Digital-Compass Reviews

This battery got me though many shoots for my many DV Films. It does last about as long as it specifies. Too bad I had to sell it as I am about to buy a new Canon as my Pana died. It's a great battery though, and a great price from J and R.

If the CGRD16A/1b doesn't have enough battery life for you (3 hours, approx. 1.5 if you use LCD screen), then this is probably the battery for you.

You will get about 5 hours of battery life out of this battery, or 2.5 if you use the LCD screen a lot. I like this battery much more than the CGRD53, which I think is much too large for the average user (it has 9 hours of usage, but it is very large compared to the small size of the digital camcorders).

This battery holds its charge well, and is a good size.

Simply The Best Portablr Navigation Money Can Buy September 7, 2003
I live in Switzerland and keep going forward and backward to the USA doing business every time in a different place. I use to rent cars from Hertz with their Never Lost Navigation system which also is a Magellan 750 but not portable. It was okay for me except I had to rent Hertz every time, and sometimes I find better deals at other rent a car or even Price Line. So I looked for the portable unit at the time and found out that this system is the best comprehensive portable navigation available. This system is so easy to install in less than 2 minutes. Now it has West and East maps and it covers the entire USA on road and off road navigation. What makes this system so easy to use is it's huge database of all kind of point of interests from Airports, Restaurant, Tourist Attraction, Hospitals to Shopping Malls. You name it has it. It eliminates the need to enter addresses manually or look up the address for a hotel or a restaurant. You can also look up point of interests by their distance from your location, like the nearest restaurant from where you are.
I love this system because you do not need to change CD's for different states like other units. All the info is stored on a large hard drive for easy access. Simply take it with you from one city to the other and from one car to the other.

The only advantage DVD navigation has over the Magellan 750M is it's a bit faster in calculating routes, and until now I am not a ware of any company that makes DVD portable navigation systems.

Finally, I know this unit is expensive but it is worth every dollar you pay for it.

This is the navigation system that Hertz car rentals uses. I rented one of their cars equipped with the system in the summer when I was visiting family in Canada for a week and it made my trip so simple. I had no idea where I was going, but I typed the address into the quick spell address feature, and I was off. The voice told me when my turn was coming with incredible accuracy, and if I missed any turns my route was re-routed instantly and I was told where to go from there. I never had to look at the screen. It even told me where there were rest stops and places to stay. At one point I was in the middle of nowhere, dirt roads and all, and the system still new exactly where I was and when I should turn. I was never lost once my entire trip, and that's quite a feat for me since I get lost everywhere I go. I have never seen such an amazing GPS system and I could never purchase anything else now that I've used the best.

This camera is the best of both worlds. It is as small as a consumer camcorder, but has rugged metal construction instead of flimsy plastic. It comes with a phantom powered stereo XLR input module which is an add-on for most camcorders. The picture quality and features are superb.

This is the first GPS I have bought. What a steal at $229.00 on amazon.com. It was very easy to use once you are familiar with the interface. I didn't really need the handbook to figure most things out. I highly recommend it.

I needed to find an address to a birthday party in a city that I wasn't familiar with. I typed in the street name via "gaming genre" A-Z list. The 1st street on the list of many streets in many different cities was the one I was looking for. Listed by closest destination, I guess. Anyway I pushed enter & it drew a route for me. I also entered the address. I decided to take a different (freeway) route which is longer than the suggested route. Since I disregarded the 1st turn, the turn instruction display stayed there throughout the entire trip until I reached the target street. At which point it guided me to the right address on the street with the highlighted route line. Anyhoo, I did not need directions to get to the general area of this city. I just needed details, which the unit provided perfectly.

The cursor moves diagonally too, though not marked.

I have no experience with any other GPS systems. I can only say, as a novice, that I love Sportrak Color!

$229 is a steal. Get one!

I purchased the Sportrak Color from Amazon for $229. My local retail stores listed it at $349-$499. The reviewer that stated that the this unit is hard to use and is non-intuitive gave me great pause before purchasing it. With such a great price vs. all other listings, I went for it anyway. I'm very pleased with the system. As a complete GPS novice and as a test of the systems ease of use, I did not read the instruction manual. I only turned to the page that identified the functionality of each button. Anyone who has ever used a computer or played a video game can operate this unit intuitively.

I also purchased the MapSend Direct route software. I uploaded most of Michigan on it and started browsing streets in my general area that would require several turns to reach. I put the cursor on a street and pushed the GOTO button. It instantly asked me if I would like to go there. Neat, huh? I used the unit in my vehicle, laying it down in the center console. It guided me to the street with audible prompts, visual direction arrows, and street names to turn at.

I don't claim to know anything about GPS, but I love it.

I intend to use it for street directions and fishing spots.

It has a compass, barometer, altimeter, Color disply, and is VERY easy to use.

The other reviewers wrote some great info about this Microphone. Some drawbacks are the relatively bulkyness of this unit as compared to others.

The sound quality is sufficiently clear when recording, but is not sensitive enough to satisfy the most demanding users such as musicians or professional reporters. As the other reviewers have said, you need a relatively loud source as there is no sensitivity switch or zoom feature. It does have the 90-120 degree switch, so you can toggle the range depending on what you are recording.

This microphone is very compatible with many different devices. MD is the best though.

Here's one MD player recorder that I know has the microphone jack and works great with this microphone:
'Sony MZ-NF810CK Net MD MiniDisc Recorder with Car Kit'

However, don't be fooled. Not every MD player has the appropriate Mic Jack. Double Check the technical documentation to make sure. Units that definitely do not have it are:
'Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder'

Notice the deceptive "Recorder" moniker in the product name. Don't be fooled! Very few MD "recorders" actually record with a microphone!

Not sure about these:
'Sony MZ-NF610 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder'
'Sony MZ-N510CK NetMD Walkman/Recorder with Car Kit'
'Sony MZ-N505 Net MD Walkman Player/Recorder'

Do your research before purchasing any MD player. All in all, this is a good value and pretty good quality for a digital microphone.

If you look around you'll see that this mic is one of the most popular for recording concerts, lectures, etc. I found it to be clear when recording, although there needed to be moderate volume. There is no sensitivity switch. It does have the 90-120 degree switch, so you can increase the scope of recording. The unit is built well, and comes apart easily to allow replacement of the battery, which should last a long time. When using this microphone, make sure if the volume level reaching you is not high enough, position it better, like one other reviewer said, or spend the extra money and get a zoom microphone. Also an mp3 player that allows digital recording comes in really handy.

I use the MS-MS907 microphone on a weekly basis. My main use of this microphone is to record lectures and it does a good job of it. Of course microphone placement is the key to a good recording but the MS907 provides a good pickup at this price point. It operates on a single AA battery and is highly efficient with energy consumption. Another feature I like about this microphone is that it provides two pickup pattern (90degrees for an individual speaker and 120degrees to accomodate a chorus).

I would recommend investing in either a minidisc recorder or a MP3 recorder.

I should begin by saying this is the first GPS I have bought, so in my criticisms, I am not comparing it to other GPS units (which may be worse).

First of all, it seems to be quite a good portable unit. It locates the satellites quite quickly, gives position + estimated error in 1 no-nonsense screen. Also seems quite robust - it went for quite a tumble down a 10m cliff face, ending up in a deep pool of water - and all worked ok afterwards :-) (phew!).
The hardware seems great - however the software has some usability bugs that should be fixed.

Taking it along on a long 4wd trip in Australia in May 2004, here is a list of my gripes/criticisms:

1) The auto route navigation is pretty poor. A few times it came up with some crazy routes to get from A to B ... via Z!!

2) Also with the auto route navigation: When zooming in, the purple route marking doesnt correlate with the road its trying to mark. The more you zoom in, the worse it gets. Zoomed into a city streetmap, its completely unusable as the route marking is not even visible on the screen - or if it is, its impossible to work out what streets it is marking. Until this bug is fixed, I certainly would not buy this for auto navigation.

2) The way that route recalculation grabs focus from *whatever* you happen to be doing at the time is a major pain. You may be in the middle of a tedious "Find" operation only to have all of your effort dashed as it snatches you back to your route map and loses whatever you had typed. Grrr!

There are a number of other usability issues - and being a software developer, they stand out to me. The software needs a bit of work before I would give it 4 stars.

GPSMAP 60cs is a nice unit but if you can wait for their next generation handheld, you should. I recently did a 2000 mile motorcycle trip along with several back country hiking excursions and for the normal kinds of things you want a gps to do, (where am I, how do I get there, what direction am I going) the 60CS was great! With CitySelect maps I could see all the roads, even the dirt roads in obscure places like the south western Oregon National forests. I routinely used autonav and it's amazingly fast route calculations made getting to where I wanted to be a real pleasure....almost....

You can display lots of fancy data on almost any of the screens.
The sat pickup is far better then the earlier gpses and fast.
A real compass and altimeter made off trail hiking a breeze
Estimated arrival times and popup turn notifications kept me on my path.

However....
Don't come upon a road block. There is no way to tell autorouting that you must detour. You have to coax autonav to get you around the road blockage by trying to find other road waypoints to build partial routes, When you are in the middle of no where, this is not pleasant. Garmins answer: Buy a bigger more expensive unit.

Don't rely on the 'save tracks' feature. Garmin drops all of the date/time stamps from the active track when it saves it for you (forget about photo gps tagging). They claim it takes to much space (dah? the unit has 56MB!, a track entry is under a couple hundred characters even with date/time!)

Don't use the belt hanger knob on the back. My first use caused the knob to snap off a part of the back housing leaving a 1/2 diameter hole! Since the knob is used by their auto and bicycle mounts, be ware, you may see your garmin bouncing on the street or down by your feet!

This is my first GPS device. My main use is tracking my progress on longer bike rides. The 60CS has a nice "track" feature, which records your journey. When used along with the odometer, you can get some nifty data on how fast you were going, time spent stopped, etc. The track data can then be downloaded onto your computer and viewed with the map software provided with the device. The altitude profile view of your track is very cool.

I found the device's software interface easy to understand once I played with it and browsed through the manual.

If you wish to use this device in a car for directions, be prepared to purchase additional maps from Garmin. The provided maps note highways and their exits but not much detail on individual streets.

So why four and not five stars? While the "track" records altitude and distance, I was a little disappointed that the odometer data was not saved along with the track. The provided software also only works on a Windows PC. Also, on one ride where I was using the "track" feature, the GPS device lost connection to satellites when I entered a tunnel. I expected the device to just start tracking me again when I exited the tunnel; however, I had to hit "ok" on the message box telling me that it losts its way before it resumed the track and odometer features.

Because I like transferring my routes back from my GPS device to my computer for long term storage, I found myself buying the AC Adapter (B00005UK9S) so that I don't run through AA batteries too often.

I have had mine for 2 weeks and I was just as the box described it... within 4 minutes I had programmed 2 journeys, memorised my home address,and it had picked up all the satellites!The touch screen works very well, and the buttons on the virtual keyboard are large enough not to make mistakes,the directional voices are clear.I managed to keep a signal throughout mountainous regions and in tunnels! The only thing that it seems to be missing is a large compass. One thing to be aware of though: on some newer vehicles with athermal windscreens you will need to get the outdoor antenna to get a signal. Apart from that it puts many of the more expensive GPS units to shame!

I bought a unit in The Netherlands and have used it for two weeks. The mount is rock solid using the suction cup mount to the windscreen. The device itself is a work of art. It has an exceptionally easy-to-use touch screen interface. You don't even have to read the manual- it is very intuitive.

You just put in the city, then the street, then the house number then follow the units directions- it will take you right to someones house with uncanny accuracy. Or you can ask it to take you to the nearest ATM/gas station/post office/etc.

The best thing about it is the 3D perspective used while navigating. It is much better than the 2D/top-down perspective that most units use. The full color map display is easy to read and 99% accurate so far for the Benelux area in Europe.

Another key difference from other PDA based units is the speaker on the TomTom Go is superb- It is loud and clear of distortion. The volume is easily controlled.

The unit gives clear voice directions in your choice of "voices" in many languages, man/woman, etc. It will say, "in 200 meters turn left" and then about 20 meters before your turn, it will say "turn left" (or you can change the units to feet/miles). And if you need the device to repeat the verbal instructions, you just press the lower left corner of the screen and you will hear the instructions again.

It has an internal battery that lasts about 5 hours or you can use the included 12v "cigarette lighter" power cord.

I can't write about the quality of the US digital maps, but the European maps are very good so far. Every single street in my small town is present including the alley behind my house. Every ATM/store/bank/train station/gas station/etc is faithfully represented as a Point of Interest.

This unit costs a lot of $, but is worth it. Overall, it is the best designed piece of technology I have used in years.

I received my Garmin 2610 a week ago and I have been having lots of fun ever since.
I saw a review where another buyer had troubles with the software that comes with the unit. The operating system on my computer is an ME too but I got the software installed with the help of a Garmin tech. This is my first GPS but the unit is really user friendly. Even I could use the unit in my van the first day that I received it. I have a van, truck, and a motorcycle that I will be using the unit on and it will get it's share of use. I always worry about my wife getting around but I don't have to worry any more. Yesterday she had to go to the airport and did not know how to get there. I set a route for her to the airport and showed her how to use the "home" feature to get her back to the house. She made the trip there and back without any problems. It worked so good that I may not ever see the unit again because my wife says that she loves it! I went for a ride on my motorcycle with a few of my friends and found a down side to owning this GPS unit. Now all my friends look to me to get them everywhere we go. If there is a negative to having this unit on my vehicle I can't find it. This is one of the most effective pieces of equipment that I have ever put on one of my transportation vehicles. If you had six stars this product would get it!

Mr. De Leon cannot be talking about the 2610.
* It is not hard at all to program addresses from the car - use the remote, or the on-screen spelling capability. You can type the first part of a street (or city, or business, etc) and then see all starting with these characters.
* You can drive to a location and mark it as a waypoint. Then you can easily give it a name (other than default 001) and change its symbol from a box to a school, a house, etc.
* 2610 doesn't have batteries! Use car cigarette lighter or home AC power.
* I think De Leon had the StreetPilot III Deluxe. Using the III is much more cumbersome than the 2610.

For more info, see my other review, the first on this device.

My bottom line: If you're looking for an excellent GPS for navigation in your car and you can afford the price, then this is the device for you!

The Garmin automotive navigation is a great item in which for those new comers who drive or ride from Florida or California. This little item makes it easy for regular travler to find their way around. So in times of going to the club in the next town or just driving around major one way streets this little gadge makes anyone a pro in getting to thier point of orgin. So travel a little safer whether you take the train in holland or the drive to El Paso, Tx. Here's to TRAVELING ON A SAFER LEVEL.

Thank You
Shara L. Bouie
Atlanta,Ga<USA

You can see other positive reviews of the etrex Legend here, so I won't rehash them. The short story is that the Legend is a pretty decent GPS unit that works pretty well.

The base map included in the Legend only shows major highways and major streets. This is similar to the maps you get from a car rental agency. It's perfectly fine for doing rough navigation from city to city. At first, I tried using Rand McNally's StreetFinder and TripMaker Deluxe on my laptop with the Legend. The setup worked, but having to deal with the serial cable and using a laptop in the car was not very practical.

After I've had my Legend a while, I had a chance to borrow and use a Vista. The owner of the Vista upgraded it with detailed street-detail maps from Garmin's MapSource "Metroguide USA" CD .... The detailed street map is a really nice feature -- especially because you can look up addresses. Having such a detailed map in a small portable device is a delight! I decided to get the Metroguide for myself.

From my usage comparison, I found two things missing in the Legend compared to the top-end etrex Vista.

First, the Legend has only 8 MB of expansion memory instead of the 24 MB in the Vista. This turns out to be a big issue for me, as I would like to have a complete metro guide of the greater Los Angeles area. With 8 MB, I could only fit 6 of the 18 MetroGuide map sets that I would have liked. This means, I am missing coverage of a large section stretching roughly from Compton to Long Beach to Lynwood to Cerritos to Irvine that I would have wanted. In contrast, the Vista held all of greater Los Angeles area, plus some San Francisco, San Diego, and Las Vegas.

Second, the Vista has sensors for barometric altitude and magnetic compass heading. The Legend estimates altitude via GPS, and calculated heading based on your travel speed vector. If you are a trail-hiker, these sensors improve your navigation.

Used as-is from the factory (i.e., only the American basemaps), the Legend is perfectly fine, and I was quite happy with it.
I could live without the Vista's sensors;

But, having hit the 8 MB memory limit (trying to load Los Angeles), I would definitely go with the Vista now.

The Metroguide maps sizes of other cities may or may not be an issue for you. Go to the Garmin website and use their MapSourec Map Viewer and count the number of "yellow squares" you'll need to cover you area of interest. Each square roughly represents between 500K to 1.5 MB of data (with the smaller, "dense" squares being toward the 1 MB to 1.5MB size). You'll find that most of the big cities will have enough squares to easily exceed the 8 MB of the Legend.

I've owned three eTrexs from this series, ranging from the entry-level yellow unit to the top-of-the-line Vista. When the Vista got lost, I didn't want to spend as much replacing it, so... I bought the Legend.

Basically, the Legend is the Vista without the electromagnetic compass or air-pressure altitude indicator, and 8MB (vs. 24) of RAM. On the plus side, the Legend has longer battery life, which is a real consideration.

The only feature I miss from the Vista is the electromagnetic compass; a very useful thing to have when you're trying to triangulate on a bearing and projecting waypoints out from a fixed bearing. The 8MB of map memory is plenty; you can cover half of California with it.

Firmware-wise, I'd like to see waypoint names longer than just 10 character with lower case, for the benefit of round-tripping your descriptions from products like DeLorme's XMAP and Topo USA.

An excellent device, durable and compact - tracks great even on the front dash of your car. Worth 4.5 stars, really.

If you're not sure whether or not to get a GPS but you have the cash, BUY THIS!! It is so much fun you'll want to take it with you everywhere! The basemap, while limited, makes it THEE best entry level GPS for its price [which is the best I've seen it at - ignore the other review]. For me, it comes in handy getting around town but I also enjoy its usefulness on plane trips and backpacking/rock climbing expeditions. The average accuracy is 17 ft which is really good [all that stuff about WAAS hardly ever works]. If you're looking for a good GPS, this is it. If you're just looking around for gift ideas, this will make ANYBODY [outdoors enthusiast, kids, drivers] happy.