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| Dash Express Two-Way Internet-Connected Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Dash
Category: CE
List Price: $299.99
Buy New: $299.00
You Save: $0.99 (0%)
New (1) Used (2) from $199.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  166 reviews
Sales Rank: 2372
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 0
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:
 Dash's March Software Update FIXED problems noted by Beta Testers April 4, 2008
19 out of 23 found this review helpful
After ordering my Dash, I became concerned about a couple of negative reviews from beta testers mostly concerning the Dash's navigational features. I was fully prepared to return it once I tested this out myself. I have now used the Dash for a week, and, not only will I not be returning it, I'll probably end up getting a 2nd one for my spouse.
Bottom line on navigation:
1. Routing is great, there are multiple routes presented where possible, including new routes I didn't even know existed (that avoided traffic.)
2. When you deviate from the route, Dash recalculates a new route BEFORE I reach the next city block! Literally took only a few seconds.
3. The new recalculated route does not just try to get you back to one of the original routes! I drove on a minor street parallel to a more primary street that Dash had chosen. Rather than just telling me to take one of many side streets to cut back over to this primary road, Dash kept me on the road I was driving on and calculated a new route from this street - I never was directed back to the other road. My older gps would have never done this.
One of the negative reviews focused on how much Dash kept only to primary roads, so I wondered why my Dash did not have this problem. I checked support Q&A on the mydash website and discovered they had implemented substantial software updates in both Feb. & March prior to releasing the units. The updates included fixes for the problems listed in the beta tester's negative review.
So far, the traffic info from the Dash has been amazingly accurate. I tend to avoid major highways, so I wasn't sure how much traffic info I would get. I was shocked to see the roads I use contain traffic info - and, not only was there info, it was correct!
Other than accurate traffic info, my favorite feature is send2car. No MORE typing in addresses. Just right click from the computer, send to car, and, it's there when you turn on the car. From there you can click & save the address in your Dash directory or just delete it after you've arrived, VERY EASY & convenient.
For anyone living in a congested area, this is the device you want to have in your car!
 Response to Great device if you are lost, March 29, 2008 By J. Poletti April 4, 2008
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
As a short response to "Great device if you are lost", written by J. Poletti on March 29, 2008. I too have been a beta tester for a while. I feel that all of the concerned mentioned in J. Poletti's reviews, with the exception of the bulkiness, have been addressed. Over that last month I have received many updates that greatly refined this product. I am very happy with it as it stands today. If you had asked me earlier, it may have been a different story. As J. Poletti mentioned on point #5, the "make your next legal u-turn" over and over and over again if you veered off of the plotted course was about to drive me crazy. I believe that this was fixed in the first release after people started suggesting that they fix the u-turn messages or make this thing bullet proof. I do believe that some tweaks will continue to be made, and thanks to the auto-updates the device will get the updates as soon as they are available. Over the past month or two they have polished the Dash enough that I believe it is ready for prime time. I am also comfortable in knowing that if I do find any glitches here and there that the company will fix it quickly. As for the bulkiness, if I remember correctly this was a design decision based on early user feedback. I'm pretty sure I read that a poll revealed that people were willing to have a thicker unit if it meant increased battery life.
This one goes to 11! April 4, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I had to laugh when I realized that the volume goes to 11, homage to the movie "This Is Spinal Tap (Special Edition)"?
Laughs aside, I am seriously smitten with my Dash Express, and I never leave home without it any more.
I used to think that GPS is only useful if you go out of town, but the clever folks at Dash made it abundantly clear that it's really all about traffic, most of the time. Knowing about a congestion early enough to navigate around it is simply priceless! My Dash Express has taken the fear, doubt and uncertainty out of my daily commute in the Silicon Valley. Ah, did I mention that I feel all warm and fuzzy every time I see the promotional screenshots with streets that I travel on everyday? You gotta love the Silicon Valley - smart people building very smart things!
The "Send to Car" feature is great, and the plugins for Outlook and Browsers are just outstanding! And YES, even Firefox support!
I can go on and on about it, but the bottom line is that Dash Express is already a great product, and it keeps on getting better by leaps and bounds with each update. Yeah, sure, there are things that can improve, but how's that different from anything else? We are talking about Release 1.0. I am sure the clear-thinking and hard-executing people at Dash will keep on delivering smart improvements to make all of us early adopters proud!
Yes, this one really does go to 11.
Potential is there.. April 4, 2008
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
I just got the Dash this week after checking out the Magellan and Garmin line. In the end I went with it for the send2car feature and traffic features. After a few days driving with it I found it very useful and did not notice some of the problems noted by others.
Cons:
-Lengthy boot up.. Not sure why but the spin-up time seems a few seconds longer than it should be.
-Size.. It is pretty big for a GPS device when compared with other new units. It's not much bigger than earlier GPS units.
Pros:
- Send2car. I can search for my hotel or poi in my house, paste it into the send2car and next time my dash is on it is there waiting for me to save or map.
- Multiple route options. In San Antonio it gave me three good routes to business locations across the city from my house. All routes were routes I would have thought up myself and each had the distance and time approximation.
-Traffic updates - were as good as any. This will get better as more dash units are in the city to provide more data.
All said and done, I'm happy with my decision to get this GPS. It has a ton of features I needed with a navigation device.
1st Day Impressions - LA Area April 4, 2008
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
I just received my Dash Express today and I must say it is a must in the LA area. I previously had the Garmin c580 (with MSNDirect Traffic). I am very impressed with the Dash and I look forward to future improvements. That being said this device is much better than my Garmin. Here is why....
1) The traffic on this device is amazing. Obviously, it will be much more accurate when more people buy the device. However, the historical data is much better than anything that MSN Direct offered as "live" data. I drove on some side streets and noted that about 5 minutes later my traffic progress was noted on the display in solid colors. With living in LA traffic, there is no other GPS on the market to consider.
2) Navigation (3D Mode) - I found that the routes do not take long at all. Maybe slightly longer than the Garmin, but the Dash has more detailed traffic information and more calculations to process.
I found upcoming turns to be much better with the dash. With the Garmin, I found myself in LA making a turn on a highway and not knowing which lane to be in for the next turn. This was a problem if the turns were close together. Not a problem with the Dash because the voice alerts you to your turn and the next turn and displays at the top of the screen which way your next turn is with the street name and distance. Yes, you could get this info on the Garmin if you pushed a button to see upcoming turns, but who wants to eat, text message, AND push your GPS while driving (just a joke). The upcoming turn is highlighted with a big blue arrow so you will not miss when you should make a turn. I was worried with the no auto zoom that knowing were to turn would be an issue, but it is not at all. In fact, I find it easier than my Garmin because of the turn message at the top of the display. The only issue I had was that the unit took a second to process the next turn on a few turns.
You can see the road you are currently traveling on if you click on the car icon. This will show your current postition and road. The road you are on is also displayed on the map after certain intervals. I did find that you can find your current speed and stats for a trip once you complete a trip.
When travelling on the map without a route, it would be nice to have the names of upcoming streets pop up like the Garmin offers. This could be an easy software update.
The 3 routes are great and the time of arrival was spot on within 1-2 minute for my trips.
3) Search Feature - The only searches I have tried so far was (a) gas, (b) iphone, (c) fajitas.
(a) Showed me the price of a regular gallon of gas. If you click on details, it also shows you the mid-grade and premium. I then routed to the gas station and the prices were dead on. The Garmin through MSN Direct were 1-3 days old and often incorrect.
(b) I had to try....and it pointed me to every AT&T store in the area. Note: there were no Apple stores near were I was travelling at the time.
(c) Fajitas pulled up great southwest and mexican restaurants around the area. I agree that the rating system is cool but would love to read user reviews!
4) Send to Car Feature - This feature is great. Let me tell you about an alternate way to get your adresses that I found out after receiveing the unit. You can download a easy plugin (provided by Dash) so that when you are on a webpage....say a business website....and you would like to navigate to that business, you can simply highlight the address on the webpage (any webpage) and right click and select "Send to Car". This will save a lot of time for people and will be great for sales people. The other plugin is one for Outlook. You can also of course go to your personal Dash webpage and send an address that way as well.
I apologize for the long review, but I think that some of these features are worth noting for future purchasers. I know I would have liked to known some of them before I hit the "add to cart" button. In summary, I would highly recommend this product to people in major metropolitan areas. I only rated it four stars because I think there are a few items that can be (not fixed) but enhanced in future updates. However, if you want a device to help you navigate through traffic better than any other device, wait no longer....purchase a Dash Express.
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