written by on 13/08/2008
The Acer N35 is badly designed, since it uses a common data transfer/charging port, which is multi pin and very fragile...being kept in place by a few spots of solder. If they had put in an extra jack port for charging while in the car it would have extended the life of the product. The simple fact is with constant use in the car and natural bending, the port eventually fails...and can't easily be repaired. Mine is now useless..... I can't re-solder the connection. Don't buy one. Get a dedicated Sat Nav with a simple in car jack connection which will last a long time.
written by on 17/06/2008
I have had my Acer N35 sat nav since May 2005 and have been generally happy. The connection to the fold-up antenna was sometimes flakey and had to get out my soldering iron! But! We were on holiday and I foolishly let the battery go flat. I could not restart the PDA and had to reset it. The Navigator could not be found after that. I am now looking for a proper sat nav.
written by on 04/04/2008
Each time the battery dies because the in car charger doesn't you have to reset the PDA which is extremely annoying. Directions are fine once you get it working, but like someone else said, you cant completely rely on it.
written by dawntd1965 on 25/06/2007
My Acer N35 was bought as a present. The first time out the plastic grips on the charger cable snapped, so I bought a new cable. 6 months later, the pins on the system itself, (where the charger cable is plugged in) bent. Despite it only being 6 months old, Acer refused to repair it under warranty, and quoted me £200 to have it repaired. Needless to say it now sits in a box, absolutely useless.
written by JenWil on 15/11/2006
My Acer N35 is 12 months old. I managed to get Tesco to replace the original (which just stopped working for no apparent reason). The 2nd one had to go in for repair (which took over 4 weeks with nothing sent as an interim replacement) & I've had to have 2 in car chargers as the teeth have broken on both (flimsy, not well made, cable too short). Apart from that, the Acer N35 is just great!
written by stu power on 29/10/2006
This Acer N35 sat nav will get you to where you want to go - if I went on a trip with it though I would have to take a map as back up as I don't trust it completely which isn't very good for a sat nav. I actually found myself willing it to break so I could get myself a better one!
written by edward2910 on 06/07/2006
I saw the Acer N35 advertised for about £150 at Makro and thought it was too good to be true. Fully fledged sat nav and a pda for less than the price of sat nav alone.
It works straight out of the box (read the getting started page though - the hard reset switch's default position is off!) Pop in the included 256MB sat nav card and it sets itself up in a few seconds.
Navigation is great. The included stick on window holder is very strong and holds the equipment very close to the glass, ensuring excellent reception of satellites. Acquiring satellits the first time takes a while, but there after acquisition is very quick. Route planning is also fast.
The voice seems quiet, but you soon get used to it - though you don't really need the voice prompt anyway.
PDA runs on mobile windows - it's capable and offers a lot of functionality.
Pity there's not mains charger - but I picked up a combined charger and USB sync lead on the web for 14 quid plus delivery.
This is my first sat nav and I am delighted with it compared to some I've seen costing twice as much in friends' cars.
written by on 30/12/2008
On the whole I would not recommend purchasing this PDA. Good PDA when it works but it so disappointing to switch after about 5 days and find the unit has lost all its charge and data! My next PDA will be one with a non volatile memory - a must. Battery life is poor - it is a volatile battery which means when it goes flat you lose all the data. I have replaced the battery now (after 2 years!) but the units still loses charge at an amazing fast rate with the battery going flat after 2-3 days sometimes. The GPS function is slow and doesnt always work.
written by aphowarth on 20/06/2008
Bought it cheap on-line for the sat nav (119quid in march 2007)....not tom tom but destinator software that didn't work 100 pc all of the time, about the same price at the time as a cheap sat nav but with added extras of PDA.
lasted exactly a year and a day so as the warranty expired the unit promptly expired.
the battery isn't replaceable because its housed in the unit (what monkeys design idea was that!) and after a year and a day lacked the ability to retain charge. Also the power port becomes used quickly and malfunctions so you end up with a pile of elastic bands trying to hold the charger in place.
in short, really wasn't worth the spit its built with.
written by on 08/05/2008
Constantly has to be reset ( both soft and hard resets ) resulting in lost data information for me etc.
Back up service from support have advised that unit might need returning for repair - like the unit they fail to respond to email communication and when chased they ask for ALL details yet again with no follow up. Do not recommend this PDA, Acer N35.
written by on 15/04/2008
I would not recommend this produce as it has a serious design fault and is likely to fail within a short time.
written by Alastair McPherson on 10/04/2008
Very poor connection, only had unit 12 months and the connection has broken.
Very poor design, have discussed with other users and they have encountered same problem.
Good when working but wont work for long, so very poor value
Do not recommend the Acer N35.
written by on 05/02/2008
Acer N35 is a good all round GPS & pocket PC. Only bad point is you have to be carefull with it as the Stylus breaks easy.
written by MarkLS on 19/02/2007
The Acer N35 also easily runs 2GB SD cards and they hold a lot of data. See above for more information.
written by edward2910 on 06/07/2006
The Acer N35 is a lightweight and easy to use Windows mobile based PDA. Easy to set up and intuitive to use.
Sadly no wifi - but at this price you can't really expect it.
Software all good, though instructions are brief.
SATNAV works easily and well.
written by paulwilkoftp on 18/05/2006
Two things I have needed to replace are the pen and the screen pen are cheap but the Acer N35 screen set me back £40 from ebay. Very easy to replace yourself.
written by Lefty1975 on 10/03/2006
Initially I was happy with the Acer N35 PDA, but after a few weeks the charger broke (a common fault by the looks of it). I have been trying to find a new one. I purchased a sync cable on the 'e' auction site, but this does not charge when connected to the PC. I have contacted Acer, but they were not much help. It was a case of send it off and we will have a look at it, and if it needs repairing we will bill you for it. I didn't want to be lumbered with a £100 bill, so I didn't chance it.
I now have a PDA that I can only use when connected to my PC, which defeats the object of a PDA!
A further problem I found was that the antenna was very difficult to lift up. In most cases I had to get a screwdriver from the tool box because it was that stiff.
Once on the road, I found the time it takes to search for a satellite too long, and also some of the directions are incorrect (take second exit on the roundabout when it should have been the first). Although I assume this is the software rather than the PDA.
That aside, the OS and functions are very good and clear, and the sync is good, and I was able to download some freeware games.
written by victoranthony on 14/07/2005
The Acer N35 is small and nicely formed. I bought the GPS kit as it comes with car cradle, GPS software and reciever built in, UK maps pre installed.
The GPS was the predominant reason for the purchase. I have used a Navman and it was rubbish. It took me ways that were certainly not the quickest. The Acer N35 is much much better than the NAVMAN. The routes it calculates have even surprised me on occasion always being optimum (nearly). Battery life (rechargable with my in car cradle) is excellent.
The other functions like calender, contacts etc are all fine and an added bonus to me as I was only really after the GPS bit of this machine.
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Blackwaterman's Response to stu power's Review
Written on: 05/02/2008
I agree with this review because...it is a good summary of my own experience with Acer N35. A decent PDA for the price, and sat-nav is satisfactory. I found that the GPS sensitivity was a problem. I found an external antenna I found on E-Bay was a great help. The built-in fold-out antenna of the N35 is too insensitive especially if there are additional problem factors like heavy cloud cover etc.<br/>The partial postcode is a nuisance. Entering e.g. Stansted Airport isn't an option, as it doesn't appear on the destination list! My Personal Navigator version (Destinator 3) has been superseded, but is still quite good. The (British) voice is quite pleasant compared with US ones I've heard!