Navigon 5100 3.5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Customer Reviews

Sanity Check!!

2008-07-02
Up to this point, I had planned to only write book reviews but feel compelled to write this after the mixed bag of reviews for this product. The listed reviews created alot of confusion for me; I'm always suspicious of the "one-item reviews" that either damn or glorify; maybe this info will be helpful if you are considering a purchase.

I purchased the Navigon 5110 last month (June 08), have used it for several trips, and couldn't be happier with it. In a nutshell, to address some of the issues brought up in the other reviews:

Pros

1. Mount system is ingenious-no velcro, screws, sticky tape, etc...just suction cup it to your windshield and hook up the power to your cigarette lighter. You can use it for any automobile that has a working cigarette lighter (even an old 1970 Ford Oldsmobile). For security, you can detach the GPS from the mount in a matter of seconds. And overall, it has a sleek, minimalist design.

2. Navigation is highly intuitive; I missed a turn in Berlin, took a turn at the next traffic junction, and the Navigon recalculated and put me back on track. I really liked the highway sign visuals-you will never be confused again about major highway turns.

Let me address 2 complaints from the other reviews.

U-Turns: if you miss a turn the voice command will say " Make a U-Turn now." to let you know you missed a major turn. You get this voice prompt even if you are on a 4 lane highway. So you take the next turn/exit, and the Navigon recalculates and puts you back on track. (If you are one of those persons who would try to make a U-Turn on a 4 lane hgihway because the Navigon said so, it would probably be too dangerous for you to own any type of car navigation system.)

The other complaint was about getting commands to make turns too late or too early. I found the voice command for turns to be spot-on in every case-including a 3K, 1K, 500m, 300m and 100m warning prior to the turn. This was critical in busy, city traffic.

3. Voice Commands-I really liked this feature, esp. the female, British accent. I have a slight case of ringing in my ears (tincture) from years on firing ranges and rock concerts from my younger years. Still, with the radio playing, I had NO PROBLEM hearing and understanding the voice commands.

4. Options and Updates-traffic warnings and the ability to get road updates online is a big plus. I'm currently using the Navigon in Europe, but it also has maps for the continental US when I go back to the states. For that matter, I used it in Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin, both former eastern Europe.

Cons

1. Screen-there is one legitimate complaint-some of the numbers are small-ie if you want to read total distance of trip, your current speed, current elevation, you need to really look at the screen to read those numbers. Also, it can be a little difficult to read if you are driving into the sun, but this may be true of all navigation systems.

2. New Destinations-I think this is a Con-I need to check the user's manual. I would like to have the ability to go somewhere and then enter it as a new destination. This may be possible-I need to check the User's Manual.

3. Price-no issues for me for what I got, but like all technology, wait 6 months and the price will probably drop $100.

Highly recommended.

DO NOT BUY THIS!

2008-06-12
I bought my Navigon 5100 and was fairly happy with it for a couple months. Then one day it could not find my current location. I've tried rebooting it and restarting it at different locations, but it never worked again. now it just sits there and mocks me.

The one thing that sold me on buying this product was the lane assistance, but it never worked well. It only comes on when there is light or no traffic. I don't really need lane assistance when all the lanes are open. It would tell me there was traffic even when I could see there was none.

When the Navigon did work, it took anywhere from 3-10 minutes to start giving directions. When giving directions it does not tell you if the highways off ramp is south, north, west or east. It's terrifying when your driving and can't figure out which off ramp to get off on.

I never understood why they put the speakers on the back of the product. It makes the verbal directions low and muddy. If they had simply put it on the front, it would have had great sound.

Whenever a traffic alert came up you would have to touch a small box on the screen to make it disappear. Living in Los Angeles, new ones were coming up once every two seconds. Annoying and disrupts driving.

Navigon is a bad product. DO NOT BUY!

very poor product overall

2008-06-01
I bought this product after returning a Magellan to costco. I live in los angeles and I thought it is a great bargain to have traffic feature since half of the freeways in southern california are jammed most of the time. I used to think that all GPS are more or less same and I am educated enough to get used to any GPS, but this navigon 5100 broke my myth. This product has such terrible software that it is almost unusable. Only people who can rate it high are the ones who have never used a Garmin or Magellan. My unit is on the way back to amazon. I am giving it 1 star but my wife would acually give zero. The following problems.

Audio volume is not just very low but also much poor in quality. I don't expect this from any $[...]+ product in 2008. This is the most fundamental feature of a turn by turn GPS. Hats off to its designers who hurried up in launching this product.

GPS claims 6 million+ POIs but search is so poor that very popular restaurants such as Panera bread are not there. This is on top of the fact that search software is already very poorly designed. My previous magellan was so impressive that just type in a few letters and list will show up like a dictionary.

To start GPS, hold the start button for 30 seconds. Anything less and it will not start. I knew this problem before buying and I did not rate this as a big problem but only after using, I realized how terrible this experience is.

3D lane view, which is supposed to be the selling feature of this GPS, is barely more useful than arrows shown by Garmin or Magellan. This feature looks decent but I rate this as very low value since I don't remember missing a lane or exit on magellan. Just replacing an arrow with 3D picture is not a great technology skill in my opinion.

Worst of all is the useful ness of traffic feature, which was the main reason, I bought this. Traffic alerts are updated but never announced by GPS. I should know early enough that there is an accident on my route. Only way I learned was to look at the screen and guess, which of the accident events are on my route. Just imagine doing this while driving a car. It will make sure that you also cause one of those accident events. Worst part is that There is no difference in alert between a freeway running 5 miles an hour Vs 50 Miles an hour. That is the most important info I need to choose my route. Only if it is running really slow, I would choose to change the route. Traffic alert is just a nice toy feature but zero usefulness in real world.

I cannot comment on routing since just one usage told me that this is worth returning.

A great GPS!

2008-05-31
I've been looking at GPS units for a long time, unable to decide based on all the hype. Along came Navigon. The free map upgrades and lifetime free traffic service really piqued my interest. This unit is simply great so far. I tried it on two trips this last week, one a short 200 - miler and the other a 1300 mile adventure to Oklahoma. I had been on both before, sans GPS, so this was a test. "Miss Daisy" ( that's what I call her ) did very well on both. She got a little flummoxed when I took alternate routes locally, as I know my local roads, but the "recalculating route" feature worked very well. I really like the Reality View on major interstates - showing upcoming exits and lane changes that way is superb. The traffic alert worked great, even without the external traffic antenna. There is major construction ongoing around Indianapolis and she took me on the exact alternate I had already used before, no problem. The so-called "hockey stick" windshield mount is rock-steady and actually looks great - much better than all the other mounts that hang right in your vision next to the mirror, with ugly wires dangling all over. The only real negative so far is the volume on the voice alerts. Even at maximum loudness it's hard to hear with the radio on or any traffic noise. The pronunciation of some roads is a little off, but whose isn't? Every area has different accents and no computer-generated voice could ever perfectly duplicate regional speech ( think New York versus Georgia for example ). The battery is listed to last 4.5 hours and I got just under 4, but I think that after "exercising" the battery a few times it'll be fine. Even so, if you only need to plug in the DC cord every 4 hours I see no problem. I'm planning another long trip next week and I'm sure Miss Daisy will do fine. A note to those who don't read the setup instructions : you really should -- even if you "know it all" about every GPS out there. After setting my preferences ( POI, etc.), it does what it's told. All in all, I think Navigon has a winner here.

navigon 5100 is a good product.

2008-05-06
The key features the make the navigon above other GPS's are the True View, a extreamly helpful tool, and the real time traffic reports which are free for the lifetime you own it.
The only things i think could use improvement are, the speaker could get a little louder, although its plenty loud when on the mount it comes with. and the size of the buttons you need to use to enter address are too small but i haven't had any issuse of pressing the wrong one but i keep thinking i will. Also it includes the 2mb memory card and an extra external antena which I've never needed but nice just in case.
Also the mount works great and is a great disign.

Fabulous GPS for the price!

2008-07-18
I love this GPS! It is simple to use; the commands are clear and simple to follow. It is able to redircet you, if you take a wrong turn, in seconds. I love the lifetime traffic updates, they are quick and accurate!

Navigon 5100

2008-07-17
Navigon 5100 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator I recently used my Navigon 5100 for the first time out of town. The graphics are amazing. The unit is simple to use. The feature rich 5100 hands down beats the socks off of similarly priced competitor's units. The voice to text, free traffic, real view graphics and inexpensive updates make the Navigon 5100 a value shopper's dream unit. I updated my unit right out of the box for free at the Navigon website. While driving, I found the voice guidance easy to understand and simple to follow. The reroute feature was quick and responsive if I make a detour in an area I am familiar. My only complaint would be the long loading time with initial start up but I can live with a 30 sec wait if I am getting free traffic reports for life.

worst GPS i've EVER used

2008-07-15
i returned this gps today after using it for 5 days. at first i loved this product, big screen, text to speech street names, preloaded maps, free traffic alerts, and relatively quick locking on satellites, low prices (i got it for 149.99) - what's not to love?

only after i installed it in my car did i realize why they are selling this at such a huge discount - the routing thing totally doesn't work! i work in jersey city and live in central NJ, all other GPSes (the preinstalled ones in my other car, yahoo/google maps, and another garmin that i upgraded from) all suggest the same route exit 14A on the NJTP and then take the 78 extension. Not this one - they want me to go all the way up to 15E.

a lot of local routes are also weird, if you miss a turn, it does recalculate but mostly trys to route you to the original route it calculated. talk about being stupid.

for all the savings i get in the lowered price i would've given it back in 3 days on added gas money, car depreciation for going more miles, and the additional time it takes to get you to your destination.

WORST GPS EVER!!!

Navigon 5100

2008-07-14
I have only had the Navigon 5100 for one month. The last trip I had friends along and they had their Garmin 260W and we compaired the two side buy side. They both took us right to the door where we were going but the Navigon had much better grapics and detail along the roadway. My friend even attested that while on the highway system the overhead signs were exact the lane choice with the arrows were great. I would have rated the Navigon 5100 five stars but the only down fall I see is the battery life. On a full charge it does not last longer then two to three hours. Other then that a great product so far.

Not ready for the US market

2008-07-07
I purchased the Navigon 5100 but returned it after a day. I have a Garmin GPS for the last 5 years and purchased another unit last year that are better in terms or accuracy, ease of use and POI database.

I believe that Navigon is not ready or the US market. I am a tech savvy person and use the GPS for multiple tasks. I tried to locate Lowes or Home Depot using Navigon but it is missing from its POI database. Similarly I could not locate BestBuy or the factory outlets using the Navigon 5100. It has a great food and restaurants database but severely limited to the common POI that we need.
Garmin provides POI software for free with a huge database that is a big selling point. I did not find POI Warner to be free and Navigon 5100 in its list.
I also found out that the screen colors are mainly shades of gray/white that is hard to see in bright day light. Roads are not as visible as compared to Garmin, I wish if it would give some better color templates.

Life time traffic feature is great as well as the Zagat ratings that may be the selling point.

	Screen Size (diagonally)	Maps	Reality View	Real Street Names	Lane Assistant	Bluetooth	POIs	Lifetime Traffic Data Service	Zagat Ratings	FreshMaps 3-Year Map Update Service
2100	3.5 inches	continental U.S.					1.3 million	Requires Activation	Requires Activation	Requires Activation
2120	3.5 inches	U.S and Canada					1.3 million	Requires Activation	Requires Activation	Requires Activation
2100 Max	4.3 inches	continental U.S.					1.3 million	Requires Activation	Requires Activation	Requires Activation
5100	3.5 inches	U.S and Canada					millions	Included	Included	Requires Activation
7100	4.3 inches	U.S and Canada					millions	Included	Included	Requires Activation

Navigon 5100 3.5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Key Features

Easy Add-Ons

Which Navigon is Right for You?

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Software and Hardware

Free Lifetime Traffic

Reality View

Lane Assist

Zagat Ratings

What's in the Box

The Navigon Family of Portable Navigators

NAVIGON Real-Time Traffic City Listing

USA

Canada

About Navigon