Pioneer AVIC-S1 Review

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★★★☆☆
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  • Ease of Use

  • Clarity of Instructions

  • Map Accuracy

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Guest's review of Pioneer AVIC-S1

“When you think about Pioneer Electronics sat nav...”

★★★★☆

written by on 06/03/2008

When you think about Pioneer Electronics sat nav systems, you generally think of the high-end, large screen in-dash units that are permanently installed in your car. Pioneer is out to change that idea with the introduction of its AVIC-S1 "portable smart GPS navigation system," on a par with Tom Tom and Garmin, et al. With a list price of $600, the AVIC-S1 has the robust feature set to compete in the category, but it has a few problems, particularly when it comes to its POI features.

The AVIC-S1 measures 4.1 by 3.5 by 0.7 inches, making it slightly larger and thinner than the Garmin n vi 350 and 360, and at 6.4 ounces, it fits neatly into your pocket. Like the Garmin n vi devices, it features a 3.5-inch touch screen that's quite viewable even in bright sunlight. It also uses the very sensitive SiRF Star III GPS, which quickly acquires satellites and is able to track them even in the concrete jungle of Manhattan. The performance of the GPS receiver in the AVIC-S1 is in line with numerous other SiRF Star III devices I've tested, but the AVIC-S1 has the added advantage of an antenna that's completely internal. You don't have a fold-out "patch" antenna as you do on the n vi GPSs.

Unlike the Garmin n vi, which €"other than the power switch €"is completely controlled by the touch screen, the AVIC-S1 has three blue-backlit buttons across the bottom of the device. On the left, the Map button toggles between 2D and 3D views when you're viewing the map, or returns you to the map view from the menu system. On the right, a tap of the Menu button takes you to the main destination and configuration menus. A slightly longer tap brings up the Bluetooth hands-free phone interface. In the center, there's a scroll wheel that lets you scroll through menu selections and adjust the volume.

Tapping the Menu key opens a two-tabbed menu system. The default tab is for setting your destination. There are three screens in the destination menu, with large, easily accessible icons for functions such as address search, POI (Points of Interest) search, Address Book (your favorites), Destination History, and a dedicated "Return Home" icon. You also have the option of navigating to the center of a city, a ZIP code, an intersection or to a selected point on the map. In addition, the AVIC-S1 supports multiple-stop itineraries and lets you block specific roads.

The AVIC-S1 is preloaded with the 48 continental states and Canada. To find an address, you first select the state or province. Next, you enter the city of your destination. As you type in letters on the alphabetically arranged keyboard, a two-line scroll list of cities matching your input appears. As you type additional letters, the search narrows, and, similar to Magellan's QuickSpell feature, only available letters remain highlighted for your choice of the next letter. All other letters are grayed out. Next you type in the name of the street, followed by the address, and the AVIC-S1 calculates the route based on your route preferences. I liked this logical approach to finding addresses (that is, state, city, street, address), and the highlighted available letters really speeded input.

Like most solid-state memory-based GPSs, the AVIC-S1 has about 1.5 million entries in its POI database. A tap of the Search POI icon displays a submenu with three choices: Nearby GPS position, Nationwide, or In a city. There are 21 categories of POIs, with the most common categories of Gas, Parking, Restaurant, Hotel/Motel, and Bank conveniently available on the first page. Many of the categories, such as gas and restaurant, have subcategories. As a configuration option, you choose which categories/subcategories to overlay on the map

  • Value For Money

  • USA

    Area Covered

  • Ease of Use

  • Clarity of Instructions

  • Map Accuracy

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