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Mio Navman Spirit 500

 
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hwalker1
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Joined: Jul 02, 2007
Posts: 21
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:39 pm    Post subject: Mio Navman Spirit 500 Reply with quote

I subscribe to PCW magazine, and this month they published a review of Sat Navs. The new Mio Navman Spirit 500 came out at best buy and editors choice at £175.00 with full maps of Europe.
I ordered one from my local dealer, and it came today. When I got it home, I saw on the box Great Britain & Ireland, so I rang the dealer. He spoke to his supplier (Mio) and was told that the 500 comes in three versions, and that the one with the European maps would cost the Dealer £200 to buy. Other than that, they offered a chip with European mapping for £65 (€79). Neither of these was in stock, and Mio were unable to suggest when any stock would be available. I tried to contact them on their contacts page, but it did not seem to work.
Either PCW got it wrong, or Mio has changed its prices, or the dealer is telling me porkies (which I doubt).
So the Mio Spirit 500 stays in its box untouched until someone comes up with some answers. If they don't then its going back. Allowing for a 20% mark up for the dealer, it would cost £240, which is about the same price as the one I have plus a new map. No bargain at £240, as I can buy a TomTom Go 530 for less!
Has anyone else had a similar experience with this new Mio satnav? Mad
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CaptainDrift
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Joined: Nov 16, 2006
Posts: 248

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On Navigadget it states
"Mio Navman Spirit 500 was also just recently announced. It will be available this month for about £180. It will have three different version though: Hands-free Traffic Europe, Traffic Europe, and Traffic Regional."
from http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2009/05/15/mio-navman-spirit-500

So the dealer should have been aware of the 3 different versions, I doubt Mio would have changed the pricing structure as these would have been agreed ages ago. The dealer should have been aware of the different prices when placing his order.
After googleing "mio navman spirit 500" in the shopping section there are a few dealers selling the european device for under £200, i doubt they would sell it for a loss if they were paying £200 for it from mio Smile
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Dabri
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Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 148

PostPosted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Has anyone managed to get their hands on a Spirit 500 T Europe and try it out yet? Do you have any comments or user feedback for those of us who are tempted to buy one?
_________________
Dabri.
Navman iCN530T; Garmin 760T v4.80; Garmin 765T v4.00; Garmin 2460LMT v3.60; Samsung S3;
Garmin 3598LMT-D v5.50; Samsung J6; Garmin DriveSmart76 LT-D v6.80; Samsung A52.
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hwalker1
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Joined: Jul 02, 2007
Posts: 21
Location: UK

PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:50 pm    Post subject: Navman Spirit S500 traffic review. Reply with quote

Dabri wrote:
Has anyone managed to get their hands on a Spirit 500 T Europe and try it out yet? Do you have any comments or user feedback for those of us who are tempted to buy one?


Yes - I have the Spirit S500T with maps of Europe. It cost 179.00 and I had to ask them to supply a key for the European maps, which they duly did. Seems that they are usually only available from Halfords. I have tried this machine on three longish routes. It is simple enough to operate and works fairly well, but nowhere near as good as my Tom Tom navigator 5. Perhaps I am biased. On a trip to Liverpool, just as I came of the end of the M62 into the traffic, the nav decided that I had just got on the M62 at Manchester, and proceeded to repeat the last 30 minutes of instructions, leaving me lost! Luckily my car has a BMW built in sat nav that got me to my destination OK. On a trip from Huddersfield to Crofton on Tees, the nav lost its memory again as I came off the Motorway, and on another trip, the same thing happened. Looking back, all three failures happened after it had been on for about an hour, so I suspect that it is a hardware fault, possibly due to overheating. I will be giving it another chance to work for longer than an hour, but if it fails again, its going back.

It does have some good features, one of them being its quick satelite fix, a loud (if on max volume) voice, and a very clear display. It is very easy to program, and does contain some out of date camara data, which it advises about when you are within 50 yards of the camer- not exactly useful. No way to change it other than to download some camera POIs and delete the supplied ones - then you can set a safe distance to be warned. It contains no wav files for points of interest, but will load them from your computer. Despite what some adverts and review state, it does not have bluetooth, will not work on google, and will not talk to your phone. It does pick up traffic information, but the message goes off after 8 seconds, which is not enough to see what it says, so you have to stop and read it, or ignore it. It will come up with a diversion around the problem, but as most of them have gone when you get near, you need to read the info carefully to decide what to do. Any changes in a current incident are called out, and this can get very annoying.

For years I have been travelling on the straight road to my house from town, but this sat nav wants me to divert down what is basically a track, only to return to my normal road one mile later, after a diversion of 1.5 miles. No way of blocking this road off, so I have to just ignore it. To be fair, after you pass a road which you are directed down, it does recalculate a new route very quickly indeed - even faster than my tomtom.

If you do buy one, make sure that it comes with what it is specified to have. Perhaps the sellers should state that there are three versions. The adverts and reviews that I read prior to purchase, bear little resemblance to the machine that I have. Even their own website does not yet have a user manual to download, or a full spec for each type, and the manual on the CD is a mix for all three versions.
Even Navman have been unable to give me the three distinct specs that they are selling.

All in all, if I would not recomend this machine to anyone who has had a Tom Tom, as it is certainly inferior in many respects.
Buyer beware!
Shocked
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Dabri
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Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 148

PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many thanks, hwalker1 for the heads up. I for one will moderate my lust for the unit. It's a shame really; I was hoping for Navman to improve after the (IMHO) relatively poor showing with their S series.
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Dabri.
Navman iCN530T; Garmin 760T v4.80; Garmin 765T v4.00; Garmin 2460LMT v3.60; Samsung S3;
Garmin 3598LMT-D v5.50; Samsung J6; Garmin DriveSmart76 LT-D v6.80; Samsung A52.
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acolwill
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Joined: Dec 06, 2007
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't bother getting any of the new Spirit range Navmans, as they are all as bad as eachother.

I recently had my old iCN 510 stolen and had to get a replacement ASAP (for work). As I'd owned my iCN 510 for many many years, I thought I'd go for another Navman as I trusted the base software and the granular tweaking you could do with route planning.

The new "Spirit" range of devices DO use SmartST_CE, but it is a heavily modified version with a cute and cuddly interface which only ends up making the unit slow and cumbersome to use.

There is no real way of adding the PGPSWorld SpeedCam database to the device, as the alerts nor the static screen icon indicators rarely work.

As the above poster mentioned, the TMC does "work" but is rarely useful. In the week and a half I've had my S505, it's not diverted me once, even when there is a clearly indicated traffic event on my many routes.

Overall, this was a complete waste of £150 (Currys). I have since purchased an older Navman S80 Deluxe from Halfords, which cost only £119... This kit came with the full monty. TMC (via antenna), Bluetooth, Euro Maps, Hard case (S505 has no case!!!), etc.

Full ability to disable the internal camera database, 95% support for the current iterations of the PGPSWorld Database (small niggles with display of certain cameras whilst in 3D display mode i.e. they disappear from the map)

I've ended up giving my Mio S505 to the GF and hoping she has more luck with it than I did.

Also to note. Stay clear of their "new" Navman F45. Same UI as the F and S series near enough, however this unit comes with no software (and no software ever available according to Navman), no ability to update anything on the device, no TMC, no BT.. etc etc...
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hwalker1
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Joined: Jul 02, 2007
Posts: 21
Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:52 pm    Post subject: Mio S515T Reply with quote

As stated previously, I gave it one more chance today. Exactly one hour after switching it on, it died again, so next week its going back as unfit for purpose.
I must however comment on the diversion system. Today it came up with two diversions, and I found that if I touched the message while it displayed, I was given a button to divert. Each time it worked, and a suitable diversion was plotted.
When it died, I reset it and after about two minutes, it came back to life and when I touched the map icon, it carried on as if nothing had happened. However, if this was to happen in a strange European city, which is what I bought the machine for, it would be a major problem.

Does anyone know if TOM TOM 7 will work on any version of WM earlier than 6?
Howard Walker
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acolwill
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The GF got so frustrated with the Mio Navman Spirit 500, she took my card and got a refund for the device. Stated the same reasons, unfit for purpose.
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Po210
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Joined: Aug 24, 2009
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:28 pm    Post subject: Re: Mio Navman Spirit 500 Reply with quote

[quote="hwalker1"]I subscribe to PCW magazine, and this month they published a review of Sat Navs. The new Mio Navman Spirit 500 came out at best buy and editors choice at £175.00 with full maps of Europe. snip...:mad:[/quote]

I also purchased the S500 on the back of PCW's otherwise good review. I did expect Bluetooth and Europe maps but found that on delivery I only have UK and ROI maps and Traffic. I was not too bothered about the Bluetooth and I am not planning to go to Europe anytime soon so the fact I only paid £129 partly compensated. However the total lack of response to my queries and very clunky desktop app now make me think that a quick return using the not fit for purpose might be the sensible thing to do. It does have a nice screen and the control is not bad at the top level but gets progressively more difficult as you enter stuff in. Not being able to mark a destination by pointing on the map or being able to put in OS grid coordinates to find a location are a real disappointment. The website only seems to want to sell you more stuff and I can see no 3rd party apps. Expecting that with CE was perhaps naive so the Open Sourced Tom Tom is looking a better bet.
Its a pity because my Mio works pretty well at the things it does do but I do not expect to see any improvement. So the wrong road names and imaginary speed cameras which could so easily be edited by the user are likely to remain.
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barrowman
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Joined: Jun 26, 2007
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Location: Bedford

PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:13 pm    Post subject: Thanks - but no thanks Reply with quote

Just been on Amazon website, the Navman Spirit 500 is on sale at £119.99 and thought I might have a go at one of these - now I'm glad I came here first cos that purchase has gone out of the window now.
Thanks for all the reports, most enlightening. As Always.
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delcomyn
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Joined: Jul 08, 2010
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Mio Navman Spirit 500 Reply with quote

Hello. I bought the Spirit V735 about 6 months ago. It's a similar unit to your own, so my remarks will be applicable. I previously owned an old 289+ Digiwalker from the same compnay, so I should have known better. Mio / Navman are a dreadful company. Contact is via e-mail or high rate telephone numbers, and they are not helpful. My new unit will not hook up to the web page to update maps etc, so I returned it. Their system for returns is obstructive in the extreme. The mapping on this unit is not a sgood as the old 289, I have not succeeded in making the television operate at all (although I don't need it) and the interface is clunky with a strange logic. I regularly drive through France and Spain, and this new unit does not give the correct route at several places, which fortunately I know well enough to trust my own judgement. Featrues such as planning a route before you depart from another place are nearly impossible, and 'wy points' are not even offered. WIf this is your first unit, please believe that all gps is not like this! My advice is, send the thing back while you can. I shall never buy another NavMan product. I have some experience of Garmin, and they seem much easier to operate, although I cannot speak for the company.
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CaptainDrift
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Delcomyn- On My device withthe same software as the V735 I can pre plan trips and have waypoints.
I know the 10p/ Minute Mio charge is annoying and expensive if calling from a mobile, i dont know why they cant havea land line!

On you V735, did you update the maps? I heare they are givingthe March 2010 away for your first free update!!! and this will give better routing. I can also see there is a formware update on the Mio site for the V735, also a software update and an update for the PC software, so it seems that out of the box the device is not good untill you have updated everything on it, atleast all the updates are free though.
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