I remember an international flight that I took a number of years ago where I was really impressed with the video display in the cabin showing the relative position of the aircraft and other information such as heading, altitude, temperature, and time until destination. Wow! I don’t have to hear “Are we there yet?” anymore…but when can I get that for my car? Well, initially I did buy a USB GPS system that connected to a laptop and got my Eee PC with DeLorme Streets and Trips as a GPS solution. It wasn’t bad – well, at least not until I came upon the Navigon 2200T which made my current solution a thing of the past….

I was pretty excited when I received my GPS unit in the mail. Opened it up to find a GPS unit, a mounting unit, a car charger, and a quick start guide.

I’m surprised, where is the A/C adaptor? All I got was a car charger..well..I guess that will be the most important as this thing will be in my car.

The Navigon 2200T is a good size and fits in the palm of my hand with the weight of 4.4 ounces which feels similar to my Dell Axim. The touchscreen is 3.5 inches with a 320×240 resolution. It even has a 375Mhz processor which is faster than my JAQ3 PPC phone! Upon mounting it to my windshield I notice that the size of the screen is perfect – large enough to read while keeping a small enough a profile not to get in the way. The screen is bright and can be adjusted with Day and Night time illumination modes. This is an excellent feature that makes sure the GPS display is bright enough or dim enough where it doesn’t become a distraction while driving. The unit came with 2008 maps for the United States. Zagat restaurant guides are available for an additional fee.

The mounting unit I decided on was the one that uses a suction cup to the windshield. It has a clamp and it goes on and comes off easily. Of course, when using a suction cup, it’s imperative to keep both the suction cup and the windshield mounting point free from dirt. An alcohol wipe is included for this purpose.

The default female voice for the unit is pleasant to the ears. Audibility going down a highway is excellent as the unit provides turn by turn directions (both on screen as well as audible). The screen provides not only 2.5 and 3 dimensional modes where you can see yourself going down a road as well as any points of interest (POI) such as gas stations, hotels, and restaurants in the immediate area you are in. On the screen it also tells you the speed limit of an area and it will even give you an audible caution if you exceed the speed limit or enter into a school zone. The tolerance of speed limit is adjustable and by default is set to exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph. Other things which can be shown on screen include altitude, your current speed, compass, next turn, as well as estimated time of arrival (you can set it to give you a time of arrival or time remaining on a trip).

One of the greatest features of the Navigon 2200T is that when you approach various roads or exits on highways, it will show you which lanes are safe to travel on so you won’t get stuck in a situation where you happen to have been in the wrong lane. It lets you know generally while you are 1.5-2 miles out so you won’t run into the situation (like my DeLorme) where it gives you the information too late and you can’t get to that lane.

With Navigon, one of the key features is unlimited free FM traffic as most GPS providers charge around $60 a year for this service alone. The unit knows how to retrieve traffic reports and even recalculate routes based on traffic. It even provides some traffic reports which involve construction. So far, I have not been able to utilize this as my hours of driving tend to be non rush hour. I did try to get off onto a service road when there was a bit of congestion on a freeway and force a recalculation of a route. As far as route recalculation the unit’s seems to think of some of the weirdest plans…the exit I needed was 2 exits down, I got off onto the service road which was not congested. Instead of having me take the service road up to the original and more direct path, now it has me go onto a street and make multiple turns. Sure, I got to where I needed to go…but it wasn’t the best possible route. A GPS is a guide and a tool. Don’t rely solely on it and use your own brain too.

As this is my first GPS unit, I initially thought that the unit’s battery life was extremely short because it appeared to turn on right away, but after that, the unit doesn’t seem to charge – not even after a long 4 hours of being plugged in for a Houston road trip. Much to my delight after downloading and reading the full manual, I learned that I actually never turned off the unit (this is a no no), but had left it in standby mode. It is important to remember that you have to press the power button for 10 or more seconds (it would also help to read the note that was attached to the GPS screen during unpacking as it mentioned this briefly). My question to Navigon is this: Why didn’t you put the manual in a box? Whether it be paper or digital? Perhaps running a PDF reader and putting the manual on the device would have been the best option if Navigon wanted to go green as it is a hefty download if one is on dialup. (Or as my mom so aptly puts it, they don’t put a tome of a manual in the box because people like you don’t even read the smaller one sheet of paper, let alone a manual…..o….k….).

All in all, the Navigon 2200T is an excellent unit that offers incredible value – especially with free FM traffic. It is easy to use and has a nice healthy quantity of POIs. Though a number of things could’ve been better clarified with the inclusion of a manual in the box, for a user that just sets this unit up in their car, there should be no problems (though I really don’t recommend letting people see your valuables so I take mine down when I’m not using it). It is important to note that one should turn off the device when it is not in use as it automatically goes to standby and appears to be off to the user. This can cause software corruption that will render the 2200T inoperable to the point that it would need factory repair. Other than these caveats, I highly recommend it…you’ll thoroughly enjoy this device!

Vital Statistics:

Product: 2200T
Manufacturer: Navigon
MSRP: $229.99
Street Price: ~ $150
Available at: Micro Center and other fine retailers.

Technorati Tags: Reviews, Navigon 2200T, GPS, Tjchan, Just Another Mobile Monday, JAMM