7200T GPS with real time traffic
by Navigon
At the corner turn
left, immediately followed by a left then another left. In this case three
left’s did not make a right. The Navigon 7200T is full of features. It can
route you around traffic with a free lifetime subscription to a traffic
notification system. Bluetooth hands free system that can (somehow) sync an address book with both outlook and a
paired device so that stored phone numbers can be dialed directly and contacts
with address information can be navigated too. Also, the Navigon has three
distinct route profiles, Standard Car, pedestrian, or bicycle, the device has a
built in battery so once fully charged, it can help you find what ever you need
in walking distance.
The user interface
was difficult to learn and even after a few weeks with the device I am still
having trouble trying to find POI’s and programming frequently visited
destinations. Built on Windows CE, I have found the most useful tool while
using the device is a paperclip to press the "reset" button when the
device crashes because of a Windows Error (about one every 4-5 days). The
Bluetooth hands free feature does not work with a blackberry curve that was
repeatedly paired, only one contact our of 596 were transferred, which was
ironically AAA. The device failed to to reconnect to the phone after
restarting and even failed to remain
connected to the device during longer driving sessions. I was able to test the
device to another Curve and a BlackBerry storm with similar results.
Moving on, the
device was very good at telling me where traffic was, after I found it myself
and never rerouted a better course for me. Often I would snake myself out of it
waiting for it to reroute me to the destination. Sometimes the best calculated
route included going in complete circles, whether this is a glitch in some of
its maps or it simply believes I need the extra practice is aggravating. With
the rising price of gas today, the
Navigon should help prevent such wastes.
However, this GPS
unlike past ones has not yet tried to kill me. In the past a TomTom unit
repeatedly tried to send me down multiple
one way streets, in the wrong direction. In all, with a little tweaking
and the bugs worked out the device could make a swell GPS.