- The Good: High-quality touch screen; easy data input; portable; good battery life; complete car kit included; clear voice directions; excellent database for finding nearby attractions and services; built-in MP3 player and Outlook contacts/calendar.
- The Bad: Desktop software is finicky; maps lack detail and landmarks; GPS system takes a long time to lock on to satellite signals.
- The Verdict: A handy portable GPS unit with voice instructions and built-in MP3 player.
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REVIEW:
My father-in-law, an avid outdoorsman who spends a lot of time in remote parts of Northern Ontario, got a very useful gadget a few years ago: A personal global positioning system (GPS) device. It was cutting edge, sporting a tiny greyscale screen to show basic maps, distances and headings in real time - neat, but trying out Mio's latest handheld GPS over the past few weeks made me realize how far the technology has travelled in a short time.
The DigiWalker C310 is still based on the same standard GPS technology as its predecessors - the unit takes a reading from satellites orbiting overhead to triangulate its position on the earth, then applies that to maps stored in its memory. But the C310 is smaller and sleeker - it looks like a white handheld PDA and weighs just six ounces. And the features it offers compared to old-style GPS units is like comparing a Model T and a modern sedan - they can both get you where you're going, but the ride's a lot different.
The most obvious improvement evident in the C310 is multimedia. First off, it has a bright, backlit 3.5-inch TFT screen colour screen that makes maps easier to read. The screen's resolution is excellent, both in a darkened car and in bright sunlight.
It also has voice prompts. A woman's voice will tell you when instructions are being executed, when and where to turn if you're following an automatically plotted route from one point to another, and even remind you to "drive carefully" when you start a trip.
And the icing on the cake: A built-in MP3 player to ease the boredom of a long trip. The C310 has an SD memory card slot built in, and you can listen to your favourite tunes on the road through the built-in speaker or headphone jack while you're using the navigation system. You can also synch the Mio up with your desktop PC's Outlook software, taking your contacts and calendar along with you if you choose.
On my father-in-law's old GPS unit, marking points of interest and plotting courses was a clumsy process involving a collection of buttons and scrolling through long menus and options lists. The C310 is much easier to use, employing a touchscreen - you can input addresses using the virtual on-screen keyboard - and well thought-out menus. You should be able to pick up this device and start using it without having to resort to the manual.
The menus walk you through various navigation options. You can call up a map and have the unit automatically plot a route from your current location to a specific spot. Or you can type in an address and have the C310 figure out how to get you there. And if you miss a turn for some reason, the unit will automatically re-plot a course to get you to your desired location - no tinkering with menus needed.
The unit is available with maps of the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Canada (I reviewed the Canadian package) loaded into the unit's 512MB of memory. The maps of the Toronto-to-Kingston corridor that I used in my testing seemed up to date, but they were done in 2005, so you may run into problems if you're travelling in an area where there has been a lot of road construction or recent development.
There's a "zoom" feature for the maps, but frankly it wasn't all that useful. The maps, while accurate, are fairly featureless - just black lines on a coloured background to show streets and highways - so there's not much to see when you zoom in close. There's the standard two-dimensional "birds eye" view and a 3D view that is supposed to give you a better idea of landmarks and the general lay of the land, but most of the time it simply generated a slightly sideways-on view of the 2D map.
I particularly liked the feature that allows you to call up points of interest, such as auto service centres, stores and hospitals. The C310 displays them by proximity based on your location, and I was surprised to have it reveal some businesses that I hadn't even realized were within a couple of kilometres of my home. In other words, the lists are comprehensive and very handy if you're trying to track down a mechanic, doctor or all-night pharmacy in a hurry, whether on a trip in an unfamiliar area or even in your own neighbourhood.
I did run into some issues with the GPS system. The built-in SiRFstarIII 20 channel GPS antenna was able to get a good strong lock on the GPS satellites to nail down my position and ground speed, whether I was on foot or in a car (it couldn't get a signal indoors, but this is pretty typical of handheld GPS gear). The problem was, it could take up to two minutes to lock onto that signal and figure out where I was. During that period, the woman's voice for the menu system would keep telling me that the signal was too weak, but as soon as the lock was established it seemed it was strong enough for the unit to hold on to from that point onwards - odd.
An optional external traffic monitoring package is offered for the Mio, but there wasn't one available when I was doing this review.
I also ran into some glitches when trying to install the desktop software that synchs the Mio with Outlook. I had Outlook Express installed rather than the full Outlook package, and the Mio didn't like it. The installation aborted, but for some reason the software engineers didn't build in a "close" or "cancel" button on the program installation window. Once the installation is running you're stuck, and the only way I could close the window was through the control panel - not very slick.
The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is rated for up to 4.5 hours of use on a charge. The key is "up to." I averaged somewhere between two and a half and three and a half hours of use, depending on how much I used the backlight. This is enough for quick trips around the city. For longer trips, it comes with a cigarette-lighter adapter so that you can keep it powered as you drive. There's also a cradle to keep it from sliding around on the dashboard, which is a nice touch.
Overall, the Mio DigiWalker C310 is a handy little pocket-sized guidance device. The Canadian maps (at least in urban areas) seem up to date, the menu navigation is dead easy, the "points-of-interest" finder is very handy, and the clear display and voice commands make it a snap to use. It's a heck of a lot pricier than a simple local map, at around $550 (Cdn.) at press time, but if you crave something interactive - and something that can also play MP3 songs on your trip - it's a handy gadget.