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| Dash Express Two-Way Internet-Connected Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Dash
Category: CE
Buy New: $399.99
New (3) Refurbished (1) from $329.91
Avg. Customer Rating:  79 reviews
Sales Rank: 974
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 2.8 x 4.8 x 4.1
MPN: 99-1000-001
Model: 99-1000-001
UPC: 892437002012
EAN: 0892437002012
ASIN: B0014CIBWC
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 No ready for prime time May 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had great expectations when purchasing this device..evaluating its feature set and reading the early reviews I was sure that it could assist in navigating the LIE, a nightmarish road that we ride every weekend on the way to our weekend house. Several of the problems written in other reviews plague my use, together with a few others.
First, IT"S SLOW. I mean really slow. Much slower than our Garmin or the GPS's built into our other cars. If you want to evaluate your route options before starting on a trip, you had best head down ten minutes before your family, or else eveyone will be screaming to go by the time the thing boots up and detects routes.
Second, it's routing algorithms are weak to the point of being counter productive. There are three basic routes out of NYC to eastern LI, and the DASH told us that the southern route was just as fast as the LIE route. When we got on, there was massive traffic. Oddly the Dash seemed to know about the traffic, with red routing much of the way ahead of us. But it refused to reroute us north to the LIE.
By the time I got frustrated enough to take a chance with a route of my own devising, we were already delayed by one hour. Nightmare. When we finally took the ten minute northern cross to the LIE, it was smooth sailing. This despite the Dash's repreated attempts to re-route us back down to the Belt Parkway. If this thing can't tell the difference between a traffic laden nightmare and smooth sailing on two of NYC's most travelled roads, it is not usable, in my view.
THe speed issue also affects routine driving. If you get lost and want to let the Dash route you back, you had best pull over to the side of the road. I mean it's SLOW. If you want to zoom or scroll around to think about alternative routes (since it won't figure them for you as described above) it is excruciatingly slow to redraw the map. It also routinely shifts from car up to north up (haven't figured this out yet) and that redraw is also very slow.
Less critical but still annoying are the following. Screen size is small and not particularly graphically legible. The device doesn't zoom in at turns, which other devices in this price range routinely do. For a modern expensive device it should definitely have the ability to store waypoints and create a custom "back roads" version of your trip. I still haven't found a GPS that does this easily (i.e. let you plug in waypoints quickly and easily while you are driving and without a lot of UI interaction). When I bought the device I assumed you could do a customized "back roads" version of your trip and allow the device to judge whether it was faster to go that way versus the main road (should have read the postings more carefully). This would be a huge feature for my application and it's mindboggling (especially with the internet connectivity feature which would allow those custom routes to be shared with others) that they don't have it. Perhaps in REV 2.0 which I hope comes soon and features a massively tighter set of microcode with a 50% increase in speed. :)
On the plus side, this technology is brimming with untapped potential. The ability to send an address from the interwebs is phenomenal, particularly if your spouse isn't into GPS. It is kind of futuristic to be riding along and seeing the reality (traffic) match the predictions of the screen. But without a better way to use the data, it's just interesting and not particularly useful.
 Great idea, but only for early adopters. Not ready for prime time. May 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've had this GPS for approximately a week. This review is a first impression. I bought the GPS after having had a TomTom ONE XL 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator for some time. I decided to move up from the TomTom ONE because there had been alot of local construction going on and the ONE was quite outdated. It got me thinking about a more connected GPS. In addition to the Dash Express, I also looked at a TomTom GO 730 4.3-inch Touchscreen Portable GPS Navigator with Bluetooth.
The Dash Express has a nice screen and clear graphics. However, it is quite bulky compared to the ONE XL and it dwarfs the smaller TomTom units that I've seen. The windshield mount is rather large as well. The only place I could mount it in the car without blocking my view was the angle where the dash meets the windshield on the left. I can't remove the GPS from the mount without detaching the mount from the windshield - you slide the unit up off the mount, and it is too big to do this on a fixed mount without hitting the windshield.
Compared to the TomTom ONE, the 3D view is lacking. The street names aren't as clear, and I enjoyed the additional information on the TomTom screen, such as the speed of travel and the current street name.
Unlike other reviews I read, I think the navigation component and planning features are roughly equivalent. I did see the GPS lock up once or twice when I missed a turn and forced it to recalculate a route. I also noticed that it lagged my true position a bit, but I'm not in a big city and had time to compensate.
There is no ability to enter corrections. I'm hoping that the more frequent map updates will obviate the necessity for this feature.
Regarding the internet connectivity, I haven't found this to be reliable. I frequently have GPRS access in the first 5 minutes following power-up, and then it is lost. I contacted Dash about this, and they recommended restarting the unit when I lose GPRS. I'm located right in the middle of a "green" zone with plenty of coverage, yet the unit can't hold the signal. I was told by Dash that they just started placing towers in my area, yet the map they provided on the website shows solid green coverage for 20 square miles around my location. They gave me an extra 3 months of free service and apologized for the problems.
As I've driven around town, I have seen the traffic patterns reflecting the data generated by my and others' Dash units. Hopefully over time this will improve the traffic features.
For now, I'm not getting much from the connected features of the device. There aren't enough other Dash units in my area yet to make traffic features useful, and with the problems the unit has with coverage in my area, I can't get the connected features to work. These two complaints have been thoroughly vetted by Dash customer support - they were quite nice.
In time, I think this will be a great idea. For now, you've really got to be willing to put up with a device that promises more than it can deliver.
I've ordered a 730 and I'm going to compare them for a couple of weeks until I get closer to the end of the return window. I suspect the Dash unit may go back until 12-24 months from now.
 Excellent! May 1, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was a beta tester for this company and after experiencing other navigation units, this one beats them all hands down. It doesn't matter where I am, if I need to find something (sushi, barber, public parking, etc.) the Dash finds it for me immediately and directs me there the quickest way possible. I can do a search for "gas" and it will give me all the stations closest to me and even the current prices at each one! I can search for a movie theater and it will not only tell me where they are, but will even show me what's playing as well as show times! The live traffic conditions is awesome too. I purchased a second unit for my wife's car and she just loves it. I highly recomend the Dash Express for anyone who drives a car.
Innovative, but needs some work April 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this product knowing that as an early adopter you will have some bumps in the road, and this has held true with the Dash Express. As a gadget guy, this is one of my favorite new toys I've purchased in quite a while. The two way connectivity works flawlessly in the Northern Virginia area and is great to have. To be able to search for just about anything from restaurants to stores is really terrific, even new places are in the yahoo local searches.
The only negative that really bothers me right now is the routing system that the Dash uses. Right now it looks like it really favors interstates and highways and really doesn't like to suggest routes with side roads, even if those roads are fairly significant in your area. For example, there is a road in my area that is three lanes in each direction, the Dash never suggests a route that uses this road, and it doesn't gather any traffic data for it since it doesn't consider it to be an "important" road. I have a feeling that this might have something to do with the underlying traffic data.
Overall, a good product with a lot of potential, the best part is that Dash has already said that they are working on the routing system and with the connectivity, this update will be pushed down to the unit once it's released.
Will DE Live Up to Its Potential? April 28, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
In my mind, the question is really whether or not DE will live up to its potential, which I believe is almost limitless.
If you expect perfection and flawless performance from your Dash out-of-the-box, buy another more established PND. This is probably not the product for you. However, if you are willing to invest in a v1.0 product that clearly possesses tremendous potential with a committed team behind it, then this may be the product for you. I don't understand the reviewers who are whining about the fact that this is an initial product rollout. Did you not know that going in? Or did you think that the product would have been perfected by the time it was introduced? If it's the former, you clearly didn't do any homework whatsoever. If it's the latter, I'd ask how many novel and innovative electronic devices have been rolled out in the history of humankind that weren't subsequently improved upon? We can debate endlessly whether or not the DE was ready for prime time, just as we could have that same discussion about any number of versions of Microsoft's Windows. Might they have fixed some bugs and addressed some issues had they delayed the intro? Maybe. But that's not the point. As mentioned, if it's maturity you want, go Garmin or some other competitor.
Having said that, I'm on board and loving my new DE, particularly the two-way connectivity providing real-time traffic from other DE users. This feature worked flawlessly on a recent round-trip from the NYC area to Baltimore. For example, on my return trip I-95 showed green-red-green, meaning another DE user who'd been on the road before me had encountered smooth sailing followed by bad traffic followed by smooth sailing. Sure enough, as I came upon the red zone traffic slowed to a crawl as everyone navigated around a disabled motorist in one of the center lanes. As soon as I passed that point, it was clear sailing once again. For brevity's sake, I'll simply mention without elaborating that I am loving all of DE's unique features -- real-time traffic, connected search, Send2Car, etc. It's all good.
There is definitely a bit of a leap of faith necessary to take the plunge for a DE. Either you're willing to take that risk or you're not. If you are, then you accept the fact that the product you're buying is - almost by definition as a v1.0 - a work-in-progress that should improve over time. One member of the Dash forum wrote that the product is so close to what he wants in a PND that "it hurts." That's how I feel. However, I'm willing to take the risk that Dash will ease our collective pain and deliver on their promise of a next generation GPS product. I could be wrong and sorely disappointed (along with being out my $400). But I've taken the chance, put my money where my mouth is.
Hopefully my Dash won't wind up collecting dust next to my DAT deck and DAT Walkman (I kid you not -- I own 'em both). Don't let me down, Dash.
Full Disclosure: I am not -- never was -- a beta tester. My DE came from Amazon at the listed price of $399.
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