NAVIGON 7100
NAVIGON isn’t yet a household name when it comes to auto GPS devices here in North America, but it is gaining quite a bit of buzz recently with promises of free lifetime traffic in some of their devices. We’ve recently become friendly with a NAVIGON 7100 across about 500 miles of roadways, and here is what we found while letting the 7100 find our way.
In the Box
Out of the box, the NAVIGON 7100 greets you with a plethora of included accessories. The usual suspects are all there– quick setup poster, USB cable, software installation CD, and the GPS device itself. A nice bonus is the inclusion of an AC power cable, something many manufacturers leave out. Missing from my box was the suction cup mount as those were not quite yet available in my pre-production device.
NAVIGON, The Company
NAVIGON is a relative newcomer to the USA market, although they’ve been around in Europe for longer. They promise map updates once per year.
Physical Design
Getting to the heart of the matter, the first thing you will notice about the 7100 is the size. It is noticeably larger than other devices with similar screen sizes. The screen is bordered by a think black plastic trim. Along the top is a slot for the included 2 GB SD card slot. The card is so far recessed into the device that it is impossible to eject without either long fingernails (which I don’t have) or some other sort of poking device. Perhaps that could be taken for a good thing as the card won’t easily fall out accidentally, but if you frequently remove the SD card and don’t have long strong fingernails you could be in for a struggle.
On the right side is the power button, on the back an external antenna port, the mounting bracket, speaker, and stylus. I’m always a little afraid when I see a stylus– If the buttons are so small that I need a stylus or if the screen is so insensitive that I need a stylus then I’ll be disappointed. GPS devices should be capable of being operated with a finger. And a preview of a few issues to come… I needed the stylus. 
On the bottom is a reset switch, something I thankfully never needed to use. There is also a port for the TMC traffic receiver, as well as the mini USB port to feed power to the GPS. As I’ve said many times in other product reviews, having frequently used ports on the bottom really limits how low you can place the GPS on the dash. There is also a light at the bottom of the display which turns green when connected to power and the battery is fully charged and is orange when power is connected and the battery is charging.
The 4.3 inch widescreen display wasn’t the brightest screen we’ve seen, and it did suffer from fairly high color shifts when viewed from high and wide angles, but overall it wasn’t a bad display. It was bright enough for viewing during bright sunlit days and the nigh mode reduced everything down to soothing levels after sunset.
However one of the biggest disappointments with the NAVIGON 7100 is the touch screen. It wasn’t that it was too sensitive, or not sensitive enough, but rather such a large percentage of our clicks were not accepted. Normally I’d say that the screen wasn’t sensitive enough, however there were countless times when we clicked a button, the button would graphically change to show the click…. yet nothing happened. It would routinely take two, and often three clicks of the button (all which were seen as a click with the button graphic depressing) before the action was actually performed. This became very frustrating and (yikes!) caused me to pull the stylus out of the back of the device for tapping. The stylus didn’t seem to help a huge amount.
Update from NAVIGON officials: “… the touch sensitivity issues you encountered were improved from the time the pre-production units were sent out and the final production units were shipped.” We will try to check that out soon.
As mentioned, the NAVIGON 7100 comes with a TMC traffic receiver, something we’ll talk about a little more later. There is an integrated receiver built into the device, however should you need better reception there is also an external TMC antennal that can be plugged into the device. During my tests I always needed the external antenna and never got a signal without it.
Battery life is described as 4.5 hours. While I was using it with the screen brightness turned all of the way up and heaving usage I was able to get about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Navigating to an Address
One of the two most common ways people will use their GPS is to take them to a known street address. You do this by selecting ‘New Destination -> ‘Enter an Address’ from the main menu. From there you can select if you wish to enter the address by ‘Street -> House number -> City’ or by ‘City -> Street-> House number’. While we appreciate having both ways to lookup an address, it would be nice if we could set a preference and then switch if necessary. Selecting City first will bring up a screen where a list of potential matches are shown on the left and a keyboard (non QWERTY) is on the right. The search defaults to looking up cities in your current state. You can switch the state by clicking on a very tiny icon with your current state’s abbreviation. The icon is very tiny, measuring just 3/8 of an inch wide and 1/8 of an inch tall. Small buttons are a problem throughout the interface, compounded by the problem mentioned earlier with many clicks not being recognized.
Often, rather than spending too many attempted keystrokes naming towns, I would enter a zip-code instead. Here I found some peculiar results. I entered in the zip-code of my hometown, and then a street I used to live on. It found the zip-code and street just fine, however the name of the town displayed was a town I’ve never heard of. It found the correct location which I guess is the important part, but displaying a town name I’ve never heard of did leave me scratching my head.
In all it took 19 clicks to enter and set my destination address, not counting all of the times I’d need to click several times before a click was recognized. This is actually quite good– a Nuvi takes about 22 keystrokes to find the same address and the TomTom devices take about 24. However since the interface is a little slower and having to re-tap a few buttons makes the total time of address entry longer and the frustration level higher.
Navigating to a POI
You can search for POIs ‘Nearby’, ‘in a City’, or ‘Nationwide’; the latter being what they call “POI of National Significance”. The POI listings include special categories for Zagat hotels, nightlife, golf, and restaurants. There are also regular categories for non-Zagat listings. Those categories are Gas Station, Parking, Restaurant, Hotel or Motel, Bank, ATM, Railway Station, Car Dealer, Motorcycle Dealer, Car Rental, Shopping Center, Tourist/Nature, Culture, Sports, School & Education, Government Office, Health Care, Exhibition, Post Office, Places of Worship, Marina, Business Facility, Public Phone, Public Toilet, and Border Crossing. Ordinarily I wouldn’t list them all out in a review, but there is an interesting point to make. The order I listed them in is the order they appear in. I presume they are listed in the order of how commonly they might be used, however for a scrolling list sorting them alphabetically might have made more sense. While in a state capital I tried to use the Public Toilet and Public Phone categories, but they both resulted in ‘No POIs nearby found!’ messages.
The Zagat ratings might be really nice to have for travelers, but the database appears to be very small. Again while in a state capitol I selected Zagat Restaurant -> Restaurant All and it told me there were No POIs nearby found. I also was told there were no nearby Zagat Hotel -> Hotel All listings nearby while in the state capitol. I had the same experience with Zagat Nightlife and Zagat Attraction categories. I was beginning to think I was doing something wrong, after all there must be some sort of Zagat rated business near a state capital. I did manage to find two Zagat rated Golf courses though. When looking at the information for that POI there was a one sentence review in addition to the commonly found POI information such as the phone number and physical address.
POIs can also be configured to be shown on the primary navigation display (more on this coming up) much like the TomTom devices and what Garmin users have been screaming about for many years.
Navigation
While actually navigating is where the NAVIGON 7100 finally shines. Thankfully since after all this is the most important part of a navigation device. The on-screen graphics are quite sharp and create a beautiful display. The path of roads to take is clearly shown on the display by a bright, thick orange road. Most side streets are labeled with clear text. The text to speech voice instructions are loud enough through the built in speaker. The voice has an interesting, almost Jersey accent and are not quite as clear as other voices I’ve heard, but are audible enough for it not to be an issue.
I also really liked how the main navigation screen was very configurable. You can select if you want shown street names, altitude, speed, compass, remaining distance, duration of the trip, arrival time, border crossing info, speed limits, and coordinates. I ended up turning off most all of those items except street names, remaining distance, and arrival time so as to not further clutter the display.
You might want to turn off many of those items too since the map does get easily cluttered. Across the top is a next turn display as well as Bluetooth, battery, traffic reception, and satellite reception icons. At the bottom are buttons for cancel, options, phone connection, speaker, and search. With that many buttons across the top and bottom of the screen it doesn’t leave a ton of room for other stats, and the buttons tend to be quite small.
Reality View
Something I was really looking forward to was the “Reality View”. This view appears as you approach exits of major highways. NAVIGON describes it like this:
Reality View(TM) provides photo-realistic 3D images of complex interchanges — with actual road sign text — so you get the extra guidance you need when you need it most.
Unfortunately, what you see is really what you get. While it does show how many lanes go in which direction… which is helpful, nearly all of the images look the same, with the only difference I saw was if the exit was on the left or on the right, the number of lanes, and the text of the signs overhead changing. That would have been okay…. I didn’t expect customized photos for each intersection, however what was the biggest disappointment was that the image is static. The moving map stops when Reality View is displayed and you no longer see your progress towards the exit. So it is difficult to tell exactly when you need to turn since you can’t see an icon representing your location against the intersection. I ended up turning off the feature as the signpost text is still displayed without the reality view, the map zooms in on the intersection, and you can better monitor your progress against the intersection.
In some areas it might be much more helpful to know “which lane” over any other type of information, but I found myself looking at the display, noticing I needed to exit right, but wondering if it was the right that I was just about to pass or the one just a little further down the road.
Advanced Features
The NAVIGON 7100 includes a large host of advanced routing functions found in total on few other navigation devices. There is a detour function, and unlike quite a few other navigation systems (like the Nuvi series) it does allow you to specify how far out you want to detour from your current route.
You can also get a turn by turn listing of all maneuvers in your route, and exclude any one of those locations from being in the route. Both of these are fantastic features to have, and hard to come by.
You can calculate routes with rules as they apply to cars, bicycles, or pedestrians. For route types you can select the fastest, optimum, shortest, or scenic routes. You can tell it if you want to consider current traffic information, as well as if you want to allow, avoid, or forbid any of highways, toll roads, or ferries. You can also specify if you want U-turns to be allowed in your route.
Those options should be sufficient for just about any type of route preference.
Multi destination routing is supported through what they call ‘Route Planning’. So how many points can you put into a single route? The sky (or processing power of the device) is the limit. There is no hard cap on how many points you can add, however as you add more points to a route the computation time will slow down. I put in about 40 points before I gave up and asked what the limit was, and while route calculation with 40 points did take quite a bit of time, that was to be expected. Most other manufacturers who offer multi destination routing put a cap at around 50 points, and any more than that is likely to cause enough performance issues that you would want to break it up into multiple routes.
You can also save those routes for later recall.
Voice Recognition
Recently there have been a couple of devices to hit the market with voice recognition. What most people want with voice recognition is a way to operate the device without touching it. So far most every device hasn’t reached that goal, and simply offers a way to setup “favorites” with voice recognition cues. This too is the case with the NAVIGON 7100.
After saving a location as a favorite, you can setup a voice recording to go along with it. For example you can save your home address, then record yourself saying “Take me Home!”. Then from the main menu you can tap ‘Voice Command’ -> speak “take me home” -> wait 10 seconds to acknowledge it picked the correct location, and then tap ‘Start Navigation’.
So what you could have done with five taps, now can take one tap, speaking a phrase, waiting 10 seconds, and one more tap. I’m not really sure it saves any time or is any safety advantage since you still need a couple taps of the screen. We’ll see how well full address entry works when the TomTom 920 is released, but until then voice recognition on the NAVIGON 7100 works on par with other manufacturers, but at this point I’m not totally convinced the implementation has any time savings or safety benefits.
Logbook
I’ve been waiting for this feature on GPS devices for a long time. Except for runs to the grocery store, I use a GPS just about every time I get in the car. Some of the time for business, and some of the time for fun. I do my best to keep the IRS happy with detailed logs of business trips recording where I went, how many miles it was, and what date it was. I’ve always looked at GPS devices and tried speaking to their circuit boards saying “You know where I’ve been, when I was there, and how far I went, how difficult for you could it possibly be to just remember that for me and create a business mileage log for me!”
The NAVIGON 7100 finally met my wish. It even stores the data in an Excel spreadsheet on the device, just waiting to be imported into my finance program! You can record different types of trips such as To Work, Away from Work, Business, Personal, and a few others. Even better, the logbook records even when you don’t have a destination specified.
If I wasn’t in the GPS business which requires me to constantly use different devices, the NAVIGON 7100 would be a dream for helping to record mileage.
Traffic
Perhaps the biggest story about the NAVIGON 7100 is the traffic service. NAVIGON got a ton of things right when it comes to traffic. First, there is a traffic receiver built into the device. If you happen to get a really strong traffic signal where you drive you may find it isn’t necessary to use the provided external antenna. However in most cases you will probably want to use it. In my testing I couldn’t get a signal in many areas where the coverage maps showed I could get a signal until I used the external antenna.
Another great thing about the traffic service is that unlike a few other devices you can get a list of traffic events, even those that don’t pertain to your route, listed out in a very logical fashion. You can see the type of traffic information, the roadway, and direction. Clicking on the line gives a more detailed description about that traffic event, as well as a button where you can go to that location on the map.
But the greatest point of all about the traffic service on the NAVIGON 7100 is the price. It’s free. No, not just a three month trial subscription. No, not even a 12 or 15 month included traffic reception. The service is totally free…. lifetime. While the “cost” is likely built into the device, the fact that you don’t need to pay $60 per year for the service is absolutely fantastic. This is what has caused this device to get so much buzz in the industry so we asked Ralf Hug, Vice President of Marketing for NAVIGON how they are able to offer this when other companies are charging for the service.
“It’s all about knowing what customers value and figuring out a way to satisfy their needs. NAVIGON’s consumer research indicates that traffic is a very important feature and service. The research shows consumers are not happy with the way traffic is offered today; there is an unfulfilled need out there. Existing subscription processes are complicated and expensive and therefore adoption of the service is very low. NAVIGON developed a unique business model that overcomes these limitations and offers what consumers want out of the box: traffic service over the life of the product without the hassle of subscriptions.”
Purchasing Advice
I mentioned to someone in an email recently that this would be one of the more difficult reviews I’ve written. A short side story… While I’m not a mobile phone expert, I’m a former Treo owner. I purchased the Treo thinking I’d use it to get access to email and the web while traveling. It would send and receive email just find. The web browser was able to display web pages in a satisfactory way. But while it would accomplish the task, all of those tasks were cumbersome, slow, and ugly. Thus I never used my Treo to its capabilities and ended up getting rid of the associated data plan. Recently I got an iPhone. Email and browsing the web is easy and accessible. While both devices accomplished the same tasks, the Treo was so difficult to use I ended up not using it. The iPhone is simply a joy to use.
Back to the NAVIGON 7100, it has a fantastic set of features that are nearly impossible for other devices on the market today to match. There is a great looking navigation display, albeit with a few too many small icons. Multi destination routing is supported, along with the ability to save routes. Routing is quick enough, and the text to speech voice is good enough to be understood. The traffic service is great, and the price of the traffic service (free) is unmatched so far in North America.
But overall in the interface the buttons tend to be too small, touch screen inputs are seen, but often ignored, and much of the text on the screen is very small– even for someone with near perfect vision. There were other small interface quirks as well, like when you save a POI as a favorite there is no default name… you need to type it all out.
If you can get past the often frustrating interface and small buttons, you will find that the NAVIGON 7100 has a feature set that is nearly impossible for other manufacturers to match. But a good deal of patience with the interface is required.
| Store | Rating | Best Prices |
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Compare all prices on the Navigon 7100 Auto GPS ranging from $139.99 to $449.99. | ||
 |  In Stock at Dell.com | $329.00 |
 | In Stock at Office Depot | $449.99 |
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Tim,
Great factual review. I’ve read several reviews of the Navigon 7100 and I must say that yours is actually one of the more favorable ones. I know we’ve had a few Navigon advocates posting on the forums so it would be nice to get their reaction to the screen input issues you had. Is it just a “beginner’s” problem that you get better at over time or perhaps some fault with the particular unit Tim tested.
Since nobody is replying I would like to direct you to the C/Net reviews.
First there is a rather favorable Editor’s Review (it sound like he spent more qualify time with the manual than using the unit)
http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/navigon-7100/4505-3430_7-32557477.html
Then there are 13 user reviews which are mostly very unfavorable with an average of 5.4 out of 10 points
http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/navigon-7100/4852-3430_7-32557477.html?tag=uolst
I hope the links work but the initial reviews are that this unit is one to avoid until they get the bugs worked out.
I read in one of the C/Net reviews that the Navigon 7100 automatically changes time zone. In one of the forums I recall that someone was asking if any GPS units offered this feature.
I remember the question being asked. I only used the NAVIGON in one timezone and since so few devices have that feature I didn’t think to test it.
What concerns me is the problem with suggesting u-turns if u miss an exit. Apparently, 7100 makes u go back to the same route by suggesting a u turn instead of re-calculating from the current location. Is that true? Also, are there any plans to offer multimedia and phone book sync features via firmware/software upgrades? I know this is more of a question for the Navigon people, but you seem to have an insight…
MP - I think it depends on the recalculation preferences and the U-turn preferences you have set in the device. I know I changed many of the settings from the default. (I don’t have the device with me anymore to confirm which settings I changed.) But I didn’t experience that issue in my recalculation tests.
I don’t know if there are future plans for phonebook/sync enhancements.
Hello Tim and GPS Review readers -
Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Blake Bowen and I am a Program Manager at Navigon in Chicago. My focus in recent months has been preparing the Navigon 5100 and 7100 personal navigation products for their North America debut. As such, I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to review the Navigon 7100 for GPSReview.net.
As you state, the Navigon 7100 comes with a fantastic set of features that are nearly impossible for other devices on the market today to match. This goes to show how dedicated we are to the market and our commitment to releasing innovative products that go the extra mile to enhance the user experience.
With that being said, we understand that our job is far from over when it comes to making the best navigation product as possible. Rest assured we are evaluating all of the input that we receive from our customer service hotline and from the various user forums such as gpsreview.net. This input will be used to not only improve future products but help us with updates to the 5100 and 7100 so stay tuned.
With regards to the comments posted after the review, I’d like to shed some light on these too:
The issues related to the screen input have been improved with the production models. I know you added an addendum to the review to reflect this but I wanted to mention it again.
Multiple time zones are supported automatically if your route crosses through multiple zones. For example, a route from Chicago to Detroit will indicate an estimated arrival time of Eastern time (for Detroit) even when the route is calculated in Chicago (Central time).
The addition of MP3, video, and photo viewers has become a common feature for navigation systems. This was a feature we discussed internally during the product development phase. However, based on our market research as well as input we received from a focus group, we found that the overwhelming number of consumers had no desire to see these features in their navigation systems. The general consensus was that people who wanted to take advantage of multimedia services already owned an iPod or similar device that provided the complete user experience for multimedia. Our focus is on navigation so we chose to concentrate our efforts in that arena for these products. As the market continues to grow we will continue to monitor customer opinions to offer the features that end users demand.
For u-turns, users will typically not see these on a regular basis, as you discovered in your brief test. There will be some instances however where the best (or sometimes only) route is to make a u-turn. We try to limit these but there are cases where they will occur. We are currently evaluating some of the use cases that have been brought to our attention to see if there are any other adjustments that would make sense.
If there are any other questions that I can answer for you or your readers, I would welcome any comments. My email address is blake.bowen@navigon.com.
We at Navigon are very proud of our products and want to make the end user as happy as possible. The input and support that we receive from customers is a key element in helping us achieve this goal.
Thank you again for your time,
Blake Bowen
Program Manager
Navigon, Inc.
One point that I forgot to mention regarding the Zagat POIs. Zagat data in the 7100 is available for locations that are covered by the Zagat published survey. These are typically in larger cities in North America but can vary in size and are not available in all 50 states.
To see specific locations in your area, please visit http://www.zagat.com and select your location in the “Your Location” drop-down near the top of the page. This will allow you to see what locations are covered for a particular area.
Future updates to the Zagat data will be incorporated into future updates of the database.
Blake Bowen
Program Manager
Navigon, Inc.
I find the reviews are intriguing and have me in teh edge of decision. I have a question for Mr. Blake Bowen, the Program Manager: Will of have the comments about earlier shortcomings been incorporated into later versions?
Does the sysem have some sort of firmware upgrade path?
How can I be sure the one that I buy is not an earlie version hat has not been possibly upgraded.
Thanks for your time, and thanks to the rest of the forum for sharing useful information.
Thanks for the comments Mark.
It is the nature of the consumer electronics category: today’s “advanced” technologies must continue to evolve (and do so, at shocking pace). Virtually every technology product out there goes through some sort of upgrade to improve or enhance its operation. Our own GPS competitors routinely release upgrades to address issues that their users encounter.
NAVIGON is no exception. We’ve been around long enough (since 1991) to know that it’s the nature of the biz that we must continually improve.
This is our upgrade path: first, to aggregate and evaluate report trends. Second: to engineer a fix. Third: to test the heck out of any proposed fix and make sure that what we say will fix a problem actually fixes the problem.
Right now, we can say that we are preparing to offer a software upgrade in the coming weeks. Among other smaller issues this fix will address, it will provide a retool of text-to-speech. Truth is, text to speech, as it exists today, does exactly what we engineered it to do. Right now, our systems don’t provide street names in areas where the blocks are too close together (like urban areas). This is because we wanted to provide ample time for the announcement of direction, distance, and the name of the street.
We are currently looking into improving this TTS approach based on user perceptions. We think we have the answer–and we’re on a path to make a first upgrade that will be available in the coming weeks.
We’ll be sure to let you–and all of our users out there–know plans as soon as they solidify. We’ll also let you know exactly what this upgrade will, and will not, address (at least in the first go-round).
As for how you can be “sure” you have a product that includes this software update, not sure there is a way to guarantee this. But even should you buy a device with the older software, our goal is to make it as easy and painless as possible for you to download the fix. So you should be ok either way.
If you have any other questions, I would encourage you to write here or email me directly.
Blake Bowen
Program Manager
Navigon, Inc.
Blake,
Does Navigon have any current plans to offer a program similar to TomTom’s Mapshare program? This program allows TomTom users to report new POIs, delete out dated POI’s, report street and road closures that can be shared almost immediately with fellow users through their upload/download functionality. There was some indication that Garmin was working on a similar program. How about Navigon? If so, any idea when it might be available?
Hi Jeep (I am a Jeep fan myself)-
Content in general is a big focus for NAVIGON and we’ve already shown this with the Zagat POIs and subscription-free traffic that we currently offer. So while I cannot comment on anything specific regarding future plans for map-specific content or give any actual dates, we are looking at various ways of providing new and exciting content to users. Keep an eye on our website for more specifics as we have them.
Thanks again and keep the shiny side up
Blake Bowen
Program Manager
Navigon, Inc.
I just got a 2100. Since I see one of the navigon programmers on here I would like to suggest 2 2100 features that SHOULD have already been in there..
1. Auto shutoff. when the unit senses that the power from the CIG ligter cord is no there it will wait a specified amount of time before powering down. Other GPS units do this.
2. Auto day/night. I could find no mention of this but most GPS units including another model I have will automatically switch from day to night. I didnt see if the 2100 did.
I am looking for my first GPS unit. My wife and I will be the primary users and while I am ‘technology capable’, my wife has not interest in ‘dealing with that stuff’. I am looking for ‘ease of use’ as a primary point. I am looking for RELIABILITY and good United States Technical Support / Customer Service. I’ve read about many things regarding this unit as well as others. My wife and I live in North-Central Florida and travel frequently within the U.S. I am also looking at this unit due to it’s screen size but when I read that it’s hard to read (even with excellent vision) are we talking about the maps or are we talking about text on the maps? If it has good text-to-speech capabilities, how much interaction with the screen while driving is necessary with these units? Am I being overly-simplistic to say “Once I set it up to make a trip and turn the volume up, that’s the last I should have to physically interact with the unit until I complete the trip”?
Geoff, when I was mentioning the small things that are sometimes hard to read I’m referring to the menu items and some of the stats/text on the screen. The map view itself takes up the full display and is easy to read. But you are absolutely right, once you setup your destination you won’t likely need to interact with it at all until you want to turn it off after reaching your destination. Even if you miss a turn it re-routes you (as most all GPS devices do) so you don’t need to touch it.
Hi Tim and Blake,thanks for the good work.i’m new to the GPS world sosome of my questions might seem ignorant so forgive me for that.
I bought a Navigon 2100 yesterday and i have 2 weeks to return or make an exchange.I’m thinking of upgrading to the 5100 or the 7100 but i need some information before i make my decision.
My first question is,will i need a bluetooth headset to use the calling feature if i get the 7100?
Do i get signs on the screen to warn me about traffic or the traffic is done through voice?
i also read some reviews and user opinions on the 5100,most complained of outdated map for US on both the 7100 and the 5100 (ive not found a review on the 2100 yet) and also, fake POI on screen.I plan on going from New York through New Jersey and to Virginia, do you think these big cities mght have the same problem as other users wrote in their reviews?I want to know how far or long is the update for the map and what price range?since my 2100 did not come with a usb cable,how will i be able to update my gps when there’s an update?
I would be glad if my questions are answered since i only have 2 weeks for decide to return this unit for my money or exchange it for a 5100 or 7100.
to use the calling features you need a phone that support tooth… I have a 2100 also. I hear there are issues with the 5100 and 7100 but then I hear that they might have corrected them on the 2100. Since there are really no 2100 reviews I dont know…
My phone support the bluetooth feature,but there’s no add on for the 2100 or bluetooth on it.but i not sure,if i need to buy a headset or ear piece to use for the calls.for example,with the navigon 7100 only show im an incoming call only or it’ll notify me of an incoming call and i can accept and just talk without connecting a blue tooth headset?
One thing i forgot to ask, driving to school this morning?i realized my gps does not mention all names.sometims it just says “get ready to turn on Popham ave in 200ft….now turn left.”
Other times,it just says “Begin to turn left in 200 ft…turn left now”.
does it mean its not full text to speach?because i chose this over another gps with more features and a lesser price just because of the text to speech.
i have yet to see the “real view” picture too eventhough i’ve been on the highway with multiple intersection this morning.i turn the feature “ON” on my device too.
actually, the text to speech is doing what it is supposed to do according to the navigon web site:
In some intersections, my NAVIGON GPS navigator seems to miss announcing the name of the street onto which I am expected to turn. Why is that?
Here is some info from the navigon web site regarding bluetooth:
[Editor Note: I’m just going to link to the articles]
What’s the easiest way to pair my NAVIGON 7100 with my cell phone the first time I use this functionality?
Information on Bluetooth Connections
How do I maintain the Bluetooth® connectivity in subsequent uses?
Thank you Dave for all your time and the info,how long have u used the 2100?how will you rate it and recommend it?
WOW, what a great forum, well I am on the fence about the 7100, my worry is the following and if someone can help that would be great
1) I was at Best buy and Frys in Dallas yesterday, tried the unit but found the touch screen not sensitive like the TOM TOM, harder to get the menus the change, this worries me and it was a new unit out of the box so I assume it was a newer model navigon shipped
2) The traffic, on TOM TOM, all it does it tell you when there is traffic jam on major highways, no details of what it is or such, does Navigon do that give you details and does it speak teh traffic jams?
3) Upgrades, and new maps with 2mb card almost totally used, where is the space for upgrades if you upgrade, will you be offering us 4mb cards FREE or discounted to update firmware or maps and when
4) Are you devleoping a 7200 that will be better and should this mean we wait till that comes out in 2008 with better fixes and such please be honest:)
I am torn between tomtom xl and Navigon 7100, I need expert advice as to what to buy, I see navigon price is now 399 with rebate that tells me a newer unit is coming soon, law of marketing and product devleopment which I have done for 24 years, and I off base here
thanks to all and if someone from Navigon can respond and help me make an honest and good decision I would appreicate it greatly
Thanks ALL
Dave, with regards to number 2 the TomTom devices can tell you the details about the traffic and read the traffic alerts to you if you prompt it. It also shows you the estimated time delay (if any) and how far ahead that incident is on the map.
Tim, can you say the same about the 7100?
I recently purchased the 7100/7110 military edition of the Navigon in Germany. It has the US and European Maps. I was wondering if the software has a phonebook/yellow pages. I cannot seem to find this and it is a valuable feature I have had on other GPS units. For example if looking for IKEA in a city, I should be able to put in my desired destination (IKEA) in a phone book, under a city, or as a desitination and it will give an address or list if multiple. I can then go directly there with the GPS. On the Navigon, I see destination, but it only allows street names. Is there a way to put in destinations or is this feature not available?
Yaw - Yes, the 7100 has a different way of presenting the information but pretty much the same details are provided.
Lee - Yes, those are known as Points of Interest, or POIs.
Thanks Tim,then i guess it’ll be worth it to upgrade to 5100 then.I was looking for a Target yesterday in my area,it never showed up,but when i typed the Target address,it takes me there but it doesnt show any Target stop.my gsp is good at showing mc’donalds n urger king well tho
Can anyone tell me how well this unit works in Canada? I know it has the maps for Canada but does it show speeds in kilometers rather than miles and does it have POIs for Toronto? Thanks
Blake,
I have a Navigon 7100. Here are my questions:
A. Where are the accessories? For instance customers in Europe can buy your specialized mount . We can’t get a mount, a replacement stylus etc. I asked about this last month and was told in a week accessories would be up. It turns out the ones you decided to make available for the US are the opposite of what people need.
B. What is up with the battery life? It is very very short. I get one hour. Can your software people do something to optimize this? It makes using the device for pedestrian tours useless and gives Nuvi a big advantage.
C. The text to speech has problems. I am glad you are addressing it. It was disconcerting to see a “faq” put out (someone posted the link) which dismisses user noted bugs, when we know there are problems, and you yourself indicate you know this. Owners don’t want spin, they want fixes.
D. Why does navigon Fresh not work only for US users? It works for European 7100 and 7110. The answer from support is: you don’t need it as there are no updates. But it always worked for European users before their software update. In fact even the system informaiton screen on Navigon Fresh doesn’t work. Again, an orphaning of US users.
E. European 7100 customers already got an update at the beginning of November. They are on 6.5.1. Will US customers play second fiddle?
F. The Zagats is nice but a LOT of common POIs are left off. Major retail box chains for example.
G. The POI search is not good. It is terrible. Do yourself a favor and try and locate a post office if you are in a city you will see what I mean.
You have an excellent product 95% realized, but the perceptions about US support, born out by lack of accessories and being second fiddle on software updates, are a problem that might make current owners tell others to hold off.
To LEON.
yes,you have the option to use miles or km.
To Michael:
finding food,sch a subways s easy for the ps,but whe it comes t staples,bestbuy,cc or target,this does not help find them.
sometimes you se hosptal clse to you,but it dont showwhen you check your OI on route
Thank you Tim for such a great indetail review. I was very indecisive on different products (not any more after reading your review). One thing I would like to mention is the companies which sense the need of their customers are always way ahead of competitors. This company is providing some very good features which I was looking for but didnt find in one product. i.e
1) Lane Assistant
2) Reality view (it should be live not static)
3) Thank God, NO mp3 and all sort of other junk
4) Lifetime traffic update (at no additional cost)
Some suggestions:
* I would like to have a reality view in which it splits the screen and shows a zoomed view of the intersection on half of the screen.
* Bluetooth with address book
* Better voice recognition.
* More frequent updates (software + data)
Techguy,
Live reality view would take 100 times the processor load that mp3 would take. Mp3 has no detrimental effect on any GPS I have used. Mp3 takes less overhead and creates less problems than even address books can. Lots of Tech users have Treos and big address books.Probably most people would rather MP3 than an address book. Also if you have MP3 on the GPS unit you get a automatic mute function. For example on Garmin it is perfect listening to music via the Garmin mp3 player because you can input it to your car stereo and it mutes during Text to Speech. Impossible with Navigon.
I personally find the reality view a hindrance on the highway. I live in an area with a lot of merges and it interferes with that. Almost everyone seems to turn off the realty view and use the lane assist. This is on par with Garmin’s lane assist.
If we are going to talk about suggested add ons what this really really missing is custom POI.
You have to pay for traffic with Garmin but custom POI and POI database importing is easy and FREE with Garmin. With Navigon US customers have to buy POI software and yearly subscription like POI warner (it is included with Navigon 7100 Europe but left off on US models).
I also cannot fathom how navigating to coordinates was left off. This is a very basic function that every model but Navigon has. In the US it is especially useful, and it also is an indication of things Navigon has to have to be a US market oriented device.
Thanks Michael, very good feedback. I would like Navigon rep to address issues you have raised and give us a road map for updates.
i went to Navigon website and emailed them,i think you guys can do the same,i’ve not got my reply yet tho
Hi, just received a brand new 7100. Since we have a company representative here, I though I might blow off some steam. My unit came missing a window mount and a stylus. When I called the customer support they told me this is very common and they would set up a claim which I feel will last for quite some time. How in the world do you sell a $600 system with missing accessories? Overall the system appears to be a success, although there are of course few things that could make it perfect. It even was able to find GPS indoors which is a surprise to me. However, I could not locate any traffic tips even though I live in a major city. And yes, could not locate the closest post office using POI, which is half a mile away from my house.
I have been considering my first GPS purchase. After reading this review, I will wait. The price of this electronic “toy” does not leave it in the toy range, but rather a “tool”. The lack of reliable, configurable user experience is a huge deterant. I Live near Seattle and went to Sturgis this year. my brother just bought a Garmin and it was frustrating for the rest of us to wait on his “programming” and all of the stupid U-turns. I think I will wait 3 more years until the developers get their products figured out.
Has anyone tried to contact Blake Bowen directly through his email address? I tried today and it was returned as undeliverable.
I am in the military and am currently stationed in Japan. Does anyone know of a GPS unit that either has Japanese maps included or that I could purchase and then later download maps of Japan for use with said unit???
Ok - so whats the scoop - I got an out of office reply from Blake that says he will be back in the office on the 26th. I have been looking at prices and I have narrowed my search down to the TomTom XL-S @ $[snip, see comment policy] the Magellan 4250 @ $[snip] and the Navigon 7100 @$[snip]. I really want the 7100 because of its look but I am not sure all this reading the reviews has helped - more it has placed doubts - does anyone have an opinion based on actually using the items I mentioned ? Thanks.
Sorry about the pricing - mainly I wanted to say that they were so close in price so it was not really the deciding factor and I was looking for other factors that might help like, Newer maps from Navigon will be $xxx but $000 from Tom Tom erc stuff like that. Cheers.
After reading this review and all of the comments I went out yesterday and purchased a Navigon 7100.
Upon completion of the set ups I went on a 100 mile excursion. I found everything about this unit quite easy to work with. The features, “Lane Assist†and “Reality Viewâ€, are great. I am the Los Angeles area, and even living here all my life, our Freeways are a mess.
I found no issue at all with the touch screen, even with my fat fingers.
I do have a few things that I would like to see changed or added. I like to drive with my windows open and with tunes playing. This presents a problem as the voice output is just not loud enough. Fortunately car stereo system has a NAV input (most do now). This is good, but if I plug into the headphone jack, I cannot use the TMC antenna and the TMC will not work without it. Is there some form of adapter that will allow the use of both headphones and the TMC antenna?
Next is the so called car mount. This thing is fine stuck to the windshield however this is NOT legal in California and I have no flat surface to stick the disk. I do like the twist lock mount but I need to use an alternative mounting. Is there a mate to the connector on the back of the unit available?
I really wanted to like this unit. But the sluggishness of the system, small fonts, and dullness of the screen were turnoffs. Screen needs to be brighter. 5100 may be a better unit for walkers who would like to carry the unit with them. Right now I am going to wait for the 7200/5200 series.
I have the 2100 and love it. I think its Plenty bright.. I dont know how it would be for walking as I dont use the GPS for that but for driving its fine. I also do not think its slow at all. I actually like it..
I have the 2100 and its plenty bright for driving. I dont use it for walking so I can answer that. I also dont think its that slow.. the only thing I want them to add is more POI.. speciflcally RETAIL STORES. navigon told me they dont have any retail stores in their POI. thats an issue.
Also the ability to click on a POI I see on the map and select ROUTE TO THERE would be great…
TO DAVE,
Hi I noticed you just purchased a Navigon and can’t use your window mount. Would you be interested in making an offer? Thanks,
My email: Vadimchik@usa.com
If anyone is considering purchasing the Navigon 7100 despite some of its drawbacks, which are supposedly being addressed right now, I just discovered [snip, see comment policy]. I purchased my unit less than a week ago and it is now significantly less than what I paid. [They] issued me a credit for the difference. [snip]
Sorry for including store names in my earlier post. Suffice to say that I paid a fair amount less than the “Best Prices” listed above at the end of the review.
Perhaps I am not as critical as some others. I have not had much to complain about in the week that I have owned the 7100. Based on what I’ve read to date about the 7100, my main concern is the amount of room left on the SD card for updates. Should I choose to purchase a 4mg card, should it be an SDHC card? Sandisk makes an Ultra II, an Extreme III and an Extreme IV that seem to vary in “Class” as either Class 4 or Class 6. Is one better than the other for the Navigon 7100? Are they all compatible with the Navigon 7100?
Thanks for any input or advice.
Typically any updates replace the existing data on the device and don’t take up any more (significant) space than what was already on the card, so I wouldn’t worry much about that. I can’t think of an example of devices from any manufacturer where map updates or application updates necessitated purchasing a larger SD card, even those with limited free space to being with.
Thanks to Thanksgiving sales,i had the new limited edition navigon 2100 with life-time traffic for a buck.i returned the old one.Navigon,please work on retail POI.
Over the past few days I have been using the 2100T and I must say its nice.. HOWEVER on 2 of the trips I have made it took me way off the route down a few side streets to get me to the main road which I could have just stayed straight and been at the same main road but at an even closer location. I dont understand why the unit wont pick the most direct route and wants me to get off a main road and go into little side streets.. I am thinking I will return it and get the NUVI 260 GPS with TTS.. I dont really need the traffic feature..
is the NUVI 260 any better at routing??
I am a current user of Oncourse navigator (OCN) - a software product made by navigon that I use on my pda. I suspect that the basic software is similar. I got used to it and hence may buy the Navigon. In this context, I am concerned about the “continuing to improve the product and upcoming software release” comments from the product manager. My experience with Navigon on this score has been rather poor. They took a long time to do patches for OCN — many things the user feedback pointed to as problems were never fixed, and then they abandoned the market. Interesting that they return with a device that is branded as Navigon. Of course the problem could have been with the OCN people and not NAvigon. However, seeing the same story here (we are continuing to improve) suggests a marketing approach that is designed to release a not fully baked product and then see how it does. Would appreciate a response from the product manager - at least some reassurance.
Well I think I am giving up on the 2100 because of the way it routes.. I really wanted to like this unit but with the horrible routing I cant use it. I tested it with the magellan I also have and the routing on the magellan was correct. I am now getting a magellan 2200T which does the text to speech and you can add the traffic (although its like $60 a year)
Check this announcement from Navigon from July — interesting since they say that there is no future in the USA for the products that they switched to, and that they would no longer offer support via map upgrades to the existing user base — only resolve problems with OCN 5.x
Well, I know I mentioned about the quirky routing but today, again, I did some more testing and had my Magellan 2000 and the navigon 2100 side by side .. 95% of the time the navigon was dead on with the correct route. Only about 5% of the time did it go to some crazy small side street that is not needed.. HOWEVER, my magellan did some crazy routing today and it took me ways I normally didnt go or it wouldnt be the best or faster route in my opinion… I think I am sticking with it.. for $99 its a steal! I figured I will get another GPS and find quirks in the routing as well. HOWEVER, what would be nice is a GPS where you could save an updated ROUTE for the next time you travel there…
Now if navigon would put out updates and also update the POI it would be an awesome unit.. also I read we can use a faster memory card to improve the performance.. anyone know which one to use and can we just cop the files in windows to the new card??
The 5100 and 7100 sound promising and realizing the importance — or as some of us think the necessity — of real-time traffic feedback as integral to any auto-based GPS, I wonder if:
How the re-routing works in practice?
Upgrade metro maps will be available, even at a fee?
Will foreign city/country maps (since it’s European endeavour) as downloads any time soon?
I want to buy my first GPS system and I want to make sure that the one I buy is the best GPS out there for the money. I really like the features on the 7100 but the mixed reviews worry me. Since the GPS I buy will be the only one I have until it dies, I want to make sure I’m getting the right one. In your honest opinion, is this the best bang for my buck? Can I expect to be able to use this 5 or 8 years down the road? I’m planning on using this to drive from Chicago to Disney World with 3 kids that are 1, 4 and 6 so I can’t afford any unexpected road closures.
GPS-Newbie: It probably isn’t realistic to expect that any GPS will last you 8 years. So goes the story with high-technology. As for unexpected road closures, most of the GPS companies all get their maps from one of two mapping companies, so in many cases two GPS devices from different brands can have the exact same mapping data. You won’t be any more likely to run into that with the NAVIGON than you would with other GPS brands.
Tim, thanks for your comment. I guess I wouldn’t expect it to last 8yrs either. I guess what I meant was if this would be something that wouldn’t become obsolete anytime soon. Does Navigon provide map updates that can be downloaded?
NAVIGON does offer map updates. They just announced a program called NAVIGON Fresh that is an application that will download and install map updates and other application updates.
Hi Tim,where can i read more about the “NAVIGON Fresh ” and how do i get it?
What’s a great GPS system for around $250?
Yaw, NAVIGON has announced it, but I think it will still be a few weeks before it is released for download.
Thank you Tim,please link us when anything new about it is announced.thank you
Great review, especially the purchase advice. I received this unit as a gift and love it. I agree with the reviewer that the onscreen buttons are too small, and that the unit does not always respond to pressing on screen buttons.
To improve visibility during the day, I would recommend switching the unit to night mode. This displays white text on a black background which can be read easily in bright daylight.
Button issues aside, the basic navigation features of the Navigon 7100 are still fairly easy to use while in the car. The traffic feature is awesome and works like a charm in metro Toronto.
The windshield attachmant bracket is a great design and works well. Kudos to Navigon for providing every possible accessory in the box.
Looking forward to finding out more about map updates, etc.
To Navigon tech guy and all who will listen.
I bought a 2100 and subsequently returned it. I found it not to be as good as reviews made me think. here is my ‘review’ of this device.
1.Design: The case and interface are very slick looking. The reality view is a great feature.
2.MAPS: Based on NAVTEQ map software, this unit seems somewhat up to date, but the maps aren’t as up to date as the Garmin Nuvi products. I suspect an older version of navteq was used in early development and not updated before released on this product.
3. Fonts: many of the fonts are too small. The speed is virtually unreadable. This important piece of information [My Speed] should be larger, since I often refer to it as a reference to the accuracy of my speedometer.
4. Routing. No matter what the tech says, routing is broken on this unit. whatever the problem, it results in incorrect routing over 50% of the routes I tried to calculate. I can provide specific routes that are incorrect. I did notice that other people mentioned that it tries to take you back to your original route, even if there’s a better one.
5. Missing Features: Auto day/night, auto off. Sufficient POIS.
That’s about it.
Finally, I would have kept my 2100 if it weren’t so bad at routing. I want to be very clear about this. I have been working with GPSRs for six years and talking to many users. I have worked with many different GPS Navigation units and the routing problem is REAL and it makes this unit virtually unusable.
i agree with Ken on the routing.sometimes it wants to take me on a road n bring me back on the same road after some turns.so i only use the gps when going to places i dont know at all,in that case,i wouldnt know this gps is wasting my time.last time a friend shown me a short route to her place (15 mins) while the gps was taking me through like 25+ route to the same place.i like this unit for the poi icons on the screen and the real view(very helpful for confusing exits or intersections)
You guys are right about the routing. It’s a crapshoot as far as recalculating routes that result in the shortest trip time.
Larger fonts for some displays would be nice.
Hi,
I’m interested to by a 7110. I see here some say that the routing is a problem. Is this US only or a general problem? I’ve let calculate a route in Belgium on a Navigon 7110 and the route is much better than on a Garmin. At least he doesn’t say me on rural small roads like the Garmin does.
I tried to mail Blake Bowen on this a couple of days ago, but he doesn’t seem to respond. I hope he will do soon.
Eddy
I just used my month old 7100 on vacation.
First off, couldn’t find lots of places. If it isn’t in Zagat, it’s most likely not listed.
Several towns that I drove through showed NO POIs, that’s impossible, since I was passing them as I was driving. I absolutely do not like that I cannot locate a place by name. I tried to look for “Blackwater Inn” and it didn’t come up, I put in the town, and it said NO POI’s. I tried so many different ways to locate this restaurant to absolutely no avail. I am so frustrated and I am definitely considering returning it.
There is no updates that I’ve seen other than a rebate offer for $50.
Also tried to retrieve the address of one of my favorites, and I can’t retrieve it., It just comes up as the name I gave it. To find the address, I must do new destination and start all over again.
I tried to put in the location where I was and, i could not save it. The save button was grayed out, meaning, couldn’t save.
Sound is way too quiet when radio or talking in car is going on.
Screen is big, however, to enter any address you need a pen or a stylus. Stylus is too hard to take out when you’re driving ( I know, I know),and I am short, and windshield is so far away, that I have to stop the car to retrieve the stylus, not worth it.
Reality View - FANTASTIC.
POI’s horrible!!!!!!!! I am so spoiled from a garmin I borrowed that this is just so so not user friendly enough. I am very computer capable, but this is for the birds. I am also a woman and my fingers should be able to touch the screen and I cannot.
I try to enter an address and it comes up automatically, but if you do not have the CORRECT # or street name or highway name, it could take you 15 minutes to find it in their system if even at all!
I just do not like this and I am hoping since my son bought this as a gift for me that I will be able to return it ! ! ! ! !
I have not used the traffic yet. I’m still just trying to figure this thing out to begin with, let alone the traffic !
If anyone, anyone at all, can tell me what the heck I am doing wrong that it is not working as well as the NUVI garmin, I would greatly appreciate it. Reality view is great, but not that great to keep it with all the other issues.
Also, highway names, for example Route 19, If I am on vacation, how the heck do I know where I am to ask where something is ???? If I do not enter it exactly as Navigon lists it I cannot locate it on the 7100.
For example: Route 19 could be listed as State Route, or Highway, or Route, or whatever. I feel like I have to google it on the 7100 just to find anything and it takes forever!!!!!
Help me to redeem it or otherwise, it is adios to the 7100.
Also, back to what I was talking about before, to enter current location, I called and the tech guy told me I just have to choose GPS status. This is when I came up with the above problem of not being able to save it.
PLEASE HELP!!!!
No customer service in USA at all…I called them 5 times! No respond! Need new car mount.
My mount broke on the 2nd use also. Have called and emailed multiple times. Did reach a human who "escalated" my case to teh supervisor. Nothing happened. On persistent follow up, via email I was told that they were awaiting a shipment of mounts. 2 weeks later still nothing.
Tried to find out in November from customer service if you could buy European maps for it. Still no reply… I like this unit but will not buy until they get some customer service on it. I don’t want to buy something that is totally unsupported.
Navigon 7100 Is a big dissappointment! I looked at all the great reviews and thought this was the best GPS out there. IT IS NOT! Gives you wrong directions, tells you to make a U turn going down an off ramp. Has gotten me lost in Disney parks. Has given me routes that if I took another route it would have been quicker. I’ve placed two phone calls to Cutomer service the youg lady said it isn’t perfect get use to it. Another man said it will give you some bad route but quickly gets you on track. It even pronounces Tampa Fl, Tampras. The CS agent tells me there is a map update coming out in March at a cost of $75 to $100 dollars. Not only did I pay over $400 dollars I now have to shell out another $100 to make it work correctly. This was a rip off!!!
One more thing I forgot to add. I drove for two hours with my Navigon “charging” in the car charger, within 20 minutes of trying to have my son look at why it took me on a wrong route, the battery died. DIED ! What? Wasn’t it charged in the whole time driving? Ugh !!!! I’m getting more and more upset !
Guys, I dont know why there are a lot of negative reviews for NAVIGON. Now, I dont have the 7100, I have the 2100. I love it.. for $99 it does traffic, and gives pretty good routes with street names spoken. granted there are not a lot of POI’s but I installed PIO-WARNER and installed a whole bunch more POI’s. I’ve never had a problem with the battery or anything although I use it in the car plugged in. Sometimes I even take it inside and charge it using a USB cable and my PC.
Maybe the 7100 is different but I havt 2 2100’s (one in each car) and love them.
Oh Yea.. One more thing.. I see people complainign about not enough poi’s in the unit. Isnt the main function of a GPS to give you directions? I think the 2100 does this pretty good and the 7100 should do the same. I almost NEVER look up a POI as that is not why I bought the unit. But you can purchase and install POI-WARNER and then you can get loads of POI’s from web sites…
Dave: I paid a LOT of money for my 7100, purposely for directions, traffic, AND POI’s. I should get what I paid for. I feel if I had spent for the Garmin half of what I paid for this one, I had many many choices and no problems at all. I kept the garmin on me, in the house, everywhere and even walked around with it and didn’t need to charge it for 2 days. I rented it for 2 weeks and used it all the time (since I was on vacation)
Also, what is this software that you are referring to? How do I do that and can I put it on my 7100? I’m not clear on what you mean about this.
Thanks for your input and help.
PS: Dave, don’t get me wrong, as for GPS, it’s no different than any other GPS unit, except for the reality view. (which I love !!!!) If I wanted it just for directions, then I would have bought the cheapest one I could get, (or ask for the cheapest) (it was a gift.)
Oh Yea.. One more thing.. I see people complainign about not enough poi’s in the unit. Isnt the main function of a GPS to give you directions? I think the 2100 does this pretty good and the 7100 should do the same. I almost NEVER look up a POI as that is not why I bought the unit. But you can purchase and install POI-WARNER and then you can get loads of POI’s from web sites…
Dave - January 22nd, 2008
how do you do that?
Actually I think the 2100 and 7100 are exactly the same except the 7100 has a wide screen and come with zagats and traffic activated.
as far as that software I mentioned… Read here:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97250&whichpage=1
I posted instructions in that thread as to how I have it installed. I works pretty good and I added a bunch of poi’s. I know you can spend more money on a different brand GPS then I paid for my 2100 but for what I use it for which is directions and SPOKEN Street names, its good for that. I know of no other GPS that has a one time traffic fee.
Buyer beware. This Navigon company does not have a repair facility according to customer service for North America. So if you drop it and warranty won’t cover it your done.
It’s clear this product has a long way to go. I’ll be looking elsewhere.
I experienced the same thing as others mentioned. I sent me to an Exxon 1.2 miles away while there’s one right next to where I parked. Also it suggested a longer route than necessary. Both starting location has been there for many years.
David, as for the Exxon, manufacturers don’t try to put every known POI in their devices. You might get one out of every 4 or 5 known POIs listed.
I have another brand GPS and in no way did it have all the POI’s. I know the navigon doesnt have alot of POI’s but as I mentioned before, you can load software at
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID= 97250&whichpage=1
and add POI’s to it. It does make searching a little different as you have to use the poi warner to serach for the added POI’s but it will create a route to them. I have added a whole bunch including ICONS and they show up as I drive..
So, Navigon update is available. Fixes most of the POI issues, however, still cannot find a local post office a mile from my home. What were the other noticeable changes in this update? I haven’t noticed any.
Bought a 7100 and comparable nuvi 660 two weeks ago. Nuvi was $70 cheaper but equal with traffic expense over 18 months. My plan was to compare and return one.
Observations:
Routing by 7100 in my area is very very bad. Takes me on convoluted routes, on and off of interstate for no reason.
Real battery life on 7100 is about 1.5 hours (Nuvi is 3.5)
Navigon mount very shaky. My guess is it will break on its own in 6 months.
I had read that Navigon had an update coming to fix the bad routing all the users are experiencing. I installed update yesterday. It fixed nothing at all. According to Navigoin, the number one complaint of US users, really bad routing, is not an issue fixed by the software update.
The Navigon went back to Costco.
I would suggest people wait to see if they can fix their routing problems. Navigon seems focused on the European market and not concerned with the big problems in their US software.
to Hampton:
what kind of update did you install yesterday?
To those who installed the update:
when i try ti add the MN6 folder to my gps,it asks me if i should replace the original with the new folder,should i choose yes or just rename the new one?
Hi,
First of all: Yaw, make a backup copy of your MN6 folder on your computer, then replace the original folder and choose ‘yes’. If your destinations are gone, you can copy favrites.storage and recent.storage to the settings folder inside the MN6 folder.
I’ve been using my 7100 since Christmas and I’d like to report on my experience, particularly something that happened about 2 weeks ago. I was driving over to a friend’s place who lives about an hour from where I do. Traffic started backing up and the weather was bad so I checked the traffic reporting function and sure enough, about 20km ahead the highway was blocked. The blockage was after my exit, but I decided to get off the highway anyhow. My Navigon 7100 directed me without a hitch to my friend’s place and updated the route very quickly after getting off the highway. Previously I had been printing directions from MapQuest. I could not have changed my route without the Navigon or I would have gotten lost.
I’ve found that the ‘fastest route’ setting gives pretty good routing - better than ‘optimized’. A lot of people have complained about the routing. All I have to say is that on a 6 hour trip I’ll take the extra ten minutes and slightly less efficient route so long as I get to where I’m going on time - which so far has not been a problem.
I’m enjoying my 7100, and with the new POIs installed I can see lots of restaurants and garages in my neighbourhood now.
Vanski, do you I noticed you spelled neighborhood with a u “neighbourhood” like they do in the UK. Are you in the UK or in the US? The reason I ask is because I’ve heard from previous posters that Navigon is great in the UK but not so much in the US. So if you’re in the UK, you may not be experiencing the same type of issues that people in the US are experiencing.
I’m from Canada GPS-Newbie. Let’s stay on topic, shall we?
Tried the new update out on my commute to work. Lots more POIs plus updated info for instant tellers, gas stations, subway stations, etc.
The best surprise was while driving to work a traffic alert came up and the unit announced that ‘there was new traffic information’ or something to that effect. I was given the choice of ignoring two sections of heavy traffic, or avoiding them. Very cool.
thank you vanski.
i surprise you gps do this after the update,mine was doing these when i bought it on black friday (november) and it’s a 2100 model.
I just purchased Navigon 7100 in Canada and have applied 1.1 patch but I can not find a Beach listing in POI. Is there any way to find a list of beaches?
vanski - Are you in Vancouver on the west coast in canada, I just purchased 7100 and I have not had any traffic alerts yet so wanted to find out if traffic alerts work in Vancouver metro area?
Thanks.
Hi Victor,
I live in Toronto. Make sure you plug the aerial into the unit or you won’t receive traffic alerts. The alerts are carried by FM radio stations and it is a very cool feature.
Hello Vanski,
What aerial are you talking about, I never got any in the box, is this something you have to purchase separately? I thought the 7100 had built-in aerial.
Thanks.
Hi Victor,
The aerial is a very thin black wire with what at first glance appears to be a walkman headphone jack attached to it. If you look closely there are four conductors on the plug and 2 black suction cups on the wire itself. It plugs into the bottom edge of the unit.
Thanks Vanski, I initially ignored it thinking it was a microphone (oops) until you mentioned it and I plugged in today and drove around rush hour but no traffic alerts…may be it is not available in Vancouver or there may not have been any traffic alerts on my route so I will watch what happens in next few days.
you can go to navigon website and check the manual for your model,it tells you the cities with traffic alert.maybe the traffic is not too heavy for the gps to alert you.maybe you can choose a busy bumper to bumper route day and you’ll see how it works.being in NYC,sometimes i get too many traffic alert and i get angry,sometimes causing me to miss my turn or exist
Total traffic network website says
As of July 1st, we are broadcasting RDS-TMC data in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Canadian coverage is Mon-Fri 5a to 7p.
I have sent an email to them asking estimated time on Vancouver but have not heard back yet…Anybody knows when will it be available in Vancouver, BC?
Thanks.
Nice units. Had one, dropped it and cracked the touch screen, sent it off (Future shop) to be repaired. Came back not repaired because parts are not available. Called North American Customer Service, was told a repair service for the Navigon product does not exist for North America. End result, tossed in the trash. Don’t buy these products unless your prepared to take the loss.
I have had a chance in the last couple of months to try a couple of different units the Clarion N.I.C.E, Magellan 4110 and the Navigon 7100. Sent the Clarion back as the maps were3 to 5 years old with not much hope in getting any updates and returned the Magellan after it started acting up while in route. Basically it would lose zoom and zoom way out while driving in route and sometimes power off so it went back and I upgraded with the 7100. I work as a courier and have had a good amount of time behind the wheel with the Navigon, approximately 15,000 km seat time. Here’s the scoop.
Routing was initially fairly bad though usable till I applied the patch and have noticed a great improvement in routing though still not perfect. You can confuse the unit if you really try to like I did one night. The unit seams to every once in a while fixate itself on a particular street or rout and will do anything it can to get you back there though this happens very rarely and is easily fixable by canceling the rout and making a new one. I use the optimize setting for this. As this seems to be the biggest complaint from most people I think Navigon is well on its way to working out the kinks. Multiple point routing or trip routing is good though an optimize button like on the Magellan would be nice.
The Map is decent though approximately 2 years old which was also the case with the Magellan and I found the Navigon a bit more accurate as far as the map goes, waiting now patiently for the new update to come out in March. One complaint about the map, once you leave the city and are out in the country there is way too much white on the screen. A quick solution is to switch to night mode and turn up your brightness …… works …… or if you know xml change some background settings …….. gonna take a look at that one of these days when work slows down a bit.
The mount is a bit shaky but that might be easily fixable with some spray foam, thinking about trying that one of these days …… I’ll let you know how it works and there are some other options available, just check the forums here about it.
All in all I can say I like the Navigon 7100 and would give it a 1 and a half thumbs up out of two
Hi guys,
well, i have spent 2 weeks looking for a stanav that fits my needs, i even bought a becker 7928 traffic assist, but sent it back after 24 hours.
I like the look of the Navigon 7110 (UK Version), any uk users on here got any tips etc before i buy one, also, where the heck in the UK are they in stock? It seems they can only be purchased direct from Navigon.
I am using Car Vent Mount Holder for NAVIGON 7100 GPS , which uses the AC vent. Worked great!!!!
I have to say I’m loving my Navigon 7100, even despite a niggling flaw with the product.
Let’s get it out of the way: the only thing that continues to bug me after firmware 1.1 is the still-wonky routing. It’s not horrible, but it still often succumbs to that standard GPS routing problem where if you leave the prescribed route, especially a major expressway or street… it will do everything except sprout arms and grab the wheel to get you back onto that street.
I suppose this is good if you’re unfamiliar with the area and may have accidentally wandered off the route and need the quickest way back, but if you’ve purposefully left the route for some reason, then the constant routing shenanigans can be a pain.
It’s not a deal-breaker, however. And the good definitely outweighs the bad. There are a lot of little features in navigation and UI that really make the whole experience incredibly useful and enjoyable. That and the free traffic updates seal the deal.
Hi
I live inthe UK and need to replace my Sat Nav as mine got stolen.
I used to have a Tom Tom Go which I found very good. The only areas where I had problems were
- Going through certain areas of cities with tall buildings - no signal left me totally lost!
- Road split and instructions were not clear enough for me to know if I needed to take underpass, stay on-top or if it made no difference!
- I do a lot of mileage for work and it all has to be logged so I love the idea of this being a feature of the Navigon.
BUT - the reviews leave me with serious concerns. I live in the UK so I am hoping choice of route and customer support will be better. But I am not sure. Are there any UK users who can add their experience? Ian did you get a Navigon in the end?
I am VERY dyslexic and totally dependent on sat nav to get me home (even in my home town). Knowing this Tim would you suggest I do not consider the Navigon over Tom Tom? Also is the Navigon based on the same map routing/software as the Navman? (I tried one of these before I got my Tom Tom and HATED it. Totally unituitive, fidley and often did not take me to the right location).
Please could somebody help advise me? Can anyone show me an example of a mileage log created through Navigon? Is this feature enough to forgive it for all its other shortcomings (in your opion?!)
Thanks, Fi
I need some advice in that I am a new GPS user and have bought but not yet received my new Navigon 7100 unit. My question is, do any GPS models allow you to input destination locations through Outlook or from a Excel spreadsheet?
I would think that this would be very helpful in that you would not need to place this information in the GPS unit using the tiny icons on the unit itself.
Lastly, I read some reviews that felt that the 2GB card was slow and created problems for the 7100 Navigon unit. Since I am new to all of this should I purchase a 4GB card to replace the 2GB card?
Any comments would be appreciated!
Mike - The Dash Express has an Outlook plugin that allows you to send individual addresses. The HP iPAQ also has some software, but it doesn’t work that well. Keep in mind most people don’t keep their addresses formatted “clean” enough to be automatically identified… but the software is getting better.
People do find that a larger faster card does offer a speed improvement, but I’d wait until you get yours to decided if you want to go that route.
Hi all,
Anyone having problems with satellite acquisition for the 7100? Seems I have to wait 10 minutes or more at times, no matter if I’m turning the unit on from standby or the off state.
I’ve also yet to see a traffic signal - even with the antenna plugged in. Of course there may be no traffic problems in my area (or I may be dreaming so
I live on Long Island, about 25 miles east of NYC…
Just wondering if someone could answer the following questions:
- Is the Navigon based on the same map routing/software as the Navman? (I tried one of these before I got my Tom Tom and HATED it. Totally unituitive, fidley and often did not take me to the right location).
- Tim / anyone else - could you show me an example of a mileage log created through Navigon?
- Is the log feature enough to forgive it for all its other shortcomings (in your opion?!)
Thanks, Fi
I have a Navigon 2100 with updated software and maps and I can tell you that of the three GPS devices I own, the Navigon is the absolute worst at calculating a decent route. It doesn’t seem intuitive at all. I have no use for the log feature so I never tried it. I understand that Navigon is coming out with updated maps soon which may improve things but I wouldn’t count on it.
I also have a 2100 with the updated software and I just took a trip from NJ to VA to visit relatives and it did a perfect JOB. the route was great when put on fastest route. I normally leave it on OPTIMUM ROUTE but for this trip it just didnt seem right. I also heard about the map updates but I also hear it going to cost around $100 for the update and considering I only paid a little over that, it is an expensive update….
I dont know if any patches out there, fix any of these problems, but from my first day of use, I would only give a 5 of 10.
I used Garmin & Magellan earlier, they make very good use of screen, and easy to operate while driving.
I do have a few things that I would like to see changed or added.
No Auto shutdown
No Auto Day/Night mode
Jumbled Menus
No Phone Book
No Intuitive Help, specially with FM Transmitter
Touch screen is aweful, never responds
Colors of active/inactive buttons should be changed to something more apparent …Dark Grey & Light Grey is very hard in bright day light
Stylus for operating GPS, sounds inflexible and infact very small fonts
Battery life is bad
Text to speech is very very bad, it can’t say the most common names of US roads properly
POI is at very minimum
No Zoomed view of the intersection on half of the screen
FM Transmitter for music thru Car speakers
I had dropped satellite connection, while Magellan still has the connection, when side-by-side
Have had the 7100 for about 4 days. Happy with some of it, but sad with the main problem of no direct fast route. Wanted to go straight down the road 25mi. with a designated address, it wanted me to head west and added 20mi. to the route.
As for Traffic, it alerted me to 4 traffic accidents on a 200+ mile trip yesterday.
The box and receipt are close by though.
Well, you gotta hang out there until end of April. Hopefully the new update with fix the routing problems.
As stated previously I have used the 7100 extensively now for a couple of months working as a courier. Although the routing is not perfect it is no worse than and probably better than “at times” the routing of the Magellan I had and none of the instability of the Magellan where it would zoom out or shut off at will while routing. I have never had any problems with lost satellite signals or acquiring them …… even from cold it gets 3d navigation in less than 2 min.
As far as the traffic reports go they have come in handy at times though I will not let the unit use them to determine routs as they are no better than the traffic reports that you get from your local radio station …… how many times have you driven by or though an area where there was supposed to be an accident and there was none. The radios report what they are told till told otherwise ….. the same as any traffic network ….. if no one tells them about a problem or when the problem is corrected then they won’t tell us. It doesn’t matter which service you use.
I am sure that allot of issues will be addressed with the new update ….. when thay become available. Though I don’t really care for the fact Navigon has used us a beta testers for their new products I have been more than satisfied with the Navigon 7100.
I WAS THINKING OF BUYING A 7100. I HAVE OWNED SEVERAL DIFFERENT BRANDS IN THE PAST AND YOU CAN FIND FAULT IN ALL OF THEM. THE MAGELLAN WAS GOOD BUT DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH POI. THE GARMIN DID NOT WORK WHEN IT WAS PLUGGED INTO THE CAR CHARGER. THE MIO HAS A LOT OF POI BUT I HAVE NOTICED THAT IT’S ROUTE SELECTION IS ODD AT TIMES. IT SEEMS TO BE PROGRAMMED TO TAKE YOU TO THE CLOSEST HIGHWAY AND THEN ROUTES YOU FROM THERE. OBVIOUSLY, THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE FASTEST ROUTE. AFTER READING THE REVIEWS ON THE 7100, MY MAIN PROBLEM IS THE LACK OF POI. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO FIND THE LOCATION AND PHONE NUMBER OF A PLACE OF BUSINESS BY SEARCHING FOR IT BY IT’S NAME. I THINK I WILL PASS ON THE 7100 AND CONTINUE LOOKING AT OTHER BRANDS.
Love the 7100 and have inside info that the download next week will fix most of the routing “problems”. I’m happy with it the way it is, but expect to be even more thrilled after the download. Expect sales to increase after word gets out on the improvements.
i called Navigon last week,and i was told the new update will be on April 21st and it’ll be free.i can’t wait myself,and he told me it’ll improve the POI
Got my 7100 about a month ago and it looks great and for the most part works as advertised. Haven’t been able to receive any traffic signal without the antenna plugged in and at best a weak signal - living out in the sticks, I expected as much… I guess 20 miles from mid-town Manhattan is too far for reception (about 1 mile from the LIE (I-495)
I’ll update the unit to 7.2 with new maps (if I still have it but since I just got a new 09 Murano with OEM NAV, it would be nice to have I suppose on trips out of town without my car, but if someone wants to make me an offer it could be a great deal for you!
Hey Pathfinder, drop me an email at bvparekh@gmail.com with your expected selling price…
Does the Navigon work with an iMac instead of a PC? I’m looking for a GPS that I can use with my iMac for updates, etc. Thanks!
I had my GPS Garmin2610 for about 4 years, I found one thing is so ridiculous, that the GPS can’t same the turn-by-turn direction and jump to the a sort of page that show the turn-by-turn direction once the GPS lost satellite reception.
and you know GARMIN never listen to customer, they just said you could use in-door use, but we are on the way and looking for the turn.
Whatever, does 7100 has sort of this problem?
Thanks,
Peter
Yes Navigon 7100 provides the function to give you turn by turn directions.
It even has the function to simulate the navigation.
I had a Garmin and before and i thought it was a missing functionality.
Thank you, Sunny,
you means the 7100 is able to show the turn-by-turn direction once it lost satellite reception, and don’t need to change it to in-door use?
Here is the biggest reason to not buy a Navigon: No repair service available. After owning my 7100 only 2 months, it slipped out of my hand while attaching to the mount- hit the gearshift and cracked the face, leaving a huge deficit on the LCD screen. Called customer support only to be told “try calling during the summer- we might have our repair facility up by then”. I now own a $400 piece of worthless junk.
I just bought a Navigon 7100 for [snip, see comment policy]. I bought it because I live in Los Angeles and traffic is major problem and thus live traffic updates should be good to have. I also want to be able to call using the bluetooth hands free feature plus the Lane Assist feature might come on handy. I have yet to test the unit; and althought I have read many bad reviews about the Navigon 7100, for the price I paid, I am willing to take a risk and I excited to try it.
My only questions do I need to buy the Navigon Fresh Maps right away or can I wait to buy it?
7100 owners might want to check out the following thread about an update if they don’t already know about it:
Navigon 1.2 Update and FREE Map Update!
Freshmaps will be free for 7100 registered owners and available ,May 14th for both PC and Mac users.
Along with the 1.2 sw update they are providing a free map update as well. Great news (so long as the date is not pushed out indefinitely
I want to buy my first GPS. Is this unit worth it? [snip, see comment policy] It seems like a good deal, but I dont want trouble and I am not sure what to look for
I bought the 7100 on April 18th as the price was right and included a rebate. Printed out the manual that came with the disk only to find an updated versionon Navigon’s website so printed that one. I live in L.A. and have yet to hit any traffic info and I know there is ALOT of traffic there. I used the antenna as well. All I get is the red triangle. Even worse, my battery lasts about 50 minutes and then its gone. My trip to and from work is only 30 mins each way. It asks me to make alot of u-turns too rather than re-route. I will wait till the next software update on May 14th to see if all the above is resolved with the exception of the battery issue, which may be a deal breaker anyway.
I am glad I have waited to buy my GPS Unit. I have been using a Navman setup on my Pocket PC for years but not having text to speech and many of the newer features has caused me to do research on a consumer stand alone unit. Plus you have to have technical skills to get GPS to work on pocket pc and my wife has no patience for that.
I am still on the fence on which unit to buy but I am interested to hear how the Navigon is working with the latest update.
It seems that each unit that I have been reading reviews has positives and negatives and if the routing and poi issues with the Navigon have been somewhat resolved this will be a unit I might consider buying.
I took mine back to C–tco and ordered another. Hopefully when the May 14th update is on the unit, it will work better, not that it would help the battery problem any. While i was standing in the return line, a man in front of me also had his 7100 tucked under his arm. I asked him why is was returning the unit, he stated the same problems, TMC would not work and the battery. I asked him if he ordered another and he had.
Hi Tom C., I also recently got Navigon 7100 and I too live in L.A. I would like to tell you that you can set up your gps to avoid making a U-Turn. As far as, live traffic I took a trip this weekend to Palmsprings and the live traffic update was extremetly helpful; I probably saved about 1 hour because I avoided the usual traffic. I did experience once a mistake in the map but was probably because they were fixing the road; I hope with the update the maps will improve. I used Garmin nuvii in the pass and I think the map in the Navigon is much easier to follow. I am very happy that I bought this product, specially after the price I paid (just like you, I also got a good warehouse price and rebate).
I’ve been reading comments on this post about Navigon not having a US Repair center. I emailed them about it and here’s what they had to say.
Dear Navigon Customer,
Thank you for your inquiry.
We are currently working to implement an out-of-warranty repair process in
North America. We plan to have this service in place by Summer 2008.
Please contact us at 888-848-0701 Monday through Friday 8am to 10pm EST if
you have any other questions or http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en under the
Support tab.
Sincerely,
Navigon Customer Support Team
Hi Excited, Im happy to hear yours is running great. I got my replacement one last night and gave it a good long charge. This morning all I did so far was put in my home address and an address I will be goin to in Las Vegas next week. I will work it going home tonite. As for the u-turn problem, I kept it on default which was “u-turn off” when that happened with the old one, I made sure this new one shows off as well. The new one I got was packaged different than the las last one, I dont if its a newer model or not. My first one had the memory card separate from the navigon itself, in its own plastic holder. The one I got last night was already installed inside it. Ok, will keep you posted.
Does anyone know if Blake Bowen of NAVIGON is still working there? I sent him an email asking for some insight in the 7100, one was kicked back as “undeliverable” and the other one is floating around somewhere in cyberspace.
I noticed he has not posted on here for quite some time….if anyone has been in touch with him, can you please let me know? I am ready to pull the trigger on my first GPS and wanted a few things clarified….he seemed like the guy who could do it.
Thanks!!!!
RS Fan,
I e-mailed Blake on April 27 and he replied to me on April 28. Blake.Bowen@navigon.com
Thanks, Brian…I tried sending him another one. Hopefully, he’ll reply.
QUESTION FOR GENERAL AUDIENCE:
Does anyone own a Navigon in metro-Atlanta? I am curious to hear how the traffic feature works in our Automobile-saturated Metropolis???
Thanks!!
I hope Mr. Blake Bowen is still reading these comments??
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