Navman iCN 520 Review

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1.6 stars
Average rating for this product is: 1.6 out of 5

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Olis's Review of Navman iCN 520 Satellite Navigation System

22nd Aug 2006

Overall Rating

2 stars
  • Value for money
    3 stars
Good Points

Relatively cheap. Provides reasonable value-for-money, provided you are happy to tolerate occasional glitches.


Bad Points

Cannot be relied on by itself: takes a while to pick a signal up on start up, occasionally looses the signal probably because of building "shadows" (had this problem in Bristol and Leeds), original software occasionally "freezes" requiring to reset the device (had these problems on start-up only so its more nuisance). Also not easy to upload maps for travels (shared problem for all Navman).


General Comments

I used this Navman iCN 520 for about a year until it was stolen. I chose it because it provided all core functionality at significantly lower price. Because I paid less I was quite prepared for minor problems and on the whole "its been good while it lasted". However the design seems to suffer from some flaws: (1) There are clearly some problems with how [not] sensitive the GPS receiver is - it takes a while to pick up a signal at the beginning of the journey and I found my device was prone to loosing the signal (although for relatively short periods of time) in built up areas. (2) The volume of vocal guidance is a bit too low. (3) The device sometimes pics up peculiar routes (I found no rational explanation) but this is more puzzling than even an inconvenience - the routes are still OK. (4) The screen is not very clear in bright sunlight. (5) I had some problems entering non-standard destinations (e.g. involving motorways rather than streets).

However, I was happy to tolerate all this for the difference in price and if it wasn't stolen I wouldn't replace it.

However, I found it more and more inconvenient that you cannot buy maps of individual cities on the continent / USA and found the price and service surrounding new maps purchase "prohibitive" and unintuitive/confusing (the easiest way to buy new maps seems to be eBay - not manufacturer's website). I travel a lot for work and I don't want to pay extra for SatNav each time I rent a car while I have one sitting at home idle. So, I decided to try TomTom One instead now - when it gets stolen I will write a new review :)

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