Sony today announced a pair of in-car GPS receivers. The large-screen, suction-cup-mounted GPS units feature touchscreens and real-time traffic updates, as well as voice-to-text interaction. The two units are the NV-U73T and the NV-U83T. They’re similar in most ways, save for the U83T featuring Bluetooth for handsfree calling. They’re out now for $300 and $400, respectively.
VALUE, PERFORMANCE DRIVE SONY’S LATEST NAV-U NAVIGATION DEVICE [Sony]
I bought my NV-U83T from Costco and I like it much better over my Garmin c550. It’s a little bit slower in starting to re-route when out of calculated route, but recalculated route appeared on screen almost instantly (with Garmin it takes more time to get it recalculated), so it’s not an issue. Also in my area it provides me with better routes (c550 often gave me routes via small streets with lots of intersections for no reason). Also I noted NV-U83T turn on much faster (I mean 3-5 times faster).
The screen is a beauty itself and filled with lots of useful information. The current position is shown as an arrow (color of arrow indicates how good GPS reception is) inside a small circle. When in route guidance mode there is a small yellow arrow on that circle showing direction to the destination point. It’s VERY helpful when you drive off-road. Compass and speedometer are helpful too.
I really like how NV-U83T performs in route guidance mode (split screen near
intersection, clear voice guidance etc.), but on current position map it nearly
worthless if you don’t know the neighbourhood. Most of the time I see just a
screen with street lines. No street names even if there is a lot of empty
space. Changing the map resolution makes no difference. Having the street
name on the status bar is a brilliant idea, but why don’t show the street name
from oncoming intersection too?
Also showing POI on the map is a great idea, but why don’t give us any idea
WHAT we’re lookin at? I see some icon, but what is it? I can drive to that
place to take a look, but what should I look for? It could be great in addition to
that green target “point-and-drive-to-there” feature in “options” we could
select “nearest POI” meaning nearest to the green target POI list. Show us just
nearest 10 and it will be enough to get an idea what’s hidden behind the icon
on the map. Let’s say I could call the hotel and check if there any room
available by simply hitting the icon and selecting it from the “nearest POI” list.
Such small things can make NV-U83T much better. It can really shine in
compare with other GPS on the market. I hope Sony developer team listens to
our comments…