Great GPS for the price
587902
I've had this gps unit for several weeks now and haven't had any issues with it. I've taken it on several trips and it's always gotten me there with no issues ! Great job Tom Tom !
1236479
LM is a great feature.  For the money this is a good buy. It does not have all of the whistles and bells that are not need and used, it is just a basic gps that works.
2235048
I really love this GPS. It's the first one I have bought, and so far I am satisfied with almost everything. The only thing that upsets me is the battery life. If this isn't connected to your car or something else that's charging it, the battery dies pretty quickly if not immediately. The satellite can also take awhile to coordinate and pick up your position, but that's understandable with most GPS's. I really like the feature that shows you upcoming traffic and how it can reroute you ASAP. Also finding things around you is a breeze such as gas stations, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. I'd highly recommend this product.
3005074
The feature you get for the price are great. I'm on the road a lot and a GPS is a must.
I love the traffic update.
The accuracy is better than my old GPS.
The touch screen is a little unresponsive at times. Seems you have to press an item several time to register.
Garmin is the only brand of GPS I've ever owned. It's the only brand I ever plan on owning.
2859180
Excellent product for the price, which was for a refurbished GPS.  Could be better on traffic tracking, but it does very well on the detours.  Easy to install and follow.
40583
The reason I picked the MIO 230 was for the text to speech feature at under $200.
It has performed up to my expectations. I would recommend this unit for anyone who wants an inexpensive entry level GPS. The text to speech feature is a must.
The out of the box documentation was enough to get me started but did not include a copy of the Mio-map manual. The enclosed manual shows how to set up the unit and some of the basics but not how to access a lot of the features. I went to the web site. I did not find much under the MIO 230 downloads but after downloading the Mio-map manual for the MIO 220 model I was able to figure out how to get the most out of the unit. Maps are fairly recent. Though a local road that was re-routed in 2006 did not show up, a friends new subdivision I did not expect to be listed was there.
In the test runs I have done. The routes the unit picks are not always the one I would use but they did get me to my destination. Since I will mainly use this unit for out of town trips I did not want to spend a lot of money. This unit has been a great introduction to the world of GPS.
3440022
Great GPS at a great price.  Does everything you want a gps to do.  I like the option do having the display in landscape or portrate mode.
1693085
Very solid GPS & a good price @ around $100 in 2009.

Solid interface, solid features. Usually finds position in under a minute so not the fastest but not terribly slow either. The windshield mount is very stable. I had the GPS fall twice but I believe it was probably user error.

Cons:

-very little on board memory so you can't load many extras on there.

-spoken street names is hard to understand

-Some menu features should be easier to use but you learn them quick enough

-Vastly prefer Magellan's style of entering address.

-Does not tell which side of street your destination is (more important then you would think)

Overall very happy with my purchase & would/will buy a TomTom again if they continue to release this type of solid performer.
2056810
This is my first GPS unit, and I have had it for about 1 month, and used it on a few trips so far. It worked great right out of the box, just plugged it in and turned it on. The operation is generally intuitive, but where needed the manual is helpful. The screen is a good size and easy to see day, or night.
1378723
I've been testing this little guy out for week and I can't find much to complain about.  It is my first GPS unit and I like it because it has a simple, easy-to-use interface. The instructions are loud and clear.  There is an empty SD Memory slot that must be for something. It has 48 preloaded US state maps on it and a 750,000 points-of-interest database that is pretty good (8 out of 10 times it will find fairly small resturants that I quiz it for and it hasn't missed any gas stations yet).  One thing it doesn't have is the Text-Speech function which extends the simple turn by turn voice to also read out loud individual street names or businesses.  Then again, is it worth spending more money on a more sophisticated unit capable of constantly reading stuff out loud to you?  Dunno--I'm happy with machines not doing so much talking myself.
2204410
I think the Garmin 205w is a great entry level GPS unit.  It doesn't have advanced features like bluetooth, or text-to-speech (which announces street names) so instead of saying turn left on main st, it says turn left in .2 miles.  I don't really care either way.  The only thing I care about in a GPS is clear, understandable, accurate directions, and the garmin does a great job on that.

There are a few negitive things, but they are minor.

1.  The estimated time usually optimistic.  With traffic, you will almost never make the projected time, but its not that far off.

2.  Directions are not always the best.  There are some routes where it tells me to turn, when obviously there is a better route.  The difference is often minor, so its not a horrible problem

3.  The posted speed limits are sometimes wrong.  This is also a minor issue, just don't 100% trust whatever the GPS tells you the speed limit is.

Although not perfect, I doubt you will find a better unit for under 200.00.  Unless you need maps of Canada/Europe or advanced features, this is probably the best GPS out there.  I don't know how I got by without it.
3612932
I really like the brightness of the screen and that PN-30 supports a 32GB card.  The maps from the CDs were easy to transfer to the SDHC card with Vista on my PC laptop.  The cable used to transfer directly to the GPS is a little awkward to connect to the GPS.  The Topo 8 software is not the most intuitive to use so I have used postings at the Delorme forums.  The Netlink option in Topo 8 allows you to re-download any of the selections that you purchased earlier.  Occasionally a download fails but I have always been successful in downloading it later.

So far I have used the GPS for geocaching, hiking and driving.  My 11 year old son has used the GPS for geocaching with limited instruction and it has also been great for hiking.  Often the drive option comes up with a route that is not the best.  A work around is to route to a closer point on the map.

I believe it is a great GPS for the price. However, if you want something for auto routing or ease of setup then do not buy this GPS. Otherwise go for it.
350578
I have owned several GPS' over the last few years. Garmin & Magellan are OK, but the TomTom Go730 T is the best bet for under $200.
I have the Garmin Nuvi 760 in my wife's car and it works well. It's strong point is a very simple menu.
The TomTom, menu is a bit more complicated, the main reason being there are more features, to choose from.
First - the voices that announce the streets are much better than the Garmin. You can understand the words.
Second - the FM transmitter is stronger, making the playback thru the car radio more reliable.
Third -  the computer hook up to download data much better design.
Fourth - the traffic connection is very helpful as is the IQ routing.
The only things that I find in need of improvment are the length of the arm that mates with the windshield suction cup. It should be a bit longer. The short design makes it difficult to use any bean bag dashboard mount, except the $40 TomTom model.
And the mounting of the cigarette lighter power cord, which is directly into the base of the GPS.The Garmin power connects to the suction cup holder which makes removing the unit from the car a one step operation.
Overall, the TomTom seems to be more commited to find creative ways to enhace the value of the GPS. I have yet to try the app that will locate the cheapest gas station but it is a good example of the value added approach that TomTom offers.
962934
An excellent value for a GPS.  It isn't perfect, but then what is!  I have noted it seems to want to route me to an address or two (in town) via street names that simply do not exist in that part of town - in other words, it seems to properly identify where to make a turn, but sometimes will incorrectly identify the name of the street to turn onto.  As long as you are aware of this quirk, then it works just fine.  For "on the road" use it seems to work perfectly.  I would recommend this unit to anyone who wants a good solid value.
599151
Very happy with purchase, this is your bare bones GPS with a few extras. Gets the job done assuming you already know this doesn't take traffic patterns into account when recalc'ing your route. Also, the screen is a little too sensitive (Got two deep scrathes on it from carrying around in my laptop bag) Overall still happy with purchase
4968235
I rec'd this item very quickly and I am very happy with it's performance. The charge seems adaquate to me and it is easy to use. However, this is my first GPS so I am not the best judge of them.
2811547
I spent a week reviewing various GPS options and talking to friends who own GPS units. I finally decided that for my purposes and budget, this should be good enough. If you want something to get you from point A to point B anywhere in the US, this is the one for you. It works great. I've used it on multiple trips where I had no clue about the roads I was taking. In terms of maps, points of interest and routing, this unit works perfectly! Just remember to update it once you buy it within 60 days. I haven't printed out directions to anything since I've bought this. Talk about saving paper! Another nice feature is the 'Pedestrian' mode that we used extensively to roam around in new cities and towns we visit.

I couldn't find this information anywhere, what's in the box? Car charger, Car mount and GPS unit. As a side note, if you have a Canon digital camera, the USB connector cable is the same, so no need to buy an extra one.

The only issue is that sometimes its unable to pinpoint the cars' position very accurately, which may lead to wrong turns. It happened twice so far (out of multiple trips in 3 months). It sent us south on a country road intersection when we should've taken north. This happened to us in a recent trip to Boston. But in the end it gets you to your destination albeit a few minutes late.

Overall, its a great unit for the price. It serves its purpose and it has a few nice extras. A basic unit that WILL get you to your destination.