Navman PiN 100 Portable GPS Pocket PC Navigation System

List Price: $749.99

Features:

• Portable GPS Pocket PC navigation system with SmartST V2 3D View
• Voice Navigation/Mapping and Route Guidance software
• 3.5" Color Transflective LCD display delivers a bright, crystal clear 3D street level view of each map
• Operates with Windows Mobile Pocket PC 2003 operating system
• If you leave your programmed route, PiN's intelligent SmartST software will automatically recalculate the best path to take you to your destination

Accessories:
Navman iCN 510 32MB Vehicle GPS with 3 Secure Digital Memory Cards	Garmin GPSMAP 60CS 56MB Handheld GPS

Customer Reviews:

What's wrong with you people? [Posted on 2006-01-03]
I have had my Navman PiN100 for a year now. I use it all the time. I don't know if the others live in rural areas but, here in Indianapolis, I even get GPS signal from inside my house. I love the Navman PiN100. It takes me everywhere I want to go, all the time (and I travel alot by car across country). I have read many reviews before making my selection (money was not an issue). According to many reviews, SmartST is better than Tom Tom. I just upgraded to SmartST V3 and the new features are incredible. The only downsize if any, is that updates are not free. It's $99 every year or so for the latest version of SmartST. In SmartSt V2 you cannot add stops, which you can with V3. Great improvment.
I strongly recommand Navman PiN100 over any other GPS now available.

Definately hasn't gotten the acclaim it deserves.. [Posted on 2006-06-08]
I've been using my PiN 100 for almost 2 years now and on an almost daily basis. I drive all over the state of Oregon and Washington for my job. I have to make multiple stops daily and to almost always never the same place twice. The PiN has done an excellent job at getting me from point A to B.

For me, the GPS finds it's location typically within 1-2 minutes. Definately not the 10-15 minutes others have stated.

The software can be a little difficult to find an address at times. I start with a zip code, then the street. If the street can't be found, I use the City for the search instead of the zip code. It will auto-populate the street names with just a few letters. Keep in mind, if the street is misspelled in the software (has happened several times) you may only want to put in the first few letters to see if it comes up with a close address.

Another factor to consider is the date of the maps. There have been at least 2 map updates since this product was released. There have also been 2 major software updates since release. SmartST v3 and SmartST 2005. 2005 being the latest. It runs $99.95 from the navman store. I'm still using v2, and will be upgrading to 2005 this week.

I've found this GPS/PDA to be the best purchase I have made in a very long time, not only because I find it very easy to use (I am however an experienced technophile) but also because it was very cheap considering it's competition.

I also suggest looking into the updated software. One of the many new features is the ability to plan a route, going from point A to B, To C, To D without having to stop and put in a new address at each location.

The PDA functions are what can be expected from Windows Mobile 2003. I have watched movies I ripped from DVD while on a plane or waiting at the airport. I've listened to MP3's, played games, and of course managed my contacts and calendar all while on the road.

If I go out of town, I load a new map into my PiN and plug it into my rental car to get me around. It's familiar and I know how to use it. No need to pay the extra fee from the renal company, I've got my own.

There is only 1 problem that I have had in my 2 years of use. My car adapter has failed me this week. It's broken and needs to be replaced. I just ordered a replacement online for $20, delivered.

I paid $399 for my Navman 2 years ago during a promotion. It's by far the best $400 I've spent in years!

Navman Pin100 forget it [Posted on 2006-11-15]
I have a Navman Pin 100 and the latest software SmartST 2005 and it still sucks as a GPS unit. The new software offers very little if any improvement over the old. The Tech support is poor also, they know the problems but can't offer any real solutions for you. I put my address in and it told me that there was not enought info. Would not recommend this unit to anyone looking for a GPS solution. If they would improve the address location there may be some hope for the thing. Battery life isn't very good either. I've tryed putting address in every way possible and it is still a crap shoot.

GPS and software are fine; Windows and the PC platform useless [Posted on 2007-03-04]
I got this as a gift in Christmas of 04. All the other things you have read are basically true: good value, lots of accessories included, everything you need is in the box, except a decent sized memory card. I was very impressed for the first couple of weeks of use. No database or software is going to be perfect, so I can understand the strange routings and the incomplete/incorrect street information. Having to install NavMan into the thing straight out of the box before you could use it was also really annoying, but I guess you would have to do that anyway when you buy a larger memory card. Trying to find a town or address was definitely very clunky and almost impossible. Still, for the money, I thought this was pretty decent, at first.

First problem was when I tried loading some other software on for hiking. Turns out you have to power off/kn the unit or else the gps receiver would not be released by the navman software for use by the other program. Cycling the power made all memory go away, so I was forced to realign the screen and go through the annoying Windows tutorial every time. I gave up on the topo software.

The biggest problem by far is that the battery cannot hold a charge. If you take this out of your car for more than a few days without leaving it on a charger, the unit seems to forget that the Navman software was ever installed. What a huge hassle! I went through this a couple of times, then it seemed like even when leaving it on the charger it would go south. So, when I went to grab it and go on a trip, I had to mess around for 20 minutes reinstalling everything each time. Finally, it would not "remember" the installation at all, and I contacted NavMan tech support. They were pretty nice and sent me a refurbished unit, about a year after I first received it. It worked OK for a couple of trips, and I was careful to leave it on the charger, but then a couple of months later, I went to use it, and... dead again. I have officially given up. Again, I believe this is a Windows/platform problem more than a NavMan problem, but it still amounts to a useless piece of junk. Anyone want to buy mine, cheap?

I have since gotten a Garmin ETrex Vista Cx, which is 10 times better, includes a barometric altimeter and electronic compass, and always works when I turn on the switch... what a concept! The screen is smaller, but it still gets the point across, and I can take it hiking and biking as well. Garmin gouges you for software and maps, but I would still rather have something that will actually work.

This thing totally sucks !!! [Posted on 2007-03-18]
Horrible software - very hard to enter addresses. Lets say you're looking for restaurants, you'll need to enter a 'Area'. So you enter a city - it will bring up several options with the same city name. You don't know which to choose. It cannot serach for POIs based on the current location.
Worst gizmo investment I ever made.

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