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Sony NVU44 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech (Red) | 
 enlarge | Brand: Sony
Category: CE
List Price: $249.95
Buy New: $164.95
You Save: $85.00 (34%)
New (1) Used (3) Refurbished (1) from $124.99
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 3033
Color: Wine Red
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 7.5 x 2.8
MPN: NVU44/R
Model: NVU44/R
UPC: 027242753907
EAN: 0027242753907
ASIN: B001EYU6NM
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Last one, brand new, not refurbished, Not used. please take a look at our uploaded actual pictures for reference. get it before it's gone. please check our feedback and buy with confidence. thanks
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| Features:
| • | 3.5-Inch Anti-glare/high-brightness touchscreen Display | | • | Pre-installed Maps of North America | | • | Supports Memory Stick Duo Media |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Great screen and Text to Speach but Routing gives longer paths January 6, 2009
Pros: Great screen, many POI, text to speech, touch screen. dual display at intersections. Easily picks satellite and starts quickly. Easy to carry in a pocket.
Cons: Routing does not give shortest distance even when setting routing option to shortest.
It is a very useful unit as it has many points of interest and gives you a list of these with their phone numbers. The search feature is easy and fast. Internally it has 2 GB memory full of data.
The main problem is that the route selected is often longer than what you would normally use. Another reviewer on CNET has the same observation. for example to go from Katy TX to College Station, TX it routes you thru Sam Houston Beltway 8 toll road. When selecting to avoid toll roads it routes you even further west through 610 loop. both are much longer paths than SH-6 or Barker Cypress Rd. There is no option that will make it select the shortest path even when you know it. Sony needs to add a feature that allows adding a street to current route to force it to go that way. They also need to give shorter and quicker routes.
Same happens when coming from Rosenberg, TX to Katy, it routes you thru Beltway 8 toll road instead of SH-99 (Grand Parkway).
I am using the updated firmware (1.1) released on 12/15/2008. I did not try the original firmware. The new firmware is supposed to fix this same issue.
 Excellent GPS unit for price January 5, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have had this GPS unit for just over 2 weeks now and must say I like it quite a bit. This was my first GPS unit but it pretty much has everything that I need at the moment. I had been looking at GPS units the last few months, seeing prices drop and finally jumped at this one, seeing it was a Sony and had the text to voice feature. I'll list some of the pros/cons below based mostly on the features I found useful in this unit for it's price.
Pros:
1. Text to voice. Voice prompts volume can be changed easily and also muted completely if desired with just a few touches.
2. You can zoom in/out of map view with a few touches. Set a trip route and get an advance idea of how much the distance is, view of destination and also estimated trip time (which changes as you travel based on speed, stoppage etc.).
3. 3D view is helpful when you come to a busy intersection with multiple lanes. It will split the screen with the regular map view on the right side of the screen and a slightly larger frontal view of all available lanes and the ones you should be taking (highlighted), in the left side of the split screen.
4. Similar split screen with bars in the center to the next turn at busy junctions. The bar indicators reduce as you get closer to the turn, in addition to voice prompts saying how many miles/feet left to your turn.
5. If you miss a recommended exit, it recalculates fairly quickly where you need to turn next to get to your destination.
6. Lots of pre-loaded Points of Interest. I have enabled 'Banks/ATMs', 'Costco' & 'Shell' gas stations under my general settings and they regularly scroll by as small icons on my map as I pass them by. You can also type in 'Walmart' and it will list the closest Walmarts to you.
7. Fairly good design. Very simple and sleek, no flashy strips or jagged edges. The glass mount is also very nicely designed and sticks well to front glass.
Cons:
1. The touch screen could have been a bit more responsive. It is not very easy to touch the screen and scroll to others points on the map. Not that it is completely un-responsive, but would have been better if it flowed with more ease. Helpful if you want to trace the map to get an idea of route.
2. I have added 'Walmart' as a Point of Interest under my grocery store indicator general settings. However for some reason, none of the WM stores I drive by show up on my map. The Shell gas stations and banks show as small icons as they should but I have to search for Walmarts.
You will have to play around with the unit a bit to get to understand where to make changes to your settings. For example, you can change general settings so that your route is calculated for the shortest possible path by default, or that you avoid toll ways completely every time. Or you can leave it to look for standard routes by default, but make specific changes on the fly during a trip to look for the shortest route (options button) or avoid toll ways on this specific route. Reach a destination and save it for future navigation under different folders (can be renamed/added/deleted).
I bought this for our upcoming trip to Florida where it will be tested for what it's worth but at the moment, it is doing quite well at home. I am sure a lot of other GPS units will also have the above pros/cons but based on what I have read about other units, and what some friends have, I think this is a very good GPS unit, especially at this price (bought it from local Sonystyle store for $79.99). More updates after Florida trip if I find anything that needs to be added.
So far, so good! January 4, 2009
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this at Best Buy because of it was $90 plus I got an extra $10 gift card. I was a little suspect because there seemed to be very few reviews and because I had not even known that Sony made GPS units. I finally found a few good reviews and decided to open it and try it out. I have only used it today, but I was very impressed. I love the dual view when coming up to intersections. It makes complicated interstate exits easy to manage. I don't understand the people who complain that it's not ALL touch screen. Two buttons and they are easy to press. I have never used a GPS before, but I turned it on, hooked it up in my car and figured it out as I drove. (Pressing buttons when I came to stop lights, not as I was literally driving) In other words - pretty simple. If I come accross something I don't like I'll try to update my review.
 Used it for one day and returning it. January 2, 2009
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Well bought it on sale for $79. Well i don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on GPS device, since i do not need Bluetooth, MP3, TTS etc..
All i need for it to get me where im going.
First of all im not new to GPS devices. I used Tom Tom and and before dying on me it was working really nice but one day for no reason it just DIED. i also used Magellan 1212, So this GPS is my 3rd one.
Pros:
--- Gets good signal right away and thats why i gave 2 stars instead of one.
Cons:
---Not fully touch screen (but you already know that before buying it)
---ALWAYS looking for Toll Roads even if any other street will get you there faster
--- Does NOT ask you if you want to avoid toll roads (which I DO),
and honestly i didn't even find the option where you can avoid toll roads, Correct me if im wrong on this one.
---If you want to try another route and I'm not talking about recalculating, like if you don't want to take I-10 because you know it's jammed up and go through 59 or 45, my Tom Tom would give me bunch of options but Sony just gave me TWO. I tried few other destinations and all it gave me just two options.
Now, I don't know if it just my device acting up but im just telling you the way it is.
In my Personal opinion, just proves one thing: if you really good in other Electronics, doesn't mean you have to stick your head in every department.
 Frustration? Yeah, we got it! January 1, 2009
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
Thank you,thank you for the opportunity to (vent) review the frustrations of this product. First of all, check all my reviews...they are all positive for good reasons: I have loved the products. Not so this little gem. It is counter intuitive and frustrating to operate, even when at home and not in a moving vehicle. This is so surprising for a Sony product of which I have many, from digital cameras to televisions. From its (5? volt) car plug in adaptor (you know any 5 volt cars?!) to its initial starting address entry you will be ready to throw it out the nearest window. On a more positive note I only spent 80 bucks for it and it does have 'text to speech' which is remarkable for under 100 dollars. I will continue to struggle with it and am eager to write a happy review, but until then this reccommendation will remain 'avoid at all costs'
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