Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought one of these for my new Palm TX after seeing it work on a friend's Palm T5. It is a very cool product and is as easy to use as I anticipated. I've had a lot of fun with it already, navigating familiar routes around town. The GPS device (at least in my case) finds satellites (as many as 8) in less than a minute and the Bluetooth connection works fine. It runs at least 2 hours before needing a recharge if you're using it outside of a car. The GPS unit is small enough for a pocket if you're walking or cycling. A cable is provided so you can keep it on charge in your car. My main interest is in using it while on the road in strange cities while using a rental car. I'm now quite convinced it will do that task well. The voice direction feature is very effective and only makes itself known when course changes are coming up. This generally eliminates any need to look at the PDA while driving, although a pedestal is included for mounting the PDA for quick glances. If you leave your planned route, the software rapidly recalculates to provide new suggested routing. This is a good thing, since the maps are not as up to date as I would have expected. There is a selection of voices in English, plus many more in foreign languages. I should also note that the software will run in full screen mode on the TX, either portrait or landscape and will recognize graffiti, although not caps for some reason.
This is not a perfect product. While I found the install to be easy, it was not completely clean, generating an error report on initial hot sync (problem removed as per advice I found on the Palm user forum, although I think the error is bogus). Install requires entering 3 rather lengthy keys, one of which you have to get from Tom Tom's web site to activate the product (and you had better write them down!). Tom Tom's documentation doesn't cover the TX, which is basically equivalent to a T5 but in contrast has 128Mb memory rather than 256Mb. Knowing that map files are huge, I bought a 2Gb high performance SD card I found at ZipZoomFly.com for $89 to hold the maps (the sum total of which exceeds 1Gb). The manual indicates that the user chooses where to install maps, but the install automatically sends them to the SD card. The package has 8 CDs worth of maps, but 6 of them are just individual component maps that duplicate the map data aggregated on the first 2 CDs. Loading maps via Hot Synce is very tedious, so after loading one that way, I loaded the rest via my computer using a card reader (very easy ... the software on the CDs makes this simple to do).
So what's the downside? 1. This is not a Palm product ... Palm sells it, but relegates software problems to Tom Tom, who in turn will blame hardware if things don't work as advertised, very much buyer beware. 2. The maps are not very current (I estimate 2003-2004) and Tom Tom is not providing regular up dates, either free or for sale insofar as I've been able to determine. 3. Not everyone has been able to get this stuff to work on their flavor of PDA, TX or otherwise ... I only have 2 apps on my TX other than the stuff Palm supplied (Big Clock and WorldMate), don't use VersaMail (since I can read email via the web), and don't have any other Bluetooth devices I'm using; ie. I'm not doing anything else with the PDA that might affect this product.
The ultimate test is that my wife, a technophobe, can use it successfully, which perhaps is recommendation enough.
Followup: I used the GPS while in Houston, and it greatly helped in navigating in from the International airport and around town. It probably took it 2 minutes to recognize satellites initially, after which it found them consistently in less than a minute. The only downside was where new road construction was not on the maps. I opted for an alternate route in from the airport and it nicely reset its routing to my target destination, which is where I needed the actual help. After dinner, it flawlessly directed me to my hotel. The voiced suggestions were very effective. My 4-star rating stands intact.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Palm 3207NA GPS Adapter Kit for Select Palm PDAs
Transform your Palm PDA into the ultimate GPS navigator with this easy-to-use kit. Whether you're driving to a new destination or strolling through an unfamiliar city, the kit helps you relax and enjoy the scenery without fear of missing your destination. The kit comes with a vehicle power adapter that plugs into your cigarette lighter, a windshield mount to hold the PDA, and a GPS unit that fits in the palm of your hand and communicates with your PC via Bluetooth. The GPS unit also comes bundled with TomTom Navigator 5 software for the Palm OS, maps of the entire U.S. and Canada, and roughly 4.5 million points of interest. As a result, you can always find the nearest gas station, choose from a selection of restaurants, shop at the biggest mall in town, and much more. Best of all, the software's voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions help keep your eyes where they belong--on the road.
The 3207NA kit is compatible with Palm's TX, Tungsten E2, Tungsten T5, LifeDrive, and Treo 650 PDAs and is backed by a 90-day manufacturer's warranty.
What's in the Box GPS unit, software, vehicle power adapter, windshield mount, user's manual.
Click here for more information about Palm 3207NA GPS Adapter Kit for Select Palm PDAs
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