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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
it never had a signal, also gave me the wrong directions time after time.
Don't usually have strong opinions about this stuff. But I hated it! Supposed to be easy to operate, but I found it challenging. I am technically savvy - but this sucked (for me). Couldn't find fast food places, public parks, told me to turn right when I was heading toward the airport with a HUGE sign over all lanes saying Airport straight ahead. often told me to turn on streets that were one way the other way. Perhaps it's just not great around the NYC area. All I know is I hated it and sold it.
[...]
This is a GREAT DEAL for the MONEY!! If you are so uptight that your GPS has to land you within 10 inches of your destination, spend a few hundred $$$ more you tight wad!
I am a delivery driver in the suburban Philadelphia area. I have a good idea how to get to and from Philadelphia but am not sure of some of exact streets within the city or surrounding areas; the end result is what I need. I can manipulate the route here (if I think the computer chooses one that is too long) because the MIO constantly recaluculates if you don't follow it exactly. Suffice to say, this little puppy gets me exactly where I need to go... and I am capable of reading addresses once on the street so if I am not sitting in the freakin' driveway, it's no big deal. More often than not, it puts me within a few yards of my destination and it sure as hell beats asking some dumbass to give me verbal directions. Most people in this area don't even know the name of their own street and the few streets surrounding them! All I need is the street name and number and I am there!!! Gonna buy one for my father for a Fathers' Day Gift. Thank you RADIO SHACK!
from Alsip Illinois on 5/5/2008
[...] It even comes with a disk to connect to a computer through USB. However, the MIO tech support staff (both through email and their 800 number) have confirmed that there will be no upgrades for the c220 or c230 as advertised.
This thing locks on quick, does a great job. Sure, its maps are last year maps, but unless you live in a new metro area, who cares! Gets me where I need to go!!
First of all, be careful of bad reviews on this unit. I think the people posted the bad reviews may work for Garmin or other places. The MIO line works well, acquires sats fast, and are very easy to use.
from Lawton, Oklahoma on 4/23/2008
This gizmo couldn't get me out of our drive way! Twice in as many turns it headed me the wrong direction and as I was entering interstate 44 (fairly prominent road) it informed me I was exiting Pioneer Parkway--which is 158 miles south of here. It did no better in Oklahoma City, exiting me onto 240 rather than I-40 (by this time I was on to it and ignored the instructions, glad I was on home turf. Would have hated to take it to Houston which was on our agenda the next week. We returned it for a Garmin, which has been absolutely flawless. Our daughter lives in a rural area of Colorado that USPS, FEDEX and UPS all can't seem to find--but our Garmin located it easily (tho we could have aborted it as we also knew the trail quite well)--go Garmin or TomTom (which we used on a trip)--great devises.
this product has no real database, it has sporadic information across all of map area. No updates or downloads are available...not even for a price. Radio Shack should be ashamed to sell it. it is a rip off even at 129 dollars.
Sales person told me all GPS are the same it is just he size that made this product cheaper.
Map is too old to be useful. I leave in Fort Worth, TX and it is practically useless and the maps cannot be updated. I called the manufacturer and they told me it cannot be updated.
My wife went to vegas with it and almost threw it out the window because the map was too old.
In my opinion it is a worthless little device.
Works great. Havet had any problems with it. Some times it just chooses a weird route.
I just got back from a road trip from providence to VA. It seemed to work fine on the way down but on the way back just after we hit NYC the thing went crazy in that it constantly tried sending us off 95 onto rural roads. We turned the unit off because it kept telling us to exit 95 and to pick up Route 1. We pulled off and figured someone had touched it and played with the "avoid 95 route". Nope. It was actually amazing that everytime we turned it back on and listened to the "rerouting" that it would say, "drive 1.4 miles and take route 1"... What is wrong with this thing is beyond me but its going back in the morning to Radio Shack. junk!
GREAT FOR THE $$$
Ok, after reading a few hundred reviews I figured I should buy one at the Shack considering the unreal price. Although it takes some time to master, as there is no good explanation in the manual, this thing rocks.Yes, sometime you tweak the route - just like [...] - most of the time it was pretty good but not perfect. But after that, just do what the girl says (just like at home)-and keep your eyes on the road. POI's are very weak and I hear adding a lot slows the system down, but look around there are hacks and so on that may fix this. After a few decent size trips with detours - and automatic recalculation of route, I can say this thing is awesome - at least for a mapping fool like me.
Simple to use right out of box.
I love the find address feature.
Just follow the arrow!!
the best gps ever seen or bought better than name brands
This GPS is absolutely amazing! I just got mine and I am already in love. It found my route so quickly! If you are looking for a simple GPS without any bells or whistles this is it for you!!
this devise will take you around your elbow to get to your [...]...takes more turns then the law allows to get to a certain destination,,and when you get there you will have passed it before it tell you your there,,you get what you pay for,as the saying goes,,,but this was not worth 5 dollars,,,got a megellan 4250,,and love it more money,,but well worth it
The wonderful thing about this product is that it provides the name of the approaching turn or intersection. Family members have the TOM TOM ONE and it does not tell the name of the approaching road or street. Only tells u to turn in 100 yrds.etc. To my knowledge the MIO C230 is the only one that gives street names in the low end price range. Also provides the information very well ahead of time. I recommend it highly.
I bought the GPS 2 days ago, and figured out how to use it in literally just minutes. The Speech is Great the maps are flawless so far, and I love the Points of Interest, for the money you just can't find a better GPS Unit than this one. Buy it! You won't regret it.
I use it both for work and at home. it is a little slow in its operation. The maps are up to date with most new roads in the area. Has great features found in more expensive units. Easy to use. Great value for price. Battery life too short. Battery was designed to keep memory current when enginne is shut off overnight and no power to plug. Would buy another one. I have owned several other GPS units.
from Sugar Land, TX on 3/21/2008
I find this GPS extremely useful. Unlike comments that said it takes long time to calculate and find positions, it could calculate routes pretty quickly. It calculated route from Houston to Dallas for specific addresses that entered amazinggly speedily. I agree that it somehow prefers left turns.Route recalculation is very fast. Controls on the screen are too cramped and it is difficult to enter details. Text-to-speech ability is superb.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I just got this and couldn't be happier. Picked up a satellite in a matter of minutes right out the box. For the price of this unit and all the extras like text-to-speech you can't go wrong. Try it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.The only problem I had was that there was no users manual. It was on a DVD that my computer couldn't play, [...]
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This is an incredible bargain when on sale. The text to speech function can be a tad slow, so if it tells you turn in 500 feet, it might be less than that. However, this is a minor flaw for the benefit of the text-to-speech feature, which names each street. Route recalculation works well if you make a mistake. The manual is poor, but it is easy to learn if you take some time to play with it.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from South FL on 2/4/2008
I bought this GPS because I needed a quick and easy way to find places I hadn't been to and didn't feel like plotting a map or triptik. With it I've never gotten lost and neither has my wife. For an entry level and economical model you can't beat it!!
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Rec'd this as a gift. You need to play with the menus because the manual is useless. However, a friend rec'd a GPS at 2x the price, & her manual was equally as useless. I wish it had an "alternate route" button, as well as an external volume control. I'm planning on getting my parents this same model, even though there may be a better option at a similar price, so I can instruct them.
Us it for travel and local--easy you can even put in the name of where you want to go.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
The unit is innacurate by about 300 feet.
If you want to mount it in a bean bag , the
unit is too tall and will hit your windshield.
It's OK if you use the mount on the windshield.
Had to remove the screen protector I put on
as it doesn't seem to work well with it on.
Do like the text to speech feature. The manual
is terrible...Cannot print out instructions
other than hardware operation. For some reason
the instructions are protected on the disc.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Arlington, TX on 1/29/2008
I had 30 day to try it out, took it back in 28. Reason? It got me lost one to many times. I liked the bells and whistles it offers, but that's no good when it get's you lost. An airport, it should be a location it finds with no problem. Nope, not this one, it took me at the end of the terminal, somewhere between [...] and [...] terminals. Took it back and got the [...].
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
The product was ok at first. Directions are not accurate to a certain extant. The gps will tell me to turn with 100 yards but I am already turning where I am suppose to turn at. The timing is a bit slow. It does not redirect another route when construction is in session. I would recommend a navigon or magellan and not the mio.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Hercules, CA on 1/19/2008
This GPS unit is by far the best in it's class. How many GPS units are out there that has text-to-speech that's less than [$]? I've done my research before buying this unit and for the price, I feel I got a great deal. I was impressed how up to date their maps were and how fast it would recalculate your directions if you either missed the turn or decided to take another direction. It's equipped with the new SiRF II satellite receiver, which gets linked to a satellite much faster than the older models. Directions are very accurate. I was able to get to a restaurant faster than my friend who had GPS in his 2005 BMW (his told him to go right when he should have gone left). All in all, this unit has the most up to date maps, text-to-speech, the latest satellite receiver and is less than [$]!
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Waukesha Wi on 1/12/2008
IT IS HARD TO WORK WITH AT FIRST BUT AFTER A WHILE IT BECOMES CLEARER.IT DOES WORK . FOR OLDER PEOPLE IT TAKES A LITTLE MORE TIME TO FIGURE OUT.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This is an ok product for the price, but it needs some serious improvement to jump to the front of a crowded gps budget field. I really wanted to like this product since on paper it seemed to have the features I wanted at a great price.
Unfortunately, I quickly found things that changed my opinion on this device. First, the battery is really horrible and only lasts about 1.5 hours on a single charge. If you plan on using it with the cigarette lighter all the time this may not be a problem for you, but I don't want to use it all the time with it. Second, the POI database is horrible at only 900K, it has lots of electronic stores (stores that sell Mio no doubt), but no Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, etc.. places that would be useful to find in an unfamiliar location. Third, the TTS voice is just not loud enough for me, maybe I'm old and need things turned up too much but I couldn't hear it very well above the road noise in my car.
On the positive side there are great hacking opportunities for this if you want to add multimedia and games to it, but that's not what I wanted to do with this device. The interface was a little confusing at first, but once I spent some time with the unit I figured out some of the quirks. The routing capabilities of the device were ok, it would have been nice if I could have pre-planned a route or saved a route that I wanted to review later. I know there are some hacks out there for this now, but it would have been nice out of the box to have these features.
I ended up returning it for a refund and will wait to see what improvements they make in the future or what other gps devices come to the front of the budget pack.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Coldwater, MS on 1/12/2008
My brother-in-law lives in the middle of nowhere, and it took me right to his doorstep!!
from Seattle Washington on 1/11/2008
I have to for safety sake say DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT
I have exchanged it for a second unit to make sure that it was not defective. The problem is that this unit is very inaccurate, it can tell you that a turn is coming up in 400 feet and it is actually 100 feet, I have tried this around areas I know to test it, but would I have been using in away from home the inaccuracies could cause some serious problems. The bigger names in GPS have a newer type of GPS chip and always have 3 sattelites triangulating your position, the Mio does not. The text to speach is a feature usually found on only expensive models, it works great, but you have to select the one voice as only one of them will work with the text to speech. It has other features like a warning if you are speeding, but it does not work at all. The maps are good but saving addresses in not intuitive, all in all it would be a great value, but if it is so inaccurate as it is it kills the deal, if I were out of town and something was not accurate it could be a huge problem. I will be returning mine and go with a slightly more expensive big brand name that has all the same features plus the newest technology and the 3 satellite triangulation which is supposed to be accurate within 3 meters, that would be acceptable. But this unit being off by 75% makes it worthless.
from Saint Petersburg Florida on 1/6/2008
Mio DigiWalker C230. I have traveled in florida for the holiday season. Roads that were updated 5 years or more ago arent reflected with changes. The manufacturer says contact the map supplier, the supplier, the manufacturer for map updates. In short there are no updates.No-one knows when or if there will be any. I bought 3 units for presents. One for myself. The menu is difficult to understand and complicated. My Dad calls me every few days to see if he has fidgured it out properly. Mine is safely sitting unused in my glovebox. I would return it but I thru away the box. The manual is a waste of time. [...]
from Madiosn Al on 1/4/2008
Good basic GPS. Very limited POIs. [...]If you want a low price GPS and the POIs are not important to you this is a decent GPS. If you need the POI information or [...]I would advise to stay away from the MIO.
from Weatherford, Texas on 1/4/2008
Do not buy...the verbal street names are great, but the directions are inaccurate. It could not find my home address in a city of 15,000 people. It also tried to turn me onto an "unknown road" that was a driveway into somebody's house. In addition, the opening menu freezes and you have to reboot it. I am taking it back.
from Boston Ma on 1/3/2008
This is a very reliable device.At first I was disappointed with the preloaded poi database it comes with because there is no [...] or other popular places to be found,but once I found out how to upload additional pois on my sd card,it makes this a steal for the value compared to others like Garmin or Magellan brands plus you get voice guidance which makes it all better!!!
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Things that are not so great about it:
Terrible battery life.
Inaccurate.
Slow to obtain signal.
Hard to read.
Terrible menus.
Can't download maps from the info I have.
from Saint Paul, MN on 1/2/2008
Great GPS, however it was very confusing at first and the manual didn't help me. I just started playing with it and figured it out. I had TeleNav GPS on my cell phone and they had unlimited favorite places - C230 only has 2 however you can add your favorites as your POI and work from there. Maps need work (at least for Minnesota), examples: I live in a townhouse that's 8 years old, every street is called the same - just different numbers - my house, according to the C230 is on an unknown street. My office address is unknown, even though it's the tallest building in downtown Saint Paul. Play with the settings that work best for you - example - my route was fastest and if I didn't follow the GPS it would keep telling me to do a u-turn; after I change the route setting to no u-turns it will re-route without u-turns. I like the cockpit view and how you can change viewing settings - time/distance to next point or time/distance to dest. or speed. The text to speech is a nice feature. I wish the included the USB cable for computer hook-up/home charging.
from West Haven, CT on 1/1/2008
I droped my MIO 230 GPS in some spilled paint. I just new it was done, The next day I went and got a new MIO 230 GPS.To my behold I turn on my oid one on and it worked just like new. (after a little cleaning)
Newton
West Haven, CT
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Highland, CA on 12/31/2007
Pro: screen size and text-voice
Con: Points of Interest (POI) are NOT organized in a manner that is useful. The user cannot search POI's by category and must either already know the address, what POI they are looking for is closest, or have categorized the POIs manually before embarkation.
If you already knew what you were looking for, why would you even need a device with a POI database? The fact the manufacturer failed to organize their data for the user makes this device tantamount to a paperweight. Don't buy it.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Bryant, Arkansas on 12/30/2007
I purchased this product for a second vehicle after using a Garmin Nuvi 200 my son purchased. The Mio works just a well and has text-2-speech that works very well. It does have some minor inaccuracies, but I have found most all GPS units do to some degree. The menus take a little while to get use too, but again nothing to major. The pros by far out weigh the cons for this one and you can?t beat the price. The mounting bracket is a little large in my opinion but it does get the job done. During my research on GPS units I read several comments regarding the small POI data in the Mio, to my surprise it has found everyone I have looked for to date. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is the fact you can only set 2 permanent addresses in it ?Home? and ?Work? but you can enter go to addresses without any problem and it does store them until you clear the history.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Atlanta, Ga on 12/27/2007
I bought this on Christmas eve. I had to take it back the day after Christmas because it couldn't even get me home. I called tech support and they didn't have a clue. It would help if you could go to their site and download updated maps. Tech support said they had no idea when an up to date map would be available. Thanks a lot.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I purchased this gps for my husband who is always traveling in different citys daily. We have found our own home address and we live in the middle of the woods on an old private road. We have programed it to take us to our family in NJ and added points along the way for food. It has a indicator letting you know when a gas station is coming up on your side of the road/highway. You can choose to add as many Points of interest as you like and has many other features. It does take a little while to learn every thing, as we are still learning. I have read other reviews and I can agree to the great ones and look surprised at the negative ones. Maybe they didnt have patience to learn how it works. This system is great for the money as it does give you turn by turn direction in 3d or 2d and in voice command. I have seen a far more expensive one that does less and the speech is horrible. Yes there is only one voice, but there is a volume control. It wont blair over a 300 watt radio at top peak, but it does speak pretty loudly. We can hear it over 4 kids tired and sugar rushed. For those talking about it having a low volume.... go paper map... no volume needed!!!
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
GPS for the economy minded. Great for getting to addresses. I am not a POI guy so that weakness in the system is not my concern. Amazing value for a system with text to speech feature.
from Lake Forest, CA on 12/27/2007
I bought this unit because this is only unit with TTS for less than [$]. If the C230 map is the most uptodate map then the rest of their maps must be really outdated. I live in Orange County near the 5 and 405 interchange which was re-constructed about 3 to years ago, the unit keep telling me to take to a side street that will take me to the 405 when I'm abount 300 feet from the freeway entrance. On my way to Valley View casino, the unit told me to exit highway 78 and take surface street to get to the casino when the highway can get me all the way to Broadway street at the end of hwy 78. I believe that it does not know that this section of hwy 78 was completed about 3 to 4 years ago. Other than that, the unit works ok. The re-route calculation is quick and the TTS feature is great.
I drive a Tractor-Trailer across country. After shopping around, I found this one at radio shack for [$] on sale. It is well worth the money if your looking for a basic unit. I just need it to get me from point A to point B. The only problem I see with it is the short list of POI'S. For me, Thats not a problem. All and All, It's a great item.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I cant find adress in Puerto rico, I returned to the store.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Nerk NY on 12/26/2007
The only down fall so far is they have not released Canadian Maps yet and we live in upstate NY and travel to Canada occasionally. When they do release them they told me it will be on an SD card. I would prefer to download them myself on to a SD card I allready own.
The first time I used the unit driving around town to get used to it I could not believe how detailed the maps were. It even showed all the bus loops at my sons school and the dirt access roads for the sports fields.
Used it Christmas day to go to my mother in laws and I was hoping it would fail but it didnt and we made it just fine.
The menu takes getting use to but I am not a gdget person so I imagine if you are this will not be a problem for you
GREAT features for the money.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I bought a mio c230 as a tax write off. Installed in my crown vic and went to work. Within 5 minutes the thing was up and running and I didn't even read the directions. I like the night and day screens, I like that it tells you what street you are actually driving on, and the map shows you what is around you. You can program this thing a bunch of different ways, and the maps are up to date from what I have experienced. But I decided to try the Garmin nuvi200. I returned the garmin the next day and got my mio back. The nuvi tells me what street is coming up but removes the name of what street I'm actually driving on from the screen. The mio tells me what street to turn on by name. The nuvi tells you "Turn right". For the money, the mio is it.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Alabama on 12/23/2007
I Mu