|
|
|
ViaMichelin X-930 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
ViaMichelin
|
Store: |
|
Amazon |
 |
| List
Price: |
|
$299.99
|
| Price: |
|
$126.15 |
| You Save: |
|
$173.84
(58%) |
|
Compare Price |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Latest GPS technology with integrated SiRF STAR III GPS Receiver. Voice and text turn-by-turn driving directions with comprehensive street-level maps. Preloaded with complete maps of US and Canada, and POIs Availability and price , Catalog # of European map.. Built-in 32 MB RAM, 312 MHz processor, and rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. Weighs 4.7 ounces, and measures 4.8 x 2.8 x 0.7 inches (W x H x D).
|
Customer Reviews
for ViaMichelin X-930 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator --- ViaMichelin
|
|
|
|
Maps from 2005
If you want a product that uses maps from 2005 and is accurate about 65% of the time, this unit is for you. I have tried repeatedly to get updated maps to no avail. Every time I call customer support I talk to some very nice people who tell me that they're still waiting on news of when the updates will be released. I've been told, "Any day now" for two months. Customer service personnel said they had been expecting the updates during summer 2007. In the past two weeks I've used the product in areas where I'm very familiar with the roads. On one occasion I was directed down a road that dead ended at a river. On another occasion I was told to turn into a parking lot (on my way to another destination). This past week I was driving in a location about 170 miles from my home. On the first leg of my trip, I followed the GPS directions. The trip took 186 miles (3 1/2 hours). On the return trip I decided to follow the road signs. The return trip took 163 miles and a little less than 3 hours. I thought ViaMichelin was a reputable company. It appears that I was wrong.
|
|
|
|
|
GOOD GPS FOR THE PRICE
I have been testing this GPS, for about two weeks. It gets crazy once in a while and give wrong commands, it avoids highways and trips that might be completed in 25 minutes can take much longer, but eight out of ten times, it directs you where you are suppose to go. I have friends having different brands of navigators, paid a lot of money, and still have the same problems. In my opinion, the Garmin 340 is the best one, since it gives the names of the streets, but you can not go wrong with the Via Michelin if you take into consideration the price.
|
|
|
|
|
Best Deal Anywhere
Absolutely the best deal going. Works great, user friendly, not a bunch of useless bells and whistles. Everyone should own one!
|
|
|
|
|
ViaMichelin is going out of GPS business
ViaMichelin is going out of GPS business. You will be buying a unit that will be discontinued and presumably neither supported or updated. See below: ViaMichelin, the subsidiary of the French tyre manufacturer specialising in digital travel assistance products, has stated it will no longer participate in the GPS navigation device market. According to a report published in France's La Tribune, the company, which holds 14 per cent of the French GPS market, has found it difficult to expand in Europe in the face of strong competition from rivals such as TomTom. Sixty of ViaMichelin's 170 employees are affected by the decision, La Tribune reported.
|
|
|
|
|
nice little gps
We purchased this to use while traveling to visit our son in Seattle area. Haven't had a chance to use it thoroughly, but from what we have learned from playing around with it, it is pretty easy to use. Great little GPS for the price.
|
|
|
|
|
okay for the price
I bought this GPS for my 20 yr old directionally challenged son.
The product works fine. Unfortunately, the preloaded maps are several years outdated. The company claims that an update is due "soon". We don't know at this point if they are going to charge for that as well.
The directions tend to take you on some very strange paths no matter what preferences you set (odd turns through neighborhoods rather than staying on main roads.)
I wouldn't recommend this product.
|
|
|
|
|
unintuitive
Out of the box - it hasn't been easy to figure out how to get around. I haven't had time to read the manual but I never had to with my Garmin. It didn't charge in the cigarette lighter on my rental car and left me stranded in Dallas - Lost. I had to call for help. The map did not reflect road changes that were made at least 10 years ago. Out of date cartography!-- Frustrating. Whole freeways missing.
|
|
|
|
|
Very surprised how good this GPS is.
I read all the reviews of this GPS unit before I bought it, and I have to admit that I was on the fence when I purchased it. But, this GPS unit is perfect for what they are used for, which is getting you where you want to go. My wife and I went to very remote hills in NY, on roads that are hardly even existing, and the GPS picked up everyone and sent us in the right direction. It doesn't have all the extra things like MP3 and so forth, but it's a really nice product. I also like that you can put it on pedestrian mode and walk with it. The Amazon description lists this GPS at 2.2 pounds, which is obviously a typo. The unit weights about as much as a business card. I also read that there isn't an option for night mode to dim the brightness, which is also incorrect. The option is right there in the main menu.
All in all this a great little GPS and I would recommend it to anyone. You certainly can't beat the value for the money. Plug it in and start using it right away. Oh yes, and there is a review on here that states it takes a long time for the GPS to pick up its start up location, which is not true. If you don't mind waiting for about 10 seconds, you should be fine.
|
|
|
|
|
Excellent
I was looking for a user friendly inexpensive GPS and I am so glad I chose this one. I like it so well it's the second one I purchased. I gave this one as a Christmas gift.
Happy in California..
|
|
|
|
|
Bletch
It's hard to use, resets or turns off while in use, though plugged in the charger or recently unplugged from charger. Unreliable for directions. Thumbs down. Save up and get the Garmin which I got the opportunity to use and loved. Purchased the garmin for a few other people who loved it as well/
|
|
|
|
|
Works fine
Menu is a little clunky. It fits will in our car. We live in Boston, so it does not always know the easiest way to get around.
|
|
|
|
|
REVIEW!
OUT OF 10 I GAVE THIS A 7. I DID NOT UPDATE IT USING THE CD, ETC. JUST CHARGED IT AND USED IT OUT OF THE BOX. THE POI IS ON TARGET FOR THE MIAMI AREA. IT ALWAYS BROUGHT BE BACK TO THE HOTEL I WAS STAYING IN WHEN I GOT LOST.
|
|
|
|
|
Great... if you never leave your home town
While the via Michelin offers a bright, easy-to-read screen, you practically have to punch it for it to respond to your input. It's also great for planning trips that are no longer than 3 miles away, because that's the radius for points of interest. Long story short, we hated it, we sent it back, we're getting a Garmin. Just another example of getting what you paid for.
|
|
|
|
|
Pretty Good for the Price - no whistles or bells
Fairly Good Buy for the Money.
Worked right out of the box, with the initial battery charge being the only issue (it took a lot longer than the 4 hrs noted in the instruction manual). Positives- Fairly Easy to use, quick to adjust route for missed turns, clear directions/voice, additional instruction (manual) available online. Not Optimal - only 2 options for routing (quickest/shortest) - I was hoping to be able to select 'major highways', maps used are not current (probably about 2-3 years old) so if a place of business has relocated, or your visiting someone in a recently constructed area - no luck (choose something nearby). Overall, for the price (vs competitors), pretty good... I'm hoping for map updates to be available online.. we'll see.
|
|
|
|
|
Good, basic GPS
Purchased this unit because of the low price and for the most part I am quite satisfied with it's features. Having said that, a few caveats: 1. As far as I know, ViaMichelin still has no capability to upgrade maps in the US (they can be upgraded in the European version) as previous posters have stated, in some areas the maps can be seriously out-of-date, in my mind that is a serious flaw in any GPS unit.
2. With very few exceptions, do not use the "shortest distance" option. In an urban setting this unit will have you making the most ridiculous twists and turns that don't necessarily equate to the shortest routing available. Even in rural environments it can get seriously "messed up" (it had me make a loop in a subdivision that brought me right back to the street I started on!).
3. As others have mentioned, it is not the most "user friendly" unit available, but if you don't mind a 1-2 week learning period then this is just a minor inconvenience.
Overall, 4 stars for price, good voice prompts, it does get you where you are going and a really nice stand!
|
|
|
|
|
Lemon of a GPS / Navigation System
I purchased this for my personal use. I was very disappointed after several attempts at re-deploying the software-This system never worked (AT ALL)...to my amazement. I returned it for a FULL REFUND. This is by no means PLUG/PLAY.
|
|
|
|
|
Thief candy
Basic problem with these windshield mounted gps units is that they are too attractive to thieves. I enjoyed mine until it was stolen about half a year after I bought it. My car was parked on my property, in a supposedly nice bucolic neighborhood, about 15 yards from the road facing my garage door, unlocked. But if you lock the car, maybe your car gets damaged. The police say you should not simply rely on taking the unit off the mount, because thieves often take the car apart with the idea that the unit has been stashed somewhere (as it often will be). It would be too much trouble to take the whole thing out every night and reinstall it every morning. So I will not be replacing this. Even if I were looking for another gps, there's a lot more competition in this price range than when I bought. And, like everybody says, it takes a long time to get used to its unintuitive interface. I suspect the thief is pretty baffled by it right around now, and if he tries to sell it, will find the resale value disappointing.
|
|
|
|
|
Not the best but it works
When we first got it we noticed it has a glitch with number streets. Which is really the only sucky thing about it.
|
|
|
|
|
Terrible GPS, even considering the cost
I absolutely CANNOT recommend this GPS considering all the name brand options in this price range. I purchased it based on the price and reviews and felt I had done well. I had no need for the extra bells and whistles that others come with, it was a better price. It had a poor interface, but I could suffer with that b/c of the price. It took awhile to acquire a signal, but I could suffer with that b/c of the price. Or so I thought. One time it took over 35 minutes to acquire signal. Another time my wife really needed it (she was driving to an unfamiliar area, at night, in the rain) and it never aquired a signal the whole 45 minute trip. Now I accept it won't stop the rain, can't turn the night into day, but I DID expect it to help her find her destination. She was scared and late for her appointment! I started wondering, , do I need to suffer with that b/c of the price? Well, I chose to call ViaMichelin to see if I might have a defective unit. The polite, helpful, customer service told me the ViaMichelins have a 'quirk'. If the unit was shut off for more than 8 hours, it would take awhile to re-acquire the signal. His suggestion was to power the unit on about a half hour before it was needed, so it would have time to find the satellites. I thought this was crazy, so I decided to return it and shop for another.
I settled on the Magellan Maestro 3100. Again, based on price and reviews. This GPS has an interface that is a thousand times more user friendly, has that predictive text thing that makes data entry so much more easy, has a million other features that are far superior to the ViaMichelin, and MOST OF ALL, it acquires the signal within a few minutes. Doesn't matter how long it's been off, if it's raining, or if there's thick cloud cover.
The only advantages the ViaMichelin has over the Magellan Maestro 3100 is the fact that it shows estimated time to destination and it has updateable maps. These are too few advantages for my money...
|
|
|
|
|
Perfect GPS for the price and a great gift!
I read a lot of reviews and examined a lot of GPS units at local retailers prior to purchasing this unit. For the $150 that Amazon sells it for, there is not a better GPS in the price range on the market. I've never owned a GPS before, and I am extremely satisified with this unit.
The operation of the unit is simple, straightforward and very well organized. You don't need to charge it up prior to operation. Just plug it into your car's cigarette lighter/power outlet and go! The unit will totally charge while you are driving, and once the power light is green you can unplug it (so that you can plug in your iPod or Sirius radio) and the unit will run about 3-4 hours on a full charge.
The unit's suction cup mounting hardware sticks great to my windshield glass (that's illegal to do here in California, by the way). I haven't had much success it getting it to stick to the dashboard in any of my cars. For that matter the Sirius radio units won't stick to the dashboard either.
For what it's worth, ViaMichelin is the top selling GPS in Europe, even outselling the other European based GPS, Tom Tom. Having visited the ViaMichelin European web site, I wish that the carrying case for the unit was sold in this country. No biggie, just a wish.
I do want to point out that the unit does allow you to correct your typing mistakes when entering an address. The other reviewers that state that it doesn't must be unaware that the <-- key is a backspace key. One can simply type "San Fran" for example to let the unit find "San Francisco". It's pretty much a no brainer to enter in an address.
The unit rapidly finds GPS satellites (better than my Sirius radio finds its satellite for some reason) and quickly calculates the route. The voice instructions are clear and spot on for accuracy. It even agrees with my wife for which route to take, which pleases her to no end.
The ability to use this in pedestrian mode is also great! I travel throughout the US, Canada and Europe, and being able to use this in both an auto and on foot is just simply wonderful. The advantage of pedestrian mode is that one can walk against the direction of a one way street, which in automobile mode wouldn't be possible.
You can purchase the European map set off of ViaMichelin's European web site. The Europe map set is pricey ($200) but amazingly accurate for the whole of Europe. The current European map set is for 2007 and it also updates the software in the ViaMichelin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
