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From:Garmin
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5 of 5 customers found the following review helpful:
 Transportable and Versatile, 2006-07-28
I fly on helicopters for the US Military and, let me say, this product took me by surprise. Not only do I use it for point-to-point navigation while driving, I also use it for navigating in air! It even allows me to take notes throughout the flights. It has performed well above my expectations.
The only down side that I found was the short battery life. I am going to purchase another battery and do a hot swap when I need to so I can continue on. Even with this problem, I still rate this as a "must have" to all of the pilots in my unit. I can also say that it is absolutly wonderful when driving in an unknown area.
8 of 8 customers found the following review helpful:
Decent GPS but now in DISCONTINUED status, 2006-07-16
We bought this about a month ago from Amazon. The product itself seems fine - we used it on a vacation drive from NJ to Myrtle Beach and back. At times, it was a help (like when there was a traffic jam on 95 in VA and we needed an alternate route). However, you definitely have to keep an eye on it as it doesn't always recommend the best or shortest route. Also, it was missing certain stores, restaurants, etc. that had been around for awhile.
We liked that it is a PDA though. My husband drives limos so he wanted a mapping device for help but we hope to load some games into it. This way, when he has to wait around, he will have something to do.
CONS:
- You should be tech-savvy to get one of these set up
- Match sure you get patches as unit will lock up
- Manufacturer has DISCONTINUED this model. They still offer some support but be warned that this is a DISCONTINUED model.
- Since it became DISCONTINUED, it dropped in price about $60 two weeks after I bought it which annoys me somewhat
- Will be spending extra to get bigger memory card
- Came with EXPIRED Outlook coupon - why bother including this?
PROS
- Nice display and controls
- Came with mount and dock (some don't - you have to buy extra)
- We had no trouble with the suction cup mount (had to pry it off the window with a knife one time) but agree that most placement seems to block driver view through windshield
- Also a PDA
13 of 14 customers found the following review helpful:
As expected - a really nice piece of hardware, 2006-07-02
Wrapup:
A nice navigation unit, fast display of maps and routes, very good integration of GPS features and Windows Mobile features. Complete package, I just purchased a charge/sync usb cable, which allows you to synchronize when abroad - the cradle usually stays at home. Complete map coverage if needed. Garmin does not pretend the earth being a disk - see below.
Before I dive into the technical details, a few introductory words:
I'm travelling a lot, both in the U.S and in Europe. This is the first reason for wanting a transportable navigation unit: you don't carry your car in your hand luggage when starting an intercontinental trip.
And most of those other handy navigation units still pretend the earth being a disk - they offer either European mapsets or U.S mapsets and getting one of the other mapsets is usually a major adventure. For Garmin units, its just a matter of adding the wanted additional maps to your shopping list.
AAh, English is NOT my native language, the text might read a little strange.
General:
The M5 comes almost complete. The unit, a DVD containing maps/software and the car mounting kit featuring the famous suction cup known to Garmin users since the e-Map was the state of the art GPS unit. In addition, it provides a self adhesive mounting plate to be fixed on the dashboard for those poor people whose state law forbids equipment fixed to the windshield (California and Minnesota so far).I believe it is a good idea NOT to glue a pound of hardware onto the windshield. Imaging an iQue crashing into a drivers face in case of an accident. The built in speaker is another positive piece of hardware worth to mention: It is really loud and has a volume control, most of the other units won't even offer a speaker which makes them unuseable in an older car or in Germany, where almost every car has an higher noise level when travelling with some 90 mph speed....
The docs are short but sufficient and expect that the reader knows what he/she just purchased. In other words, some familiarity with GPS units in general and Windows CE/Mobile is expected.
Setup:
Because I'm using Windows based handhelds for years, ActiveSync was already on my laptop. Because I was using an Ique3600 before, the Mapsource program was also available. I just integrated the new Mapset (North America V7 )delivered with the M5. Filling a 1GByte SD Card with a set of Maps was as easy as with the Ique 3600. Even a 2GB SD card was accepted by the M5 - most other handhelds (and cameras :-)) won't accept cards larger than 1 GB.
I use some unusual UK based synchronisation program in order to synchronize with Lotus Notes (mNotes). Installation of the software was flawless and syncing with Notes (Inbox,Calendar etc ) worked as expected. I see no reason why it wouldn't be the same with Outlook integration. BTW, a copy of Outlook (not ..Express) comes with the M5.
Operation:
Mostly as expected.
- Initial satellite fix took almost three minutes. Better set your approximate location before flipping the antenna, this reduces the initial fix to some 90 seconds.
- Routing in Texas is fast and easy - but I abandoned the Ique 3600 because the three year old unit is no longer able to handle the huge amount of map features in central Europe. It was almost impossible for the Ique 3600 to display a route from Cologne to Paris using the actual maps (City Navigator V8 )- it takes up to 15 minutes to draw a map of central Europe.
- YES, the M5 works just fine, even in dense populated central Europe (or perhaps in the SF Bay Area or the Hudson Valley). This is exactly the point, where the user notices the existence of the separate 48 Mhz coprocessor for GPS and routing purposes- the main processor draws a lot faster.
- Routes can be saved to the unit, but transferring a route from Mapsource to the unit is still not supported (which is on the top position of an Ique owners wishlist for years).
- Transferring of Waypoints in both directions is supported.
- Under rare circumstances, the unit crashes, but I was not able to recreate the exact error condition. In most cases it is the usual problems who come with Windows Mobile, but in general, the unit is as stable as every other Windows Mobile unit. Specially the stability of the 'Que' applications seems above average.
- Battery capacity seems considerable for a Windows Mobile Unit. The unit offers different brightness settings for day- and nightime both for battery and external power. A feature I don't have with my other windows mobile units (various phones and Dell units). It is definitely better than what I experienced from the Ique 3600.
Peter
7 of 7 customers found the following review helpful:
 I prefer the M3 over the M5, 2006-06-29
I had an M3 before and I regret replacing it with the M5. The M5 is not user-friendly at all. You would think that after using the M3 for several months, it would be easy to use the M5. The user interface on the M5 is almost totally different. It doesn not work well with Outlook. All my contacts in my M3 were all listed in the Que program by default, but in M5 you have to add them manually, but it gave me the wrong coordinates - all Contacts that I added in My Locations have the same coordinates - go figure. Or, you have to reenter the address on your way out even though it's already in your Contacts. Built-in speaker is so bad. It was better in M3. You have to use the stylus all the time. The program is not intuitive at all. I am glad to find out Garmin discontinued the M5. I miss my M3 - my only problem with it is the battery is not replaceable.
5 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
been good for more than 2 years.., 2006-06-25
the device that I've been used is ique 3600, and I'm still satisfied by the product. of course, it is not made of titanium steel, it has been broken several times when I dropped it during the warranty period. So I called the service center, and they didn't ask much. They just asked address and some things, then the free replacements always has been done within 10 days.
Their service is one of the reason that I recommend, because this kind of devices are "portable", which means you carry them when you need them. since we all are human beings, and even if you take extreme care of it, one of your kids or your lover may drop it by mistake. (this device does not break by itself, as far as I know) So I'm saying you'd better choose one from the company that takes the customer services seriously. and I'm claiming that is the way to really "save" money.
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