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| Mio c230 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator | 
 enlarge | Brand: Mio
Category: CE
List Price: $249.95
Buy New: $99.95
You Save: $150.00 (60%)
New (19) Used (4) from $99.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  112 reviews
Sales Rank: 817
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
nv:Type: Receiver
Inputs: USB
Display: TFT
Touch Screen: Yes
Voice: Yes
Expansion Slots: SD Card
Battery Type: Un-swappable rechargeable Lithium battery cell
Battery Life: 3.5 - 4.0 hours
Antenna: SIRF-GPS antenna
MPN: C230
Model: C230
UPC: 841881002970
EAN: 0841881002970
ASIN: B000VZ3ADS
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 *****Great GPS for an unbeatable Price***** November 8, 2007
165 out of 168 found this review helpful
I have the Mio C230 for about a month now. I have to say it was not very easy to use, but after a couple of hours, I was able to find my way around it. This is my third GPS, I have a Garmin C340 for almost two years, and a Nuvi 370 for about eight months; so I can say that I have a bit of experience with the Garmin products which considered to be one of the best GPS in the market. The only reason I got the Mio is the ability to add multiple stops to your final destination (Via Points), and the Mio's ability to optimize the route for you, a feature not available in the Garmin products. My girlfriend is a realtor, and she makes numerous stops to show houses to her clients; with the Garmin, she had to enter one stop at the time, which means that she might be going back and forth or zig zaging around; with the Mio, all she has to do is to input as many addresses as she needs to, and then the Mio will optimize the route and guide her around, cool.
You can enter address either by state / city / street; or you can use zip code / street; very nice feature. Any address you input will be automatically stored in the history and you can retrieve it at any time; you can also copy everything to the SD card and store it in your computer or use the data in another Mio, cool. If you don't have the address but know where your destination is on the map, you can touch that point on the map, and the Mio will take you there.
There is also an icon for "Home" where you can store your home address, by clicking it, the Mio will take you home, a similar one is for "work". You can rename both if needed.
The detailed information available on the screen in "cockpit mode" is impressive, on the upper left corner it shows the next maneuver (an arrow going right or left), below that it shows the distance to that maneuver and the estimated time of arrival to your final destination. Next to that you have four icons to zoom in and out on the map, and to change the view from 2 to 3 dimensions and vise versa. Another nice feature is the pedestrian mode, in that mode; the Mio will take you thru the shortest route ignoring the traffic direction of one way streets. You can customize the Mio for brighter screen or to get louder if you reach a specific speed; routing can be customized to shortest, fastest or economical. You can avoid Toll roads, U turns, unpaved roads, Highways, etc.
The Text to Speech feature is also a definite plus. The only thing that I really don't like in the Mio C230 is the very limited number of POI's (about 900K), you will hardly be able to find anything in there, Mio needs to do smoothing about that limitation. However, you can add you own POI's to the data base if you know the address.
In short, if you don't need the MP3/Photo player, or the blue tooth; then the Mio C230 is the one for you. It is a great basic GPS, loaded with features that may not be available on other big name brands. Impressive signal reception, bright screen, clear TTS voice, nice design, pocket size, at an unbeatable price.
Inexpensive but works like the more pricey units November 5, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Great GPS. The biggest seller for this price point is that it also includes text to speach and actually does a pretty good job with pronunciation. Good size and form factor. Feature set is excellent, especially for this price.
Downside: it doesn't take me what I would consider the fastest way around town, but then again I didn't get it to help me get where I already knew how to go. Only other negative is the map is already missing some new roads. The newer section of I-540 around Raleigh, NC is not on the map. I understand there will be updates in the future but they will not be free. This is also typical, I believe, of other GPS devices.
It definately will get you where you are trying to get to however. It recalculates routes quickly if you take a different turn or don't turn where it tells you, which is nice. All in all, a rgeat inexpensive GPS if that is all you want or need.
 Mio C320 Great Potential Not Realized November 5, 2007
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
This product works very well in most situations. The graphics are great, the screens are bright, the voices are good, the volume is excellent, the user interface is easy to use except that I found that the buttons are on the small side unless the unit is in your hand, satellite acquisition on startup is slow but rock solid once established, the points of interest are very out of date, route performance on long trips is great but poor on short trips.
Route performance is a big deal because it is the reason that we buy a GPS. My experience over the past month of using the product in 3 different states and on many local trips in the Chicago area have been positive except for the beginning and ending of routes. The program logic without fail, no matter what the settings used, always routes the shortest route. Sounds good right? In practice it is not so good because this means that the route leaves the main roads and highways with higher speed limits and fewer stops and takes off on local streets, zig zagging around local neighborhoods with speed limits of 25 miles per hour and stop signs at every intersection. For example the first time I set the route from my home to work and followed the route it took 27 minutes on a trip that normally only takes 15 minutes.
This strange performance may be the result of the map database being incomplete for all coverage areas. The C230 handbook documents that fact under "Frequently Asked Questions" that the speed warning program function in normally disabled because the speed limit information in the data base is incomplete for all areas. If you remove speed limit information from the route calculation, all roads would have equal weights in the routing decision and would therefore come up with the routing answer that us usually very wrong. This is a deficiency no mater what the cause, is one that Mio needs to address to make the C230 a winner.
I will continue to use the Mio C230 on trips that take me into the unknown but I seldom bother to turn it on, on local trips unless I need a good laugh.
EXCELLENT!!! October 27, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Best GPS out there for the money. The TTS feature is HUUUUUUUUUGE!!!
Only problem is that it needs more preloaded "stores" like Walmart and Target. Hopefully the company is working on an update to the software. But that's the biggest issue and that is no biggie!
The screen is wonderful.
 So far so good. Minor problem experienced October 20, 2007
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have owned it for about 10 days. Everything seems working fine. Signal reception is great. I had a Garmin StreePilot c340 for a few days more than half a year ago. Garmin c340 could not receive signal as soon as I took it away from the dashboard. In contrast, Mio c230 has no problem at all wherever I place it in the car.
Mio c230 is thin, much lighter than Garmin's c340. Touchscreen works fine. Menu is generally good (it took a little bit time to figure out what is what since I did not have much experience with GPS in the past).
Used it today to go to Gilroy Garden (in northern California). The address given at Gilroy Garden's website is 3050 Hecker Pass Hwy, and Google's maps found it easily. When I input the address into Mio c230, it said there was no such address, but nonetheless calculated the route for me. I decided to follow its route, and it led to me to a county park on the same Hecker Pass Hwy, about 3 miles away from Gilroy Garden. So, it was not as accurate as I wished, but not terribly wrong either. A possible excuse might be that the particular address is in the rural area. For the price and all the features I wanted (such as text-to-speech), I hope Mio c230 is a worthy trade-off.
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