This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Find out more about how to manage cookies, or dismiss this message and continue to use cookies.
Navigon 7100 - I highly recommend this unit
jaynavigate
0 Points
This is my first experience with a GPS unit. I went with the Navigon 7100 because it offers free traffic reports, and pretty much has all the features I could ever want in a GPS unit. I went from San Franciso to LA, LA to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to LA, and LA to San Francisco, and a lot of different places within those cities for the past four weeks using this GPS, and it's been a solid performer. I also thought I got a descent price over the holidays, as staples offered it for 399 with a 50 dollar rebate. My experience thus far has been great. I've read the reviews on here and I think that a lot of them seems to be about right.
One problem: I've had experience a bit of performance lag when keying in my addresses some times when using the 2GB SD Card. Since I upgraded to an AData 8GB SDHC Card Class 6, I haven't noticed any slow downs when keying in, so it is notably faster. I highly recommend this card if you have this unit. You could find this card for about 37 bucks on Newegg. At least the rebate will cover that.
I enjoy the 3d reality view. It really helps knowing what lane to be in ahead of time. IMO, it's better that it's a static image rather than dynamic. If it was dynamic, you'd probably be looking at the screen a little too long than you should. I've read the gripes but I don't see any benefit for a driver if it was a dynamic 3d image, and it could potentially be a dangerous distraction for the driver if it was.
Bluetooth function works great. Doesn't have a problem recongnizing my phone. But the fact that it cannot access or import your contact list renders this function useless. I primarily use my car stereo for this purpose, so it's not that big of a deal with me
I found the unit to be spot on, telling me to go into the lane I needed to be, and when to take the turn. It is very precise. The text to speech is good enough to understand, and the female voice doesn't sound robotic as you would think it would. It will mis-pronunciate words, but not to the point where you wouldn't know what street or highway to take.
I also liked how it saves previous destinations. It saves thirty of them.
I haven't really played with POIs, but I do see a lot of them. The traffic reports seem to work well. It actually did reroute me when the I-5 was busy and took me onto less busy highways, so I was quite impressed. Unfortunately the antenna must be connected to recieve traffice reports. I would not get traffic reports without the external antenna. I wish it was built in. The battery life seems insanely short. 2 hours at best. If your going to use this outside the car without a car charger, forget about buying this unit. I planned to use a car charger at all times, so this is a non-issue for me. I do have a road bicycle but mounting this thing on it isn't practical.
The suction/arm mount works great for me. It's very sturdy and strong. If he road is rough it will wobble a bit, but that's to be expected. I do live in CA, and I don't think it's legal if it's center mounted on the windshield . I find that it works best for me mounted on the far left side of the windshield.
Pros:
- Precise in your basic GPS functions
- Bluetooth connectivity works great
- Very nice screen and layout
- Pretty Menu System / Graphics
- sophisticated looking shell
- Voice Commands
- Saves Previous Destinations
- POIs
- 3d reality view really helps
- You can upgrade to a bigger and higher class SD Card. (I'm using an 8GB Card, not sure if you can go higher than this.) Knowing me I would of bought this card anyways, even if it did come with a 4GB SD.
- Good supplied mounting system, and accessories(AC Adapter, Car Charger, Case, USB cable, Antenna).
- Price has significantly dropped
- Free traffic reports...this product can potentially pay for itself in the long run, big applause for Navigon for including this feature. The traffic reports function well and the unit will consider traffic when planning your route as I discovered.
Cons:
- Slow with the supplied 2GB SD Card. Not too sure if this is due to size or class of the card. Navigon should of been supplied with a bigger and faster SD card.
- Can't import Contact list. This is a shame as the bluetooth functionality in my experience is solid.
- Small icons may be an issue for those with nubby fingers. The person who designed this had slender fingers like me.
- Battery life is poor. I'm wondering if there is some kind of break-in period for the battery. Keep in mind I've had the unit for a little over 3 weeks.
- No updates or any guarantee of an update from Navigon that importing contact lists will be possible. To me, this is the biggest issue that would deter people from buying this product if they intend to use the bluetooth function.
- $350 after rebate is still a bit pricey for a product that still has a questionable support system - there isn't one single update for this unit.
For me personally, the Pros simply outweighs the Cons. And I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to pay for traffic reports. If you buy a faster and bigger SD card you got a teriffic unit on your hands. And if navigon supplies an update that lets you import your contact list, this would probably be the best GPS unit hands down.
One problem: I've had experience a bit of performance lag when keying in my addresses some times when using the 2GB SD Card. Since I upgraded to an AData 8GB SDHC Card Class 6, I haven't noticed any slow downs when keying in, so it is notably faster. I highly recommend this card if you have this unit. You could find this card for about 37 bucks on Newegg. At least the rebate will cover that.
I enjoy the 3d reality view. It really helps knowing what lane to be in ahead of time. IMO, it's better that it's a static image rather than dynamic. If it was dynamic, you'd probably be looking at the screen a little too long than you should. I've read the gripes but I don't see any benefit for a driver if it was a dynamic 3d image, and it could potentially be a dangerous distraction for the driver if it was.
Bluetooth function works great. Doesn't have a problem recongnizing my phone. But the fact that it cannot access or import your contact list renders this function useless. I primarily use my car stereo for this purpose, so it's not that big of a deal with me
I found the unit to be spot on, telling me to go into the lane I needed to be, and when to take the turn. It is very precise. The text to speech is good enough to understand, and the female voice doesn't sound robotic as you would think it would. It will mis-pronunciate words, but not to the point where you wouldn't know what street or highway to take.
I also liked how it saves previous destinations. It saves thirty of them.
I haven't really played with POIs, but I do see a lot of them. The traffic reports seem to work well. It actually did reroute me when the I-5 was busy and took me onto less busy highways, so I was quite impressed. Unfortunately the antenna must be connected to recieve traffice reports. I would not get traffic reports without the external antenna. I wish it was built in. The battery life seems insanely short. 2 hours at best. If your going to use this outside the car without a car charger, forget about buying this unit. I planned to use a car charger at all times, so this is a non-issue for me. I do have a road bicycle but mounting this thing on it isn't practical.
The suction/arm mount works great for me. It's very sturdy and strong. If he road is rough it will wobble a bit, but that's to be expected. I do live in CA, and I don't think it's legal if it's center mounted on the windshield . I find that it works best for me mounted on the far left side of the windshield.
Pros:
- Precise in your basic GPS functions
- Bluetooth connectivity works great
- Very nice screen and layout
- Pretty Menu System / Graphics
- sophisticated looking shell
- Voice Commands
- Saves Previous Destinations
- POIs
- 3d reality view really helps
- You can upgrade to a bigger and higher class SD Card. (I'm using an 8GB Card, not sure if you can go higher than this.) Knowing me I would of bought this card anyways, even if it did come with a 4GB SD.
- Good supplied mounting system, and accessories(AC Adapter, Car Charger, Case, USB cable, Antenna).
- Price has significantly dropped
- Free traffic reports...this product can potentially pay for itself in the long run, big applause for Navigon for including this feature. The traffic reports function well and the unit will consider traffic when planning your route as I discovered.
Cons:
- Slow with the supplied 2GB SD Card. Not too sure if this is due to size or class of the card. Navigon should of been supplied with a bigger and faster SD card.
- Can't import Contact list. This is a shame as the bluetooth functionality in my experience is solid.
- Small icons may be an issue for those with nubby fingers. The person who designed this had slender fingers like me.
- Battery life is poor. I'm wondering if there is some kind of break-in period for the battery. Keep in mind I've had the unit for a little over 3 weeks.
- No updates or any guarantee of an update from Navigon that importing contact lists will be possible. To me, this is the biggest issue that would deter people from buying this product if they intend to use the bluetooth function.
- $350 after rebate is still a bit pricey for a product that still has a questionable support system - there isn't one single update for this unit.
For me personally, the Pros simply outweighs the Cons. And I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to pay for traffic reports. If you buy a faster and bigger SD card you got a teriffic unit on your hands. And if navigon supplies an update that lets you import your contact list, this would probably be the best GPS unit hands down.
Comments
The California thing with the windshields I see alot. Be careful, I think anywhere can be a problem if a police officer needs to meet his quota at the end of the month - oops, we're lectured there are no quotas :)
I bought this Unit when it first came out and returned it for the TT 720
because I thought the Touch Screen wasn't sensitive enough.
I loved everything else about the unit, except the Routing in one
instance that I know of.
Keep posting on how the unit works for You, I may give the TT to my Daughter and get another 7100
I'm thinking that they've fixed the touch screen problem because the demo unit that I tried in a store was difficult, but the 5100 that I got earlier this week is very responsive.
Your last post in this thread gives me confidence that I went in the right direction for my first gps unit. I plan on sticking with this unit for about ten years to get my moneys worth. I'm sure by then, navigon should have worked out the bugs :D
http://www.proclipusa.com/deviceholders/deviceholders.aspx
You can either go with a "device holder" or "move clip" plus the vehicle mount.
I bought the device holders and move clips so I can take the Navigon with me in either car.
Unfort, you can't post pics here but check of forum
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253096
and scroll down to MPBX3. I have 2 postings showing the 2100 with the Proclips.
I'm not associated with Proclip, but if you have any questions please ask.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry, didn't realize I could post pics here.
(I don't mind images posted here as long as they are a reasonable file size.)
Regarding Proclips, they can get rather costly quick. There is another company that makes a very similar product which costs only around 4.99-9.99. I think whey are sold at Wally World or Target. I'll try to locate and post a link here for everyone.
Good quality and I didn't want a windshield or top dash mount unit.
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
I remove the GPS each time I leave the car and with the Proclip move clips, the GPS slides in/out. All pieces are made of heavy plastic. The vehicle mount, mounts around part of the dash with no drilling into the dash.
No operational need for an SD card.
Nuff said about GPSrag, ahem, I mean GPSmag.
Again, thanks for 'selling' the Navigon. You have improved its profile in my eyes. I still prefer the TT, but will watch Navigon more closely. :wink:
A '7150' could be a very interesting offering.
TT, Mio and Navigon are Euros, while so is Nokia and Teleatlas.
Magellan and Garmin may be piggies in the middle as Nokia does not play fair and Nice. No matter what they say now, they are ruthless. I know this from my HP days!!! They are also not well positioned to switch to killer app device segment mentioned above. Garmin has the advantage of having deeeeep GPS knowhow. If nothing else, they will make a great partner for somebody with their knowledge base.
I see TT evolving into a software/services player as the standalone market declines over time. Their Linux focus and map data ownership will also make them a potential future target for the likes of HP/Apple. If the buyer signs a deal with GM for HUD tech, then they will have a usage leg-up for a while. Imagine a larger version of the iphone with 3.5inch screen, TTS, HUD projection from cradle, on-line maps and built-in maps, same for POIs, wifi, and tons of cool INTEGRATED apps like contact lists. You got me thinking AngelArs.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. It has pronounced every street that we've come across. However I do remember reading that the new update is going to improve on this for some areas. Technically 3, but I haven't found how to change them just yet. It's probably in one of the XML files. Prices, no, at least not yet, but it does list gas stations. I think this was limited to the very first units that came out. Our unit works great, in fact it has found better routes than our garmin 660 lists. Keep in mind that the Navigon has MANY settings to control the algorithms, and if you don't tell it exactly what you want it will make its own guess. I know for a fact that some of the first people who complained about this never even looked at the manual, so that should tell you something :) The update is also going to address routing so by the end of the month this shouldn't be an issue, although as I said before, it's not an issue for us as it stands right now. One thing I CAN tell you is that it is the fastest RE-routing device that we've ever seen. It's almost instantaneous (5-10 seconds). Yes. Depends. In some areas yes, in some areas no. I believe a second TMC antenna is located in the cigarette lighter so if you use it as you described above then it shouldn't be a problem. As a first time GPS no, simply because there is too much going on while you're using it. You can however turn off each of the features, but most first time users don't (won't) do that. Other than that YES I highly reccomend it, especially when you consider all the features that it has, plus free traffic, lower pricing than other high-end units, voice command, etc. It's not perfect, but most of the things that people talk about are software issues, and those can be easily corrected. You can also use it for much more than 'just' a GPS device because it's based on Win CE. We've got ours set up to watch movies, but the number of apps you can add are limitless. The pluses definitely out weigh any occasional negative. BTW - if you're looking for a good case then go to radio shack. They have a Navigon leather case for around 20.00 that is REALLY nice.
But how do you turn the angle towards the driver seat ?
Thats how my dash look like... im wondering how it will look like :lol:
and by the way, Thanks much for taking your time to answer all my questions ! much appreciated
Manual was quite big. 100 pages. :lol:
but i couldn't find in the manual how to change voices and languages.
On youtube there's a 7100 with a deutch voice lady. Can i get that voice too ? or is it just the british accent ?
In the manual it seems to be a suction cup..
So i guess you can remove the mount anytime you want..
And how do you know the model you buy is not from the early batch ? i don't think the store who sell the Navigon here is an authorized dealer.. its more like a bazar that sells all kind of electronic devices.. but its the cheapest place if found.. by atleast 100.00.
Not sure, but it seems the Navigon 5100 will fit better in my small car.
I just hope the 5100 has all the features of the 7100.
How is it done?
If I remember correctly you go to New Destination > Enter an Address > City First. Enter the name of the city or the zip code of intersection. Enter the name of the first destination street. The trick is do NOT enter the house number (leave that field blank to display the Intersection field). Tap on the 'Start Navigation' button. Enter the second street name. The 7100 calculates a route to the intersection of the streets you have entered :D
I should write the manual for Navigon :P
Wonder if it could be modded to accept?
Not something I'd use a tremendous amount. That's pretty much the only time I could think of using it.