Mio C220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Obviously one can't expect all gps devices to be up to date (and this one isn't) and also, I don't like how one touch of the screen makes a mark of that location like u want to go to that place. Overall, it's a decent device but one should have a familiarity with where they are while using this.

I got this GPS not too long ago and was originally happy to have one. Slowly, I became more and more frustrated for various reasons.

1. It will tell you the opposite of what you need to do. Meaning, it will say "keep left" when you actually should keep right. Many times I've had to turn around because of this.
2. It will take you on some of the worst possible routes. Obviously, it's not human and doesn't have reason and logic like a human brain, but some routes seem incredibly stupid.
3. Maps are VERY out of date. Even if roads have been built a decade ago, they won't be on the GPS and you'll often find yourself driving on what it thinks is an open field.
4. Lack of POI's. You can't trust this unit to know where even common and popular locations are.

At first, I didn't care that this unit didn't have many bells and whistles. But now, that seems like all the more reason to upgrade. Other GPS's are around $100 nowadays. Keep shopping.

I bought it in Aug 2007, given the 2 years use I put on it, I have to admit it did work good for the past two years. The software system never break as to entirely collapse (when it hangs up processing, all you have to do is reset it), I would say it's robust to the use I put on it.

There are times when over half a year I just drove locally to places I knew well-- the fact that I put it idle for half a year didn't do much harm at all. I can just use it with charger on and it's good to go.

Now I really have to complain about the outdated map, there are so many times I end up in at end of a road, realizing the GPS map is totally out of sync with the reality. This happened both at urban setting and rural area. I remember driving to Cleveland Museum of Art in Oct of 2008, this little GPS lead me to a creepy area in Cleveland that is far away from Case campus. I was so agonized lost in that place. I could not understand-- the museum is there for about a century, and why the GPS can't even find a place like this??

Other occasions including once driving in Amish country little town, it directed me driving all the way (2 miles) along one major road, then told me turn back at the intersection. It was a joke not cool. I could have used any of the intersection I came across to do the drive back, why so long a expedition???

The website has absolutely no renew/map support for it, which makes the situation all the more hopeless ( my friend jail break his to update, but it doesn't help much... )

When the rating ask for individual ratings for 'ease of use' I have to say it's better than an LG GPS that I drove with, but it's not as good as a Garmin I tested.

For 'features'-- there's nothing fancy about it, it's really basic use. There's no fancy stuff as to multi-language sound support (and honestly I don't need to know the direction in 90 languages). But I find it would be nice if it could be used with google earth ( google earth now support work with Garmin etcetera)-- that will be a major expansion. But again, I could not be so impractical to expect a two year old machine being so much ahead of time.

For 'sound quality'-- I always seat in the front, either driving or front passenger-- and there's no problem at all for me to hear it. My hearing is just normal, so I didn't hunt if there's volume control feature.

I got this about four years ago. I'm not a big traveler... probably travel fives a year the most. This is a very reliable, cheap, not to costly Navigation system. It gets the job done... It's not the best GPS. But if you want a GPS for a few trips here and there, that you're only going to use once in a while, this is the one for you.

Purchased this unit with the understanding that map updates were to come very soon. However, there are no map updates available. This unit is a complete waste of money. Roads change often and Mio does not update the maps.... Very low volume on this unit and it does not have text to speech feature. It has some nice features but, outdated maps right out of the box. Now I am stuck with this useless GPS. I got it at PepBoys and now they tell me they didn't sell the unit....

I contacted Mio the first day I received this as a present in 2007. I still have the problem number and it, is still on there website when I log in. No updates for the maps. Every time I drive home from work it wants me to go down a dead end street. Then it thinks every road is dirt and will not take me down the shortest route.
I contacted them on there website, called and e-mailed and no help? I will never purchase a Mio again.

After fighting with this GPS for just over a year I threw it out with the trash tonight & just ordered a Megellan Maestro 4250 that my husband has & is quite happy with (& knew better than to trade mine for!). The Mio has never been reliable -- from shutting down for no apparent reason, to requiring me to enter the same destination over and over before it calculates a route, to continually losing its signal, to not recognizing its own map card -- and was not worth a penny of what I paid for it. My advice: spend a little extra money to save yourself a ton of frustration!

I bought this GPS about 2 years ago now. For the price I paid this C220 is amazing! I drove truck over the road for a while and everyday was taking cargo to places I had no idea where it was. This Mio got me from loading dock to loading dock, every single time. I'm talking a couple thousand trips. It doesn't have MP3 or Bluetooth capabilities, but I didn't want all of that. It did exactly what I needed it to do. I would highly recommend this GPS to anyone that just wants to get from point A to point B....without spending alot of money.

Here is the number one problem with this GPS; there are no map updates available. I got this unit in 2007 for Christmas and soon after I noticed that neighborhoods that had been built in 2006 were not included on the map. When I was driving in Colorado route 40 wasn't even on the map. When I requested a route from Buena Vista to Winter Park the GPS told me that the destination was not reachable. The POI's are also very limited. The GPS was unable to find the following landmarks. Garden of the Gods, CO, The Grand Canyon, AZ, Hoover Dam, NV. Also the GPS will not route unless you have a specific address to punch in. For example I was driving to Herndon, VA and the GPS could not find a street that was built in 2006. Not knowing the area, I did not know any of the street names so I could not input an address. The next best option would be to route to the city center but the c220 does not have that option. Also the battery on this unit lasts about 1 hour. Here is the kicker, while the US version does not offer an update the European versions offers map updates, firmware updates, a custom POI loader, and a POI updater. Thanks for screwing the U.S. consumer MIO!!!

I bought a C220 MIO GPS a year ago, it works fine, but there are no map updates. They offer updates for newer products only, go figure.
I will not buy another product from this company. I doubt they will last very long anyway.

I have the H610 which I purchased to find it doesn't support MS Vista. Combine this with no map updates and it becomes useless. I have contacted Mio multiple time and got no useful responce. They even justifiy mapping errors by say your doing some thing wrong!

Excellant product.. very reliable. will definately take u to the destination even if u r lost somewhere. can trust it completely.Recalculates preet fast.

Drawbacks: Volumne is low. If u are listening to music or windows are open; u can barely hear what GPS says. It doesn't speak out street name where u wanna take turn or exit, so in the beginning things might be difficult. It discharges preety fast, hence need to keep it charging while driving.

This is a nicely made unit and works fairly well. I found that it was not very intuitive to use. It also did not follow deviations from the route very well. At times instead of recalculating the route it just keeps trying to get you back to where you left the route. I had to turn it over to my 10 year old granddaughter to figure it out. She caught on fairly quick but Grandpa was a bit slow to pick it up.

I bought my Mio about 6 months ago. It's a great little gps overall. My only complaint is that it can take FOREVER to find a satellite signal. By forever, I mean, on a bad day, 3 to 5 minutes. On a good day, less than a minute. I'm not sure what causes the delay - doesn't seem to be weather, terrain, or buildings. I love that there is no service to purchase but once you have the map, it's not going to get updated on its own. Since San Antonio is growing at an unbelievable pace, I have had quite a few unknown addresses pop up on me but I'm a Realtor so I guess I'll probably have that problem more than average. As far as how user friendly it is - it's great. Very easy to program, and it's got a lot of different options on how to view your map. Best of all, it's portable which means if you find yourself in a strange city, you can carry it around with you. (If you do this, keep in mind that it only works when you're moving - so if you stop, it's going to lose you! This also applies to geocaching for those of you who know what that is.) It also came in handy when we went to Puerto Rico last fall!
Overall this is a great gps and I would recommend it.

This GPS is not the flashiest but it will do what you need. I uploaded software from GPS club website and now have windows media player, word pad, mp3 player and other neat software on this 130 dollar GPS. It came with 1GB of US maps, I wiped out all but 3 maps for my area of America and then loaded up some songs and an AVI movie that i "got" off the internet or use it as a 1 gb storage device. I can watch movies or listen to music or find my way. not too many units will do this for 130 bucks.

I have grown to like this little unit quite a bit, but I have discovered that I made a bad assumption when I bought it. When I saw that the maps were on SD cards, I figured I would just be able to buy maps for other regions when I needed them. Not so, it turns out. I actually called Mio tech support to see where I could buy a map of Canada for my next trip to Toronto, and I was told that "foreign" maps won't work in the US units. The telephone rep had been pretty polite up to that point, but when I said I certainly wouldn't buy a a Mio in the future, because they aren't much use to folks who need to travel to Canada, she got kind of snippy. She said "Well, that's your choice," and then added "You can buy a separate Mio Canadian unit."

Yeah... or I could just buy a GPS that lets me install new maps.

Steer clear of this one folks. It's not worth the "savings."

This GPS unit works great ! It is the first one I ever owned, so I can't compare it to any other units. It's a lot of bang for the buck. It take some time to figure out all the features and functions. It does not come with instruction manual, but you can download or print it on line. I have used it a few time and it took me right where I wanted to be. The battery lasts about 4 hours. I keep it plugged in while I am in my car. If you want a unit that you can download photos and music into, this is not the one for you. But if you want a basic GPS unit without all the extra bells and whistles, this is the one to buy. I'm glad I did.

Mio C220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Got the system for holiday present, thought initially it was affordable and had most of the features I wanted. HOWEVER, the touch screen was not responding and I pushed the section of the screen a little harder and the whole face of the screen cracked. I am on with tech support who may charge me to replace or fix the unit. Completely NOT what the warranty read. Great, cheap unit but they don't back it up if normal customer use presents a problem. Another $130 dollars out the window!

I bought this in July 2007 for a trip from Wisconsin west to Yellowstone and Glacier. It failed to do its primary job - consistently getting us to where we wanted to go. Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. There were times when we chose a listed POI, saw signs to it, and followed the signs instead of the Mio, which was telling us to go somewhere else. When we got to the POI, the Mio still didn't know it, and kept telling us to go elsewhere. This was not an isolated incident, and I've had similar problems in Wisconsin. I haven't tried to use it for the past few months. I can understand it taking you on a less efficient route occasionally, but if you can't be sure you'll really end up where you want to go, what good is it?

I bought this item several weeks ago and now I think I can write some reviews for others.
First, this is a good GPS. Usually it can receive nine to ten satellites' signals. The maximum inaccuracy is usually within ten feet. The point of interest(POI) includes many places you may be interest in.
Second, it's as excellent as you may expect. That's because the system is easily down. Once every ten days, I think.
It is worth the price; however, if you are looking for a better one, go to Garmin, I think.

Delivery was slow. Prompts slow sometimes (some directions are given right where you are supposed to turn and when you're driving the speed limit or busy traffic, you'll miss your turn or exit). But it recalculates and takes you back there after wasting 15 minutes at least. I would suggest to review the map before going to that destination and give yourself an extra 15 minutes more than what the gps calculates.

I bought it for a friend. He was delighted. It did not require a subscription and was loaded with all the features he needs to get around town and his other favorite locales.

The unit works okay. Haven't tried it in unfamiliar territory yet but I know it misses roads around here. It isn't easy to set up. I have had to play with it a bit and I still can't get some things like I would like. It probably wasn't the best choice for someone like me who has very little experience with a GPS receiver. The other more important problem is there is no support from the company for getting new maps for the USA. I have not found any place where I can get updated maps for the thing. The Tele Atlas company they mention for maps doesn't do maps for the USA, at least not for this unit and the company itself doesn't supply updates so in that respect it isn't worth the price or maybe it is one of those things, you get what you pay for. Spend the extra and get a Garmin or some other more sophisticated unit and make sure you can get new maps with what ever you buy.

The Mio Digiwalker product is ok but their support is non-existent. I have called them over 9 times, from Sep 2007 to Feb 2008, to get an RMA completed. Each call took an average of 1/2 hour. They have no idea how to treat customers and God forbid you ever want to return something.

Trust me! You will NEVER get your money refunded, even if they issue you an RMA. This is by far the WORST service I have ever experienced. This is not a crank review, it is the truth, HONEST!!!

I got my Mio on Black Friday for an unheard of price after rebate, and have to say for the money it is great. Has voice prompts (doesnt tell you the street names, but says "in 100 yards, turn right" and displays the street name on the screen). Has lots of Points of Interest which are pretty up to date...I have only found a couple that were no longer there so far. I guess the only real issue I have had with it is it freezes up from time to time...I havent contacted customer support as of yet about this issue...all I have to do is turn the system off and back on to get it to unfreeze, but it is annoying. Other than that, it is a great GPS for the money.

bought this unit for Christmas and found it very frustrating. The interface is not at all intuitive. We have 4 very computer-savvy people in our family, and NONE of us could make it work. There is an 87-page manual which can only be viewed as a .PDF file -- not very useful when you're in traffic and don't have a laptop along. We returned this unit and do not plan to buy any Mio products again.

I bought 2 of these because of the price. Within 4 months one had the charging plug fall out from being mounted on the window, as it is designed, and just dropped out. I guess from the weight of the cord over time. But the bad part is the company does not stand behind their warranty and refused to fix it. A month later the second one has "frozen" with the setting screen and will not reset. Again the company will not stand behing their 1 year waranty. Just bad product and worthless company. Daniel Hester

I've been using the 220 for about six weeks now. I read a lot of reviews and the only criticisms I find relevant are:

Crashes:
It crashed a few times initially, but hasn't since. I think it is to do with entering inputs while GPS is still searching for signal or location on a map. For example, if the vehicle is in an unmapped area, and you repeatedly ask it to calculate route, it might crash. However, the 220 hasn't crashed at all since, so I can't complain.

Menus not user friendly:
True. Wish it were simpler. I was initially put off by the seemingly convoluted menus, but soon got used to them. The menus don't bother me now, but can see how they might bother someone impatient.

Sub-optimum routes:
There have been a few instances when the Mio-suggested route isn't the best. These are rare though, and in the majority of times, it works alright. This complaint, though, seems to be common among all gps units, not just the mio.

There are other complaints like volume insufficient, screen brightness insufficient, too long to acquire gps signals, windshield mount difficult. Most of these complaints seem unfounded to me.

On the other hand, the value for money is excellent. I'd say it does 90% of what the best gps would do at 50% of the cost (comparing with a Nuvi 200).

The Mio C220 used to be offered at Radio Shack. They seemingly discontinued the product (in their East Coast stores at least) but I was able to purchase one from them at 199.00 before they discontinued it. I have found this navigational system to be very functional, compact and convenient. It is also a very good value in that most navigational systems that come in cars will run you about 1200.00-2000.00 as an option in a new car. Also you cannot walk around with an in-dash system. This product is easy to use and program and if you make a wrong turn it will instantly re-calibrate itself accomodating your mistake. I like the Mio so much that I've bought 3 of them, 2 from Amazon. The only drawback of the product is that the speaker on the unit is small so it does not get very loud even at its max setting. If the car stereo is on or people are talking you may not hear the vocal directions. Otherwise, I highly recommend this product.

It is a decent unit - I got it about $125 and it does a good basic job.

Comments
- some menus require too many key presses to get to the right screen to change a parameter
- instruction manual (on CD) could have been better written and more organized. Some features are not clearly explained.
- Screen is good, voice is good
- screen is a little small - I got myself a stylus as my fingers were sometimes touching the wrong part of the screen which then becomes the center of the map view and I had to cancel out to go back to where I was
- battery life so-so

For the price this is a great little gadget.
It's only downside was it came with 2006 maps.
It will still get you where you need to go.
I would recomend this product to anyone who just wanted a simple to use GPS. It doesn't have many bells and whistles but that may make it better.
It's very easy to use. Take it out the box and go.

I was told that the SatNav freezes some times. I have the C320 model sold in Europe and I never had such problem here with my model.

We are still learning how to use the Mio. The biggest problem with all of these seems to be the lack of updated maps. My brother purchased a Garmin for much more money and has the same problems. We have lived in our house for nearly two years, and there were houses here when we moved in, however, the TeleAtlas maps don't even have our streets on them. Navigating around the confusing Dallas area, though, has been made easier by the Mio, though there are times it wants us to go through neighborhoods we would rather avoid. There may be a way to get around this, but like I said, we are still discovering some of the abilities of the machine. Overall, we are happy with our purchase.

In terms of GPS functionality-- this unit works fine. It has a pretty good display, navigation works well, etc.

However, I had to return this unit becuase you can't store address as "favorites" like many other GPS units (including my older NEXTAR C3). You can store "home" and "work" - that's it. (and while these two 'favorites' can be renamed-- two just doesn't cut it for me).

ALso, while you can review and retrieve an address from a "history" of recently-travelled destinations, these will scroll off eventually and then those addresses have to be re-entered.

Too bad-- a really important feature that was left out, and a deal-killer for me. Wish I had known beforehand.

If that doesn't bother YOU-- then I do actually still recommend this GPS-- the price is sure right.

I purchased this for my husband for Christmas. We used it on our trip to Georgia and all around while there. He has thoroughly enjoyed it and I couldn't beat the price. It has everything he needs for when he is traveling around town.

I bought this item as a Christmas gift for my Mom. She is not tech savvy, but I thought a GPS system would be easier and safer than following printed directions while driving. I wanted something easy where you can just type in a starting address, an ending address, and then just follow the directions (similar to online map software). Unfortunately, I found this device not user friendly, even for a more tech savvy person like myself. It was not intuitive how to use, and you have to poke keys on a digital keyboard with fingers, which was difficult to do without hitting nearby keys. I found the maps challenging to navigate, and I couldn't figure out how to zoom out/in and easily pan without affecting the route. The user guide was only on the CD, and at 87 pages long, I realized that this product is only for the most patient and determined person. Knowing that my Mom would not go to this much trouble to learn and use it, I returned it. I hope there are easier GPS systems out there.

I owned this priceless gem for approximately two days. In those two days, I was sent in circles, sent down dead-end roads, sent to the wrong destination, and left helpless by Windows CE crashes. The base maps are wrong on many many things (at least in my area) and the routing algorithms have you drive miles out of your way just to turn around and have you return to the same intersection.

I gave this Mio Digiwalker C220 to my wife for Xmas. She loves it. It easily meets all of needs for a GPS. It was very easy to learn how to use. My eight year old grandson was also able to use it immediately. I would recommend this GPS to anyone that wants an excellent product at a very fair price.

This product is everything the ad says it is and more. For the money you can not beat it anywhere.

Got this as a gift. Works very well. Only problem I have found is that it can take several minutes to acquire the GPS sats. Beyond that, the interface is easy to use, the maps are stored on a removable card, so if you need to update you dont have to worry about attaching the device to your PC and installing drivers. Very useful device!

Great beginner's GPS. I have a high end Garmin and needed another one for my second car. Rather than getting another high end one, I decided on the Mio b/c of features and price.

Good product, have had no problems and it's pretty accurate. I'd recommend it for the low hundred dollar range. Amazon's price was the best that I had found at the time.

Thanks and happy new year!

I have owned Mio C220 for more than a month. I have no major complains on this device so far. It is very easy to use and the route calculation was faster than Garmin or TomTom according to my observations. The C220 was able to recalculate the route when you miss the original planned route, this feature is a major plus point. The LCD touch screen is fast and responsive and I like the QWERTY keyboard format to input address while the Garmin has ABCD telephone format which is difficult to input. You can drag or move the 2D map using your fingers easiely. The device is light weight and it can fit in most of the pockets. The LCD screen bright enough for mounting on the windscreen/dashboard for navigation. I found the navigation was very accurate and dead on. It comes with a car charger but no home or wall charger. I have been using my Motorola RAZR wall charger to charge my C220 at home and it works. My only complain is that not too many accessories are available for C220 and lack of full support to its update software for Macs. Otherwise C220 scores much higher than TomTom.

We bought the system in Summer, had it for 6 months now and used it everywhere. We used it to find train stations in NJ, Used it to find points of interest in New York City (pedestrian mode), We gave it to guests to find their hotel (beats giving directions), used it all over Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, system is solid, maps are accurate. It reroutes quickly if you miss a turn/detour. If you have a RAZR or blackberry or any other USB powered device you can charge the MIO with the same charger. Best of all its cheap! Downfalls: volume could be louder, it doesn't say street name when turning, but does show it on the screen.

I purchased this product for job purposes and it has made my life so much easier. A family member of mine has the previous version from Mio and they absolutely love it as well. I never had to read the instructions, I figured everything out through experience. The functioning of this product makes perfect sense and it has an abundant amount of POIs. If you don't want any of the fancy blue-tooth accessories, go for the Mio.
-Highly recommended

Well, I got this at Circuit City for $[...] (thanksgiving early bird sale). And fully satisfied with it as it does the job for the price :-) ..

Pros:

1. Compact, cheap and looks good.

2. Preloaded maps

3. Ease of use

4. Decent POI database

5. USB port for charger (I just need to have one charger for my Blackberry phone, and this device :-), both in car and home).

6. Automatic night mode/day mode switch.

7. Discussion Forums say that you can hack this device to have the Mio C520 features, but I haven't tried it yet..


Cons:

1. TTS of Freeways (I am not worried about spelling out the street names, but this one does not even say like exit on to 101 North etc, it just says exit on to Freeway on your right, now what if both the exits are on your right ?)

2. Does not say "Arrived at your destination on the right/left" it just says arrived at your destination, and you have to figure out where the house is :-( ...

3. Lousy manual and customer support. But lots of help in other discussion boards :-)

4. Image shows it can detect the speed limit on the roads, but the actual device does not show the speed limits (even C230 model does not show it).

5. The Camera update tool provided by Mio support does not work with this device. Tried calling support, but no help.

Conclusion:
-----------
If you want to try out a GPS, then this is a best choice. In my thought, if you are using this device <= 4 out of 10 trips, then this should suffice, if your usage is more than this, then try a better model..

Also see this link for more details on choosing a GPS ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071207/ap_on_hi_te/holiday_tech_gifts_gps

mio 220 works great. It takes a while to get used to the various menus and some of the directions are not the fastest way to go locally to avoid heavy traffic but most people know their local areas and how to avoid heavy traffic so that should not be a problem. It recalculates very quickly if you miss a turn and will get you going in the right direction again. I had been driving to one place twice a week and it was taking me 25 minutes each way. I plugged in the mio and it took me only 15 minutes to get there so I was in my car wasting gas for 40 unnessary minutes each week. Multiply that by 52 weeks and that is a lot of wasted gas. 6 stars

I've had my Mio C220 for about a week now and have found it to be very reliable. I've been using it to get around town to places I go to all the time. Some times it routes me differently than I would normally have gone but then I change the way it routes (from quickest to shortest...) and it will generally come up with my regular route.
It really came in handy last night to get to a party down in the city where I wasn't use to driving. It's not normally the safest part of town at night but I felt very secure knowing how to get there. And when everyone wanted to continue the party at a local bar it was great to be able to hit that home button afterwards and find my way home without a worry of getting lost.
If you are wanting to buy a reliable GPS and aren't just looking for a toy with Mp3 and Picture viewer or all the other wastes of memories, I highly recommend the Mio C220.

Great Navigation- I bought this in April. Works fine, right out the box.
Turn by turn directions, it's very accurate, and it's easy to use. I just bought another one for a Christmas present. It doesn't have the MP3 or picture display capability, but it's great if you want or need a navigation system. The screen is large and bright enough, has the night -view, 3-D imaging, and lots of bells and whistles. It uses an SD card with pre-loaded maps, and does the job!!! Highly recommended.

I took a trip from Colorado Springs to Dallas using my brand-new toy; a Mio C220. I noticed that it wanted to send me from Amarillo to Oklahoma City, then south to Dallas. I knew this wasn't right, so I dug out a printed route I had made with Mapquest... this had the more obvious Amarillo to Dallas via 287 route. In order to force the C220 to take that route, I had to tell it I wanted to go to a random town along the way... I didn't know any such towns, so called my wife who looked up the route on Mapquest and gave me the name of a town: Childress... I punched that in and the route then was sent down 287. But then the estimated time was way, way off. This indicated that the issue was that the C220 thought driving on 287 was going to be a 55MPH task... the speed limit is actually 70day/65night. No wonder it wanted me to go 100 miles out of my way to stay on an interstate. Then, as I neared Amarillo, I could see that I was supposed to take a certain exit, OK, cool, I figured this thing was going to make this all so easy. I took the exit and quickly found myself driving straight through downtown Amarillo, with traffic lights every 200 feet or so. Luckily, this was late at night, so there was no traffic, but would have been a disaster in daytime traffic. (On the way back, I didn't follow the C220 directions and was able to stay on the highway without stopping in town). Continuing on towards Dallas, I found that the C220 repeatedly wanted me to take the business loop. For example, there was some little town where I was supposed to exit, didn't and simply went around town and could see the business loop reenter the highway about a mile later... the C220 had wanted me to get off the highway, drive through the tiny town, stopping at a couple of 4-way stops no doubt, and then reenter the highway... instead, my instinct to stay on the highway got me past town in about 60 seconds. Witchita Falls; same thing, but I just followed the signs and ignored the C220. When I got to Dallas, I missed the hotel because of a bad exit sequence. I had wanted to check into the hotel and then go on to downtown Dallas, but since I missed the hotel, I just got back on the highway and went on to downtown. At this point, I muted the C220 for the first time and used old-fashioned navigation: a list of directions I had obtained. Once finished in downtown Dallas, I called the hotel to get directions. These differed from the C220, but I got right there. On the way home, I kept the device muted and only glanced at it to see my location on the map once in a while.

The POI database worked better, getting me to a grocery store in Dalhart, TX flawlessly. However, I also found this unreliable. In Dallas, I had needed to find a post office. I was already off the highway, so tried to find one via the POI, nothing anywhere close. So I asked a local who told me there was one just up the road behind a Taco Bell. I tried to find the Taco Bell in the POI... nope. So I drove, found the Taco Bell myself about a mile away, and behind it, a Post Office.

The screen is bright and clear. I found the user interface to be acceptable. The maximum volume is often too low to hear clearly in my truck. I got mine for very cheap on Black Friday, but it's not worth even the great deal I got. I took it back after finding it all but useless during a pretty straight-forward cross-country trip.

Can't ask for more for the money. It not only has found all the spots I have asked for, it has more forest roads, and BLM roads than some more expensive navigators. I particularly like the ability to enter locations by coordinates.