My husband has lived in Southern California for six years, yet there are times when I think he knows his way around better than I do. It seems ironic that he’d need a GPS (hint hint hubby), but with the amount of travel he does for work (both in and out of California), it’s actually a perfect gift for him. Previously, we owned a first generation GPS, purchased when units were a hot commodity. I remember how we stood in line waiting to get our hands on one. Fortunately, there are a variety of models available today loaded with features that include voice-activated navigation and internet connectivity.
Whenever my husband and I are looking to purchase electronics, we visit our local Best Buy to check out the latest products. I like the ability to get “hands on” with products before purchasing them. We recently had an opportunity to review Insignia’s Internet-Connected GPS system, courtesy of Best Buy. The unit we previously owned did not have internet connectivity, so this is one feature we were really impressed with upon using it. The unit “uses a built-in cellular modem to connect to the Internet so you can use Google Local search or send an address from Google Maps to your GPS device.” If you’ve ever owned a GPS unit, then you know that the software quickly becomes out of date. I’ve had to look up locations with my smart phone on more than one occasion since locations change or become non-existent. Internet connectivity allows us more accurate information on locations. I really like the ability to search for a location via Google (I actually prefer it over the “browse” function). We live in an area that gets horrible cellular reception so sometimes we have to wait until we’re out of our complex for the unit to recognize where we are. But other than the area around our home, we haven’t experienced difficulties with signal.
The other feature that we both absolutely love is the real-time traffic updates provided. When you’ve typed in a destination, the unit will give you a couple different routes with the amount of time it’s going to take in minutes. I’ve not seen this feature in a GPS unit and I think it’s very helpful, particularly in Southern California, known for having some of the worst traffic in the nation. The system calculates routes with information provided by traffic.com so that the quickest route is determined based on how fast (or slow) traffic is moving. I think the unit was made for Southern Californians!
With the price of gas skyrocketing, one other feature we’re very happy about is the real-time gas prices. The system uses gasbuddy.com to provide up-to-the-minute gas prices. We haven’t actually used this feature yet, but I’d be curious to know how accurate it is (once we test it out I’ll update ya!). I don’t typically get gas so I’ll have to ask hubby to fill us in!
Here is a little video I did with the unit while driving to Disneyland this week:
The unit is lightweight and compact (much more so than our older model). I like the touchscreen but I prefer to use the stylus because it’s actually very sensitive. Here are some of the other features you may be interested in, courtesy of Best Buy:
- Google Local Search
Get up-to-date information using Google Local Search on your Insignia GPS device. Type in any key word and Google will give you back the results.- Map Updates
Map Updates offered quarterly at all Best Buy stores at the Geek Squad bench. This service is free for the first year.- Preloaded base maps of the United States
Up to 2 million points of interest guide you toward interesting and useful destinations. (Includes 1 year of map updates.)- Backlit 3.5″ color LCD screen
Easily navigate settings and functions day or night on the large, bright display.- WAAS-enabled GPS receiver
Enhances performance in heavy cloud cover, wooded areas and canyons so you don’t have to worry about losing the satellite link. WAAS is Wide Area Augmentation System.- Automatic rerouting
Provides alternate travel directions in the event of a deviation from the directions given.- Text-to-speech and turn-by-turn voice prompts
Allow you to keep your eyes on the road while navigating with convenient voice guidance.- Route planning
Automatically provides multiple routes to your destination, including the shortest route.- Built-in lithium-ion battery
With up to 2 hours of battery life.
One thing I should mention is that the unit comes with 1 year of data connectivity service (you’ll have to renew after that time). You can also go into the store to update your map with Geek Squad during the first year. The unit retails for $299.99 and is available for purchase at Best Buy.
This review was sponsored by Best Buy.
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Spirit Waves Album by Michael McDonald
wow those navigation things are cool. thanks
I bought one of these just before Christmas last year. The store displays and reviews all claim that map updates are available quarterly, requiring an in-store visit to the Geek Squad desk. But I’ve tried a half dozen times to get an update, and no one at the stores knows anything at all about it.
I’ve purchased about other 10 GPS units over the years (Mitac-Mio, Garmin, Magellen and Nextar). I consider this one to be the most disappointing. It has the most potential, yet the worst implementation. It could easily change my mind with updates that show improvements, but with no updates it’s clearly going to remain sub-standard and the worst GPS I’ve used. (And when you are worse than Nextar, you are pretty bad.)
As an example of the potentially-great-yet-borked, consider the gas price feature. It retrieves data from GasBuddy.com to show prices of nearby gas stations. Killer feature… if implemented in a usable way. Presumably you want this information to find low price gas stations. But the default search order isn’t by price. OK, you can work around that with a few clicks each use. But it only shows regular gas prices, despite gasbuddy.com tracking mid/premium/diesel prices as well. And there is no way to change what is shown. Doh! Now for the kill: it’s apparently caching gas prices,(gasbuddy.com clears them after 72 hours) so the prices it shows might be months out of date! When I first used the feature gas prices were going up. In one case the price shown was $1/gal off.
Another substandard aspect is the Point-of-Interest (POI) list. It’s outdated and small compared to other GPS units. That shouldn’t be a problem, since the unit can use online Google search to locate businesses. It does this to some extent, because it has few results when it doesn’t have a cellular connection. But it often can’t find what you are looking for, even though you can usually find it immediately with a web browser connection to Google. This could easily be fixed with a software updated, but if there is never going to be one…