I have been using Nokia 500 from past 1 year and I did not find any problem with it. 1. The overall value of this product is good only problem I see is its size and the mounting. 2. The performance of this product is not bad and the problem is it does not say the destination is left or right at the end. The other issue is that It tells in yards before turn and it is quite different standard from all other devices. 3. It is very easy to operate as it is a touch screen based and the icons and features are quite understandable. 4. Overall satisfaction is not bad and different experience to work with it.
 
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I'm now using this product for last 3 months and I'm very happy with this product. This product works as advertized. MP3 player, video player and FM transmitter works great. Bluetooth enables handsfree which is really excellent feature. It also allows to download the contacts and address from phone and dial the number. Device came with 2GB card, I upgraded to 8GB and works fine. I'm really surprised that the DVD shipped contains maps of Asia Pacific, Europe and Australia and I tried installing India maps and it got installed. This is a surprise. I hope it works in India. It has real time traffic updates, but never came for use. It has all auto and manual settings. Nokia gives a software for updates, though now currently no updates available. Route recalculation is very fast and I'm highly impressed with it. The accuracy and alerting to take right or left is very good. It doesnt let you miss the route. Coming to Cons 1. This device only tell you reached your destination, but never tells you it is on right side or left side. 2. When you have to take Exit ramp for free way to East side and you have both East and west it doesnt tell which side you have to take. It'll only tell you what line to stick. This may be bit tricky if you have both sides on the same lane. 3. I expect more battery life. 4. I see some maps are not upto date and no information from nokia when it'll get updated. 5. No information of this device on Nokia US website. 6. You cannot register the product so keep your purchase reciept safe. Otherwise this is a great product and I highly recommend.
 
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I now love this thing, but now I'm no longer running the Smart2Go nav software that came with it. There is a web site http://nokia500.wetpaint.com that has a ton of info on how to unlock this device and load other nav programs. This is a WindowsCE based gps. With that, once this is unlocked, you can load other WindowsCE based applications and use this like a PDA on top of GPS functions. And there are nav programs that will work with the Nokia shell, which is the only thing that the Bluetooth and FM transmitter work with. There is also a fix available, once unlocked, for the weak FM transmitter. Check it out. If you're slightly tech savy, and follow the directions closely, you should be up and running in no time.
 
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This GPS is not easy to use. Bluetooth phone call quality is poor and the bad thing is that it has very limited points of interest. It should not cost more than $50 in my opinion. Nokia should have an update POI to suplement the deficiency in POIs.
 
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Versatile and very useful. Not only I can get directions but also I can listen music while I am driving. Sometimes it wants to take other routes that are not the best ones, so I recommend you to look at google maps or ask somebody just to be sure.
 
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I had a smaller Tom Tom before purchasing this and it worked fine but this unit is easier to read and the alternate route function has proven to be very helpful. The bluetooth handsfree works well. The music and video interface is not great but the functionality is fine.
 
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A little late with the review but...I wanted a big screen (age thing) and with all the features, this unit is great. As with most devices, there is somewhat of a learning curve but with all the features, how can you go wrong??? A bad dinner can cost more than what I paid and it's gone in a day.
 
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Its a great navigator, works well, the bluetooth connection works great as well. However it is not the easiest to use, not as polished an interface as the Garmins and TomTom for example (both of which I have used before). But being a Nokia also tell me I will probably have more years of use from this than most other units, seems durable like all my other Nokia products. Great product, ease of use not that great, still a great buy for the features and price on buy.com
 
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This is the second review I've written on this product. I totally drank the cool-aid on my first review. I suppose I was unrealistically impressed because the item came sooner than I expected. I guess that's more of a credit to buy.com than Nokia. First of all, this gps was very functional; with one caveat...when it was working. I use functional very loosely. WHEN IT'S WORKING, it does the job, but it has no qwerty keyboard layout, loses satellite signal intermittently, freezes on occasion, and crashes the computer used to update it. Eventually, mine just froze and locked up. I contacted Nokia, and they told me to send the unit to their repair facility in Alabama somewhere. No offense to those from Alabama, but "red flag." I was told by Nokia that the unit could not be repaired, so it would be replaced, and the turn around was 5-7 days after it was received at the repair facility. I waited about 2 weeks after the 5-7 day turn around, because I'm a patient man. Finally, I called to check the status of the repair/replacement only to sit on hold for 45 minutes and ultimately be passed off to some soulless customer service rep. She informed me that the gps could not be replaced because they (they being Nokia themselves) were out of stock and did not know when they would be getting more. As I assume any reasonable person would ask, I asked when, if ever, was I going to be notified. She replied that the customer has to notify Nokia. "WHAT?!" Am I being irrational by thinking that's unacceptable? Alas, I digress. Since the gps was not going to be replaced or repaired (no demand I guess), I was told that I'd be getting a refund with a turn around of 6-8 weeks. "WHAT?!" So here's the damage. I'm out of a gps, had to swallow the shipping costs of the item to me and then to their black hole of a repair facility, and who knows when I'll get my money back. All without a hint of an apology. Understand, my issue is with Nokia, their buggy merchandise, and shoddy customer service. Maybe they should stick to making cellular phones.
 
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I withheld judgment until I had something to compare it to. This is my first GPS unit but I recently had the opportunity to travel in a vehicle equipped with a TomTom, and I realized that the Nokia is a great unit at a fraction of the cost. I also like the "bells and whistles" such as the bluetooth function which links with my cell phone and allows the unit to double as a hands-free device. I purchased a 16Gb SD card and converted some movies to Mpeg format. It's great as a larger version of the kids' Ipod. And as an MP3 player, it's awesome. We live in a small town, and most of our "mom and pop" businesses were listed in the POI databases, and it's done well on our shopping junkets to different places, in locating our favorite restaurants and department stores. I am one with no sense of direction, so this is the best investment I have made in a long while. The only "cons" are low volume and short battery life, but I can live with that for the price.
 
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Summary: Many people complain about this GPS for little glitches it has, but if you forget the idea "you get what you pay for" for a moment and stop finding its flaws, it's really good GPS for the price. Decent map data, Free Traffic info, nice Blue-tooth functionality and maps of multiple countries are enough to make this GPS worth more than its price, let aside other tons of features that might have glitches because its the first of its kind from Nokia. First thing you would want to do to utilize this GPS fully, is to get an 8GB SDHC card (2GB card that comes with it has only 700MB remaining), so that you can install maps of more countries, MP3 songs and MP4 videos (and may be more software applications!). Detailed Review: This GPS has tons of features for the price. If you get it within $150 its totally worth it. It is not the perfect GPS, but surely an innovative product from Nokia to enter the GPS market. It has decent map data and navigation software. Sometimes it's slow to acquire satellite signal. Once locked it works as a charm. Inside my apartment it doesn't lock at all, it did once when I started it for the first time, but have had no luck catching any satellite signal inside my apartment since then :(. Sometimes it might re-route you in a stupid way but its a stupid computer after all, no human. I'm sure all other GPS also do that occasionally. Like most of the expensive GPS you have Text-to-speech (TTS), mediocre Points-of-Interest (POI) database, pedestrian mode, you can browse the map interactively instead of navigating the route, you can save a location (its co-ordinates) without entering its address if you had to come back to that location, it even has TMC for traffic. Most of the people have overseen this feature TMC in their reviews. I see all bars in TMC signal and tells me "No congestion reported" when I view traffic information, but haven't used it long enough to tell weather it really shows you congestion and re-routes you. Free traffic without any subscription is a steal for such a cheap price. Other brands have Traffic only in models costing more than $300. Like that wasn't enough they threw in free maps of major countries of the whole world. Yes!, that's right the software CD that comes with it has maps of many European countries and also some asian countries (including India where I am from :)). Some brands don't even give you Canada or Maxico maps, how cheap of them. Because Nokia originally made this GPS for Europe I think they have re-packaged those units manufactured for Europe to sell in the U.S. So you might not find exact content of package that they list on Nokia website. Instead of miniSD and an adapter you get regular SD card with U.S. maps pre-installed and you don't get the carrying pouch!, ouch!, hehe not really, its not a big deal. I was shocked a bit at first when I saw these differences from contents of package because I thought the reseller gave me a re-manufactured product. But then I found from other reviews that this is how it is sent by Nokia. It is still good for the price even if it were a re-manufactured unit :). Also for the same reason that these were meant to be sold in Europe originally, there is no U.S. product support webpage on nokiausa.com (They do have a support page on their U.K. website). That said, they do have an auto-update software in the CD that came with it. I am not sure if the auto-update software only updates the firmware or it also updates the Map data. I wouldn't be surprised if it also updated the Map data as well because Nokia owns Navteq now. Even if they don't have map updates (which I assumed when I bought this GPS) I can still use it for few years until it gets outdated (pre-installed maps are dated Feb 2008) then throw it away because Garmin, Magellean and TomTom charge 100 bucks or more for map updates while this GPS itself was 100 bucks :). (Yeah, I prepare for all downsides while buying something like this, unlike those who don't research about the product before buying and later on complain "They don't have map updates!". Well do you know if Garmin has map updates for a particular model and how much it costs?) FM transmitter, I think purposefully, has weak signal to keep you within legal range. So you might have static depending on the channel and where you place the GPS, you might have to find a sweet-spot in your car for optimal FM reception. I think it's best to use audio out and connect to car's aux-in. I haven't used blue-tooth feature yet which most of the people comment is one of the best feature of this product. It plays mp3 songs fine, video playing is a little hassle, it only plays Quicktime MP4 format videos. So you have to re-encode your videos in Quicktime MP4 format. I wish it played DivX instead. One of the reviewers says its hackable >:), I searched on google and he is right. You can unlock it to get to Windows CE desktop and install softwares like MS Word. I haven't tried this yet, but the first thing I would like to install is DivX decoder!
 
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It has great features and price. At times it could have a more detailed map showing rivers etc.
 
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Flawless,...I love it! Easy to use. I was a bit skeptical at first, but, now that I have it - it works great. Very pricise, fast loading of maps, and to the dot satelite pointing. One minor note, however, I could not get it to start. This was due to the small switch under the screen that needed to be turned on. The instructions don't mention this. I had to visit the Nokia site. but other than that, it works great. I am completely satisfied.
 
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We've only had this unit for roughtly 3 weeks and we haven't been able to use all the functions yets. (my background, I've had a Garmin streetpilot 2620 for 4 years myself and I bought this for my whining wife for xmas) Pros: It has lots of features for the price (I paid $105.00+sh). I though it was very easy to use. Big screen, very thin. I thought the speaker in the back played mp3's very clear! I was impressed w/the speaker.Nokia put some thought into it. Con's: Ok here we go.1) fm transmitter has static on every single channel I've tried (7 channels sofar) in 2 different vehicles. Haven't investigated that any further. But it is annoying to the extent I won't be using the function which wipes out the use of the mp3 player. On the video player, i have a program that can rip dvds into video formats. I was hoping to rip dvd's into mp4 or wmv and stick them on the sd card and watch them possibly for trips but during my experiments the video is RIDICULOUSLY choppy. Like 1 frame per 5 seconds. The 3 'training' videos already on the unit have in their file name 15fps, which means 15 frames per second. I have not explored trying to rip a video then hack it down to 15 frames per second to see if it will play better. The training videos already on the unit seem to play fine but they are not an action video by anymeans so I don't know if I rip an action movie then hack it down to 15 fps will it play w/o chopping? I dunno yet. So basically that function is out... Ok next con... The text to speech. Please keep in mine we've only had it for like 3 weeks and I'm gonna update this post in a couple months. The voice that speaks for the text to speach is basically crap. I've only had it navigate me to one place though so I can't say this with a whole lot of confidence, so I will hold off on further comment until next time about this feature. It does have 3 voiceskins/ 1-female 2 male 3 female(tts). It was factory on the male but I switched it to female(tts) and wasn't impressed but I'll hold off commenting... OH yeah bluetooth: blue tooth worked ok. I have a sprint mogul and it connected fine with my phone and downloaded my contacts just fine. The only problem I saw there was EVERYTIME I connected it needed to download my contacts, It can't just remember them???? I dunno, that was annoying. I connected it with my wifes phone and she called me from the unit on the way home one day and I have to say I could BARELY hear her. I did not like that at all. I was hoping it would have better noise canceling technology than that. Again I've only received one call from her on it since we got it so I'll hold off commenting further. OK Navigation: We went to walmart or somewhere, and was going to have it navigate us home (about 2.5mi). We plugged in our address which was very easy, it found us and it put the purple line down. About .7 mi into the nav we needed to cross a major high way bridge. Instead of having us cross the bridge, the nav has the purple line get on the highway travel 5 miles down the high get off the highway, do a u-turn on a bridge get back on the highway come back to the same exit we got on it originally and turn right. WHAT THE *&^*&%????? We just wanted to cross the bridge? Now lets assume your out of town and don't know any better.... You will have gotten to where you were going but that is just stupid. Of course we just crossed the bridge w/o getting on the highway and it rerouted us just fine from there. We have only used that function once so far as well. Also another feature I like from my garmin unit is the ability to search the map for you navigate-to destination. This unit does not have that function. You cannot use a map to select a navigate-to place. Overall the unit feels like a very quality piece just holding it in your hand. Ok hope this helps. I will continue to check out ALL of the features and get back with a more comfortable review in a couple months. Today: 01-06-09
 
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This was a gift for my daughter and her husband. I researched navigation systems all over the internet before I bought this one.I was very pleased with my purchase. It was everything they said it was.I really cant believe it was so affordable. This system has everything you could want.It was very easy to install. I highly recommend this to anyone.
 
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Purchased as a Christmas gift for friends in Alaska. They're very satisfied with the maps package included, many roads in Alaska they travel were included. Also impressed with walking mode on device, allows them to go geocaching (GPS lead treasure hunts) when the weather will be permitting. Good interface and FM transmitter w/ bluetooth functionality are other pluses to this purchase!
 
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I got this for my son as a Christmas gift, and he could not be happier with it! He absolutely loves it. What is not to love?...it has 2D and 3D maps, bluetooth technology, MP3 capability, wireless FM transmitter, video capability...for the money, nobody can logically complain. Usually, when it comes to electronics, you can't even come close to comparing an inexpensive unit with a top of the line unit. With this Nokia 500 GPS, you absolutely can!!!
 
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This is our first GPS system and we loved it (note past tense)! The "big" screen, the text-to-speech using street names, and the extras (MP3, video, phone, etc) had us thoroughly impressed... until we had to visit a friend who lived in a new subdivision. We couldn't type in her street address, it kept giving a suggestion which was not the street we were looking for and would not allow us to type in the next letter to spell out the correct street name. We figured we needed an updated map and after visiting Nokia and Navteq, it seems like Navteq has discontinued providing updates for this particular system. What a letdown. No wonder it was priced less than half of its original price when it was first released. I wish buy.com highlighted this fact so that people knew they were going to be working with an outdated map.
 
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Don't want to repeat what most people have said. Great value for the money as far as features is concerned but some things leave a lot to be desired. The screen can be picky at times. Maps are not the best. I have a Treo 755P which is not compatible with the address book migration feature and voice dial. The box had 3 things missing ie: Memory Card MU-36 (2 GB mini-SD) came with a regular 2GB SD card, Memory card adapter to full-size SD also missing, and the Carrying case. Called Buy.com which had me call the vendor which then had me cal Nokia. Nokia wants me to return everything just so they can send me the things that are missing. I told them I was satisfied with the contents just wanted the missing items. The robot of a man I was speaking to would not flinch and actually tried to get me to buy one of there pouches. I was pissed but decided for the money I paid it was a good deal. I had a Tom Tom before so my comparison to that item is Tom Tom is more user friendly but for the features available can't beat the price.
 
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Unit works pretty good. I managed to get my wifes and my phone connected to via bluetooth. I bought a Dane-Elec 8GB Secure Digital SD Card and used the included CD to load maps for the US and Europe and Australia. I have plenty of room for music and the GPS loads and tracks good. There is room for improvements and I am sure Nokia will come out with some units in the future. Buy.com was a great place to buy and a great value. No major complants!!
 
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You get a lot of features for the money. I bought 2 as gifts for xmas and they both liked them. This product is more than just a gps.
 
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Love the 7" screen. Fast satelite lock, normally less than half a minute! Haven't used the mp3 or video player features
 
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A good value for $99. Bluetooth works pretty well. Radio transmitter is almost worthless. Non-current maps and POIs with no updates available. Also, Nokia does not provide any substantive support for this unit. I have contacted them repeatedly for support with no response. Customer service did not even know how to register my Nokia 500. A great idea with poor execution. Too bad...Nokia has so much capability. NOT for those who want a good (or great) GPS navigation device. Final note; the GPS nav will often guide you on frivolous tours through side streets when a direct path would make the most sense. Frustrating to say the least.
 
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This was a purchase for a gift for my son and I did a lot of research to compare this model to others brands and models. This was the best buy for the features. Now that my son has used it a week, he loves it and everything works as the specs state. He loves the FM transmitter and the bluetooth features to connect with his cell phone. I would highly recommend this Unit.
 
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Great value for the money!
 
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This device is excellent since it has integrated navigation, mp3 player and video player systems. However the navigation system has, i would say, a software deficiency. It bases its place finding on county rather than city, which is not, in my opinion, the best way to define an address, at least here in the USA. Also, and i still don't understand why, i haven't been able to make it navigate to my daughter's place, which is only 22 miles away from my home. It always end telling me to try a shorter route. There are plenty of possible routes from my home to my daughter's. When looking for an address in cincinatti, ohio, especifically Glen Eden Ln, it doesn't find it unless you try one out of three possible combinations with the same county and zip code. Bottom line, you need to know exactly where you are going or have another gps navigation system to ensure you get where you want to go. Another issue is that even you like it or not, you cannot return this equipment and get your money back. I didn't notice this when i bought the item so now i have to keep it or sell it by my own. I decided to keep because i bought it to use in my motorcycle and i have an Iphone as a main navigation system. Pricewise is a good offer, especially because it has maps for all places in the world that has navigation systems in place. Maybe it will have the same issues that i mentioned above, but in countries where you don't know anything this is better than a paper map.
 
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This unit has a lot of great features, but it more difficult to use then my Garmin. For example you must set the voice directions to TTS (Text to speech) for it to say the street names, there are three setting and TTS is one of them. There are great features, but it will take you a while to figure them all out. One thing I can't figure out is how to get the unit to turn on and off by its self when I turn the car on and off. This is a major pain. However you can not find a better unit with all the feature that this one has for the price.
 
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I got this unit for my 20 year old nephew as a Christmas gift. We have spoken several times since then and everytime, he tells me how much he loves the unit. He especially loves the MP3 capability. Guess I highly recommend as he states this unit works perfectly.
 
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I bought two of these for Christmas presents for my daughters. They both had no problem hooking up and using. The only problem is they cant get them away from their husbands. Very easy to use. Has all the bells and whistles of a 3 or 400.00 unit
 
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Great GPS system. Easy to use but if you have been using Garmin you may need to get used to this Nokia. Bluetooth work perfect. People can hear me load and clear. The packing list said there is a pouch but that was missing. The package was not tempered with. Great buy for a great price. I didn't mind the missing pouch.
 
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easy to use, but it has no speak to street names, it also has unclear dicription of the turnings. Very hard to follow especially in big cities like LA and San fran.
 
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This GPS is awesomely amazing. I have been using it from last 3 weeks and haven't found any error either in map or in functionality. The map is pretty accurate. I have used Tomtom and Garmin for more than 2 years and I did not find any difficulty in switching to this unit. All the controls seems very intuitive. Also after doing little google-ing I found that one can easily un-lock this GPS and install other software and productivity tools such as MS Word, PDF and PPT and do all sorts of crazy stuffs. If you are gadget lover like me than this GPS is definitely for you and specially within 100 bucks it is worth giving a shot. All its components like bluetooth, TTS etc are working perfectly. I synchronized my samsumg blackjack II with it and the contacts got transferred very easily.
 
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Like many of the people reviewing, I purchased the Nokia because it was a great price. However once I started using it, I was very pleased. Navigation is great and the extra features are nice as well. The bluetooth even worked with my Iphone with no problems. This would have been a great deal at a higher price. Needs a Qwerty keyboard!
 
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I had bought another GPS awhile ago, with a 3.5 screen that didn't have as many features and options as this Nokia GPS has. I tried them both and decided to keep the Nokia and return the other one. The Nokia cost me only $ 99.00 with no shipping charges, a really great buy and has and does everything I want my GPS to do. It has a super large screen and it a great GPS for the price. I have checked all of the other leading brands and they all cost so much more with the 4.3 screen and all the features this GPS has. MP3 Player, Photos, Videos and Bluetooth are all included with this package !!!!!!You won't go wrong buying this GPS , I love it !!!!!!!
 
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For the fact that it was under $100 (when I purchased -- now it seems to have gone up) with so many features, I would rate this as best. It looks cute, works as advertised, and performs well in its primary function -- GPS. Bluetooth works well too, but I am not very much satisfied with FM transmitter. Keep in mind that I had a GPS already with me (Magelland Roadmate 1200) before buying this, and I only started shopping for a car audio with bluetooth features, but ended up buying this one because of the price-value. So, my primary purpose of buying this is not fulfilled. However, I cannot resist rating it high. It is a nice product by itself, and I love it.
 
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sweet product after hacking igo8 onto it. couldn't think of a better GPS system for 100 dollars (price that I bought it for at the time).
 
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I got it for 99$ (After the Paypal discount) at buy.com Nokia is good at making phones. So, they dumped a whole lot of functionalities, common in a phone, into a GPS, with a lot less of GPS functionalities. The maps are old. (From 2006 or so for US) ... I asked the customer service about any planned map update.. and they had no idea if they will even continue to support this instrument ! Interestingly, this gps does not show up in most List-of-Values on nokia support page. POIs are so few!.. (For Southern california.. not sure of other places). Navigation ! !.. You hear "After 300 Yards, enter the highway!", and now you have to figure out how much is 300 yards, because the silly thing does now say if I should enter 5 North or South. Similarly.... "After a quarter mile, change the highway"... and I end up having to decide if I should switch to north or south because more often than not, you get the same exit for both directions. Similarly, not everytime does it tell me if I should stay left or right after the turn, and then I end up struggling in the traffic to change lanes if the subsequent turn comes immediately.
 
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Pros: ----- 1. Very good BT functionality 2. Multimedia play capability 3. Use of generic SDHC card - can use another manufacturer card by loading/copying the image from the existing card or loading it from supplied disk. 4. Good/bright display 5. Very good voice quality during ph(BT) conversation 6. Very good value for the price (~$100). You get what you paid for. Cons: ---- 1. Map isn't accurate even with latest update form their support site. Think they own majority of Navteq and it's a surprise. Magellan has better accuracy which has the same Navteq maps!!! 2. Address entry for destination/navigation could've been easier 3. Zoom-out wouldn't work in 3D mode sometimes. In 2D mode, touching zoom-out once/twice will zoom-out all the way to show the entire continent. Have to reboot/switch-off/switch-on to resume. 4. The navigation is bad in that, it showed the route till the destination and removed it form the display after getting past the destination. So, if you just get past the destination, instead of getting the user back there, it will just show only the GPS position. 5. Music player doesn't start from where it stopped last time. 6. FM transmitter is not powerful enough. Not a major issue. 7. Nokia has a very good reputation on ease of use but it's absent in this unit as far as GPS is concerned. Other functionalities work fine. Nokia need to seriously improve their UI to live upto their std, which we have got used to from them.
 
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The Nokia 500 GPS provides a lot of features for a great price. Improvements: I have trouble syncing a LG cellphone with the bluetooth, i'm sure the same would be if you were to sync an iPhone. It seems like the syncing would only benefit Nokia cell phones. I haven't tried the FM transmitter, I can't pick up traffic alerts in Orange County, CA. I don't like it that you must enter the zip code to find your destination. Nobody is going to know all the zip codes in their head. Sometimes when you are entering a destination, the backspace button is slow, or it retrieves destination choices when you still haven't finish punching in the letters. It would be nice to sync an address from a cell phone's email or text message. The center button has a different main menu vs the touchscreen main menu button, that part is kind of confusing. The zoom in and zoom out mode isn't really practical. I would like to see a split screen, 1/2 being the overall map to my destination, and the other 1/2 is the close up view. Overall, you get a faily reasonable gps device with all the features. I hope Nokia will make some software updates, so the usability is improved.
 
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This is an update to a previous review. First, you cannot return this if you don't like it. Buy.com does not return and Nokia will not take it back unless you purchased it from them. And on that note, Nokia's customer service leaves alot to be desired. They basically did not want to be bothered because it was purchased from a retailer, not them. In addition, they do not appear to have any real support of this product. So don't look for any map, firmware or POI updates. And the POI's are lacking. One other update to my original review. For those with problems downloading contacts from their phones. Know that the N500 will only download contacts saved to the phones internal memory. It will not download contacts saved to the sim card. Also, the FM transmitter performance appears to be based on the power cord being used. I believe it uses the power cord as part of the antenna. If I only had it running on battery, it didn't work very well at all. But if I had it connected via the power cord, then it was better, and I could hear a difference as I moved the cord around. So give that a try. For more information, I suggest you go to the Nokia usa web site and get into the information base forums.
 
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This is my second GPS. Previously I had a Magellan GPS and I will use that as my comparison. Pluses for the Nokia are features - bluetooth, MP3, FM transmitter, phonebook sync from mobile, and good maps. Minuses include the power switch on the bottom of the unit that requires a pen to turn on/off (the unit sleeps when you use the top power switch) and the user interface is not nearly as intuitive as the Magellan. I miss not having a junction/intersection look-up as that is handy and the POI database is small. That said, for the money this is a great unit with lots of features and I like the phone/bluetooth integration.
 
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The larger 4.3" display is worth the cost vs the 3.5" models. Best GPS deal over the holidays. Very clear images and voice prompts. The remapping after a change in route is extremely quick. All routing has been accurate so far. Setup and first use is great, very happy with this purchase.
 
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Pros: 1. GPS works good 2. Bluetooth works good easy to pair & download contact 3. Big Screen Cons: 1. For address you have to know the zip code 2. keyboard not qwerty 3. I still can't play mp3 samples that came in the sd card. Overall it's good gps with great price.
 
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I have a Garmin Nuvi 350 and 370. I bought the Nokia as a gift for a relative. It has some nice features (like FM Tx) but overall it was less intuitive then the Garmin Nuvi to set my destination. With the Nuvi I can shut off the receiver by closing the antenna and then make my current location be anywhere I want. This is handy to get short directions or searching for POIs nearby. The Nokia did not have these features and it was cumbersome to put in my destination address until I figured out the couple of key items it needed. This was $100 and my Garmins were approx $250. Depends on the price range your shopping for. If I want a low cost GPS then I would buy the Nokia again - but if I needed one for everyday use and willing to pay a little more I would get the Nuvi. I have not tried Garmins newer series without the flip out antenna but I understand they changed the menu system which may disappoint me.
 
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I have had a Garmin and a Tom Tom...I really like this one the best....PROS: It has all the features I wanted and would use...1. SD card 2. Large touch screen. 3. Bluetooth ( works very well, better than the Blue ant i have been using in my car) 4. Excellent Price, cant beat it for what you get CONS: 1. Mounting hardware sucks...too large and bulky 2. Address input needs improvement, not as easy as some 3. While getting directions, if you touch the screen or bump it, it causes the map to switch to a "Map Browse mode" ,as the other reviewer noted.. so I guess dont use this while driving...pull over ! 4.I dont think the POI is as good as Tom Tom. And it consistanly tells you to go to stores that haven't been in business for over a year. 5. Lastly it, aviod tolls for some reason...
 
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I purchased this GPS unit as an X-Mas gift for my wife, based on the Nokia name and price. The unit does what its supposed to do. The features are top notch for the money. I'm not sure why Garmin amd Magellen are selling the same features for much more? I have noticed an issue with the unit not being able to update the maps. Georgia is adding new subdivisions and streets to the city constantly. My wife is not a techie, but after a quick setup, test run and drive, she loves the product. The user interface is simple and clear. Excellent product for the price!!!
 
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There are no other units out there at this price with all the features that it comes with......Great Buy and Great Value!
 
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No traffic alert service. Directions are not always the best. When I programmed in my work address, it took me to the next town. When I reprogrammed it with the correct town address, it brought me to an open field as my final destination two mile off course. Tried putting in the adress zip code first, would not let me put in the street address. When first turned on "hide this at start-up" appears, I press the box and it still appears every time. It still cannot get my home address correct.
 
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I have been using Nokia products for 10 years and this device did not surprise me. It is sleek, accurate and easy to use. I could even connect my LG VU using its bluetooth feature and make calls.
 
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The only problem I found with the Nokia 500 is that it lacked a lot of POI's (Points of Interest). I typed in on the Nokia 500 Walmart or Target or Best Buy, among several other main POI's, and they didn't even exist. I tried contacting Nokia to find out if they had an upgrade for the POI's and it was nearly impossible to contact Nokia. On the bright side, the FM transmitter works a lot better than what I imagined from all the other reviews. It works great and plays movies and has a lot of cool functions but lacks the POI's, which for me is a deal breaker.
 
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You can't beat this Nokia for the money. I'm currently using it on my Christmas visit in Southern California & am very satisfied with this GPS. It has everything - well, except for the Intersection find feature. You can multi-task - listen to MP3 music, watch slide show of your photos (on a long stretch), and listen to the voice instructions for the next turn - awesome. Plus, it's 4.3" wide screen. The only negative I see is the map font is a little small. I do like 1 feature - it has the street name you're driving on lableled at the bottom, and the next turn street labeled at the top. As you approach the turn, it pops up a bigger label of the street name - AWESOME. Granted that the map may be out-of-date since it's manufactured a year or 2 ago. Battery lasts pretty good too. Paid $100 on Ebay from Buy.com back in December. Love it. When choosing a GPS, make sure you like the map graphics & how easy it is to use - assuming performance is similar (picking up satellites signal). I haven't even use the Bluetooth & FM Transmitter features. Get it, you won't regret.
 
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