Jun
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Mio GPS C220 Review
June 6, 2007 |
As I was going to be by myself on this trip (with only my trusted IPod keeping me company in my 1995 Chevy Lumina), I decided to get a GPS to guide me from one destination to the next. Besides getting a good appreciation of how big a country the U.S. really is (and realizing that driving from Salt Lake City to Portland in one day is a stupid, but possible thing to do), I also got to appreciate the power for the cheap but highly functional Mio C220 GPS I had picked up for $180 at Circuit City (with a 10% off coupon I found somewhere on the net).
I had read numerous reviews before settling on the Mio instead of the pricier TomTom One or a Garmin unit. At the end of the day, what I wanted was a unit that would guide me from point A to point B, with a good Points of Interest (POI) database so I could find a Motel6 or similar establishment at whim if I got tired. I had no interest in a GPS with an MP3 and movie player, a Bluetooth speakerphone feature or traffic updates downloaded from my cellphone. All I wanted was a GPS that would get me on the road and off without trouble.
After crossing 11 states and covering 3500 miles in the process, here are my own observations:
The maps were spot on (the Mio comes with all of the US preloaded on an SD card), except for some highways in Chicago that are currently under heavy construction. The unit didn’t know the new layout yet, but given that these roads were still being built a I was driving on them, I can’t really blame the GPS for it. Besides that. it performed flawlessly. I asked it to take me to the city center of Salt Lake City - it took me right to Temple Square.
When missing a road, the unit almost immediately recalculates a new route, typically before I even reach the next block.
Some people complained that the speaker is not loud enough to hear the voice guidance. I didn’t find that to be a problem, but then I regularly glanced at the unit anyway to check on my progress. The voice guidance (which doesn’t pronounce street names - I feature I never missed over the last 3500 miles I drove with it) is always on time and the guidance is easy to understand. The Mio C220 comes with voices in various languages, including German, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, and Finnish.
I never lost the GPS signal - except in expected places such as in an underground parking garage and the odd tunnel here and there. Otherwise, GPS reception was never a concern.
The fact that the POI database includes phone-numbers saved me hours of time. Thanks to this, I could just call a hotel from on the road and check and compare prices and availability.
The user interface is very easy to use and once you have spend 15 minutes with it, it becomes second nature.
The on-screen keyboard might be a challenge for people with large fingers, but shouldn’t be a deal breaker.
CNET says the screen is unreadable during daylight. I call BS on this. It is indeed hard to read when the unit runs on battery. However, the Mio C220 smartly turn down the backlight to save battery and only turns it back on once you get close to the next turn and then turns it back down until the next turn. It also has an option to change the intensity of the backlight during day and night mode. I drove for days with no cloud in the sky and the sun shining from any possible angle - and I never even thought about the readability of the screen.
Overall, I was skeptical what a $180 GPS could do for me on such a long ride. However, I couldn’t have been happier with the result. I didn’t get lost once - I found hotels without a problem. I found the museums and sights I was looking for in a snap.
If you are in the market for a no-frills GPS, I can fully endorse this unit.
Update: GPSLodge just put up a good review of the C220 as well.
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