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| Mio c230 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator | 
 enlarge | Brand: Mio
Category: CE
List Price: $249.95
Buy New: $105.99
You Save: $143.96 (58%)
New (13) Used (3) from $105.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  111 reviews
Sales Rank: 5725
Color: gray
Media: Electronics
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 3.5 x 0.9 x 3.3
MPN: C230
Model: C230
UPC: 841881002970
EAN: 0841881002970
ASIN: B000VZ3ADS
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 OVERALL GREAT BUY, A FEW MINOR PROBLEMS December 27, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I did a lot of research before choosing a GPS system, making comparisons of every brand I could find and different models. My requirements were text-to-speech, price as cheap as possible, accurate directions.
Pros:
(1) This is THE cheapest text-to-speech model that I could find. Lots of European languages to choose, including Spanish and French. In English, you can choose between a girl's voice, a boy's voice, or a British boy's voice.
(2) Very easy to do a hard reset it if it messes up. Just push the button at the back to off for a minute and then turn everything back on. Good as new!
(3) Very accurate directions for the Bay Area. No weird, long, round-about routes that some other reviewers complain about. I even ignored the directions and it always recalculated very quickly and accurately.
(4) Screen is nice and bright. Can see it all the time. Optionally, it can even turn to night colors at night which is easier on the eyes.
(5) Sound is pretty loud if you want it to be. It can even get louder when you're going faster.
(6) Includes lots of optional extras such as warning you when you are going to fast, adding different kinds of traffic cameras, adding multiple destinations, optimizing multiple destination directions, etc.
Cons:
(1) It can take a while to figure out where you are. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes it takes a minute or two. If you try to start it up while you are moving, it can start you off in some totally random spot, but it will quickly correct itself. Also, for some reason my house number is not in the map so it can't find my exact house to start from, but it uses a neighbor's house so it doesn't effect the directions. I hear other GPS systems have similar problems too so it might be true of all GPS systems.
(2) There's no way to add a POI's exact address unless it's in the map, which is a result of the same problem as stated in (1) above. Instead, it will automatically change to an address that IS in the map, but it can be a block or so away. Not terrible, but ideally it'd be nice to have the exact address in. For instance, if I am going to my friend's house it'd be nice to know the exact house number. TIP: To remedy the problem, I just put the exact number in the name of the POI. For instance, for the POI label, I call it "James House 192".
(3) I'm very computer savvy, but this thing does take some practice to figure out how to use special features such as multiple destinations and add custom POI. The basic "get to point A" is pretty intuitive.
(4) When it comes, the battery is pretty depleted. You need to charge it up in order to spend time to figure out how it works. This is the only time that I wished it came with an AC adapter. Since it only comes with a DC Adapter, I drove around for a bit testing out it's accuracy while charging up the battery. I played around with it a bit at home once the battery was charged.
(5) Some of the addresses in the POI database are incorrect. For example, it lists Universal Studios Hollywood as being in Northern California even though it is obviously in Southern California. There appears to be no way to change this. I just added the correct address as a custom POI.
(6) For some reason, using the "home" shortcut often makes it take significantly longer to find directions than if you just click on the address in "history".
(7) No Asian languages in the speech options.
(8) For some reason the clock (which is automatically set) is always 10-30 min off from the real time.
TIP: Customize the routes you want to allow first, may take some testing. Using the Mio in the Bay Area, it gave some weird directions when I let it stay on the default that includes toll roads. Once I unchecked toll roads, it gave directions that I would normally take.
Overall, very good. The cons I mentioned really are very minor and do not really effect the driving direction experience. It will get you from point A to point B. Also, I was afraid it was going to be too small. 3.5" sounds small, but it's actually a good size.
Better than Garmin December 26, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Mio C230 works great and is a great value.
Pros:
1. Highly sensitive SiRFstar III GPS chipset
- It works around large trees, indoors, around large buildings
2. It reroutes extremely fast. If you miss a turn, then you will be rerouted in less than 5 seconds.
3. It has an option to optimize your route. If you need to go to several different locations and you want to go to those locations in the quickest order, then the Mio will determine the quickest route for you. This is great for those who do delieveries, real estate agents, or other sales professionals. (This feature is not available on Garmins.)
4. Text to Speech. It audibly tells you the name of the street you need to turn onto. Makes for safer driving and it's convienent.
5. Slim design. It's not as bulky as some other GPS units.
Cons:
1. Limited Points of Interest. If plan on using your GPS unit to find restaurants and gas stations, then you might want to chose another brand or a more expensive MIO GPS Unit. The C230 on has about 1,000,000 points of interest.
2. New Roads. There are a few new roads in my city that are not included in the Map software. The user cannot add new roads to the software, but I am not sure if any other GPS brands allow you to do so.
Bottom Line:
Quality: One of my relatives has 6 MIO gps units that he bought for his family and employees to use in his business. He has not had any problems with the MIO brand.
The Mio C230 is not perfect, but it is a great value and does a lot of things really well. I would say that it is the best entry level GPS unit available and that it better than some units that cost $100.00 more.
I returned my Garmin C330 and bought 2 MIO C230s.
 Bad screen December 26, 2007
Too dim to see in daylight. I had a problem with the screen blanking out intermittently and returned it.
 Don't ask just buy if you never have GPS Nav before December 26, 2007
If you are paying under $200 , it's worth it, don't even need look at the map, just listen, follow the Text To Speech directions, it's very easy to star, but you will need a little bit time to figure out how to add and save your own POI, you can setup multiple "via points", it's great for people who is ready to shopping a property in recent down market, it's great buy!
Very Nice Gadget December 25, 2007
We bought two for the family. It takes time getting use to but what isnt?? Overall, once you get the hang of it, it's all not so complicated. the text to speech is very nice too, which is it's best feature. i'd recommend it.
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