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| Harman Kardon GPS-500 Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator, MP3 Player, and Video Player | 
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| Brand: Harman Kardon
Category: CE
List Price: $499.99
Buy New: $138.99
You Save: $361.00 (72%)
New (4) Used (1) from $129.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 9678
Color: Silver and Black
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 52
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 3.8 x 5.4
MPN: GPS-500
Model: GPS-500
UPC: 028292504686
EAN: 0028292504686
ASIN: B000NNASK6
Release Date: April 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Works...but! June 1, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
The unit does a good job of giving directions. Although the software is rather in-flexible. It always picks the shortest route, not necessarily the easiest route. The unit has locked up on me a number of times, requiring it to be reset. I suspect it has something to do with heat. As it has happened after returning to the car after it has set outside for an hour or so. Tech support was prompt in their response, but no help. At this time there is no way to register the product on Harmon Kardon's web sight.
 Way too much money for too many problems May 28, 2007
13 out of 25 found this review helpful
I wanted to really try this unit out before I wrote a final review. I paid $400 for the unit. I bought it mainly on the positive reviews from this site, because I have never heard of the company before. I wonder if all the positive reviews aren't employed by the company. First, an 8 page users manual (but, you can print out more online using your own ink and paper!). As a first-time buyer, I don't care how "obvious" the unit seems to be, there should be instructions with ANY unit. First unit had to be replaced. Customer service was ok, but it depended on who you got. With my new job, I travel through about 12 counties. I use this unit 4 days a week, and a minimum of 8 addresses each day. What really tipped it for me (to the negative) was when I was on a very, very heavily traveled business area and the first three business I put it, or try to find wasn't in the unit! This is NOT a new area, either. Then, I read that they don't update their maps!! What the heck? Are all the roads ever going to be built already built? How will this unit be relevant in 2 years? 1 year? Also, I followed EXACTLY the beginning instructions on setting up the unit. I put in my address. For whatever reason, the unit is about .6 miles off from my actual home location!! Also, it has taken as long as 12 minutes for the first map of the day to load. Granted, 99.8 times out of 100, it wouldn't be a big deal, but if there is ever an emergency in a strange town, I wouldn't want this unit! Go with a company you've heard of like Garmin or Tom Tom, even if the screen is a little smaller.
 Nice GPS Unit, non-existent customer support May 15, 2007
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I have owned the Harman Kardon GPS-500 since April and I am submitting this review after owning it for one month. I have not owned another portable GPS unit, so the only thing I can compare it to is the OEM Navigation system in my Toyota Matrix. The boot up time and the unit's ability to lock onto a satellite signal is pretty quick. The screen resolution is sharp and bright, you can still see the screen even with the sun shining on it. The mounting system is the BEST, no shaking and it doesn't fall off. The speaker and sound quality is great, even at highway speeds with the windows open. I use a cassette tape audio adapater & connect the audio auxillary port on the unit, enabling me to hear it over my car's stereo system. It accepts up to 4GB SD Memory, not the High speed memory, only standard memory. I have loaded MP3 files and they sound great, I have also loaded WMV files and converted DVD movies to WMV to watch movies from the unit. Finding addresses and POI is extremely easy to use, very intuitive menus and on screen buttons. Following the navigation screen and the text to voice is easy and accurate, the voice is very clear. The downside is that if you are at a current location and you want to "MARK" it on your GPS map and save the location, there is no easy way to do this. You have to go through the task of touching the screen, getting an exact address location, then go to "Plan a Trip" mode, type in the address and then save it. On my OEM Toyota Matrix unit, you simply pressed one button, and it would ask "Mark Point" and then I can save and name the marked point and the unit would autopopulate all of the address information. I went to Harman Kardon's website, no customer support phone number listed. I wrote them 3 emails asking them questions about this feature, plus using standard SD Memory card and asking them about how to create "playlists" for the MP3 player function. I got ZERO responses from them, TERRIBLE CUSTOMER support.
Overall, if you are looking for something that is simple and easy to use, has the functionality and convenience to play MP3 and WMV videos and you have no special issues or request for customer support, then this unit is for you. I would rank this as an easy to use unit, small, with a clean look, exceptional display resolution and clear loud audio. Downside is support, I am not looking forward to the day I have a problem with the unit or if I need to upgrade the maps in the unit. It also doesn't have any special mapping features like marking current points and saving them or real time traffic monitoring.
 Awesome navigation device! April 24, 2007
19 out of 23 found this review helpful
This is the one device I absolutely cannot live without on my trips and travels. I've bought the latest and greatest GPS units over the past 2 years, ranging from the TomTom Go to the widescreen Garmin Nuvi. I've given up those units since I bought this Harman unit and now my wife wants one for her car!
Like their home entertainment systems, the GPS-500 looks slick and packs a bunch of awesome features.
The navigation software on this device is fast and smooth, unlike the other units I have used in the past. As soon as I picked it from the store, I plugged it in and attached it to my windshield with the supplied mount and I got a signal in less than 1 minute. My TomTom and Garmin took about over 2 minutes when I first bought it.
I recently took the unit on a trip to San Diego and was able to find all the restaurants and movie theaters that were recommended by my friends, not to mention that it works well with my online music subscription service with MTV Urge and Napster! Awesome product for anyone who has a lousy sense of direction like me!
Solid, slick GPS but with just a few flaws... April 22, 2007
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
I just recently got this GPS and had a full 3 days to test it out. Overall, I would say it's a very good GPS unit but with some notable flaws.
BACKGROUND
I was using a Garmin C330 that I got 2 years ago until it decided to bite the dust on me. Spent some time on-line looking at this product along with the Garmin NUVI models and TomTom models. I decided on this one due to its widescreen format, mp3 and video capabilities, and price.
PROS
- The presentation of this GPS unit is very slick. It is pretty thin and not too heavy. It has clean lines and is not over-cluttered with buttons and knobs.
- The screen resolution is outstanding. When I first used it in direct daylight, it appeared "washed out". However, I turned up the brightness on the unit and it was fine - much better than my previous Garmin GPS. In non-direct sunlight viewing and nighttime viewing, the resolution is outstanding with vivid colors and clear text.
- The widescreen format allows more "real estate" to provide additional info including next turn, time/distance to destination, and even the song you're playing (if you're concurrently using the MP3 player).
- The GPS capabilities itself I would rank as average-to-above average. It locks in the signal fairly quickly - about the same as my Garmin. It does sometimes take awhile to calculate the route. That I found a bit annoying, but nothing unbearable.
- I like the fact that you can drag the map around to be able to view upcoming streets, etc. My old Garmin couldn't do this - not sure if they have added that capability in new Garmin models.
- Another great feature of the GPS is the ability to "touch" areas on the map to show business and resident addresses. For example, I "touched" a street corner near my house on the GPS map and it showed the 24 hour fitness gym and other businesses there.
- It has a nice carrying case that makes it easy to carry around for optimal mobile use.
- The battery life is very good. Not quite the 5 hours that Harman Kardon states but I got mine working for 4 hours.
- The User Interface is intuitive, simple and effective.
CONS
- The GPS unit does not tell you if the destination is on the left or right side of the street. I found this rather annoying because it didn't give me ample time to get on the correct side of the road. Granted you can figure out what side it's on based upon address, but I think it's a simple piece of functionality that should be in most GPS units today.
- You cannot turn off the navigation voice while listening to the MP3 player. Personally, I don't always like to listen to the turn-by-turn direction prompts. However, I wanted to listen to my MP3's on the unit. Unfortunately, you can't have both. If you're listening to MP3's, you will get voice prompts (no matter how low you set the volume mixer).
- The sound quality of the MP3 is only average. From a company like Harman-Kardon, I was expecting a much better effort. I have an AUX input in my car and I tested 2 songs on both the GPS unit and my iPod. The iPod sounded far better. Granted, the mp3 playback is not the main purpose of the GPS unit, but still, I expect higher quality from this company.
- The UI "hiccups" that the Amazon review stated were NOT due to pre-production software. I experienced the same thing. Sometimes, it would take the unit 5-8 seconds to respond to my request. Blame it on buggy "1.0" software I guess.
Overall, I think this GPS unit was a good investment and I like most of its features. The few flaws it had are not "make-or-break" for me, but do make things a bit inconvenient.
Hopefully HK will take some of this feedback into consideration when releasing their 2nd gen version. But overall, I think the HK guys did a great job in their first introductory GPS unit in the market.
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