons are small. You will have to enter and address multiple times as you tapped the wrong letter or have to tap the same letter multiple times because it didn't pick it up.

So to summarize, it routes well but the screen fonts are so little its dangerous to look at while driving and the whole POI thing is terrible. Maybe a firmware fix will improve font size and change exit number verbal instructions. Maybe new maps will increase POI database size and add good search functionality. Until then, this is just another gps with lots of potential.

102 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent GPS, misses a few features, October 30, 2008

By	Ilya Tsymbal "Sir Ilya T" (Somerville, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Navigon 7200T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigation with Bluetooth, Text-to-Speech, and Free Traffic Alerts (Electronics)

Got this GPS a few days ago. First impressions overall positive. I am upgrading from a TomTom PDA, so comparisons in my mind are inevitable.

The good:
o - nice packaging, minimalist, not a huge box filled with junk. Good job.
o - GPS InstantFix works like a charm. Satellite fix was established very quickly, a matter of seconds rather than minutes. No complaints there.
o - Response times to screen input are quick. Previous versions generated complaints of slow response; that's clearly been fixed. The only delays I noticed were when I updated settings.
o - Nice design, compact, frameless screen. Matte finish on screen and on the case, hides fingerprints well, unlike the previous version which was a fingerprint magnet.
o - Screen is large, bright, and has nice sensitivity to touch, both fingertips and fingernails.
o - Reality View of exists is certainly appreciated.
o - Free Traffic was a major selling feature. Keep in mind here, the traffic radio receiver is built in, but you still need an external antenna. The supplied Mini USB car charger cord doubles as an antenna, but I also found out that any old USB cable with a mini USB plug will work. Would have been nice to have an antenna built into the unit, but I don't know if that's possible.
o - Charges via a standard mini USB connector - a huge plus - can plug into a PC or a USB hub, or any mini USB cell phone charger. Very nice.
o - When you plug it into a PC, it becomes a Mass Storage Device, assigned a drive letter, you can just copy files to it if you want. No need for custom software
o - Text-to-speech is very good, accurate and easy to understand.
o - Speed limit display and alerts are good.
o - Speaker sound is plenty loud enough, easy to control from main screen.
o - Bluetooth speakerphone feature was easy to pair with my cell phone, and works flawlessly. It allows me to dial either from the phone and speak through the GPS unit or dial directly from the GPS when I look up Zagat reviews or any listed POI.
o - Automatic night/day display brightness switching worked great. It switched to night mode just as it started getting dark. I assume it calculates the sundown times based on exactly where you are.


Now the bad:
o - Box came with no user manual, just a URL of where to find it online. The website says there would be a CD in the box; there isn't. Either poor QC on packaging, or a poor design choice. Even the cheapo gadgets come with a tiny CD with a PDF manual.
o - first time I turned it on, I got an error message, then the thing crashed and needed a reboot.
o - Fist night it instructed me to go the wrong way up a one way street, even though the map showed it as a one way street. What's up with that?
o - The current position displayed (GPS coordinates) is useless most of the time, takes up a sizable chunk of screen, and there is no way to get the hell rid of it.
o - The altitude calculation is incorrect. Even with as many as seven satellite signals, it tells me I'm below the sea level. I'm not.
o - there's no way to switch orientation from horizontal to vertical. Sad. I might like to know more of what's ahead of me than what's on the sides.
o - Simulation of route goes at one speed only, no way to speed up or slow down. The TomTom allows you to play simulations at any speed from 10% to 5x speed, other ways too.
o - Map display is mediocre. Not anywhere as nice as Google maps on my phone. You guys could have done much better.
o - screen is really cluttered. No way to get rid of right side bar and bottom bar, which together take up almost half the scree space.
o - information display is limited; Either ETA or time to destination, not both; no current time.
o - browse route only shows text and 2d symbols of turns; not 3d map images, no map.
o - no ability to play either music or video. This is a Windows CE device; it has a micro SD card and a speaker and an audio out. All you would need is a program to play music; yet it is not supplied. At this price, I would expect that little bit of functionality. On long trips, it might be nice to be able to play podcasts or recorded books. Fortunately, there is likely to be a way to hack the device to do that. [...]. It refers to a Mio device, but the same principles apply here. I haven't done it, but it should be possible.
o - the MicroSD card is impossible to remove without using a tiny screwdriver.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A few quirks, but worth the money, December 16, 2008

By	Atlanta traveler (GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Navigon 7200T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigation with Bluetooth, Text-to-Speech, and Free Traffic Alerts (Electronics)

I've had the 7200t for about two months and overall, I'm very pleased with this unit. I live in Atlanta and have tested it around Atlanta, as well as trips to Knoxville, TN and Augusta, GA.

Display - very good. The street names are white against a black background which is very easy to read. The other screen options are also clear and easy to see. When passing things such as chain restaurants, gas stations, banks, etc. the display will show the company's icon instead of the generic POI symbol. Mostly this is eye candy, but a neat little feature.

Reality View - very good. This only works on interstates and major highways, but so far, I've found it to be very helpful in guiding you to the right lane for your next turn.

Text to Speech - good. The older Navigon's (2100 Max) had an annoying habit of mispronouncing street names and giving highway numbers as opposed to actual names ("turn right on U.S. Hwy 23" instead of "turn right on Buford Hwy"). Navigon has corrected this with the 7200t and pronunciation is much better. On the down side, when you approach your destination, it will not announce which side of the street your destination is on until you are literally at the destination. This is offset by an icon on the screen which will show a finish flag with an arrow pointed right or left to tell you which side of the street your destination is on. Hopefully, a firmware update will correct this. Volume is very good. I've actually had to turn the volume down a notch on mine.

Satellite acquisition - average. From a cold start, the unit can take up to 2 or 3 minutes to acquire a fix (sometimes it's faster). When started from standby mode, this seems to be much faster. After it has acquired your position, it does a very good job of keeping your position, even when walking into a house.

Routing engine - very good. This is the heart of any GPS, and the 7200t does a good job in routing. Occasionally, it will pick a quirky route, but I've never used a GPS that didn't. The only time this seems to come into play is when there is a side street or a short-cut, but overall, the route selection is very good. Routing time is very fast and rerouting is also very fast. Other units I've used have an annoying habit of telling you repeatedly to make a U turn as soon as possible when you miss a turn instead of simply rerouting you to allow for this.

Touch screen - average to good. Many people have complained about the touchscreen not being sensitive, and this is true up to a point. I've used the unit a good bit over the past few months and I've found it to be very responsive for the most part. The only part of the screen that seems to be a problem is the lower right hand corner. When scrolling through a menu list, it's best to keep your finger on the arrow instead of tapping and lifting your finger repeatedly. The icons in the middle of the screen don't seem to have this problem.

Keyboard - average. My only complaint here is that the keyboard is ABC and not QWERTY. Other than that, entering destinations is easy. The keyboard will gray out letters as you enter to aid in choosing a route. As you type, it will bring up a list of possible streets to pick one to speed up the entry.

POI - very good. Although my use has been limited to GA and TN, the database seems to have a full listing of POI's in the area you're in. You can also search by city or nearby. A nice feature is the ZAGAT reviews which will give a quick review of certain POI's in your area (generally restaurants and entertainment). This isn't available in all cities, mostly mid to major size cities, but is helpful if you're out of town. You can program the unit to show an icon for 3 POI categories that you would use the most and have one touch access to those POI's instead of going through the full menu.

Traffic - very good. Around Atlanta, this seems to be very accurate. I've checked some of the traffic conditions and on occasion, it has listed traffic problems all the way out to the AL state line. It also picked up the fact that there was road construction on I-75 South between Knoxville and Chattanooga, which is certainly not near a major city. If there is a traffic problem along your route, the unit will announce this and display a red icon on the screen. Touch the icon and it will give a summary of the problem and give you the option of rerouting around the problem. Again, I've only used this in GA and TN, so I can't comment on how accurate or effective it would be in other areas.

Menus - good. You can save a home location, then from the main menu press a button called "Take Me Home" and the unit will calculate your route to that location. Entering addresses and searching for POI's is also fairly quick and easy. You can see a turn by turn list of your route and exclude certain parts. Some of the lesser used options can be a little hard to find, such as saving a favorite location other than your home. When you enter a new address, you have the option of entering a new address or picking from a list of previously entered addresses. You can delete old routes from that list, but you have to do a little digging to find the right menu. Overall, the main items you'll need are quick and easy to find. The items that are harder to find are generally ones you won't use too often.

Other - the mounting bracket seems secure and I haven't had any problems here. The car charger plugs into the unit instead of into the mounting bracket. I can't comment on the battery life as I always have it plugged into the cigarette lighter. I haven't used to the Bluetooth function, so can't comment there, either. There is no manual included, but a HUGE manual on Navigon's website. There is also no USB cable included, which is a little odd. I've never had to call technical support so can't comment on this, either.

Highs - good routing that is quick and very fast rerouting. Menus are easy to use. The traffic feature is free and is lifetime, so you won't have to renew a subscription. Good text to speech and good list of POI's in a wide variety of categories.

Lows - touch screen can be insensitive at times, mostly this appears to be limited to the bottom right of the screen. Apple seems to have cornered the market on super-sensitive touch screens for their iPhones and iPods. Won't announce which side of the street your destination is on until you've arrived. Hopefully, this can be corrected with a firmware update. Until then, you'll have to glance at the screen to see which way the arrow is pointed when you get near your destination. Keyboard is ABCD instead of QWERTY.

Overall, this is a VERY good unit for the money. The price has dropped to half what it was when it was released a few months ago. For $250, you're getting a full set of features for a substantially cheaper price than Garmin, Magellan or Tom Tom's comparable units. To me, none of the down sides of the unit are deal-breakers. In my experience, all GPS units have their quirks, regardless of manufacturer. Overall, I think anyone would be very happy with this unit.