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| Mio C520 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Mio
Category: CE
List Price: $399.95
Buy New: $209.65
You Save: $190.30 (48%)
New (10) from $209.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  128 reviews
Sales Rank: 2486
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: Unknown
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 4.9 x 3.1 x 0.8
MPN: 526216470101
Model: 526216470101
UPC: 841881002437
EAN: 0841881002437
ASIN: B000MWNJPE
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fabulous Screen, Mapping Is Poor October 10, 2007
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
After far more time than I really wanted to spend researching GPS devices, and now after owning two differnt brands, here is my advice:
1. Results will vary according to the users location. What works in SF, may not work in Chicago. Read reviews with reviewers locations in mind.
2. Get to the meat of a review. People out there are picking these devices apart because peripherals like the MP3 player have lousy sound. If the device has an MP3 or comparable extra, consider these add-on's as they will surely not get you where you want to go.
3. You must touch and feel at retail. This will at the very least cut your selctions to a fee models. After your research, buy the one you think you want, and remember, it's OK to make a mistake, just send it back and try again. This category is no where near perfection ... yet.
4. Many companies charge a restocking fee so let the return policy guide your purchse, not just price. Restocking can add 10-15%. You do the math. In the case of the Mio, if you choose to buy from Amazon and are not satisfied, there is no restocking fee. If your buy elsewhere, think of it this way, is $45 worth a one-month test drive?
Now, on to a quick recap pn my returned Mio c520.
The Mio wide size is perfect. Wide enough to provide a lot of information in a good font size and a good size map - all at one time.
The windshield attachment offered a good depth; suitable for many types of windshields. That's where the good features end. The lighter charger MUST be disconnected when you turn your engine on (instructions say so). Because this is not typical of other devices I own, I knew I would not remember so I disconnected it well before I needed to and wrapped the cord over my steering wheel so I would remember. Not following this instruction can void your Warranty. This was not thought out that well.
The Mio screen is gorgeous! I particularly love the split screen, and graphics are top notch - maybe the best out there. Unfortunately, it is not even close to accurate in its mapping, the primary purpose of this gadget. A few examples:
- About 30 feet from a turn, it told ne I had to go a few hundred more feet: 4 satellites active, good signal.
- After I made the turn on to a highway, it finally caught up with me and told me to make the turn (it felt like it was in slow-mo). Guessing it was about 4-500 feet off: Clear, open sky setting.
- My husband took it on the bus to work for a virtual test. On the way in, when exiting from a bridge, the Mio could not find his location / coordinates. It was totally confused (bus not moving but the device said it was). On the way home, it could not detect any satellites for his entire 2 hour ride: Clear sky.
- At the kitchen table with plans to familiarize ourselves further with the device, it took 20 minutes to boot, finally with mediocre satellite coverage: The day prior, the same scenario generated excellent satellite coverage.
The POI's were many, and in a full spectrum of categories. However, this is a mapping device so shopping and finding a restaurant is not a priority if you can't find your way smoothly.
I never got to test any of the extra features; mapping was my priority.
I do hope Mio can make it in our country. They appear to have the basics covered nicely. A lot more woprk on the mapping is needed.
A Personal Opinion: A mapping device should read in 10th's of a mile, this device measures in feet - feet geneated too many instructions for this driver to follow, and because mileage is typically measured in 10th's, this option just confused me.
 Best choice for budget-minded September 29, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
(This is revised review after 2 months of heavy usage)
Car GPS is for *helping* people, not to *replace* people. So my 5-stars opinion is based on that by setting the right expectations. Not to write a long essay, here's something for busy and impulsive potential buyers:
Thumbs-up:
1) Type-ahead
2) Bluetooth
3) Good screen size for fat fingers
4) Lotsa POI (very up to date)
5) Much more features (many customizable) than others
6) Relatively fast satellite signal locking
7) No force-U-turn when doing route recalculation
8) Large display with dual-panes - very very handy indeed
9) Map position is mostly super accurate
Thumbs-down:
1) TTS - Instead of saying "taking the next right" the voice would say "take the next drive".
2) Route optimization is global, not per route. This really stinks. For example, if you set the default to SHORTEST, and for one route you need to go FASTEST (like, when local traffic is real bad and you don't mind taking the longer highway route), you have to exit the current map and go to all the way to top-level config to change the algorithm and then drill back down again. Are you kidding me? You could also tweak it at the low level but who would do that when you drive?
3) Community off-target: If your destination is a large community, the street # could be as off as 4 blocks (you'd still be on the same street, but you'd know you're off)
4) Bluetooth volume is not loud enough when you're driving like 60mph
5) Jumping on-and-off on parallel roads. If you happen to drive in Brooklyn's I-278 area, you will be amazed by how you'd jump off the I-278 bridge to 3rd Ave (which is parallel and right underneath I-278) and then jumped right back up. The software does have a way to determine if you are on the bridge or on the road underneath it, but it's not perfect.
6) Route re-calc: The good thing is that it doesn't force you to U-turn. The bad thing is that it doesn't make you to U-turn when you have to. Like, if you miss an interstate entrance, I may not wanna drive 10 miles all local to the next one. Not a big deal, you just need to know this is the characteristics and you must work-around it by making an U-turn yourself, thus forcing the software to pick the original route again.
7) Battery life is quite miserable when bluetooth is on.
8) No hardware volume control - you'll find this most annoying when you feel the TTS is getting too chatty
Not-your-complaints:
1) Why people moan about maps not up-to-date? You know, the maps will *never* be up-to-date. And if you didn't go cheap and buy those refurb units, you won't be driving on a road that the unit doesn't show. :-)
2) Why people moan about driving in the black mass when in a shopping center? This is not a joke. When you're in a shopping center, the map would show a black area with no road, as if your car is an speedboat cruising in the Great Swamps National Wildlife Refugee. But hey, you know better than the machine.
In general, I found local routes having more room to nitpick than longer routes (this is also true with the Garmin Navi 350 and TomTom I borrowed from my buddies). I usually turn the unit off when driving local. When I got detoured to unknown roads, or I am going distance, this GPS does the job very admirably.
Poor maps September 28, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read many of the reviews and that is what led me to purchase this item. When I took it out of the box, I read the instructions and followed everything in them. I started out with my own address and was interested to find that my house was 4.1 miles from where it actually was. It had my street and another one swapped which was confusing because my street runs east-west and the other north-south.
Next I looked up my parents address (this was important because I was buying this gps for my parents) and their address didn't even exist. That didn't make sense because they have been living in the residential area for 20 years.
I took it on the road as it followed the street by the wrong name and I looked for a business in town. Missed it by 3 blocks.
Needless to say, I didn't keep the gps.
The display was great. I especially liked the split-screen view with its bright display. It was a little difficult at first to get it to route for me but I was finally able to nail it down.
Most of the comments I read seem to like this gps but for where I live I would be lost with it.
Back to the drawing board to try and find a gps. Too bad because for $290 and the features it boasts, the other companies should take a cue and bring their prices down. $400+ is really too much to pay.
Excellent GPS under $400 September 26, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
You get your money's worth here! You have a 4.3" screen, music capability, photos, bluetooth, text-to-speech, sleek design and the list goes on and on...all for $400.
It takes some time to learn the device...but if you're the engineering type this device is for you. My husband loves it!
Great buy!
Great full-featured GPS unit, fantastic price! September 24, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have used more than a few GPS options, and have had more than a few bad, expensive, and annoying issues. The MIO however seems to do a great job of simply navigating. We broke it in on a trip from Annapolis to New England via NYC, the Hamptons, and Newport, RI. Its a trip we've made many times, but always have had navigation problems with in the past. The MIO really excelled at quickly and easily creating direct routes to destinations. It also does a decent job of offering POIs along your route (more on this later). It offers a huge amount of customization options for it's price range and with its PMP functionality it is a truly versatile little guy. That said we did have our fair share of issues. I will start by saying that this is still my favorite GPS device to date, the issues we experienced were minor, and when compared to other units, this one is as close to perfect as I've come. The biggest issue was a routing glitch for city centers. for the first few days of our trip we weren't headed to exact addresses, rather than areas (NYC, East Hampton, etc.). The MIO allows you to navigate to the city center in cases where you may not know the address, which in theory sounds great. The problem is that in most instances it displayed a error message that there was no possible route. At that point it would send you on a crazy curvy out of the way direction. For example when traveling north in Queens towards the Hamptons (a normally three hour drive) it routed us back to Manhattan, up through Connecticut, and back south (via ferry) to Long Island, total travel time 10+ hours. Obviously we ignored it for this part of the trip. The other issue is with the voice options. In order to enable the Text-to-Speech functionality, which is not a factory default setting, you must dig deep into the options menus for voices and select the US female voice. The problem is she is much, and I mean, much more difficult to hear and understand than the default Man's voice. This issue is so bad that we decided to loose the Text-to-Speech functionality all together and stick with the "Thomas" voice. The bluetooth claims to work with a wide number of cell phones, but despite being listed as a supported phone I could not get any of five phones to consistently connect. One paired successfully once, however even it never did it again. Truth is setting this up is much too difficult to be reasonable and will make its use as a hands-free call center virtually impossible. Finally upon attempting to locate the nearest Gas Station the MIO immediately presented us with options, I was able to select the brand I preferred (WaWa), and route to it very quickly. However as I followed its direction I became more and more concerned, but I was determined to see this route through. Ten minutes later were turned into a drab residential cul-de-sac and were presented with Thomas announcing that we had arrived at our destination. Obviously we had not and I was forced to use the iPhone to navigate us out. To the MIO's credit, the WaWa it was trying to get us (and so earnestly thought it had) to was only a few blocks away. All in all the MIO Digiwalker C520 is truly fantastic GPS unit, and its price point makes it probably the most compelling choice on the market today. It does have a few issues, but as anyone who has used a navigation device before knows, issues come with the territory.
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