Advent ADV3500PC 7" Portable GPS Navigation with built in Tablet PC

A GPS, a touch screen XP tablet PC, a 7' screen too! I just got back from the Grand Canyon and the Advent performed better than expected. All I can say is most impressive. The price was a great deal. Another VERY satisfied customer says it all.
 
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I couldn't believe how much you get for such a low price. I'm really lucky i order this before it got sold out. I had purchased a Nokia N810 prior and was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to use it as a monitor for the IP camera I have in the baby's room. I returned the nokia and bought this instead. I winds up being the same price as the Nokia with the GPS subscription (yes, Nokia has the nerve to make you pay extra to use their GPS). All in all, this unit is an incredible value at <300usd. I have the following uses for it: + house (VoIP) phone: Installed Gizmo5 on it and use it along with the HTPC as the house phone. When a call comes in, it rings (and can be picked up) on both the tablet and the TV. + Electronic Picture Frame: using "my pictures" screensaver + Baby monitor: installed my IP cam monitoring software on it + Internet Radio: Installed Winamp on it + GPS: Already comes with a very good GPS software, get a quick lock on satellites, has spoken street names, and the biggest screen i've seen on a GPS unit. Also, they don't try to pull any of that paid-subscription-to-use-the-GPS crap. + Good solid car mount once you clean the succion cup (See below) Here are some deltas: - Unit gets quite hot: Make sure not to lay it down flat. use the stylus as a leg stand or use it in the car mount. - The car mount succion cup is problematic. It fell once, and you don't want this to keep falling and break your screen. I saw that the succion cup came with some strange gummy residue on it and this was probably preventing a good seal. I washed it and it's holding well so far, but this is something you'll want to keep an eye on. - Battery life is a joke. You might get an hour if you're lucky. This isn't really a problem if you intend to use this unit plugged in all the time, and think of the battery more like a UPS that allows you to unplug it from your house and plug in to your car. When not being used as a baby monitor, we normally have this plugged in on an end table in the living room. To most people it'll look like an electronic picture frame. That is, until a call comes in and then it becomes a phone. Pretty fascinating. it's on a fairly central location in the house, so we can walk around all over with the bluetooth headset and still hear the call just fine. When plugged in on a semi-permanent location, just turn the battery switch to "off" so you don't fry the battery, that's all. All in all , this is a great unit, especially given the price. You could easily pay over $300 each for a good GPS, a baby monitor, internet radio, VoIP wifi phone, and a portable media player. The biggest drawback is the poor battery life, but depending on how you're planning to use it, it could be a non-issue. Also, it has some memory and processing power limitations. It works well for my uses, but i wouln't play GTA-IV on it.
 
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Can anyone tell me how to get the GPS to work? It will not pick up a satellite. And I cannot find anything that tells me if it is getting a signal or not. Maps work, but it never leaves the starting position. We were driving around for several hours (on bright sunny day) and it never did anything! Any suggestions?? THANKS! If I could get this to work my rating would be much higher -- GPS is the main thing I need! WiFi also kept losing the signal (in my house, where my laptops have no problem). I'd be willing to change the Nav software, but will that change the fact that it doesn't seem to be picking up a satellite?
 
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I just received the Advent ADV3500PC. This UMPC absolutely rocks! I owned a Samsung Q1 UMPC before. It was great for all of my purposes. I had a GlobalSat BC-337 GPS receiver attached to the machine so that I could use it as a GPS unit. The Advent is more compact and more versatile than the Samsung Q1. It boots up to Windows XP in no time if you have used to the Vista sloth. The screen resolution is great. Although one may worry about the deficiency of the 256MB RAM on board, the machine responds crisply. The sound is comparable to the Samsung Q1 and for a machine that is no bigger than your palm the sound quality is second to none. (If you ever own an IBM laptop, you will be absolutely spoiled by this gadget's output. Advent is the pioneer maker of sound equipments; this machine does live up to the hype.) Let me now say something about the GPS functionality. I have reviewed many standalone GPS units before. Garmin is certainly among the best in terms of routing and satellite acquisition speed. The Advent comes with a NavMate GPS software installed. I don't like the interface of the software. I used a version of the NavMate before; the result was nothing short of pure disappointment: inaccurate routes, sluggish response, awkward user interface, to name just a few. This version that comes with the machine is no difference from the previous version I know and hate. However, if you install a decent third-party GPS software on the machine, this is a dream GPS device: I have installed the Garmin PC, iGuidance, and Microsoft Street and Trips 2009 on the machine. When it comes to a GPS unit, the uttermost consideration should be the satellite acquisition time: Who wants to wait for half an hour in the middle of nowhere just for the unit to get a GPS signal; when you're lost, you want to find out where you're as soon as possible. This machine certainly fits the bill if it's mated with the right GPS software (any one of the aforementioned). I'm sitting in my house and the moment I launch the Garmin GPS application my position is locked: I got five out of twelve satellites pinned down. For all fairness, my house is a not a satellite reception hot spot. Even the acclaimed GlobalSat BC-337 cannot pick up more than one GPS satellite if the external antenna is not hooked up. Although still swiftly, it is much slower than the receiver aboard the Advent. Let me summarize my brief review with some pro's and con's: Pros: 1. Slick and mobile. It comes with a lot of mobile accessories: car windshield mount, car charger, and cloth case. It's very light, weights no more than an orange. 2. Fast and responsive. The 1Ghz processor is no joke; the 256MB RAM is adequate. It's NOT upgradable (see below). 3. Quality GPS receiver: Receiver picks up satellite signals strongly. 4. Affordable: For the price of a GPS unit, you also get the bonus Windows XP functions! Cons: 1. It runs hot: Remember not to put the machine face straight up on a table: If you do, you will block the vent and the machine will get so hot that it will shut itself off. 2. The standing is both good and bad: If you want to put the unit in an inclined position, you have to stick the stylus into the back and use it as a leg. This is convenient but then what are you going to write with? It comes with only one stylus! 3. The device drivers CD is not included. I wonder what I should do if I ever have to re-install windows. 4. It is not upgradable: Everything is soldered in. Even the battery is soldered to the circuit board. All in all, I highly recommended this unit.
 
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