does anyone have one or used one??? how are they???

NAVIGON 2100 ,5100 ,7100 thinking of getting one since they offer free lifetime traffic

 

bump anyone??

 

Yes, I've got one. I got the 2100 the day after Thanksgiving at Radioshack for $150, including the free traffic. It's nice. I have no complaints thus far. It's got text to speech, so it actually reads the street names instead of just saying turn here, which is pretty cool, and the traffic feature is pretty nice too. Some people buy the big $ units but I don't see any difference. I just needed a nice reliable navigation for getting me places. I did not need bluetooth or MP3, so this was perfect.

 

I also bought the Navigon 2100T (only the T model includes a card with activation key for the free lifetime traffic). If you buy the regular 2100 and want the lifetime traffic, you'll have to buy the $69(?) card with the key.

The 2100 is a pretty solid unit, but I didn't really care for the interface. The GUI's not as intuitive / simple to use as the TomTom One, Magellan Roadmate 1200, or Garmin nuvi 200, all of which are in the same price point. And the 2100 only has 1.3 million POI's -- the TomTom One has 3.5 million, the Roadmate 1200 has 1.3 million, and the Garmin nuvi 200 has 5 million). The 5100 and 7100 are the units with the free lifetime traffic and give you 6 million POI's (the 7100 also includes bluetooth and a larger 4.3" display).

One thing that really annoyed me was the split screen for entering info (address, city, etc.). There were a few times where I accidentally hit a different letter by mistake. A stylus would come in real handy if you have large hands.



The 2100's response time is also a bit slower than the others I mentioned. It's as if it has a slower processor or something. But if you turn off the graphics animations it does speed up a bit. Oh yeah, the battery only lasts for like 2 hours. Same with the others I mentioned.

I ended up selling it to a co-worker for $99 (what I paid).

Here's a review of the 2100 if you want to look into it some more.

I think the biggest selling point of the Navigon 2100 is the text-to-speech feature and the unit's low price. Unless you can get it for less than $120, I'd pay a little more and get the TomTom One or Garmin 200 which are $149 right now.

If you have to have the text-to-speech and also want a longer lasting battery, i'd recommend the Garmin nuvi 260 which is around $250 when on sale. It has a 5 hour battery, text-to-speech, and 6 million POI's. And the GUI is super easy to navigate.

 

cool thanks i just ordered mine.

 

ive heard its slow to respond and to get a signal...

 

I do like that TomTom enables their user base to fix borked addresses and such and upload them for everyone else to use.