13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
New to Moving Map GPS World
Date of Review: Sep 28, 2007
The Bottom Line: buy it and save the stress for other issues in life!
I bought the 3100 on sale!!! Before I bought this unit, I had only used a hand held GPS with no Map. I had to enter coordinates and name the Waypoints. It worked great for walking etc, but now I have a GPS with moving map! Big leap for me!!!
After the unit came in, I was able to get it up and running with no trouble at all. I was thrown for a loop when I tried to enter the address starting with the number first, but later learned to enter the street name first then the numbers!
If you are driving in locations where you are not sure of where you are and how to get where you are going, this navigation tool is a life saver! Instead of straining your eyes trying to read the next street sign at night, you will receive a graphic arrow that tells you which way to turn. This is a real safety factor! So stay off the cell phones while driving too!!
The speech part everyone complains about it not necessary. Like, " hey fool turn right on MaryJane" when this unit will point to which way to turn and the name of the street is label on the map.
Later I bought a case for it to protect the screen when I want to remove it from my windshield and store it in a out of sight place in my car. This is good practice to prevent temptations by others who are not thinking straight and might think this electronic gizmo is valuable. Yes, it does takes some practice to learn how to slip it off its mount or you can simply remove the whole windshield attachment device. The device works great with a pressure seal that is latched with a lever. I had not ever seen one on those. I had only used the ones that came with my radar detectors. I also bought an indoor charger.
The unit does come with 12 Volt connection for car use and that is all you really need unless you want to walk around with it. Like others said, the battery life in that case is not that long, so you might want to buy a indoor charger like I did. I bought one online at a good price.
I am not sure about what to do about updating the MAP in case a new street is built. I do not think this is a problem unless you are going someplace where there is only one way in, then you might have to do some thinking for yourself! I do believe you can plug into your computer to update the streets, but this is low on the list.
The unit is easy to use, just plug in and go. It will find itself and as you move it will show the street you are on.
However, there may be details you may be interested in and that is why I wrote this review with the details mentioned above. I am going to go to a shop and find out how much they charge for a professional job to mount it flush with the dashboard. However, this action may be not worth the money. If I remember right, the dealership for my car wanted around $2,000 dollars for a mount job! Well, I will live with what I have for $200.00!
I have been doing some surfing to find other ways to mount the GPS. Try this site for info. Copy and paste. I could not figure out the HTML!?
http://www.proclipusa.com/choosecountry/choosecountry.aspx
You can enter the make and model of your car and model of GPS and I was surprised that there were other options to mount the unit. I had read that there was not, but this website seems to prove otherwise. I have not tested the site so you will have to check it out for yourself and let me know! Anyone can write to my email. aero_marsox@yahoo.com
PS: where is the spell checker when you edit your remarks!!!!!!!!
