Navigon 2100 Portable GPS Review

836 Replies to “Navigon 2100 Portable GPS Review”

1. Pingback: Navigon 2100 Portable GPS Review - New Tech Blog

2. You review says that the unit 2GB SD Card includes the maps for the entire US and Canada. The pdf from the manufacturer’s site, obtained through a Staples link, indicates there are two models with different map coverage. NAVIGON 2100: USA (Lower 48 States) and NAVIGON 2120: North America (excludes Mexico). Do you think the 2GB replacement SD card they sent you is what gives you 2120 coverage or does your model say 2100/2120? The Staples link says the 2100 has Preloaded maps of the continental US (lower 48 states). This does not sound like it includes Canada. Does your unit have maps for Canada?

3. Pingback: Hey! I made it into Newsweek - New Tech Blog

4. Donna, you are correct. Sorry I confused the two models. The 2100 from is the lower 48 states and the 2120 is the same feature set with the maps for North America including Canada. I have fixed the article.

5. Getting out my autograph book. You are showing up everywhere. However you are bringing good information so seeing you alot has created many learning experiances.

   Oprah…..Oprah Call Terry! You want to do a neat holiday show on gadgets…. He’s the man you need. ( I want studio tickets to that show…. yeah baby!)

   Great job.

   P.S. How did you take that picture while driving on I-94?

6. Pingback: links for 2007-11-16 at antinomian.com

7. Thank you for the insightful review. I have been considering the 2100 as a gift and have not found any review as helpful as yours. I stumbled across your site on accident, but will be returning again. Hopefully the Newsweek reference will lead to even greater exposure for you. Thanks!

8. Thanks Tom!

9. Playa, you just made my decision for myself and as a gift for my brother. i’m picking up 2 of them. By the way they are going to be on sale for $100.00 on black friday @ Staples and $150 @ RadioShack both including the traffic service.

10. Reading your review made me call Staples and see if they had any. One left before the sale ended, ran out and got there 10 mins before closing. Used it to get home (I had to play with it ASAP!!) It’s my first navigation unit and I love it!! Now my question/search is a great case for it and the charger, when not in use? Maybe that will be your next review!!!

11. Terry your review is sooo helpful! I want to get the hubby a GPS for Christmas … I think I found the one thanks to you!! 🙂

12. Thanks Greenie, Danielle and Heather!
    Glad I could help. As far as a charger goes. It has a standard USB2 mini port on it. So any USB2 charger should do the trick. Ah, the perfect case would be more of a challenge. I didn’t even think about it at the time. My Garmin came with a case, but you’re right the Navigon doesn’t include one. I keep an eye out to see what I can come up with.

13. Staples provides a case for the unit for $19.99.

    NAVIGON 3.5″ Protective Hard Shell Case
    Molded hard shell exterior to keep your GPS device secure
    Orange nylon interior lining provides additional protection
    Works with 3.5″ display units from ALL major brands

    They also have a wall charger converter to plug the unit up inside the house for $19.99
    NAVIGON AC Wall Charger
    Plug the adapter into the wall and connect your car charger to the socket
    Input: 110V-240V AC: 50/60Hz
    Output: DC 12V 1000mA

14. My 2100 won’t operate while plugged into the charger. Is this normal? A big short coming if you can’t operate the unit while plugged into your vehicle.

15. I bought this unit a few days ago..I was also blown away at the price/feature ratio. Great unit. Anyway a solution I found for charging it at home is using a USB adapter. I just swiped the cord from a digital camera I had lying around. Make sure the unit is turned off, plug the cord into the computer/laptop, then plug the cord into the navigon. It charged just fine and I was able to walk around town testing out the ‘pedestrian’ option.

16. The unit was plugged in and charging while you walked around with it? My 2100 works fine while not charging using the usb cable. Maybe my unit is defected.

17. No, sorry. Let me clarify. I plugged it in at home through a usb cable. After a full charge I unplugged it and walked around town. I wasn’t actually walking around with it plugged into my computer 🙂

18. Could you try one thing for me. Try to operate your 2100 while the unit is plugged in and charging. Let me know your results, thanks.

19. If its plugged into my computer and I turn on the navigon it tries to sync with my computer and I can’t use it for anything. But if I am in the car and I plug it into the charger of course it works. That’s what it should do.

20. Can you purchase European maps for the Navigon 2100? Can’t seem to find that info-

21. Thanks, then I have a defective unit. Mine can’t be used in the car with the charger plugged in. Thanks for your help. I assume that you did try it in your car with the charger plugged in? Have to take it back.

22. Staples as mentioned, will have the Navigon 2100T on BF. My question is regarding additional maps. For example, is Canada available. Can ANY other gps map files be used?

23. Staples will have the 2100 on sale for $99 on black Friday if anyone was thinking about buying it.

24. Hey Terry,

    I must say, this review is Crystal Clear. I can actually understand it. I just sent back my Magellan 760 that I bought off ebay so I can get this one. We have the old Garmin 3200, the Magellan 3000T, so now I want to try something different and you just sealed the deal. Thanks! Couple of questions though, how’s the volume on this, cause the Magellan is very low. And do you know anything about the Maestro series by Magellan? And how do you rate the Tom Toms?

25. Does this also have a bicycle mode or is the pedestrian mode sufficient for bicycling? How long is real life use battery life? Is it comparable to the spec they give in the literature?

    Have you had any experience with the Digiwalker 230, Mio’s upgrade of the 220 that now includes text to speech? How does it compare to the Navigon 2100? I”ve read that they cut way back on the POI’s on the 230.

    How much are map updates for these things and how often should they be updated?

26. Radio Shack will have it on sale on BF for $149 w/free lifetime traffic service.

27. Pingback: Navigon 2100 GPS Navigator » Gps Plus Information Guide

28. Mike,
    It has both bicycle and pedestrian modes. Tap Route Profile and you’ll be able to set it there. I haven’t put it through a sustained battery test yet. But I’ve been playing with it off and on since I opened the box and have yet to charge it. It’s only down 1 out of 3 bars on the display.
    Haven’t used a Digiwalker, so I can’t compare.

29. Hey Terry.

    It is just before Black Friday 2007.

    Staples is taking this unit WITH the traffic alert.

    for only $99.00

    Now that’s a price I can live with!

    Mark Brown

30. Hey.
    Gr8 reviews! Looks like I am gonna buy this one. But are you sure that traffic alert is free for life with either offers? I think the trial will be valid till 24th but not lifetime. It cost 99.99 by itself.

    Ameya

31. I believe the Staples $99 BF price includes the promotional lifetime traffic alerts for free. The circular says “Free traffic service requires initial product registration via 800 number. No fees, subscription or credit card info required”. I am counting on getting this unit on Black Friday! The staples circular has the product id as “2100T” and not just “2100”. May be that “T” stands for traffic related added on promotional feature! I hope that’s the case.

32. Hey Terry ,

    Your reveiw was very good indeed. However one more information which I was looking at was does it has a feature of shortest route , fastest route , avoid freeway and toll etc.

    I am looking at this feature in the GPS and I wonder which one of them will have it. I heard the Magellan Roadmate has it but its now outdated. Please reply if Navigon has this feature.

    Thanks for the wonderful explanation.

33. does the navigon gps 2100 provides you with the vehicle speed while driving,how about a compass advising you the direction you are traveling?

34. mick again will the navigon 2100 gps reroute you if you miss the turn?

35. Awesome product! The Navigon 2100 comes with a SD card loaded with all the maps and POIs (Points of Interests). I called tech support and got connected to an English speaking rep right away.

36. Hi Sanm & Mick,
    The Navigon does feature the standard “Fast, Optimum, Short or Scenic” routes. Yes you can avoid tolls, etc.
    Not sure about the cost of future map upgrades.
    Yes you can display your current vehicle speed (however, wouldn’t your speedometer be better for this?). Yes you can display a compass.

    For more answers, download the user guide in PDF. It has every feature outlined in detail:
    http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/service_support/download_center/category/63/device_type/none/software/none/502

37. Does the 2100 automatically reroute you if you go past/miss your destination? That is a feature I’m used to with Telenav on my Blackberry.

38. Craig/Mick, the 2100 automatically reroutes you if you miss your turn.

39. Hi Terry ~

    Thank you for all the detail. I read much about the sluggishness of the unit. Can you elaborate on that? If you need quick response time, would not this be a major handicap?

    Justin

40. Justin again…..

    The other issue was readability with small font size and info enter issues. Can you comment on how much of a problem these are?

41. Justin, In the brief time I’ve had the unit I haven’t really experienced any sluggishness. I also mentioned the small point size in my review. It could definitely be an issue for older eyes or people with vision problems.

42. Terry ~

    Thank you,

    ….sorry, my oversight on the font issue.

43. Pingback: Superb Navigon 2100 GPS --- for $150!!! - ABXZone Computer Forums

44. I am looking at this as a everyday GPS. But I also am interested in starting a little Geocaching. Do you know if this would do the basics for Geocaching?

45. Terry
    I really like your review of this product. I have been researching the Navigon 2100 all over the internet and your review has been the most helpful. Something I have been trying to find out is whether it will recalculate your route if you take a wrong turn or will it just tell you to turn around? I know that if you have the trafic service it will re-route around traffic in large cities, but will it recalculate your route in rural areas if you make a wrong turn.

    Thanks

46. Perhaps I should have read the comment above where you replied to Craig/Mick stating that it will recalculate your route. I would still like to know if you have used this in the city or rural areas.

    Thanks again

47. I noticed that only manuals were available on Navigons’ support site – how do they handle map and firmware updates – their FAQ is a bit vague on availability and $$ (if any)

48. I was wondering if this unit could handle basic geocaching?

49. Any idea if one can add routes to this? And maybe create and upload my own maps?
    Will be using for Snowmobiling and 99% of that is not on roads!
    Thanks!

50. Terry,

    You’re the man, I been researching a GPS for my wife and she’s not too tech savvy. Your review say is it all.
    Are you going to be on tour in Chicago anytime soon?

    kudos on the Newsweek plug!

51. What region is the $99 sale for? I just spoke with the local store in Roanoke, VA and was told it is store specific and they couldn’t verify the price? Will it be on Staples.com also? Thanks i advance for any info! BTW Terry, major kudos on the research and report!

52. Terry,

    Thank You very much, your review has also sold me on this. I was going to go to Best Buy for the TomTom at $120 but really like the FREE real time Traffic Option. I live and work in the Balt/DC are and congestion is terrible.

    Does this re-route you automatically if the traffic is congested ahead? OR does it just warn you? If it warns you, how far in advance does it warn you. In many cases on a highway, you have miles between exits. I have never owned a GPS so I am a rookie. Even if the Real Time traffic doesn’t work well, It seems like a great buy.

    POI question. MIO at Circuit City has 1 Million. TomTom One LE at Best Buy has 3 Million. (My Brother has TomTom One and Loves It) My reviewing of the GPS, 1 Million is pretty good but misses the Mom and Pa locations. Reviews TomTom’s 3 Million is much better. Says it almost has everything you would be looking for. Does anyone know the POI in this unit and does it have the complete address and Phone Number? I want this phone book option when the family travels. Example: If I see a billboard advertising “Outback” at Exit 39 in Fredericksburg, VA 27 miles ahead, I want to be able to look up the phone and make reservations.

    Even if the Traffic feature is not that great, and the POI is not as good as TomTom, I think the Text to voice feature along with the 3D View for tought intersections will make up for it over the TomTom I was looking at.

53. Gene,

    Go to http://bfads.net/ to look up most of the black friday ads online.

    Larry

54. Thanks for this review, my wife and I have been shopping around looking for a good deal on a useful gps… this sounds like it, Im going too try to pick it up at my local staples.
    I was looking at the Tom Tom one but its confusing, and I didt like it that much when I was playing with it.
    Im also interested in how far away this warns you of traffic or POI’s

    thanks
    -sid

55. Wow!

    Great review. I stumbled on your site by accident while researching for the iphone and found your review to be outstanding. Now I check your site everday. You are starting to cost me money man! It’s off to Staples I go.

56. Hey,
    Fantastic Review. I am also from Michigan and I do a lot of driving from Bloomfield Hills to Ann Arbor to Detroit to Metro Airport to Flint, etc. While I know the roads very well, I still need a good GPS in places where I am not familiar with. I am loving the review and I am totally swayed towards buying this over the TomTom 3rd edition. Lets hope it turns out fantastic. ITs better than shelling out 2 grand for a navigation and backup camera system in my Lexus.

57. Tim,
    Not sure as I’ve never done Geocaching before.

58. Chull,
    I haven’t seen any abilities to create/upload your “own” maps/routes on this unit so far.

59. Hugo,
    I hope to get to Chicago again soon. Keep checking my blog and when I travel on tour I’ll be posting it here.
    Thanks!

60. Larry R.
    I don’t have the traffic option for this unit so out of the box it doesn’t know anything about traffic. If it’s like other units, once you get the traffic add-on, it should route you around the traffic delays.
    As far as POI’s go It will display the address and phone number of the POI if it has it.

61. Sid,
    I don’t have the traffic feature of this unit. However, for POI’s it does a good job of displaying them far enough in advance that you can make a stop in plenty of time.

62. Rod S,
    Thanks! Glad you found the site and hope the tech stuff doesn’t drain your account. It is addictive.
    T

63. Tej,
    Thanks! This unit offers a lot of bang for the buck. It’s not perfect, but it is very very good and a lot less than factory installed units and offers features that most factory units don’t.

64. Great review, I enjoyed reading it!
    Now how is this Navigon 2100 compared to Navigon – Pocket LOOX N100? While the 2100 is $99 at Staples BF (probably I have to camp out tomorrow night) while the latter is on sale for $99 at tiger direct now online with no hassle. Which one should I buy? Thanks.

65. Pingback: Navigon 2100 GPS Review by Terry White » Gps Plus Information Guide

66. Thanks, awesome review.

67. Downey, the LOOX N100 has a smaller screen and seems to take 30 seconds to boot up based upon the reviews I see. If you can live with those two things, then go with the easy purchase. Otherwise, I would go with the Navigon 2100.

68. great review

69. For those who have asked (or will)…the 2100 does a VERY nice job of recalculating a route if you miss a turn. It takes a few seconds to realize you’re off course, and a couple more to recalc, all of which it does quietly and without fuss (thank you, German engineering!).

    The mark of a good program (which is what these units are at heart, maps plus software to interpret them) is that it can handle proper data efficiently. The mark of a REALLY good program is that it can handle junk just as efficiently…and the Navigon units get good marks from me after some road testing where I deliberately refused to follow the unit’s instructions, sometimes several times in a row (mind you, this was in my home town, so I wasn’t worried about getting lost!). Every single time, the unit recalced without fuss. NONE of the “Turn around, turn around!” nonsense you hear about with other units.

    I will say, though, that the unit does seem to get a trifle confused if you’re off-road (say, in a parking lot) when you ask for directions. It still does try to present you with a good route based on what street/heading seems to correspond best with your location, but the routing may change rapidly several times as you exit the lot, especially if you change directions within the lot itself. Mind you, I don’t expect ANY unit to handle that situation perfectly, but it is something to be aware of.

    Also, be careful in areas where streets are dense; the unit will give instructions in advance when you need to make multiple turns in fairly quick succession, but when it gets to the actual “turn here” point can fall a little behind due to the length of time it takes to speak the directions. Again, not a situation that’s the fault of this specific unit, just one for GPS users (of which there will be a lot of new ones this season) to be aware of in advance.

70. My question is does the $99.99 at staples come with free LIFETIME traffic or free traffic for a limited time? Thanx for the review and it look like I am going to buy this one even if with out lifetime traffic.

71. does anyone know if staples will have a limited supply of these because i really cant get there till about 6:15 and i am worried they will be gone…..

72. I just want to let everyone know that the BF special at Staples actually runs both Friday and Saturday for $99.99.

73. Terry:

    Did I miss it or did you say this unit does NOT plug into the vehicle to keep it charged? Is it only USB/wall unit charging?

74. RATBOY, It DOES plug in to the car adapter to keep it charged in the car. It comes with the cord/adapter.

75. Hi .. can anyone advise if you can “upgrade” the maps on the device to include Europe?
    (obviously for an additional charge?)

76. HOw many POIdoes it have the 2100T, does anyone know?

77. Wonderful reviews and comments :). This review and others online have convinced me to make a purchase. Kudos to Terry and all of you for your good work.

78. Terry,

    Thanks for the awesome review. Is the street name pronunciations clear or are they in a mechanical voice?

79. Terry,
    Do you know if there is a memory slot? Can I upgrade the unit to include maps of Europe?

80. Can the unit be ordered online from Staples.com for $99 on black Friday?

81. Terry,
    What is the difference between a 2100 and a 2100T?
    Thanks

82. Kim there is an SD slot. However, I don’t know about European Map availability or costs.

83. Terry,
    A few questions.

    1) Day/Night mode is manual so does it pose any issues? If you do not switch, how does it look in broad daylight and at night in both the modes?

    2) How is the touch screen interface? I heard that it is little bit hard to plug in your selection.

    Thanks.

84. I have read as much as I can on the Navigon website and found the following to be stated there very clearly.

    1) What is your general policy with respect to map updates?

    NAVIGON plans to make map updates available every 12 months to any given product until such time that the product is phased out of production. Updates will be made available online via navigon.com or via DVD to registered users. The first map update for newly launched NAVIGON brand products will be available Q1 2008.

    2) What is your general approach to providing firmware updates? Under what circumstances can firmware updates be expected?

    Ours is a constant march to improve our GPS products. If and when issues arise, we investigate and scrutinize whether they comprise a trend and warrant a new firmware release. The process involves intense field testing to validate the issue and its proposed solution. In the event that issues do arise, we make it our mission to address them in as timely a manner as possible through easy firmware updates available online or via DVD to registered users.

    3) Here is the website for information: http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/service_support/faq_center

    4) I love the traffic feature on my NAVIGON device, but do I need to use the traffic antenna that is included in the box?

    Your system can work without the traffic antenna that’s in the box, but we recommend you use it. It boosts your system’s ability to real-time traffic updates, especially outside metropolitan areas.

    This device looks to be a fantastic competitor for the TomTom and the Garmin C series.. It could even compete extremely well with the Garmin nuvi series. I am going to be heading to Staples at 4am to prepare for any lines in the morning and getting me one of these monsters!!

    Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! And Good Luck to all that are heading out in a few hours for Black Friday!

85. how to update the map? Addition cost?

86. Thanks so much for the information. It sounds like a greate deal; you have convinced me to purchase one tomorrow at Staples.

87. jd

    I read that it has 1.6 mil POIs. I read that here:

    http://www.howardforums.com/printthread.php?t=1277689

88. terry, great simple review without all the comparison to other units. when i read a review on a product i want to read about the product, not how other products does something better.

    Phil, long as there’s stock it’ll be available online as well since it’s not a BF only item. it’ll be on sale into Satruday as well.

    Gary, the 2100T is the 2100 w/ the $99 life-time traffic update included.

89. T signifies it has the free lifetime traffic

90. I noticed one thing not mentioned. Does this have the touch screen and what are the advantages of a touch screen?

91. Ok, so I bought one of these 2100t units for the car and it works great! I am a Storm Chaser and this is exactly what I needed to add to the gadget collection in the car. Thanks for the thorough review and excellent detail descriptions!

92. I was just wondering about the suction cup, does it wear out? I would like to be able to transfer it to another car once in awhile. Thanks. Great review.

93. Great review. But GPS units are to be personally tested before settling in on them.

94. Bhavesh,

    About day/night, it’s pretty easy to swap (two screen taps), and both modes look fine at either time to me. The advantage of night mode is that there’s a lot less white on the screen, so it doesn’t interfere so much with your vision of the road at night.

    Andy,

    Yes it does, and the main advantage so far as I’m concerned is it doesn’t have to try to interpret your voice (I use a Bluetooth cell phone, and if my voice is stressed or there’s much noise, the voice interpreter can make a simple phone call a major hassle).

95. I just got mine from amazon 11/22/07. LOVE IT !!!! Had to test it out going to work–threw it off to get rerouted. love green overhead signage. it even told me i had to go around the roundabout we have at work and turn onto 2nd drive on left. LOVE IT !!!! For the price well worth it. it even impressed mom & dad for thanksgiving day, as they have one expensive restaraunt in town (Fletcher’s of Atlanta) (IN). I have ordered the lifetime traffic card. I’m very very impressed and I’m anti-learning new things tech-wise, but hopefully i’ll be able to not get lost out of state abd just drive straight to house also and not rely on “meet me at such & such and follow me to the house”. GREAT PRODUCT and not expensive.

96. Terry…thanks for this review. Very helpful.

    God Bless you and your family.

97. Dear Terry, I was in line at Staples at just after 5 A.M. Tickets were passed out for the Navigon 2100T. The folks in front of me got the last one. I tried on line and the Staples web site said out of stock. Radio Shack also is out of stock. Do you know of other places this unit may be purchased at a reasonable price including the traffic alert? Thanks, Chuck

98. Thanks Luun. Staples sold out in 3 minutes.

99. I have checked every Staples in the free world and they are all sold out.

100. I just bought mine from Amazon for $179, question is, will I get the free traffic updates? If not, how do I get it and how much does it cost? Thanks

101. Andy, like most portable GPS units the Navigon 2100 does have a touch screen which makes it easier to input information.

102. Katie, like most things I would suspect that the suction cup could/would wear out over time.

103. Chuck, it’s a hot item at that price and probably the best bargain going today. So therefore, stores will/did sell out quickly. I don’t know of any other deals at the moment or even stock at the regular prices at this time (Amazon.com has them for $209). You’ll probably have to check next week to see what’s going on. They’ll probably be some on eBay too.

104. Terry, your review had me very excited about buying the Navigon 2100T at Staples. I was number 35 in line this morning and was told by the manager that they didn’t receive any due to a “shipping problem” from the manufacturer. I was able to get a ticket ensuring me of a Garmin Nuvi 260 for $249., and I then drove to Radio Shack to try for the Navigon at $150. The Radio Shack manager claimed they too didn’t receive any. He advised that several of the units they previously sold were returned for malfunctioning touch screens, and that he assumes they didn’t ship his store additional units due to this issue. He was quick to position the higher priced Magellan and Garmin units. Went back to Staples and complained to the manager about the lack of any Navigon units. He apologized and said it was out of his control, but if I bought the Navi 260, he would give me a $20. gift card. That closed the deal.

     Note to Chuck, the only place I have been able to find any Navigon 2100s (in stock) is Amazon at $209.94 with FREE lifetime traffic advisories. Not close to $99., but still in stock.

     Terry, thanks for the great review!

105. Nilo, yechwando, lunn, Sue, Andrew and others!
     Thanks so much for all the positive feedback and for visiting my tech blog. I hope you get the GPS units you desire and that they work out well for you!

     T

106. I was at Staples this morning and was lucky enough to get the very last ticket they were passing out. I spent the last week reading reviews and checking specs on GPS units. This is by far, the biggest and best bang for your buck!! I’ll never part with it..

107. I can’t get through to the support site, maybe you can help. I just purchased my unit at CC this AM for 100. My fat fingers got me into trouble right off the bat. Some how I got into the Spanish version. How can I ge out? Thanks–very good blog.

108. Purchased at Staples, sorry.

109. Another great feature I did not see mentioned is a setting that automatically increases the volumn when the road noise increases.
     Thanks for the great review.

110. Terry,

     Great review! I picked up my new Navigon 2100 this morning at Radio Shack (1 of 2 they had in stock). I already have it installed, charged up and running like a champ. It even came with free lifetime traffic service.

     Thanks,
     Steve

111. I have the 7100 which is awesome being black friday I bought one on line for 99.00 no shipping and free traffic……yea!!!!!

112. Check SHOPNBC. Offerring as daily value and including the traffic option at no cost.

     Appreciatre the review. Now I will buy.

113. Ed,
     try sticking a small paper clip in the reset hole on the side.

114. I nailed the Navigon 2100 at my local Staples early this morning. It is a 2100T. It says plainly on a sticker on the box that the free Lifetime Traffic “limited time promotion $99 value” is included in the box. Inside there is an activation card with a scratch-off for the code. Since the whole unit cost $99, this was a pretty good deal. Staples online, which was down until 6 am, had this indicated as Sold Out at 6:01 am. So I decided to try my luck at the store which is only .5 mile from my house.

     I plugged it in inside the house (I have a car charger to wall A/C adapter), put it in my front window and it immediately locked into a signal and I was able to enter “Home” and a destination. I find I can tap the screen with my fingernail (like a Palm Pilot) or the end of my finger.

     My questions:
     I assume you have to charge it up to carry it around (I want to try it walking and/or biking.) How long does it take to charge up? And, if you have used it not plugged into the car power adapter, how long does the charge last?

115. Just bought one @ shopnbc.com 209.00 with 30.00 internet rebate. There doing 3 monthly payments as well…..and it does include the lifetime traffic updates.

     Thanks for all the info Terry!

116. Only a short Quick Start Guide comes in the box. I found the full manual online at:
     ftp://support:support@ftp.navigon.com/us/manuals/Manual_2100_English_Rev1_0.pdf

     It says: It takes approximately 6hours to charge the device when the battery is flat.
     A fully charged battery provides up to 3.5hours of use.

117. I ran to Staples this morning, and was not lucky to get one. There were only 15 in store, I was probably # 500 to enter the store. I immediately ran to Radio Shack. $159 is still a better deal than nothing. The salesman said he had only one left. The Magellan was the hot ticket item at this store. I asked him if they would match the Staples deal for $99. He said he would if I produced the flyer, which I promtly did from my car. I got the unit for $99. Thanks Radio Shack!!!

118. I stumbled onto this website this am when Google searching. Terry, thanks for the insight. There are so many units out there to choose from. I didn’t know where to begin. Your background work has definitely saved me some research time. I bought my unit from shopnbc.com for $210 after discovering “all” other stores were sold out. Sounds like a marketing tactic to me. 🙂 I can’t wait to put it to use.

     Thanks again,

     Mel

119. Terry, I tried putting a paper clip into the hole. It did reset the unit, but still came up in Spanish. Any other ideas?

     Thanks

120. I was told by Staples that the free trafic is only for 1 year.

121. Ed,

     Try this:

     las opciones, los escenarios, los escenarios básicos, el idioma, inglés

122. “I was told by Staples that the free trafic is only for 1 year”

     There is a label on the box from Staples purchased units which plainly states “Free Lifetime Traffic”

     Got shut out online, stupid me for forgetting to log on in advance, that extra minute cost me a unit. Went to a So. Cal. Staples at 4:30AM, about 20th in line. No problem, if I had to guess I’d say the store had up to 50 units available.

123. I am unable to located the Product ID for registration. Can someone help?

124. Terry,

     Thanks for taking the time to help us out with your comprehensive review. I was able to purchase the 2100 for $99 today. I also picked up the Magellan Maestro 3100 for $139. I’ve been reading reviews on both trying to decide which one to keep and which one to gift away. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d appreciate hearing them. BTW: I’m leaning toward the 2100, but the sluggishness reported by some bothers me.

     Thanks,

     Scott

125. Terry, thanks so much for a great review of this product. The review was clean, clear and to the point.

     I just decided this week to get one, when I saw they were going to be on sale at Staples (since that is the only place I was going for BF shopping). I did a search and found your review. After reading your comments, I was sold and decided to go with the Navigon. Did not realize how hot of an an item this was until I was standing in line and now reading all the comments. I did get one and have already put it to the test.

     Thanks to everyone else who has provided helpful information about the 2100.

126. Sam: Download the manual (see above). Read it. It has loads of useful info. It is 99 pages long. It tells you HOW to do the activation process. To find the Product ID use the back arrow until you get to the screen that has these 4 choices:New Destination, My Destinations, Take me Home, Show Map. At the bottom it will say “Options”. Click on that button. The next screen has a button for “Service Activation”. Click on that and you will see your Product ID. In the pdf manual it says to write that down because you will need it for reference during the activation process (which you can do online).

     Also, for the person who cannot get it out of Spanish, on the “4 choices” screen mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the first choice is the language. Even if you don’t know Spanish, just click on that one and you will be given 3 choices: English, French, Spanish. They have national flags next to them. Select English (American flag.) and say OK. You should be back to English.

127. The language selection is in “Settings” right above “Service Activation.”

128. Thanks to everybody for their help. I was able to get back to the English version.
     Gracias

129. I have been using a basic gps for 6 months and am now looking to upgrade to text to voice and to changing a route by touching the screen…having free updated maps is also important…from reading the forum, it looks like the nav 2100 has text to speech and free maps, but can you change your route by touching a point on the map screen…I have found this to be important since there are many times you will want to pick a via point…unfortunately the unit I have now will only create a via point by inserting an address…so if you want to get to a destination using 405 rather than the default highway…you will need an address on 405 to create the alternate route…I know there are brands that will allow you to touch a point on 405 to create the alternate route…

130. Terry,

     Thank you so very much for your thorough review and taking the time to respond to all queries.

     I am located in Cape Cod and the Staples Manager told me that his store had 25 of the units and that the line is quite extensive. I called the 800 number to inquire further about when I can order for BF, quantities, etc. On that initial call, the kindly customer rep advised me that the web site and the tel ordering will begin @ 6AM for the 2100T, and that there were 300 allocated for my “region” but they could be drawn upon in time of need by another region if available. Ordering limitation was “One”.

     Skeptic that I am, I called at 5:40 AM, they accepted my order with an email confirmation. I ordered the product with a dozen pens to go over the $100. mark and proceeded to give them a $15. coupon. In short I paid about $90. incl tax, delivered next Tues by UPS free. I then tested the website at 6AM when they went online and it read “Out of Stock.”

     There is something morally wrong when you entice the public (even using the product as a loss leader) and do not have enough to even fulfill initial BF online orders.

     And so it goes…..

     Again, thank you very much for your help.

131. Hi Terry:
     Purchases the unit today and have to say it’s great! Bought it at Staples for $99 which also included the $99 Lifetime Traffic feature. What a deal. It was easy to set up, did a little head scratching, and figured one or two things out. My daughter has moved into a new area and it does not show up, just the main road. I’ll have to just save a route to that point and see how that works. I like how it mounts, the voice prompts are clear and consise, it’s not that hard to see during the day and believe me, I have trouble seeing small things but don’t find myself taking out the magnifying glass. For the price and a first time GPS for me I’m pleased. Thanks for your review . . . based on that I bought this and these folks at Navigon should give you a piece of the action!

132. I purchased mine at 6 am at Staples and love it. I’m curious, I have speed limits enabled but the speed sign does not appear in the upper left of the screen? Do I have something incorrectly selected or does it work in certain areas only?
     Thanks Terry for your review.

133. I got the 2100 today. Great GPS, with a few glitches. No manual enclosed. You have to download over 100 pages from the internet. My unit did NOT come with a CARD ?? I had to call the customer service line and they will send me a card so I can activate the TRAFFIC and ZAGATS. My first GPS so far pretty cool. Staples had it cheaper but the lines were insane, so I got mine fro Radio Shack. The shack would not meet Staples lower price.

134. Justin,
     I totally agree with you! This is one of the reasons that I try not to get caught up in “Black Friday” sales. It usually means frustration at the end of the day. However, I did actually get up this morning and head over to my local Staples which was only 2 minutes away. I got there at 5:50 AM. I wanted another Navigon (as a gift) and some of the digital picture frames. I got the last Navigon. I can’t say for sure, but I would be surprised if my store had more than 12 units. I had a brief argument with one of the sales reps/manager because when I walked in there were no tickets for the Navigon, but I was one of the first ones that asked for one. So he supposedly put mine under the counter while I stood in line to pay for it. By the time I got the register (lots of check out problems) mine was gone and there was only one left that he claimed he was holding for someone much further back in line. I demanded that he sell it to me because I was FIRST. After about 30 seconds he caved. This little incident reminded me once again to NOT participate in this madness next time. My sister will be happy though with here new gift.

135. Paul,
     The speed limit feature worked on one of the highways I tried it on out of two. So it doesn’t work on every single road.

136. Connie, glad it worked out! Enjoy.
     Thanks!

137. Well…. I am the happy new owner of the Navigon 2100. I have activated the Lifetime Traffic Service and received my confirmation emails.

     I went to Staples and got in line at about 4:45am. The line was already about 10 people deep, so I felt good about being number 11. I could peek in the window of the store and saw at least 15 on a table. At 5:50am, they came out and gave tickets for specific items on the sales flyer, and the GPS’s were one of the “Ticket” items. I got #7! WHOO HOO!

     After making the purchase, we went back to the truck, and I took it out of the box and was happy that it showed almost a full battery. Within 5 minutes, I had it setup and it was working great.

     This is my first Navigation Unit, but not my first GPS. I played with the routing, the address entry, the maps, etc… I did notice a slight hesitation during address entry, but it was not enough to disappoint me. It appears to be something that I can live with.

     The routing was fast. I entered some old addresses in different states and let it calculate routes for me, and the slowest it took for a router from North Carolina to Florida was 5 seconds.. Some people may think thats slow, but just how fast do you need it to calculate??

     The screen is crisp and clear. There are some menus that don’t use color, but is that really important? Its only a menu.

     The touchscreen is very smooth and has a good sensitivity.

     The Speed Alerts worked on a highway loop around Charlotte, NC that is fairly new. It knew the speed was 65, and when I tested it, it told me “Caution” in a solid, clear voice.

     The street names are spoken, and yes, some sound mechanized, but others don’t. its a computer voice chip.

     The suction cup mount is strong, and stable. I don’t have a worry about it falling off the window, and it comes with a dash disk to attach if you can’t have anything attached to the windshield.

     Its fits in my Jeans pocket, and has a standby mode that you manually activate with a quick press of the power button.

     The power cord is designed for the cigarette lighter with no home charger included. The charger is the standard small USB charger commonly found with Bluetooth headsets.

     I have only had the device for just over 12 hours, but at this point, I can say that I’m very satisfied with the performance and ease of use of the Navigon 2100.

     And yes, the T at the end is the unofficial designation for the 2100 with Lifetime Traffic.

     Its a nice product for $99. I think I would even have paid $150 for this. My budget for my first Navigation Unit was a max of $200… This is a $300 unit for $99.. I don’t think you could go wrong!

     Thanks Terry for helping me make up my mind. I believe this will be the hidden Golden Nugget of the 2007 Holiday Season!

138. Byron,

     Anyone who thinks 5 seconds is too long a time to calculate a route that’ll take you 5-10 hours to actually drive probably needs to cut back a bit on the caffeine. (g)

     And I paid $169 for my first one, though the Staples manager price-adjusted it to $99 to match the 2100T’s today AND I managed to snag a 2100T online (so I’m covered gift-wise, woo hoo!). Anyhow, I thought 169 was a great deal…and still do, actually.

139. Hey Terry,
     Thanks for the review. It really did help a lot me to make a decision. I was the 1st person to check out this baby. I am happy that i got this. I have played with it and got to admit, the response time is NOT that slow. I am sure I can live 0.5 sec delay. Haven’t got a chance to play with reality view, which i intend to do tomorrow. Speed limits warning are only for some major highways, I believe. They were clear too.

     Got a question:
     Since this comes with 2GB SD cards, would we be able to add additional maps may be?

     Thanks again for your help,
     Addy.

140. Addy,
     It should be possible to add maps via SD cards. The issue will be getting them in the proper format. We’ll have to see what Navigon comes up with for expansion.

141. Hi Terry,
     I’ve baught this unit based on your review at Staples today, I entered the store at 6:07AM and there was a big line, maybe 35 peope, and I stood for a good hour but was lucky to get one unit, for now I’m happy with it, eventhough it’s sluggish, I’ve tried to enter a local major street, but it didn’t accept it? other than that the unit is excellent. I’ve been trying to register the unit and activate the traffic alert since 4:00PM today, and wasn’t able to, I called customer service, they told me the server is too busy, receiving too many requests to register. Thanx again for your excellent review.

142. Hi, Terry!

     We scored our 2100 this morning at Radio Shack. . .the last one, apparently.

     I’ve been playing around with it, planning a cross country jaunt. I’m trying to get it to give us a more southern route, but I can’t seem to get it to do that. I know some of the Interstates we want to use, but I can’t figure out if there’s a way to enter route numbers.

     When I enter a city near where the interstates meet, it takes me through the city and back to the intestate. Sometimes, it even takes me off an interstate and back on it!

     Can you enter route numbers, or do I have to go back to Trip-tiks??

     Thanks for you time, and a GREAT review!!

     Donna

143. Anybody know if there’s a way to control the 2100 simulation speed?

     As far as cases, it fits into my iPAQ case pretty well. If you have any old pda cases, try one.

144. Hi Terry and everyone else,
     First, thanks Terry for the great review.
     I was 12th in line at a So Cal Staples this morning and got one. I would estimate that they had 25 units based on the tickets they handed out. 4/5 of the people around me in line planned on getting one.

     The unit did not have an activation card in it so I had to call the 888 customer service number and after a moderate wait a very helpful woman took my email info and said they were negotiating with Staples to resolve this issue and they would get back to me in 24-48 business hours. Apparently they are having a big problem with a bunch of retailers selling 2100t models but handing out 2100 boxes. I hope they send me an activation code. Otherwise I really like the unit so far.

145. well I have a similar story to Byron, got in line at staples this morning at like 5:30, I was about 25 people down. I was able to get mine with very little headache.

     Im extremely pleased with it so far! the address entry was a little confusing and I dont know how to make it do the reality view, and the “instructions” are a little thin… but I like it alot! we had a really good make or break test run, we had to get from downtown San Diego to a site in Fallbrook (north of SD, about 50min from my house) in 60min with only a destination. It passed with flying colors. Its a little chatty, but Ive never had gps so I dont know whats alot 🙂

     I hope everyone who was able to get it on sale is as happy with it as I am. And the Traffic report is awesome!

     Thanks Terry, and other posters for helping me make a decision!

146. I got the 5100 model after they ran out of the 2100. I have to say I am very disappionted with the 5100. The letters to type are small compared to other models. When in a stripmall and want out, it will not give you directions, but show you an orange line and you figure how to get to it. Also, not sure how many points of interest it has. Living in west bloomfield in MI, I could not locate a Best Buy, a Sams club, or a home depot on it ! The text to speech feature is excellent. It has great directions and very accurate, but relativly sluggish when I compare it to a Mio C220 that I bought today and drove around with both on. I was parked next to Sams club and Home Depot, and it would not recognize them ! It knew where Starbucks was ! This it marked at around $500, not worth the $150 I paid for it. Its going back tomorrow !

147. Can anyone tell if 2100 would charge for map upgrade? Thanks.

148. Well i just stagged this guy at work today(i work at staples) and it turns out that this machine is great for $99.99 a 2 year warranty for 39.99. Its all worth it.

     Pros: Small stylish black piano finish, CHEAP, feels like an iphone (i wish i have one) easy to use, all my friends are jealous, i wont get lost again on family tripps which ends in arguements on whos right. Love the PIN protected feature and it came with a warning sticker for the future thiefs to bug off! its now going on ebay for $200+
     Came with lifetime traffic subscription ($100) i saved up to 300$ total!

     Cons: A bit laggy when entering anything. Load up time is slow also. a bit confusing when trying to turn on some of the features; the back and the option buttons! Havnt tried the traffic feature, the manual says it doesnt work on some areas, including my house to begin with :[, theres always 511.org but i gota try the TFF some time

149. Was lucky and snagged one at Staples in SF this morning, got the last one they had. $99 for a GPS with these features is a fantastic price. I had the TomTom One, which I loved, but gave it to my partner to use. Have not experienced the “sluggishness” others have mentioned, but will be using it more watching for that. The TomTom recalculates very quickly, my partners preious Magellan did not. Crossing my fingers.

150. I also cannot get the 2100 to operate while plugged into the auto charger. I saw Jim Spencer also had this problem. Jim, did you return your device and find for sure that it was defective? Did you receive a device that *would* operate while charging?

     Has anyone else had this same problem?

     I called the 1-888 support number and was told that you cannot operate it while charging it. I see some people above saying the opposite. What’s the real story – can y’all use the GPS while it’s plugged into the auto charger and charging?

151. HEY. ANYONE WHO ENDED UP WITH A 5100 FOR WHATEVER REASON!!! There is a $50.00 mail in rebate at the website. Went to RS to see if they had any 2100. They did not but were substituting the 5100 for the same price. Got 3. And now, finding rebate, I’ll get another $150.00 back. Woo wooo

152. Got a 2100 yesterday at Staples-$99.. It’s my first GPS, so I’m still learning the ropes. So far it’s great! The lifetime traffic option works very well. There is a temporary (six week) bridge closure near our home and it was recognized. That kind of surprised me because we don’t exactly live in a metropolitan area and it’s not a huge bridge. That option in itself pays for the unit. Amen?

153. I was third in line at my Staples and all three of us were after the Navigon 2100. They had about 30. My nice surprise was they announced before opening that they had 1 Acer 17″ widescreen laptop to the first person who wanted it. I wasn’t after a computer, but I grabbed it and my wife is thrilled to have her VERY old Pentium desktop replaced.

     Regarding the Navigon:

     It does come with lifetime traffic, so at $99 the hardware was basically free

     On their website they state that there have been no updates to the maps yet but there will be a free release in 2008

154. Great review Terry!!! This unit is awsome in just about every aspect you could think of. The one and only flaw I found and to me it’s a big one but i can live with is… The unit as of now has no ability to load trafic safety cameras for it to navigate in the USA. I called the support center and there is no info on if or when it might have this feature to be added. So, everyone call them and request it!!!!! After enough calls they are bound to add it!!!!

155. I’ve been investigating GPS units online for over a week (about 30 hours of reading and comparing!) I decided to get the 2100. Office Depot in Seattle had them for four days before Thanksgiving for $149 with rebate for Live Traffic. I bounght one Wednesday night, set it up to drive home, trying different roads to test it. I was really impressed.

     Then I tried to change my destination key-in. It has been frozen ever since. I’ve tried every combination of reset and on/off button, remove and reinsert SD card, but the licence notice comes on and the display will not respond to touch.

     I’ve downloaded the manual and missed calling Friday for service. Anybody got suggestions of where to go next?

156. I just bought my navigon 2100 at radio shack to my disappointment the unit keeps on popping the fatal error its says about MNS66 or something do you think I bought a defective one at radioshack

157. Does anyone know if you can change the voice? I can not find that function anywhere in the manual. Thanks.

158. I purchased the Navigon 2100T at Staples on BF for $99 and love it. I am having a problem registering it through the Navigon website. I set up an account on their website, and it will allow me to log in, and says that I am logged in. When I go to register my device or activate the traffic feature, it comes up saying that I am not logged in and asks for a username and password again. When I try to enter my username and password again, it takes me back to the same prompt again where I can click register or activate features. It just goes in a loop everytime I log in and try to register. I have tried it on two computers using Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. Anyone else having this problem? I may have to call their support number monday.

159. Hi Terry and all,

     I purchased the Navigon 2100 from ShopNBC yesterday. I have the Navigon – Pocket LOOX N100 and I love it, but I’m in my 60’s and the screen is a little small for me and my husband. I thought that the Navigon 2100 screen looked to be bigger. I bought two of the Navigon – Pocket LOOX N100s, one for me and one for my son and his wife in Oregon. We just got back to Florida from a trip to Georgia and that little Navigon – Pocket LOOX N100 really knows it stuff. The voice is a little hard to understand at times, but I think that’s just because it is so very small. It’s loaded with extras that we won’t use, so after we receive the 2100 from ShopNBC, we will give this little bitty one to our daughter and her husband. I hope the one we get will not have any issues. I’ll let you all know once we get it and start to use it. It would be nice to have the option of a male voice because the female one on our Navigon – Pocket LOOX N100 is kind of whispery, but nothing you can’t get use to. It really saved our bacon on several occasions on our trip. While we were on our way, we had to stop for gas in a little town in Georgia and a couple couldn’t find where they were going (they had a TomTom), so I put in the name of the resort they were looking for and directed them to it. He said their’s had been acting up, but perhaps it just needed to reboot. Thanks everyone for your comments.

160. I got mine at Staples for $99.99 and had test drive with it …it was awesome …it wasnt that sluggish but on the downside i felt the algorithm it uses to find the route is not great as it used a round about way . Other than that i tried to activate the Traffic but was not able to find the product id .. Can someone is the group tell me how to find it .

161. Terry,
     Thanks to your review and my utter determination, I finally located the trophy. I was able to get a $99 unit at Staples. Some stores are getting them or 2 at a time. My store got 2. All out there, keep up the hunt.
     Thanks Terry.

162. CJARCZ
     Which website had the $50 rebate for the 5100?

163. Hi terry and everybody

     I purchased the navigon2100 yesterday at radioshack it popup a FATAL APPLICATOIN ERROR
     Application MN6.EXE has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If problem persist, contact the program vendor

     Program: MN6.EXE
     Exception: 0xC0000005
     Address: 000F4E60

     Does anybody encounter this problem?? Can someone help me about it or the product itself is defective

164. Hi Terry

     Does the navigon 2100 shows in the POI all the malls, shoping center and electronics stores? I wonder why I can’t find it or I am missing something

165. The staples located on Michigan Ave. in Dearborn is giving rainchecks for the 2100. I think is closes at 9:00 pm.

166. I am glad that everyone is enjoy the Navigon. But mine cannot get a signal no matter where I am. I live in So. Cal and shouldn’t be a problem. I treid to call the customer service but they are off already. Anyone has a solution? Thanks.

167. I too purchased the 2100 at terry’s recommendation…it has been a great little unit so far and all that he’s said about it is right on. however, i also had a looping problem when trying to activate or register the unit and traffic service. Has anyone successfully done this?

168. The unit I got was not “speaking.” No sound. I thought it might be defective. I had bought a second unit also, so I opened that box, set it up exactly the same and it spoke! So, I completely turned off the “bad” one (hold down the button for 6 seconds.) Then turned it back on–magic cure. I guess it reset it somehow, but I did not lose my entries.

     I did find out that “fastest” route is not necessarily “shortest.” I just had each of them calculate to the same destination and went out in the car with both turned on (one fastest and one shortest). Both spoke the proper directions, and, when I turned for the “shortest” route, the other one recalculated where I was and adjusted its instructions. Very fast. It says “recalculating route” and it almost immediately has locked in on to where you are now. I’m impressed. I see no “lag” at all, as some have mentioned in reviews I read.

169. Hey there, I purchased the unit Friday morning also, but I am still undecided about taking it back or not. First off, everyone here is fooling themselves if they refuse to accept that the unit is not sluggish in performance.. everything that is done from entering a letter to browsing menus to even adjusting the volume is sluggish, so with that said it’s easy to tell who actually owns the unit on here and who doesn’t.

     My main problem stems from the unit being a little to sluggish as we say. Yesterday my girl bought the Magellan 3100 and after using it the interface is extremely quick when compared to my Navi2100, it’s so quick that it’s almost embarrassing, and for a slap in the face her 3100 was $30 cheaper than what I paid for my Navigon.

     Let’s move on to the real reasons why I am keeping my 2100 for the moment, I will test drive it for about 25 days before making up my mind about returning it or not.. first off.. the hope that Navigon will be releasing an update for this device keeps me going, if they can fix the minor lag issue then this unit for the price will indeed be the best of the best. Now I could easily get a TomTomOne(3rd edition), Mio220 or Magellan 3100 but the interface on those units are absolutely horrible, so bland and yesterday like, besides the traffic feature and the text to voice features of the 2100 I have to say that the interface is stunning, it’s really the only main feature that stops me from getting rid if it right now.

     Tips to improve the sluggishness:

     I switched out the el’cheapo SD card that shipped with my Navigon unit for a Sandisk 2gb unit and the performance now it absolutely making the 2100 look like a keeper, it improved my performance about 40-50%, I would say that it’s almost as quick as my gf’s Magellan 3100 now. I can honestly say that the device boots quicker and that the menus appear almost instant like, close but not perfect just yet though. In the next few days I will be buying a higher end Sandisk card, the UltraII or newer III card version to see if their quickness can solve the mystery of the 2100’s lagging performance even more.. the Ultra II version of this regular Sandisk card that I am using is rated at 9 – 10MB/sec minimum, the UltraIII is rated at 20 MB/sec, if that is all true then I am expecting near perfect performance from my unit by week’s end, especially since it’s currently working much better with the vanilla version of the Sandisk card.

     Good luck people.. Nuclear out.
     “The Glow, The Beautiful Glow”

170. NuclearWhale,
     While the interface is not the speedest of the GPS units I’ve used, it is acceptable. However, you really got me thinking about improving the speed with a faster card. I do have some SanDisk Ultra II cards to try. Thanks for the tip and I’ll be testing that right away and report back here.

171. Hi Terry and all,

     My assumption is that my unit is defective. I believe that when the mini USB is inserted into the unit to charge, it *thinks* it is connected to a computer.

     Am I entirely correct that this is the proper functionality?

     1. When the Navigon 2100 is connected to the computer it displays a blank screen with a diagram showing the device (a rectangle) connected to a picture of a computer.

     2. When you plug the mini USB into a wall or car charger it should show the battery icon as “charging” and operation should not be interrupted. (Instead I get the behavior of #1 with the diagram when I’m only charging)

     Radio Shack is going to try to find me another unit. Is it common to receive a defective unit? I’ve seen a few fatal errors + one other issue like I’m having above.

     Since I can access the contents of the SD card via the computer… is there a hack I can make to the OS that would correct my problem?

172. gp: to get the product ID that you’ll need for that traffic feature registration, click on “Options” and select “Service Activation” and you’ll find the product ID at the top.

     Registering the info hasn’t been as easy! In fact, have been trying since Friday, with no luck. I experienced the same frustrating loop that others have. Think Navigon’s system is overwhelmed by the quantity of people trying to register their new units. Will keep on trying but if anyone has a pointer, PLEASE share!

173. Tessa, Mike and others,
     I was able to activate the unit I bought Friday later in the afternoon. My friend bought one and experienced the same problems you guys did. However, the odd thing was he gave me his logon info to try and I was able to activate his unit from my house (with him over the phone) no problem. Go figure.

     Dallas, I still haven’t had a chance to try the car adapter, but I had my friend do it and his works as expected in the car while plugged in. The battery indicator shows a charging symbol. The way I figure it, it would be a serious disadvantage if the unit couldn’t operate while plugged in. For example, let’s say you were taking a 4-5 hour drive. If you couldn’t have it plugged in the car there is no way the battery would last that long.

     I connected mine to my computer and got the icons you described. I connected it to the AC charger that came with my Garmin and the charge light came on. So it sounds like you need a replacement.

174. Terry,

     thanks for the review. Very nice – I read it after the fact but it confirms that my purchase was warranted.

     I am happy sofar but the gps is a little squirly in downtown chicago – you would think it would have the same short cuts that I have learned over the years LOL.

     I too am having real difficulty in registering my product and activating the traffic code. I get kicked back to the login screen after signing in. I have tried two computers.

     Help.

     BTW – the 800 number I called to get customer services put me in contact with an insurance carrier or something – tried twice and checked the number. Whoops.

     Even better – a funny. I scoped these units out at staples near my house a day or two before BF. I was playing with the Navigion display model and a guy walked up and gave me a pointer or two. I said you seem very familiar with the units do you have one…he said yea, I am the president of the company. I guess the president of Navigon USA lives a few blocks away from my house. I didn’t want to seem intrusive so I didn’t ask him for a card. Duh – I could of had the president of Navigon register my product…LOL.

     Help us all with a fix for the registration thing.

     Thanks.

     Zack

175. Laith, and anyone else, here is the address for the rebate on the 5100.
     It’s located under the 5100 series downloads page at Navigon.com.
     http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/service_support/download_center/category/62/device_type/none/software/none/509

176. Here are some Navigon accessories:

     Navigon Wall Charger

     Navigon Hard Case

     Navigon Leather Case

177. I was given a 2100 for an early Christmas present. I like but do not love it. sometimes the 2100 gives messed up directions that take you out of the way. but what I really like is mine came with the traffic update. I used it to drive from Raleigh, NC to Lancaster, PA. the 2100 said that traffic was stopped near Washington dc. and it rerouted me around all of dc and most of Baltimore. it only added a total of half hour driving time to my trip. this is nice because I have sat on 95 in traffic for three hours before. so this is a nice feature when taking long trips. I live in PA Dutch country and the 2100 has difficulties pronouncing the German names of the streets. This is my first GPS and I am going to see if I can use it for GEO caching with the pedestrian turned on. and the coordinates turned on.

178. I forgot, if changing the sd card improves the gps how do I copy the information from one card to another.

179. I have to say I’ve been really worried about this GPS with everyone talking about a “lag.” But I wasn’t really noticing it on mine — and contrary to the assertion above that anyone who wasn’t fessing up to a lag must not really own one, I do have one right here on my desk as I type. Then I read that the lag is in how fast the menus come up, or how fast it is to enter an address? Seriously?? So NOT worried about that I can’t tell you, and relieved to hear that’s all this is about. If it was a lag in how fast it recalculated a route, that would concern me. Or in how fast it could get a GPS fix. But in how fast it is to enter an address? I do that before I head out, not flying down the road at 65 mph … I can’t imagine that this will ever be a concern to me. “Hold on, Bob, I have to enter a new address in my GPS and it will take 2 minutes. Dang, if only this was a faster interface I could enter this address in 1 minute! I could save 1 whole minute in my life! Curse you, Navigon interface!”

     I will, however, try the faster SD cards just to see if I notice any speed increase there.

     For those who asked above about using it while charging, it absolutely should work while plugged into the car lighter in your vehicle — I can confirm that mine does. If your doesn’t it must be defective — how could you go on a 10 hour drive with a GPS that will die from lack of power before you are even half way there?

     On the routes, I have found that both “Fast Route” and “Optimum Route” gave me hinky directions. Mapping from home to work, the unit shows that I should go up one block, make a right and go a block, make a left and go back past my own street and go up two blocks … making a complete square and passing by my starting point again. That truly concerned me. When I switch the Route Profile to “Shortest,” it calculates the route exactly as I actually drive it.

     This is my 3rd GPS, and they all seem to have situations where they do wierd things like that. The Magellan was SOOO slow that if I passed by a turn I was supposed to make, I could pass by 4 more turns before it calculated a new route. I almost had to pull over and just wait for it to recalculate.

     The TomTom when set to the “Shortest” route on a trip from California to Oregon on I5 kept telling me I should get off the freeway, drive on a surface road, then get back on the freeway for a couple of miles, then get off on a surface road again, then back on the freeway, over and over — I assume since I5 makes great big turns in that area, it was “shortest” to get off the freeway and head straight, then get back on when the freeway came around again, but nobody in their right mind would do that.

     I do like the ability to change voices that the TomTom has, wish the Navigon would add that, but its a very minor thing. Battery life on the 2100 vs. the TomTom One is much better, I barely got one hour of battery life on my TomTom One, so I always used it plugged into the lighter – would never have carried it as a pedestrian or on a bike.

     Considering that I got this for $99, and that includes lifetime traffic (which TomTom does not) this GPS was a steal.

180. Well I tested the 2100 along with a Magellan 2000 snd the magellan stayed on the proper course while the navigon 2100 made me get off main roads, take little side streets and then get back on the main road about 10 minutes out of the way. Also, on a trip starting from my house, there is a very quick and direct way to the expressway. My Megellan gets me there almost exactly the way I would drive. The navigon didnt and I had to go into the turn-by-turn directions and put a RED X in some of the directions I didnt want… Only then did it figure out the way I wanted to go.. Well…. it started to but then wanted to take me another way. the Magellan was dead on with the directions…

     Why does the 2100 make you go on side roads that take you at least 10 minutes out of the way but if you just stay on the road you are currently on, it would be faster to get to the next turn or whatever??

181. Terry,

     I bought my Navigon 2100T unit from Staples on BF. Your comments above regarding usb connection to charge the unit was very helpful.

     My problem is signing up on the navigon website for the free lifetime travel service. Try as I may when I log into the url: http://www.navigon.com/activation I cannot complete the process to put in the required information to get the unlock code. Everytime I log in and choose the service activation menu prompt, the website logs me off and asks me to log on again. Can’t contact navigon tech support as they are only available M-F and today is Sunday.

     Any ideas on how to complete the activation setup process so I can try the travel service feature? I am going to start using the unit today on the road and would love to test out the traffic service as I am from the NYC area.

182. Ziggy,

     Same problem with registration – I have tried and tried. The system recognizes me by welcoming me back – but won’t let me do a darn thing after that.

     I have tried two different browsers and two different computers.

     Anyone with a fix???

183. I am having the same problem for the past two days. This is really frustrating. Anyone have a fix to resolve this issue?

184. My brother just activated his traffic feature, and since I’ve tried unsuccessfully for 3 days to do same, I asked him to log on as me and he was able to get through the process! Terry, thanks so much for the suggestion. Actually, many thanks for all the great info and for this forum. The 2100 is my first GPS and I have found this site to be very helpful.

     Would love to find out how to copy the data from the included SD card to a faster card 🙂

     Thanks, everyone!

185. Tessa:

     You have to purchase a memory card reader from a local store, they are usually in the $10 to $30 dollar range. Once you have the card reader simply plug it into a usb port on your pc and since it’s plug & play the device will be recognized automatically and present you with the option to view the content on the memory card.. once the folder is open just draq/copy the content of the Navigon SD card onto your desktop and then put a new card into the memory card reader, copy the Navi files from the desktop onto the new card and it’s done.

186. Terry,–I’m so glad that you started this blog. It certainly is a good sounding board, especially for first time GPS users.

     I echo Tessa’s request for instructions on copying to a faster card. You might even include suggestions on the type of card to use.

     Thanks again.

187. Many thanks, NuclearWhale, for the great info. Will give it a try.

     Y’all are awesome!

188. Okay, I bought a SanDisk Extreme III 2 gig SD card, at 20mb/s the fastest SD I could find and copied all the files over from the SD that shipped with the 2100. When I power it up, I notice no appreciable difference in the speed with which the menus appear, or the speed of entering an address, etc. I suppose if a got a stop watch and tried it I might be able to find a difference, but then again, maybe not, the speed increase (if there is any) may be less than a second. Would love to hear from anyone else who tries changing out their SD card … is there really any speed increase or is it just the placebo effect.

189. Thanks for your post neitherfanboy.

     I spent an hour or so browsing for extreme III cards – not wanting to spend any more money!

     If it doesn’t make much of a difference then I think I will pass. Keep us posted.

     Z

190. I did some more testing today of the 2100.. I, again had it side by side with my magellan 2000 and the navigon provided BETTER routes about 95% of the time. Sometimes the megellan had me going in places I wouldnt go and the navigon had a straight route. about 5% of the time the magellan was better. Even though I have though about returning it, I am beginning to like it. I see most GPS units have quirky ways of routing and none are perfect… especially in this price range…

191. Hey Zack, I would skip it if I were you, it cost me another $50 and I really can’t see any difference. Read a review that suggested the lag might be due to processor speed, which would make more sense to me, although the specs show this is a 400 mhz processor and the TomTom One is only 266mhz, so the 2100 should be the faster of the two. Wonder if the “lag” can be fixed via firmware update at some point. I have read SO MANY reviews that mention it, but so far during use it has not been a problem. Again, would love to hear if anyone else does this and notices a speed increase.

192. How about this one NeitherFanBoy,

     When I was at staples checking out the goods I met the presdient of Navicon USA. I fooled around with the navicon and the garmin with him right next to me comparing the units. (nuvi 200)

     When faced with the comments that his unit was slow and that it did not scroll well on the screen (think slow and inaccurate) he said, “well I guess it is slower than the garmin”. He did suggest that I shut off the animated menus – they were already off!!!

     I don’t recall additional reactions as he wandered off shortly afterwords. Obviously they know their interface is slower than some of the others – I am sure they read the reviews and blogs too – or they should. But at this price point the navigon seems hard to beat – the real question – why would anyone buy the 5100 or the 7100 if the 2100 has the same features built in or accessable for a lot less money.

     Lastly – how do you get the stupid web page to let me register or activate the unit???

193. Terry or anyone,

     Same question as Arnold Rosner. Does anyone know how to increase the speed of the simulation or how the speed the product uses is determined? Other than a slow simulation speed, I have found this product to be very good.

194. How many POI’s does the 2100 have? What is major difference between 2100 and 5100? Does anyone know if there will be a charge to update maps and firmware? Can information from 7100 if transfered to SD card function on 2100? Compared to other gps within the 99.00 – 160.00 range how do the readers rate the 2100. Is it free LIFETIME traffic or free traffic for a limited time? Last question, some people are saying that there is an antenna while others do not mention it?

     Alot of questions, so little answers

195. Here are some Navigon accessories:

     Navigon Wall Charger

     Navigon Hard Case

     Navigon Leather Case

     ______________________________________

     The cases are available at Staples as well. If you have empty ink cartridges you can use three per transaction to bring the price down $9 each. Staples doesn’t have an AC charger, but does have a wall adapter where you plug in your car charger in to make a home charger. $20

196. Lag issue…. I notice a trace when entering on the keypad menus. Not much of an inconvience to me. I suspecty it might be an issue for the younger folks whom are use to text messaging at 30 words a minute.

     I have a fast Patroit 2GB SD card, for S_ _ it and giggles I might try to seeif it helps.

197. I purchased the 2100 at staples BF. So far so good. set up wsa pretty good and it picked up the sattelites pretty quickly. I have one question about rerouting. I have seen the Garmin 660 in action and there is a button to press for DETOUR and a new route is calculated I have yet to find this on the 2100 does it exsist ? or is the only way around this is to block a section of road in the turn by turn ?

198. I did end up getting a 2100 at Radio Shack and I am sure the a said Lifetime traffic but I got the just the 2100 (not the 2100T). I see nothing in the box about Traffic activation. Did I just get the wrong unit at RS. Spending another $100 for traffic makes this not such a great deal.

199. Tom Cody,
     If you purchased the 2100 on Black Friday, the deal was the lower price and the free lifetime traffic card, which they handed to you with the unit. If you bought it any other day, you won’t receive the free traffic card to activate. Hope that clears things up.

200. Everyone having a problem registering unit and traffic on the navigon site-

     I finally was able to register both my GPS and activate the traffic feature through the navigon site. The way I had to do it was through http://www.vtunnel.com and go to the navigon site from there. FYI, if you are not aware of the site, vtunnel.com blocks internet filtering. I was able to log in, register my unit, and activate the traffic feature on the first try with no “looping” problem like I’ve had all weekend. One note is that I was unable to get the navigon site to come up through vtunnel.com using Internet Explorer, it was giving an XML error. I had to use Firefox browser to get to the site and it worked the first time. Let me know if this works.

     Nick

201. I’ve always wanted to know my geographical location when flying in a commercial airplane. Will a Navigon GPS work while flying? Can it be interfaced with a laptop to give a larger viewing screen?

202. Nick,

     Still unsuccessful….Good attempt though.

203. Bryan, not sure why it didn’t work for you. It worked for me and two other people I know who were getting the looping error. Maybe it will work for some people on here at least. I was unable to register since I bought it friday, but it worked first try for me and my friends using Mozilla Firefox browser and vtunnel.com.

204. Nick,

     I tried something similar as a web proxy goes. I went through http://www.ninjaproxy.com which worked perfectly for me. First time I logged in, it showed my registered product and was able to activate it immediately. Thanks for the idea of using a web proxy Nick!

     For those of you who have trouble with one web proxy, such as vtunnel.com or ninjaproxy.com, try a good search for free web proxys, and try them out, to see if it lets you log in. I was finally successful after 3 days!

205. ????????????

206. I have to say I was skeptical about a faster SD changing the speed of the menus. I would have thought that menus were “built in” to internal memory and wasn’t something that needed to read the SD card to load. But then when I browsed the chip I saw how many files were there I thought it was worth a try. I can always use the new SD in other devices. If Navigon is promising a map upgrade for first quarter 2008, I will cross my fingers for a firmware update too. I think Navigon has a ways to go to beat TomTom. Loved the ease of use of the TomTom, but now that I have the 2100 I will give it some time. I can always pick up another TomTom if the 2100 doesn’t pan out.

207. After seeing on this site that Staples would have the Navigon for $99 (I had planned to go to Radio Shack for $149!) I got up Friday morning and made it to Staples at 5:15am. NEVER AGAIN! BF in Silicon Valley is just a zoo for anything tech. The Staples store is across the street from Fry’s, and next to a Home Depot… You can imagine -I had to park 1/4 mile away! At Staples, the line wrapped around the store. Apparently, the manager came out at 5:50am to give product cards out to the people in line – but being around the corner, I couldn’t see this. And he gave out unlimited cards. So, there were two enterprising teenagers that camped out all night (!) and got 8 cards for each major product. Then, they went back in the line and SOLD them! The kid told me that he sold one of the Navigon cards for $40! “The guy still saved $160.” was his rationale… When I got into the store at 6:10am, every GPS of any make was already accounted for….

208. Cable issues: It appears that the included power cable for the 2100 is a non-standard USB cable that is wired a bit differently than standard cables. This is why when using a standard USB cable, you get only the ‘computer connected’ display instead of the maps/navigation screens of the 2100. Other GPS’s, including Garmin and Mio also do this. Much is explained in a thread on gpspassion.com: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=85198&whichpage=10 – scroll down about 7 messages to the one from “jonasolaf”.

     gpspassion.com is a good website for GPS users. They even have a separate thread now for the Navigon 2100. It’s a very new model that started shipping in October, but the software is very similar to that of it’s big brother, the 7100. The 7100 threads in gpspassion have a lot of info that is also good for the 2100.

     Andrew
     San Diego

209. I forgot to add…

     If you have one of the 110 AC to 12 adapters that has an automotive type 12 volt connector, you can bring the 2100 power cables into the house, plug that into the adapter, the adapter into a wall socket, and then the 2100 will operate just like in the car.

     The TMC antenna is built into the power cable, so that will work inside the house also. At least mine does!

     Andrew
     San Diego

210. What’s everyone’s thought on Navigon’s POI? I tried to look for Best Buy, Home Depot on it with no luck. Does Navigon really did not have it or I just didn’t know how to use it? Thanks

211. Terry – I live in Michigan and have purchased the Navigon 2100. I would like to see the Canadian maps offered as an option for purchase or download for the Navigon 2100 users. It’s a shame to have a unit that works in Michigan and once we cross the border to Canada have for all practical purposes a non functional unit.

     I am sure that there are many users who also live along the border states who would like this feature. So if there is any one from Navigon reading this please make this a priority….

212. Try unlocking your traffic codes now. It seems that they have reset their server or something – worked first try (after a long weekend of trying a lot)

     It worked through IE with no issues.

     HTH.

213. Did anyone get the Zagat upgrade? How do you like it and is it worth the $40. I don’t do too much traveling around the country so I might not need it other than a toy to play with.

     I live in downtown chicago and it would be nice to have the names and numbers of local restaurants, etc – but only if it does something worthwhile.

     Thanks.

214. I just bought the Navigon 2100T from Staples on Black Friday for $99. I was told by someone at the store that this model doesn’t usually come with the free traffic but the Black Friday shipment did 🙂 No problems activating it online, just some long complicated codes I had to write down…
     I was just having a few issues with POIs… It doesn’t seem to be able to find anything I’m looking for without an address. I tried searching for Home Depot and it couldn’t find it and I tried searching for Staples and it couldn’t find that either… If I purchase the Zagat survey upgrade, would my GPS have more POIs? Also, I haven’t had anything come up with the traffic feature, even though I’ve been stuck in it a few times… Does anybody know if there’s a way to quickly change routes if there is traffic that the system won’t pick up?
     THANK YOU!!!

215. If you were one of the lucky ones to get the 2100T from Staples or Radio Shack with the Free Lifetime Traffic on Black Friday…THIS IS ANOTHER KILLER FEATURE.

     All in all, for $99, this is THE BEST GPS FOR THE MONEY!!!

     -Sleek, Sexy, Thin, Mirror Black Finish, Very Solid Design
     -Text to Speech Directions “Turn left on Main St.” NOT “Turn Left”
     -“Reality View”;this rocks on highways with complex interchanges
     -FREE TRAFFIC-you can ignore or reroute should unit find traffic problems

     Again for 99 Bucks, nothing NOTHING touches this unit.

     Happy Driving!

216. the 2100 is great, for those who have the 5100, how different is it, also what is lane assist feature? Does anyone know if there will be a charge for the new map update next year. If anyone has a TOM TOM, what is this help feature that they are advertising on TV (like roadside assistant)?

     Thanks

217. Mr.TerryWhite,
     Thanks for the simple , easy to understand review u posted.
     I read this review on the night of the TG sale.
     I was planning to go for the Garmin_c340 at circuitcity.
     After this review, i changed the plan and went up to Staples to buy this (early bird).
     Sad part is that this was sold online at 6am. My sister bought it without standing in the line…. 🙁

     To me this GPS is worth every penny (may be more).
     It took abt 1-2seconds to locate while startup and all route recalculations are done within 3seconds approx.
     If this product is durable and works for sometime, i think i will not even go for an upgrade for 1-2years.

     Wa Wa,
     Thot on POI.
     I tried many POIs and the only really minor minor flaw i saw was that the POIs are not very updated.
     Eg: There are some POIs which dont exist now and there are some POIs which are new.
     BTW my POIs = restaurants
     But , i really wont care abt this flaw as how many POIs could be closed or opened? isnt it?

218. Terry since you have both GPS (Garmin and Navigon), which do you feel preforms better? How do they compare?

     Thanks

219. I activated my traffic feature yesterday, but I could not recieve any signal from any station, the icon is red. I live in Houston, and even ten minutes away from downtown it doesn’t work. Any help or ideas. Thanks.

220. Well,
     I got the $99 deal at Staples too after waiting in line. Was the 5th person to get to the courtesy desk. Unfortunately my wife is holding out til Christmas to give me the unit. Hoping I will be able to activate the traffic at that time… and even more so, I need updates from all of you testing faster SD cards. If I need one in my stocking, a heads up would be great as to which one to get.

221. After 4 frustrating days, I have decided against the 2100. The systems has locked up on me, is frustratingly slow, and route is not the best. I love the instantaneous reactions of the Garmins compared to the Navigon, and also the rock-solid routing. Update: GPSMAGAZINE.com has given the big thumbs down to the 2100 and 5100!!!!

222. Hi Dan,
     My personal preference is the Garmin over the Navigon. Keep in mind that the Garmin I use is the Nüvi 360 and costs 4 times as much as the Navigon (at $99 and twice as much at regular price). As with anything, both have their strengths and weaknesses. With my Garmin, I don’t have the traffic option. I don’t have the Reality view. However, for my big fingers, the buttons are easier to press and it is way more responsive than the Navigon (not that I feel that the Navigon is unacceptably slow.)

     If you look back at the review, I was looking for a less than $200 GPS to give to my dad. He’s not in any hurry so the slowness won’t be a factor. The Navigon 2100 fits the bill. Since I was able to pick up a second one (and a TomTom One), my sister will be getting a Navigon too. I got the TomTom because I could and the price ended up being $104. I may still give that one to my dad instead of the Navigon because of the bigger fonts on the display. However, it lacks text-to-speech. So I’m torn. Opinions on the TomTom One?

     After playing with the 2100, I will stick with my Garmin for now. It has bluetooth which is a big plus for me when I’m in rental cars as it becomes my bluetooth speakerphone as well as navigation when I’m on the road.

223. Funny… I’ve been all over GPSMagazine.com and see nothing on the 2100

224. Great review Terry! I bought the Navigon 2100T at Staples on BF. One of my icons in the top right hand corner is always red (middle). Does anyone else have this problem? I also wanted to know if anyone bought the ZAGAT Survey as Zack mentioned. Please let me know.
     Thanks

     Desi
     Atlanta, Ga.

225. Well.. Its been a few days and a couple of trips using the Navigon 2100.

     My honest opinion is that this is a great $99 GPS. It routes me to addresses, and locations just like a GPS does. It doesn’t have Bluetooth, MP3 player, Picture Viewer, Dishwasher, microwave or any of the other Non-GPS related tools.

     I have a bluetooth headset that I use with my phone. I don’t expect a GPS to perform cell phone functions.

     There is a lag. Now, there.. does that prove I personally own one? But, if you need to calculate a route in under .04 seconds, that your life is way too fast! I calculated a route from Charlotte, North Carolina to Tampa, Florida, and it took about 15 seconds. I don’t see where that is slow… but, everyone has their own experiences to chose from.

     I’m a Senior UNIX System Administrator. I deal with large scale SUN/IBM/HP servers that have anywhere from 2 to 128 processors. I know what is fast, and hate a slow computer. But for a GPS, something that does a remarkable job giving me directions, I feel that calculating a route in 3 seconds, or 10 seconds is pretty good.

     I have driven around town, and the routes have been good. I haven’t run into strange routes or anything like that.

     The POI’s are a little scarce, and they could use a bunch more added to compete, but then again, I paid $99 for this GPS.. Not $200, not $300 and never would I even consider paying over $301 for a GPS that is only an electronic Map. Thats it. Its an Electronic Map. But, again, each to their own choices.. Mine is right for me, but I don’t expect it to be right for everyone.

     Terry provided a great review of an inexpensive GPS/Navigation Unit. For someone that only needs GPS/Navigation assistance, I have found this to be the best deal of the season for those that got it at $99.

     The Traffic Service is for the life of the Unit. It states it on the website, on the activiation card in the box, and on the sticker on the outside of the BlackFriday Units.

     The http://www.navigon.com website has plenty of info on what/where/how.. Some people need to learn to use Google.com, Ask.com or look in the product box and see that it says the manual is online (saves printing costs), and even provides the URL of the website on the outside of the box.

     Terry, I believe you have done a wonderful job of being objective in regards to your preferences, and the review of the unit. Please KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!

     Just my .02 worth.

     Byron “Navigon 2100 Owner” Y.

226. http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2007/11/cyber_monday_gps_deals_guide.php

227. Hi Desi,

     I have traffic monitor icon in red all the time. I do not know why it can not recieve any station. I am going to call Navogon techsupport today. I already activated trafic feature, connected the charger whith antenna build in, but can not get it work. I will let you know if I find the reason of it.

228. Byron Y.—Very well put. I hope that the lag time issue is now dead. If you bought this unit for $99. inluding traffic, you got twice what you paid for.

229. For an extra $99 you can buy the Lifetime Traffic feature which is an antenna that plugs into the 2100 and a service that can automatically re-route you around traffic jams

     How does the traffic feature work? You need a separate antenna?

230. Terry,

     Based on your review I bought the 2100 and it found it had the same problem, a bad memory card. UNLIKE you however I have been trying to get an answer from customer service for A WEEK. They keep taking my number and telling me someone will call be back. When I talked to customer service today they said they were looking at a 1-2 day backlog of people to call. (He had no explanation of why no one had called me back yet.)

     I also e-mailed them. On their site they say they will get back within a couple of hours, I have now waited 5 bussiness days (7 with the week end) with no response.

     I still think it looks like a great unit for the price, but so far I am not at all impressed with the level of customer service.

     — Mitch

231. I bought the 2100 on blk Friday. Got in line at Staples in Tarpon Springs, Florida @11:00pm on the 22nd. Was 5th in line. Went with family to wait for a laptop and ended up buying three 2100’s @ $99.00 each, that also includes lifetime traffic. I was visiting my sister in Pam Harbor from Charlotte, NC. On Saturday, I pulled it out of the box, hooked it up and entered ny home address. It calculated my route in 8 – 12 seconds, which I didn’t think was bad at all. I previously used a Dell Axim with the Dell GPS receiver. I very often had to perform a soft reset on it to get the bluetooth to work or to get the route to calculate. I have used this several times since the 24th and haven’t had a single problem. When entering text, you do need to slow down a bit and be deliberate as to what you’re entering, but I can deal with that for $99.00. The screen is sharp and it doesn’t have the multitude of colors that some of the others have, but I don’t really need the color. If I decide that I want color, I’ll buy one for > $99.00. I like the speed alerts and the fact that they can be changed, I like the voice commands, I like that it shows you the speed limit on major highways and interstates, I like that it displays the overhead signs on complex interchanges, I like that it shows you restaurant icons. For example, I see the golden arches where there is a McDonalds. I haven’t activated the traffic alerts yet, but intend to do that this evening. GPS magazine didn’t recommend the 2100. I believe it said it was difficult to use, or something like that. I found nothing difficult about it. I would recommend it and have recommended it to friends. I bought one for my partner and one for my mother.
     Thanks Terry for your review of the 2100. When deciding between the TomTom One Third Edition and the Navigon 2100, your review helped me to make this decision. IT WAS ONLY $99.00 FOR CRYING OUTLOUD!

232. I bought it at Staples on BF. I love it so far. I do have one problem with mine. When it is plugged in with the car charger, the navigation will stop when the battery gets full and the unit shows graphics that indicate it is connected to a PC, which is not the case. I have to unplug it from the charger and use it on the battery. Tech support told me to reset the unit, which has not helped yet. I guess the problem is either software based or the plug has hardware issues. I’m not sure which and don’t yet know the answer to fixing this issue.

233. I bought this standing in line at Staples for 100 bucks. Great unit. POI is very scant, but traffic info more than compensates for it.

     Is it possible to import the data (POIs) to a SD card from a 7100 unit and make it work on the 2100?

     Is Zagat worth 40 bucks?

234. For those interested in the Zagat reviews, you can get them from buy.com for $19.99 and free shipping if you are not a google checkout customer and you sign up and use it for the purchase. (Price is $29.99 with free shipping but you get $10 off as a first time google checkout customer.) Not really for me since I live in Alabama and Zagat doesn’t even offer any reviews or ratings of anything in Alabama. For more info on what Zagat offers in your area, go to http://www.zagat.com and drop down the choose a location box. To me, even $20 is high for something that doesn’t add additional POI’s and only gives a review or rating of stuff in only 32 states. If you travel a lot to major cities and need to know ratings of different things, this may come in handy, but for me, it’s not. I think I’ll hold off on Zagat ratings for now. Below is the link to buy.com if anyone is interested. Hope the link works.

     http://www.buy.com/prod/NAVIGON-ZAGAT-SURVEY-ACCSACTIVATION-SERVICE/q/loc/101/206216679.html

235. Hi Terry,

     Your excellent review made me buy it, and I was really lucky to get one. To start with, I really loved the way it worked. BUT, it gives me one strange problem, which I found that no one has mentioned so far in the reviews/comments. The problem is, when I try to add a new address, sometimes, it did very easily save them, but at times, it gets stuck saying “Program memory too low” showing two options – “Mobile navigator 6” and something else. Even though I try to select either of the options, it just remains stuck. I was not able to get a correct idea as to why is this happening. But yes, I have tried all features when it works, and I JUST LOVE IT for the price I got it. I tried calling the Customer Service, and they took my number saying that they would return my call in 24-48 hrs and ‘m just waiting for their call.

     Anyone out here had a problem similar to mine? I am not sure if this is the problem with the memory card as it works great most of the times, except when I try to add a new address. I am scared if some night, I am away from the city ,and try finding the new address, and it would abandon me fetching it saying “Program memory too low” as it does now sometimes.

     Terry, your thoughts on this ?

236. Yechwando, c’mon. GPSmag gave them both a big thumbs down??? “Not recommended. Has tons of navigation options, but the interface is way too complex, hard to use, and frustratingly slow.” Have you been reading anything written above? Anything??? There’s no way they are complex and don’t frustrate me at all. And slow? Yeah, there’s another 3.2 seconds of my life I’ll never get back.

     10 minutes on GPSmag is all anyone needs to know they’re in bed with Garmin and TomTom (with limited reveiws of Mio, Magellan and a few others). Not ONE review on Navigon. What are they basing that above comments on? The fact that Navigon doesn’t pay them off?? Gimme a break. The editors at GPSmag oughta check this site out and rethink thier stupid comments.

     For everyone else, I have an 85 mile trip tomorrow and have programmed the route into both a 2100 and a 5100, both fully charged and ready to go. (After finding 3 5100’s for $150.00 each, and finding a $50.00 rebate, I’m not sure yet which I’ll keep.)

     This I can report so far: The 5100 (card)(which happens to BE a Sandisc-I haven’t checked my 2100 card yet) has USA & Canada maps, as well as the Zagat info on it, with the unit unlocked. Same goes for TMC, but since the 2100 came with it free, no difference. I should note, both cards contain both TMC and Zaget, but the Unlocked Zaget file on the 5100 is 13570 KB (which includes Canada) and on the 2100 is 13210, virtually the same. The 5100 card also contains Hawaii. The mount for the 5100 is slick looking, but I’m not sure yet that i prefer it. It is less adjustable.

237. Oops. I didn’t mean to submit yet. The TMC files seem the same.

     Then I was going to mention the mount, which I was pushing when I accidently submitted. Slick is the correct phrase. It looks cool, but is less versitile. And I think I prefer the connect/disconnectability of the 2100 mount better. It’s easier. That being said, I believe in the long run, I’m going to attach HD some velcro (or the like)to the back of the unit I choose to keep. And here’s why. I NEED reading glasses. Therefore, it is imparitive for me, when driving, that I look DOWN at the gps, so I can look OVER my glasses to drive. If the gps is ON the windshield, this is not possible. For several months I have been using the Garmin 10 thru my smartphone, which is below the dash…never been a problem. ALSO, I prefer my gps outta sight. I’m not trying to impress anyone. Also, I don’t want to have to remove the gps everytime I stop, which I do alot with my job.

     Though I have not yet tested it yet, I am intrigued by the headphone jack on the 5100. I’m curious to see if I can plug this into my auxillary jack (or if need be, through a cassette-cd player adaptor) in my vehicle. However, even if I can, I would not be willing to give up the radio to listen solely to my gps. But what else could it be plugged into?

     The size of the 5100 is slightly larger than the 2100, but the screen is the same size…so…no advantage, and perhaps a disadvantage.

     Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll report on my comparison tomorrow.

238. Does anyone know how to increase the speed of the simulation. Mine cruises at a snails pace of 22 mph. Even on the highway where the speed limit is 70 mph. Otherwise, great product.

239. I just got my 2100 and have really liked it so far. When I am in the process of adding a new destination, I a screen with the following information:

     Program Memory is Low

     Program memory is very low. You must select one task [remainder of sentence is cut off on right side of display]
     the amount of program memory, if available.

     (*) Mobile Navigator 6

     ( ) Convert some system memory to program memory [remainder of sentence is cut off on right side of display]
     system control panel to adjust memory later.)

     My only way out is to cycle the unit off and then on again.

     I have not been able to find any information about this error on the web. Has anyone here experienced this?

     Thanks.

240. I picked one up at staples on Black Fri. I can’t set my house adress as my home address. It seems the unit has maps for the part of town I live in, but does not have the address in the program for my area. When I plot a route is shows me to start about 4 miles from where I live on the other side of town. This is my first GPS. Shouldn’t it be able to use my address as the start of my trip? I called and was told new map updates in Jan of 2008. They did not discuss the problem and said I would receive a call in 24-48 hours. I am wondering if I need to take it back? or wait for new updates? Staples has a short return policy. Am I expecting too much with the address problem?

     Zebes

241. I am not impressed with the 2100 and will be returning mine.

     Destination entry is incredibly slow and buggy and the routing is convoluted. I’ve owned in car, a TomTom and and Nuvi.

     I cannot understand how the Navigon is giving me such bad routing when they use the same navteq base maps as Nuvi and googlemaps. If Garmin and google can give me optimum routes why is Navigon giving me routes with more turns, taking me on and off the same highway?

     The lag is maddening and it is clear the 2100 is overwhelmed with basic navigation. A frind has the the 5100 and there is no lag. I checked the specs. the 5100 has four times the Rom memory for the same screen and background software. It also has a better touch screen. I think that is the source of the problems.

     Terry I don’t understand the raving about reality view which is nothing more than a gimmick. Gamin has “lane assist” which shows you which lane to take and which unlike the Navigon “Reality view” actually moves with your progress

     The “reality view” is a STILL graphic. It hampers you by blockn the entire map view, shows no progress. Apparently the 2100 is the only Navigon unit that does not have the underlying “lane assist” which kicks in when you turn off reality view.

     If you look at the main navigon forums located at gpspassion.com it seems almost everyone turns OFF the reality view after a week or so and uses lane assist. the lack of lane assist on the 2100 is a major missing feature.

     I am sorry to say this review reads more like a a breathless press release.

242. i love this gps, i got 4 of them a couple of days ago during black friday. everything seems to be working well. however, i did realize that street names are not enunciated clearly and it is muffled at times. i guess its a small price to pay when you consider all of the other perks (mainly the price).

243. Gosh I’m tired of reading about the lag in this unit. I notice the lag, but its not a big deal .. its not a make it or break it deal. However, when I first plotted a route I got a completely screwy result. The 2100 had me go in a complete square around my house, up one block, turn right, up two blocks, turn right, go two blocks again (going right past my own street a block from my house), then another right — a complete square. Made no sense based on speed of the streets involved, number of lanes on the streets, none of them are highways vs. streets, etc. Just made no sense. This happened in both “Fast” and “Optimum” modes. Only way I could get a route that made any sense was to use “Shortest.”

     Tonight I logged into the gpspassion website at http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97186&whichpage=1 and made the changes to the XML file listed there. MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO ROUTING. (The forum is about 7100 modifications, but they seem to work for the 2100 as well). Now the Navigon, mapping the same route, has me turn left out of my driveway (correct), go up one block and turn LEFT (correct), one block up and turn right (correct). No more circling my house. They also have the answer for modifing the INI file that controls speed of the simulation. I changed mine from 1.0 to 3.0 (and might make it faster yet). With the modifications they had listed, this might now be a useable GPS for me.

244. After reading this review (before Thanksgiving) I planned to buy two 2100T’s at Staples both for my wife and to upgrade my three year old Garmin C330. On Black Friday I learned that Staples would only allow one purchase of each item so I got a Tom Tom One 3rd Edition as well as the 2100T. Over the weekend and yesterday I tested them side by side in my diesel pickup and company car. The 2100T is slow, slightly slower then my dial up at home compared to DSL at work but I manage to live with the “tap and wait”. However the old Garmin and the Tom Tom have displays and voice that are truly useable, the text on the 2100 is so small it seems ridiculous when placed beside the other units and the gray scales don’t compare with the color on the other units. The 2100 voice is scratchy and even with the volume turned up the voice directions are useless in my truck. Navigation routes are odd about 5% of the time but the other 95% it tracks with the other two units. I think Navigon released a half loaf with the 2100, lots of features but very little can be considered user friendly or well thought out. If you haven’t purchased one of these my advice would be to spend plenty of time with the store demo’s before making a purchase.

245. Zebes– I don’t know that it will help you out, but the Staples policy for Black Friday and pre-Christmas sales is that returns may be made up until early January, as listed at its website:

     Holiday Returns: During the holiday season, we will be extending our regular 14–day electronic and furniture return policy to permit customers to return products that may be purchased as gifts. Any electronic or furniture product, which usually falls within the 14–day return policy, purchased between 11/23/07 and 12/24/07 may be returned until 1/6/08 or as regular policy allows, whichever is later. This applies to all electronic and furniture products within Staples® regularly posted 14–day return policy. All electronic and furniture purchases made on or after 12/25/07 will observe our existing return policy. All other terms and conditions of our return policy apply.

246. What is going on, Have any of you heard of these things that i found on the GpsPasSion website?

     1. There are rumors posted on other forums that ‘all the units shipped to staples have corrupted cards.

     2. The story that I overheard at the local Radio Shack this morning (between the head manager and a shopper who asked) was that the Navigon’s were “damaged in shipment”. The truth? Who knows….

     3. Just returned from my local Radio Shack where I overheard that this particular unit was RECALLED.

     These are what people are listingg on that site

     AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     Page 2 and 3

     http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=96759&whichpage=3

247. MarkJon,

     Yes, I did get that problem…and i just spoke with the Tech support guy wrt that problem, and he said it might just be a defective unit, and that might try exhchanging at the staples(which I cannot as I drove 80 miles to go to my nearest staples, and also , they do not have 2100 in stock for atleast another week) or else send them over the unit so they can repair it. Even for that, we need to wait for two weeks because they are still in the process of setting that process !!

     I don’t know what to do…

248. I have to admit I am getting discouraged. Even after making the changes suggested at the GPSPassion website, the routes seem bizarre. I drove back and for from home to work twice last night (bad night, long story). My building is between Harrison & Webster, and Webster takes me through the tube to the island. However, my 2100 suggested I pass by Webster and take Broadway instead, then go up Broadway until I hit 9th and turn left and come BACK to Webster, then go through the tube. I assume it thought Broadway was “faster?” However, Webster is a 4 lane street, one way in the correct direction, and they both have the same number of stop lights. There is nothing gained by passing by Webster, travelling on Broadway and then coming back to Webster again. I know this unit was inexpensive, but I seem to be doing an awful lot of work to make it useable. Is anyone else having this much trouble with their routes?

249. Cjarcz,

     Is there a way you can try to stick the 5100 SD card into your 2100T. Is there any errors with using the Canada Maps at all if you try this option? I’m trying to get Canada maps on the 2100, but thought this might work since they should in theory be the same application…

250. same as 2100t

     can you use info on the 7100 sd card, in the 2100?

251. I used my Navigon 2100 with no hacks or tweeks today to route to a Doctors visit in uptown Charlotte NC from Fort Mill, SC.

     During the trip, there are a few semi-complicated interchanges that Reality View (RV) showed me the correct lanes to be in. Once I identified the proper lane to be in, I touched the screen and the RV went away and my route was once again displayed. It was accurate and actually would be a nice feature for someone not familiar with the area.

     I didn’t have any routing issues around Charlotte, or Fort Mill and the speed limits showed up as accurate and warned me when I exceeded them.

     I have turned on all the features at once on this unit and am happy with the results. There are options that once I settle in with it, I will turn off, but right now, I want the full-blown feature list to be active to show me what it can do.

     For my first Navigation Unit, I’m very content with it. I’ve been an avid user of Hand held GPS units for GeoCaching and marking natural locations for my photography. I have tried using my Magellan Platinum Hand Held GPS for driving navigation, and it didn’t work very well..

     To also answer some others questions regarding using this for GeoCaching, I don’t believe that any Vehicle Navigation Unit will be an optimal tool for GeoCaching. You don’t have the ability to enter Coordinates like you do in a Handheld device.

     Just another post of my complete like of this unit. I am happy with my purchase, and so far, have not regretted it.

     Byron “Navigon 2100 Owner” Y.

252. The simulation speed and distance allowed to simulate can be increased:
     http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97186&whichpage=1

     The directions are for the 7100, but work fine on the 2100. You need to use a text editor to make the changes on the the SD card; the 2100 doesn’t allow those changes with its built-in editor.

     I followed the directions and changed my “Speed” from 1 to 3 and increased the max distance as suggested. Now my simulator runs at better than 60mph (I timed it), even though the display still says 22. (There’s probably another setting for that.) I can also now simulate a route I had stored that is about 120 miles.

     I have a Dell notebook, Inspiron 6000, that happens to have an SD slot, so I just slipped the card into the Dell. It will also apparently work directly on the 2100 using a USB cable. The first thing I did was make a copy of the entire SD card.

     The gpspassion site is terrific.

     SO’S THIS SITE, TERRY! Thanks.

253. DON’T FORGET TO RESET, after making changes to the card. Use a stylus or a paperclip or a ballpoint pen to hit the reset button on the left. At first, I didn’t reset, so the changes seemed not to work. 10 seconds of head scratching ensued.

254. On Sunday, I was sitting around peeking and poking around the menus to see what I could find. The best thing I found that day was that my usb cable for my Canon SLR digital camera works with the 2100.

     I connected the unit to my laptop and began exploring the SD card and its contents. I have read so many things regarding the SD card being “Bad”, “Corrupted”, “Junk”, etc.. etc.. I decided that I was going to make a backup.

     I burned a DVD ISO from the 2gb card to my laptop so in the event of a bad card, crash, or something horrible like that, I can restore quickly and correctly.

     I would recommend that anybody that can, do this as soon as possible to give yourself a safety net in the event of a failure. This also gives you a chance to copy the image to a faster card in case you want to try that.

     Good Luck!

255. i just got the 2100 i like it a lot i di dfind out the unit has POI 1.2
     I like this unit a lot but for thr first time i had the fateal error it says mns66or something like that. whats up with that. do i need a to take it back.

256. 2100T, I tried that (the 5100 card in the 2100 unit.) Wouldn’t boot up. But I’m gonna play around with some specific files tonight.

257. Has anyone found navigation errors – NOT map errors – but errors like this:
     I travel under an underpass to get on a major highway, the map shows a cloverleaf entrance ramp on my right hand side (I use this entrance ramp every day).

     Navigon 2100 tells me to MAKE A U-TURN SO I CAN GET ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE ENTRANCE RAMP!. It wants me to cross a 4 lane divided highway to get to the entrance ramp on the other side of the road! This is NOT a map error since the map clearly shows the ramp and arrows to go up the ramp. A cloverleaf coming off the highway is done correctly.

     Also a city is incorrectly shown where it should not be. I checked with NAVITEQ (the map supplier). They have it correct – so it must be Navigon’s error.

     New Naviteq map coming in first quarter of 2008. Not sure of the update policy. Check Navigon’s website FAQ’s. No reply yet from Navigon on above errors. Got an autoreply when I contacted Naviteq about the city being at the wrong location.

258. Arnold & NeitherFanBoy,

     Thanks for the info and link to gpspassion.com regarding tweaking the simulation. I was able to access the recommended file through my usb. I tweaked my speed from 1 to 6, which computes to approximately 120 mph (which is what I wanted). If you’re simulating 10 miles, it now only take you 5 minutes, rather than 10 to simulate your route and the graphics are’nt blazing by you as fast as you would think. It’s a reasonable simulating speed.

     Rectifying this problem has made me even more happier with this product. I haven’t had any activation, corruption or navigation problems (yet!) that everyone else has complained about.

     I purchased my unit on BS not BF at Staples in Edmond, Oklahoma for $99 with the free lifetime traffic subscription. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma City area is not one of the covered areas.

     Again thanks!

259. NeitherFanBoy,

     First, that’s for your comments on here, they’ve tended to be the most informative and helpful. I too ended going for the BF sale deal. My father owns a Garmin Nuvi 350 that I helped him pick out when they were new to the market. Too bad I don’t have his budget! Regardless, I’ve used the Nuvi extensively and there’s a couple of ways to look at the predicaments with the 2100.

     #1 We can always hold out hope that an update will remedy the crazy routing (which is the primary beef of most.) Masculine intuition, unfortunately, tells me it’s most likely something to do with the processor.

     Tonight I tested my unit driving down a highway heading to a University. The way I would have routed it without GPS would have taken me 3 turns total and probably about 5mins. The way the 2100 routed me took about 10mins. (through a horribly bad part of town) and had me make *guessing* 10 turns?

     Another way to look at it:

     #2 We know this unit is buggy and will most likely never be efficient. So the pertinent question is……is it worth the $100 to get us somewhere we probably couldn’t find without an atlas or printed directions?

     I’m still waiting to hear from tech, but I’m thinking they’ll confirm the unit has a major/non-updatable flaw.

     Of course this is all speculation on my part, but I’m leaning towards hanging onto mine simply due to the price point and the fact that if I need a good unit, I can probably borrow the Nuvi.

     Tinkering with the XML’s might hold some promise though…

     So for most other people wondering what to do with their unit here’s my advice. If you need accuracy, you’re probably better off taking it back and saving up a little more money to get one of the low end Nuvi’s. If you’re like me and don’t mind a strange trip on occasion and typically give yourself some leeway time wise before needing to be at your destination, it’ll probably get you there……………eventually! 😛

260. here yee here yee,
     i have GREAT news
     as pointed out by Nuclear Whale
     where he tried to put a sandisk ultra to his gps which made it faster by 40-50%
     i was curious and bought it for 25$ at staples(where i work)

     transfered all the files from the old card to the new, took about less than an hr cuz the files totaled up to about 1.50+gb anyways, to my surprise, the gps was faster and nuclearwhale should get an award, i sugest anyone with this navigon should go out and spend 25$ on a new card to get this gps to go a bit faster, i hardly notticed the lag now,

     p.s. the traffic feature is not working at all for me

261. I’ve noticed that after doing a touch screen calibration, it seems a little more responsive then before. It may be minimal but I think I think it’s a difference.

262. On the GPSPassion website yesterday, they posted the actual copies of the XML files they were using. Since I had already altered mine, and worried that there might be some differences between a 7100 file and an 2100 file, I didn’t copy that posted file to my 2100, but I did pull it up and compare mine and theirs side by side. I found a typo in mine which I changed to match theirs (Justin’s). On the way home from work last night, the Navigon chose a different route than the night before’s trip, and it was absolutely the correct one. It was exactly the same route that Google Maps chooses when I try that, and its actually the route I drive. I also downloaded/installed the POI Warner application to add POIs and then added a few. Between those two additions, I am much happier with this unit now than I was when it came out of the box.

     I agree with you, doofaloofa, this unit may not be the most accurate, but I think with the tweaks to the xml file its better. I need to do some more testing before I will say the routing is “there,” if you know what I mean. But you are right, if you don’t know how to get someplace and you use this unit, you WILL get there, even if everyone once in a while you end up taking a slightly stranger route than is possible.

     I wish I could say I have the same result as either Huy or Nuclear Whale on changing that SD card. I don’t know what version of the Sandisk Ultra they are using, but checking out specs online the Ultra II has a read/write of 9mb/10mb, and the Sandisk Extreme I am using has a read/write of 20mb/20mb .. much faster. And when I put swap the original SD and the Extreme back and forth, I am very hard pressed to even notice ANY difference in the lag time much less a 40 to 50% increase in speed (or decrease in lag, as the case may be).

     With the tweaks, I think I am in the doofaloofa camp, I will hang onto the Navigon.

263. Regarding the traffic card….

     Radio Shack told me I could exhange my unit for a new unit when their new shipment arrives on Friday (if there are any 2100s in the shipment). So I wondered if I didn’t need to deactivate the traffic card from my current unit. However, on the navigon website, there is no place to deactivate the unlock code. Knowing the results I get from their 1-877 number, I thought I’d ask around here first…. Perhaps someone has already exchanged one and gone through this process. Or do I just get Radio Shack to issue me another traffic card? (I assume the computer will not be set up to sell the traffic cards free this week.)

     Regarding changing the voice, I found these text-to-speech files under G:\MN6\sound
     Celine, Isabela, and Sarah. No idea who is the default voice is, but for those of you wondering how to change the voice, some config file references back to these directories I bet!

264. Dear NeitherFanBoy,

     Would you let us know how to download and install the POI Warner application?
     Thanks

     Thanks for everyone in this blog. Especially for Terry White!!

265. About the voices: Sarah is English, Celine is French, Isabela is Spanish. You can tell from the names of the wave files in the floders. We now call our 2100 “Sarah.”

266. Sorry, “folders.”

267. Hey TG … I could type out the instructions for POI Warner, but I don’t know if I could do better than has already been written. This link should take you to the installation instructions on GPSPassion — http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97250 The one thing I would point out, which someone else does on that website as well, is to have the latest version of Microsoft Activesync installed … the program uses some portion of it to sync the program down to your 2100.

     Arnold … thanks for the folder info. I think what is meant is not to change the voice between Spanish, English or French, but to change the voice to someone else, ala TomTom. TomTom lets you choose the voice to use: Raul, Mickey, even John Cleese (although they charge for some of the voices). My guess is that since the 2100 does text-to-voice and the TomTom does not, it might be very file intensive to provide additional voices. BTW … I deleted the files for Celine & Isabella from my SD card to save space so I could add more POIs. Has not caused me a problem, and I assume it won’t unless I ask the 2100 to switch to Spanish or French, in which case it will yell at me. I have made all of my modifiations on a new SD card, so the original SD card is virgin (with its original files) and I can always go back if necessary.

268. Being that one of the complaints about the 2100 is that the volume of the text-to-speech is low, tonight I’m going to try to milk some more volume out of Sara’s wave files. Tomorrow I’ll be able to test the changes and I’ll post my findings. I tend to drive with my music really loud and there’s no way i can hear the announcements. Obviously boosting the files will lead to increased distortion, but it’s my hope that I can find a happy medium. If I’m successful I’ll try to make the volume boosted wave files available in the comming days, to those that would like them.

     Last night, I ended up on an internationall version of Navigon’s website and it was quite reassuring. For their international units there were a multitude of updates! Hopefully the level of support for us here in the States will mirror their international efforts.

     To address the lag issue which seems to be bothering so many of you out there, I set all of my options to a bare minimum (ex. 2D, no Reality View, minimal screen displays, etc.) Hopefully this will allow the processing power to be used where it is really needed. Sometime tomorrow I will post my findings.

     NeitherFanBoy – Maybe you could post on here (as a beta version) a walk-through of how you explicitly made the changes that you’re having initial success with. The GPSPassion boards are really an overload of info for the newbies who (in my estimation) are most likely to have purchased this unit. It would be interesting if we could see how the “beta” version works throughout the US.

     Anyone interested in being a “beta tester” needs to understand that by editing the XML files that they may actually DECREASE performance and effieciency of their units and that such actions are at-your-own-risk.

     On a cheerier note, isn’t the suction cup awsome?
     That thing is so sturdy when mounted.

     So there ya go….I’ll post my findings tomorrow.

     Let’s work together and get through the bugs, as a community and through factory updates we can do it, right?

     PS. Thanks Terry, what an awsome job you’ve done!

269. NeitherFB

     I must have missed something. From where are you getting the POIs you’re adding?

     About the mount: the first time I attached the sticky-looks-like-a-coaster-thingy I unknowingly mounted it on a non-flat part of the dashboard. The thing bent just enough so the suction cup wouldn’t hold. I moved it to a flat spot; works better, but fell off a coupla times so far. Looking for a better “coaster-type-thingy.”

270. Changing the XML file is pretty easy. I put my SD in a card reader, then browsed to \MN6\Settings — the file you are looking for is named “ApplicationSettings.xml” I used Notedpad to open the file. The rest of these instructions are directly from Justin at GPSPassion (all credit to him) and I followed them EXACTLY: (If you are using your original SD card to make these changes, at LEAST copy the files off the SD to a safe spot on your hard drive in case you ever need to go back to them).

     What you end up changing are some of the numbers between the pipes — the pipe is the character that looks like this: |

     Scroll down until you find:

     Car Normal
     1

     It’s important that you use the “Car Normal” profile (and NOT “Car Fast” or “Car Slow”!). It’s also important that you modify the appropriate “PreferenceFactor” (see below).

     For US customers, use the following numbers:

     1.179|1.134|1.0|1.0|0.71|0.65|0.6|0.4
     0.7|0.594|0.475|0.62|0.578|0.3|0.266|0.171
     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0

     75|65|42|41|41|26|20|15
     115|105|89|75|70|62|45|35

     And using the following values:

     Fastest
     0.18

     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0
     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0
     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0

     _________

     These changes (and there are not as many of them as it may appear — many of the numbers above are what you will already find in your original XML file only a few have been changed ) really seems to have made a difference in my routing. I can do a route with me new SD (with modified XML file) and then take out the SD and switch back to the original, plan the same route with the original SD and the 2100 will pick a different route. I’m not saying the new routing is perfect, but its way better than it was before.

271. Hey Arnold:

     If you are using the “coaster” type thingy, it must mean you are not attaching it to your windshield but to the dash or some other area where the surface is not smooth, right? Is it possible that now that the coaster thingy (I have no better word for that) got bent, that its not perfectly flat and that’s why your suction cup falls off? I use one of those coaster thingys for the mount that holds my iPhone when I’m in the car, and its never fallen off in months of use. I put the 2100 directly on the window and that suction cup grips like crazy! If your coaster thingy is bent, I could perhaps send you mine … I am not using the one that came with my 2100.

     As for POI’s, I did a google search on FREE POI — there are lots of sites that want you to subscribe and I didn’t want to pay extra. Some sites will let you download any POI except the traffic camera ones, those they want you to pay for. But I even found a collection of speed camera POIs for free and loaded that up. I guess in some states those are not legal, so the POI Warner program gives you a “Panic Button”– if you enable this, you press that dot on the screen and hold for 2 seconds and POI Warner will erase any POIs you have specified, including their files, so no trace of speed camera POIs would be found. I don’t know if they are legal here in Cal, but I am using them anyway! POI Warner will even warn you audibly when you approach one of those cameras! Excellent!

272. *Correction

     The voice files in the 2100 are AAC format not Wave files.
     Just in case anyone is interested.

     Question

     What format are the POI’s (their extention)?

     For anyone looking for a free POI editor, I’ve used this for POI’s on a Garmin and it has worked well: http://www.poiedit.com/

273. The 2100 using asc POI files. I downloaded (free) the POIEditor from http://www.poiedit.com and have been successful converting Garmin POIs to asc and then putting them on the 2100. I did Oregon Waterfalls just yesterday which was a CSV file originally and POIEdit converted it to asc. I had to find a bmp to use for it as it wasn’t included, but I found a bunch of free POI icons and as long as you name the icon the same name as the asc file (exluding the extension) it pairs them up correctly.

274. Thanks guys! Glad I could help in some small way, but it is YOU and guys like NeitherFanboy, doofaloofa, NRC and others that have really been very helpful to this small community! Keep up the good work.

275. Thanks again Terry.

     NeitherFanboy – I’m with you and Justin at GPSPassion up until:

     *And using the following values:

     Fastest
     0.18

     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0
     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0
     1.0|1.0|1.0|1.0

     I don’t see where that is? Is that Fastest Car?

     Regardless, I have my volume tweaks done (which may be unsuable when coupled with the tiny speaker on the 2100, but i’m going to test them now along with Justin’s .ZIP file for the ApplicationsSettings.xml for the 7100 he has posted over there.

     I’ll post my findings shortly.

     Then it’s onto real work (unfortunately.)

276. Hi Terri,

     Thanks for the review , I got 2100T yesterday and I get similar error regarding map being not incompatible .

     Do you remember the exact error message you were seeing and did you see any error code with the message?

     I resetted the GPS and I see that the GPS turns ON and I can see Navigon image and the this error. However in subsequent ON and OFF without reset I directly get that error.

     Any information on this is highly appreciated and if anyone in this forum had similar issue , request to share that here

     Thanks

277. Speech files with increased volume are not working.
     Will work on them further over the weekend.

     The download for the XML file changes at http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97186&whichpage=1
     DO work, but on a short test drive it still tried to do some wacky re-routing.
     If I’m not mistaken though the changes don’t effect the way the 2100 reroutes, but rather should contribute to the 1st route calculated being more efficient.

     Using the least ammount of options does seem to make the unit more responsive (if only a little.)

278. My unit has stopped working. Completely. Called up Navigon and they said it happens. I am going to return it.

279. I was asleep in bed last night when the above comment was posted. Something is amiss here. My unit is working fine.

280. NeitherFB

     Mounting on the windshield is too far away for my old eyes. There’s a place on my dashboard that is perfect: doesn’t interfere with vision of the road and requires little eye movement to get to. So, I may take you up on your thingy offer. I’m going to try some other things first. There may not be a useful (unbent) spot on my dashboard. A CD case is a good surface for the suction cup, but then I need to mount the CD case solidly.

     An observation about spoken instructions:
     Sarah announces an upcoming turn at the half mile and tenth miles points. If you turn onto a road, and there is less than a half mile to the next turn, you won’t be notified until the tenth. Seems to me that if I turn onto a road, and the next turn is less than half a mile, Sarah should tell me immediately the distance to the next turn. Hey Navigon: next software update…

281. Tery, NFB, A Rosner, doofaloofa, anyone else with info

     Since we have mentioned updates(Maps, Software, POI’s) has anyone been able to get in touch with Navigon about this as far as WHEN and COSTAnd is the 2100 able to be updated? Which sites are people getting these POI’s from,and is it difficult to get them to function on the 2100, can these files be copied from the 5100,7100? Also i was fortunate to get 4 to give as gifts this year,(one for GF), Do yo feel that there is another brand out there not expensive( under 200) far me to give to her since she is more of the plug and go and POI search, does not care about update, since she leaves it to me for those things?
     Thanks

282. Dan

     Start here:
     http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/service_support/faq_center/447/2951

     I can’t find the reference at the moment, but I read recently that Navigon is planning on map updates in the first quarter of next year. They were noncommital as to cost, if any, but did not rule it out.

283. Hi Terry and all,

     Wow, some of you are real tech enabled. I, sad to say, am not. I don’t understand all you’re saying about XML and codes and such. : (

     I received my 2100 today and so far I’m happy with it. I did register my traffic card and unit and had no trouble at all. I called customer service and talked to Simon. He was very nice. I was wondering how to set the date and time as I had to do that with my little Navigon – Pocket LOOX N100 (which they are not longer selling in the USA). He said it would set itself out on the road via satellite.

     I also asked him about the POIs. He said that I would need to enter an address for (i.e. motel), but I thought the idea was I could just click where is the nearest one. He said that if I have chosen it in the Basic Settings, it would show it as I drive by it. I’m not too happy with that. I know on the Garmin we used, all you had to do was click the motel button and it would show you all the motels near you and you could choose one. He told me that this is an issue they are working on with a software update. They are setting up a “download” site at the beginning of the year sometime and there should be no cost to download the update. However, if we want new maps & etc., there would be a charge but he didn’t know how much that would be.

     Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

284. DON”T BUY ON EBAY!

     I bought mine on ebay and had the same problem with the memory card as Terry had. However, after waiting 12 days, they finally got back to me and said that they won’t fix it.

     Even thought they know this is a common problem and they know it is new (it was just released in October) they said I was out of luck!

     So, basically I have a $159 paperweight if any one wants it. I am going back to my Magellan.

285. Mitch…where there’s a will, there’s a way. 😉

286. Terry, please e-mail me.

287. Terry

     My original login seems to be blocked from posting (Arnold Rosner)

288. Cathy

     First, go here:
     http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/service_support/download_center

     and grab the manual for the 2100.

     Simon and you did not communicate well. You CAN see points-of-interest and pick one from the map. However, Simon was right that you need to go to Options/Settings/POI, then pick the categories you want to turn on. It’s a cumbersome process, not at all intuitive, but it can be done.

     THEN you can pick destinations by symbol on the map. HOWEVER, you must be in Preview Mode, not Navigation Mode to make selections. You gotta try this with the manual in front of you and learn how to do it before you get in the car.

289. Hey Mitch, if its the “bad SD” problem, you don’t have a $159 paperweight, you need a new card and the files that go on it — copying those files and sending them to you to put on the card would not violate any licensing, as you have purchased a Navigon and are a legitimate customer. Go buy a $25-$30 SD card and I am sure someone could zip up and send you the files to put on it, then you should have a functioning 2100.

290. Dan … for ease of use (with no extra tweaking as we are doing with the 2100) my recommendation would be to go with TomTom — although for every opinion there are probably a few hundred counter opinions. If you can snag the TomTom One LE at Best Buy for $149 that would be a good deal. I have the TomTom One in addition to the Navigon 2100 — TomTom One has bluetooth but does not include the ability to add map corrections from other users who note errors on the maps, while the TomTom One LE model can! It also includes 5 million POIs.

291. I just received my 5100 in the mail today (from office depot) and the little bit I’ve seen, I’ve liked. I did want to make one observation (did not see it mentioned above, so sorry if it has already been mentioned), since this was the reason I googled, and came to this site. I was concerned about there not being an A/C adaptor in the box to charge the unit in my house. But if you plug the unit into your USB port on a computer (with the unit off), it will charge. When I first plugged it in, the LED light on the bottom was orange/red, but after about an hour, it turned green.
     Hope that helps someone!

292. Hi everyone .. I am trying to find out if the Navigon 2100 (US version) can be “upgraded” to include European maps? Is Navaigon selling these units at a cheaper price and the locking their systems? I can see on their International web site is offering “Western Europe” for E59.00. Is there a way to “unlock” the system. Otherwise, I will need to purchase a more “International” brand. (Ie: TOM TOM)

293. You will just need the european maps to operate the unit in europe. There is no unlocking to be done. With the appropriate maps, the unit should work anywhere in the world

294. Hi Plato .. thanks a million for responding. I know it seems that simple .. but, Navaigon is saying
     “The 2100 was only designed for the 48 contiguous states. The only devices
     that you can purchase european maps for would be the 5100 and the 7100 from
     our international supports website.”

     …. so, for those interested in purchasing European Maps – the manufacturer is stating otherwise.

     Unless, there is a “techy” out there that can work around this issue. If you know how, let me know .. otherwise it’s going back to Staples

295. A. Rosner,

     Thanks for the help. It does show a lot more POIs than I thought were in there. Simon at Navigon was at a new station yesterday when I called and was not fully functioning. He had asked someone else to help him with my question. He did apologize, but you all have been a great help to me.

     I wanted to print the manual, but it’s 102 pages, so I guess I will just keep opening it when I have an issues, hopefully, I won’t be on the road when an issue comes up.

     Today I called Navigon because my unit wouldn’t turn on at all. I tried pushing a pen into the reset hole, but that didn’t help so I called and talked to Brian at Navigon. He said everyone should be aware that you have to charge your new unit 6-8 hours on start up for the first time. That’s wonderful if you have a AC adapter, mine came with the car charger.

     Anyway, he told me how to fix it. Basically, you hold the power button down for 15 seconds and let go and then hold it down for 6 seconds and the unit resets itself. It worked. He said if I could please put this on the blog it would save a lot of calls for them. He said to turn your unit off – hold the power button down for 6 seconds because if you just touch it to turn it off, it’s not off – it’s just on “save battery” mode. Then to turn it back on – hold the power button down for 6 seconds and up it comes.

     So there you have it.

296. Hey Kim … what a disappointing response from Navigon. I can’t imagine that the 2100 is not capable of showing the European maps, just sounds as if Navigon is not intending to provide them for this model. And my guess would be that somewhere there is a line of code that tells the 2100 to look for a file called “us 48 contiguous states.map” so that the unit will only use that one map. Even if that line of code is accessible and can be edited — for instance if its in an easily edited XML file — few techies would be willing to do it as you would have to find a european map for which you have no license. Editing and XML file to improve the routes is one thing, but editing a line to try and make the unit read an unlicensed map, even if possible, would definitely violate licensing. It sounds like “back to Staples” to me.

297. Oops, let me amend that. If Navigon is selling the european maps on their site, then there probably IS a techie out there who will attempt to buy one and see if they can run it on the 2100. Even I, definitely not the king of techies, am tempted to try it just to see if I can do it — depending on how much the maps cost, since failure in being able to make it run would mean wasted money. Hmmmmmmm. Bears looking into.

298. Hi NeitherFanboy,
     I am impressed .. you are all over this web site with responses! You are our hero!
     Anyway, I agree, It does seem strange that Navigon sells a unit in the US (2100) , sells European maps (as downloads) through their web site .. yet, still swears that the 2 are not compatible. Isn’t it possible that they undercut their prices in Europe (E199.00) for this model, and they are trying to discourage their US customers from taking advantage of the BF prices? What’s your spin on this phenomenon? Surely, I am not the only American traveling to Europe frequently hoping to expand the unit.

299. I have posted amplified voice files for Sarah (US English voice.)

     They are being shared free of charge now on Soulseek.
     http://www.slsknet.org/

     Hopefully this will be of assistance to anyone that is having difficulty hearing the native text-to-speech.

     Included is a file with installation instructions, in hopes of easing any difficulties.

     The files are amplified somewhere between 6-7db.
     Audio distortion at this level is minimal.

     Please note that this does not increase the volume of the street name that is spoken, but rather it increases the volume of the spoken directions.
     (Ex. “Turn in 500 feet”)

     Please search for the files using the following phrase:

     Navigon – Amplified English Voice

300. The 5100 has maps of NA excluding Mexico (i.e. Canada, US including Puerto Rico). Not sure if Hawai and Alaska are included.
     5100 also has lifetime traffic included out of the box and something called ‘Lane Assist” that is not on 2100.

     After having Staples cancel my 2100T BF online order after 12 hours, I ordered 5100 and got it from radioshack on cyber monday for 229.99 (269.99- 50 rebate)

301. Hey Kim … no, its doofaloofa that is the start. LOVE the modified sound files for increased amplification! See, that was something that was actually productive rather than just a lot of talk like mine! Thanks doofaloofa. On the maps, I seriously suspect that the maps WOULD work in a 2100 model but am not sure of it. I looked at the site to check the price of buying one, but since I was a registered user of their website it would not allow me to browse there. If I register there, I would assume I would need to say I own a 7100 or 5100 or I would not be presented with the option of european maps. I could be completely wrong, but I suspect its as you have guessed, the maps would work but since Navigon is selling the 2100 here at such a low price (at least during BF) they don’t want you to load them. Am also pretty sure you’d either need to change a setting in a file to allow the 2100 to read the new map, or you’d have to rename the map itself. But they could have been far sneakier than that and made it impossible to do. But I am so intrigued now! LOL

302. I cannot believe how many typos there were in that email! doofaloofa is a STAR not a start. And I was NOT a registered user.

303. Thanks for the compliment NeitherFanboy.

     I just got of the phone with tech. Hopefully we’ll all sleep better tonight. The tech assured me that the processor is not underpowered and that the route calculation will definitely improve with future software updates. If you think of the video game industry, the power of new consoles isn’t efficiently utilized until a few months into the product’s release. For now we can just think of our new friend Sarah as being slightly directionally impaired. She’ll get better 🙂

     2100 owners should be able to at least get US/Canada maps once the Navigon website gets built up during the 1st quarter of 2008. Sorry I forgot to ask about Europe.

     I suggested to tech that they graft a bell-like tone (attention tone) onto the voice files prior to them being spoken. Unfortunately, the volume limitation in the unit (the quitness) is most likely due to the speaker, so unfortunately future updates probably won’t increase the volume.

     My schedule is really full for the next 2 weeks, but after that I might try redoing the voice files to include attention tones (or maybe even start from scratch to see if I can get an overall improvement.) Sometimes though I get obsessed about my tinkering, so who knows, maybe I’ll be back with some reworked voices before then.

     If anyone is knowledgeable, do you know how to increase the volume of the street names to match my boosted directions?

304. That’s good news, I have really been counting on an update fixing the routes. They are just so screwy sometimes. Did you see the person on GPSPassion who posted that his Navigon routed him through ALL 4 parts of the cloverleaf?! Is it possible Navigon pushed this unit onto the market a little soon in order to take advantage of BF??

305. I wonder if “Sarah” had been slurring her words on the cloverleaf…hmm…

     NeitherFanboy-
     So still with the modded XML you’re still finding odd routes?

     I wonder if “Sarah” was slurring her words on the cloverleaf, maybe the display was glassy?

     hmm…

     (Seriously though, I wonder if he was using the modded XML file)

306. Geez, reading that last entry, it looks like I’M the one slurring my words!

307. Has anyone else noticed the tiny little red, yellow, and green squares that could be mistaken for red lights, ‘cept they appear where no redlights are?

308. Yes, doofaloofa, I was using the modded XML file and still got the strange route. I posted the route for Justin, and he believes he can modify the file further to correct it. He rocks. I just downloaded the resource editor from the German website and am busily changing colors on my 2100. Mostly backgrounds and buttons so far, but its fun.

309. Posted some photos of my new, blue screens on my Navigon 2100 at the GPSPassion website here: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=101866. I edited the battery icon and made it larger so I could see it better. I didn’t try to mess with any of the font sizes, although I now some people have. I turn off most of the extra information … I don’t need to see my speed or altitude, I have a speedometer and I don’t care how high I am (yes, I know how that sounds). During startup, I made the Navigon symbol blue, and it spins in blue, figured that would tip me off I as on the “blue skin” in case I do others. But then I noticed that smaller Navigon icon that spins when you are waiting for things blended in too much against blue backgrounds, so I made that red. So now with Justin’s route edits and doofaloofa’s amplified voice prompts, I’m really getting there.

310. I’m reading all the good comments and then I go further and see all the techy updates to make it better, etc. I want to buy this for my daughter who is NOT a techy, I can help at home, but she is going away to college. Is this unit still a good one for beginners?

311. How do you back up the entire SD card? When I attempt to backup the card my copy captures everything but the “autorunce navigation” file. When I load the card (Ultra 2.0) in the 2100 the startup screen displays but then the unit states “insert SD card”.

     I attempted my backup by placing the SD card in a Dazzle card reader, selected EDIT – COPY ALL then COPY TO the folder I named on the hard drive. 3 files did copy.

     I am sure I am missing something. Any assistance is appreciated.

312. debi,

     This is definately an entry level GPS, and it is good to go right out of the box. But I ask myself if I would get it for my young college aged daughter. There are a couple variables I’d consider:

     1. What communities will she be traveling between?

     If I had a daughter and she was traveling through neighborhoods that I deemed unsafe, I would not buy her this GPS at this point in time. Sometimes this GPS can route you in less than optimally and I would not want her to spend more time in an unsafe community than necessary. The routing should improve with updates though.
     Keep in mind that some people like figuring out how electronics work, but for the layperson the most you should have to do is plug a USB cable into the GPS and the home computer to update the software occasionally.

     2. What does your budget allow?

     If you’re on a tight budget, this will suffice. Actually there are some things that are nice about the unit and most issues should get resolved with forthcoming software updates.

     ~In my opinion, if you can afford the extra expense I’d buy my daughter something from the Nuvi line by Garmin. You can find some of their bare-bones models for under or around $200.00 now, and from my understanding they’re the industry leader. My father owns one which I’ve used and it is highly efficient. Recommended without hesitation.

     I hope this is helpful, and all the best to your daughter in her academic persuits.

313. Tom,

     Try opening the SD card on your computer, and copy them to a folder stored on the computer. I’m stumped as to why you didn’t have success. I’ve never used a card reader, so I can’t comment on that.

     If you can, creating an ISO image and burning it to a disc would be a good way to go.

314. NeitherFanboy,

     The pics of your new interface look really slick!

     I think my next project is trying to figure out how to get custom POI’s loaded in…it seems like there’s conflicting information out there. Too bad there’s just not a file to drag and drop them in. How did you get yours in?

315. Hey guys, good work especially doofaloofa and NFB,

     Couple of questions:
     1) What programs are you using to modify icons? I am shooting for Photoshop.
     2) How can we make buttons like options, volume icon, etc a little bit more transparent?
     3) I have been trying to register onto GpsPassion website with my yahoo email address, but it’s not letting me. That website was very informative.

     So far, I’ve not been having any problems with routes given to me, but I keep comparing 2100’s with mapquest. So, I will try out the modification made in xml file if routes are odd.

316. Can anyone tell me where I could get maps with Europe for that unit? Is that possible. I am planning to buy this unit, and use it in Poland. Please help! Thanks.

317. Not sure if this will go through or not. I bought the 2100 last week. Had to take my car in for service. somehow lost the suction mounting bracket. Navigon doesn’t sell nor can I find anywhere else. Anyone have any suggestions? Help. Thanks.

318. Addy –
     I haven’t done any of those things yet, I apologize for my ignorance. NeitherFanboy may be able to help, he’s down in the trenches.

     Joanna – On the blog here there’s been speculation about if we’d be able to use other maps. I’d either call Navigon and talk with a tech, or look at another company where availability of Europe maps aren’t in question (Navigon IS more established in the European market than they are here in the states.

     Bonnie – I’d call the company, if they’re the type of people I want to give my business to, they should take care of you. (I still have 5 days to decide if I’m keeping mine. Please post what you find out, customer service is important to me, I’m interested to hear what they offer as a solution.

     Doofaloofa – Becoming less useful day-by-day! 😛

319. Cathy

     You may have missed this, but you can charge the 2100 from your computer if you have a USB cable that fits the unit. Cameras and other devices come with th right cable, so you may already have one.

     Also, your cellphone charger may fit.

     It’s the weekend. Time to try some of the tweaks. Looks like I have a new hobby…

320. Hi All:

     Addy — I could not register on GPSPassion with a yahoo account, I had to use my work one. I think they don’t like yahoo mail accounts? I used Corel’s Paint Shop Pro XI to edit the png’s that makeup buttons, etc., but I know Photoshop can do it to. I used the “colorize” option, as instead of changing it to one solid color, it takes into account shading on the original and shades accordingly in the new color. I have not tried to increase transparency yet, but am going to look at that today and keep working on my skin. I have few problems with routes here in town if I use the “shortest” option. If I change to “Fastest” its really hinky. Shortest would be fine here and about, but I know that if you drive any distance, and get outside the city, it can give you some odd routes because it tries to base the route on distance rather than speed.

     Tom — the problem may be that your SD card is physically damaged .. its a bad card. If that is the case, then when you try to backup the files, it will copy all the ones it can read, but miss the ones it cannot read …. bad. From your earlier post stating that it did not copy the AutorunCE file, it may be that the AutorunCE file is where the car is bad, and it cannot be read. Have you contacted Navigon? I thought they were sending replacement cards to customers who had the bad card? There are ways around it if you want to get around it, but I’d be rather annoyed at my new GPS if I had to “get around” the problem.

     Debi — my two cents? I think this GPS *may* get to the point where I would recommend it for my daughter, but not at this point. I would be a little concerned about its strange routing. They may change that with an update soon, but at this point it would worry me. I have no experience with the Nuvi, my experience previously is TomTom and Magellan. I would not be worried to use this GPS myself, and I’ll hang on to my while updates occur, but I just don’t think I would be comfortable giving it to my kid.

     Doofaloofa — I did not have too much trouble getting the POIs onto the 2100 using POI Warner. It did require me to update the Activesync software, then twice it failed to sync. On the third try it rebooted find. Now that the POI Warner software is on the 2100, I just copy the POI file (an asc file) and a png file named the same as the asc file, to the correct directory on the 2100 and POI Warner incorporates them. Of course, now I wish I had bought a fast 4 GIG SD card rather than a fast 2 GIG, but I am not out of room yet.

321. Thanks….Big help!! Staples has a new sale starting tomorrow and the price is $149.99.

322. Hi,
     Just purchased this for my son for a Christmas present. He has an older vehicle and the cigarette lighter does not work. Will he be able to use this? If I purchase the wall charging unit will that prevent him from having to plug it into the cigarette lighter?

323. I just used my 2100. I just went to Bellflower from Santa Monica (New to this Sate). It was pretty cool. It gave me alerts to accidents that just happened on the 405. Gave me another route pretty cool!

324. Any Canadian who owns a Canadian 2100 or 2120 with North American maps ? and who is willing to make a copy of the maps and post them ?

325. OK,

     I have been reading quitely in the shadows about the mods for the 2100…

     Here is the question of the day.

     Can someone make these changes easy and accessible for those of us who don’t know what we are doing.

     I am particularlly interested in:

     Routing improvements (can you make if find lake shore drive…and use it??)
     The coloring of the appropriate display stuff (satalite green when connected)
     the new POI database that everyone seems to like…warner?

     I know there are other things but these are what come to mind.

     Would someone put their neck on the line and just post the entire contents of their modified SD card so we can download it…It is only two gigs and could be e-mailed easily.

     My e-mail is:

     Zacksudler@aol.com

     Please send it if you feel comfortable.

     Thank you.

326. Some of the stuff could be sent, Zack, but the POI Warner is a seperate program that runs in conjunction with the Navigon … its registered to the person who purchased it. You would need to buy that in order to use it. It would be easy to send everything else .. the files already modified and everything.

     Chris … yes, the Navigon can be charged up on a wall charger and then you can use it in the car just on its internal battery. I am not sure from the specs how long the battery will last, so I am not sure how long your trip can take. Any chance you are handy enough to wire a cigarette lighter accessory onto the fuse box of the car? 😉

327. NeitherFanBoy, thanks for the reply. This time I tried to copy the files directly from the Navigon to the hard drive and to an SD card (instead of using the Dazzle USB drive). The copy to my hard drive appears to have worked. Now when I try to copy back out to the USB card everything goes great until I have “18 minutes” left to copy the map file. I recieve an I/O device error. The copy process back to the card is through the Dazzle. Should I be copying onto the SD card through my Navigon? I am afraid to try it because I don’t want to mess something up (like my traffic registration.)

     So, I guess the question is, should we copy the SD card to the hard drive while it is installed in the Navigon and should I copy the new SD card from the hard drive while it is installed in the Navigon?

     Thanks again for your help.

328. Tom: I have done it both ways. Here at the house I have a card reader, but at work I just use a USB cable connected directly to the Navigon. I have copied all of the files from the Navigon to my work computer, then worked on the XML file and sent it back to the Navigon directly, so I don’t think it will be a problem for you to do so. At least it would rule out the Dazzle reader being part of the problem.

329. If anyone is interested in making your 2100 show a little more color, I posted the blue skin I worked on to the GPSPassion website, it can be downloaded here: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=101866&whichpage=2

330. Chris,

     To use the Live Traffic you must have the car charger plugged into the Navigon. It also cantains the antenna for the FM receiver. The spec’s say the internal batteries should last about 3.5 hours, but still uses some power in the standby mode. That may get your son to an unfamiliar location but may not get him out of that area if he were there very long. I’d fix the power outlet in the car or don’t buy it.

     As for my unit, it’s going back to the store. I used it for fifteen minutes then tried to change the destination. The display wasn’t keeping up with my input then frooze for three days. I tried every reset on/off combination and left it on for several hours before it cleared. This unit needs more patience and tweaking than I care for.

     Thanks for all the input from everyone on this blog.

     Marv

331. Staples’ Dec. 2-8 sales ad offers the Navigon 2100 for $149.99, a savings of $100.

332. Boy, Navigon really needs to re-write the manual on the 2100, it has some contradictory information. For instance regarding the Traffic feature working without the power cord attached, in the Traffic section of the manual it says:

     Note: The charger cable does not need to be connected to the vehicle’s cigarette
     lighter for the antenna to be operational.

     Which would make me think I *could* use the Traffic feature even if the unit is not plugged into power. But in the very next note it says:

     Note: Without the antenna, TMC messages may not be received when the device is
     operating on battery power only.

     I think Marv, and the second note, are correct, as I have never received any traffic warnings untless the unit was plugged into the cigarette lighter. Maybe they mean the GPS antenna doe not require the charger? Who knows.

     No matter which GPS you go with, I’d wire a cigarette lighter into the car, its not difficult to do.

333. Tery, NFB, A Rosner, doofaloofa, anyone else

     Check this site out for POI’s not sure how good it is, just a shot. It’s called POI Plaza.

     http://www.poiplaza.com/en/poi-databases?pc_id=49&lang=en

     But how do we install on 2100?
     Any having problems with code to unlock traffic feature, contacted navigon they have not responded yet, can a code form someone else be used?

     I’m having problems with the copy/drag to new SD card

334. Just checked site more, you still have to use POI Warner for these POI’s

335. NeitherFanBoyon, as to the traffic alerts and the power cord:
     my understanding is that the power cord acts like an antenna. While the unit may receive traffic alerts without it, reception is improved with it (and traffic alerts also may not be possible without it, depending on reception). I don’t bellieve that the power cord needd to be plugged in for any of this.

336. I am thinking of buying a 2100 Navigon, Please tell me if I can add canadian Maps to the sd card

337. doofaloofa – is there any other way to get your amplified Sarah files other than SoulSeek? I’ve been trying and not sure why I can’t seem to find them. Maybe a BitTorrent? Thanks!

338. For those having trouble backing up your SD card, I think I found my problem when using a card reader. My Dazzle card reader is about 3 years old and apparently doesn’t support cards greater than 1GB. As a result, about 2/3 of the way through the map file back up I receive an “I/O Card Reader Error”. The fix seems to be an up-to-date card reader.

339. Fanboy,
     The antenna for the TMC is in the car charging cable itself. I can confirm that the cable while being plugged into the unit itself does need power for the traffic feature to work.

     Everyone else with questions,
     The Gpspassion site is full of tweaks, hacks and answers to european map questions. Use the search feature and type in Navigon to find all of the forum listings (7100, 5100, 2100) because as stated by others, the 7100 tweaks apply to the 2100 as well.

340. AbuQaslim … Canadian maps are not yet available for the 2100. There are rumors that Navigon might release the Canadian ones for the 2100 later, but I would not count on it until I see it.

341. When i turn on 2100 it takes good few minutes to get the GPS signal although I have anchored it on the windshield. Is there any way to decrease this time period? It is very anoying to see that you have already driven a mile and your GPS is not even activated.

     Can some one place the modified data in one place for :
     1) Route Improvement
     2) Change of Color
     3) POI

     It will make our life easy who does not understand the complexity of these programs.

     Can cell phone charger for Motorola Razor will work for 2100 as home charger ?

     Thanks for the great discussion and input.

342. A. Rosner,

     Thanks again.

343. Okay, I managed to change my 3D arrow from the the orange arrow/circle to a tiny little car. I used Speed Racer’s Mach 5 — found a toy car of it, photographed it and turned it into an PNG, copied it over to the Navigon. I think its a hoot! If you want to see waht it looks like, go here to view it: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=101866&whichpage=4 It was fairly easy to do, so you could about any little car image you care to use.

344. As unsettleing as it is, instead of a car I’ll replace the arrow to a picture of my face.

     Talk about creepy!

     Eeek!

345. Doofaloofa. Good news, just found my windshield mount. Did talk to Navigon Customer Service but they don’t sell this separately. Have tried the 2100 all weekend and think I might keep. Instructions weren’t very good but figured most out after working with it. Thanks.

346. Thanks for the review! My Dad’s gonna love it!

347. bonnie

     Full manual can be found here:
     http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/service_support/download_center

348. Hey Kim,
     I was able to load European maps on to 2100 with a little tweaking and I was able to get directions (turn by turn – tried this for two addresses between Germany and London). Obviously I wasnt able to check on the navigation sitting in the US, but I am 99% confident that this would work even in Europe. I am due to travel end of this month and should know for sure by then

349. GD: I have the Motorola Razr and use the charger for my 2100 and it works great. Navigon doesn’t tell you this but they should include it in the sale if they want you to use theirs. Hope this helps.

350. Can’t get the traffic to work with my 2100. I plug charger into cigarette lighter and I still get the red icon up on the top right. I loaded it and seemed like it was done correctly. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

351. I have the same problem with the traffic for more than a week. It doesn’t work at all. I talk to Navigon 3 times, they call back to me twice, there were no help. Now it is under Navigon’s investigation. They said it takes 2-3 weeks. Looks like they do not know what to do.

352. If you’re changing files, graphics, tweaks, or otherwise…

     There’s half a gig or so on the chip in its original configuration. I’ve replaced a couple of the files for better routing and such. Instead of removing the old files, I just renamed them (using the USB connector and my computer) and left them on the chip. Easy to revert if I think it’s necessary. (Of course I have a full backup of all the original chip data.)

     I grabbed the better routing xml file and today I got some pretty strange routing. Don’t know if the original would have been better or not. I may be doing the same route next week, so I’ll try it. Sarah recovers very quickly if you ignore her directions. At one point last week, after taking my own route and ignoring several of Sarah’s commands, my wife and I got a big laugh. Sarah said “Make a U-turn NOW!” (We didn’t, and she recovered right away.)

     Hey, NeitherFB, can you do a bright red PT Cruiser?

353. Bonnie, Depending on what state and city you live in depends on whether or not the traffic will work.

     Anyone Else, do anyone think if I was to download the software from a 5100, will it work on my 2100?

354. So for the first time I find myself REALLY disgusted with the 2100!
     I’ve made custom POI’s before for my father’s Garmin and it’s a breeze.
     From what I understand, if I want to create the POI’s on my computer (as opposed to typing them in on the unit) I need to get both ActiveSync AND POI-Warner.
     Now ActiveSync can’t find my GPS, and I have to purchase POI-Warner?
     Can’t you just import POI’s by either dragging and dropping or by using POI Edit?
     I looked how much they wanted for POI-Warner and converted the price from Euros.
     I’m so perplexed, they want crazy cash for POI-Warner.
     Uggh!

355. What’s up Terry,

     I bought the Navigon 2100 because I like it, and decided to look for reviews on it and run across you blog. I don’t know that version of software everyone else is using but I think the text is awesome and very big to began with, the version and model info listed below.

     Navigon 2100
     Version: 6.5 – build-38
     CE Version: R00-U-0914
     Program: 071001-1442

     I purchase the unit yesterday 02Nov07 and was very impressed right off at bat.

     The feature I like best is the ability to save a current position and recall it at anytime as a route.

     awesoem reveiw.

356. What’s up Terry,

     I bought the Navigon 2100 because I like it, and decided to look for reviews on it and run across you blog. I don’t know that version of software everyone else is using but I think the text is awesome and very big to began with, the version and model info listed below.

     Navigon 2100
     Version: 6.5 – build-38
     CE Version: R00-U-0914
     Program: 071001-1442

     I purchase the unit yesterday 02Nov07 and was very impressed right off at bat.

     The feature I like best is the ability to save a current position and recall it at anytime as a route.

     awesome reveiw.

357. If I have this right I find no way to create POIs through the Navigon at all. I did spring for POI-Warner … did I get the exchange rate wrong, looked like $32 and some change? Mostly I got POI-Warner for the Speed & Stoplight camera POI’s and its ability to warn me when I am approaching them. ActiveSync could not find my Navigon either, but when I ran the install program for POI-Warner, it managed to find the Navigon and install itself to the SD card (I think it must use some portion of ActiveSync to do so and that’s why its required?) Now when I want to add a POI, I either record it to POI-Warner, or I can drag the POI to the POI folder for POI-Warner … once the Navigon is connected to the PC, its seen as a hard drive so I don’t need ActiveSync to add the POIs themselves, I can drag and drop them. But all of that is dependant on having POI-Warner — went through the manual end to end and saw no way to add them otherwise.

358. NeitherFanboy
     Check out this link to PoiEdit in regards to the price of POI-Warner.
     http://www.poiedit.com/compatibility.htm
     Navigon is listed at the bottom (be sure to look at the far right block) Before I ran across this page, I used a currency converter and came up with a similar figure. I hope you’re right my friend.

     If we need to shell out for a POI-creator and then buy map updates (as speculation goes) come 1st quarter 2008, we’ll quickly move away from our “bargain” price.

     From the company’s perspective, selling the 2100 at such a low price-point was a brilliant marketing decision if it opens up a recuring revenue stream (selling map updates.)

     Today I took my longest trip yet (to an extremely rural area. It routed me home in a sensible way, but the school was not listed in the POI’s nor could the physical address be programed in, so it was useless in helping me find my destination. I had to borrow my father’s GPS to get there. Once I got there, I saved the location in the Navigon and then used it to route me home, thankfully the route was acceptable.

     Unfortunately I’m really starting to get the heebie-jeebies about all of this.
     Trying to find a public school that’s been there since the 1960’s and having it not listed in the POI’s, coupled with not being able to get it to accept the address when manually programed…that’s poor. Then to top it off, the prospect of possibly having to pay for map updates is just flat-out daunting.

     Thankfully it did route me home sensibly, if it hadn’t, I might have had to stop at a pond and seen how many times I could have skipped it.

359. doofaloofa — I am right with you. Changing colors and pointers and the intro has all been just fun playing, the routes are what concern me the most. However, its hard for me to tell yet. If I try and route from here to work with the Navigon, using shortest route, it is correct. When I try the same thing on the TomTom One, it can’t find a street called Harrison in Oakland, California. Impossible! Then when I ask the TomTom to find intersections of 20th Street, 20th & Harrison is listed. How can TomTom find an intersection for a street it says doesn’t exist? I haven’t seen enough routes with the Navigon to know for sure how “bad” the problem is, and still hopeful that Navigon will release a FREE update. Having to pay for a map updates would probably make me look for another GPS.

     And regarding POI-Warner, I have my invoice, and it shows 43.8678 total in US (witn VAT tax included), so that’s not too bad. With the current Navigon configuration, I would rather put ALL of my POI’s in POI-Warner and NOT in the Navigon, otherwise I have two sets of POI’s to search, the Navigon can’t search the POI-Warner POIs and POI-Warner cannot search Navigons. But if I import every type of POI I ever wanted into POI-Warner, and turn OFF all of the Navigon ones, I can always search through POI-Warner, and then click on “Route to Dest.” and it sends the route to the Navigon. I have only tried it a couple of times so far, so I need to do more searching, but so far it might be a decent workaround. Just don’t know how well it searches yet. It warns well, but I need to do some searching.

360. A Rosner

     What’s your take on all of this?
     To keep, or not to keep?

     NeitherFanboy

     I saw in BestBuy’s flyer on Sunday they have the Nuvi 200 for $200.
     If I need to drop basically $50 to do my POI’s, and whatever on map updates…
     What would I lose/what would I gain?

     Losses: Included traffic and text-to-speech.
     Gains: A reliable system and free map updates and easily accessible POI’s.

     I live outside of the major metro areas that have traffic coverage, so that’s moot.
     If I go into an area that has traffic coverage it’s after rush hour (at least for now.)

     In my opinion, text-to-speech is sort of fluf, nice when 2 streets are close together.

     Maybe I’ll be cheerier tomorrow, but right now I want to get this cursed thing back to Staples B4 Thursday!

     Now if I could only get my 2 1/2hrs. of line-standing time back…

     If corporate is reading this (which you can only assume) it might be a good time to interject.

361. Oh, I completely understand. My roommate bought this Navigon and then was unhappy that it did not have Puerto Rico in the US Maps. So I let him take my TomTom One and I kept the Navigon. I have a 15 minute commute to work that involves about 3 streets, so traffic is not particularly useful for me. And when I saw how the Navigon routed, I was so unhappy I asked about getting the receipt so I could return it and use the money torwards another TomTom (although the descriptions of the Nuvi sound tempting). But the roommate chucked the receipt so I don’t have much hope of returning it. I will hang on to it and play with it, and if they come out with an update and want to charge money for it the Navigon will go into a drawer and I will move on to something else. And if corporate is reading, they definitely should improve (a) the routing, and (b) the ability for users to add their own POIs and those be searchable by the 2100.

362. doofa, et al

     For $150, I’m keeping Sarah. I bought a Chevy, not a Cadillac; I know that. So the routing isn’t perfect, and there is a slight delay entering info. The maps are seemingly as up-to-date as any GPS. How up-to-date are the folding maps I carry around, anyway? I’ll be willing to pay a few dollars for map updates next year. (I owned the first moving-map GPS – for airplanes – in the mid 90’s. I had to update every 56 DAYS.) The 2100 is an amazing value.

     I’ll agree that Sarah (2100) does some stupid things, like covering a piece of the display with interstate signs, and hiding the letters I’m entering for POIs. And can anybody figure out how to change the symbols from those useless – to English-speakers – ones? Maybe a hyphen, or ampersand, or underscore. And there are some bugs in the software that cause an occasional crash. Kind of like…what is that…oh, yeah: Windows CE. Whaddaya know: it IS Windows CE.

     So, before I leave home, I check Google Earth for some idea of where I’m going, and then let Sarah show me the moving maps. I don’t always tell her my destination, so she can’t make mistakes: just show me where I am, and what streets are around.

     The tweaks I’m finding here are certainly adding to the value. For the price, I wasn’t expecting a full-featured unit. I think I’m getting my money’s worth.

363. Personally I think Sarah is great, I have used it for about a week and a half and there is a couple of POI that were off but what I did was, I went to NAVTEQ’s website (the company that creates and edits the maps for ALL GPS companies) and filled in a form stating that they had a address wrong. I got an email back a few hours later stating that they will investigate it and include it in their next map release. Don’t be so quick to blame Navigon.

364. Does anyone know where I can purchase the Navigon 2120 software? I currently have the 2100 which everyone knows comes with only the US 48 states, I want the 2120 in which I was told was only sold in Canada. I also spoke with Navigon and they said that the service activation code you type in determines what maps are unlocked

365. Hey Andy I had the same problem that you are having. I went into route profile settings and change it to consider traffic information. Are there any red icons on your screen? If traffic icon is red traffic will not display. I use the car charger and all my icon goes to grey background. Once I choose the traffic icon, it takes about a minute or 2 to give up-to date traffic info. Hope that helps

     Desi

366. Yessss!!! Arnold Rosner, you are my hero! My unit froze up tonight (leaving me to deal with a traffic jam on my own) but aside from that I’ve been pretty happy with it since getting it at Staples on Black Friday. Have been Googling like mad to try to find the fix (it’s not in the manual or on the other forums and couldn’t find the little product insert.) All of the other forums had me believing that I’d received a defective one, but I felt SURE there had to be a fix–tried holding down the on/off, removing the card, etc. Based on using PDAs, I thought there MUST be some kind of Reset button but I must be getting old–could not find it till Arnold clearly described where it was to be found. Thank you, Arnold! And thank YOU, Terry, for this great website.

367. Hey doofa, I hope you log in here again. I get never get the amplified spx files from Soul Seek, would love to get a hold of them. Any chance?

368. Got the 2100 from Shop NBC for 209 with traffic for life. Could never get it to work, couldn’t get customer service. Found 2100 at Staples for $149 without traffic feature so am going to return the one to NBC since it doesn’t work for me.

369. A Rosner – Thanks for your take on the whole thing.

     NeitherFanboy – I’m just really swamped right now.
     I’ll leave SoulSeek on today for you.
     Search for navigon – amplified english voice

370. NeitherFanboy, could you share your tweak on SoulSeek since you’re using it?
     IM me on there and we can add each other to our user lists.

371. Plato
     I have paid for the europe map I need from the internetional site and have been trying download them using navigon fresh. No luck yet. I have also called the internation tech site and them are working on a solution. I am real interested on how you were able to load them. I leave for europe in a week and don’t want to hunt for another gps.

372. Hey, thanks A LOT for doing this review. I found it on google when searching for navigon 2100 vs tomtom. Anyhow, this unit is on sale at staples.com for $159.99 with a $10 instant coupon. HOWEVER the company I work for orders from staples regularly so we get a $30 off coupon for $150 purchase about every other month. Since, you can’t combine coupons, I deleted the $10 instant coupon from the cart and added the $30 off coupon instead. My FINAL price was only $140.71 ($10.72 was sales tax) how awesome is that. I have another $30 off coupon too, I might order a 2nd one of these for my brother. This one is for my Dad. I can’t wait to get it hands on so I can see for myself about its functionality and see if it will be too sluggish for him to use… I think it will probably be fine since he’s the kind of guy that would set and drive, not try to set while driving.

373. I got Sarah on November 23, Black Friday, from Radio shack. They didn’t have what was needed for the traffic feature. They STILL don’t, and have given me a FOURTH date to wait for. Anybody else have this issue?

     (You’re welcome, Bridges.)

374. Hi there, based on my experience with the Navigon 2100 unit for about two weeks, I wasn’t satisfied with this unit, as I tested it, it keeps on telling me to make two left turns after i get on a major parkway in New York which is weired, and it’s very slow in recalculating the route after making few wrong turns on purpose, I’ve also bought a new SD Extreme III card, but it didn’t make a difference, so I took the unit to staples this evening and got my money back. So I’ll be hunting for a better unit.

375. Hey Mo — Lots of discussion about routing issues on the boards. There are tweaks that can be applied to improve the routing — makes it better, but not as accurate as Google maps yet — hoping for either more tweaks or an update from Navigon. I don’t believe the faster cards improve performance — possibly the card reader built into the Navigon 2100 can’t take advantage of the faster card (kind of like putting a USB 2.0 device in a USB 1 connection — works, but doesn’t take advantage of the faster speed). After applying some color changes, I ran all the PNGs through PNGOutWin to optimize them (makes the file size smaller) and I think the 2100 is running a little zippier now — others have reported the same, so maybe its not just the placebo effect.

376. Finally got through to Customer Service at Navigon. They weren’t able to help with my problem of not being able to get the traffic feature on my 2100. Said they were referring to a supervisor. Anyone have any luck with this? Still getting the red icon up by the battery status box and the icon showing the satellite in right upper corner. Tried using with the cigarette adapter but still no luck. Any suggestions would be appreciated, otherwise I’m returning this one and keeping the one from Staples with no traffic feature. Thanks.

377. doofaloofa – by the time I figured out how to put you user name into SoulSeek it showed you had logged off. I did manage to get the files, thanks. The tweak I have that you want me to post in Soulseek is the modified XML for routing, or the modified resource file for colored buttons, backgrounds, etc.?

378. Hi Bonnie,

     I had the same problem with traffic. I exchenged my navigon at Fry’s and the new one works perfect. Trafic is always on. My opinion that your unit ca not recieve any FM signal. Check if you can change the station. I could not with my first unit.

     Good luck.

379. Hi, Andy. Thanks for info. How do I check to see if it gets FM or if I can change station? Not real tech-oriented so forgive me. Thanks again.

380. Andy,P.S. Does the traffic feature alert when you go over a certain speed? Thanks.

381. Bonnie: Speed warnings are not a function of the Traffic option, but of the main GPS whether you have the Traffic add-on or not. You can find them from the main screen by pressing Options, Settings, Basic Settings, then on screen 4 of 7 you will find “Warnings within urban areas” and “Warnings outside urban areas.” Each of them have options for warning you when you are travelling a certain MPH above the speed limit.

382. Has anyone heard about OMNITECH gps, seen any reviews, it is also at Staples. As u know i have the 2100, working with the delay but no complaints. Doofaloofa with the downloaded file for volume file do u replace. NeitherFanBoy,, as you stated in gpsforum with the file to replace the arrow to the car, do u just add the file there or do you replace a file?

     Thanks

     Again Has anyone heard of or seen any reviews for the OMNITECH GPS at Staples

383. Dan – you have to replace the car files with your new ones as the interface does not have a function for switching between more than one set. Be sure to backup your existing files first in case you want to switch back.

384. Hi Bonnie,

     To check if you can change a station, you have be in a map view, go to options-traffic-options-TMC Settings and try to push right or left arrows button to change frequency. My first (defective) unit did not let me make any changes offrequency . The new one (that works good) change it. There is no any traffic alerts when you are speeding, it is a different feature. It does not relate to traffic service. Look at NeitherFanBoy’s message.

     Good luck.

385. Just got my 2100 and am impressed.. Having had a couple of Garmin units I did not know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. Powered right up, quick sat discovery, etc.
     Shop NBC had these on sale last week and that is wherew I saw it. The price grabbed me, but then they offered a $30. rebate and a FREE lifetime traffic activation. I got the whole thing for $160.
     Good deal and SNBC sold out!

     One minor glitch I had was that I could not read the code on the back of the scratch off card so I could activate the traffic feature. I called their support number, was connected to a polite english speaking (and easy to understand) service rep. We solved the problem within five minutes.
     I recommend the unit!

386. Dan –
     I tend not to keep my computer on if I’m not using it.
     I’ll leave it on for a bit today if you want to get those voice files.
     I typed out instructions on how to install them, I think they’re pretty clear.
     Make sure to back up your old files though incase you want to reinstall them.
     If anyone else is interested in them, just post on here and I’ll try leaving it up.

     NeitherFanboy –
     HAHAHA, yea I saw you got the files and promptly shut SoulSeek down.
     I did try browsing your files, and it gave me an error (probably ya didn’t have anything posted yet.) I was hoping if you had all your tweaks in one folder, I could maybe just grab them all and weed out what I didn’t need. If ya don’t mind doing that, just let me know what you name the file so I can search for it. I ended up deciding to keep mine. Hopefully map updates won’t be too expensive, and I figured I don’t really need the POI-Warner at this stage.

     I’m kinda stumped though, I have a favorite campsite that I can’t program in the 2100, I have the Lat/Long but there’s no option to save a location based on Lat,/Long. that I can see unless you’re physically there. There’s no address to use because it’s way out in the sticks. Hmmm.

387. Hi Doola, glad to see you are still one of the Navigon family! New info in the GPSPassion forum shows that you can make at least one edit to the POI ability, you can change the settings for “Nearby Search” to extend the distance the unit searches from where you are to the POI. I’ll copy all the tweaks I have, the xml’s and the other skins, to one folder and it will be up tomorrow (I’m not at work today).

388. I just received the Navigon 2100 and it was DOA. I called customer support and quickly reached a human–a nice surprise. However, surprise #2 not very good. As of this writing, there is no department set up to handle returns or repairs. When I asked when they thought things would be up and running, I was told that they were working on it and it should be ready “in the near future”. That was reassuring, at least they are feeling optimistic. I, on the other hand, not so much and will be returning the GPS to my place of purchase. I’m not sure what I’ll buy as a replacement, but you can bet the company will have a repair/ return department that is “up and running.”

389. Plato,
     If you are still around I need your help in getting Europe maps for my 2100. Leaving in four days and I really like this GPS. Mine is working great. The more I use it the more I like it.

390. Andy, thanks for the info. Somehow or other my traffic started working today. I wish I could understand all the things you guys are talking about to change settings in the computer to make this a better unit but I’m lucky to get it working I guess. Anyway,thanks again.

391. bonnie: if you are happy with the routes the 2100 is finding for you, I’d leave it as is. But if you are finding strange routes I’d install the modified XML file. Its as easy as dragging and dropping your existing file to a folder on your hard drive then dragging and dropping the modified one on your 2100. Changing “skins” in order to get other colors is just as easy, copy one file up to save it, then copy one back down. Restart the 2100 and you have new colors.

392. Hi Terry great review. What exactly did your unit show at start up that made you believe you had a faulty card? I believe I am experiencing the same issue.

     Thank you very much,
     Tim Marra

393. It seems that the traffic only works if you plug in the cig adapter BEFORE powering-on the unit. I suspect there’s prob. a check in the firmware/software to see if power is connected. The antenna for the traffic prob. sucks up a lot of power, so they put this into the software. If there’s no power connected at startup, the traffic is disabled. I tried this once w/o plugging in the unit. Traffic icon stayed red. Shutdown the unit (hold for 6secs vs standby mode), plugged in the power, restarted, and voila, the indicator went immediately gray, even while the GPS indicator was still red.

     On a side note, tried backing up the maps/files to a micro-SD card, but upon putting in into the 2100, I got the “Card Error” and “Please insert the SD Card.”. Going to go buy a new SD card to see if that solves the problem. Wanna start tweaking. At least turning the icons from gray to green. 🙂

394. Hi Tim, I don’t remember the exact error, but it was something like the “map data was invalid or couldn’t be read”. I seem to remember the error was pretty clear to me at the time that I either had the wrong maps or they couldn’t be read off the card.

395. I have a question…could you please tell me if the Navigon 2100 is a better unit than the TomTom One 3rd? I want to get my husband a gps but I was going to get the 2100, he is researching theTomTom. I can’t tell him because it’s for Christmas! Thanks

396. CD — that’s really good info, and answers a question for me. I usually turn my 2100 on immediately, before I have even gotten to the car, so that it has time to get a GPS lock before I head out. Then when I get to the car, I put it in the holder and then plug in the power cord, and I NEVER get traffic alerts. I will try only turning it on after I have plugged it into power, that may solve it. Thanks.

397. I’ve had TomTom on 2 different PDA’s, and then the TomTom One (the “original” rather than the 3rd Ed.) and now the Navigon 2100. So far I still prefer the TomTom to the Navigon, but saying which one is definitely “better” is difficult.

398. My order was cancelled by staples on BF eventhough I have the confirmation in hand; waste of time dealing with staples, what a bate and switch. But, I bought it afterward without the special sale. So far everything is good about Navigon 2100, but it is sooo slow. comparing to my garmin and mio. I hope changing a better SD Card will help. Most of the time I use the gps on the go, if you have to enter the address at home before heading out, then it is better not using it for safety. Just use google map, make a note, or print out directions, view all routes that you want to take, and out you go. when you are on the go, in a unfamiliar area, I am not talking about saving a minute or two, I am talking about how responsive this thing can get me out of that place. When you are talking to some on the other end over the phone, ‘give me one second’, it is not a second, and they are not going wait all day to for you enter the address. Besides, slowliness, the voice is so distorded. I can’t hear what it is mumbling about. leave it low, you can’t hear, pump it up, it is useless. If someone has a way the change the voice and hope for the best. Those are two things that make me think of not keeping it. I will probably use the old gps if the navigon does not serve me any better. the only thing I need is the text to speach, but think about it, if you are driving at night, you can’t read the street names, so the distance in feet does the job itself.

399. Gonna throw in my $.015 worth after playing with the 2100 for a week or so now…
     Overall, I think this is a good item given what it’s intended to do… that being a GPS unit that will give you directions to your UNFAMILIAR destination. Why do I stress that? It’s to temper much of the negative views regarding the routing and such. Don’t get me wrong, I’m tech-savvy and will tweak the heck out of the maps/files (once I figure out my darn SD issues), but so far, the unit has gotten me to my destination w/o issues. It has picked different routes then I would normally take, but no GPS unit will give everyone the route they normally take 100% of the time. Too many choices/streets. Also, the profiles for Fast, Optimum, Short, etc. are ALGORITHMs, not mind-readers.
     So once I finish tweaking playing with this unit, it’ll stay in the house or the glove compartment until I or my wife need to go to an unfamiliar address.
     As for the other “features” people have commented on, the lag is def. there when “typing”, but like most people, I’m entering in data before I get in the car, not on the fly, so it’s a minor annoyance. Colors: I actually like the overall gray’ish look because of the fact that the route and other pertinent info show up in bright colors. Really stands out and is less clutter for the eyes, IMO.
     So, overall, I’m def. keeping the 2100. Are the Magellan, TomTom, and Gamin units “better”? Maybe/probably, but for the price point the 2100 comes in at (especially mine at BF price of $99), you cannot beat it. No other unit has Text-to-Speech at this price, which was an absolute requirement for me (well, my wife).
     Sorry for the long post… 🙂

400. Hi,

     I have tested this GPS on highway and noticed that the Navigon 2100 is not able to locate if my car is on the feeder road or the highway. That means if I am already driving on the feeder road, the Navigon 2100 still tells me to take exit from the highway. This happens very often and and becomes kind of annoying. Also, every time I open the GPS, it takes a while (about 5′) to catch the signal. Did anybody have the same problems? One more thing, the Navigon customer service seems terrible. I sent them an email 2 weeks ago asking about the problems but haven’t received their responds yet. I also called them but got to the answer machine and had to wait for about 30′ before I hung up.

     I am thinking about returning the product and buying a Nuvi 350 but I don’t know if the Nuvi will have better performance or not. I’d appreciate any advices? Thanks a lot.

     TD.

401. Last night I had to travel out of state so I decided to see how the Navigon would do. Being that I had to be at my destination by a certain time, I relied on the route that a Garmin had showed me previously. Got there without a hitch.

     There’s approximately 7 or 8 (mostly highways) roads on the trip. I had the Navigon on just to see what it would say. It said the route it had choosen would save me about 15 minutes. So that sounded cool, I was eager to use the Navigon’s directions on the way home.

     Long story short. It took me into a city (across a toll bridge nonetheless) and started me going in circles in these narrow alleys. It showed I’d make my destination sooner than it did, and then ended up adding like 15 minutes to my trip beyond what it had calculated at first.

     Talk about extremely dissapointing.
     The thing couldn’t even figure out a good route using major highways.
     I’m fearful to see what it would do on back roads.

402. TeeDee-

     I’ve had experience with the Nuvi 350
     RUN, don’t walk to the store to buy it.
     This Navigon is poor!

403. I’m with doofa, although I can’t say Nuvi vs. TomTom, never tried the Nuvi. I don’t expect my GPS to ALWAYS take me by the route I would drive myself, or by the route someone who knew the area well — and therefore knew all the shortcuts — might take. But I expect it to NEVER take me by a route which is ridiculous even to the eye when viewing it on the screen, and sometimes the Navigon 2100 does that. Although the XML edits have made the routing *better*, they are still not up to snuff in my opinion. You WILL arrive at your destination, but you may end making some really crazy detours to do it (see doofa’s comments above).

     Text to Speech in order to pronounce the street names is nice, but its fluff. One of the things I like about having a GPS is that I don’t have to search for a street sign (especially in the dark). The GPS will TELL me when to turn, and all of them will do that whether they say the name of the street or not. First they tell you “turn left in x-number of feet” (or in the Navigon’s case possibly in .1 miles) and then they say “TURN RIGHT.” Or “TURN LEFT.” They don’t have to say “TURN LEFT ON MAIN STREET.” I can see on the GPS screen that its Main Street and the prompt “TURN LEFT” lets me know what to do, so although saying the name of the street is nice, it is not, IMHO, a feature which outweighs more accurate routing.

     Everybody keeps raving about “at this price point,” but that justification only goes so far to me. If it was $40 cheaper yet could it the routes be so bad that you wouldn’t get there at all? And then would people say “But for only $59 what do you expect?”

     I know the TomTom One 3rd Ed. and the TomTom One LE (exclusive to BestBuy) were only $149 on sale, for another $50 are more accurate maps worth it? I think so.

     I have a 2100 and will keep it, but if asked I would recommend against purchasing it until Navigon corrects the routing.

404. Oh, and as for those backroads? True story, I was driving some logging roads in Oregon with a friend along, and it started to get dark. I’ve driven those logging roads a million times and knew where I was, but he started to get nervous and wanted to turn around and go back, although I assured him we did not have to retrace our steps because we were headed in the right direction. He thought those woods at night on a one lane gravel road were something out of a horror film and expected someone with a machete to attack us any moment. I had my TomTom and told him to choose the home address as our destination, and sure enough TomTom plotted the route and showed us that we were on US Forestry Road No xx. It even recogonized the LOGGING ROAD, I was extremely impressed and he felt safe enough to keep going forward and we made it home (just like I knew we would).

405. Great review of the 2100. I was considering that as a gift as well — staples currently sells it for $150 AR. However, I don’t know if we really need another 80-yr old on the road, fiddling with a GPS unit.

406. Looks like I’m off to WM to pick up a Tomtom. After four calls to Germany still no solution to getting the Europe maps on the 2100. My luck I.ll get them after I get the Tomtom maps.

407. On http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?whichpage=9&TOPIC_ID=97186&#659147
     NeitherFanboy discusses the routing errors.
     It routed me 3 sides of a box rather than the direct path I use in the DC area.
     No other service does this.

     NeitherFanboy discusses an xml repair 2100 for this problem and other improvement hacks.

     Does anyone have the specifics where these are located?

     Thanks,
     John

408. Points well taken, Doofa and NeitherFanBoy. I guess I have not experienced the wacky routing as of yet, so my opinion my change. Agree on your price-point counter when it comes to having good maps/routing. My point was price for the little annoyances like lag and/or lack of many colors. TTS I guess is personal taste. We had a Gamin IQue M5 and couldn’t stand the lack of TTS, but maybe that’s ’cause it had odd routing/announcements as well.
     NeitherFanBoy, your story about the Tom Tom and logging roads counters some views that the TeleAtlas units aren’t as good as Navteqs since they’re Euro-based. Also conjures up the James Kim family tragedy from a year ago (I’m from Portland) since they got lost on a logging/Forest Service road…

409. I was watching the news coverage on James Kim when it happened and my experience with the TomTom on similar roads defnitely occurred to me. However, I wasn’t in the same area they were, I was on the Oregon Coast off 101 North of Florence (know the area?) I was very surprised when the TomTom identified the logging road we were on (can’t remember its exact Forestry number) and was very pleased with it. Made me feel that if it could identify even the Forestry roads, it could pretty much get me anywhere I wanted to go.

     I thought about it during the hunt for the Kims … I was on little logging roads (at the point we turned on the GPS it was gravel) and the TomTom definitely showed me how to get from there all the way back to 101 heading back to Florence, but that wouldn’t mean the roads it was showing me were recommended travel routes. I was on the coast, in good weather, with NO SNOW. In snowy weather I would not have ventured on those logging roads even WITH a GPS in hand.

410. NeitherFanboy~
     I followed the above link to the GpsPassion forum and saw you posted the amplified voice files over there. Thanks man, I didn’t really know how to share them efficiently. I’m gonna hop on the board over there at the end of the week once my schedule settles. What did you think of the amplified voices? Too much distortion, or are they useful for you?

     Can it be? Updates on their way? From one of the posts I read over there it looks like Navigon is actually saying we can expect some goodies from them in January! If they get the routing thing fixed and make the POI’s expandable, this thing will be sweet!

411. Doofa, was that post from you? Is anybody else seeing what I see? It appears that post both came from me and was addressed to me?

     Yes, I tried the modified files and then posted them up at GPSPassion, where several people have tested them and say they are much louder. I am using them and I can hear the directions much better than I could before, and I don’t have the 2100 at max volume setting.

     Rumor has it an update will come in January 2008, I sure hope so. At the minimum a fix for the routing, and hopefully changes to the POIs — someone on the site quoted Navigon as saying they were working on the POIs. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

412. NeitherFanboy~

     Yeah man, that was from me.
     Sorry about that, didn’t mean to steal your identity.
     My brain is fried, forgive me
     I should change my name to Goofaloofa

413. YOur review is certainly easy to digest and convincing. A few hours after reading your review I drove to radio Shack to get myself Navigon 2100. I immediately tested on the way home from the mall to my home and I was so happy that the unit worked so well.
     A few hours later I went out again to do my Christmas shopping and I used this nice looking device for testing again.
     This time my excitement was not as intense as earlier because all i got was a message saying the unit does not get any reception. There are 2 buttons for me to choose, cancell or demo. When I went back home from shopping, I got the same message and I was dissappointed thinking of returning this unit to Radio Shack next week ends.

     After dinner I’m thinking may be I did not know how to operate this thing that’s why I got this messages. I opened up http://www.navigon.com and start searching for a manual since that manual is not included in the box.
     i did not get an easy time locating the manual, so i went back to this blog to get it because I remember there is a link somewhere in here that would give me the PDF.

     Then while I’m online I also tried to register the products, i was find until I have to provide activation key. I ran out my patience when I can’t even locate the activation key.
     In the website it said if I need more information in detail I can go to help but unfortunately I an’t even find where the help link is!

     May be this thing is good but it has created a long of frustration on my part. I have never had experiences buying electronic merchandises in the past that did not come with manual!
     The only things included in the box is just a limited warranty and safety feature document and a quick start guide.

414. Unfortunately, “manual-less” electronics and software are getting to be the norm, with the manuals either only being on a computer disc (i.e. not in easy-to-use paper form) or only available on-line.

415. Definitely going to be the norm, its cheaper for the manufacturer if you end up printing your own manual. And if you have to find the manual online, they don’t even have the cost of a CD.

416. Hi,

     I love your web site and based on your review I went out and bought a Navigon 2100. I also bought a TomTom One 3rd Edition. Here’s my “just out of the box” review of the Navigon with very few comparisons to the TomTom:

     It is very sleek with a shiny black color. You want to touch it. Kind of like a little black dress if I can be male for a moment. I turned it on and it started right up. Graphics are good and text is clear. However, my eyes at 49 aren’t what they used to be so I used my cheater glasses. Younger folks won’t have a problem with the text. I’m in a residential area of south Florida and it captured a signal almost instantly.

     As the review says the menu system is not always intuitive, but it just takes getting used to. Using the touch screen to input data requires attention, but that’s only due to the limited real estate on the screen. That’s going to be an issue on any GPS this small. It did take a split second for the unit to react to a “button” push, but I didn’t notice much difference between the two units. I wish it had a “clear all text” function, but I haven’t found it. All in all I wouldn’t let this issue stop you from buying it.

     I asked it to take me from my home to Fort Lauderdale International Airport and it sent me via a city road instead of the close and faster Interstate. No matter how I told it to determine the route (fastest, shortest, etc.) it never took me right to the Interstate. This frustrates me to no end as the Interstate drops you off right at the airport and from my house you would have to contend with only one traffic light!! If I “canceled” some of the way points of the route it had calculated it would eventually take me directly to the Interstate, but that is a pain in the rear end.

     I also asked it to find my local bank which is not far from my house. It still hasn’t found my bank, but it has found other branches. Go figure. I think the issue here is the number, or lack thereof, of POI’s in the database. It doesn’t have the local Wal-Mart either, but it does have gas stations and they show up nicely on the display. To me the lack of POI’s is a major disappointment as finding places you’ve never been to or that don’t have signs by the road is what a GPS is all about.

     The Text-To-Speech worked great and if this unit didn’t have the other issues I mentioned I would keep it. However, I’m going to play with it a bit more and if I can’t figure out how to make it do what I want it to do then I’m returning it.

     I will try to get back here with another report on my final decision and a review of the TomTom.

     Tom

417. Terry really likes the “beanbag” mount for the Garmin. Amazon has a similar mount that will work with ANY gps that has a suction mount. It has good reviews. My vehicle has NO flat surfaces except the windshield; however the 2100 gets fine reception down in my cup holder and I can hear the voice. I prefer to remove the unit from the car when I get out.
     Nav-Mat Portable GPS Dash Mount It cost me $23.21 last week, but I see it is now listed at $29.99.
     http://www.amazon.com/Nav%252dMat-Portable-GPS-Dash-Mount/dp/B000U5TUWE/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1197306068&sr=8-1

418. Tom … I feel your pain on the routing. I’m a cynic and think those people who haven’t yet experienced the strange routing of the 2100 will run into it in time. My 2100 will create a route for me that passes within one block of an entrance to the 80 freeway and make me drive through downtown Oakland to get to freeway 242 — nevermind that 80 connects to 242 and it MUST be faster to take the freeway interchange rather than to drive a few miles through downtown stoplights. It’s either wait for an update or take it back.

419. I grabbed of the 2100 BF 2100 with traffic, and yesterday Radio shack had the 5100 for $150 ( http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=682062) and I got a 5100 as well.

     Both have the routing problems but the other problems on my 2100: poor speaker qualilty, poor display touch response, slow recaululating and general “lag,” and poor Traffic reception quality are not present on the 5100.

     Besides having better hardware such as more ram and bigger speaker, the 5100 also has “lane assist.” I read on Amazon most turn off the “reality View” and found I turned off this as well since (contrary to what is implied in the slick advertising videos) the reality view is a still image! When you turn off the reality view on the 2100 you get nothing, but on the 5100 “lane assist” kicks in and it is excellent. It shows the lanes to be in AND your progress.

     I am expereinced with the Nuvi and users abvove noting bad routing on the Navigon are spot on. It is no joke. It is kind of super wierd since they use the same maps as Nuvi and it cant be too hard for any software company to reverse enjgineer sokmething as simple as the time tested routing equations of Garmin, Magellen etc and get something that has more respectable routing.

     The routing was a deal killer for me when it comes to my primary GPS device and I am sticking with Garmin uintil Navigon figures this out. I’ll be giving the 2100 and 5100 away for Christmas. They are nice but not ready for prime time. Revisit them when routing is figured out and Reality view shows progress instead of blocking your map view!

     In the meantime I would strongly suggest people price comapre the 5100 it is better in quite a few key ways.

420. The 2100 would be a great gift to give to someone that you never wanted to see again.The routing on this thing is absolutly retarded,It definately has a fear of straight lines,It will consitantly send you miles out of you way when one straight road takes you there.You would get a more direct route by twisting the knobs on an Etch-a-Sketch.It wants me to do a U turn in my driveway.When you want to go north, it sends you south on a highway,go down one exit,turn around and then go north.I would never trust this thing to go on a trip,It will send you into bad neiborhoods and through back allys,great if you are looking for crack or prostitutes. If you are looking for a cheap GPS buy a Tom Tom or a Garmin street pilot. I bought one of each on black friday and like a dummy I kept the 2100 and gave the others as gifts,For fun we use all three at once and make fun of the Navigon.

421. Fatwilly~
     That 1st sentence is the best laugh I’ve had all day.
     Thank you!

     Keep in mind though, just when you think your safe they may come back.
     (If a successful update is released in January.)

     Here’s a brainstorm.
     I wonder if the users abroad complain about wacky routing?
     Has anyone looked on a board from the U.K.?

422. Hey doofa: I haven’t looked at the U.K. sites, I tried the German sites but Google doesn’t do such a good job of translating them. I’ll try looking at the UK. This problem is so widely reported, both here and at GPSPassion, that it can’t be mere coincidence or just a bunch of picky drivers.

     Fatwilly: loved your description. I used mine Saturday and after I turned right out of the Sams Club parking lot onto Concord Ave., the 2100 said “when possible, make a U turn” and the street showing as my “next” street was … Concord Ave. But I thought I would humor it … there are freeways at each end of Concord Ave., maybe it wanted me to take the other freeway? So I flipped a U turn and went about one block when the Navigon said “when possible, make a U turn.” I swear, no joke. So my 2100 thinks the fasted way to the freeway is a right, then a u-turn, then a block, then a u-turn, then proceed 4 miles. I guess turn right and go 4 miles wasn’t “fast” enough.

     Although I am keeping mine, I truly would not recommend anyone buy one of these until Navigon has fixed the routing issue(s).

423. NFB~

     I agree.
     It’s shoddy programing.
     I’m wondering if they just bungled the U.S. market or if they’re flat-out inept.
     Hopefully they can get other markets right or us holding our breath will be for naught.

     On a different note, last night I ended up tinkering with MN6ResourcesBinary.
     Do you know if numbers on the display can be enlarged (so the text isn’t so small?)

     I think when I go to GpsPassion this weekend I might transfigure to doof.

     ~Less keystrokes make for a happy man~

424. I have heard rumors on the GPSPassion website that you can increase the size of screen fonts, and most of the info seems to be coming from the German site, but I don’t think anybody there has successfully done it. I tried importing the Font folder from one of the German MN6ResourcesBinary files to my 2100 (where the German site said the fonts were bigger) but noticed no change at all, so I copied my original file back. If you figure it out I’d be glad to know, I need those street names in the bottom window enlarged.

425. Naturally. If I figure something out, I’ll pass it along.
     That’s what community’s all about, right?

     Actually I feel a bit guilty about being lax on meaningful contributions as of late.
     It’s finals week at the Uni and my workload is off the charts.

     Here’s one for ya. when I re-colored my satellite icon to green, I didn’t reset the unit.
     It seems to be working just fine.
     Also after I installed the modded XML I didn’t reset.
     Maybe neglecting the reset contributed to that mega-hinkey interstate route.
     So far, no detremental effects on the colorized icons.

     Fatwilly~

     Thanks for the post, it’s good to see some humor injected.

     All sorts of people come here and some might have a harder road to travel than ourselves. For my classwork I just had to observe kids with severe mental and physical problems; it’s a hard road they travel.

     Welcome to the community, and thanks again for the humor!

426. @doofaloofa: thank you for your advice.
     I just returned the 2100 (charged 15% for returning) and bought a nuvi 350. The nuvi does not have a nice map as the 2100 but yes, it works much better. Routing is accurate and fast. I think between a Navigon 2100 for $175 (from Frys) and a Nuvi 350 for $210 (from OfficeDepot), the Nuvi is really worth the money.

427. Hi All… I have been reading this thread since buying my Navigon with Traffic at Staples for $99 on BF. I also managed to snag a TomTom LE from Best Buy for $119. I was going to give the InLaws the TomTom since I personally preferred the ‘Text to Speech” and highway sign at difficult exchanges’ features. But, after it gave me add routes for my usual travel and then reading the routing difficulties that many of you have been having, I have decided to return the Navigon and keep the TomTom for myself. I have just connected the TomTom to my computer and am DLing the updates and backing up the data on the unit… all soooooo easy with the TomTom HOME program. I thank all of you for sharing your experiences… as one of you said “we are a community” and communities make making the decisions much more educated.

     Thanks again, Sandy

428. Hi Sandy. Yeah! I like TomTom. I am sooooo leaning towards picking up a TomTom before the Christmas sales are over. I loved all the edits I’ve mad to the colors and icons on the 2100, but the routing is bad. If the Navigon people read these types of posts — fix the routing before you lose all your customers to Nuvis or TomToms.

429. Hi, all. I agree. Sometimes the 2100 will send me on the weirdest routes, and other times it is right on the money. But I’m leaning toward keeping it, if only because the traffic feature is “free for life” as part of that Staples “Black Friday” promotion. I live near the NY metro area, and was used to listening to 3-4 traffic stations around the clock, punching the preset from one to the next–and would still get stuck in traffic. So for me, it’s not so much wanting to find out how to get to unknown destinations but how to get out of a bottleneck.

     Last week, when I got the “New Traffic Message! Please check your screen!” alerts, I responded to each one in turn (there were several)–and the 2100 rerouted me EXACTLY the only way there was still left to go and still have any hope of getting to work on time. (It’s about 10 miles out of the way and 20 minutes longer on a good day but not when there’s major tie-ups and you end up sitting for 45 minutes in 3 lanes of bumper-to-bumper.)

     One other morning, it had me get off a familiar stretch of the Major Deegan Expy that’s noted for its long delays, but that I never learned how to get off of to go a back way. Well, it prompted me to get off at the next exit, sent me over about two blocks, and down Broadway to 179th Street. Yup, a lot of traffic lights. But ya know? It got me to the bridge and the interstate, and after that I *flew*. I’ve been wondering for the 5 years I’ve lived here if there wasn’t a better way out of that logjam, but haven’t exactly wanted to go wandering through the Bronx. Now, thanks to the 2100 I know there is an easy way, and I plan to make use of it.

     On another evening of traffic purgatory–this time to an unfamiliar destination in central NJ–it got me on time at night to where I needed to be, although I’m sure someone more familiar with that area could have maybe given me an inside track on secret shortcuts. The voice prompts were particular useful when hesitating over which ramp to take, etc.

     I dunno… we *are* dealing with GPS here. It’s not like they program into the logic things like rush hour, truck routes, sun glare, fog, and long traffic lights. Too bad they can’t, though–what a driver’s dream. I’d be curious to know if the other brands of GPS send people down Route 95 to the Cross Bronx Expressway at the height of the morning rush hour. It is, after all, the most “direct” east-west route from point A to point B–only choosing to “Avoid Traffic” deters the 2100, and even then it sends you through the Fordham Univ. area, not much quicker. “Optimum” vs. “fastest”–doesn’t seem to make any difference.

430. Bridges, you are lucky. Many of us have found that the traffic alerts have stopped functioning, and we are trying to figure out why. Is everyone who has this problem in a certain area? it appears not to be related to editing the “skin” (colors and icons on the 2100) because for those of us who used a second SD card, even using the original one does not get traffic working. I myself have only gotten traffic alerts on the day the feature was activated, and never since. Several of us have emailed Navigon tech support, but as far as I know, nobody has received an answer yet that lets them know how to fix this. So for me, I definitely feel I am not getting what I bargained for … the routes are far more unreliable than what I got from my TomTom and the “lifetime traffic” is not functioning. NAVIGON, wherever you are, these problems need to be taken care of ASAP, January is too late. How many people who have purchased a 2100 have returned it?

431. I just wanted to say to those who feel I’ve helped them, that it was my pleasure.
     It’s really gratifying to know that I’ve been of service.
     I appreciate the gratitude.
     May your travels be safe AND economical.
     😛

432. I got one last night after I got lost. It’s now on sale at Radio Shack…

433. I’m happy with my Navigon 2100, it takes me to my destination, (the long way, the short way or the WTF way) If you think you know a better route than what your Navigon is taking you, then you don’t need a navigation unit. Do you think that when you are in unfamiliar area you would know the difference if it is taking you the “WTF way”? For me, I just want to get to my destination. I think you’ll never be happy whatever brand you buy. All these GPS units will not will not calculate your route the way you would calculate them in your mind. Buy a Rand McNally maps, do your own routes, it’s cheaper and with these, no one to argue with when the route is a little messed up except yourself. Nothing personal to you all, just making a point.

434. NeitherFanBoy… so plugging the power in before you turned the unit on didn’t help at all? So you still get the red traffic signal, but it never turns grey? Have you gone into the “Service Activation” screen to confirm the unit still thinks you’re activated? (sorry, just grasping at straws here)

435. http://shopdelphi.com/consumers/mobilenav/ Check out the NAV300

     Interesting

     Wonder if its better?

436. NeitherFanBoy, just a thought about the traffic alerts: Have you ever fiddled with the radio station setting? When I checked out where it was picking up the alerts from, it lists a whole bunch of local FM stations, from Christian radio (I kid you not) to rock. Apparently it goes up and down the FM band pulling down these signals. (I used to work in radio 30 years ago, so this is all a dim memory, but maybe it’s using some kind of subcarrier to the regular station?) Anyway, looks like you can insist that it stick with one or keep scanning (like a police scanner). Maybe it’s stuck on one station and that one’s been knocked out? Like I said, just a thought.

437. Terry, Kim, Sandra: You were asking about European maps. I signed up for Navigon’s e-newsletter and they are advertising a Friday (12/14) special. When you go to the website (http://www.navigon.com/site/weihnachtsaktion/en?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=xmasSpecial2007&utm_campaign=xmas_en_101207%7Cen&utm_content=xmas_aktion), it mentions European maps for the 2100 as well as the other units.

     P.S. to NeitherFanBoy: Remembered something else. One reason I did NOT get the TomTom was that even on sale it was $124.95 and then I found out the traffic was extra. Anyway, while researching it, one of the reviews I read online stated that the person was stuck in traffic on an interstate somewhere down south for 2 hours, but every time he checked the traffic setting on the TomTom, it told him no traffic events. Like he said in his review, maybe the traffic service would be just as bad on any GPS device and it all depends on what part of the country you are in. That’s a bummer, though.

438. Bridges~

     I got the same newsletter and was ecstatic when it linked to a page for a software updater. I was really disappointed when it didn’t offer the U.S. as a geographic location choice. Out of desperation I tried picking the U.K. out of desperation and it proceeded to tell me I didn’t have MN6 installed. Hilarious! Thanks Navigon for sending me links to services we can’t receive.

439. Thank you Happy1! Thats exactly how I feel.

440. Oh how aggravating! Listen, we are not talking about a routing problem that picks a route you wouldn’t choose yourself, but that WILL get you there. We’re talking about a route that nobody in their right mind would EVER choose. For example, last night while on the way from San Francisco to Alameda, I pushed “Take Me Home” and the 2100 gave me the route (I was using “Fastest.”) Everything was swell until I started driving over the Bay Bridge, when the 2100 told me I wanted to take the EXIT TO THE LEFT onto Treasure Island, then go UNDER the bridge and come back up on the right hand side of the freeway and get back onto the bridge traveling in exactly the same direction as when I exited from the left hand side. Now why exactly would anyone EVER do that? And how could that be considered “FASTEST.” If you think that ALL GPS units do routing this bad, my guess is you don’t have too much experience using a GPS. If you are happy with the 2100’s funky routing, more power to you. But to imply that those of us who have caught the unit making horrendous routing mistakes are just “too picky” and we’d “get there in the end anyway, isn’t that good enough” is just offensive.

441. Hey Bridges … to answer your questions (didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you), yes I have checked the file on the 2100 that contains the last known channel for the traffic, and I printed out a list of all the stations in my area who were broadcasting traffic alerts, and then I tried each of them, one by tedious one, but no luck. Even though the Navigon traffic screen would now show my new station, the “bars” were still gray, the traffic icon was still red, and I got no traffic alerts.

     One of the users on the GPSPassion forum spoke with Navigon tech support, who had him reset his unit with a couple of different methods, but still no traffic. He was told the problem would be “escalated” to a higher level of tech support, but as far as I know he has heard nothing yet. My support email to Navigon has not yet been answered. I suspect that there is a problem with a number of the 2100’s having a defect in the traffic alert and its possible Navigon does not yet have a fix.

442. I think my Navigon has a setting called paper route, cause thats what I feel like I am on when I use it.

443. First, congratulations to everyone who’s pleased with his/her Navigon 2100. If you live in SoCal, tell me how you’ve managed to reach any destination with this thing. I know that roads and shopping centers around here spring up like poppies in the spring, but the map is so out of date that the built-in navigation on my 2005 Prius knows of roads and POIs that the 2100 (purchased December 2007) indicates as desert. And for those who are hoping to get anywhere reliably, good luck. You’ll be u-turning to oblivion. A simple two-road route becomes an adventure. And yes, I tested the new unit on routes I know; why would I trust it in unfamiliar territory if I know that it can’t manage even the simplest of tasks?
     Then there’s the laughable pronunciation, with the accents invariably on the wrong syllable.
     Today, it insisted that I stay in the “huvellen”; took me a while to figure that meant the HOV lane. Or to follow the signs for “carpaws” (carpool lane). Or to head toward Los Angelees (some Latinate pronunciation there). If you’re going to design a mechanical voice, why would you have it speak multiple dialects? If English is too challenging, settle for accents of French or Spanish or even German.
     The traffic advisory function is another story (not even a pile of twisted rubble surrounded by emergency vehicles seems to trip that baby), which I’ll not go into here.
     Again, I’m delighted that others have had a more positive experience. Would you like to trade your 2100 for mine?

444. Thank you, Fatwilly. Its nice to get confirmation that I’m not insane.

445. Does the Navigon 2100 allow you to download a customized database of locations onto the device? For example Garmin and TomTom allow you to download a database of adresses in the POI (points of interest category). I have a database of locations which I use for business that I would like to download to the device for quick access and direction. Can anyone help with this, please?

446. Trying, I think you need a human map with you, This is a programmed device, at times it will make mistakes, I do agree with the maps being incorrect at times but we will have to wait for the updates. Lets not start picking on the pronunciation of cities because I’m sure if you come to the east side like Massachussetts, there is a whole lot of cities here you won’t be able to pronounce. I guess I have a fortunate GPS where the it pronounces the street names correctly and have gotten me where I need to go. If your so unhappy about it ditch it and stop complaining. I would much rather have this than a AAA map or get anymore bad directions from Mapquest. Instead of complaining, help make it better. Keep writing to Navigon, they will eventually listen.

447. Why when someone complains about the Navigon’s poor performance do others jump in and say “stop complaining?” Or the other one I love, “(it) has gotten me where I need to go,” as if their success in getting someplace using the 2100 negates the problems others are having.

     Most complaints I’ve read are VALID. How much weight to give the complaint could be argued, but the complaints themselves are valid. The routing is bad, whether you yourself have run into it or not, enough other users have posted concrete incidents of bad routing to show that there is a problem with this unit. Heck, on the GPSPassion website they’ll tell you the exact addresses they were going from/to so you can try the route for yourself. The routing was not ready for prime time when Navigon rolled the 2100 into the market, that much is clear.

     And Trying seems to be having the same problem that MANY of us are having, no traffic alerts at all. And in LOS ANGELES of all places, which has got to qualify as a “major metropolitan area.” So the unit was ADVERTISED as having lifetime traffic alerts yet many of us get NO TRAFFIC ALERTS WHATSOEVER. We have a valid complaint.

     Trying … keep complaining. Complain loudly and long. Potential buyers of the 2100 deserve to know that there are some routing issues as that might be a valid reason for them to pick another GPS. They deserve to know that some users are getting no traffic alerts at all — not that they are just complaining that they don’t get enough, are they believe they should come faster, etc. That they aren’t getting ANY AT ALL. If traffic is an important issue for them, that might be a valid reason for them to buy a different GPS.

     Also, one user writing to Navigon tech support may not get much attention. To quote, “keep writing to Navigon, THEY WILL EVENTUALLY LISTEN.” A bunch of users complaining in PUBLIC may adversely affect Navigon sales, and that may get a higher level of attention and therefore a faster fix.

448. Most of you all paid $99.00 correct? What did you expect………….
     I paid $199 for a 5100 and so far so good……………

449. NeitherFanboy~
     Last night for some reason I ended up on Amazon.com’s site (an official Navigon dealer.) It if you read through the user reviews over there, it appears as though lots of “customers” don’t have complaints about the unit. To me, that raises a good deal of suspicion. I wonder if Navigon has planted shills on the site. Maybe that’s what we’re experiencing here, now.

     Dan~
     I expected a GPS that worked efficiently.
     Is that expectation out of line?

450. I have a 2100 and my unit works fine and I paid $99.00, it can do a little better with the traffic, I still get my traffic alerts.

451. Okay there’s the other comment that flips me out. “You only paid $99, what did you expect.” What I expected was a GPS that worked. Ever heard of the “warranty of merchantability?” Its basic premise is that if you sell something, it should be fit to use for its intended purpose. The intended purpose of a GPS, its most basic function without extras like POIs and speaking street names, etc., is to map a LOGICAL route from point A to point B. IMO, the 2100 is darn close to breaching that warranty. If Navigon can’t produce a working GPS for $99 then they shouldn’t be SELLING a GPS for $99.

     Or how about breach of contract, or bait and switch. The 2100 was advertised as having “lifetime traffic” — or at least the ones sold on BF were advertised that way. But many of us now find that we get no traffic alerts at all. We were offered a unit with traffic, we purchased a unit with traffic, we got no traffic. Again, not okay to say “Oh well, you didn’t pay very much for it so what did you expect.” I expected to GET what Navigon said it was SELLING, a unit with traffic alerts.

     Doofa ~ I too would suspect the reviews on Amazon were phony if I hadn’t read some of the posts here! A bunch of them seem to run either (a) the unit has picked good routes for ME so I don’t know what YOUR problem is, or (b) it didn’t cost very much so you don’t have anything to complain about. (Are you familiar with the sound that Lewis Black makes when he hears something completely astonishing. Insert that sound here).

     Oh, and I am convinced that unless a software update is released, all those who think the 2100 has picked good routes for them will eventually run into the same problems the rest of us are seeing, given either enough use or enough exposure to a GPS that IS capable of logical routing.

452. Actually, I have to report a positive experience with the traffic alerts. Last night I was about 60 miles outside of an area that had traffic alerts and I started receiving them. Astonishingly even after I unplugged the charger cord/antenna, the alerts stayed on the unit and I could access the info. Maybe that’s how all GPS’s deal with traffic alerts, but for a 1st experience I was impressed. I think it was even showing all routes in the area with alerts, not just the road I was traveling (handy in case you decide to go somewhere else.) I would tend to baby that car charger because if it would get pinched or something conceivably the power portion may continue to work despite damage being suffered to the antenna. (I’m not sure how they’re built, but regardless it wouldn’t hurt to baby it.)

453. Traffic alerts,who cares about traffic alerts ,there are no other humans on the roads that this thing sends you on.

454. Fatwilly~

     You know how kids spin in circles then try to run in a straight line?
     It seems like we own the GPS equivalent of that game.
     (Except the dizziness doesn’t wear off.)

455. Ok NeitherFanBoy and everyone else, lets do the math here, if you think about it, especially those who got the GPS for $99.00, you basically got the GPS for free. If you remember, the lifetime subscription to traffic is $99.00, leaving how much for the GPS? You got it, $0.00 so technically there couldn’t be a breach of contract.

456. Longi~

     They were selling the GPS for $99.00, not the traffic service.
     I imagine after you use it a bit more, you’ll see there are major problems with it.

457. They were selling the GPS for $99.00, not the traffic service.
     I imagine after you use it a bit more, you’ll see there are major problems with it.

458. I am absolutely astounded. Awestruck. Speechless (good thing I’m typing rather than speaking). Anyone who reads this, be prepared to engage the little gray cells. If they don’t work, or your not interested in using them, turn back now!

     Okay Longi, I’m doing the math. Here’s your math word problem:

     Navigon offers the traffic feature for $99. Then they tell you that if you buy the 2100 for $99, they will throw in the traffic for free. You get the 2100 home and it has no traffic. Question: how much did you pay for the Navigon?

     Now if you can’t understand that if Navigon makes you an offer of a GPS with lifetime traffic for $99 (OFFER), you accept the offer and pay them $99 (ACCEPTANCE AND PERFORMANCE) and then Navigon fails to perform by giving you less the what they offered (FAILURE TO PERFORM) you actually can claim breach of contract, even “technically” — well, that can be excused. Law is hard.

     If however, your answer to the above question was “you basically got the GPS for free” hang your head in shame. The correct answer is: the GPS cost you $99. (Oh, and you got screwed out of your “free item.”)

     Extra credit math question: You buy a GPS that is on sale for $99 and it INCLUDES a lifetime traffic feature that normally sells separately for $99. You take it home and voila, the traffic actually works! So now you got the GPS AND the lifetime traffic for $99.
     Question: how much did you pay for the GPS?
     HINT – You took $99 out of your pocket and handed it over. You are now missing $99 you used to have. You have paid the company $99. The company now has $99 on their side of the table that used to be on yours. Your bank balance has decreased by $99. You can no longer spend that $99 on anything else because you don’t have it anymore. The $99 is gone. The $99 is no longer in your possession.
     Answer: you paid $99 for the GPS. The inclusion of a “free” feature that the company normally values at $99 does not magically cancel out the $99 you paid. You still paid, like totally and really, $99.

     Ouch. Now my brain hurts.

459. I have been reading the comments on this review for some time, and I am like you NeitherFanboy shocked how some people responded to complains about the navigon 2100, I do not have these rout and traffic problems yet and I have used it in different cities including a long trip to Chicago – it worked really well – and I say YET because it is a GPS that will be used in different areas and that it soul function, and I am very glad the people post there experience with it because when I get in condition that is strange I know what I expect, so thank you and the other to bring this up and I hope the company read this and try to corrected. What drive me to write this comment is the post that say we got the GPS for free, I will say even if we did not pay a dime for it that do not mean in any way that it should not work correctly and efficiently, and I am almost sure that Navigon made that offer just to get the navigon into the US market and if they think they just need to get into people hands without proper function, support and updates they are totally have no marketing strategy and would say their sales and marketing people an incompetent. So thanks for everybody post their experience with the Navigon 2100 and special thanks for you NeitherFanboy for your input and the tweaks you posted for the Navigon

460. Doofaloofa You hit the nail on the head, this thing is very dizzy all the time. I paid a little over $100 for a tom tom and a Garmin c330 street pilot and they both navigate the way they are supposed to,With Logic. I still like the navigon for enternainment purposes. If you dont know where you are and you dont know where you are going then you will never know if you are lost

461. Empra~

     Glad to hear that you’ve not experienced problems in Chicago.
     I could almost swear I read somewhere that someone said their Navigon went super-bonkers in Chicago.
     Now I’m starting to wonder, could some of the units have problems and others not?
     That seems unlikely though, Chicago is a pretty big town.

     It’s good to hear from one of the “lurkers” from around the board.
     Keep us posted.

462. doofaloofa

     If it helps I did not buy mine from staples on BF, but from RadioShack and they give me the traffic free and it was in a separate package not in the box like the one from staples.

463. Sheesh, things sure are heating up. With any product, there will be people who have positives and negatives to report. More negatives w/ this product since, like others have mentioned, Navigon is trying to break into the US market. So far, I’ve been lucky to not experience the wacky routing, but as Doofa, NFB (NeitherFanBoy; sorry, going to shorten it up from now on :)) and others point out, it’s prob. only a matter of *when*. Hopefully I’ll make it to the Q1 update (if it happens) before experiencing it.
     Now for some real content. I didn’t realize I had left “Menu Animations” on all this time. Just turned it off this morning and saw a real improvement in menu lag, including information entry.

464. CD~

     I don’t know if you have compressed your .PNG’s but that seems to make marked improvements as well, but you’re right, turning off the Menu Animations helps.

465. wow, I’ve now got a headache. I know 0 about gps. My husband wants one for Christmas. He needs one for hunting (location tracking) and for travel. Is there any kind of combo unit?

466. I am the proud owner of the 2100, I stood in line at staples on BF, but they sold out buy the time I got in the store. So I bought the 2100 from Amazon for $200 w/ traffic. I had the same SD card problem as the staples units, Navigon promptly issued a new card. It worked great. I could not get my traffic to work, called Navigon, they were not very helpful this time. Told me to wait until mid January, and their engineers should have a fix by then!

     I started looking deeper at the unit, and found I could manually set the station, all is well now. The traffic feature is really cool!

     Neitherfanboy, thanks for the work you have done with mods, on GPSPASSION.com!

     I love the new backgrounds!

     Also, as far as routing, the 2100 is the 3rd gps I have owned. In the past I have used Magellan, then went to Delorme for my laptop. I travel a lot for work, and really need a gps. I would say the routing on the 2100 is on par with the others I have used. You must remember that a GPS should always be considered as a secondary navigational aid! It always helps to have a map, and a general idea as to where you are going. All GPS’s I have used will on occasion take you in some strange direction, or off the road, etc. Use common sense, if I know I will be on say for example I-90 for the next 50 miles, and the GPS says I should exit, always use your best judgement and continue on the main path.

     Overall I think the 2100 is a wonderful unit, that is full of excellent features, and in one remarkably shell. It is excellent for travelling.

467. OK, now I’m REALLY confused, so maybe I can return the favor. ;-> Also, to add that the blush is off the rose–I’m starting to get disillusioned.

     About the price and the traffic service: Two of us stood in line next to each other on BF at Staples in the greater metro NY area to get the 2100. The $99 for the unit PLUS “free lifetime traffic” offer was ONLY if you ACTIVATED BY 11/24/07 (according to the promotional material). Each of us got one 2100, handed to us at random by the Staples clerk. (Remember, we were on line right after each other.) Both of us activated our units on BF, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. No problem for either of us. Yet, some of you report problems activating that day.

     One of us (me) has used it consistently. It gives me the most direct route consistently–regardless of whether or not that route is logical; e.g., telling me to take Rte 95 to the Cross-Bronx Expy to New Jersey at the height of rush hour. But when you tell it no, it reroutes me appropriately. It gives me the traffic alerts, and you can “Avoid Traffic” or “Ignore” as desired. Twice it gave excellent re-routes around jams. Only twice has it ever blurted out “Please make a U-turn–NOW!”, and this was when I was under an overpass and I could see a lot of traffic ahead, yet there was no traffic alert. Only once has it routed me in a circle. Only once has it frozen up. Only once has it TOTALLY failed to alert us to a traffic jam, and I sat in it for 20 minutes, but that was the day the NY/NJ area had snow and ice, and it probably had 40 other traffic alerts on the list (I looked) that were in my general vicinity. Perhaps it could not keep up with all of them. I know I had the traffic stations on the radio, too, and they were having trouble keeping up with all of the different accidents and cars off the road into the woods. On the down side, I wanted to get into “My Navigon” on the website, and it wouldn’t recognize my password, so I asked for the password. Days have gone by–no response. 2 days later I tried “Contact Us” and explained the problem–no response.

     The other person has used it a grand total of TWICE, once the first day, and once the following Monday to go to and from work. Found it a little distracting in the dark in heavy traffic so unplugged it at the end of the day and put it in the box hoping to try to use it again some weekend and not on a high-stress work commute. Well, that day was yesterday. Took it out, plugged it in the cigarette lighter… dead. OK, so the manual says it takes 6 hours to recharge from a flat state. Well, it’s been charging all night in an auto battery recharger, and there’s STILL no sign of life. We even tried switching cables with each other. No dice. So we think this one’s DOA. We’ve tried turning off and on, reset, you name it. Which makes us wonder … how on earth DO you replace the battery? There doesn’t seem to be anything on that in the manual, and it’s got to eventually lose charge over time, just like cellphone batteries do. Guess they expect you to just buy a new one?

     I can’t explain the differences in the overall service experiences. Here we had two units–probably even from the same shipment–with totally different outcomes. And you guys–some bought on BF from Staples and love it. Some bought on BF and have had nothing but trouble with it. It’s weird. And there seem to be no clues to solve what is causing the problem. Undoubtedly, Navigon rushed it to market for the holiday season and hadn’t thoroughly tested it yet. That will cost them dearly in reputation and sales, and (being in IT) I feel confident in stating heads have rolled. The next question will be: What will they do about it now? That remains to be seen.

     P.S. To those with the traffic alert blues: Unfortunately, it seems that the whole traffic thing is only as good as the traffic service in the area you’re in. Like I said in an earlier post, some guy who wrote a TomTom review said he sat in traffic for 2 hours someplace down south–can’t blame Navigon for THAT. (And his cost was much higher–TomTom PLUS traffic subscription.) The wacky routing–yes, I’ve experienced that a bit, too, but not excessively. Maybe they Beta tested it in the NY area and got the bugs out of the mapping? Maybe different parts of the country’s maps are more up-to-date than other areas of the country? Or how about this: Someone into geocaching told me that it may be due to how many satellites it picks up, and that the more satellites it locks onto, the better the routing…don’t know if that’s so. But this dead battery thing is a puzzler. My friend, who travels overseas on business frequently, would have a real problem keeping this thing charged while away. Then again, I suppose anyone like that would be able to afford one of the $500 units. ;->

468. I see that there are 2 Dans on the board, so to avoid confusion, i will rename myself so no confusion is given. I will be DanD from here on.
     Yes i have 3, Navigon 2100 ,2 are for gifts, one i use. Yes i am having some routing issues, but not major, not like others who are directed to take all exits on a clover leaf. being new to GPS systems, i view this 2100 as an intro level, and at 99.00, a live and learn if problems occur with the product. Traffic not activated yet, but someone i know here in Raleigh/Durham with the 5100 was having problems with traffic but that was in the Fayetteville area, not sure if thats in the coverage area?
     I have noticed that GPS software all in all are from 4 or 5 companies, example Delphi Nav300 appears to be using the same software as the 5100. software for mio has been seen in the HP gps. and we know that there are only 2 map providers Navteq and Tele Atlas, so many to choose from. I all depends how much money you want to spend. At this level, i have been satisfied, and want them to be accountable to to fix all that we have mentioned here in this forum and the others(gpspassion)
     If the issues are not fixed we should use this as a live and learn about there products, and then go with “BUYER BEWARE” when speaking of Navigon GPS

     DanD from now on

469. I just bought a Naigon 2100 in Florida. I live in Canada and was there on vacation. Coming home on I75 it was great….but I now find out there are no Canadian Maps. Is
     there somewhere I can buy one or am I out of luck?

470. First, I want to thank Terry White for an impeccably-written review of the 2100 and for providing us with space to share our thoughts about it. His very positive experience (and his refreshing, because so rare, ability to write in English) may have influenced others, as it did me, to purchase the Navigon.

     Now, to those few who have reacted so violently to anyone whose experience with the Navigon has not been stellar, is it not possible that the device, which is only as good as its built-in maps, works better in some regions than in others? It seems from the posts that Chicago wins hands down for great maps and that East Coast users do well, too, for the most part. As I mentioned in my (negative) post, the maps for the region including LA, Orange, and San Diego counties are outdated. Consequently, the Navigon’s knowledge of the best existing routes is dismal.

     One reason (the only one, as far as I’m concerned) that people buy navigation systems is to be navigated in the most efficient way to their destinations. Seems like a no-brainer. While the Navigon 2100 is a gorgeous unit, with knockout graphics and a comparatively intuitive interface, it does not work well in this part of the country because its maps are inadequate.

     It is unquestionably a greater challenge for makers of these devices to keep maps up to date in certain regions than in others. I have lived in New England, the South, the Midwest, and now in the West, and I know for a fact that no region builds new roads like Southern California. In ten years, what was once desert or mountain range is criss-crossed by new highways and filled with new subdivisions and shopping centers and other POIs. When I return to New York or Chicago or Boston after many years’ absence, I can be nearly certain that the road that used to go in that direction still does and that the 93 or the 95 or the 75 will still get me where I intend to go. Such is not the case here.

     So a navigation device that is sold with old maps should come with a warning: Have a ball in Boston, New York, and Chicago! Los Angeles users, simply enjoy the graphics!

     Regarding its maps, the Navigon web site refers visitors to Navteq, its cartographer, and provides a link. But go to the Navteq web site and you’ll find no mention of Navigon as a supported manufacturer (only Dell, HP, and Garmin are listed).

     Now as for the ridiculous claim that if you didn’t pay much for a navigation system you shouldn’t expect it to navigate, well, where do I begin? The illogic of that statement is testimony to the failure of American education. And, for what it’s worth, I paid more than $99.

     As for writing to Navigon (another helpful suggestion), I did, on the same day I last posted to this blog. I have received no reply.

     For the benefit of those who may not yet have decided whether to buy, I would say this: if you live and travel in a region where construction of new roads is the exception rather than the rule, buy the 2100. If, on the other hand, your region is expanding, and if you expect the device to come with the most recent maps possible, look elsewhere.

471. David, according to Navigon, you would have to purchase the 2120 which is only sold in Canada. They do not offer them online

     Trying, thank you.

     teresa, you can use this device for walking, bike riding and car so if he is hunting, this would be good

472. Trying, excellently written.

473. I seem to be having a very familiar problem. My unit (5100) doesn’t seem to have a functional car charger. When the unit is in the vehicle and turned on it is running off the battery only even though you may think it is being charged. When the battery goes dead, then the unit is toast because apparently the charger doesn’t work. Very convenient. This item is less than a week old. I’ve sent an email to Navigon tech support but no reply yet.

     And by the way the orange light does come on when the charger is plugged into the unit giving the illusion that it is charging. And it does turn to green later on giving the illusion that the battery is completely charged.

474. Um, did you contact Navigon for a replacement? I see that you did, so you’re likely covered, once it gets back to you.

475. I’m wondering if the Navigon 2100 is a case of the silent majority not experiencing the couple of main problems discussed in this blog. I have never owned a GPS, but am considering the 2100 or the TomTom 3rd. Both seem to be generally good units, depending on what you want. Neither full of frills. Price competitive. I lean toward the 2100. Most people that are happy don’t take the time to go to a blog and explain how much they like their product. On the other side of the coin, if someone has problems, they tell 10 or more people about it, or nowadays, go to a blog or respond to a review. Mapping appears to be a regional problem and needs improvement ASAP. Slowness seems to be debateable, depending on what your definition of fast is. Nobody disliked the price. That’s encouraging. Even I tried e-mailing Navigon for info and that was Nov. 24. Still waiting. Were they pre-mature with release of 2100? We all want the answer to that. However, I’m not wanting to wait until the middle of Jan. to buy a new GPS. If, you’re listening and reading Navigon, you need to fix these problems or you’ll lose whatever marker share you now have. Terry, thankyou for your honest review. 2100 or 3rd Edition? Help!

476. Hey Doug … It could be that the routing is a regional problem, but the regions seem to be all over the place. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Texas. I believe the guy who had the 2100 route him through all 4 portions of the cloverleaf was in Chicago. IMO, its not regional, its related to the algorithm Navigon is using to calculate the routes … the formula they use to give smaller roads less weight than larger roads, to give highways greater weight than roads, etc. Some people have managed to imrpove their routing by change the settings in XML file that the system uses in the equations, but its hit or miss.

     As I have stated before in the forum, I think those that have not experienced the weird routing yet will experience it at some point, just depends on how much you use it, how far you drive, and if your route includes the right combinations. I have experienced the weird routing on more than one occasion, but just this past Saturday I used the 2100 to route me from Alameda to an address in Santa Rosa, and the route was perfect. There aren’t too many variables you could choose in that route, so maybe I didn’t hit the combination that causes strange routing problems. I think we are seeing the same thing with people who are commenting that their routes have been fine. I think its a matter of “your routes have been fine … so far.”

     As for the traffic issue, I’m stumped there. On the GPSPassion forum, there are more users commenting that their traffic doesn’t work, and we all seem to have the same symptoms. Its not that I get unreliable traffic reports, its that I get none. The stations will not change, the signal strength for the stations shows no “bars,” the traffic icon on the screen never changes from red. Yet traffic worked on this unit for one day, the day it was activated. And that seems to be the case for others, it worked on the first day and then stopped. Maybe there is a problem with the activation … some glitch in the unit that makes it think it is not activated when it is.

     I am very hopeful that being a new model, the update Navigon is promising will resolve the routing and traffic issues. If those two things were fixed, I think this unit would be a winner. And since I have one already, bought at the BF prices, I’ll stick with it and see what improvements they release. But if I was looking right now, and the Navigon 2100 was going to cost me between $179 to $249, and that price without traffic, I’d either wait to buy until an update came out or I’d skip it and get something else.

     And if it was a choice on the TomTom, and you have a BestBuy near you, I’d try and get the One LE rather than the 3rd Ed. — the LE was limited to BestBuy, had the same price as the 3rd Ed., but more features.

477. Hello I used my Navigon 2100 from Lancaster, PA to Cocoa Beach, Florida. I noticed that not all of the cities that I drove through had Traffic updates. The traffic update stopped working once I was south of Raleigh, NC. It does give some wacky routes around home but if you keep driving it does recalculate the route to the way I would drive it. Also I have found some shortcuts through the countryside by using it as well. I really like the POI on this GPS. It has little mom and pop stores and restaurants that I didn’t even know existed. Also some of the restaurants have American flags or Italian flags to tell you what kind of food it is. On my trip back home the traffic alert started working again near Raleigh and it worked through Baltimore and DC as well. When I got back to my city it wasn’t working. So I think that some cities have traffic updates and some do not. My GPS was a gift that my father stood in line on black Friday at Staples to buy. I activated the traffic alert 2 days later and didn’t have problems. So I think it works reasonably well. Sometimes the menu freezes for a second or two but it will move. I did get the unit to give me an error once. I was already at home and I told it to take me home and calculate route. That is when it caused an error. Also to some people do you know that you have to hold the on button for a few seconds to turn it on. It doesn’t just turn on when you press it.

478. The 2100t included the traffic card, was there an expiration date on the card? Could this be the problem that people are having with the traffic activation?

479. I own a Navigon 2100 and have been using it quite a bit in the NY area. What I can confirm is that it certainly has big problems with its routing. It will often take me off the beaten path to arrive at a location instead of using the most logical route that my fiv-year-old could even figure out. I understand that Navigon utilizes Navteq maps (the prefered in North America) but the routing algorithms are very disappointing.

480. Has anyone noticed an expiration date on the activation card, or must be activated by a certain date? Does the 2100 need to be activated before christmas(bummer if they are gifts for people) I have read in gpsreview, that some of the codes generated have not been valid. has anyone heard this also

481. i tweaked the startup screensaver thingy to a lamboghini reventon theme instead of the stupid navigon globe thingy
     i was thinking of make earth explode due to a bomb or comet but that was too much time
     where here it is all tweaked up..

     for those who want to see my tweaked 2100. com here
     

482. Huy, How did you get that Lamborgini on there and how did you get that map on thier as well?

483. My Navigon 2100 came in a box that stated “Limited Time Promotion: Free Lifetime Traffic. Value $99. Included in the box!”

     The activation card contains a gray scratch-off box that reveals the code that you need to input on Navigon’s website to generate the codes that you enter into the device to activate the traffic feature.

     No expiration date was apparent to me; not on the card, or the accordian-style instruction booklet.

     The traffic updates are available only in select cities. See the coverage list on Navigon’s website.

484. Dan, the ones we bought on BF from Staples definitely stated somewhere “Free traffic for life! Must activate by November 24, 2007.” This was not on the box–I believe it was stated in the Staples flyer. (Can’t be sure because I’ve thrown it out.) The key seems to be that Staples was advertising it as a “2100T” not a “2100”. You don’t see a “2100T” mentioned anywhere else. Evidently, a limited # of these were produced with this scratch-off card for this special BF introductory promotion. Don’t know if Staples got the entire lot or not. We commented at the time “Wow, hope people aren’t buying these for gifts or there’s going to be a lot of disappointed people on 12/25.” Note, however, that some posters above tried activating on Black Friday (11/23) but could not get through. Others of us had no problem.

     We called Navigon about the dead one. Got through after being on hold about 15 minutes. The rep said they were just catching up after being swamped from BF. She said to put this in perspective, 20,000 units were sold in one day at one large Staples alone. She said the problem I was reporting was the first time she’d gotten that one, so had no solution but would escalate. Someone is supposed to call back in 48 hours. (Hope that’s so!) As the call ended she said, “By the way, I like to mention to every caller that if there is any problem with any information” (you know, non-existent off ramps or changes in traffic patterns, such as one-way streets, or even POI info) “to go to Navitech’s website and enter the informaton. They take it very seriously and want to know about changes so they can update.” Thought I’d mention it here.

485. I scored a Navigon 2100 from Staples on BF.
     So I got a great deal. I have never owned a GPS before
     and to be truthful am trying really hard to like this device.
     I have tested it on the New Hampshire area on routes
     that I know. I have to say that the routes it picks are so
     strange and make no sense to me. I have tried
     all the different settings , short, quick, oiptimum
     and it makes no difference. Still comes up with
     very strange routes.

     To me if you cant trust this device on known routes,
     how could you possible have any confidence at all
     on unknown destinations. Who knows where this
     thing will take you. Seems to defeat the purpose.

486. I purchased the 2100t on BF, my first gps. I did everything as instructed on that same day. But, I could not figure out why the the red triangle with the white explanation point would not go away.

     I called customer service yesterday and I was informed that my live traffic was not working. I did everything correct on my end. They gave me a ticket number and said someone will call me back. When I called today, I was informed that they (not sure who they are) are meeting to discuss this problem. Not sure when I will get a returned call.

     So it appears that there are some pretty smart people on this blog and I was wondering who has found a way to fix this traffic problem?

     Besides the suction cup not wanting to stay on the window (I’ve tried letting the car get warm, I live in Chicago and I have cleaned the window) and the traffic not working, I like this device.

     Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful information.

487. NH is very weird anyway, I used to have the co-pilot Navigator 9 for my laptop and it had routing trouble. Once again it used Navteq mapping. I would complain to them.

488. It is not only Navigon that uses Navteq maps and I have never seen routing as strange as what Navigon picks. I don’t believe for even a second that the problem is in the maps, its in the algorithm that Navigon uses to choose highways, roads, streets, etc. If you want to complain to Navteq about a street that exists in reality but is missing on the GPS, that would be a map issue. Which routes are being chose is a complaint for Navigon.

489. Hi Judith,

     As I wrote above, I had the same problem with traffic service. I talked to Navigon 4 times during two weeks, they did not help me at all. They just said thet they are going to escalate the problem, and inform their supervisor. They also made me to restart the unit for few times and asked about the number on the left upper corner, you can see when the unit just starts. Nothing helped.
     So, I went to the store (Fry’s) and exchanged the unit. I transfered my traffic code to the new one (faxed to Navigon my reciept and both units ID numbers). Traffic has been working perfect from the first try. My opinion is that there are some defective units that Navigon produced. If you have a chance try to exchange your unit. You already paid for you GPS with traffic and it should work well, good luck.

490. longi, you can customise the pictures and stuff on http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=71
     it gets hard to do but after all the help, it gets pretty easy

491. Well here is some info I found. This is only helpful if your traffic alerts are functioning. I emailed Navigon and this time they emailed me back in 2 days instead of 2 weeks.

     http://realtimetraffic.net/

     This gives you the coverage maps for the alerts. Also it says its in 68 cities with more to come.

492. I bought my Navigon 2100 on BF from RadioShack. The routing that I have got here in Dallas, Texas has been fine. When I disallowed certain highways in the turn by turn section it did come up with some weird routing.

     I switched it to Shortest in the route profile and this seemed to help tremendously. The traffic has been great here in Dallas. I can even get a signal in my house without the antennae attached. Last night I added the Zagat reviews. They are pretty cool, but I got the card for $20. I don’t know if I would pay $40.

     The biggest problem is the lack of POI for Retail. I know there are programs that allow you to add POI, but they do not seemlessly integrate with the Navigon software. I hope they allow us to upgrade our POI for a small fee, in the First Quarter 08 update.

     Would also be interested in European maps. I understand some of the comments here regarding lag time and routing. But I have been very pleased overall so far.

     I like the look of the maps and the POI on this system over all others.

493. La Porte, IN
     “I have a bizarre routing using both the original and modified settings listed at the head of this thread. When simply crossing over Interstate 94 on US 421, the routing sends me around all four loops of the interchange cloverleaf.”

     ,Wisconsin
     “… (T)his route adds at 14 miles and about several minutes – hardly the fastest!”

     Cleavland, Ohio
     “Had i not choosen to take the highway it would’ve take about an hour to get there (due to traffic lights and such) as opposed to 35 mins from the way I went.”

     Superior, Colorado
     “it goes literally out of its way to go out of the main road. Only shortest gives the only reasonable way. …There seems to be something very wrong with routing algorithms on the Navigons …”

     College Station, Texas
     “I’ve used your tweaked version of XML file, but still got some strange route.”

     Ithaca, New York
     “The Navigon routes me off of Dryden Rd, around a stretch of about 500 feet of Dryden, back onto Dryden, and then to the destination. It’s as if it thinks the road isn’t there, but going in the opposite direction, it will route over it. ”

     Richmond, Virginia
     “Google takes 64W to 295 which is good. The Navigon was taking a small road (Parham Rd. VA-73) for miles to I-95.”

     Quihi, Texas
     “It doesn’t matter what route type (i.e. shortest) it still comes up with these crazy routes. I could understand if there were several turns or whatever, but we are talking about the same road. And this happens quite often. It wants to take me off the main road, run a big loop and then get back on the same road that was in more or less a straight line to begin with.”

     Michigan City, Indiana
     “I found the routing from Indiana to Texas accurate, but the return routing was 169 miles further! … Inserting actual street addresses gave me a difference of nearly 300 miles between southbound and northbound routes.”

     Seattle, Washington
     “I just got my Navigon 5100, and sometimes the routing is kind of weird.. it always wants me to take a longer route even when I select the fastest or optimum route.”

     “I had the 2100 out today for a good test since I knew the exact route. The system was set for “fastest” route and yet took me way out of the way. Even when I was approching the turn that I needed, it had me go straight.”

     Janesville, Wisconsin
     “This route adds at 14 miles and about several minutes – hardly the fastest.”

494. Replacing battery!! Wait until you have to replace the battery on this unit. I asked tech support when it is time to replace the battery how would you be able to do this…his response: You can’t replace the battery on the 2100, but the battery last a long, long time. This is going to be a big problem for Navigon.

495. Just bought one, haven’t opened it though. It seems to be getting reviews thats its slow and reroutes you or takes you off the beaten path too often. Has anyone experienced this trouble.

     Should I return it and buy another brand or will the bugs be worked out?

     Thanks
     Keith

496. Terry, NeitherFanboy, doofaloofa, A Rosner

     Has anyone checked the web site for ZENRIN corp?

497. Is there a MPH readout/logger with the Navigon 2100?

498. Thanks Andy,

     I called Navigon today, but they were of no help to me. They again said the engineers are meeting to work on the problem of the “Live Traffic” and they hope to have an answer next week, which I doubt since it’s a holiday week.

     I asked again about the mounting unit not staying on the window, they said if falls for a variety of reasons (dusk, humidity, etc. ) and there was noting they could do about that since they also included the dashboard mount. I told them it’s very dangerous to have that thing fall off while driving. I am not really interested in sticking anything on my dashboard.

     I called Staples and I can’t return it since it’s after 14 days.

     Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a great 2008!

499. Dan … I had not checked out the Zenrin site, but I browsed it now. I don’t see that it’s connected to Navigon though? Navigon’s site says they use Navteq for maps rather than Zenrin maps?

500. Was curious because it is listed on the box for the Navigon 2100, maybe for POI’s?

501. Was curious because it is listed on the box for the Navigon 2100, maybe for POI’s,
     but not sure. Will be good to see if the correct the issues consumers bring to them in a timely manner.

502. I am extremely hopeful that they will. I am past the point of being able to return the 2100, but if January comes and goes with no update I’ll probably put it in a drawer and buy something else.

503. Judith

     If the section of the window is even slightly curved, the suction cup won’t hold. I mounted mine on my dashboard and manipulated the arms so the unit is below the level of the windshield and doesn’t interfere with seeing out. Also, I had to move my mount once and was able to clean up the adhesive left behind.

504. this is a great review Mr.White,since reading this article I have gone out and have purchased two units from Radio Shack for 149.00 each,and they have worked flawlessly I love the op sys they use and ever since seeing the Porsche design gps’s,that also use Navigon’s op sys Im very satisfied with this unit.I think most of the neg review are from people who can’t think for themselves and are just upset they spent way too much for dated tecnology from Garmin,thanks again for your review.

505. Oh my goodness, you are completely right. You had solved the problems with bad routing. You have solved the problems with the traffic feature not working. You have solved everything. It’s all because we are too stupid to think for ourselves. So glad you are smart enough to have figured that out.

506. NeitherFanboy,

     Did you buy your unit from Staples or Office Depot, I thought they extended the return policy to after the 14 of the month( Jan).For the both of them

507. Hey Dan, did buy at Staples but lost the receipt. Today I got a bunch of BestBuy gift cards as gifts, so I bought a TomTom One 3rd Edition. There are benefits, and drawbacks. The TomTom speaker is much louder. And putting the TomTom and the Navigon side-by-side and navigating from work to home, TomTom picks the correct route and the Navigon picks a strange route.

     However, the Navigon includes traffic (although not working on mine right now), speaks street names, will tell you which side your destination is on, and with some customizaton has a slicker interface (if somewhat laggy). If Navigon can release an update that fixes both routing and traffic, they’d have a winner. So I’ll hang on to the Navigon awaiting an update and use the TomTom to get where I want to go.

     Of course, I am sure the real reason I have such sour grapes about the Navigon is that after using 4 prior GPS models, none of which was Garmin, I am just way too stupid to figure out how to navigate with the Navigon.

508. Juidith– The Staples policy for returns of purchases from Black Friday to Christmas is extended.

     Holiday Returns: During the holiday season, we will be extending our regular 14–day electronic and furniture return policy to permit customers to return products that may be purchased as gifts. Any electronic or furniture product, which usually falls within the 14–day return policy, purchased between 11/23/07 and 12/24/07 may be returned until 1/6/08 or as regular policy allows, whichever is later. This applies to all electronic and furniture products within Staples® regularly posted 14–day return policy. All electronic and furniture purchases made on or after 12/25/07 will observe our existing return policy. All other terms and conditions of our return policy apply.

509. wow?that like almost a half a dozen different gps units you’ve tried and still no luck,have you’ve tried the 7100 model yet maybe you’ll hit success with that unit…so let me get this right you mount multiple gps units in your car and drive around like this?would you consider making a video and posting it?this would be very informative to all of us…
     Terry thanks for the great review you’ve posted,I own the Navigon and couldnt be more pleased with this unit at the price,My unit didn’t include the traffic report and at first I was sad about this but after reading about the problems some people are having Im glad mine didn’t come with it,That stress must be driving some people nuts.seeing how Im hearing about so many problems with their units,mine seems to be working fine.

510. RDJ, no, I don’t CURRENTLY have “half a dozen different GPS units,” it’s that I have HAD, over the course of time, 4 different GPS models. And contrary to the assertion that I’m just upset because I paid too much for a Garmin, none of the models was a Garmin.

     That said, I do currently have 2 GPS models, a Navigon 2100 and a TomTom One 3rd Edition, and yes, I have mounted them both to the windshield with their respective suction cups at one time and plotted the same destinations on both of them, and then driven the routes to see which unit picks what route. And so far, the route chosen by the TomTom is much better. Even when it picks a route which is not how I would actually drive it, the choice is logical.

     As for the non-working traffic issue, this is from a post on the GPSPassion website:

     “Apparently, there is a batch of bad units floating around, and Navigon is doing their hardest to get those RMA’d and replaced. Kudos to them – they are super-nice folks. I’ve been chatting with some folks over there, and there seemed to be some confusion on the issues relating to the TMC and what the January upgrade will bring.”

     “If you are having the TMC issue, where it worked, and now does not, as described elsewhere in this thread, the January update will *NOT* fix that – you will just have an updated unit, without TMC working!”

     “I was told to tell you guys to call back in with your ticket number, or for those that haven’t called to go ahead and call, and let the CSR know that you have a Navigon 2100 unit with a defective traffic radio, and need to get the unit replaced. They will give you an RMA number to send it in, and they will swap it out.”

     I guess Navigon doesn’t believe that the traffic problem is just a case of people not being able to “think for themselves,” and I am hopeful the January update will resolve routing issues.

511. Hello ! I bought the 7100 a week ago for $329 (after $50 rebate), but have not opened it yet. I wanted to see if the price would go down by the end of the month. The 2100T is now $149 at Staples (lifetime traffic), and I had a $20 off $100, so it cost me $129. Now I am not sure whether to keep the 7100 or the 2100T……Can anyone tell me if the 7100 is much better, or the same exact software (with more POI and Bluetooth)? I tried the 2100 and it told me the lane to stay in while driving….isn’t that the lane assist which should only be on the 5100 & 7100 ?

512. lucky,

     are you sure the one from staples comes with lifetime traffic because i am reading the add and it doesnt say it, i have a staples next to my house and i will go see when they open.

513. Hi Glock – The advertised one from Staples does NOT come with lifetime traffic, but if you go to their site and search “Navigon”, one of the few choices which come up will be the “Special” which is the “T” version for the same price.

514. Is the 5100 or 7100 worth $150-$200 more than the Staples current price for the 2100T ?? I know the few extras which come with the others, but is is the unit made better (speaker, etc.) or is the software different ? Would I just be paying more for the larger screen on the 7100, Bluetooth, and extra POI)?

515. After recovering from a major computer crash, I’m astounded to read about Staples extended return period. Wow. Despite all of the grievances about the 2100, my major concern are the routing issues. To put it bluntly, Navigon has done a pretty good job. It’s a shame that Navigon hasn’t been more diligent about answering customers questions. Tough decision as to if I should keep this, or if I should have (unsubstantiated) faith that come January, Navigon will have remedied these routing issues.

     NeitherFanBoy ~ What’s your take? Is the TomTom One 3rd Edition money well spent? On a side note, I hate to see you go off the board here. Your insights have been appreciated. Maybe that in and of itself will contribute to answering my question: to return/or to not return.

516. Hey doofalofa … nice to see you back. Thought maybe you had bailed. I have been working with the TomTom One 3rd Ed. all day today. My only concern with the TomTom 3rd Ed. (so far) is the lack of SD card slot … worried about storage space as I had POIs, but we’ll see how it goes. (Worth the money for the TomTom, at 4149 I think so. Better than the Navigon at $99, harder to say).

     I am keeping the Navigon 2100 and will see what they come up with in January. On the list of concerns with the 2100, the routing is number 1. I didn’t think the speaker volume bothered me much until I heard it next to the TomTom. Driving in a BMW 740i, a fairly quiet car, with no radio and the windows up, I could not hear the 2100 while driving on the freeway (using the original sound files). The TomTom is so loud I can even hear it over the radio (depending on how loud I turn up the radio).

     I was pleased to see I can add POIs to the TomTom and they are incorporated into the interface … I don’t need POI-Warner. Plus, the 3rd Ed. lets you pick POIs to warn you about, as well as the sound you want to use to warn you … so I have downloaded my redlight camera POIs to it. I spent $50 for POI-Warner for the Navigon, did not need to spend that for the TomTom.

     I have made LOTS of customizations to my 2100’s screens/buttons/colors, so if I had to choose between the 2 interfaces, I’d chose the 2100’s. But for routing, the TomTom beats the 2100.

     The Navigon 2100 makes POIs difficult, the TomTom is easier for that. The Navigon speaks street names and tells me which side the destination is on, the TomTom does not. The Navigon’s speaker volume is a little low, the TomTom’s is not. With POI-Warner I can add POIs to the Navigon and since it has an SD card slot, I can increase the storage size. No SD on the TomTom 3rd Ed. No clear winner for me yet.

517. I bought this gps. For some reason I’m getting no sound/voice prompts. The weird thing is a bought an Omnitech a few days before and had the exact same problem. I returned the Omnitech. They were out of that model so they replaced it with the Navigon for the same price ($119). It seems like a major coincidence that both of these units from different manufacturers have the same problem. Any ideas?

518. Dave~
     In the settings menu you’ll find an option to switch between a fixed volume and one that increases the volume in relation to your driving speed. Choose the fixed volume. After you’ve done that, program in a quick destination. On the main map screen you’ll see at the bottom a little speaker icon, hit that and make sure the volume is all the way up. Those are the only things I can think of.

     NeitherFanBoy~
     That’s really interesting that you say you don’t have a clear winner yet. I’d assumed that the TomTom would have easily come out on top. I DO like the Navigon, but without logical routing, it defeats the purpose of buying a GPS.

     Over on GpsPassion I saw someone speculating that the problem may reside in the fact that the 2100 really tries to avoid having you make left hand turns. When I first got the unit, I wanted to test it, so I choose a destination that the best route would be a left turn out of my drive. Surprisingly, it had me make a right instead. Unfortunately where I live, the modded XML has not made an improvement in routing. I’m starting to think it might be the left hand turn paranoia. After all, we should know that left handed turns are more dangerous and that driving long, awkward routes to avoid them is much, much better. 😛

519. Doofa (much shorter to type): I had read that about the left turns, but when I was crossing the Bay Bridge the 2100 wanted me to exit to the LEFT, then go and make another left. So it wasn’t avoiding lefts at that point. I’m only hesitating because I spent so much time customizing the colors and the buttons, it looks cool! 🙂 But between the increased speaker volume and the more accurate routing, I’ll be using the TomTom until a 2100 update has been released. I did manage to change my TomTom arrow to a representation of my car, I can change the map colors, I changed the splash screen, and I loaded up a few hundred POIs.

520. I can nix the no-left-turn question. While leaving a tire dealer in an unfamiliar location, the Navigon instructed me to turn left out of the parking lot. (I had turned left into the parking lot, and now it was making me turn left. Translation: It was telling me to resume the direction I was going in when I arrived at the destination.) This didn’t seem right to me, as to go back in the direction I had come from, I should have turned right. But it’s just off the interstate, with a lot of weird ramps and stuff, so I thought maybe it was telling me I had to go up the road to get to the on-ramp to go back in the other direction.

     No dice. It had me go a couple hundred feet, turn left at a light, turn left again, turn left again, turn left again–you’ve guessed it. I was exactly a few hundred feet to the right of the driveway, on a side street. It now cheerfully told me to turn RIGHT. Still, this is only like the second or third time it has done this in all the weeks since Black Friday. Puzzling. I still think it has something to do with the number of available satellites, but I can’t prove it. Perhaps, too, routing is more reliable in certain parts of the country, as per the person who asked if maybe the maps for the East Coast are pretty stable–it’s not like they’re building a lot of new roads in NYC–as compared to CA or TX. This still doesn’t explain how it wigged out on the person in Chicago, though.

     My observation is that it doesn’t know what to do when it first powers up. It takes a long time to acquire the satellite fix. Regardless of which, it is then bound and determined to send you the way it thinks best, though you keep telling it you don’t want to go that way. I had ignored it and driven 20 miles northeast, and it was still trying to get me off each successive exit of the Garden State Parkway to make me go south and get to the GW Bridge. I was actually approaching the Tappan-Zee Bridge to cross over eastbound and at the last exit before the bridge, it was still telling me to get off that exit and turn around to go back on the Thruway to the Garden State and the GW Bridge!

     And the traffic service, yes the traffic service. When it works, it is great. When it doesn’t, you get zero information as to why you are sitting in stopped traffic 3 lanes across for 20 minutes, and you have to fall back on good old traffic reports from AM radio. I guess I need to remember that this technology (from the standpoint of being available to the consumer at a low cost to deliver) is still in its relative infancy, and that the explorers of old would be amazed and in awe that we had these little devices for a pittance, whereas the finest instruments of their time were costly–not to mention that those, too, had their limitations. So, I’m relatively satisfied with mine. It will be worth the $99 for a year’s good use. My counterpart has yet to hear back from Navigon about the 2100 with the dead battery, but will call today to see how they are coming along with the RMA. If not, maybe a refund from Staples is in order, if it’s true they have extended their return period.

521. If both Bridges and NeitherFanboy say that there’s no such thing as left turn paranoia, then I’m stumped. Thanks for your input guys. 🙂

     At this point, I guess it’s just a waiting game. I’ve exhausted my guesses as to where this faulty logic comes from, I guess we’ll just have to leave it to the experts at Navigon (but those satellite locks DO take a long time…) Hopefully they nail it with the January update.

     Otherwise, it DOES makes for a pretty paperweight…

522. Thanks so much, A Rosner and Mike.

     I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

523. Does anyone know how to trouble shoot the navigon 2100? I keyed in my destination and the screen froze.

524. I would use the hard re-set button on the side (use a paperclip) and start all over from a totally off position.

525. Bought the 2100T from Staples on website 12/21 (not the one advertised), and received the 2100 regular (no traffic). I complained that they tried to scam me, and since there were no more (as usual with Staples) I told them I wanted them to send me the traffic card (which they sell separately for $99) free since I should have had it and my invoice shows I ordered the 2100T. They agreed and sent me the card today.

526. I was working with my new Navigon 2100 when the following message appeared and now it seems locked;
     Fatal Application Error. Application MN6.exe has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

     Help!!

527. Hi Roger – As mentioned previously if you get locked up, take a paper clip or sharp object and push the reset button to restart.

528. Roger, there were a bunch of these 2100’s that had a problem with the SD card which, if I recall correctly, generated that same error you are getting (and Navigon replaced the SD card on them). If the problem continues, contact Navigon, you could have a bad card.

529. Roger, I had the same thing happen to my 2100 when I first got it…”Fatal Application Error” message. No matter what I did I could not clear the fault until I hit the reset button on the side of the unit. Since then I had it freeze up on me a couple of times, but never got that same message again. Otherwise it works fine.

     Does anyone know how the January update from Navigon will be loaded into the unit, via SD card or USB connection with a computer?

530. 2100 purchased 3Dec @ Staples $150 [w/ lifetime traffic].

     Thanks everyone for the valuable comments and research for fixes.
     For you folk who really have put the time in… please ignore the “newbies” who come in with 1 comment complaining about your “personality problems” . They are not the ones spending time helping out us 350,000 folk [this number from Navigon support] in the U.S. who recently purchased their 2100 and are trying to decide whether to return it or not. Thank you “main guys” so much.
     Think about the nightmares Navigon 2100 programmers are having about all the moderate level bugs they didn’t get to fix before shipping this unit!

     I must concur that “whacky routes” are the prime detractor. Just leaving the 2100 running while routinely going about town I get less than sensible routing suggestions [approx 25% of the time].
     Sometimes I am directed to turn right, go 10 blocks, turn left, go 20 blocks, turn left, go 10 blocks, then right to continue on the original route that I was on!
     This is clearly a routing algorithm bug, not a map data problem [says me, an IBM programmer]. In cases like this, there is no traffic alert within 50 miles and the 2100 actually shows the road for the 20 blocks that it routes me around! If I ignore “her” on the first turn, she sometimes recovers her head in less than a block. But other times when I ignore the 2100’s suggestion, she keeps suggesting the right turn until only one block from reconnecting with the original path! The 2100 “optimum suggested route” then takes me right for 10 blocks, parallel for 1 block, then left for 10 blocks, then resume my route!

     Last night “she” suggested a clever short cut [saving 4 blocks from the normal familiar 8 block route] to me. It turned out to go thru a fenced cemetary on a winding 1-lane dirt road. The front entrance gate was open but after 4 turns we spookily ended up at a closed gate in “dark forest”. At least our backtrack in the was optimally guided!

     The above are “15% of the time exceptions” and are easily ignored when I know where I am going. But what if I’m in a strange area? “She’ll” still get me there, but perhaps through a bad part of town?

     My traffic alert service works fine after spending 20 minutes activating using the in-box plastic card thru 3 levels of indirection on the 2100 and at a web site.

     For those of you hoping Navigon will be kind to you and issue a prompt “route calculation” software fix:
     Their support folk told me that a fix would come soon [just after my Staples free return period expires on 6 Jan]. They knew all about the whacky routing issues.
     My take: if Navigon were sloppy enough to release hardware that has the known issues in the first place, why should they have the corporate conscience to help us with some buggy performance? They clearly state that fixes may appear only while the model is in production!
     When for a first few days I couldn’t find my traffic activation card [it fell between car seats], their customer service said “Tough” They said the Staples advert on 3Dec07 offering free lifetime traffic was only for Black Friday. When I mentioned that the Navigon box had “free lifetime traffic” printed on its side, Navigon customer service said: “that is Staples’ problem.” I eventually found the card and activated successfully, but one has to wonder about the empathy, support, and compassion that Navigon corporate has.

     I wanted so badly to keep this unit and have vacillated for weeks. It is so sexy and sleek. But common sense finally wins: “back to Staples you go”

     Thank you everyone for your helpful comments and efforts at bringing sense into the chaotic world of navigation.

531. MountainGuy~

     That cemetery shortcut story is absolutely priceless! Thanks for sharing that one with us. Best laugh I’ve had in a while (hopefully I’m laughing with you.)

     As for Navigon’s corporate attitude, it’s disappointing to hear of a firm treating customers with so little empathy. I think earlier on here that someone lost their mount and Navigon’s response was something like “we can’t help you.”
     That’s just disheartening.

     As for me, I’m going to keep her. The price point is just so low when you factor in the free lifetime traffic. If it weren’t for that, mine would be going back too. It does give me the heebie-jeebies that the magical update comes right after the return period ends, but Navigon is pretty established across the pond. Hopefully they’ll pull it together.

     Hate to see you go MountainGuy, but common sense…there’s something to be said for that. Cheers!

532. Misleading on how to backup the SD card. There is no way you can do direct copy of the sd contents.

533. hi, gota problem i cant get activation as when i rubbed the stip on the back of the card the number rubbed off to is there another way you can give me the activation number

534. Lenoir~

     You most definately can backup the SD card.
     If you’re using Windows:

     1. Put the card in your computer.
     2. Open Windows Explorer.
     3. Go to the location where the SD card is.
     4. Select all of the items contained on the card.
     5. Right click and select “copy.”
     6. “Paste” the copy in whatever folder you have choosen.

     Phil~

     Call Navigon, however it’s my assumtion they’re going to say you’re out of luck. Sorry.

535. doofaloofa,
     Thank you for the instructions, but I guess you’ve never tried to copy the files yourself. Unless Navigon has change the files strutures, all files under each folder are being encrypted on the sd card; thus copying all files is not possible. There are 2 files on the root that are not encrypted, but that is not complete to transfer files to a faster sd card. I would prefer to have a built-in 2gb chip inside rather then using the sd memory card; very soon the sd card will fail. It is very inconvenient to swap out the sd card every time you need to listen to music. The mio has built-in memory, plus the ‘expansion’ sd slot for additional sd card.

536. doofaloofa,
     Thank you for the instructions, but I guess you’ve never tried to copy the files yourself. Unless Navigon has change the files strutures, all files under each folder are being encrypted on the sd card; thus copying all files is not possible. There are 2 files on the root that are not encrypted, but that is not complete to transfer files to a faster sd card. I would prefer to have a built-in 2gb chip inside the unit rather then using the sd card and occupy that single slot; very soon any sd card will fail. It is very inconvenient to swap out the sd card every time you need to listen to music. The mio has built-in memory, plus the ‘expansion’ sd slot for additional sd card. One other bad thing about this navigon 2100 is when you missed your route, it does not tell you. It just re-calculates itself silently and direct you to go around again. If it tells me ‘re-calculating’ then I can just pull the car over, park the car, and walk to my destination in just 50 feet away. So, in an infamiliar area, the gps could just calculate its thing and you keep driving and driving without knowing you missed your turn or even passed your destination.

537. One other bad thing of navigon 2100 is it gets frozen easily. You can tab on the screen couple times during boot up or right after bootup, or try to use the gps quickly, it will freeze. Power cycle off/on to un-freeze it.

538. Lenoir~

     I was able to successfully make both an ISO image of the SD card to burn to disk, and I was also able to copy it to a folder on my computer. I’m stumped, and unfortunately I’m not the most tech-savvy person on here. Maybe someone else could field this one for you. Good luck.

539. Lenoir,

     I copied my SD to my PC without any problems then wrote that data to another SD and that is what I use in the 2100. The original SD is unchanged and no longer used.

540. Lenoir: I copied everything from the SD card to both home computer AND my work computer. I copied the files back to a new “high speed” SD card and have been using that SD card in my 2100 ever since (I put the original SD card away). I have copied the files over to a 3rd SD card that I use when I am testing other people’s “skins” on my 2100, and that card works fine also. I didn’t find any files that were encrypted.

     I don’t understand your comment about recalculating. I know the 2100 does not audibly SAY that it is recalculating, but you still could not pass by your destination becuase it says “you are approaching your destinattion.” And then it says, “you have reached your destination, your destination is on the right [left].” So you couldn’t blythely pass by our destination and then have the unit silently recalculate your route because the unit would have TOLD you that you were reaching your destination and then that you HAD reached your destination.

     As for freezing, I’ve been using mine since BF and it has not frozen once. Your unit freezing coupled with the inability to copy the files off the SD card makes me wonder if you have a faulty SD card?

541. MountianGuy,
     Had same problem with card missing from box, Was given instructions from Navigon Support to email them model ID wich is obtained while in any activation process, found by selecting activate service. they in return ask for copy of receipt(faxed also) and contact number, they returned call in 2 days left message with activation code. Not sure why they are giving you the drawkcabssa treatment? I would try again, everything works fine now. Other systems are giving wacky routing (garmin, tomtom, etc) just not reported. Oh well worth another try thou

542. Well Terry how did he like the gift?

543. “Other systems are giving wacky routing (garmin, tomtom, etc) just not reported.”

     If the wacky routing is not being reported, how did you find out about it?

544. MountainGuy – in case you come back to the forum to read comments, even after you return the Navigon, thank you for your well reasoned comments. Loved the example of being routed through the cemetery. When TomTom or Garmin route people through the cemetery to get to their destination, I’ll be all set to criticize them for it. But I still hope Navigon releases a software update that fixes these routing problems.

545. As an owner and user of Navigon, Garmin, Tom Tom and Magellan I’d like to weigh in on the issue of wacky routing. It is true that of all my units the Navigon is the most consistent in terms of wacky routing and needs the most improvement. However it is not alone in this regard and the other units are capable of sending you on the occasional bizarre side trip.

     My Garmin Streetpilot is still my favorite but it will at times do strange things. As an example My daily commute takes me on the Garden State Parkway which has express and local lanes. At some point Garmin wants me to merge over into the express lanes. I don’t like to use them as at the time of my commute they can be worse than the local lanes so I continue in the local lanes. Garmin then wants me to exit the Parkway, drive a 3/4 mile, make a u turn, drive back, pay an additional toll and reenter the Parkway in the express lanes. Keep in mind the express lanes end and merge back with the local lanes in 10 miles and the Garmin maneuver would add almost ten minutes to the trip. This is almost as bad as the famous Navigon four leaf clover route. Navigon wants me to do the same merge to express but when I ignore the instruction it correctly recalculates the route using the parallel local lane.

     At the moment I can’t recall the specific route but Tom Tom would me a five mile detour that the other 3 correctly routed.

     The Magellan Maestro is a recent acquisition and while it has routed fine in the limited time I have been using it there have been reports about wacky routing. As an example here is one user on gpspassion who thought his Navigon performed better routing than his 3250:

     ” I just bought the 3250 and must say I am disappointed. While the features and 6 Million POI’s are nice, the routing is really quirky. I live in CT and the routes it takes you on are out of the way. I’ve tested several units including Navigon 2100, Mio C520, Tom Tom One XL and a Nuvi 350. They’re routes are somewhat similar and more direct than the 3250. I called Magellan on this and they stated they have got several complaints on this and are planning a firmware update. I also have a problem with the unit locking up sometimes on the opening screen. I tried two units and both had the same problem. The traffic feature does work good, and is much better than the Navigon one. I just don’t know if it’s worth waiting for the firmware update, as Magellan has no clue when it will be released.”

     Again these can be viewed as aberrations and it apparent the Navigon needs the most improvement in a function that is at the core of gps utility. I certainly hope that Navigon makes the necessary improvements as this is a nice little package.

546. My 2 cents… Got a 2100 for Christmas, used it twice. Then it froze. I pulled the card, then reinserted it and it came to life. The next day it froze at home map. I hit the reset and now it will not go past the gray startup screen (Please do not drive while….) I tried reset and power at the same time to no avail. At the startup screen it will not accept a yes/no tap, just sits there. I even tried switching the cards format slide and it gave me a notice to put it back to the way it was and even then it would not accept my ‘ok’ tap on the screen. It was purchased from Amazon. At this point you can guess my opinion of this unit. We’ll see how well their customer service is. Any comments?? Thanks in advance.

547. From the GPSPassion forum:

     One thing I’ve noticed though is that when Navigon compressed/encoded the
     NavTeq Maps for use on their device, the compression technique screwed up
     some of the data. For example, look at this route:

     Starting point: Monterey, CA
     End point: 7200 Moonstone Beach Dr Cambria, CA 93428

     The route is correct except for the very end. The directions have you drive PAST
     your destination, do a U Turn, then make a left on the final street. It’s as if the
     routing engine (for some reason) thinks that you cannot make a right turn.

     I’ve noticed this at other places too. There is supposedly an update that is
     supposed to be release sometime in Jan. I’m waiting to see what is fixed.

     There have been far too many incidents like this, where actual routes are provided as proof of the routing error, to believe that there is not a problem with the Navigon routing. Cross your fingers for the January update.

548. Below are examples of how folder names look like. I wonder if anyone else has the same problem. You can’t even access these folders. There are 3 folders: MN6, Poi, and RealityView, under each folder you will see these encrypted sub-folders.

     i:ä┼│╕s÷.Σ╥ε

     âµé.┴₧│.∩╠â

549. Lenoir: I can browse all folders under MN6, there are files there as well, and nothing is encrypted. Many users on the GPSPassions forum have edited hte MN6ResourcesBinary.res file to create new colors for the buttons, make them transparent, etc., and that file is located in the \mn6 directory. This link will show you the files in my MN6 directory on the SD card of the Navigon, if you care to see them. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2147562693_997357589f_o.jpg

550. NeitherFanboy,
     Thanks for pointing me with some directions. The link you have is the way files and folders should be. I think something is strange with my SD data. I think after I activated the Traffic, folders became encrypted. I need to find a way to change the female voice; it is soo distorted and I can hardly hear what she is saying.

551. Thanks for the great review! I use my 2100 every day; as an Atlanta real estate agent, it’s so much more effiecient than printing up mapquest directions. Thank you to the person posting the case as well, I’ve been using an old camera case! The 3-d “real life” view has saved me many times. Thanks so much!

552. I bought the Navigon 2100 for my husband for Christmas. I am currently working in South Carolina and my husband will be driving back to Michigan by himself. As I am always his navigator, I thought that it would be the perfect gift for him and I was RIGHT! I have been “into” navigation since I was a child, traveling with my father (a retired naval captain) pulling a travel trailer. One thing you did NOT want to do with my father was tell him that you missed the exit and he would have to turn around. So I learned at a VERY early age how to read a map. My husband is constantly marveling at the “compass in my nose”.

     Anyway, I’ve noticed a few things about the Navigon 2100:

     Terry, you mentioned your opinion that the Garmin was a better unit. Not having used the Garmin that you are using, I can only offer my unsolicited opinion. Garmin is top-notch in the sailing and boating world (in direct competition with Magellan for the same reason). I DO own a Garmin for my boat and am quite familiar with its workings. Being that Garmin and Magellan have been doing this for a quite long time, I would suspect that they would be a bit better at it. However, for the price, the Navigon gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

     I noticed that the ETA on the Navigon was in Zulu time (Greenwich Mean Time). I was trying to figure out how to change it to local time and was confused by the fact that the unit could pick up my local lat-long but not the local time? Anyone not familiar with GMT would be confused by having to add the differential time to the GMT. Then the 2nd day of our travel from Michigan to South Carolina, it miraculously changed to the local time. Don’t how or why or even when it did that.

     The other thing that I noticed that was quite irritating was the inability to actually customize a route, other than by deleting certain sections of a road, having it recalculate, and it sometimes gave me what route I wanted to take, but more often than not it did not.

     I was traveling from Greenville, SC to Aiken, SC by a route that was familiar to me. I had previously input the cities along the way and I had put in an address in one of the cities (I didn’t want to go to the center of town, and if you don’t put in an actual address — even a “made-up” one — then it takes you thru the center of town). According to the Navigon, I was supposed to turn right and “immediately” be at my destination. However, I knew I had to turn left. For the REST of the trip, it kept telling me to make a U-turn! I could not get it to recalculate to the next waypoint. So I figure that if you miss a waypoint, by mistake or intentionally, it will continuously tell you to make a U-turn. Quite irritating — because I have to be ABSOLUTELY sure that I’ve programmed it correctly for my husband’s trip back to Michigan.

     All in all, my husband thinks this unit is the Kat’s Meow!

553. Rick,

     I don’t know if you tried this:

     I called Navigon because my unit wouldn’t turn on at all. I tried pushing a pen into the reset hole, but that didn’t help so I called and talked to Brian at Navigon. He said everyone should be aware that you have to charge your new unit 6-8 hours on start up for the first time.

     He told me how to make it turn on. Basically, you hold the power button down for 15 seconds and let go and then hold it down for 6 seconds and the unit resets itself. It worked. He said if I could please put this on the blog it would save a lot of calls for them. He said to turn your unit off – hold the power button down for 6 seconds because if you just touch it to turn it off, it’s not off – it’s just on “save battery” mode. Then to turn it back on – hold the power button down for 6 seconds and up it comes.

     So there you have it. Hope it helps.

     So far I love my Navigon 2100. It gets me where I need to go in a pleasant manner. According to Navigon, there are suppose to be free firmware updates to correct the “bugs” in the 2100 during the first part of 2008. I haven’t experienced problems like others have. It does have an issue with getting me out of my neighborhood (my house was built in 1959 so it should be on their map). It wants me to go around the block, but I know better, and after that it works fine. (I’ve compared the route with MapQuest and the Navigon gives better directions)

     Bless all of you who have posted. Your input has been valuable. I can’t do all the “techie” stuff, but I love reading about what you all are up to and the different places to fine information.

     Happy New Year!!!

554. Terry, in your review, you state that the Lifetime Traffic card AND ANTENNA allows the user to get real-time traffic condition updates. Antenna? I don’t have an antenna. There is a port for an antenna on the upper left corner of the device. Should one have been included with our our 2100? The box was sealed when we got it from HHGregg.

555. I know you directed that question to Terry, and I’m not Terry, but I know the answer to your question — the antenna is built into the cigarette adapter power cable.

556. That mini port is for an external antenna; and that is not included. For traffic, so-called antenna, it is part of the car cigarette charger.

557. doofaloofaon,
     Could you possibly direct me to your amplified voice, my search at soulseek did not find it.
     Thanks, Lenoir

558. Lenoir~

     I haven’t ran SoulSeek in a while, that’s why you didn’t find it.
     NeitherFanboy posted it somewhere over at gpspassion/

     NeitherFanboy~
     Hey buddy, do you remember where you put that over there?

559. Lenoir~

     Just so you know, you will get more distortion if you install the amplified version. It’s a little louder with some sacrifice to clarity.

560. Hey Doofaloofa & Lenoir: the amplified sound files are here: http://www.gpspassion.com/upload/2100_Sounds.zip

561. Just a reminder for everyone here that bought their 2100 at Staples.
     (Direct from Staples.com)

     “Holiday Returns: During the holiday season, we will be extending our regular 14–day electronic and furniture return policy to permit customers to return products that may be purchased as gifts. Any electronic or furniture product, which usually falls within the 14–day return policy, purchased between 11/23/07 and 12/24/07 may be returned until 1/6/08 or as regular policy allows, whichever is later. This applies to all electronic and furniture products within Staples® regularly posted 14–day return policy. All electronic and furniture purchases made on or after 12/25/07 will observe our existing return policy. All other terms and conditions of our return policy apply.”

     NeitherFanboy~
     Thanks for the link for Lenoir. Happy New Year!

562. THE 2100 is great but charging it can be kind aconfusing can u post feedback on this as i am using the house charger does the green light tell me it is charging or the orange light

563. This thread has been amazing! I’m floored by the response to my initial review and all the posters here that have jumped in to answer questions! THANK YOU!

     To answer the question, “did he like it?” Well the answer is yes and know. The biggest fear I had in giving my dad the Navigon was the small size of the text on the screen. So I bailed on it and gave him a TomTom One instead. It was the right move for him. However, I did purchase a second Navigon 2100 for a friend and I gave the first one to my sister. They are both thrilled and have been using them with no issues!

     Happy New Year to All! Thanks so much for reading my blog!

564. The thanks goes to you Terry. Much obliged. Glad to hear your father ended up with the TomTom. As for me, it’s off to celebrate properly. Obscure soul songs…here I come! (Sans Navigon.) Health and happiness in 2007 (to even the shills.)

565. Anyone find a “beanbag” dash mount which fit the bill for the 2100?

     If so please let us know the Part# and store that you found it at

     Thanks

     D

566. I have a 5100, but I found a generic beanbag that works really well with it and should work with the 2100. If you search for “Nav-mat” you’ll find it. I bought mine for about $25 (including shipping) from an Amazon associated vendor, but you can find them at numerous online vendors. Here’s a link to the Bracketron (manufacturer) website.
     http://www.bracketron.com/main/index.php?catid=6&pid=24

567. Just checking in to say that after MountainGuy’s report and THREE phone calls to Navigon since 12/17 about the dead unit and NO satisfaction (same idiot questions: “Did you try recharging it? Did you try holding down the on/off button? We can’t escalate till we ask you” although we CLEARLY gave this information all 3 times) the bad one ended up going back to Staples last Fri. The clerk said she’d gotten about 3 back the day before. The first unit (fingers crossed) still seems to be OK. If it lasts out the year it will have been $ well spent.

     Sounds like from some of the more recent comments other GPS have their bugs also. Maybe in a year or two we will all be talking about “the bad old days when GPS gave wacky routing” and good routes will be the norm and prices lower as well. Cheers!

568. gaery corshia,

     The orange light tells you it’s charging, but until it’s been charging the first time for 6-8 hours – even if the green light comes on – it’ not finished (been there, done that). After that first (out of the box 6-8 hour) charge when it’s charging, if the green light comes on it’s good to go, but I still let it keep charging for awhile – unless I’m in a hurry.

     You know, “fill it to the brim” so to speak.

569. We got a 2100 for Christmas and so far it has been great. We have used it 3 times to navigate our little trips. It recalculates when I decide to go a different way than it originally told me to go, and it does do that quickly. We live in Southern Calif and my husband wanted to get the optional traffic upgrade (we unfortunately did not get the (t) model), however, when we went into the website it does not show traffic for Orange County, Calif. This seems highly unusual since Orange County is a large area, does anyone out there know if the Los Angeles traffic area includes Orange County? Thanks! We don’t want to purchase the package if it does not include this area as this is where we would use it most!

570. NeitherFanBoy,
     Thank you for the amplified sound files. Much appreciated.
     Lenoir

571. I just purchased the Navigon 7100. I had the Garmin 220 and the Garmin 660 but when I took the Navigon 7100 for a test drive, I returned the Garmin 660 and left with the Navigon. This comes with “free for life traffic updates” and is very reliable in any metro area. The map updates are free annually also.
     Between the graphics, accuracy, real time view and lane assist, this is the best GPS unit for the money.

572. Doofa, there are either some shills here, or someone has stock in Navigon.

573. FROM THE GPSPASSION WEBSITE:

     An update from Navigon,
     This is what I sent their technical support email:

     Category: Technical Support
     Question: Want some honest feedback on your Navigon 2100 from your users?

     Go to the forum located at:http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97186&whichpage=1
     These folks are doing things to fix your unit that your company should be doing. We all hope to see a free update to the Maps and routing algorithum in Jan. The internet is a powerful tool. If you don’t fix some major issues with this unit I think you will begin loosing marker presence if you have not already.
     I like the unit overall but I think you really need to take a look at the routing and Maps closer, a lot of times the maps are way off and make no sense at all.

     Here is their response I received today:

     Dear Navigon Customer,
     Thank you for your inquiry. We are looking at the routing algorithm and we are expecting a software update in the next few weeks. Please check our website for further information then.
     Please contact us at 888-848-0701 Monday through Friday 8am to 10pm EST if you have any other questions or http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en under the Support tab.
     Sincerely, Navigon Customer Support Team

     So maybe there is hope soon. All I can say is it better be a free update!
     ______

     To all of you who do not believe it, there IS a problem with the Navigon routing. If you haven’t seen it yet, you will.

574. NeitherFanboy~

     As I was deep in thought….
     I considered the possibilities:

     #1: Maybe new units being produced have a newer version of software and the major problems with routing have been resolved. (Pretty unlikely option that new stock would be hitting the streets so soon & that they’d release a beta to new customers.)

     #2: Maybe the people that are overjoyed with their 2100’s reside in an area where the routing issues aren’t so prevalent. (Look at the rash of newfound love though, it’s disproportionate; it seems as though this is a recent phenomenon.)

     #3: Maybe the outpouring of love for the 2100 has something to do with the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show that Navigon is promoting so heavily on their site? (Do a Google search on Navigon 2100 and Terry’s review comes in at the top of the search results.)

     I really hate to think that Navigon is trying to polish their image by posting “false-positive” reviews at the tail of Terry’s page before the big C.E.S., but I’m at a loss to explain it by any other rational means. Believe me, I take no joy in using the word “shill” if it isn’t accurate, but if there’s a elephant in the room…

     We’ll see, but my (underrated) masculine intuition tells me we’re going to continue to see a spate of spurting love in the comming days. Hopefully Navigon has the tools to fix these major routing issues and the cojones to not plant reviews in an effort so salvage their image. (Let the update do the salvaging!)

     Really, I like my 2100, but from my experience the routing has been so nonsensical that I’ve resigned myself to putting it in storage until the update. Primarily I’ve been driving without the 2100 for the past couple of weeks because frankly, I’m SCARED to trust it to competently navigate me.

     Who ya gonna call?
     SHILL-BUSTERS!

575. Doofa, that is exactly what I have done with my 2100. Its here on the desk in front of me, which is where it stays. I traded a TomTom One for it, and I really wanted to like it too … it has some nifty features. But the poor routing is a problem for me. And having been at the GPSPassion website, I see the reports from others about their routing problems. And they will give you concrete examples, like “try routing from this address to this address and see what you get,” so you can actually enter that into YOUR 2100 and see what it does. I can PROVE to myself that there is a routing issue. And with all these examples of poor routing — and having experienced it myself — I am always shocked by “I just got my Navigon yesterday and it’s just wonderful.” How can you actually know in a day that it’s wonderful. And how can I stack your opinion that “it’s wonderful” up against actual examples of demonstrably bad routing? And how can people ignore example after example of bad routing, somehow implying that those who have experienced that are (a) stupid, (b) Navigon haters, or (c) too picky since they ONLY paid $99. It’s almost like saying “what do you mean your Pinto blew up? I’ve been driving my Pinto for weeks now and it hasn’t blown up even once,” or “what do you mean you have a problem with asbestos? I have asbestos in my attic insulation and it hasn’t given me asbestosis.” Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t mean its not real. Besides that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

     So I bought another TomTom and I’m using that right now. If Navigon fixes the routing problems I will switch to the Navigon again. Otherwise its a very pretty paperweight.

576. NeitherFanboy~

     Where IS honest Abe when you need him?

     As far as your traffic problem goes, I’d push the warranty angle.
     After all, if you need to get out of the Navigon after the update, it’ll bump up what you can recoup. After a cursory read through their disclaimers, they seem to be targeting the quality of service, not defects in the unit.

     I tried PM’ing you on the GpsPassions, but their PM’s are shut down.
     If you’re so inclined, drop me a line at: doofaloofa-navigon@yahoo.com
     ____________________________________________________________________
     *If you got your 2100 at Staples between Black Friday and now, today is your last day to return.

577. If anyone is having the annoying red triangle on your 2100, take it back to the store and exchange it for a new one immediately. I also bought the 2100 on black Friday at staples; I have done everything per their instructions yet no traffic alerts. I live in the Detroit area which is on their list for supported cities. The day after I bought it, I started to call the useless and I mean useless customer support center. I have never received a call back from them; this went on for a month, first they say “you will get a call back within 48hrs”, second call they say “a technician is looking into your issue and will call you in a week”, third call they say “we were waiting on the firmware information of your device”, which how did they expect to get that if they don’t call me?, 4th call I asked to speak to a supervisor to which the help desk support said “the supervisor is not available but they would call me that evening”, they never did, 5th call they said “the reason a tech is not calling me or a supervisor is because they don’t know what to tell me” LOL, 6th call the support person told me “take it back to staples and get a new one”, he also indicated that once you register the free traffic that particular code is bound to the device permanently and is useless for anything else, you cannot unbind it either. I offered to be an area tester, I also asked for a unit replacement which they said they could not do. All they keep talking about is a firmware update, I can say this much I highly doubt that a firmware update is going to fix this particular problem. I have read most of this thread, don’t wait… return the item for a replacement if you can. I believe Staples will allow you to return the item up to Jan 6th, after such time your device will be in the faith of Navigon. I finally returned mine yesterday Staples had one left with the traffic card in the box. To my surprise I registered it and WOW it works! The only reason I have not gotten rid of it altogether is because I paid $99 for it. I am also going to be filling a Better Business Bureau complaint on this company, their documentation claims to call Navigon for any issues DO NOT RETURN ITEM TO RETAILER. It’s apparent they do not care about their customers or I would have gotten at least 1 phone call or a reply to my email.

578. Yesterday, it took 30 min for my navigon 2100 to find the satellite. My nephew’s Garmin took just minutes. Today, mine took 2-3 min. Has anyone had the same experience and what have you done? I called Navigon and was told that there was nothing that they could do since the 2100 was a weak model. They are working on a new card for it which will help. they will send it when done to those who have registered. No help for me now as I go short distances. I might have to return it to Staples. Otherwise, it looks good.

579. With it’s nonsensical routing I also was ready to relegate the Navigon to a desk corner in anticipation of an update. But a funny thing happened. I found I missed some of it’s features like excellent positioning, turn instructions, traffic reporting, map appearance and the sometimes maligned static reality view. So until there is a fix for it’s routing disabilities, I decided it needed a “guide dog” to keep it from deviating from a safe and sensible course and pressed my old Garmin 2610 into service beside it. When the Navigon begins to misbehave, I route by the Garmin until the Navigon fall into step like an repentant child. If I could network them together they would make an excellent gps. Even if the Navigon’s deficiencies are addressed, I will still need another gps. One of my vehicles is a large bus like motorhome that doesn’t like to be routed under low overpasses or onto bridges and roads that won’t support it’s 28,000 lb GVW. A gps that has a vehicle type of bus or truck is required. This eliminates Magellans, Tom Toms and pretty much everything but some Garmins and Mios. I was ready to give up and spring for a Garmin 760 until I discovered they carried over the limited vehicle types of the 2xx series as opposed to the full complement in the older 3xx and 6xx.

580. Gman – I am so glad you started that post “with it’s nonsensical routing!” With all of these glowing posts about how wonderful the routing has been on their 2100, I was beginning to feel like I fell down the rabbit hole. That said, I agree with you on the features. I haven’t noticed anything special on the positioning, but I haven’t noticed anything negative there either. Turn instructions are good (but I think all the current crop of GPSs do the turn instructions pretty well?), traffic reporting was a huge plus (wish mine worked), the map appearance is good and I found the Reality View helpful — even if it is “static” it still shows which way I should take on a freeway interchange. If the routing issue was fixed this unit would be a WINNER.

     Never even occurred to me there were GPS units that dealt with the weight/height issues of an RV, learn something new every day! Thanks! 🙂

581. I got the 2100 for Xmas and spent a lot of time debating whether to keep it.

     Let me summarize the following deficiencies that make me want to return it:

     1) not enough POIs (especially no retail outlets)- I called customer support, they said they decided to leave these out due to there “not being enough space on the sd card”. They promised this would be addressed in a future update, but the fact that they aren’t acknowledged this on their website yet is making me nervous.

     2) wacky routing (thanks for confirming this Doofa and NFB):specifically, it suggests meandering routes to my destination. I think someone descibed it here as the “paperboy” route, which I agree with. 8/10 times I can use common sense to ignore its routing and choose the correct route,but I am concerend about if I am in an unfamililar place.

     I had a Garmin IQue (my first) before this, and I took for granted its features that made finding and routing a destination easy and worry free (please don’t think I am a Garmin shill).

     I was happy to read this blog and discover there were folks like myself who are in the same boat. I bought Dec. 23, and does not have any traffic update issues or a corrupted sd card, so I believe it is not a defective unit that others may have got at the BF sale.

     What makes me wat to keep it is that the traffic updates are really cool (it works wel here in south florida) and I like the 3-D vew and cute icons for McD’s and BK and gas stations. I am crossing my fingers that Navigon does indeed fix items 1,2,&3 above.

     This being said, I would have returned it immediately if it didn’t come with free trafffic updates.

     Terry, thanks for keeing the blog alive and others please speak up (like I did) if you have problems, hopefully Navigon is reading this and will do something about it. Doofa and NFB, please keep us up to date with your findings/discoveries, I check this blog for the 411.

582. BA~ Immediately after BF, they were simply deluged with calls. Try calling again maybe?

     Ro~ 30mins. for an initial satellite lock (although LONG) can be construed as normal.

     Gman~ Interesting to hear about Mio offering a setting for a large vehicle.
     Bravo to them!!!

     light sport~ If I’m not mistaken, that’s your 1st post? Welcome aboard.
     Hopefully soon we’ll find the 2100 can fulfill it’s promise.

     Navigon~ Stay the course, you can most definitely have a winner once the routing issue is fixed. It would be nice if you were more attentive to those that are having issues with replacement parts/warranty claims.

     In the grand scheme of things, customer satisfaction will do more to further your position in the market than will hoarding the dollars of unsatisfied customers…

583. light sport,

     1) not enough POIs

     I sent an email requesting a method to either add my own POIs or buy the 7100 extended POI DB.

     Their first response was the same as you got, not enough room on the SD card.

     I responded that there was over 300MB available on the SD card and this would be room for the expanded POI DB. Also the expanded DB is currently on the 7100 which uses the same 2GB SD card as the 2100 so there had to be enough room.

     The response to that was a one liner saying there were no plans to do anything to improve the POIs on the 2100.

     Let just hope they fix the routing problems.

584. Kalyan and Markjon, I am getting the same screen you are getting. “Program Memory is Low”. There is no way to exit out of this screen because it looks like half the screen is off the display area. Has anyone found an answer to this one?

585. Happy1,
     It is good that you are happy with your unit, and you made your point. But your point makes sense to you and not everyone else. The point of using a gps is to make your driving from point A to point B more efficient, and it is not doing that.

     I can drive around and find my destination without a gps, so what is the point of using a gps and it makes you drive around?

     If your point makes sense to everyone, we probably still riding bicycles…why drive a car if bicycles can also take you from point A to point B. Isn’t a car more efficient in many ways?

     Thanks to the users that spent the time to troubleshoot the problems, and that companies are giving us a good working units today. Nothing is perfect, but that does not mean Navigon can ignore the problems when the problems are found and reported.

586. I hope they offer additional POIs on the 2100. I called a few weeks back and they said that they were trying to add more to match or be competitive with Garmin.

     I am not holding my breath, but even if I could purchase more retail POIs I would gladly pay a reasonable upgrade.

     Keep up the good work here guys. I check this blog everyday for updates.

587. Although I also wish the 2100 had more POIs, I can’t fault them so much on the number as it seems to be competitive with the entry level units of other manufacturers. What I do fault them for is that out of the box you can’t add your own POIs with out buying some third party software. Locally I have found their restaurant POIs to be fairly comprehensive but totally lacking for retail stores. The Navigon 5100 owners should have plenty of reason for complaint as their mid range unit is clearly deficient when compared to 4 to 6 million POIs offered by other mid range units. The 5100’s POIs for the lower 48 states appear to be the same as the 2100.

588. I found Navigon Fresh on Navigons website.. looks like you can use it to backup your SD card.

     Hope this helps:

     ftp://ftp.navigon.com/undefinied/NAVIGON_fresh_11_setup.zip

     I used the 2100 this weekend on a trip from Connecticut to Madame Tussauds in NYC, then onto Hazlet New Jersey. I screwed up on the exit to Hazlet and it re-routed in less then 5 seconds and got me there perfectly. My unit was purchased from Radio Shack in December.

589. Sorry, the above link doesn’t work, try this instead for Navigon Fresh:

     http://www.navigon.com/site/int/en/maps_services/navigon_fresh

590. Read this long and very informative blog and decided to get the 7100 for the extra features. There was a sale on the internet for $249 (no tax or shipping), so I decided for all the extras I might be inclined to use someday, it was worth it. So far, so good with the tips on which settings to use I’ve read here and other GPS sites. I’ve become addicted to this forum and have been checking it daily for the last month. Thank you !

591. I purchased the 2100 T on Black Friday at Staples and have decided to keep because it is a pretty handy piece of technology to have in your car, but there are some limitations.

     On a trip from Indiana to Florida and back it gave me some strange directions. Because of road construction along one of the interstates it kept telling us to get off at the next exit and take alternate routes (though we were traveling late at night and traffic through the construction zone was not bad). We finally just turned off the speaker and ignored it–it did seem to recalculate quickly, unfortunately it was always to the next exit and the off the beaten path route.

     Tried to use the trip log and set it up but information was lost when we had to turn off the unit to reset. That’s been my first and only hard freeze. I had another one in which I was able to fix it by going to the battery save off position and then turning it back on in approximately 10 seconds.

     It created a really wacky route on the return trip–all secondary and residential streets–I tried deleting them to force a recalc but it kept returning to the same route. Problem was solved when I returned it to the ‘car’ mode from the ‘pedestrian’ mode…..Whoops :0

     Every once and awhile the e-t-a on the screen would change and be several hours different from their estimate that made sense.

     Was comparing it to a friend’s Garmin Nuvi (forget which number) and noticed we didn’t have average speed, max speed, and other fun little stats like that–I also was most impressed with the Nuvi’s map and text clarity. They however didn’t have lifetime traffic–costs $50 a year to add. They also paid $250 more than I did.

     I really wish it had all the statistical categories because I was hoping to use it next summer as my bike navigator and I like keeping track of all that stuff. I don’t suppose the alleged firmware update will add those features will it?

     Traffic reporting worked fine but the go around routes they calculated were really weird and appeared to be worse than slogging through the traffic. In Atlanta it told us that an accident was in the right lanes so we stayed in the left lanes and cruised by the problem with only a minor slow down. In Florida the traffic report gave all the roads in Florida that were undergoing construction.

     I’ve read most of this blog and agree that it does produce some weird routing which I hope is fixed with the firmware upgrade.
     POIs are weak.
     Interface is slow (at least compared to a $350 Garmin)

     All in all it’s a good $99 unit that will be well used for a couple of years.

     P.S. If anyone knows how to add all the statistical stuff (easily and without messing up the unit) I’d be interested in where I might find the procedure for upgrading.

592. Bud7100
     Where did you find the 7100 for 250?

593. For what we paid for the Navigon 2100, $99- 150 with traffic included it still is a good buy for the cost. Friends that i know that have the other Brands are having the same problem with there units,funny routing, low memory(with no sd slot(tom tom 3rd)) heck some dont even work and they cannot return to BBuy of CCity without a act from congress. In yes the 2100 has its problems but other Brands do to, Wish i could find the 7100 like Bud7100 for $250.00.
     By mistake returned one that i had for $99, and kept the one for $150 both with traffic thou, as before, where can you get a gps with traffic for $150 or less??????????

594. I have a TomTom One 3d Edition and am having NO problems with strange routes. There have been times when it wanted me to take a route that is not the one I would have chosen, but I can always figure out WHY it wants me to take that route — it wants me to take Webster St. when I would take Constitution — Webster is listed as a Highway and the GPS is set for “Fastest Route.” It’s not what I would do, but it makes sense. I can see why the GPS picks it.

     I have not heard, or read, complaints about Garmin picking unexplainable routes either. So saying that “other units have funny routing” in this instance is comparing apples to oranges.

     The 2100 sometimes picks unexplainable routes. Too many people have reported instances where the routing is illogical and unexplainable — like getting off the freeway, driving on a parallel road to the freeway for a couple of miles and then getting back on the freeway in exactly the same direction. There is a bug someplace in the routing, which Navigon needs to fix; if the public will not acknowledge that there is a routing problem, why should Navigon?

     Listen, I am waiting, anxiously, for that update promised for “January.” If it does not fix the routing issue, than even with all of its features, I’m not using the 2100. If the routing is not fixed in January, I’ll be quite willing to sell the Navigon, including its “lifetime traffic” to anyone who wants it.

595. DanD – I got the 7100 for $249 from an online provider I hadn’t hear of before, the same week the 5100 was going for $199 at Amazon. That was a tough decision. I’ll have to go to the bill for the exact spelling of the website, but I think it was one of those one or two day sales which will return very soon, as all the prices are coming down quickly with newer models arriving daily. Check dealnews.com and set up an alert for all GPS units, unless it’s the 7100 you want for sure.

596. Calling all sleuths–here’s a new one for you.

     Suddenly, out of the darkness, the voice announces, “In a half a mile, take the exit right.” It has never done that before on that route in over a month of use. I checked the traffic alert, but it wasn’t because it was routing me around traffic. It just suddenly “decided” tonight to send me a different way than it has all of the other times, under the delusion that this way was actually faster (it showed a shorter ETA than would actually occur if I had truly gone the way it was telling me to). It was a valid route, too, just what we call a “boogie”–not exactly a shortcut, but any port in a storm when you’re trying to avoid a huge tie-up.

     After I ignored its advice, it got all confused. Yes, there was the usual trying to have me get off the next exit stuff. But then when it finally got closer to home, to where it usually told me to get off, it DIDN’T. It had me go 2 exits down, which usually it doesn’t do unless I ignore it. The maps looked different, too (probably my imagination?). And as I continued to drive, wondering what it would do next, I could see that it was telling me to take one of my favorite local shortcuts! The shortcut it has sternly told me to drive by dozens of times before!

     But why tonight? Any clues? If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was communicating with the mother ship and had gotten its update via satellite. Impossible, I know, but hey–nothing’s logical with this product it seems. Maybe the planets were just in alignment. ;->

597. Hey Bridges … I think you are running into that 15% of the time when the Navigon just freaks out. There has been speculation that something Navigon did to the Navteq maps when they compressed them to fit on the SD card is causing these errors, but its hard to say for sure, since some 7100 owners and 5100 owners are complaining of routing problems as well.

     I don’t think I have ever gotten this quite right, so I’ll try it again. ALL GPS units will sometimes pick a route that you would not pick yourself. They will pick routes that will get you there, but not the shortcuts that you, or someone who lives in the area, would know about. But their routes are usually logical and you can tell WHY they chose that route.

     This is not always the case with the Navigon 2100. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes it picks routes that are completely illogical, or as Bridges is reporting, completely different than what it did before. My 2100 has only once told me to exit the Bay Bridge on the left onto Treasure Island, then to go under the bridge and get back on it on the right side going the same direction. The next time I drove that route, with the Navigon set from there to home, it routed correctly.

     These problems may be worked out by a software update at some point. But if you choose to buy a Navigon now, especially the 2100, you should make an informed decision, knowing that there is a routing issue which is different than the generic “every GPS picks funny routes” that people keep repeating.

598. Bud7100
     If you could get the name of the name of the online store that would be great.

599. NAVIGON GPS Products Stay Sharp and Up-to-Date with NAVIGON Fresh(SM)
     New Platform Will Help Update and Upgrade NAVIGON Products
     LAS VEGAS (CES Booth #6011) and CHICAGO, January 8, 2008 — NAVIGON, a
     leading provider of navigation products and solutions, today announced the spring 2008 availability
     of NAVIGON Fresh in North America.
     This free, downloadable software application will provide all NAVIGON users with access
     to exclusive content and services, and support NAVIGON’s user community with up-to-date
     product information and customer service support. NAVIGON Fresh automatically synchronizes
     home computers with NAVIGON GPS products via a USB connection, providing an easy-to-use
     platform to update and augment content.
     “GPS content is highly dynamic because it must provide a constantly refreshed, up-to-date
     picture of the real world,” said Andreas Hecht, NAVIGON’s President for the Americas. “NAVIGON
     Fresh helps us keep our product family smart long after consumers buy them by making it quick
     and easy to get new maps and other content. This software will be instrumental in helping us
     respond to and connect with our customers on an ongoing basis.”
     NAVIGON Fresh will be available and accessible in spring 2008 to all customers registered
     on http://www.navigon.com (U.S.). The platform will enable:
     • Software Updates – The latest firmware updates for enhanced product performance
     and route accuracy
     • Maps – Purchase updates for existing maps of U.S. and Canada as well as additional
     international maps
     • Service Activation – Activate accessories such as Lifetime Traffic™ and ZAGAT®
     Survey Ratings and Reviews
     • Exclusive Content – New NAVIGON features and functionality accessible first by
     registered users
     NAVIGON Fresh will be compatible with Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X.
     Additional system requirements include an available USB slot and a broadband Internet
     connection.

600. Thanks Terry, I have already download Navigon Fresh from the international website

601. Hi Longi,

     How can you install and use Navigon Fresh on your GPS.

     Thank you.

602. I mean did you try some updates, if so are they usefull for US.

603. http://cp.gpsworld.com/gpscp/Latest+News/CES-Navigon-Claims-Top-Five-Spot-in-US-PND-Market/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/482488?contextCategoryId=1385

     Jan 7, 2008
     GPS World

     Germany’s Navigon, which just entered the U.S. PND market in 2007, has claimed the fifth spot in the market, the company said today.

     In the month of November, what the company says was its first “full-throttled” month of sales, it broke into the top five among PND sellers in both units and dollar sales, citing data from market research firm NPD Group. Navigon further said that its entry-level Navigon 2100 PND was one of the top ten best-selling GPS units in the month of November, according to NPD data.

     “Essentially, here in the United States, we’ve launched a company, a brand name, and a consumer product line in the hottest category around,” said Ralf Hug, Navigon vice president of marketing. “Our goal for 2007 was to focus on delivering features that were relevant to the driving experience. It’s something we want to build on in 2008.”

     Among the feature set of Navigon’s PNDs are Lane Assistant and Reality View, which provides 3D views of highway interchanges. The company said it has centered its business model around providing real-time traffic data, including it subscription-free for the lifetime of its PNDs. It further suggested that the inclusion of Zagat Survey point-of-interest data also set its products apart from established competitors.

     The company said it ramped up sales by signing distribution deals with top-tier retailers, among them Best Buy, Amazon, Radio Shack, and Staples. Today, seven of the industry’s top 12 sellers of GPS devices sell Navigon-branded products, according to the company.

     The company also won a number of awards in its debut year, including:

     CES Best Of Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Award Honoree for the Navigon 7100, which won in the in-vehicle accessories category.
     Amazon.com Editor’s Choice as one of the Best GPS Devices of 2007, for the Navigon 7100.
     Telematics Update 2007 Awards’ MobileNavigator award for best navigation application.
     Retail Vision 2007 Awards in best-hardware category.
     2007 Red Dot Design Award winner, for the Navigon 7100 in best-of-the-best category.

604. Interesting that all of the awards for Navigon are for the 7100, rather than the 2100. Does that lend credence to the theory that the routing issue has to do with the way the maps were compressed to fit the smaller storage of the 2100?

     Also, Navigon Refresh does not currently work for U.S. customers … you can download it now, but most of the features will not work. As Terry’s post said Navigon announced “spring 2008 availability of NAVIGON Fresh in North America.”

605. I’m actually thing about buying the Navigon 7100 activating it, copying the SD card to my current SD card then returning the 7100.

606. Can you copy the 7100 SD card to your computer, then back to the 2100 SD card ?
     Would you get any or all of the 7100 features other than Bluetooth (no speaker on 2100)?

607. Longi, Rover … I have read that it is possible to get the 7100’s software running on the 2100, and reports that lane assist works (a feature that the 7100 has that the 2100 does not) but doing that violates the software copyright so I cannot endorse the practice. Even mentioning doing something like that on the GPSPassion website will get you a warning from the moderator.

608. I did that with the 2100. At the time I didn’t have another 2 gig SD card to test it out to make sure everything copied and worked. Regarding the 7100, That will be something I will find out and post the results here, worst case, if it does not work out, I can just put my old data back on the SD card and act like nothing happened.

609. Terry-

     Can I link Google maps to my Navigon 2100?

     Chuck

610. http://www.gps5000.com/page.php?id=index

     I bought this unit. Its the best on the market as far as Im concerned

611. Can you put a 4gb card in the 2100 or will it only read a maximum of 2gb?

612. Not the same type of GPS. That link is for a GPS system that tracks your car .. useful if it gets stolen. But it doesn’t provide you with turn-by-turn directions.

613. I own a Navigon 2100 sure is sleek and pretty. Too bad it’s dead! Navigon knows the units have issues and said they would give me a call if and when they figure it out. Could be weeks, months, who knows? Meanwhile I can’t even return it for a working unit or my money back. Unbelievable

614. M Chambers — the didn’t give you an RMA number and tell you to send it back in for replacement? That is unbelievable. I am not at all confident that they will be timely in addressing my issue with the “Lifetime Traffic” not working given how many others are having trouble getting service.

615. Brett8210 — have not tried this myself, but on other forums they report that the 2100 will read a 4 gig SD card as long as it is formatted FAT rather than NTFS.

616. If I have a vista machine, how do I ensure that it will be formatted in FAT instead of NTFS?

617. On the issue of which card to use with the 2100T:

     Query sent to Navigon:

     “I have a Navigon 2100T. Is there a difference in using a regular SD card vs
     a Ultra II (high speed) SD card? Is 2GB enough or would you recommend a
     4GB for future enhancements?”

     Response from Navigon Customer Support Team:

     “The 2GB card is enough for the United States maps. Unfortunately, the unit
     cannot accept a 4 GB SD card if formated FAT 32. The 2100 only supports FAT
     16. “

618. Maxi –

     I am getting the same fatal error with excatly the same
     if problem persisrts contach program vendor

     Program: MN6.EXE
     Exception: 0xC0000005
     Address: 000F4E60

     Does anyone in the forum has the same issue as me and Maxi

619. Thanks Tessa

620. Longi, Rover I think you will have trouble getting the 7100 software to run on the 2100. Remember the screens are different sizes and resolutions. You might have better luck with the 5100. Even then there are some differences in the hardware that may preclude proper operation. For instance as the traffic hardware is different you may lose the traffic feature. The 5100 maps and RealityView will work on the 2100.

621. Gman- Is it possible to copy the POI from the 5100 to the 2100 SD card ? Some sites say the 5100 and 7100 have 6 million POI as opposed to the 1+ million on the 2100, other say only the 7100 has the 6 mil POI. If the 5100 does have the same POI as the 7100, is that possible ?
     Where is that update !!!!!

622. Hi Guys, The 2100 worked great for month and a half until I stumbled into this “program memory is very low” this afternoon. Anybody got past this error?

     For now, the only option seems to be a hard reset and recycling the power.

     It’s very I had an important appointment today and I was almost two hours late because of this!

623. Rover – POI on the 5100 is essentially the same as the 2100. It is only slightly larger because it includes Canada.

624. Gman- Would the following make the 2100 run more quickly? It’s on sale now at newegg.com for $13.95 free shipping.
     “Kingston 2GB Secure Digital (SD) Flash Card Model SD/2GBKR”
     Thanks for all your information for the blog.

625. That looks like an average performance card that likely isn’t any faster than the original SD card. That said I replaced mine with a Sandisk Ultra II high performance card and don’t see an appreciable difference. This leads me to believe that card may not be that big a factor in overall performance. If you are going to experiment it is a good idea to get a second card and put the original aside.

626. Brett8210, I have a 4G SD HC card working in my 2100 now. I wanted another card to play with and this one was pretty cheap so I gambled and tried it. I just plugged it in the 2100 and attached the PC usb cable to the 2100 and copied the original 2100 SD contents over. Works fine.

     Rover, I believe the basic POI DB is not a separate file, it is included in the map file. So in order to get the expanded POI DB you would have to have the 7100 map. Since the 7100 map file fits on a 2GB SD on the 7100 it should fit on the 2100 if they will sell it. Of course it might not work if Navigon has some code in the map file that the 2100 must recognize.

627. My friend bought one and told me about it and I later found one for half the price he bought his for at hh gregg I bought the 2100 and it has worked great has a lot of features and easy to use and is user friendly. The 3d and the 2d is great and the switching from night to day time use is great also. it is crystal clear and it picks up a lot of streets fast and like I said a system darn well worth the money.

628. From the GPSPassion website:

     As mentioned in another thread, my 2100 always goes into PC link mode when connected to the car adapter. I verified it was not the adapter with another one. So I called Navigon, explained the situation and instead of just getting an RMA to get it repaired, I was told he would forward the information on the engineers. I asked why? He said so they can see if it’s a known issue and to see what can be done to resolve it. I said since I already reset the thing a zillion times, I don’t think there is much left to do other than have you fix it. Anyway, I asked how long that would take. He said, ‘Well, it’s Thursday, so I think you should get a call back by next Thursday’.

     I’ve never dealt with a company with such a poor support policy. If and when I get this thing fixed, it’s going straight on e-bay and I’ll buy a GPS that actually works (and routes properly). If anyone wants to buy it as is, send me a PM and an offer. It has lifetime traffic and works except for needing to run off of the battery.

     BTW, a Google showed some others have had the same problem.

629. NeitherFanBoy: Just curious: Why do you think it is compression? If it was compression, why would it work fine 85% of the time and go wacky the other 15%? Lots of software is compressed to fit on a CD and then extracted for the install, but I’ve never heard of compression causing defects? Is it common?

     About this download info that Terry posted: How are you supposed to download it? And if it applies to the 2100, how come as a registered user we were not notified of it? Or is it a different product entirely? I’m afraid if the 2100 update comes out, I won’t be able to download it anyway, since I can’t find my password and when I ask for it to be sent to me (at the email address I provided at registration) I get no response?

     BTW, regarding unit #2 (couldn’t wake it up after using it twice and letting it sit a few days): Remember I said it went back to Staples on 12/28 after one call a week for 3 weeks to Navigon (that they never returned)? Incredibly, they finally called back on 1/9. Duh. Maybe it was to finally offer an RMA. Sorry, too late.

630. Thanks obiRich, the sandbag dash mount you recommended works like a charm, a must have in Kalifornia.

     Here is the link once again for those interested:

     http://www.bracketron.com/main/index.php?catid=6&pid=24

     Here is a link to a good deal if looking to buy:

     http://www.audio-discounters.com/ufm-100bl.html

631. Bridges — the idea that there is a compression/corruption problem on the Navteq map comes from the GPSPassion website. It seems to have started because Navteq claimed there was more than one version of the map software, one very detailed and one less so. When the Navigon 7100 was originally advertised, it was advertised as having a 4 gig SD card, but once it made it to the stores the card was only 2 gig. Some people have speculated that since it was originally advertised as 4 gig, then turned into 2 gig, its possible Navigon either went with a lesser detailed Navteq map, or dropped things in order to compress the map to fit the lesser storage space. As someone pointed out on GPSPassion, its all speculation, as Navigon has not yet admitted that they HAVE a routing problem. They have announced a software update for sometime in “January,” but have not said what the update is supposed to address. It seems that some users have also had reports from Navigon that there will be a separate map update as well, and that the software update will be free but the map update will cost.

     Its all speculation until Navigon actually releases it. The only thing that is not speculation is that a routing problem exists. When I can input the starting and ending points given me by an owner who has a routing issue, and can get the same error in routing when I plot it on my Navigon, I tend to give that report MUCH MORE CREDIBILITY than “I just bought a 2100 and its wonderful.”

632. Bridges – To comment on your updates issue, There is a Navigon Fresh software which at this moment is only released in the UK. I actually downloaded the software and I used it to backup my 2100 (which worked) but that was the only thing that I was able to do with it as 2100,5100 and 7100 are not compatible with this software but you can do a basic back up. I think all they have to do is do a little tweeking so that it can work with these models. I have full confidence that Navigon will come through, I just feel we are the lab rats thats why they made the sale they did on BF, they knew people would bite the bait. All a big marketing strategy, smart but very risky because if they don’t fix the issues that you guys are reporting, their sales will start going down the tubes as will as their reputation muck like Windows Vista (Ooops!).

633. Longi~

     I think you’re onto something with the “lab rat” theory.
     Somewhere (and I forget where) but I did read that one of our “perks” of registering with Navigon was that we would get to try out new features and I think what was implied was that would be before they saw a wide release. Be it a guinea pig or a lab rat, I’m not too thrilled with the prospect of being another beta tester for Navigon.

     Really, I think we should all band together and try to get them to comp. us the map update for having put up with this horrible routing. It takes a lot of gall to sell a new map to customers who haven’t been able to use their GPS because of their shoddy programing.

634. A question was raised concerning Navigon Fresh. If, as the announcement says, Navigon Fresh is coming in “Spring 2008,” and the update is coming in January 2008, how will one get the update onto the Navigon? Could it be we won’t see an update until Spring 2008?

635. Good point NeitherFanboy. What I am hoping will happen is that they still give us the update as promised this month where we just have to use a usb cable and hook it up and drop a file on the GPS.

     Doofa – What made me think that we are “lab rats” also is the fact that we have to register with the Private Members section of Navigon. I still registered with the international sight as well, just in case they come out with a US update for whatever reason. Still not sure why the that is, we are definitely nothing more than beta testers for Navigon US. I just wish they would have warned us.

636. Doofa,
     I think it is good idea for us to band together and let Navigon know there is a problem, I am just not sure how this is done appropriately.

     Terry has a poll function on this site, maybe if a question was phrased to prevent shills from responding, we could figure out a good way to know how many of us there are?
     my2 cents
     keep the blog alive!

637. Hi Guys. I’ve received two answers from Navigon about the “program memory is very low”. I sent an email describing the problem. When no answer received, I called – and got right through. Mine worked in Arkansas, and all the way on my trip to FL. When trying to use in North Tampa, I received the error. Navigon says Tampa has corrupted map data, as do some other citied. Yesterday I received a response to my email reporting this same error. That response said this error might happen in the edges of coverage. It suggested changing the order of destination entry. For example, if you are using city first, try address first. I haven’t tried this yet.

638. Tampa has corrupted map data? Are they kidding? If that is the case, could “corrupted map data” be the problem for other users getting these routing errors? And if so, how could Navigon “charge” for a map update? “Oh yes, we provided you with a corrupted map when you bought your 2100, but here, give us some more money and we promise to send you a non-corrupted map.”

639. Wow, something else to add to the corrupted Florida list Shocker. Keeps on growing, lol.

640. I wish I could get Navigon to admit to ME that there was a map corruption problem so I could wave that in the face of everyone who kept telling me that I was just “whining” and that I “expected too much” or was “being too picky.” One poster on the GPSPassion website even implied that I, and everyone who had routing issues, was just “too stupid to use a GPS.” Do you think if Navigon admitted to them there was a map corruption problem those posters would apologize? Nah, not very likely. LOL

641. Maybe a Class action lawsuit will help them be more responsive to their customers…..

642. I bought my 2100T at Staples on BF. It unfortunately did not charge the battery. Tokk a couple of calls to Navigon (they were pretty swamped right after BF0 but it was made right.

     I swapped teh unit at Staples for a 2100 (They had no stock of T models) and faxed Navigon my original receipt indicating teh 2100T with a small note explaining why the exchange. Within 24 hours I received a call with a traffic activation code for the 2100.

     Navigon support seems to have a few glitches but on the whoel teh peopel I talked to were friendly and helpfull. I found acheap 150X 2 GB card to which I copied the original card. It seems to produce a bit faster reponse but that may be wishfull thinking.

     The unit has been used daily since november for my commute to work (I know my way but using teh route I get traffic alerts) with no problems at all in the Tampa Bay area.

     My wife has a Magellan 3K. Although it’s screen is a bit larger, I prefer using the 2100.

     I’ll wait for the Fresh software and am hoping there’s no charge for it.

643. “When trying to use in North Tampa, I received the error. Navigon says Tampa has corrupted map data…”

644. hey i am looking at getting the NAVIGON® 2120 or
     GARMIN NÃœVI 250 which one would be better?. it sounds like everyone is having problems with the Navigon?. and garmin has a good rep. thanks

645. Until the routing issues are worked out, I would not buy a Navigon. Garmin, however, has a reputation for having the most accurate routing of any of the units out on the market.

646. Copied from the GPSPassion website:

     It’s a crap route, but here’s why. Using the “map browser” (ie click on the magnifying glass in the lower right hand side of your screen). Now scroll to the intersection of Taylor Road and the entrance ramp to I85 EB. If you “aim your cross hairs” at the road, you’ll notice that the name of the road will be displayed in the grey rectangle. If you center your cross hairs on Taylor Road, you’ll see it’s name in the box. Now, scroll over and place the cross hairs on the entrance ramp to I85 EB. Do you notice how the road name is NOT displayed? All it shows you is the GPS coordinates. If you aim your crosshairs at the other “ramps” coming off of I85, you’ll noticed they’re all labeled “ramp”. My guess is that this is another example of where map information got screwed up at Navigon when they compressed the maps.

647. For those who saw the “Program memory is Low” screen, just reboot the machine/unit.

     How to reboot/reset the unit: leave the machine/unit ON while at the “Program memory is low” screen,
     find some long thin hard tool (I used the fastening strips that used to tie the cables together) and insert
     it into the “reset” hole on the bottom left side of the unit, and push once. Your unit will be resetting.

     I have been using my unit since after Thanksgiving last year (2007). Yesterday (01/21/2008) I finally saw this screen. But I couldn’t find a tool to push the reset button in that hole. Luckily, I knew the route home and rest the unit at home. Now it works happily again and I put a fastening strip in my car for next time.

     The reason for “Programming memory is low” error is due to memory leak (I’m getting technical here) in either Navigon navigation software or Windows CE operation system software or both. What happened is software allocates memory from time to time and forgets to release them when they are not used anymore. Time passing by, those un-released memory start to account for a large portion of total memory, and software will complain there is not enough memory available.

     I was not surprised to see this screen because I knew the unit is running Windows CE underneath. It is similar to the situation that you run into trouble eventually (I would say less than 2 months, if not sooner) on your Windows laptop if you only sleep it or hibernate it but never shut it down. Then what do you do? You just reboot the machine. This GPS unit is no different. You just need to keep a rebooting tool handy so that you can reach into the “reset” hole.

648. Hi…
     There are quite a few friction mounts available, has anyone tried to see if they work with the navigon 2100? For example, Nav-Mat Portable GPS Dash Mount, or
     Garmin Dashboard Mount for StreetPilot c310, c320, c330 and c340 (010-10613-00) or Garmin Portable Friction Mount for Garmin GPS Units (010-10306-00). They all seem to have an adaptable circle thingy?

649. NeedsRebooting,

     You can also reset it by holding down the power button for 15 seconds. let go, hold it down for another 6 seconds and you’re up and running. Instructions I received from Navigon support person. It works.

650. Nav-Mat Portable GPS Dash Mount works like a chrm. Have a look up about 20 responses for a link to a web site from my response of the same nature.

651. To fan the flames: Yesterday, our NJ IT team vanpooled to Philadelphia to meet with our counterparts from MD. Some of the people brought their own GPS. The guy riding shotgun in our van had brought a Garmin Nuvi. We did fine till we got to a certain place on the NJ Tpke., where the Nuvi kept insisting we get off a certain exit. The people in the car started disputing this (“Hey! The Google map we printed out says take Exit 3!” “When we went last year, we didn’t get off this exit! This is too soon to exit”) but the driver dutifully turned off–and hit a ton of traffic. We outvoted the driver and the owner of the GPS and got them to get us back on the NJ Tpke southbound. The Garmin seemed to do fine the rest of the way, except for one weird place where it said bear right (or was it left) at a place that seemed to contradict what the destination sign and the GPS itself was indicating on its GUI.

     I thought this was interesting, in that if it’s true that all the mapping is basically Naviteq’s, here we have a case of the Naviteq Google info saying one thing and the Garmin saying something else. I haven’t had a chance yet to compare the route but I’m going to be interested to see which exit of the NJ Tpke the Navigon tells me to get off at. Too bad I didn’t think to bring it along yesterday–we could have had dueling GPSes.

652. Terry,

     Since you own a Nikon D300 I was wondering if you’d purchased the Nikon GPS cord and if it worked with any of the GPS units you own?

     Robert

653. I have had no problem with my Navigon,you people are hopeless,just give up,I see some of you have been stuck in limbo trapped in this website for like months,get a life…..beyond sad,how did you people even find the front door or get from the garage to the house?

654. I purchased a HP Ipaq 310 PND for $300. The capabilities, speed, and accuracy of this unit are unmatched by any manufacturer regardless of price. I urge people considering Garmins, and Navigon 5100s to seriously consider this unit.

655. Hey hopeless, you must be stuck and trapped in limbo yourself and with nothing else better to do as well so sit there and read these and even comment.

656. These Navigon’s are very nice units. Buyer beware. I dropped mine, needed its screen repaired, warranty not covered, customer service for North America says can’t help you, we don’t even have a repair facility to send these units to.

657. Hey Yechwando, when did you buy that HP Ipaq 310 ? It’s $200 today with free shipping on Amazon (Friday). It doesn’t come with the free lifetime traffic that the 2100T does. How much is the traffic subscription, if they even have that option ? I still love my Navigon 2100T and am waiting with everyone else for the software update at the end of January ??

658. I can not for the life of me get this 2100T(Purchased on BF from Staples) to map a route from Portland, OR to Brush Prairie, WA, Vancouver, WA, or Camas, WA without random Fatal errors and or Memory Allocation errors and then subsequent lockup…

     Has anyone else had this type of trouble and what did you do about it?

659. Maximuh,

     I put a route in from Portland, OR to all of the cities in Washington that you listed and had no problem. I let the Navigon 2100T run a simulation of each and it worked every time. Sounds like you may have a bug in your system. : ~ Did you try to reset it?

     You can reset it by holding down the power button for 15 seconds. let go, hold it down for another 6 seconds and you’re up and running. Instructions I received from Navigon support person. It works.

     You can try calling Navigon and see IF they can help you. Good luck.

660. I have done the reset every time it locks up, which has been ~40-50% of the time I try to map locations I stated above. I would love to post the actual addresses, but I am guessing that may be a poor decision. Anyway I guess I should call support and see what they can do, but I did call in December and was told I would receive a call back and never did.

661. I bought the Navigon 2100 for under $200 on a black friday special. I am so glad I did. I am very happy with the unit as a whole. Yes it does have some issues that need to be adressed, but for the price, I couldn’t beat it considering I didn’t wait to pay several hundreds of dollars for one. One of the biggest selling points for me was that it reads the street names! I must say though I really like that it has free live traffic reports. I haven’t really had a chance to try that option out except for once, when it popped up on my screen, but I thought it was a great option. I won’t know how well it works until I have more opportunities to test it out.
     I also like the fact that when you come to a confusing intersection it gives you a diagram of which turn you want, and also the fact that it shows the highways signs, is a big plus.
     Some times it can be a bit slow but no slower than my brothers Garmin. I must say that it could use a little bigger screen and bigger numbers.
     My biggest problem with the unit is that the customer service seems non exsistant. I contacted them because the navigon 2100 has a jack for an antenna, but I can’t find out where to purchase it from. If anyone knows where I can get an antenna please let me know. I know that the power cord acts like an antenna, but I was looking to add a larger antenna for when I am in boston.

     Thanks

     Mike

662. hopelessbunch will never read any comments addressed to him/her/it on this site, it was a random attack by a cowardly, anonymous user. Maybe it made him/her/it feel better about his/her/it’s life?

663. Mike, there is one on ebay that is compatible: http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-GPS-Antenna-W-Mount-for-Navigon-2100-5100-7100_W0QQitemZ120215334017QQihZ002QQcategoryZ73347QQcmdZViewItem

664. I just got a 2100 from Tiger Direct and it arrived with a blank SD card……. no files on it at all. So I call Tech Support expecting to get a card shipped overnight like Terry did, only to be informed that I would have to return the empty SD card to Naivgon (at my expense) under an RMA# and that after they confirmed reciept of the card they would send out a replacement. I was also told that “Tiger Direct received some units with bad cards” – similar to what Terry was told about Staples.

     So now I have a brand new product that doesn’t work and I have to pay extra to get a part exchanged that should not have been bad to begin with, not to mention that I’ll have to wait probably a week or two for the replacement card.

     If anyone knows where I can download the SD card contents or if they could be posted on an FTP site or some kind of Internet storage share like IDrive, I would be very grateful. Thanks, Panman@usa.com

665. Please, please forgive this dumb question, lol!! I just got my 2100 yesterday and it came with a traffic card. I activated it but I am not sure what else I need to do! On the packaging, it says that the card has a built in antenna, just where do I put the card??

666. You don’t put the card anywhere. The activation code just unlocks the traffic feature that is built into all the Navigon’s. Keep the card somewhere safe just in case you run into any problems in the future.

667. Thanks Longi, so far I really like this unit!

668. For those who have never experienced the wacky routing that the 2100 sometimes does, here is a route that you can enter to see it for yourself. This is valuable because then people who have never seen wacky routing will stop looking at you as if you are claiming to have seen a UFO when you tell them that you HAVE seen wacky routing from your 2100. The route to use is:

     7700 W Applewood Drive 46350
     to
     5150 Franklin Street 46360

     When you watch the simulation, you will see that the 2100 routes you through ALL FOUR SIDES off a freeway cloverleaf. You can actually watch the simulation as it takes you off and on, then off and on, etc., through all four sections of the freeway cloverleaf, and then has you go in the same direction you were already travelling before you existed the freeway. It’s a hoot. (Warning, the simulation is pretty slow so you have to wait a while until your simulation reaches the freeway part). If you do not know how to program from Route A to Route B on your 2100, instructions are below.
     ______________

     From the main screen, click “Options,’ then choose “Route Planning.” Click on “Specify Starting Point” and then choose “Enter Address.” Pick “City First” and then enter the zip code in the “City or Zip code” field, click green check mark. Then enter “Street,” green check mark. Then enter “No.” and green check mark. Then click on “Set Starting Point.” That will get you the first point.

     Then you click on “Add Route Point” and do the same process with the second address. When you have entered it, and are back at the route planning, click “Show Route,” the 2100 will calculate the route. Then, rather than clicking on “Start Navigation,” click on the “Options” button and choose “Simulation.” The 2100 will start the simulation of driving the route from the first point to the second point.

669. What city and state Neitherfanboy

670. Put the zip code in for the City field (it says City or Zip) and it will determine the City for you — that was nice, my TomTom won’t do that. Both cities are in Indiana, but I don’t remember their names. If anyone has trouble with this I will go look them up on Google maps. BTW … I’m not trying to grab credit for this one, its a user over at GPSPassion that complained of this route, it’s just nice to have one that is demonstrably bad so everyone can see we aren’t making it up, it *does* happen. And I enter the same route to my TomTom and it did not take all four sections of the cloverleaf. I asked a Garmin user to try it, can’t remember which model of Nuvi he had, but his did not do this either. There is just some bug in the Navigon routing (either the algoritm, the maps, or both) that needs to be fixed.

671. I did the test and seen the cloverleaf. I don’t know what is up with that. I wonder if its just a glitch in the simulation mode

672. I don’t think it’s just the simulation, as I think the guy who reported it actually drove the route, but I could email him and ask him. I know these routing issues don’t happen ALL the time, but there have just been too many of them to ignore (and some of them have actually happened to me, so I saw them firsthand).

673. Hey Navigon! Thanks for the January update! Everyone at my work just loves my fancy paper weight! Perhaps February? Plenty of us have been waiting patiently…

674. Asked the owner who posted the “all four sections of the cloverleaf” error about how he discovered that error, this was his reply:

     “I first noticed the cloverleaf routing problem during an actual trip. A reader suggested that maybe the stored map had an invisible break in the road that crossed the Interstate. When I relocated the starting point by two blocks and the problem vanished, the theory of a discontinuity was ruled out. I suspect that the problem is far more complex than any of us “outsiders” can identify.”

675. Well after reading a majority of the reviews, and having bought a 2100 from Tiger Direct, I will return the unit within a week. I also own a garmin 340c which I love, but the maps are getting old in CA. So I tried the 2100 and found: the writing is much to small for reading and driving, you need a toothpick for accurate touchsreen use, the speaker is terrible compared to garmin, it is lacking many POI’s of old places. Get this, they choose not to put in…Walmarts, home depots, lowes, big 5, and many other because of lack of space on the 2gsd card. I called support and they said maybe on the spring release, no guarantee. It will support a 4g sd card. I felt the menus a pain to navigate thru, and no easy way of getting back to map, you have to back out of the menus. And after reading all the posts of the problems of others, I will definetly return the unit.
     I purchased the unit to upgrade from the older garmin, but now…
     I would not switch the navigon 2100 with my garmin 340c if you gave me the 2100 for free.
     I am extremely disappointed in the navigon 2100.

676. Another dan – How much do you pay per year for traffic reports on your Garmin 340C, if it indeed can get traffic ? If you used it for barely a week and are ready to return it, I doubt you looked at the manual and all the settings which would make it much better than the 340C. I called Garmin initially and they told me not to buy those older ones because the screens show too much glare. They pointed me to the Nuvis, but most of the Nuvis under $275 do not have text to speech and/or traffic capabilities.

677. I think it would be of benefit the community for those posting with problems with their units to also post the serial # (to see if there was a bad batch), firmware version and most importantly all their settings on the unit. I think some problems might be in how users have their units set-up. I’ve found using ‘Optimum’ routing works best for me, got the tip online somewhere.

     I’m very happy with my Navigon 2100. Tried the in store units of other brands and found the interface one of the best (there is no best). On one of the other manufacturer’s units, a Tom Tom One v3 I believe, it couldn’t even find Main St in Huntington Beach! Some of the other interfaces had way too busy maps making it confusing to read quickly.

     As someone else posted there are problems or areas of improvement with all GPS units, ESPECIALLY with new models. This is true of anything, from cars, to cameras, to software. In any manufacturing process there are kinks to work out when production first begins, no matter how much testing has gone on before. I usually wait till the 2nd year of production on cars, with cameras I wait 6 months before buying a new unit and I avoid a lot of problems that way. (Nikon STILL hasn’t fix the problem of Auto ISO/Manual exposure mode on their cameras and its been a thorn since they introduced the D100 in 2001. It would be so easy for them to fix it in software, set it off as default or at least make it a menu option.)

678. I don’t believe the serial number matters, I think the problem is in the software on all the 2100’s. If you want to test that, try the “all four sections of the cloverleaf” route and see what your 2100 does with it. So far I have not heard even one 2100 owner who has tried that route say that it routed correctly.

     As for anotherdan’s complaints with the 2100, some are preference, but two are not. The volume of voice prompts on the 2100 is undisputably lower than on either the Garmin models or the TomTom models, and the routing is flaky.

     I assume the Huntington Beach you were trying to enter was in California? When I enter Huntington Beach on my TomTom One 3rd Edition, it finds Main St. after the first two letters I type of the street name with absolutely no problem.

679. I agree with Robert, Everything you buy will have a fault, so far I have not encountered any problems with my GPS and I use it every day. I will give it sometimes the traffic alerts are a little slow but then again, its only as good as its source (radio station).

680. Neithfanboy,

     While I agree that you are having problems with routing everything seems to be working fine for me here in SoCal. I still say that how you have the unit set up can effect other areas of operation. Have you experimented with changing settings one at a time and trying your routes again? Have you tried changing the start or end points by a slight amount and seeing if that effects things? I really do think if we compared firmware/software versions and settings we can better define any problems.

681. I am shocked by how many people jump to defend the Navigon. What, you all have Navigon stock? And you can all think I am just the most negative jerk you have heard from, but it doesn’t change facts. Many users have tried entering the “all four sections of the cloverleaf” route and all users (so far) have reported the same error. So, NO it’s not “how the unit is setup,” or “your windshield is coated so you aren’t getting a good GPS signal,” etc., etc.

     Everybody who has a Navigon 2100 can console themselves with “it’s never happened to me, so my unit must be fine (or those other people reporting a problem must be crazy)”, but if the problem exists whether you have experienced it YET or not. It’s like saying “what do you mean your Pinto blew up? MY Pinto has never blown up, so you must be wrong about that product defect, it must be something YOU have set up wrong.” Or the equally stellar argument “well all cars have something wrong with them, no car is perfect, so why are you complaining about that Pinto.” Or even “you get what you paid for, so if Pintos blow up, you should have bought a more expensive car.”

     The truth is, there is something wrong with the Navigon’s routing. It’s not the same thing you will get with a Garmin. It’s not the same thing you will get with a TomTom. It’s a defect that needs to be fixed. However, why should Navigon fix it when everybody seems to be quite happy to live with it as it is?

     If I am sitting in the driveway at 7700 W Applewood Drive 46350 and I ask the Navigon to plot a route to 5150 Franklin Street 46360 (which is what the original user did) I should not have to browse each section of the route, look for mistakes, and then change my starting point by a couple of blocks to see if I get a better result.

     BTW … users on GPSPassion are reporting that the Navigon update is out and can be downloaded from the Navigon website. And a user who has installed the update reports that it still does not resolve the “cloverleaf” route — the update does not improve routing.

682. NeitherFanboy,

     Seeing as you’re in IT I thought you of all people would know how to test an application or new piece of hardware, I used to be in IT too. I never questioned your problems. Haven’t you ever spent hours tracking down a software or hardware bug? Don’t you use Windows? :o) What I’m trying to do here is find out if there’s a simple answer to what’s going on, hence the request for firmware and software versions as well as all user settings.

683. I am in in IT, and have bug tested a lot of software. Which means I have a pretty good idea of where to start. So far, every 2100 owner who has tried the “cloverleaf” test has found the same error — regardless of purchase date, firmware number, build number, software number/version, etc. That being the case, no matter how much data we collect, we aren’t going to solve it by comparing verison numbers or user settings — it happens to all of them.

     There is a problem with the Navigon routing — either the algorithm used for the calculation, the underlying map data, or both. The problem is not the generic “the GPS sometimes picks a different route than I would” complaint that all GPS units get. The 2100 sometimes plots ridiculous routes like no other GPS does. Not always, and it seems like possibly not in all areas. Potential buyers should be aware of the problem so they go in with eyes open.

     The current update just released has not resolved the routing error. The next update might. But the next update may be a map update and Navigon may charge for it.

684. 2100 fans- With new software now available, I would like to save original card and use new SD card. Is 2GB recommended over 4GB, and which brands of SD cards should I consider? Thank you all. This blog is fantastic.

685. You can get by with 2gig like the original card, but if you may want to go up to 4gig in case you need extra room in the future. I’m using a SanDisk card in mine. When I bought it, I got the ExtremeIII because it had the fastest read/write time I could find, but notice no increase in speed (I don’t believe the reader in the 2100 can take advantage of the faster read/write speed) so you can go with a slower card if you want (just depends on what your wallet can afford).

686. NeitherFanboy – Which of these will do the job…. SanDisk 2GB SDâ„¢ Card 2GB, or
     SanDisk 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duoâ„¢ Half the size, all the technology of regular Memory Stick Proâ„¢ ? Are they both the same size to fit into the 2100 ? Also, do they come formatted, and whether or not, how do you get if formatted FAT 16 (as someone wrote on Jan 10)? Thanks !

687. Newbie,
     The 2GB SD card is what you would use. The Memory Stick Pro Duo will not fit (I use that for my PSP)

688. Thanks Longi, I ordered the 2GB SD card. Do they come formatted ? If not, how would I do that ?

689. They usually already come formatted so you should be able to just copy the data on to it.

690. saw this reveiw u did on this gps terry .. i was in the market for a gps and wanted to keep the price under or around 200 bucks and wow did i get my money worth i love my navigon thanks soo much Noel …

691. I should have purchased stock in Navigon. Maybe it’s not too late?

692. Maybe I should have pooped on mine.

     Oh wait, Navigon did that for me already (or so it seems),
     because as it stands the navigation feature is REALLY crappy!

693. Hey Doofa … you mean you haven’t just been thrilled, tickled pink, deliriously happy even, with your purchase of a Navigon 2100? It’s not just the bestest GPS you have ever seen, and such a value for its price? I wonder if any of the people who post glowing comments about how happy they are with it will ever try the “cloverleaf” test. And if they do, and see for themselves that there is a problem, will they just assume that problem will never happen to them??

694. NeitherFanboy,

     I went to Circuit City yesterday and tried my Main St in Huntington Beach test again on one of the top model Tom Tom’s and again it could not find Main St in HB! At least after this latest test I found out why. It seems when looking up Huntington Beach it will first show and abreviated/bastardized version of the city’s name, which obviously most people would select, and that’s where the problem lays. However, if you type out the complete Huntington Beach, THEN you can find Main St.

     I hope this isn’t indicitive of Tom Tom’s ability to search other cities, if it is then that’s a worse flaw than anything you’ve mentioned with your Navigon experience. Imagine the millions of frustrated people trying to find MAJOR streets in other well known cities. We should all sue Tom Tom, write the BBB, etc., etc..

     I took it rather over the top on that last paragraph on purpose, much like you’ve done with a lot of your posts. Dude, it just shows that there are problems, major problems, with (most likely) all GPS units out there. You make the rounds of the various forums making sweeping statements about one cloverleaf and mention posts from a handfull of other people from across the country (when there were tens of thousands of units sold in the past few months) then go off half cocked denouncing an entire company, making derogatory statements.

     You won’t even listen to my practical messages seeing if we could track down the problem by comparing firmware/software/settings.

     I’m just sayin… chill out a little and if the unit pisses you off that much then give it to charity and get on with your life.

695. Robert~

     You’re absolutely right, some GPS systems do have small flaws.

     (With my father’s Garmin Nuvi 350 it doesn’t recognize suburbs with 80,000+ people, you need to enter the major city the suburb is affiliated with.)

     From my experience the problems with the Navigon 2100 are far more severe than that. I’d even consider them major.

     A couple examples:

     It can’t even get me out of my driveway to a destination 1 mile from my house sensibly.

     And it’s only two roads!

     It says turn right, when left is the fastest/shortest way.
     Plus at the end of my driveway, it always highlights 2 routes.
     It highlights both for me to take the street directly across from my house AND it highlights the opposite direction from what the text-to-speech wants me to go.
     Talk about crazy!

     Then there was the time I was testing it along a known route and it routed me off of what should have been 3 major interstates into a city and onto narrow, hilly one-way alleys, in a circle nonetheless! I had the time to spare, so I wanted to see how it would route. That’s why I choose to follow directions I knew to be erroneous. Let me say, I’d never seen that part of the town, and I’m none too eager to go back there.

     Have you experienced routing issues with your Navigon?

696. Okay, this is to everyone who reads this blog with the exception of Robert. If you are not interested in the debate over whether there are routing problems with the Navigon, don’t read this post. It’s long, and if you are not interested, it’s boring. Heck, it may even be boring to those who ARE interested.

     Did any of you see a report on one of the news magazine shows about fake reviews of hotels being posted online by the actual owners of the hotels? It’s possible that exists in the Navigon reviews as well (not Terry’s, I trust him, but some of these replies are seriously suspect). It is just as easy for a Navigon employee to find this site, and to post comments here, as it is for anyone else. You have to treat people’s comments with skepticism until you can prove them to yourself. Yes, even mine.

     So let me dissect some of the previous comments and see how true they are. I am accused of being “over the top,” going off “half cocked,” of making “the rounds of the various forums making sweeping statements about one cloverleaf.” I am accused of “denouncing an entire company, making derogatory statements.” The post states that there are “problems, major problems, with (most likely) all GPS units out there.” It states that I “mention posts from a handful of other people from across the country (when there were tens of thousands of units sold in the past few months).”

     Wow. That author sounds so rational and I sound like such a hot head. But are any of those statements true?

     Well, I did not “make the rounds of various forums,” I post to exactly two websites, this one and GPSPassion. And I am not the author of the cloverleaf error test, that error was reported by another user at GPSPassion and I repeated it here for those who do not read that website. Posting on two websites doesn’t sound nearly as frantic as “making the rounds of various forums making sweeping statements…” Such hyperbole. I don’t sound nearly as crazy if you change that to “you have posted sweeping statements on two websites.”

     And then what about that cloverleaf test. The post admits that there were “tens of thousands of units sold in the past few months,” but fails to point out that so far, each and every one of the thousands of Navigon 2100 units sold since Black Friday have all failed the cloverleaf test. Yes, the cloverleaf test is only one test, but it still IS a test, and the Navigon fails it. Yet the Garmin does not, nor does the TomTom.

     In one breath the author says I am “denouncing an entire company,” and then in the next breath he says “there are problems, major problems, , with (most likely) all GPS units out there.” Does anybody see the irony in this author accusing me of denouncing an “entire company” and then going on to denounce an entire industry? According to him, every GPS has, most likely, major problems. But he can offer no evidence of that. Yet he claims that I have gone off “half cocked.”

     The only test offered involves a TomTom, rather than “ever GPS out there,” and the claim is that it cannot find Main Street in Huntington Beach. He claims that the TomTom shows an “abbreviated/ bastardized version of the city’s name, which obviously most people would select, and that’s where the problem lays.” But actually I can’t find any problem, even when choosing that “bastardized” name.

     Using a TomTom One 3rd Edition – TomTom’s lowest priced model by the way, rather than it’s highest priced one – when I plot a route to Huntington Beach, I only have to enter 4 letters of the name – H U N T – and then I am presented with Huntingtn Bch CA. An abbreviation sure, but a “bastardization” of the city’s name? Not really.

     And then when I choose that abbreviation – not when I type out the entire word HUNTINGTON as is claimed – when I choose Huntingtn Bch CA, then I get to input the street name. I enter one letter, just one, the letter “M,” and the first street that shows up in the list is Main St. The unit seems to have absolutely no problem finding Main St.

     You want to see for yourself and you don’t have a TomTom? Here I have posted a picture of my TomTom One 3rd Edition showing the bastardized abbreviation of Huntington Beach: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2109/2249306565_5f3aa5544b.jpg

     And here I have posted a picture of my TomTom One 3rd Edition, after having chose that bastardization of Huntington Beach, searching for and finding, with only one letter, Main St.: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2250103900_f63b81f989.jpg

     So my unit passes this test. But maybe, just maybe, there is some TomTom out there that does not. Who knows, it could happen. The author wants you to believe it does. But if it does, it doesn’t happen on every single until that TomTom has produced, because it doesn’t happen on mine.

     If you have a Navigon 2100, try the cloverleaf test. I have not seen one report from a Navigon 2100 owner that says their unit passed this test. Yes it’s only one test. But if every single unit fails it, is the test indicative of a greater, unit-wide problem? I say yes, and so do a bunch of users over at the GPSPassion website. Want to read them yourself, try this thread: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97186&whichpage=1

     And then he would like you to believe that he has suggested a completely reasonable way to track this problem down. What is it he said, “You won’t even listen to my practical messages seeing if we could track down the problem by comparing firmware/software/settings.” Does his suggestion sound reasonable to you? You have just paid money to a manufacturer to buy a GPS. You find that it has routing problems. According to him, if you are a “reasonable” person you will now spend your time attempting to compare firmware/software and settings with every other user who has a Navigon 2100 in an attempt to troubleshoot this routing error. Yes, that is reasonable. Buy their GPS and then become beta testers of their software. Unpaid beta testers at that. Reasonable?

     So where are we? Well, I say there is a problem with Navigon’s routing. And it’s not the same “my GPS picked a street I would not have picked” type error that every GPS exhibits. What does Navigon say? According to one of the users who posts at the GPSPassion site:
     ——————————————————————————–
     doof Posted – 02/08/2008 : 02:31:44

     Actually I spoke with Navigon the other day. This update was mostly intended to prep the unit for “Navigon Fresh.”

     The tech I spoke with admitted to the corrupted map data and proceeded to inform me that they ARE going to charge customers for the map update because it will include “new data” (but they’re not sure what the charge will be.)
     ——————————————————————————–

     So is Doof going off “half cocked?” What about the Navigon tech he spoke to, was the tech going off “half cocked” by admitting there is a problem with corrupted map data?

     Listen, I don’t know why this author is so dead set on saying that there is nothing wrong with the Navigon that isn’t wrong on every other GPS on the market, but it just isn’t true. I have no idea if he works for Navigon or not, but the things he is claiming in his post just do not make sense.

     If you want to buy a Navigon 2100, go ahead. It has some features that no other GPS in its price range has at this point, like text-to-speech that pronounces the street names for you. It will say “Turn left on Main Street” rather than just “Turn left.” It will tell you what side of the street your destination is on, right or left – the TomTom One 3rd Edition won’t do that.

     But be aware that as of this date, the Navigon 2100 has routing issues. They may show up sporadically, and they may only show up in certain areas – wherever there happens to be map corruption. They may not happen in your area, or they might. And someday Navigon will issue a map update and a firmware update that will fix the issue, and then none of us will have to fight about it anymore. So go ahead and buy a Navigon, just be aware of the facts, not the spin that some people would like you to believe.

697. I’m going to speak on my behalf and agree with Robert, every GPS has some flaw minor and/or major. I have experienced minor problems with my 2100. I’m not going to say that everyone who is experiencing the problem is wrong. I did do the cloverleaf test but to me I would think it would reroute you so I’m not going to fall for the simulation example. What my thoughts are is that anyone who lives on the westside of the US are experiencing these problems, while people on the east (like myself) aren’t having no problems. I have purposely went the wrong direction several times and it rerouted me in a matter of seconds. I’m sure what Robert was meaning is that, its one thing to voice your opinion whether its negative or positive but its another to completely bash on it repeatedly without offering some way to make it better in which I mean find another user and like Robert stated compare firmware, software etc. I have no problem with constructive criticism but I have a big problem with some constantly bashing, bashing. So bottom line is, as the old saying goes put up or shut up!!! 😛

698. # Longi on 15 Jan 2008 at 6:35 pm
     I have full confidence that Navigon will come through, I JUST FEEL WE ARE THE LAB RATS THATS WHY THEY MADE THE SALE THEY DID ON BF, THE KNEW PEOPLE WOULD BITE THE BAIT. ALL A BIG MARKETING STRATEGY, SMART BUT VERY RISK BECAUSE IF THEY DON’T FIX THE ISSUES THAT YOU GUYS ARE REPORTING, THEIR SALES WILL START GOING DOWN THE TUBES will as their reputation muck like Windows Vista (Ooops!).

     # Longi on 18 Jan 2008 at 11:40 am
     Wow, SOMETHING ELSE TO ADD TO THE CORRUPTED FLORIDA LIST Shocker. Keeps on growing, lol.

     # Longi on 01 Feb 2008 at 5:35 pm
     I did the test and seen the cloverleaf. I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH THAT. I wonder if its just a glitch in the simulation mode

     # Longi on 04 Feb 2008 at 12:39 pm
     I agree with Robert, Everything you buy will have a fault, SO FAR I HAVE NOT ENCOUNTERED ANY PROBLEMS WITH MY GPS AND I USE IT EVERY DAY. I will give it sometimes the traffic alerts are a little slow but then again, its only as good as its source (radio station).

     # Longi on 08 Feb 2008 at 12:10 pm
     I have no problem with constructive criticism ….

     CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM OFFERED: NAVIGON, FIX YOUR CORRUPTED MAPS AND YOUR FLAWED ROUTING.

699. Longi~

     My example of poor routing listed 4 posts above occured in Ohio.

700. Shame on you! Pointing out a routing error on a Navigon is “bashing,’ it’s not “constructive criticism.” Although I find it impossible to determine how claiming Navigon has routing problems is bashing, but claiming Navigon is treating their customers as “lab rats” is not bashing?

701. NeitherFanboy et al.

     I suppose what ticks me off the most is that in some of your posts you treat the rest of us who are happy with their Navigons like we are fakes planted by Navigon or brainless idiots! Imagine, someone could actually like something that you don’t like! I also take exception with your comment that we are all lab rats or being taken advantage of by Navigon. (How do we know YOU aren’t a plant from some company like Tom Tom out to denigrate the competition?) Quit your rantings, sell your Navigon to someone or give it to charity and get on with your life. At the very least quit ragging on us who are happy with our purchases. That goes for anyone else making negative comments to the people here who like their units.

702. Robert, so sorry you are ticked off. But before you tell me how much my comments tick you off, maybe you should make sure I made them? The comment about being “lab rats” was made by Longi — an owner who subequently agrees with YOU (go figure). Let me quote it for you again, since you obviously missed it the first time:

     # Longi on 15 Jan 2008 at 6:35 pm
     I have full confidence that Navigon will come through, I JUST FEEL WE ARE THE LAB RATS THATS WHY THEY MADE THE SALE THEY DID ON BF, THE KNEW PEOPLE WOULD BITE THE BAIT.

     I have no problem with people being happy with their Navigon 2100. What I have said repeatedly is that even if you are happy with yours, and you haven’t see a routing error, that doesn’t mean that your unit is fine. The routing error exists on every Navigon 2100 released so far.

     And when people post comments on this website trying to convince everyone that the routing error is just the same, standard issue that EVERY GPS on the market has, they are doing a disservice to the people who read this forum, because that is just not true.

     As for selling my Navigon so that YOU don’t have to read my comments anymore, just don’t read them! I don’t have to stop posting because YOU don’t like my comments. I am not overly fond of YOUR comments either, but I haven’t told YOU to go away!

703. I did make the lab rats comment and I will stand by it 100%. As far as routing issues on EVERY GPS, I will be the first to say, every GPS does have some sort of routing issue. It may be on different levels.

704. I have updated the new MN6.5.2 Release 1.1, I used a modified skin that I downloaded and it no longer works. Does the old MN6ResourcesBinary.res work with the new update ? I am hoping the folks who modified the skins also post new skins for the new update.

705. No, the old MN6ResourceBinary.res file will make your 2100 hang after updating to 1.1 Go to the GPSPasion website, you can find it here: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=106505 One of the users, Blue, has done a bunch of skins, some using the new update. And he is has been quite willing to modify them for people (as his time permits, of course). if you post for him, tell him NeitherFanboy sent you. 😉

706. NeitherFanboy,

     If you go back and read who I addressed my last comment to you’ll notice the ‘et al.’ after your name.

     Robert

707. OK I installed the new update yesterday. I have been waiting for it to see if the routing could be fixed. As far as I can tell it does nothing to fix the poor routing. my usual routes are still convoluted and I simulated several older routes I had noticed crazy routing on and I still get crazy routing.

     Looking over the comments I see one or two people who may have not had a GPS before saying “all units have routing problems.” This is truly not the issue. I am not concerned with occasional non optimal routes but consistent zig zags. Regular routing on and then off and then on the highway on major interstates. I have compared my Navigon to my brothers Garmin on several long trips and also taken it with my in our other car which has a integrated GPS. I have also checked google maps. Hands down the Navigon gives much worse routing consistently. I have tested all the settings, optimal, fast, shortest, as well.

     There is no question that the routing is subpar. Anyone who says otherwise has not done any comparison.

     I am very dissatisfied with the Navigon, especially after waiting for months for this update that was supposed to fix the routing. Now I am told it will be fixed with the map updates coming out in a few weeks, but I have to pay. There are problems with the maps causing the routing problems, but they won’t give the non-corrupt maps for free to prior purchases?

     P

708. That’s true, Robert, you did. Maybe you should have addressed the et al.’s in a separate post, because it makes it hard to figure out who you are yelling at.

     I mean, I’m pretty sure you weren’t suggesting that LONGI was a plant for TomTom, that must have been me, right?

     Was it Doofa whose posts you thought were “treat[ing] the rest of us … like we are fakes planted by Navigon or brainless idiots!” Now that can’t have been Doofa, he’s much too polite for that! That one MUST have been me! Oh, oops. Doofa said “To me, that raises a good deal of suspicion. I wonder if Navigon has planted shills on the site. Maybe that’s what we’re experiencing here, now.” [sorry Doofa].

     When you wrote “Quit your rantings, sell your Navigon to someone or give it to charity and get on with your life.” which one of the et al.’s was THAT directed to? I’m pretty sure that one was me. Had to have been me.

     Well, I have a feeling I’m supposed to be feeling properly chastised, or even offended, by *something* you wrote, I just can’t figure out *which* thing.

709. P – thank you. Your post made my night.

710. The Navigon 2100 is supposed to be $119 at Staples on President’s day.

711. If someone wants to copy the original SD card, note Buy.com cut its price on the Kingston 2GB Secure Digital Card, to $10.95 /free shipping. I bought a SanDisk 2 Gb card for a little more before I saw this. I don’t see why it won’t work.

712. From GPSPassion website:

     Kondyke Posted 02/12/2008 : 23:51:30
     ——————————————————————————–

     I just talked to Navigon Chicago today Feburary 12th, 4:00 p.m.

     This is what I was told, New map data will be released by Navteq at the end of March and Navigon will make it available to those of us that already own our unit’s for a charge of between $80. – $100.USD.
     ——————————————————————————–

     So in order to get a map with, hopefully, no corruption, you need to spend almost as much as it cost you to buy the Navigon 2100.

713. The price is a little steep but I wouldn’t mind paying for the update only if it will include purchasing the canadian map as well. I wouldn’t pay that much just for a software update.

714. Well, it’s not supposed to be only a software update, its also supposed to include a more current, and hopefully uncorrupted, version of the map itself. Navigon has said that since it has to pay Navteq for map updates, it expects to pass that cost on to the consumer.

     The question is: if you were provided with a corrupted map in the first place (which then causes you sporadic routing issues), shouldn’t Navigon make good on that map for free (offer a fixed version of that generation map), and offer a separate updated map for a fee?

715. I expect they expect people will just get a copy of the map themselves :). No fees to Navteq.

716. Neither,

     I agree, one would think they would give a free map update in general, especially for those who complained about a routing problem.

717. Terry, Great article. The Navigon 2100 goes on sale tomorrow 2/17 thru 2/23/2008 at Staples for $124.99. I’am buying mine tomorrow. Thanks

718. Paul, The sale at Staples on the 2100 for $119.99 (b/4 tax) does not include the free lifetime traffic. When they had it on sale last month for $149.99, it DID, which was a better deal. If you don’t need the traffic, the price is great.

719. If either of you end up buying a 2100, browse here for some great skins, ways to change your font sizes, button colors, splash screen, etc.: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=106505

720. Update scotched my 7100 custom fonts, symbols. Just reloaded them and they work fine on 6.5.2. Maybe it is just the 2100 that has problems

721. Some notebooks have a built-in SD reader. My Dell Inspiron 6000 has its reader on the right side under the earphone jack. I have used the port on other notebooks. Owners don’t seem to know about them.

722. Purchased the 2120. Dropped it and cracked the touch screen. Returned for repair (Futre Shop). They gave it back not repaired, no parts available. North American Customer Service confirms, No Repair Depot exists and no parts available. End result, tossed in the trash. Don’t buy these units unless your prepared to take a loss.

723. Bob, your reaction was crazy! in fairness to Navigon this is the same policy with almost any handheld device in this price range. I cracked a Tomom screen and it could be repaired but for $200! What they are really doing is sending you a refurb unit anyway. If you check forums like Treo smart phones this is the way they work too there are no “repair parts” it is really just an exchange fee for a refurb or a refurb with no charge if it is a warranty issue.

     Since the 2120 is exactly the 2100 with some more data (Canada maps) on the SD card, you could have replaced your 2120 with a $120 US 2100 and swapped cards! This would be cheaper than repair even if Navigon had parts. You can find people who will reship to Canada for $10.

     For the 2100 and 2100 lack of parts for repair is not an issue. If it is your fault it is going to be cheaper to buy a new one anyway, if it not your fault there are outright replacements under warranty.

724. Hi Terry, great review for the Navigon 2100. I don’t know why but it seems that Cnet didn’t like it. In case you want to read other reviews for this product you may want to try this:

     http://www.smartratings.com/review/electronics/gps/2617

725. Hi GUYS & GALS!
     I orded mine by phone from main store came in 2 days. can’t get the code in yet.
     Staples should send you a nice bonus for the sales you have given them.
     PS: you can order them on line, remind them of the 10 dollar cupon. GOD BLESS DON

726. I have read this whole comment section. And made a number of calls to Navigon and escalated to a serious level. There is a lot of rumor mongering on this comment section that negatively affected my prior statement. For example this third hand statement:
     —
     “Actually I spoke with Navigon the other day. This update was mostly intended to prep the unit for “Navigon Fresh.”

     The tech I spoke with admitted to the corrupted map data and proceeded to inform me that they ARE going to charge customers for the map update because it will include “new data” (but they’re not sure what the charge will be.)”
     —
     Firstly, in fact the update has nothing at all to do with Navigon Fresh. The update is limited to some very specific problems. Navigon Fresh is just a convenient way to upgrade to new maps and install software fixes. There is nothing Fresh does that the user cannot do themselves. Also contrary to comments made here that made me very disappointed they have not decided on a policy regarding map updates for prior purchasers. They know Garmin gives newer maps to 90 days to purchasers within 90 days of release of new maps.

     Also I had read “corrupted” here and this really ticked me off at Navigon. But from experimenting I think this term “corrupted” maps bothers me more than a bit. Is there evidence for this? one would see duplicable freezing of the software. There are no examples of this are there? Can someone post one? Otherwise this is an inflammatory and incorrectly used term.

     Hearsay of what low level tech support people may or may not have said is without meaning as anyone involved in technology can tell you. I had no Navigon rep tell me the maps were “corrupt” and I doubt the credibility of anyone saying such conversation took place.

     I have instead come to the conclusion the map somehow contains less data than it should for optimum routing. This is disappointing but not the same as corrupted data files.

     The jury is still out. My Navigon dioes not route as well as other units, but this comment section is filled to the brim with all kinds of negative rumors and bogus conclusions.

727. Terry — Great review!!
     Looks like the majority of people are happy with their Navigons. I just got back from France with my 5100 and it worked fine. Having had a TomTom (talk about bad routing!) and a Garmin your readers ought to know EVERY GPS has these complaints. I don’t think it is unusual either to have one compulsive person fixating and knocking a product. Hey! You bought a very inexpensive $100-$150 GPS 2100 that was new to the US market. One example of going around a cloverleaf? Oh that is terrible — until you read TomTom forums and see the mountain of routing quirks! Relax. Take a pill. Get outside and do more driving and less time hunched over a computer insisting to other happy owners how bad the 2100 they are enjoying must be! Do you even have a car or just the computer?

728. First, nobody suggested that there is map corruption in the European maps, so Driver’s anecdote about his trip to FRANCE is pointless. If you had a lovely time with your 5100, more power to you. Your insults to anyone who questions Navigon’s routing is just designed to get people to buy them. Get a job. Read a book. Educate yourself, you mindless hack. I would think you are just another Navigon employee shilling on the site, but I would hope that Navigon employees wouldn’t be quite as stupid.

     The user on the GPSPassion site who suggested that the maps are corrupted is named Justin, he goes by weatheryoko on that site, and you can go read his posts there for yourself. I believe he states that he was a beta tester for a GPS company at some point his career, and I put more faith in what he says than in either of you. But you are free to believe whatever you like.

     Doof … I believe you posted to the GPSPassion site that you are selling your Navigon and moving on to a Garmin. I’m bailing on mine too. It’s not just that the Navigon routing is bad, it’s that the Navigon consumers seem to be too stupid to recognize that the routing is bad, and I am sick of them. Maybe Garmin has a higher class of consumer?

729. Driver,

     I agree with you 100%. I’ve found most complaints to be more user error or solvable in the Settings. There are some valid problems but nothing major IMHO. Some are at best nitpicking by Trolls but then there are people out there that dedicate their entire lives to finding fault with everything.

     I’ve just reskinned my 2100 and its awesome. I hope Navigon will encourage, or at least look the other way while the fan community offers skins and other hacks for our devices. Looking at adding POI’s next. Having fun exploring the Web looking for cool things to do or add to the 2100. GPSPassion seems to be a very good place to find everything.

     (and for you Trolls out there who think I might be a Navigon shill, I’m a semi-retired glamour photographer and I used to manage a couple of camera stores in Orange County, CA. Terry – I worked at Adrays in Orange for over 14 years)

     Keep on Truckin’,

     Robert

730. This is where I step in again…..I resent the comment “It’s not just that the Navigon routing is bad, it’s that the Navigon consumers seem to be too stupid to recognize that the routing is bad, and I am sick of them.” If you are unhappy with the routing on the Navigon that is one thing but to insist that the rest of us are to stupid to see it is whole other issue. I won’t disagree with the idea of their maybe being a bad bunch that was shipped and maybe some people received that bad bunch but I know my routing so far is fine and I do alot of traveling. In all actuality, the GPS is nothing but a little computer that relies on a GPS signal. How often has something gone wrong with your laptop or desktop software or operating system and you had to keep pestering the company for a fix or just apply a patch. No GPS is going to be perfect where there is no routing problem whatsoever. So go right ahead and purchase a Garmin and I bet I’ll see you on a Garmin board complaining about the same thing. Just remember one thing, how many GPS devices offer free lifetime traffic. And before you accuse me of being an employee of Navigon, I’m NOT…..I just don’t go slandering companies and their products without getting facts. If that was the case, I would be slamming Microsoft because they can’t make a damn decent Internet Explorer therefore I stopped using it and use Firefox. Bottom line is, if you don’t like something that much and not offering a solution, switch to something else. See if the grass is greener on the other side.

731. NeitherFanboy — Fascinating response. All that name calling? Everyone here is a nut? By all means, let out all your anger at everything in your life on a $99 GPS and its more informed users.

     I think your Navigon’s problem is on the user end. And it is a heck of a problem 🙂

     It is clear to ME that YOU are new to, and flummoxed by, technology. Go to Treo forums, HTCP forums, iPhone forums, TomTom forums, Magellan forums, Mac forums, software forums, people report major and minor bugs all the time. A tiny fraction, one in a hundred people, mostly n00bs, pulls their hair out and whine they were “ripped off.”

     Where did you buy your device? You say you got a 2100T for $99 at Staples. They have a 30 day return. You used it 30 days and did not notice that it was sending you from Cleveland to Chicago via Madagascar? Or was it that it was DIRT cheap price, easily hackable, easy to put on other maps, and a load of nifty features, and you decided to keep it after 30 days? Why didn’t you eBay it for 90% to 110% of what you bought it for?

     By the way people on Garmin forums say Navteq maps suck and are the most common misconception is that they are “corrupted.” Oh my! :-0 Go to engadget, Amazon and see user comments on Garmin and its bad routing and “corrupted” maps.

     Let’s have some objective evidence the maps are “corrupt?”

     Your entire commentary on this site has had no facts, no useful information and just and endless and strange a repetition of complaints oen can find with any device and then insults to users.

     I suggest you look at your post of 24 and 25 November. They show you to be trolling.

     ______________
     # NeitherFanBoyon 25 Nov 2007 at 10:59 am

     “I have to say I’ve been really worried about this GPS with everyone talking about a “lag.” But I wasn’t really noticing it on mine — and contrary to the assertion above that anyone who wasn’t fessing up to a lag must not really own one, I do have one right here on my desk as I type. Then I read that the lag is in how fast the menus come up, or how fast it is to enter an address? Seriously?? So NOT worried about that I can’t tell you, and relieved to hear that’s all this is about…… I can’t imagine that this will ever be a concern to me. “Hold on, Bob, I have to enter a new address in my GPS and it will take 2 minutes. Dang, if only this was a faster interface I could enter this address in 1 minute! I could save 1 whole minute in my life! Curse you, Navigon interface!””

     “The TomTom when set to the “Shortest” route on a trip from California to Oregon on I5 kept telling me I should get off the freeway, drive on a surface road, then get back on the freeway for a couple of miles, then get off on a surface road again, then back on the freeway, over and over — I assume since I5 makes great big turns in that area, it was “shortest” to get off the freeway and head straight, then get back on when the freeway came around again, but nobody in their right mind would do that.”

     “Considering that I got this for $99, and that includes lifetime traffic (which TomTom does not) this GPS was a steal.”

     ___________________

     You whole attitude is bi-polar. You love it, its “a steal”, Navigon routes “better” than other device major maker devices, you mock people “Hold on Bob” noticing problems such as lag (fixed with the the update on mine).

     If you google your name and Navigon one finds an endless flood of diatribe against the company and almost hateful attitude to users combined with an absence of any facts and a whole pantload of falsehoods.

     To blog owner White, sorry for the tone, but we seem to have one poster who has decided to turn your blog into a place to spew on others.

732. Dang it Driver, you’re right! I Googled Neitherfanboy and up pops his post on Gizmodo about the iPhone.

     “I think I understand the law fairly well, but maybe I don’t understand the software very well? If I install unsupported software on my computer, and then I do something like a Windows update, the Windows update may over-write the software I installed and that software won’t function anymore. Maybe, at the worst, my whole system would be corrupt and I would have reformat & reinstall. But it wouldn’t become a brick. It seems to me that the bricking was intentional. Is there anybody who truly does not believe the bricking was intentional????”

     Sounds familiar doesn’t it!

733. Thank you Driver. I just took real offense to the name calling by NeitherFan. I agree with you and Robert as well. I believe in supplying facts. If your going to complain about something provide facts. The cloverleaf example was a poor example as I would have to actually drive that highway and even then, you have to use, as someone previously posted, “Common Sense”. As far as the part where NeitherFan referred to a GPSPassion posting stating someone spoke with a customer service tech and they told that person that the map IS “corrupt”, I highly disbelieve that. I work in Customer Service and if I was to say something like that to any customer, I would have been handed the pink slip.

734. The “corrupt” statements from a Navigon CSR doesn’t pass any smell test. I think we have user speculation that is not sober. If you look at his comments here and and google his comments on the site (gpspassion) he references and repeats he is the source of the rampant speculation. Journalists call this a non independent confirmation. He is using for confirmation his own fanning of rampant and absurd speculation elsewhere to generate more speculation here, referencing it back to the other site in a vicious circle, and then saying the speculation is fact.

     I think our “Netherfanboy” ought to look at Garmin forums where there are lots of examples of this type of issue. Better yet, he should buy one, praise it for a month, pooh pooh others’ notes or perceptions of bugs or deficiencies, and then after a revelation of buyers remorse reverse start striking out and attacking the unit and anyone who wants to keep it.

     I doubt the guy even has a car.

735. I can be as critical of any product as the best of them, but you got to keep it real. I agree with Robert, Longi and Driver about NeitherFanBoy, he needs to give it up. His commentary is old already and is unhelpful to any of us. I too own a 2100 (bought it in early December ’07) and although it isn’t perfect, none of the units out there are.

     Case in point. Just last week, my brother and I embarked on a trip to a family function in two separate vehicles from Westchester, NY to Brooklyn, NY…I had my Navigon and he had a Garmin Nuvi 260. His Nuvi had him getting off I-278 two exits too soon to make any logical sense. In doing so, it had him trekking through numerous streets (all with stoplights of course) just to get to our destination. My 2100 had me get off exit 28 which was a block and a half from the destination. I am sure there are similar examples in which the Nuvi would have better routing, but you get my drift…none of them are perfect…period.

736. If it is possible to change the voice on the Navigon 2100. Would some one be able to post information on how to do this. Thanks

737. Netherfanboy:
     “Maybe Garmin has a higher class of consumer?”

     Since you have proven yourself to have no class, and are probably the most technologically challenged person I have ever read if you buy one their demographics will go down, and for sure the baseless whining on blogs about them will go up.

     Good luck with that $60 a year traffic charge. I just traveled with a buddy’s traffic enable Garmin and we got the exact same reports at the exact same time.

738. neitherfandork,
     you sound hopeless,
     my beemer with my navigon works seamless together,you just sound like your too stupid to use a gps device,,,,
     honestly you sound ignorant.
     and anyone who disagree’s just google netherfanboy,I’ve found results on this genius from gps forums to iphone chatrooms to men for men chatrooms.every time giving negative comments on various matters,you need help.my navigon works great!
     neitherfanboytoy you just a hater.

739. Tom is right about Neitherfanboy. My Navigon works fine. I have the settings just the way I want them, and have no problem. Why would he continuously check routings for routes he knows ? Doesn’t he have ANYTHING else to do with his time ? I might have it on for traffic updates, but I would basically use it for routes I am unfamiliar with only. In those cases, I have always arrived at my destination near the estimated arrival time on the screen. I think Terry should block him from this site. Didn’t he write earlier that he was returning his Navigon for a Garmin ?

740. I own a Garmin 2730 (which is loaded with every option available including XM Sat) and I love it – we have even found addresses that were on dirt roads. But I also wanted a handheld so after doing some research decided to try the Navigon 2100. Plugged it right in and I was off and running – took a few minutes to figure out the different functions. Screen could be brighter (probably has a setting I haven’t found yet). But for the cost it is amazing – has most of the same functions as my Garmin which cost me over $500 (originally sold for $1,200). I think you can find mapping problems with any of the systems so don’t hold that against it. At $120 – if you drop it and break it – go buy another one!

741. Could find if the Navigon 5100 has a vehicle type option or not., Please let me know It’s looks good and all but I need for a 5 ton truck for downtown Toronto Deliveries. Not sure what the answer is.
     thanks
     Mario

742. Mario – Navigon does not have a truck setting for the same reason Garmin just got rid of that setting on all its new models and new software updates: the Navteq maps, which are excellent otherwise, can’t be safely relied on for accurate data on bridge and overpass heights, road weight and type limits, tunnel limits, etc.

     My brother has an Recreational Vehcile and was pretty mad when the latest Garmin update removed this feature, and he learned none of the new models have it anymore either.

     Commercial trucking companies use specialized nav equipment and mapping. Unlike consumer units. they have excellent data for these specialized limits, as well other truck specific features such as location reporting and automatic logging.

     You might want to check trucking forums and ask what people are using since this feature has been dropped or is in the process of having support withdrawn on consumer GPS units generally.

743. Mario,
     The Navigon doesn’t have that feature because it is part of the new generation of consumer GPS. Garmin also dropped that feature with its newest generation of devices as well.

     People with trucks use gps systems and maps made for trucking, 99% of the users wishing for a truck option on consumer pocketable devices are people with Recrational Vehicles. Unfortunately they know that with the truck option you saw on pocketable models was problem ridden and resulted in a LOT of tickets, fines and bridge strikes!

     There are scores and scores of truck limits. Commercial limits regardless of size, axle limits regardless of commercial or non commercial, height limits, wight limits, limits starting at 1.25 tons trucks, limits at 5 tons, 8 tons, etc.

     That is why Garmin abandoned it. They got a mass numer of complaints because not only can the maps not be kept up to date (so many authorities, local, county, state, federal, can and do change the regulations or heights with no notice), but there are actually so many differnt class of non “car” vehicles that you need about ten different “truck” settings.

     So I would:
     a) do what truckers do and go with a specialized unit. they not only have multiple classes, and specialized databases of relevant mapping information, they also have other truck features such as complex logging. You can check various trucking forums which have a lot of information on these specific group of gps for trucks.
     b) get a consumer unit such as a Navigon or Garmin and use it to help you locate points an generally guide you while watching for restrictions the old way: on the signs.

     Good luck!

744. I would really love some help if possible. I just recently bought the Navigon 2100 and absolutely love it. I live in DC and took it to Atlantic City and the 2d/3d ability, speed limit, projected time of arrival, etc etc are all great features in such a cheaply priced thing. (Especially since I just got in off of a staples.com sale for $120.. what a deal no?)

     This is my question though.

     If I am driving down a street and locate a Mcdonalds, Mobil gas station and Parking garage (3 POIs that have icons for them on my 2100), and I press the screen to find the phone number or EXACT address, a menu comes up with a “Night/Day, 2D/3D or Settings tab”..

     How can I press the screen to reveal the phone number and exact locations of the POIs?

     Any help would be great- dlg683@yahoo.com or on here would work too. Thanks

     Thanks!

745. daniel,
     two ways:

     1) a: one tap the magnifying glass. this will take you into temporary overhead (similar but not the same as “2d”).
     b: then use your finger to drag the map (you may have to used the ” – ” key to zoom out) until the poi you want is under the crosshairs. you will see the poi’s name come up below on a status bar when it gets into the crosshairs.
     c: tap the status bar with the name. from there you can add it to favorites and/or navigate to it, or tap the “i” button to get even more info like the phone number.

     2) a: If you are done navigating for the moment, tap the back arrow, leave navigation, b) select new destination, select search for poi, select nearby — and it will be on the list that comes up.

     you can of course, tap the main screen while driving, select “POI on route and it will show you the icon and of your POI’s on the route. You then tap it and it will add it as an interim destination guiding you right there and the the resetting itself to guide you to your final destination. This is best for gas stations and Macdonald’s right on the road or interstate rest area, but will not give you the exact address. If you need that pick one of the options above.

     I find each of the three ways to get to POIs has its own advantages and you can use them well once you understand the options.

746. Enzio

     thanks so much. I really appreciate your thorough response. Awesome

     DLG

747. Thanks to this blog, I learned I could download the update a few weeks ago. However, I never did get around to installing it, because although when attached to my laptop with a “USB Type A + Mini B” cable, the Navigon’s orange light lit up, the PC did not recognize it as a device. Then, during the week, I got an email from Navigon about the update and decided to check it out. Came here first and found Arnold Rosners great tip about the Dell’s card slot. I’ve got an Inspiron 9300, so I checked. Sure enough, there it is–right next to the earphone jack. Downloading the driver was a bit nervewracking (Microsoft was warning about it not being signed), but I went for it. Next to Navigon’s website, where they had put up NEW instructions and a NEW, simplified executable that made the update REALLY easy. Appears to have worked OK while retaining my old settings, just like I wanted. Will test it out tomorrow to see if “Expy” is now pronounced correctly. 🙂

748. just want everyone to know there is a new software update for the navigon 2100.. i did install it but i have not put it to the test.. They say it has easier POI searches, impoved voice guidance,text to speech enancements and user interface improvements…. we will see.. FYI check you jumk mail thats wear i got my up date..
     good luck.

749. Hey Chris or anyone- Isn’t this the update we all did at the very beginning of the month ? The date on the update says January 31, 2008.

750. I got an email yesterday from navigon saying that the update is available, but I don’t understand why they sent it a month later because it’s a January update.

751. Thanks joe i never got the first up date from navigon (January).. I dont understand why navigon would send out a update a month later.

752. I think they sent out a double update. I already updated my navigon when the first one came out.

753. I think the 2nd update is the same as the first, v. 1.1. The only difference I could discern after printing out both sets of instructions (I had saved the 1st but never done it) was you could do the 2nd one using a wizard interface. Lots easier!

754. I have the Navigon 2100, anyone know how to change the skins onit. Do I need any special software on my computer to do this and im a novice on the computer so hopefully its a plug and play download.

     thanks guys

755. Hey, is it me or has the Navigon 2100 decided to start Daylight Savings Time a week early? All my ETAs are 1 hour later than actual clock time.

756. Pingback: Comment on Navigon 2100 Portable GPS Review by Bridges | Ceva Gps

757. Bridges, you are right, they did start a bit early. I thought it was just me too.

758. Pingback: Comment on Navigon 2100 Portable GPS Review by Comment on Navigon … | Ceva Gps
759. Pingback: Comment on Navigon 2100 Portable GPS Review by Longi | Ceva Gps

760. Anyone know how to HACK into a Navigon 2100 ?

761. Boy’s, Boy’s Boy’s, Wow this Blog is getting a bad rap and sure is a rude one,
     lots of un-necessary name calling and inflammatory remarks. Boy’s you really need to chill out.
     Where is Terry White when you need him, Somebody has to take charge and should sanction the guilty parties, just to keep his Blog in check.

     Petty bulling only destroys a community and never makes it stronger, now those of us that don’t want to be bothered with the crap, may I suggest we banned together and privately E-mail Terry White, Scroll back up through the blog and take names, and ask Terry to Ban The members IP not just the Member Name.

     Terry I’m sure I will get beat up over this, but then that would just prove my point. Please review this thread and toss the people that don’t believe it’s OK to disagree and revert to childless, mindless behaver.
     If I want to listen to children name call and bully, I would be a substitute teacher, at a grade school.

     Now I have both a Magellan 700 and a tricked out 2100, it’s not 2120, more like a 5100. Poi-Warner software also loaded with red light camera and speed camera data for Poi’s.

     Put them both in the window and guess what, the 2100 no longer has the mapping error, which by the way it did straight out of The box, for you guy that say it does not, it does. and if you were smart you would get on the horn and start calling them so they don’t charge for the maps.

     when I put the 5100 map set on the 2100 all problems went away. so there’s your proof. I drive about 1500 miles a week selling hardware, with the two gps’s I can see exactly when one or the other is giving fudged info, because I know my route.

     I took the 2100 back three times before I settled in with the unit I have now, all three units came from different stores two of which were 200 miles apart, 2 Staples and the last from Radio Shack. The reason for the switches is simple, it didn’t route well at all, compared to the Magellan right next to it.

     All is now well and I will again buy the map set when updated for the 5100 instead of the 2100.

     MAC

762. 🙁 My Navigon 2100 won’t turn on. i have no idea why. it has worked for me in the past. i realize this could be a manufacturer flop but thought i’d try to trouble shoot just the same. this is when i stumbled upon this site.

     anybody have any ideas?

763. I have to ask the obvious did you charge it?

764. Tracey, did you hold the power button down for 5 seconds?

765. Ok Ok what I did manage to do is turn my navigon 2100 into a Tom Tom, still searching on how to change the skins on it hmmmmmm any ideas out here

766. […] QQ, the most largest IM service in China and in the world, is one of the most successful and profitable Internet companies in China. It generates over 700 million in 2007, but do you know what is QQ’ s business model, how it get users to pay for the service? Maybe most of us can not even name all main products and services of QQ. Plus8Star, an consulting firm focused on wireless services in East Asia, has just release a report on QQ’ s business model, strategy and social impacts. […]

767. This unit is a let down from their loox 100. The loox 100 has (1) audio jack (2) comes with a wall charger (3) much better software including mp3, calculator, clock (3) lot less lag in the voice prompts (4) map of us/canada including AK and HW. (5) Much better battery management software. Why the Navigon engineers/product management took the product backwards in features is beyond me.

768. mac daddy,

     you said you put a 5100 map set into a 2100

     did you only replace the map file or did you swap out any xml files also ?

     james bond,

     if you read some of the earlier posts there are links to sites to reskin your 2100 some skins for 5100 and 7100 also

769. Terry,

     I have been considering the Navigon 2100 or the TomTom One 3rd edition. I enjoyed reading your review on the 2100. I have read a few reviews out there, and one that stood out to me was the reviewer was mentioning that the 2100 has a bad routing algorithm. Have you compared these units side by side? I’m curious to know which one you would pick between either of those units. I do like that the 2100 shows interchange signs (i am horrible with directions, and the text to speech is great). I’m at a loss as to which to pick! Both are comparibly priced.

770. Dear Navigon Customer,
     Thank you for your inquiry.

     It is not recomended to change the sd card that comes with the device.
     Navigon can not support devices with modified components. If you do decide to change the sd card, the only sd cards that work are sd cards that are not HDSD cards.

     Please contact us at 888-848-0701 Monday through Friday 8am to 10pm EST if you have any other questions or http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en under the Support tab.

     Sincerely,
     Navigon Customer Support Team

771. I bought the Navigon 2100 for my husband for Christmas and we love it. But just the other day for some reason the “voice” disappeared so to speak, no one tells you where to go or when to turn etc. Has anyone else had that problem? I am not a total idiot I made sure that the unit was charged properly and the settings showed the voice and sound on, but still no luck. Any suggestions?
     Thanks

772. CJ Smith

     You might try to reset it. Hold the power button down for 15 seconds, let go and then hold down for 6 seconds and see if it works correctly. Hope this is helpful to you.

773. Hey – Should I purchase the Navigon 2100 warranty from staples ?

774. Hey thanks! I used a pen and reset the unit and now it works great again. Voice and all. We joked about it thinking the voice disappeared because my husband didn’t always listen to her so she was giving him the “silent treatment”.

     Mary- I wouldn’t purchase the warranty from staples because they told me no matter what problems I may have they would recommend you contact “Navigon” anyway. It’s a good unit.

775. Cheers CJ – Thankyou for the advice. I am always a little suspicious of store warranties.

776. I tried a display of the Navigon 2100 Max at the store (none in stock yet), and it is fantastic !! They said the stock would not be in until the beginning of (at least) May 2008. The new features make me want to give my current 2100 to my wife and use the new one as soon as I can get it !!

777. There is a new software update coming out for existing US Navigon customers!

     According to the Navigon website:

     Software Update 1.2 continues to build on the NAVIGON software framework with a series of exciting improvements to North American NAVIGON GPS Navigators, chief among them are:

     Improved routing
     Updated ZAGAT SURVEY Ratings & Reviews
     Improved user interface
     Revised voice prompts for highway entrances & exit ramps
     Improved accuracy of ETA information

     They also indicate that the 1.2 software update (available April 22) will include a FREE map update!

778. rdg03

     Can you link this info, I’m not finding it on the Navagon Web Site.

     ____________________________________________________________________
     There is a new software update coming out for existing US Navigon customers!

     According to the Navigon website:

     Software Update 1.2 continues to build on the NAVIGON software framework with a series of exciting improvements to North American NAVIGON GPS Navigators, chief among them are:

     Improved routing
     Updated ZAGAT SURVEY Ratings & Reviews
     Improved user interface
     Revised voice prompts for highway entrances & exit ramps
     Improved accuracy of ETA information

     They also indicate that the 1.2 software update (available April 22) will include a FREE map update!

779. Dennis, log into My Account on the Navigon website, and under “My Products”, click on “Software Update” to see the info that rdg03 supplied.

780. Correction to previous post: Log onto MyNavigon on the Navigon website

781. Hi,

     Have any of you put the new update 1.2 on your 2100 yet? It’s a huge file and Navigon says to back up your GPS by downloading it to your PC. I haven’t tried to do it yet, because I am unsure of how it all works. (I’m not a techie as you can tell). I could get another SD card, but I’m not sure what kind to get. I would appreciate any input. Thanks so much.

782. Hi, Cathy. I’m no techie but I did download the upgrade today so let’s see if I could answer your question. I plugged my Navigon 2100 to my laptop with the USB cable that came with my Canon camera. Powered on and then went to My Computer to find the removable disc E that contained the Navigon files. Left-clicked to copy the files. Opened a new folder that I labeled Navigon and then pasted the files to it. Did take over half an hour I think to copy the files.

783. Here is a thread for the new 1.2 update.

     http://www.gpsreview.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5307

     It appears the maps are newer , the imput speed is better, crazy routing is still not resolved for some, POI’s a little better. Also being report by some that their Navagon is telling them to go “Seconds” not South” when changing highways. How Navagon manged to muck that up I’ll never no. (Probably out sourced the new code writing to China)

     Not a home run by any means.

784. Thanks, guys. I’ve never had any trouble with my Navigon, and I don’t want it to start now. She did direct me once to exit off of a freeway that I knew I had to stay on, but I know that eventually she would have got me where I needed to go had I been new to the area and followed her instructions. I’ve used other types of GPS systems and they weren’t 100% either, so I guess if we use some common sense in connection with the little machine, we will be OK. Thanks again for your help.

785. “Dear Navigon Customer,
     Thank you for your inquiry.
     It is not recomended to change the sd card that comes with the device.
     Navigon can not support devices with modified components. If you do decide to change the sd card, the only sd cards that work are sd cards that are not HDSD cards.
     Please contact us at 888-848-0701 Monday through Friday 8am to 10pm EST if you have any other questions or http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en under the Support tab.
     Sincerely,
     Navigon Customer Support Team”

     BS!
     All Navigon devices, including the 2100 take SDHC cards of any brand up to 8 Gb.

786. I just found this:

     BuyDig.com cut its price on the Sandisk Extreme III 4GB SDHC (pictured), model no. SDCFX3-016G-A31, to $41.99 with free shipping. This $30 mail-in rebate drops it to $11.99. That’s a $7 drop since three days ago and the lowest total price we could find. Rebates are refunded via Visa Check cards and expire June 29.

787. I’m getting this is a couple days, already bought it, waiting for it to arrive at my front door. I see you can get updates of maps and stuff and firmware updates, but how do these get to yours gps? with no cable, does in download via the satellites, when you register for an account??? would love to know.
     thanks please send a copy of this response to derekj222@gmail.com thanx

788. Wow…just updated to 1.2 and man are the menus much faster. No more lag on text input either and new POI’s. With the new update this is one of the best low budget GPS’s out there. Updating was a piece of cake too. I love this thing!!!!

789. What a wonderful and very helpful review! I just got this for my husband for Father’s Day from Staples.com. I paid $129.00! Not bad considering it’s not Black Friday! One question I do have and couldn’t find an answer to anywhere…can I get maps for Canada for it? If so, how? Thanks for you work!

790. Melonie, I would suggest going to http://navigonusa.com/support/ I’m not sure if the 2100 is able to get the Canadian maps, but you could ask them.

     Good luck.

791. You can not get the Canadian maps yet. That is something I am waiting for as well. When I called them back in April they said that in July, when FreshMaps is released, they will be releasing some maps as well but they didn’t say if the Canadian maps are part of that. If you signed up for the email notifications, you will be notified once the map is available.

792. does the GPS speak in Polish?

793. I own a Navigon 2100, I also purchased the traffic to go with it for $100. The traffic hasn’t worked since I spent my hard-earned money to purchase it. The Navigon techies tell me that the device needs to be replaced, and this is after many attempts to get someone to do something about it. Now they tell me that I have to mail them the device and wait for them to send me a replacement. Since I use my GPS everyday for work I find this totally unacceptable. But, they will not budge. I spoke to them just today and was told that it had to be that way. I find it now necessary to consult legal help to get my money’s worth. They have not even suggested a compromise or a refund of my traffic money. I would have to say that even though the product is superior to the others on the market, the fact that their warranty procedures are seriously lacking is enough for me to warn others to steer away from this product.

794. I purchased a 2100 at Staples when they had a sale for a Father’s Day gift. We rented a gps unit on a trip to PA and found it to be a good accessory when you do not know the area. At times it took us a long way around but we did make it to our destination. My husband indicated he would have preferred one that indicated the name of the streets when turning etc. and the 2100 fit the bill. We have tried it out and it works great. I thought this would be a good one to start with and now it may be the only one we will consider. Really like the unit, would buy it again and wished the unit included a friction base for the dash. This ROCKS!

795. Hey Terry. I have a Navigon 2100 and all of a sudden the screen froze and I can’t get it back. Can you help?

796. Tiffany,

     You can stick a straightened out paper clip in the reset hole, or you can hold the power button down for 15 seconds, release and hold down again for 6 seconds and it should come back on. If that doesn’t work (which it usually does) then you would have to contact Navigon.

     Hope this is helpful to you.

797. I just recently sold mine on Craigs list and bought a TomTom One XL. I like it a whole lot better. Even though it doesn’t come with the traffic and doesn’t speak the street names, it has much better routing and if you steer off course it recalculates very quickly. The best part about it is I get free map updates more frequently and if I see there is an error on the map, i can let TomTom know and they fix it and include it in their updates. I got tired of Navigons games.

798. I purchased the Navigon max 2100 July 3rd. Its a nice gps for the money. Problem is the recalulating of position, Its slow and sometimes non-responsive. I’ve used the Garmin Nuvie, much better unit. As for the power cord, I use my Razar phone adapter and it works great.

799. can i put the map file from the 2120 onto my 2100 and use it for canada if yes where can i get the 2120 map info?

800. You can only get the 2120 only in Canada

801. Pity to see a lot of you spent well over a hundred bucks for this GPS. As I write this, COMPUsa is selling the refurbished unit for $79! Plus, if you do some searching on Google for Navigon 2100, you’ll find varying prices for the extra goodies that you may want. I found one site where you can get the “fresh” maps for 25 bucks! The MSRP is $79. Haven’t got it yet, but for $79, I’ll give it a try. Also, another site has the “traffic” option at $44. Ya gotta love the Internet! Happy shopping. – Jim

802. Right now (11/10/08) Yugster has this unit for $76.95 + shipping.

     Not bad at all.

     Duane

803. Terry White,

     I have had my Navigon 2100T for almost a year now. All in all I like the GPS and have installed both map updates provided.

     Here is my problem–I noted over the last few weeks that the system “freezes up” on me. I suspect that the problem pertains to the battery in the unit. I believe that this occurs when the battery is, or is about to be, fully charged. My friend has two Garmins that have never frozen up as they have no separate battery unit and derive their power directly from the car’s battery charger.

     Is anyone else having this problem? Is so, short of letting the battery on the unit drain a bit to restablish satellite connection, what can be done to rectify the problem?

804. i have a 2100 and it freezes at start up and tried resetting and still happens.is the light on unit suppose to stay amber or go to green?

     1. i have the same problem. it freezes…even in the middle of a sentance…then i get a fatal error message. i get so stressed now when i have to go somewhere where i don’t know the area. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

805. I just bought this for my son who will be using it to maneuver through New York on pedestrian mode. We set it up and test drove it and I can not get the thing to talk to me. I see where you can silence the speaker and I made sure that was on. The volume is turned up but it wont talk to me. Can somebody please help me?

806. yeah terry i just bought a 2100 on e-bay refurbished for 87.00 very good price for it have not seen the reality view but like you said show’s some of the name BP MOBEL
     BURGER KING IT’S A KILLER UNIT anybody want’s one cheap this is where i got mine
     id name -ipod_outlet still have some there but yeah i love my unit got anouther for a gift

807. After the 2Q software upgrade for the 2100, when will be the next free map update ?

     I would expect user should have at a few free map update during the product life.

808. Hiya Terry,

     Thanks for the great review. Just wanted to let ya all know that I got mine for $65 ($75 – 10 rebate) on http://www.ecost.com It is a Refurbished unit, and workes just fine. Even when I’m plugged into my Cigarette lighter in my car, the way it’s supposed to, So I guess you’d say it’s better than new, in some cases (Sorry Jim S.)…Just Kidding. If anyone hears of the traffic alert anntenna for a cheaper price than the $99 dollars Please Post it. Is this just an anntenna ? Would it be possible to make one

809. Could Someone post the dimentions of the Antenna for this unit. I’d like to make one !!

810. You can get a factory refurbished unit from TigerDirect for $65 plus tax and shipping. Best deal ever (so far).

811. No antenna needed.
     Don

812. I purchased a refub Navigon 2100 GPS. It was working fine until one day, I went on a road trip to see my friend in Queens. I pulled the Naviy into the car charger because the battery was low and turned it on. And it had on the screen a picture of the naviy being connected to a computer. And it still won’t go away every time I go to charge it. It works when it’s not charging, but that screen comes up with it’s charging. This is very unhelpful if I’m going somewhere and I need to use it while charging.

     Anyone know what’s up with this?

     1. get a new charger – universal gps car charger will do the trick

813. I have the same problem as Cera. I got the unit about 3 yrs ago but its never been able to function while charging. I never really cared because I never go on very long trips. Now Im going on a 1400 mile trip and I will be needing this thing for it. It wont stay charged for the entire trip or even half of it. Is this normal? Also I only got a wall charger with it, never a car charger so I use my cell phone charger in the car (when Im traveling but out of the car for a bit). Will it work if I ordered a Navigon car charger???
     I really like this unit, but HELP!

814. I’ve updated to Ver. 1.2 and now want to update my maps. I installed the “Navigon Fresh” and it states that 2nd quarter 2009 is $80.00. but when I select it, it refers me back to the web site, the web site refers me back to Navigon Fresh, etc. It’s like a bad remake of “Who’s on First?” Any ideas where I can find updated maps (US 48 states)? Thanks in advance.

815. Word on the wire for those that haven’t seen it yet is that Navigon has or very shortly will pull out of the US Market. There is an aledged Class Action Lawsuit pending because apparently they are taking money for the Maps updates, but will no longer be supporting this feature of the unit. I have had the 2200T since last year and this a marvel of a unit. A shame that people have gone with lower featured units simply for price, because this is an incredible piece of engineering. I don’t know why Navigon has to stop subscription services just because they will no longer be selling the units themselves here in the US. It is just not right to bilk money from consumers than leave them high and dry.

     From a personal standpoint on the unit issues, I have only had my unit glitch with a fatal error on just one occasion. I rebooted the unit and it very shortly picked right back up from my current location. If I have any complaint about the unit it is that it takes (my opinion) much too long to find a GPS Signal. The first time I started it up after purchase it took somewhere in the neighborhood of about 40 minutes to find the Sat signal. After that however, it only took about 2-3 minutes on my subsequent trips using it. You do have to preplan with thing.. you can’t just jump in your car and go and that is an unfortunate downside, but overall, I would (if they were still viable) make a recommendation to anyone considering purchasing one of these units to do so. They are heads above other GPS units, loaded with features. Perhaps, hopefully, we will be able to get the maps subscription updates back because my maps are based on Quarter 3 2008 and new roads and reroutes are starting to be missed by the unit as things have changed.

     Best of luck to anyone that has one of these.. you are both fortunate and unlucky at the same time.

     Pegasus

816. Can someone please help! I have had my Navigon 2100 for about 8 months and when i turned it on this morning, the battery was very low so i tried to charge it in the car, next thing it showed FATAL APPLICATION ERROR on the screen. I cant delete it, the screen is frozen.
     I powered off, turned it back on and its still there.
     Soooo frustrating…………..help please!
     Thanks

     1. Hai Moe,

        Try reseting the GPS. U can reset it using a pin or paperclip. It is on the side.

        thanks

        1. OMG!!!! thankyou! thankyou!! thankyou!!! sooooo much saroja! It works!!!!
           I sincerely hope that someone can figure out how to fix your GPS.

817. Hi Everyone,

     I am using a Navigon 2100. It has been working great till now – more than 2 years. Recently from couple of weeks I was getting this image On the screen once in a while and now the image comes up as soon as I start the gps. The images shows a gps connected to a laptop and thats it. I tried restarting and switching on and off. I downloaded the Navigon Fresh and tried to update the software but I couldn’t update the software as Navigon fresh cannot recognize the connected GPS. can please some one help me. I need it to work as we have already planned for a weekend trip to the mountains and now the GPS dosen’t work.
     Thanks

     1. a new car charger of 12 volts will do it, get a universal gps car charger

818. I have navigan 2100 & been usin it
     it,s the bast gps i ever seen.
     But now i havem a problem to charge it when i useing it shows me on the scrin
     a computer,when i unplag it it works but not when i charge the gps can you
     help me with the poblem pl.

819. I have navigon 2100 & been using it.
     But now i have a problem to charge it when i using it shows me on the screen a computer icon connected to GPS,when i unplug it works but not when i charge the gps can you
     help me with the problem please.

820. I have the Navigon 2100. It has been great for about 2 years. Recently, I turned it on and see the screen with the earth and Navigon name then the screen goes dark and the unit doesn’t work. I’ve done this a dozen times and the same thing happens. Has anyone else had this problem? How did you resolve it?Thanks.

821. Thanks Terry for writing the review that made me purchase the unit. This is a very late comment though 🙂

     I bought this unit in the black friday $99 deal in 2007. It has been almost two years now and the unit is working fine. I have got the fatal error a few times. I dont relate it to the battery being charged. I have found that a complete shutdown of the system and a restart works well. I guess most of the folks having problems are not doing a full shutdown. By full shutdown, I mean pressing the power button for a long time when the unit is ON, until the system goes OFF. I guess this would reset the system. I have not tried the reset idea suggested by Saroja.

     I simply love the 3D real time view, traffic updates, POI name display, logo display, etc. Route recalculation is also fast if not faster/fastest. I guess updating to a high speed SD card should resolve the issue. I would have liked to have the USB cable shipped with the box to facilitate software updates. I have never had a problem with the text entry. Just that sometimes, the scroll is slow to respond. As far as navigation goes, the concern is when we select to display the complete directions, it displays from the beginning rather than from the point that we are already in the route.

     Good to see that the Navigon units just perform what they are supposed to do. Nice of the makers that they dont include funky items like picture viewer, MP3/Video player, bread toaster, microwave oven, etc.

     This is my first GPS. I have seen my friends’ Tom Tom and Garmin, but didn’t like the display on screen as much as I liked mine. All in all this unit rocks. If the makers could provide a software update that would take care of the fatal error issue and text entry this unit would kill Garmin. To me Garmin is just like a Nokia of GPS systems with a wide range of products.

822. I’ve had a refurbished unit for about a year and it stopped recharging. Wanted to replace the battery, guessing it was dying. Contacted Navigon and they only will replace the batery themselves if necessary after a $25 diagnostic fee and a quote for any additional needed repairs. Bought a new charge cord, hoping it would be usable, even without a battery. Will try it when I get a chance. In the meantime I bought a TOM TOM ONE 130 for $49 (with rebate from NEWEGG) and have been using that. Works great.

823. what does fatal applicationj error mean and how do i fix it

824. I have navigon 2100 & been using it just fine and now
     have problems using it shows me on the screen a computer icon connected to GPS, that is all it is doing!!

     Do I need to down load NEW drivers or something??

     I need help problem please.

     1. Does this occur when driving? I have read that this occurs when the power cable to the car has a blown fuse. You have to unscrew the tip of the power supply and replace the fuse from an auto parts store.

        Don’t know if this is your problem but you might look.

825. my navigon is royally driving me insane now i have tried to reset it too many time but i have problem of , getting freezed in the start , when i start my gps language option come up and then nothing works i tried to click cancel button on the screen but it dont work at all , i have tried to reset again and again but still i have same problem any one can please tell me how to fix this ,
     Thanks

826. i’ve had my navigon for about a yr and half. recently i went on a trip and attempted to find a location but it kept saying searching for satellite. it continued to search for the entire trip (4 hours). i attempted to reset and nothing happened. it can not and will not find a location. has anyone else had this problem?

827. A couple years ago, I researched and was impressed by the Navigon.

     The store I went into had a display unit so I could test out. Loved the interface! Far superior to the Garmin Nuvi! Only drawback was the touch screen was near impossible to use. Similar to the iTouch (why I never purchased one! plus the missing keyboard), it simply wouldn’t readily recognize my touch. I’d have to press Very Hard, Many Times for it to respond. The ONLY drawback it had. Later, I was told that the floor models get much abuse and sometimes the touch screens quit working -the employee said they’ve even had broken LCD’s on their floor model GPS’s. Ah well, it was too late.

     I own a Garmin Nuvi, and have extensively used 2 other Garmin Nuvi’s.
     Satellite reception can be Very Slow, at times, especially on first use of the day. Sometimes it’s quick, but I have to be prepared to wait 20min for a first fix. A friend leaves it on all the time to avoid this delay. Once the satellites have been located, it’s fine until you turn the unit off.
     Also, often the GPS supplies directions quickly enough, other times, the Nuvi is delayed enough that you can miss the turns.
     Garmin isn’t without it’s problems as well.. I had to send mine back to the factory within 6months. It simply would Not turn on. Or it would not turn OFF (until battery had drained). Or it would freeze. All this would be random. And Of course I did the usual hard and soft-resets. I would do this over and over and over and over.. for days. Sometimes it worked perfect, but more often than not, it didn’t work. Couple weeks later I got it back, and has worked fine, until last week. Not it will not charge. This is less than 6 months since I got it back from the factory.
     My two friends have had no problems with their Nuvi’s, though one uses it only seldom. So, my point is, that the delays in finding satellite, and the problems with units malfunctioning or breaking are standard, not just relegated to anything non-Garmin. Garmin has the market name, and people assume that they are faster and error free. If you don’t have a Garmin, and have trouble or frustration, then it’s assumed its because they picked the wrong brand name.

     I am frustrated by the lack of control I have with the Garmin, especially because I know what the Navigon does, naturally. People who haven’t tried the Navigon, have no idea what they are missing. They have no idea what the base-line should be for user input and navigation control!

     Due to the user interface, and so many other usability and functional options of the Navigon, I still feel I’m missing out with this simplistic, akward behind-the-times user interface and lack of options (overpriced) Nuvi.

     Probably I should outline the distinct usability advantages the Navigon possesses over the Garmin Nuvi..

     It’s a shame that word did not get out over this wonderfully designed product. They really put a lot of control into the hands of its users, in a natural feeling way. I’m a sucker for great interface, and natural-thinking systems.

828. Hi,
     I have a navigon 2100. The “Next maneuver button” does Not show up when I start the navigation.
     Instead the “Rerouting” symbol shows up and stays there.
     How can I fix it.
     I went into the “Setting” and switched between Rerouting automatically and manual but it doesn’t change anything.
     What should I do?
     I wrote an email to navigon tech support, but I didn’t get an answer.
     My navigon doesn’t “talk” anymore either.
     Please help,
     thank you,
     Linda

829. I need Drivers.

     I connect my Navigon 2100 in my computer with WinXP SP3 and no function.

     Can help me?

830. I have a navigon 2100. i just replaced the car charger. it seemed to charge fine, then had a picutr of gps attached to a comuter. after connecting it my computer it worked fine, while unpluged. now it wont even turn on. i left it charging in the car, and left it pluged into the computer. please help!

Comments are closed.