Navigon 5100 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech and Lifetime Traffic

I got this gps for Christmas last year. I use it pretty frequently all across the USA on vacations and such. I never have got lost or turned around with my Navigon. I am not good with directions and my Navigon never fails me to get me where I need to go. You can compare the directions it wants to take you compared to google or mapquest and change them as needed. Very user friendly with a nice night and day verison so it doesnt blind you at night. Just from last year to now I have received at least 3 updates from Navigon via email to update my gps. The updates are great to keep the device up to date with the latest maps and traffic conditions. The only thing I wish was different was the volume. I wish it was just a little bit louder since the speaker is on the back of it. Other then that I highly recommend this gps over any other one out there. It tells you what specific street to turn on unlike the rest that just tell you to turn left or right.

If you want an outstanding navigation unit with great directions that are easy to follow, this is it. It even gives u live traffic updates for free. You just cant beat this little guy. If you want something super fancy, then pay 5 times as much. by the way, the smaller screen size is NOT a problem. It will tell you every turn in planty of time and even tell you what lane to be in.

This is a great little GPS. It works well, as I'm sure most do, it has free traffic updates for life, it speaks the names pretty well and the graphics look great as well. Very pleased.

Don't get me wrong, I really like this Navi and I think it's really all the navi you'd need.
But then in the middle of a trip, right before that complicated intersection... it crashed and had to be rebooted - 5 minutes and the complicated intersection later it's back on and perfect again.
I would still recommend it and buy it again.

I am disappointed in this purchase. The volume is not loud enough in traffic to hear the turns. It does not calculate a direct route to where I want to go. It is not as expected.

Working good so far. However gets confused when in new construction area and can make you go in turns over and over.

I have not had any real challenges with the unit so far. Sometimes I have had to try several times to get destinations entered. (I think it is because of the north, south, east, west addresses here in Utah)

Product looks really nice, and serves it's basic purpose of getting you from A to B. However, Navigon still has a ways to go to compete with Garmin and Magellan GPS products. Overall, the product is great for it's value. Several of my cons with the Navigon 5100 is the power button, it has be pressed for about 8-10 seconds before it will turn on/off. Another issue I have is that the POI's (gas stations) do not display the gas prices. Other than, that this product is very reliable and looks really slick in the window.

I currently own a MIO that I purchased on Black Friday 06 and planning to upgrade. The Mio is a competent little unit, but I was hoping to get a unit with text-to-speech, newer maps, updated POIs, better interface, and better routing. Here comes Navigon 5100.. at $160 it came with Text To Speech, Lane Assist, 3d reality view, Zagat ratings, and Free TMC! Could it be the magical upgrade I was looking for?

After 1 day owning the unit and using it to drive around, this item is going back to Amazon. And here's why.

1. First thing I notice was the HUGE windshield mount that looks cool, but it's a major pain to use. Rotating the device around was very awkward and I was afraid that it would snap off. Another annoyance: On highways the mount just shakes road vibrations! My Mio didn't do that.

2. You must HOLD the button for 10 seconds for startup and shut-down. In addition, you must click OK to the EULA agreement that you wont use this unit while driving ( you know what I mean ) etc etc. This makes the unit impractical for quick turn-on and go like my Mio does.

3. The keyboards (or any other buttons, for that matter) are TINY. I have relatively small hands and I'm having problems typing my destinations.

4. The UI are clunky. I was interested because I heard Navigon has a very pretty UI, but I'm disappointed. The 'Flash' menus are nothing to be excited about. The maps on most streets are plain white and hard to read.

5. It takes many taps to do the simple things I can do right away on my Mio. For example I can simply move the maps around with Mio while I was in 'navigation mode.' With this Navigon, I need to click on the little button on the bottom right which pops up a menu, and select the button for 'move your fingers around to scroll map' view.

6. There's a 'direct access' buttons for specific types of POI (which allow you to quickly see surrounding POIs with 1 tap) which is very nice, but then it directly routes me to the POI I selected ( I cant just view the phone number etc - to do that I have to do it through the regular POI screen)

6. The fonts are very small. I'm talking TINY small.

7. And here's the killer for me: The speaker is very soft. The unit when cranked all the way up is barely audible on highways, and the sound is already cracking. My Mio is way louder.

So those are the reasons the unit is going back. It's too bad - I really wanted the unit to be the upgrade I had wanted. Just to wrap this review up on a good note, the positives (for me ) are:

1. The unit looks very pretty.
2. Navigation is pretty good and accurate.
3. Voice guidance (when you can hear it!) spells out street names pretty accurately.
4. It says which side of the road your destination is (this is very neat)
5. It can display speed limit, your speed, altitude, etc. Lots of information.
6. There's dedicated 'direct access' button which has its limitations, is a nice feature.
7. Route recalculation was pretty fast.

There you go. I hope this review serves as a caveat emptor - Keep in mind that you DO get a host of features for a very low price, but it has its (for me, major) shortcomings. What that shortcomings amount for you is for you to decide.

already own a garmin nuvi, and returned this for a tom tom, both are easier to use, and straight to the point.

I've had problem with this GPS ever since I bought it. I even called
customer service for help and they never called me back. I wouldn't buy it if I were you. You get what you pay for.

After testing several GPS units, no one is perfect. But Navigon 5100 is a very practical GPS in affordable price, and it is less mistake and easy to use compared to Garmin Nuvi 750 and 680 in road tests. High recommend! It would be better if there are more POIs(including search options) and alternative hook.

I map for a living so this unit makes sense.
I was worried about buying this model when I first read many reviews on this site as well as other sites carrying the Navigon 5100. The price however was too luring at 178$. I am pleased to find that the 5100 works great if you follow the recommendations in the manual.

I am a GIS analyst so i do have experience with maps and creating products similar to google earth. I will say that the Navigon is a great model for a intermediate user. I bought my mom a garmin unit because she will not take the time to read the manual nor does she care about extra funtions like optimum route, excluding tolls or 3d view.

First issue I read about was battery failing.
If you charge your unit for 6 hours (as recommended) when you initially buy your unit you will not have issues with your battery or recharge.

As stated in the manual, powering on takes a while. This is kind of a drag and i'd say one of my "cons" for the model. Powering on and off takes 7-10 seconds.

Many people complained about the unit rerouting with U-turns. This is something that you can turn off so they obviously didn't read the manual.
Rerouting is fast and includes traffic in calculation. Something Garmin does not do. You can also select what kind of vehichle you are in (bicycle, truck, motercycle, car) to add another factor to avg speed and rate calculations.

One of the best features for me and others i work with is the log funtion. If you need to log milage for tax purposes this is a great function. Or if you need to track workers to see if they go home during lunch or leave their car idle for hours this is great as well. With rising gas prices our company saved over 10,000$ due to this tracking.

The GUI is easy to understand if you go through the manual although not as "smooth" and fast as the Garmin unit.
Poi's are outstanding tons of symbology and even better if you get the freshmaps update.It's on sale through amazon for 56$ for 3 years. Totally worth it.

One thing you won't find in the garmin unit is an info button that tells info about the POI as well as a phone #.


All roads come from Navteq or Tele-atlas which is where Garmin gets their roads from. So complaints about roads being different on a Garmin doesn't make sense.

I do like garmin's POI loader. Very nice if you have work data that you need to add to your unit.
I haven't played with the navigon's POI's I suspect if you follow format and add through notepad then your only restriction would be the size of your card.
I must warn it's probably more advanced and not as user friendly as Garmin's POI loader.

Muy buen producto, con menus de facil acceso, buena vista, todo esta muy bien para mi.

solo un pequeno comentario el sonido deberia de ser un poco mas alto...

I paid over $1000 on a megallan gps that did not tell you the street name to turn down it was slow to get a gps signal , recalulations were
beyond slow and it did not have traffic alerts. I paid a faction of that price for this unit and its amazing. Turn it on and with in seconds it has a signal . It can tell if you did not make a turn in a split second and recalulates the new route before you even realize it . It tells you what street to turn down so you dont have to wonder was that the right street to turn on , and it has traffic alerts . I love this unit. I even purchased one for my spouse and one for my sister.

i LIKE THIS PRODUCT VERY MUCH. MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING IT ARE VAGUE, ONCE YOU FIGURE IT OUT IT'S PRETTY EASY TO USE, BUT MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING IT UP WOULD HAVE HELPED A LOT

Just kidding I got it for the navigation capabilities; however, the windshield mount looks like it was modeled after the alien spacecraft from the blockbuster War of the Worlds movie- so cool!

I've been a GPS user since 2000 when I first rented a car with a GPS system. Since then I've used various GPS software and hardware on Window CE devices and most recently on an AT&T 8525 PDA phone. I switched to a dedicated GPS since trying to run GPS navigation software on a phone gets complicated when calls start coming in.

Quality- Built well, thin, probably couldn't hold up to drops or abuse but overall it's a nice unit. Did I mention the mount? Absolutely beautiful design/concept. It securely holds the 5100 very well

GPS Reception- Folks have complained that this unit takes a long time to acquire satellites. I haven't experienced this. Typically time to acquire 5 to 7 satellites is approx 30 seconds to 1:30. Please in mind that acquiring satellites can be hampered by building (sky scrapers), cloudy days, positioning of the unit on the window (i.e. GPS units need clear visibility of the sky to receive good reception), heavy rain/snow and time of day/rotation of the earth. Overall no complaints; it performs very well.

Interface- For me the interface was very close to one version of software I had a while back on a Windows CE PDA. It does take time to learn the interface so don't think of this as an ATM or self-checkout lane at the store. Read the manual. Overall it works and I can find POIs or enter in addresses with ease. Doesn't seem sluggish to me. Only downfall is that I cannot sync my outlook contacts to it. Several settings are available in this unit for customization.

Screen- A tad bit washed out but not bad. You can still see the POIs, streets, etc. when driving. For the cost it's reasonable. You can adjust the screen brightness. There is a night time mode.

Navigation- The "Optimal" routing setting works best for me. It calculates routes driver would typically take. I've tested this and it works very well. Re-calculating routes works very quickly for me. Calculating a long drive, such as from Portland, OR to Dallas, TX does take some time to calculate but given the distance covered, I'm happy it can do it!

Text to Speech/Volume- The voice quality is good. A female's voice is used. She prompts me well in advance of the street name and direction. The volume when maxxed out is adequate but it's not going to over power your car radio or beat the howling wind @ 55 mph. Typically when I'm going some place I don't know I roll the windows up and turn down the radio. I pay attention.

Versatility- being able to swap between cars is ideal.

Traffic Reception- Stellar! This unit prompts me with traffic condition warnings. There is no subscription for this service as it taps into the local radio stations that broadcast this service.

I was really concerned about the negative reviews on this unit, but overall I'm satisfied and my friends consider me the "return king." Looking forward to many drives and not getting lost.

Cheers,
Brian

It is as advertized. Biggest plus--the web site is a big plus to help assist in understanding how it works--also got a FREE map update. Biggest negative--it takes about 2 minutes to sync up with the GPS satellites when first turning it on. Looking forward to using it on some long trips coming up.

I love this GPS! It is simple to use; the commands are clear and simple to follow. It is able to redircet you, if you take a wrong turn, in seconds. I love the lifetime traffic updates, they are quick and accurate!

Navigon 5100 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator I recently used my Navigon 5100 for the first time out of town. The graphics are amazing. The unit is simple to use. The feature rich 5100 hands down beats the socks off of similarly priced competitor's units. The voice to text, free traffic, real view graphics and inexpensive updates make the Navigon 5100 a value shopper's dream unit. I updated my unit right out of the box for free at the Navigon website. While driving, I found the voice guidance easy to understand and simple to follow. The reroute feature was quick and responsive if I make a detour in an area I am familiar. My only complaint would be the long loading time with initial start up but I can live with a 30 sec wait if I am getting free traffic reports for life.

i returned this gps today after using it for 5 days. at first i loved this product, big screen, text to speech street names, preloaded maps, free traffic alerts, and relatively quick locking on satellites, low prices (i got it for 149.99) - what's not to love?

only after i installed it in my car did i realize why they are selling this at such a huge discount - the routing thing totally doesn't work! i work in jersey city and live in central NJ, all other GPSes (the preinstalled ones in my other car, yahoo/google maps, and another garmin that i upgraded from) all suggest the same route exit 14A on the NJTP and then take the 78 extension. Not this one - they want me to go all the way up to 15E.

a lot of local routes are also weird, if you miss a turn, it does recalculate but mostly trys to route you to the original route it calculated. talk about being stupid.

for all the savings i get in the lowered price i would've given it back in 3 days on added gas money, car depreciation for going more miles, and the additional time it takes to get you to your destination.

WORST GPS EVER!!!

I have only had the Navigon 5100 for one month. The last trip I had friends along and they had their Garmin 260W and we compaired the two side buy side. They both took us right to the door where we were going but the Navigon had much better grapics and detail along the roadway. My friend even attested that while on the highway system the overhead signs were exact the lane choice with the arrows were great. I would have rated the Navigon 5100 five stars but the only down fall I see is the battery life. On a full charge it does not last longer then two to three hours. Other then that a great product so far.

I purchased the Navigon 5100 but returned it after a day. I have a Garmin GPS for the last 5 years and purchased another unit last year that are better in terms or accuracy, ease of use and POI database.

I believe that Navigon is not ready or the US market. I am a tech savvy person and use the GPS for multiple tasks. I tried to locate Lowes or Home Depot using Navigon but it is missing from its POI database. Similarly I could not locate BestBuy or the factory outlets using the Navigon 5100. It has a great food and restaurants database but severely limited to the common POI that we need.
Garmin provides POI software for free with a huge database that is a big selling point. I did not find POI Warner to be free and Navigon 5100 in its list.
I also found out that the screen colors are mainly shades of gray/white that is hard to see in bright day light. Roads are not as visible as compared to Garmin, I wish if it would give some better color templates.

Life time traffic feature is great as well as the Zagat ratings that may be the selling point.

Up to this point, I had planned to only write book reviews but feel compelled to write this after the mixed bag of reviews for this product. The listed reviews created alot of confusion for me; I'm always suspicious of the "one-item reviews" that either damn or glorify; maybe this info will be helpful if you are considering a purchase.

I purchased the Navigon 5110 last month (June 08), have used it for several trips, and couldn't be happier with it. In a nutshell, to address some of the issues brought up in the other reviews:

Pros

1. Mount system is ingenious-no velcro, screws, sticky tape, etc...just suction cup it to your windshield and hook up the power to your cigarette lighter. You can use it for any automobile that has a working cigarette lighter (even an old 1970 Ford Oldsmobile). For security, you can detach the GPS from the mount in a matter of seconds. And overall, it has a sleek, minimalist design.

2. Navigation is highly intuitive; I missed a turn in Berlin, took a turn at the next traffic junction, and the Navigon recalculated and put me back on track. I really liked the highway sign visuals-you will never be confused again about major highway turns.

Let me address 2 complaints from the other reviews.

U-Turns: if you miss a turn the voice command will say " Make a U-Turn now." to let you know you missed a major turn. You get this voice prompt even if you are on a 4 lane highway. So you take the next turn/exit, and the Navigon recalculates and puts you back on track. (If you are one of those persons who would try to make a U-Turn on a 4 lane hgihway because the Navigon said so, it would probably be too dangerous for you to own any type of car navigation system.)

The other complaint was about getting commands to make turns too late or too early. I found the voice command for turns to be spot-on in every case-including a 3K, 1K, 500m, 300m and 100m warning prior to the turn. This was critical in busy, city traffic.

3. Voice Commands-I really liked this feature, esp. the female, British accent. I have a slight case of ringing in my ears (tincture) from years on firing ranges and rock concerts from my younger years. Still, with the radio playing, I had NO PROBLEM hearing and understanding the voice commands.

4. Options and Updates-traffic warnings and the ability to get road updates online is a big plus. I'm currently using the Navigon in Europe, but it also has maps for the continental US when I go back to the states. For that matter, I used it in Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin, both former eastern Europe.

Cons

1. Screen-there is one legitimate complaint-some of the numbers are small-ie if you want to read total distance of trip, your current speed, current elevation, you need to really look at the screen to read those numbers. Also, it can be a little difficult to read if you are driving into the sun, but this may be true of all navigation systems.

2. New Destinations-I think this is a Con-I need to check the user's manual. I would like to have the ability to go somewhere and then enter it as a new destination. This may be possible-I need to check the User's Manual.

3. Price-no issues for me for what I got, but like all technology, wait 6 months and the price will probably drop $100.

Highly recommended.

I bought my Navigon 5100 and was fairly happy with it for a couple months. Then one day it could not find my current location. I've tried rebooting it and restarting it at different locations, but it never worked again. now it just sits there and mocks me.

The one thing that sold me on buying this product was the lane assistance, but it never worked well. It only comes on when there is light or no traffic. I don't really need lane assistance when all the lanes are open. It would tell me there was traffic even when I could see there was none.

When the Navigon did work, it took anywhere from 3-10 minutes to start giving directions. When giving directions it does not tell you if the highways off ramp is south, north, west or east. It's terrifying when your driving and can't figure out which off ramp to get off on.

I never understood why they put the speakers on the back of the product. It makes the verbal directions low and muddy. If they had simply put it on the front, it would have had great sound.

Whenever a traffic alert came up you would have to touch a small box on the screen to make it disappear. Living in Los Angeles, new ones were coming up once every two seconds. Annoying and disrupts driving.

Navigon is a bad product. DO NOT BUY!

I bought this product after returning a Magellan to costco. I live in los angeles and I thought it is a great bargain to have traffic feature since half of the freeways in southern california are jammed most of the time. I used to think that all GPS are more or less same and I am educated enough to get used to any GPS, but this navigon 5100 broke my myth. This product has such terrible software that it is almost unusable. Only people who can rate it high are the ones who have never used a Garmin or Magellan. My unit is on the way back to amazon. I am giving it 1 star but my wife would acually give zero. The following problems.

Audio volume is not just very low but also much poor in quality. I don't expect this from any $[...]+ product in 2008. This is the most fundamental feature of a turn by turn GPS. Hats off to its designers who hurried up in launching this product.

GPS claims 6 million+ POIs but search is so poor that very popular restaurants such as Panera bread are not there. This is on top of the fact that search software is already very poorly designed. My previous magellan was so impressive that just type in a few letters and list will show up like a dictionary.

To start GPS, hold the start button for 30 seconds. Anything less and it will not start. I knew this problem before buying and I did not rate this as a big problem but only after using, I realized how terrible this experience is.

3D lane view, which is supposed to be the selling feature of this GPS, is barely more useful than arrows shown by Garmin or Magellan. This feature looks decent but I rate this as very low value since I don't remember missing a lane or exit on magellan. Just replacing an arrow with 3D picture is not a great technology skill in my opinion.

Worst of all is the useful ness of traffic feature, which was the main reason, I bought this. Traffic alerts are updated but never announced by GPS. I should know early enough that there is an accident on my route. Only way I learned was to look at the screen and guess, which of the accident events are on my route. Just imagine doing this while driving a car. It will make sure that you also cause one of those accident events. Worst part is that There is no difference in alert between a freeway running 5 miles an hour Vs 50 Miles an hour. That is the most important info I need to choose my route. Only if it is running really slow, I would choose to change the route. Traffic alert is just a nice toy feature but zero usefulness in real world.

I cannot comment on routing since just one usage told me that this is worth returning.

I've been looking at GPS units for a long time, unable to decide based on all the hype. Along came Navigon. The free map upgrades and lifetime free traffic service really piqued my interest. This unit is simply great so far. I tried it on two trips this last week, one a short 200 - miler and the other a 1300 mile adventure to Oklahoma. I had been on both before, sans GPS, so this was a test. "Miss Daisy" ( that's what I call her ) did very well on both. She got a little flummoxed when I took alternate routes locally, as I know my local roads, but the "recalculating route" feature worked very well. I really like the Reality View on major interstates - showing upcoming exits and lane changes that way is superb. The traffic alert worked great, even without the external traffic antenna. There is major construction ongoing around Indianapolis and she took me on the exact alternate I had already used before, no problem. The so-called "hockey stick" windshield mount is rock-steady and actually looks great - much better than all the other mounts that hang right in your vision next to the mirror, with ugly wires dangling all over. The only real negative so far is the volume on the voice alerts. Even at maximum loudness it's hard to hear with the radio on or any traffic noise. The pronunciation of some roads is a little off, but whose isn't? Every area has different accents and no computer-generated voice could ever perfectly duplicate regional speech ( think New York versus Georgia for example ). The battery is listed to last 4.5 hours and I got just under 4, but I think that after "exercising" the battery a few times it'll be fine. Even so, if you only need to plug in the DC cord every 4 hours I see no problem. I'm planning another long trip next week and I'm sure Miss Daisy will do fine. A note to those who don't read the setup instructions : you really should -- even if you "know it all" about every GPS out there. After setting my preferences ( POI, etc.), it does what it's told. All in all, I think Navigon has a winner here.

The key features the make the navigon above other GPS's are the True View, a extreamly helpful tool, and the real time traffic reports which are free for the lifetime you own it.
The only things i think could use improvement are, the speaker could get a little louder, although its plenty loud when on the mount it comes with. and the size of the buttons you need to use to enter address are too small but i haven't had any issuse of pressing the wrong one but i keep thinking i will. Also it includes the 2mb memory card and an extra external antena which I've never needed but nice just in case.
Also the mount works great and is a great disign.

This product is good but not very good. It always say take I-XXX, but it never says or never display North or South. Which leads into confusion many a times. Apart from that good thing is connectivity. Signal strength is very good. My apartment no is coming in the list. I tried many a times putting that but my apt no is not coming in the list which sopposedly one of the oldest building in the area.

I did a little research before deciding on the Navigon 5100. The features that sold me on it were: 1) Text to speech 2) Real time traffic 3) Reality view (tells you which lane you should get into) 4) Upgradeable maps 5) Lots of POIs.

I have yet to actually need the unit to find my way, but I have put it to the test on a journey I know well. The GPS connected to the satellites in a reasonable amount of time. I live in a wooded area so I suspected it wouldn't connect instantaneously (my Sirius radio takes a bit of time too). It did try to bring me on the shortest route, but that would have taken me smack dab into the middle of the Yale campus in New Haven. I took my usual route and it quickly and flawlessly re-mapped the route. I was impressed at the number of POIs it found. I actually had to filter them down a bit because they were cluttering the map so badly. It found churches and schools that I didn't know existed in my own town.

I also liked the windshield mount. I heard other people complain about the mount but I thought it was very convenient. It let me tilt and postition the GPS in virtually any way I wanted.

Now I didn't give it a 5 because it has some flaws (perhaps a future update could fix). The text to speech was good but the female voice had a decidedly German accent. The easily pronounced streets were fine, but I live in Connecticut where 30% of the street names seem to be of American Indian origin. It was comical hearing the German lady try to say "Quinnipiac" or "Totoket".

Another flaw was that the audio wasn't as loud as I would have liked. With the volume I play my music (moderate but not loud) I had to strain to hear the directions. I hooked up a small pair of external speakers and that made it easier to hear.

So all in all this was a good investment. I'm sure you could spend twice as much and get a more polished product. But you probably couldn't get all the features that this unit has. If they fix the few minor flaws, Navigon will be a force to reckon with in the American GPS market.

I purchased this unit around Christmas, and gave my Magellan GPS to my kid.

What a piece of junk, I just installed the software update and held my tongue prior to the first update, I thought I'd give Navigon the benefit of the doubt.

It's approximately 1/8 to 1/4 miles off of every turn, I've missed nearly 50 turns so far, and finally put it on 2D overhead view (zoomed out) so I can guess where my turn is. Simple off ramps aren't too bad, but this thing falls apart on complicated mixmasters and it CONSTANTLY routes me incorrectly, for instance, it seems to read many streets as one way, so it routs me across the street to loop a block when a simple right turn would suffice.

From the moment you turn this unit on, it has problems, you have to hold the on button down for 10 seconds if it's turned off to turn it on, then it takes 2-4 minutes to lock on to the satellites. Add the missed turns on your trip, the useless voice prompts because it isn't loud enough to overcome ambient noise in all but luxury cars, and the 10 second button push to turn the thing off before stowing it in your bag, and it just hurts to use the doggone thing.

I'm a fan of gadgets, and have thousands of dollars worth of small gadgets laying around and this is easily the worst product I've purchased in years.

Run, don't walk to a different brand.

I had Garmin 2610 as my first GPS and paid $500. I was very very unhappy with my purchased with that GPS. Got lost many times because of confusing information of what GPS was telling me.

I found and compared this Navigon 5100..I never got lost even in complicated location. Always there to guide and help me like a guiding angel.

Buy it...buy it..buy it you won't regret...Navigon 5100 hurray

This is my first GPS. And I have only used limited models of Garmin and Magellan. So am not sure how helpful my review maybe !!!

Pros:
** Very stylish and looks great on the mount.
** Integrated traffic receiver. Free traffic updates for life. You may have to pay a monthly charge for the other GPS. The traffic update is very fast in California and other bigger cities. It indeed helped me after taking a detour to reach my destination faster. This is the major feature that I considered to make this purchase.
** Very good instructions. Tells us if the destination is on the R/L. This prepares the driver in finding a parking on the same side.
** Zagat rating and description for most POIs is very apt. The contact information is another advantage.

Cons:
** The voice is not as good as the other GPS receivers in the market. This can be improved.
** I bought it during the Thanksgiving sale. So everything worked out cheap. Otherwise it is expensive for the competitors in market today.
** Sometimes takes you to weird destinations. (This could be a problem with NAVTEQ, which is also the software for many GPS' in the market).

After much deliberation over which one to buy, I choose the Navigon, predominantly because my BX had it on sale ($395 Aug 07) and because it came with North American and European Maps.

I read other reviews, that warned that the speaker volume was very low, and that there were potential problems with the mounting system.

Well....They are correct. The mounting system officially broke in December. It has a bayonet lug system, but the plastic depressor piece broke which means it stays on the mount, or I wrestle it off when I need to take it down.

Volume on the system is a problem. Even on its highest setting, it struggles to compete with a moderately loud car stereo, and has no chance of being heard over 2 kids under six in the back seat, and a wife who takes any opportunity (like a 20 minute or more car ride) to begin "relationship" "discussions".

Also, my Navigon has Frozen up twice. Its running Windows CE, so that shouldn't be a surprise, but getting it unfrozen is a lot more difficult than CTR+ALT+DeL. Their website is absolutely no help either.

There is no forum, so you are forced to only search through Q&As that have been chosen by the company to put up. So there is lots of "I love my Navigon, where can I buy leopard skin protective covers for it" and nothing to help someone get their GPS unfrozen.

A lot of people have trouble getting a decent route. This may be due to the settings. You have several options for route picking... Fastest and Shortest come to mind. That might mean that the fastest route is longer, but uses roads that travel faster (65mph). Shorter routes might take more time because they route you through ever school zone between you and your destination.

Great item with lots of features that I really didn't have time to learn.The screen is a bit small but still a great product for the money.

I recently used my Navigon 5100 for the first time when driving from Arizona to Michigan. The first thing I noticed was that even on full volume and with all the windows closed the voice commands were barely audible so without being able to hear directions this unit is hardly useful. I have contacted Navigon in regards to the availability of an auxillary speaker but have not received a response. My advice would be to avoid purchasing this product cuz if you can't hear it, it is useless.

I have never owned a GPS device for my travel purpose and family outing I got this piece.I love this one Right out of the Box It started working and good to go.
I have read the reviews about it before I bought it people are more had pre conceived notion about it it seems may be because they have already used some other products and they are comparing with them .. But I consider this device is cool only thing is you need to play around with it to make it work to your needs.

Problems faced By others in the reviews and the Reasons for that ...
1. Charger Plugs in the Bottom.
The new product has the L shaped charger pin which goes in so it will be flat and does not have the problem of Clearance issues as mentioned in the reviews.
2. Volume is low.
I found it Ok for my preference with music on and not driving a Lexus...
There is an option which allows to set amplification levels depending on speed.
3.Too many icons in the screen causing clutter.
The reasons for this by deafault it shows around 31 ( In Old firmware) 28 ( in new firmware ) you can select what you want to be displayed on the screen.
4. The screen zooms in and out.
By deafault the systems zooms in and out depending on speed you can turn it off by settings.
I love the features on this device the reality view helps me a lot in complicated intersections.
It recalcualtes the route quick enough that you may not get lost.
TMC works great and allerts me about all the incident which are broadcasted over FM. This is when it is default you can set it to show only alerts ob route.It is provided with antenna but I havent used it yet.
The TMC jack doubles as head phone hack if some one wants to set it that way so that others need not listen to the prompting and all other things.
Especially in the night driving with kids.
It lags a bit to display turn by turn instructions if the route is long and involves many turns.
I have not tested yet various route profiles available. I will update once I check them out.

for less than $250, you get a solid product that is comparable to Garmin and other higher priced brands. features are simple to use once you get used to them. the sound could be louder but oh well, turn your cd/radio off. I've already installed an update and it works amazing. graphics are clear and large enough for farsighted folks. all in all, if you're reluctant to spend $500 on a Garmin, this Navigon 5100 will do you just fine.

Good product, like the traffic information. Like the options that come with it. Takes a little while to get used to it. Recommend it highly.

Excellant product, reality view makes the unit great to use at confusing highway intersections. Would definitely buy a Navigon product again...

So far I really like the new Navigon system. I was a little wary of buying from an unestablished company, yet this is a great product. The interface is easy to use and intuitive. The mount is steady, sticks to the window well, and puts the device easily within sight and reach. The lane assist and real-life view are helpful in unfamiliar settings. Free traffic and construction updates are helpful in big cities as well. One downside is that speaker is on backside and announces towards the window, so if the radio is on its a little hard to hear. Not a big deal though, if you really need the directions you can turn the radio down. Only other downside is that it takes a minute or two to find the satellite, but I'm not sure if this is unique to this product or common to all GPS units.

I bought this item because it looked good on paper. I did not want to skimp as it was a present.

Here is how it failed.
Incident one - Even when I went 3 miles off course, in an attempt to test its ability to reroute. It tried to take me back to the original course. I was only 4 miles away from my destination if I kept going straight on my current course.

Incident 2 - Told me to turn right when the road was visible on my left. As soon as I made the turn the unit instructed me to make a u-turn accross a 4 lane high way.

Incident 3 - The directions from Willow Grove PA to Langhorne were dead wrong. They should have been take PA Turn Pike east (Toll) to Route 1 North. The unit and all of its graphics instructed me to go west bound on a toll road. When I used my sound judgment and went east, it kept trying to get me to make an illegal u-turn. At the correct exit, its directions were "Route 1 south bound, to Street Road, Street Rd to Route 1 North Bound." This will take you out of the way, when you can exit directly onto the highway north bound.

If it cannot handle major highways, it is essentially useless.

Calls to the technical support were equally disappointing. They ended in the already documented "I'll have a supervisor call you back," which never happens.

The final insult, is if you lose the SD card, the unit will not function. You cannot format another card and there was no way to get a replacement part. I called Tech Support to see what would happen, and they did not know how to replace the card. This unit is too expensive to throw away when a small part goes missing.

I have heard that the 2100 is a good unit but I am not willing to trust Navigon with my money.

THis seller is very helping and gets products to buyer quickly, keeps buyers informed on shipping. Look forward to buying products from again.

Instructions on CD,no paper instruction to take with you to help. (can't take the computer with you)cover everything but the basic to get going! took it into A sales person and learn little.Once you get it working it is Great!

This is an excellence GPS device. It is a German design, similar quality as BMW and Mercedes. Very accurate and intuitive. Recently, Navigon just came out with a system upgrade for this device. This software upgrade improves overall system peformance and includes the hibernate mode feature(save battery life). I love the windshield craddle design and quick release button. Moreover, Navigon is th