Editorial Review
Amazon.com Review Creating a device that does more than one or two things well has proved elusive for device manufacturers. So-called "convergence" devices--devices that provide multimedia, communication, and navigation functions, for instance--are just beginning to mature into products worth buying. One such product is the Harman Kardon GPS-500, which pulls an admirable hat trick by combining above average music and video playback with a top notch GPS navigation experience.
Navigation, Music and Movies on One Device 
Turn-by-turn directions and navigation prompts appear as needed, even during music playback. | 
Enjoy your favorite music in your car--or on the couch. The unit supports MP3, AAC, and WMA audio formats. | 
The SD card slot supports up to 4GB, enough room for hours of video. |
Granted, you don't get some top shelf features like Bluetooth integration, text-to-speech address announcements, or wireless traffic reports, but Harman Kardon has wisely stuck with basics and polished them into an experience that, apart from a few software problems we encountered on our pre-production model, doesn't fail to disappoint.
Navigation
The main purpose of any car GPS device is to take you reliably from point A to B. Here the GPS-500 performs nicely indeed, providing several options for finding your destination. To get going you can select either a street address, a specific point of interest such as a gas station or restaurant, a recent or saved destination, a postal code, or an intersection (if you're not sure of the exact address). To speed up text entry, the unit employs an intelligent auto-completion feature that displays only the letters that spell an item in its database. This greatly reduces the letters from which you have to choose to tell it where you want to go.
Accurate, detailed 3D navigation, and turn-by-turn directions. View larger. | 
Use the unit's touch screen to enter address locations. View larger. | 
An intuitive menu lets you switch quickly between music, video, and navigation options. View larger. |
Once it knows where you are headed, the device offers you the choice of shortest distance or most use of freeways or other high-speed arterials. You'll also find a trip planner that lets you lay out and save multiple destinations, as well as avoidance choices for routing your trip away from borders, toll roads, unpaved roads, ferries, and more. If you take a wrong turn or need to use a detour, the GPS-500 will automatically re-route you and get you back on your way.
Preloaded maps of the U.S. and Canada help you quickly plan your trip. All you have to do is drive. See route planning details. |
And how did the GPS-500 perform out on the road? In a word, admirably. Apart from a few lags and interface hiccups that (we hope) can be attributed to our pre-production software, the responsiveness of the device, combined with the excellent user interface, are what make it a joy to use. Add that to extremely fast and accurate GPS signal processing, and you've got a recipe for navigation nirvana. In most cases, the device decided on logical and efficient routes, too--something that can't be said of all GPS devices out there. This is likely the result of using accurate and up-to-date mapping data.
Multimedia
The GPS-500 strives to be much more than just another GPS device in a crowded market, and that's likely why Harman Kardon has polished the multimedia features of the device so well. With support for MP3 and WMA music files, the music player has a refreshingly intuitive user interface and good sound quality. It's a cinch to browse music on your SD card by artist, album, genre, playlist, and song. Another nice touch is that you can keep the music playing while the unit is in navigation mode.
Video playback is equally straightforward. The device recognizes WMV9 or MPEG-4 AVI video files and presents them in a scrolling list. Press a title and you're off in movie land, complete with smooth framerates and minimal jitters during high-action sequences. We did encounter a format incompatibility with an AVI file encoded in the DIVX format. Attempting to play the file freaked the GPS-500 out, and a hard reset was required. Harman Kardon is very clear about which file formats are supported, but many folks might inadvertantly attempt to play a DIVX-encoded AVI instead of an MPEG-4 AVI. Broader format support would be a welcome addition.
To ease some of the pain of getting your movies and TV shows into the right format for the GPS-500, Harman Kardon provides a brief guide for Windows Media Player users. Mac users will have to use third-party media encoders to prepare their videos for the GPS-500. Lastly, battery life when playing back videos was surprisingly good. After a two-hour movie the GPS-500 was only down to a 40 percent charge.
This personal travel assistant has a super bright, sunlight-readable, 4-inch widescreen with highly accurate 2D and 3D navigation capabilities.
See more pictures: back - right side - left side |
Design The GPS-500 is solidly built--something we expect from Harman Kardon--and it instills a sense of confidence that it can survive the bumps of bruises that come with the mobile lifestyle. Measuring approximately 4.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches high, and a little over half an inch thick, the device is only a little chunkier than your average PDA or Smartphone. The clean lines of the GPS-500 are enhanced by a complete lack of buttons; all interaction with the device happens between the touchscreen and your finger. In the interest of simplicity, there is not even a stylus that can fall to the floor and roll under the seat of your car.
The only button you'll find on the device is the recessed power button on the top, right next to the SD card slot. The slot accepts cards with up to 4 GB of capacity. There's also a small jog wheel on the right side for volume and display brightness control. Below this dial you'll also find a mini-USB port that serves double duty for both charging and PC-to-device data transfers, as well as a standard 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. Meanwhile, you'll find a pinhole reset button on the bottom, as well as a hold switch on the left side for deactivating the touchscreen. Lastly, the back of the unit sports a small audio speaker and a port for an optional GPS signal booster antenna.
Setup and Interface
Setup is as easy as turning the device on, since it comes loaded with maps of the U.S. and Canada. On first bootup, choose from English, Spanish, or French language options for the spoken directions and interface menus.
Interacting with the GPS-500's touchscreen is delightfully intuitive and reliable; there's really no need for a stylus or navigation buttons, which simplifies things on the road. The division of the main interface into four main quadrants is a helpful touch, and it's refreshing to see manufacturers moving away from awkward icon-based menus. Instead of drilling down through lists of icons, all of the GPS-500's options are presented on simple, color-coded shapes. That said, we were a little puzzled by the use of the "Source" menu key, which takes the user back to the main menu from any point in the interface. It's a useful feature, but why not call this the "Home" button instead?
The screen itself is sharp and clear, offering great resolution and clarity in all driving conditions. The map screen is a sight to behold, offering delightfully crisp 3D images, as well as excellent responsiveness when zoomed and panned. Likewise, the interfaces for music and video playback are pleasantly uncluttered, responsive, and well thought-out. One problem in our unit, though, was the lack of a sleep mode. The device's screen will stay on at full illumination when it's left idle--even when running on battery power. There's also no sleep button on the device.
The GPS-500 provides audible commands for turns, which is very useful for anticipating upcoming maneuvers. As mentioned, though, the device does not provide text-to-speech capabilities for reading the names of locations or upcoming addresses.
Pros
- Excellent user interface
- Fast, accurate GPS performance; good mapping capabilities
- Polished, user-friendly music and video playback
Cons - Minor lag during some operations
- Limited video format compatibility
- No sleep or low power standby function
What's in the Box GPS-500, car charger, wall charger, USB cable, fold-flat mounting bracket, plastic disc for dash mount, adhesive pad for plastic disc, alcohol cleaning pad for dash surface, quick-start guide, and carrying case.
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Customer Reviews
somewhat confusing 
2008-01-19
THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE A LITTLE CONFUSING SOMETIMES. IT TAKES THE MOST COMPLICATED ROUTE AND THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE IN FEET. IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR US IF IT WOULD TELL "PREPARE TO TURN RIGHT ON NEXT STREET..." I GET CONFUSED WHEN IT SAYS "IN 70 FEET TURN RIGHT..." OTHERWISE IT IS FINE.
damn good 
2008-01-18
this unit is a very good unit. it does not have any flaws as of now. the upload from Sat. is very fast and accurate. the picture quality is superb, sound quality w/built in speaker is fantastic. you can not beat this for the buck.This unit does not need a celebrity commercial add, its stand in a class all by itself.
Simple Review for a Simple Product 2007-12-27
Easy to use. Gets you to where you need to go.
I just buy things that work... I am not going to analyze a GPS that gets me from A to B just fine. There is nothing to Analyze
Plays Music just fine plugged into my line in on my headunit.
It also plays movies.. That is an added bonus considering it costs less then the GPS-300
Just put the address or place in and move on with life.
NO GPS SiGNAL FOUND 
2007-12-20
I tried hard to like it. Because I Like Harman Kardon and because it looked nice. And the MP3 player and DVD player.
But I wanted a GPS and in 3 days testing and trying I got 1 out of 10 times a signal, the rest of the time this thing was searching!
And there are so many roads that don't exist on the map! Old material!
I use gps with my laptop since 4 years and never had a problem. So this one goes back and I am buying the Garmin Nuvi 360.
Sorry harman, but you have to get better then that!
Buyer beware 
2007-12-14
I have returned 2 now...the first one just quite working and the second one couldn't receive a signal. The first one was not an out of the box failure, but the second was. The maps are at least 2 years out of date. You will definately double, triple or even quadruple your U-Turns with this device.
Great for Travel..but not my first choice for PND 
2008-06-19
This device is great for travel I pack it in my travel bag for road trips and business trips. It is a great Media player dfor movies , TV shows and MP3's for long flights or layovers. The UI is great and easy to navigate. The out of box experience was a great one it comes with an AC adapter that converts into a USB charger (most of the other guys sell this as an additional purchase) and the car adapter. The mount is small and collapseble for easy storage in a glove box or handbag. The screenis a good size and the unit is thin and compact (easily fits in a shirt pocket. The design is what HK does best it is clean with a great finish, that just so happens to match the dash of my MIni Cooper! I have used this throughout the U.S and it has been a great experience it does not have TTS or all the bellls and whistles say a Nuvi 350 has but all-in-all a great unit for the price. When a took a road trip top Canda it got a little confused as it would tell me to turn left when I should ahve turned right and when I was exiting off of Hwy 1 it would not tell me if I should take the East or West HWy 1 so I ended up going in circles for a about an hur. The benefit of this was that I bypassed most of the bumper to bumper trafffic and hit my exit without having to sit in it. Final Thoughts: Great for travel but stay in the U.S.
It's a mixed bag 2008-04-23
I bought the H/K 300 for its price and its big screen. It's easy to read w/o putting on my reading glasses while driving. Sound quality is fine for my old ears. But....and this is a big one for me: it won't hold a charge for more than a day! And that's w/o turning it on at all. Moreover, I can't update maps, and there is a lot of building going on in my area. Would I buy one of these again. NO!
Great GPS 2008-02-13
The setup is easy. You don't have to do anything.
In lock position it follows you everywhere.
Nice and bright touch screeen. you can even scroll the map by sliding your finger over it.
I highly recomend it.
I like it, I really like it. 2008-01-27
I got mine because I am going into real estate. I has helped to guide me to a couple of houses already. I like the way it zooms in to an intersection when it wants you to turn, then zooms back out automaticly. I like the size too. Not too small.
The mount works really great.
I have not used it to watch movies, and probably wont, at least not soon.
GPS-500 2008-01-25
I have used other expensive GPS systems before and heard alot of talk about all of them so I was really confused when I went to purchase my own. I chose the Harman Kardon guide + play 500. Could not go wrong I am very satisfied. All maps so far seem to accurate and give clear voice commands. Only Con is the system does not come with a book which leave you a little confused at first. You can download it off of there website which was very helpful but this should be included with you purchase. the price is very reasonable based on some of the othe GPS models. It also offers picture, video, and music storage. Great product
