Navman iCN 520

I am writing this review knowing that it is all too late, but as I have just come accross this offender whilst clearing out a cupboard, I felt I should at least have the last word before it is relegated to the bin. I bought this unit (the fabulous Navman iCN 520) in 2007 as it was on offer at Farnell for £157.99. I didn't question why the software had 2005 in the name until it was too late. I have awarded it some stars not because of its ability to perform as a GPS, but for the constant amusement it has provided on journeys. It's like having a resident idiot on the dash that is totally incapable of listening to what you are saying, understanding what you want, and spends most of its time asleep. When not, it spends most of its time wondering where it is to ultimately direct you into a field and insisting that you are on a motorway. When you are eventually on the motorway, it tells you that you are in a field.

To date, it has not recognised any business post code in the UK, even those codes that existed years before GPS came out. This is OK as long as you can find the exact spot where you want to be on the map. Pray that it is not on a one way street. The iCN 520 has no concept of the law.

The best thing about this GPS is that you don't have to pay for map updates. This is because there are none after 2005, yes people, that's 2 years before I purchased it - I know... I am the fool here. I did contact Navman about this and was told that it was just 'bad luck'.

I have been told that as the GPS runs Windows CE, it should be possible to run other applications from it. Perhaps it could redeem itself as a Solitaire or Mines host.

This year, I received a refurb TomTom Go910 from Total PDA. It was £120. I was dubious as I rely solely on maps (as before the silicon age). It is superb and has dispelled the myth iherent in me that all GPS systems are rubbish. They are not!

Forget Navman, they should be banned from the scene after their great display of customer service.

Its absolutely rubbish i would never advise anybody to get this sat nav it takes you to the complete wrong places and it takes hours to get a signal. My opinion its poo

I have owned this for about 4 years and bought on recommendation from a colleague. Once it works out where it is it is very easy to use and gets me where I want to go. HOWEVER .... sometimes it simply cannot figure out where it is. I've tried standing with it outside the car so there is nothing in between it and the satellites, I've driven to open spaces and I've switched it off and on and rebooted. There have been times when I have really needed to be somewhere in a hurry and it has played this stupid game of "mm um uh uh nat today big boy I'm just not in the mood" only to finally latch on to figure out it's location after I have stopped and bought an A to Z and got almost to where I need to be. I'd swear this thing is actually alive and has an evil sense of humour. For that reason alone I would say that I would never touch one of these again as it always lets me down when I need it the most.

Recently I got a free garmin when I bought a big motorbike and that is spot on.

I paid a lot of money for this unit believing it to be good, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. After buying it I later talked to a person in an tech retailer, and he said Navman has a bad reputation. He recommends TomTom or Garmin.

As far as I am concerned, reasonable price or not, you buy a sat nav to tell you where to go, not to wake up when you are there to confirm you got there!

I decided to recently purchase the Navman iCN 520, as the unit was now on sale for £169.99, which in my opinion is a bargain, compared to other units on sale for over £200.

The 520 is to replace my ICN 320. However I have found various glitches with the 520, namely; the software froze when the unit was first switched on, and displayed a syntax error when loading map information, forcing a hard reset.

It also has trouble at times holding on to GPS signals, again I found this strange as my 320 never loses a GPS signal, even in the same locations.

Searched the web for a free safety camera add-on, as is advertised, but to no avail, as one site I have found wants a subscription payment, before I can download the required software.

I am looking forward to giving the 520 a good trial soon, on a long journey, to see how accurate it directs me to my destination.

The Navman iCN 520 is a slim unit making it ideal to remove from car and carry on your person, major reason for the purchase due to locations of work. I use the unit in the West Yorkshire region and on numerous occasions it has not been able to find address, gets confused when in small villages with regards to one way systems and dirt tracks. I have spoke to Navman direct and they explained that it has only 95% coverage and they are constantly updating.

Funny thing to say that I was driving in an estate built over a lake that had been drained 20 years ago. Takes the usual 10 minutes to locate, crashes, so needs constantly resetting.

Bought the unit in September 2005 and by March 2006, it was selling for £150 cheaper. I'm under the impression Navman is aware of the unit's fantastic capabilities.

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 :)

I live in south of london, other sat nav get quick signals in my area. The Navman iCN 520 always takes time and sometimes 15 min. Plus maps is out dated. Believe it or not it doesn't reconize my own house address. I feel it should be attach another sat nav to guide it and let it work.