Nextar C3 Automobile Navigator
Nextar C3 3.5" Touch screen GPS In-Car Navigation System with US Mapping +MP3 Player

I bought this device in August.. it froze on me in November. Called Nextar support and they asked me to ship it back (at my expense). Took about 3 weeks to get a new one. That one lasted another 2-3 months and now it's freezing again. 2 lemons so far! I do not recomend this product!
 
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I purchased this navigation system based on all the great reviews. It arrived in perfect condition. Unfortunately, after using it about 6 times in 3 months, the unit suddently stop working -- When it was turned on, the GPS just go frozen at the loading screen, stopped at 10% the loading bar and won't go on. I contacted Nextar via their 1-888 number, and the only thing to do was return it for repair. SO I had to spend money to send the unit into Nextar for repair, and they said that the estimated repair time will take approximately 6 weeks after they receive it. Maybe you can think about it - IF * you don't mind to take the risk of lost your direction in the middle of trip * you are willing to take the trouble of returning and waiting * you can drive without a GPS for about two months(or more - who knows).
 
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This is an awesome product, except for one thing. If you use this without a cigarette lighter, relying on the batteries only, you only have about 40 minutes of navigation time. If you only travel 2 or 3 miles, you're good, but if you plan on using this for actual trips, you won't be able to use your GPS for very long on your trip. Other than that, it's a very good, easy to use system.
 
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I bought this GPS and its so fragile the car charger broke so easily inside the ciggerettle lighter and caused my car short cercuit costing hundreds of doller to find out what is wrong. The price may be very lucrative but quality is so poor even the battery power dont stay long also not very user friendly.
 
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I have been using this GPS since Sept.07 and NOT one single glitch. The interface is the easiest I've come across. ( Had Garmin and TomTom ) Don't want to repeat what has already been said in prior reviews, so end point: I'm buying another one for my wife and would recommend it without resevation.
 
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At the time when I bought this, it was a great deal with a MIR. But when I initially got it, it wouldn't load. It was just frozen on the "loading" screen. So I had to send it back and wait for a replacement, and by the time I got the replacement, it was too late to send in for the MIR. So... it ended up not being as great a deal, and now I could get a better brand for about the same price, BUT it still wasn't that expensive, and it's good enough for me. <p> I tend to get lost pretty easily, especially when roads fork and I'm not sure which direction to go, or the directions call a road/exit a different name than what the sign actually says and I doubt myself and end up missing it. So, having a GPS in general to see exactly where I'm supposed to turn and whatnot is great (though sometimes this one is a little slower than you drive, so you might think you're not supposed to turn at the next exit when you are, because on the screen you look like you're farther from it than you really are). When you're driving somewhere you already know, it sometimes gives you a route that you wouldn't normally take and sometimes doesn't give you the smartest route. But in the end, you'll always reach your destination. I got the GPS mainly to just keep me from getting lost, and it does that. <p> My only real problem with it so far is that for some reason (and maybe it's just me) it sounds like the voice is saying "Turn right" when she's actually saying "Turn Left" or vice versa. So occasionally I have to check the direction of the arrow on the screen to make sure I heard correctly. <p> Another not so major problem is that sometimes I'll be on the highway or taking an exit and it'll tell me I've gone off route, reroute to something that sometimes doesn't even exist, and then reroute again back to the original directions. I think this might be because of updates to roads or loss/interference of satellite signal. But this hasn't been a real issue for me, because so far it has always corrected itself back to the original route before I missed any steps. <p> Overall, it's a decent GPS. It may not be as nice as some of the more well-known brands, but it does the job and gets you to a destination relatively reliably.
 
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I've had this for 3 months and been using it almost every day. The truth about GPS devices are that as long as you got decent software (this unit uses NAVTEQ-developed nav program and map, nextar itself just made the hardware. NAVTEQ is the provider of map data for Google Maps, so you know you can trust NAVTEQ.) I got this for $140 with a $30 rebate. Thanks Buy.com Some people say it takes 5 mins to get sat signal, this is due to ignorance. You have to be rolling your wheels to help the device refresh its communication with the sat. So if you just sit there, it will take forever. Just start moving along the street in front of your house, it will pick up in 10-15 seconds. A drawback I don't like is that the battery tends to auto-discharge quickly when not used, so always keep the car charger in the car, you will need it.
 
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This was my second GPS esp. for traveling and as a back-up to my Garmin. I decided on nextar because of its compact size and the price. It has been working without any flaws for 2 months. The feature set is more comprehensive than my Garmin, which was 3 times more expensive. I usually not motivated to write reviews but this product has been so good that I felt I should share my experience.
 
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Bought this product after reading rave reviews on the buy.com website. Like most people here, I found the product to be worth the money it cost. I was used to Garmin GPS on my laptop. The software based off of windows can be a lot more flexible and has much more functionality. However, this product tries to pack almost all those features. Product worked great for last four months. I hardly used it though. I took it out to make sure it was working. I needed it for a trip. I turned it on and it got stuck on the loading page. I read a review here from another person with the same problem. I called nextar support and the tech support told me to charge the device fully before trying to reboot. Looking at the review before this one, I am not too hopeful. The tech support team at nextar seemed responsive to the problem. I hope that they fix this issue for me. Also, a quick comment about the buy.com customer service. I called them because the price dropped within three days after they made the sale. I asked them if they would be willing to give me a price adjustment. They flatly refused and told me that I would have to send the item back and buy again. I will avoid buying with buy.com again.
 
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This GPS is a great value for the price. I took it for a road trip from Michigan to West Virgina. It was easy to use and helped me get to my destination without any issues. If I took a wrong turn, then it automatically recalculated a new route. The screen was bright even in the sunlight, and the voice was clear. Here are some of the problems that I noted on my trip. (These may to be related to the navigation software): - GPS is sometimes off by up to 100 feet. - It asked me to turn the wrong way on to a one way street. - Instructions to get on/off I270 in Columbus, OH was unclear or came too late. - Some rural locations are not mapped in Ashland, KY. - On some roads it does not say "bear left" or "bear right" when it should, and on others (especially freeways) it says it too many times. - It does not always give you the shortest route (even if it is set up that way). Despite these issues, this is a great GPS for the money. I hope the items mentioned above will be fixed with a software release and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
 
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I've been wanting a portable GPS for a while and when I saw the price on this one, it made me realize that not all of them are out of my price range. If you don't mind a little bit of bulk in the unit, then go with this one. It performs very well and is very easy to use. Couple of things to note: it is a little slow aquiring satellite, there are no software or map updates on the Nextar website so the maps are a couple of years old, and it froze on me once which is a complaint I've seen in other reviews about this unit. Other than those things, the screen is vibrant and easy to read, it has a ton of features, and it's less than $200! I did a lot of research on this and other units and overall, it has been worth every penny.
 
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Great GPS system for the price! I would recommend this GPS to anyone (as a matter of fact I did!). It may not have all the 'bells and whistles' some of the higher end models have but it does the job it was bought for.
 
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This item works excellently sitting on my back porch it told me I was not on a road which was only 50 feet away! Sometimes finds places in an unexpected way but for the price it can not be beat.It is easy to take from car to car and I would tell anyone on a budget in the market for a GPS you can not go wrong with this one.
 
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This GPS is more accurate than what was expected. It's affordable for what it can do and has good features. I have not have any problem with it at all. It very easy to used. The screen and colors are very clear. This product is recommended.
 
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It is a great low price portable GPS PROs 1/ Price 2/ Very easy to use 3/ Pretty accurate CONs 1/ Old map 2/ Limited POIs I intend to buy a cheap but good portable GPS to save on gas and time whenever I need to look for some address. I am happy with its accuracy, even though its map is kind of out of date when I look for some address on one or two year old streets or sub-divisions. In short, I can consider it is one of the best GPSs under 200.00 range. It is recommended as a budget GPS.
 
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I got it for $130 (ie GREAT VALUE) if I ever get the rebate. I rented a different brand while on vacation last Winter so that is what I am comparing it to as well as Streets & Trips on my Laptop. PRO's: It get a sat signal INSIDE my office with a steel roof - FAR better than any other I have tried. Nice screen in the car; however it washes out on my motorcycle (too much to expect anyway). The volume is great and would work with most any car (but not my motorcycle; however with the earphone feature I get the voice directions so that's OK). A great feature they did not mention is it can be set to give you a warning when you are speeding (you can set the speed or even better put it on "AUTO" and it estimates what the speed limit may be based on the road class (pretty accurate). It beeps twice; but does not nag you. It also makes a single beep (sounds like an out of tune piano)when you reach an inter-section where there maybe a stop sign or traffic light. This is great for a space cadet like me. CON's: The navagation around the software leaves something to be desired with "deadends" where you have to go back and start all over instead of just back spacing and make the adjustments when you made a boo boo. The route planning is not very intuitive and POI's are pretty limited (no ski areas for instance); however the way around it is adding your "Favorites" but this takes planning and for thought as you can only add them either by address or current location and sometimes that is difficult. It would be nice to beable to move around the map (which you CAN DO) and click on a loacation and added it to your "Favorites". It has two route preview deatures both with major limitations and "apparently" no way to "edit the route" or at least not easily that I have found. METHOD1 Route list - This gives you all the written direction with streets turns etc - For this to be helpful you have to know your route VERY WELL in which case you do not need the GPS to begin with. METHOD2 MAP PREVIEW - This takes you along the route on the map as if you were driving it - sounds good but NOT - It poles along about the speed you would be driving it - SO if your route is from NYC to LA it would take you at laest 3 days to "pre-view it". There does not appear to be a way to speed this up. A good value at $130. it gets you to where you want to go and you won't get lost
 
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This is an awesome product for this price. I drove around quite a bit in the south east and the GPS performed great. Although I must say that on a few occasions the destination would be on the opposite side of the highway or street and that drove me nuts. The battery life is great as well, on a full charge it lasts for at least 3 hours which is awesome. Once sincere suggestion from me would be that, first read through the product manual and familiarize yourself with the product before starting out on a journey to a new destination. Sometimes I had to go back and forth, and this was not because the GPS was defective but because I was being impatient. All in all a great GPS and I recommend buying this amazing piece for this cheap price.
 
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My first GPS. For this price, it is one of the best.
 
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Great Product. Works great. Have not played with the mp3 portion yet, but that was not the intended use. Small Price, Big features.
 
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This is my first GPS unit. It is very easy to use and has excellent features for the price. The only con I have discovered is that it sometimes takes a while to locate a GPS signal(up to 3 or 4 minutes). Overall I am absolutely satisfied and love this product. Thanks Buy.com.
 
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From the little bit i have used it I have had no problems and it is very easy to use. Just waiting for the website to include future updates.
 
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this gps works very well. it's no harder to use than my wife's magellan. good screen, nice options. two drawbacks so far - the speaker is tinny and has no option to change voice. and the controls are mostly screen based - so it's crowded and just a little awkward to use. but for the price- great. also - still waiting for my rebate.
 
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I was concerned at first by the low price, but after reading the reviews, I decided to give it a shot. This is a very capable GPS that is easy to use and has some nice features that help it feel better than an entry-level GPS. It's nice that it comes with 1GB built in memory as well as an SD slot. I just wish it had more POIs. Other than that it's great.
 
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Very nicely executed product. Easy to learn and use. Music sounds good, better than expected considering the tiny speaker. Navigation is smoother than my Street Pilot III as this unit immediately recalculates a new route when an instruction is disregarded; perhaps due to traffic, construction, etc. Only strange thing is that the unit turns on when the SD card is extracted or inserted. I've mounted the holding shell to a strong magnet with felt coverd bottom so that it can be moved from car to car. (Attachment to windshield in CA. is a no-no.) Good LCD display with good touch sensitivity. I really like this unit. Functionally comparable with a TomTom Go 700 but much smaller and easier to handle.
 
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I bought this GPS unit from buy.com when it was on sale with a rebate; the total cost (after rebate) was ~$130. I am more than happy with this device: it came with a stylus, has always been very accurate, and has an easy volume toggle on the side of the screen. My mom was so impressed she went out and bought a GPS unit, but TomTom instead of Nextar - she was not as happy with her more expensive system because though TomTom has more features (more languages and slightly bigger and clearer map), it is not as user-friendly basic nor as accurate (perhaps she needs to upload more current maps). The only complaints I would have with the Nextar unit are: 1) sometimes it takes a few minutes to start up and locate where you are, 2) sometimes in starting up, the screen freezes (but just restart it, and you're fine), and 3) there's no software to get more current maps. Right now I don't have any problems with its maps, but I'm sure in a few years things will change.
 
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This is my first gps unit. I love the portability. We can take it in any of our vehicles. It runs flawlessly. Everything you need is included in the box. The mp3 player is an added bonus. I have friends with Garmin units and they prefer my unit. It locates itself with the satellites very quickly and has been flawless with maps in AZ and CA. We take it with us on all road trips.
 
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If you're price shopping for a GPS, then this was the deal. After rebate, It was less then 130 bucks. What a bargain. On price alone, its a 5 star product. But if price isn't the sole feature then I think you can do better. I've discovered that I can't fully trust this GPS. It arrived promptly, nicely packaged, lots of extras. Worked right out of the box. Did fully charge battery before using it. Like others, I used it to take me around to addresses that I've been going to for a few years. I already knew every way possible to get from point "a" to point "b". It was interesting seeing how it would send me. Most times, it found the way. It's important that you understand some of the menu features for how it selects the route. Normal turns, fewer turns, Shortest, Quickest, Major are just a few. Different combos will offer different routes. However, regardless of how the route menu was set, It has tried taking me on some idiotic trips. A destination point is due east on a major road. For reasons I still don't understand it had me head south and then back to the destination. Other times it has me getting off at an exit when an idiot could look at a map and see the quickest, most direct, most efficient route is to travel 3 more exits to avoid all local stop and go traffic, save time, and log less miles... but it still has me getting off the highway early. Just doesn't make any sense. Other times it has me turning onto roads that don't exist and doing U turns should I decided to deviate from it's prescribed route. Evenutally, after passing a few U turn requests, it will recalculate the route. HOWEVER, for the the most part, 80 to 90 percent of the time it does get me to where I need to go. The ease of use is just that... EASY. Quick turn on, quick inputting of destination. Great display. Boring voice with no alternatives. Can't download anything for the GPS. Nothing on the web site... but they did give me a USB cable for downloading something???? For $130 and free shipping, this was a very good deal. Just wish that it was more accurate at least 99% of the time. I wanted to give it to my daughter but will hold off. Also wish it had more "points of interest" 1.6 million sounds like a lot, but doesn't mean much when you spread that amount over the whole USA map. Other GPS units come with 5.6 million. That might be important to consider if you do lots of vacationing in your car.
 
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This is my first GPS; I was helped by reading other reviews, to buy this one. It has a limited vocabulary for voice prompts, only speaking for small or numeric street names. It will sometimes tell me to get off of a highway (at a junction, for example), and act like I should have went straight through on my original route (I didn't follow the exit directions). We just went to Montana, and it was helpful, and provided some good guidance there. I would hesitate to totally trust its guidance after some of its stunts in the area that I am familiar with, so I am not ready to throw away my maps. The MP3 player is great with headphones, and probably also with an AUX input in a vehicle. I really like the "GPS information" screen, which is very interesting to a newbie like me. The data for streets and ciites is sometimes incomplete.
 
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After several weeks with this unit, I am very pleased. For a basic GPS, it does all that I need. While more points of interest would be beneficial, it does not take away much from the units overall capabilities. Display is very good. Voice prompts are effective. Quality of finish and durability seem very good. Mounts work well. For a basic GPS I can highly recommend this one.
 
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I did a lot of research looking for a GPS that would give me the biggest bang for my buck. This Nextar C3 GPS offered me this value I was after. PROS: Cost, ease of use, built in mp3 player (awesome), size of unit, built in speaker, automatic re-routing when wrong turn was made, automobile and home charger, SIRF III antenna (very fast and accurate) the list can on and on but you get my drift. CONS: USB port but no updates available, this unit does have an external antenna jack but no antenna is available for purchase (this would be nice to have so I could mount it under the dash instead of on the windshield). That's it for cons for me and these are not big issues. Because the unit seems to be very up to date so far with the roads and the windshield mount is very well built and strong and serves its purpose. All in all this is one awesome little unit for under $200 and I highly recommend this Nextar C3 GPS to anyone and everyone. The built in mp3 player, home charger and SIRF III was the clincher for me.
 
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This is my first GPS. I have been using it for the last 2 months apx and have used it on a long journey for a vacation to the White Mountains. Not once did the GPS system let me down. It never hanged up. Directions were clear and accurate. Route re-calculation is amazing...it just takes about 4 to 5 seconds to recalculate if you go off track. I would highly recommend this system to anyone looking for a good GPS. Only thing is I wish this thing had an FM transmitter and a bluetooth, but I guess I would have to pay a lot more for those features.
 
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I love my new GPS - I got it set up in no time and have used it several times already. It adjusts in a timely manner to my change in travel direction, is easy to follow, I love being able to turn off the volume control. I would highly recommend this unit - the price was right!!
 
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I was attracted to this GPS because of it's size mostly. I travel a lot and thought it would be better to use this than the rental car unit. It would pay for itself. It is easy to pack and I like the rechargeable battery. The package is very complete: carry case, windshild/dash mount, remote, AC and car charger, and etc. Great buy!
 
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I was hesitant about purchasing GPSs in the "value" range but when this one came along at the rebated price and Buy.com credit card incentive price combined for a total of $107, how could I refuse. As my first GPS, and after considerable research, I am very pleased with the purchase. The OS takes about 5 minutes to start up from Off, but after that there are no problems. The Touchscreen menu driven options are intuitive, the female voice loud and clear, and battery life is good. If there was a negative, it would be the power button on the front still allows it to use the battery; leaving the power switch on the back as the best option to conserve battery power over extended off periods. Unfortunately, when the switch is used, all the settings (audible level, date/time) must be reprogrammed; A mere annoyance when one weighs that inconvience against the royal "pain in the butt" of getting lost.
 
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Great toy for the less road savvy. Works great, pretty up to date. Plenty of POI, very handy utility. Get maybe 2 hours of battery life with the brightness jacked all the way up. Had a couple problems with the cig lighter charger (Blowing my fuse non stop) took it a part a few times and its working fine now. Only Beef, is it takes a couple minutes some times to sign up with the satalites when you first turn it on. Which some times is a bummer. But you can check the next couple steps assuming you turned it off in the same place you turned it back on.
 
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Positives: * Very high value (great bang for the buck) * Directions are announced in a loud, easily-understood voice * Display is bright and portrayal of directions and map are well-designed Negatives: * While the device has a USB connector for potential map and firmware updates, I'm concerned that they do not provide any software for this purpose, nor are there indications on their website that these will be forthcoming. This means that the maps on the device could become too stale to use within a year or two. * The user interface is not ideal. So far as I can tell, you have to start by entering the city and state of your destination. The device chugs away awhile (depending on the size of the city), extracting all the eligible street names before you can enter the address. There are no provisions for entering a zip code (nor for finding one), which would speed things up considerably by limiting the number of eligible streets.
 
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For starters, I don't know much about GPS units. I knew about all the big name players (i.e. Magellan, Tom Tom, etc.) and that they usually cost about $300 or more. And then I found this Nextar model on Buy.com, which, after a $30 rebate and 5% off coupon I had, ended up costing me $121.50. For that price... you basically can't go wrong. I've had the C3 for a month or so now... it seems to work fine, but again, I don't have any other experiences to compare it to. Once it wasn't able to find a particular address, when my friend's Tom Tom was, but supposedly Nextar will be releasing a MAP update (which I'm guessing will cost about $50). The C3 gives you all the basics that the other GPS units give you. If you want entry-level and value... I'd def start here.
 
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The Nextar C3 is a GREAT deal! Has features that even the expensive GPS units don't have! I love the MP3 feature! The one negative is that there is no way to download upgrades to the maps! Nextar offers no help on their web site for this! So... you just have to live with the limitations in its software!
 
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I was really surprised by that product. On top of everything, the sound is really good and clear considering the size of the speaker. The only complain would be about relatively long setup time and a minor kind of "asian-german accent" of the voice prompts. :)I.e. - "turn right" sounds like "turn rice". :) This is why I rated performance 4.
 
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I was wary at first about buying a 'no name' brand for a GPS. But I found $130 (after rebate) to be too hard to pass up! I always get lost, ask my buddies. Anyways, this comes w/ everything you need! Windshield suction arm thingie, car charger, regular charger, and even a case! it also has a USB cable, so that you can use it to upload new maps when they become available via their website. (I checked, no updates yet). What I like about this is that all the US maps are already loaded into the unit, so no fiddling with adding more maps. Also, the maps are current! There is a relatively new area with roads about 2 years old next to my house, and it knows it! I did notice that it takes quite a bit of power. I charged it overnight, but then it only lasted about 2 to 3 hours. Generally, I always have it plugged in w/ my car charger. Also, it takes about 10 - 20 seconds to acquire the GPS signal where I live. Is this normal? Lastly, it doesn't say the road name, but it does show it on the top line. So it says "in 500 feet, make a right turn" rather than "on Jones Ave, make a right turn". It may be difficult if you live in a very urban area that has many intersections or exits - you need to keep your eye on the top line for the road/street name.
 
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There were several deciding factors that lead me to this purchasing decision. First of all, I drive a Hummer and wanted basic GPS unit that would not look cheap and also match the interior of the vehicle. Though I am not as persnickety as a lot of people who own these vehicles, none of the other GPS units I viewed seemed to be of similar fit and finish as the interior of my Hummer. The brushed stainless and black of the Nextar C3 matches perfectly and does not look at all cheap. </p> Next—price line. No doubt about it, the price on this unit was very attractive. My fiancé still does not believe me when I told her that I paid $129 after rebate. Though she doesn’t have any experience with these things, I asked her how much she thought the unit costs. Her reply, “about four or five-hundred.” Another testament that this is not a cheap looking gizmo. </p> Ratings—I research almost everything I buy online and the ratings on this product were among the best. </p> Ok, in about 2-3 days, my Nextar C3 arrives from Buy.com. The unit was well packaged and came with lots of accessories, (some of which I am still trying to figure out a use for). The instruction manual was a little sparse but the unit was easy enough to figure out on its own. The suction cup mount also works well; providing a solid mount on either the windshield or the dash. The remote control? Hardly worth the bother and easier to work the controls without. The supplied USB cord is equally useless as there are no user updates or software available. </p> The unit fired up quickly and was reasonably quick to lock on to up to ten satellites. My handheld unit only locks on to four. Now for the real test; my fiancé lives in a remote area and I have yet to find a map that is capable of showing anyone how to get there. Google, Mapquest—forget it. I entered her address into the C3 and set off. Despite one point in which the C3 tried to make me turn right where no right turn is available, the unit led me right to her doorstep. I was very impressed. As for that non-existent right turn—the unit quickly recalculated the route and lead me right on. </p> Overall, I have been very happy with my decision to purchase the Nextar C3. I have always been a map person and though the C3 doesn’t totally replace the need for maps, It reduces it easily by 90%. Just plug in the address and away you go. Also, this unit is not a replacement for a brain; you still have to use some of that too. </p> One particular disappointment is that there is no way to enter GPS coordinates manually. I’m not sure if the any of the higher end units have this feature but I almost returned the unit because of it. </p> Pros: Easy to use Quick lock on. Knows where it is going. Looks nice. Great value. You get a lot for your money. Rock solid mounting. Clear speech. </p> Cons: No updates or additional maps are available. Unable to enter coordinates manually. 1.6 million points of interest isn’t enough. Who needs MP3 through a small speaker when you have a six-disk CD changer and XM radio? </p> Overall Recommendation: If you are looking for a solid basic unit at a good price, the Nextar C3 might be the finest choice you can make. Four stars…
 
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This is my first car navigation product. It has good options like the quickest, shortest... routes and it is easy to use. The best thing is that if you miss a turn, the unit will recompute new directions within half a minute. The instuctions are loud and clear. It also prompts 500 feet before any turn which makes it easy to drive.
 
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Nextar C3 GPS is simply superb. I bought this at buy.com after reading all the reviews. It was the right choice i made. I am pretty impressed with this product. I would recommend this product as it is pretty simple and works efficiently.
 
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I had been holding out on a GPS, but the low price convinced me to take the plunge. This unit is extremely easy to use and works well. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 overall was the lack of map updates. It comes with a USB cable and an SD slot so perhaps there will be updates some time in the future. I have used it in the Houston area without major problems. It does sometimes get confused on freeways which have been recently widened. The unit thinks I'm on the access road rather than the main lanes of the freeway. I believe that a map update would correct this problem.
 
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Ordered and it arrived in 4 days using the free shipping and google checkout. We bought this to try out for our parents and we love this unit. Very easy to use. I have let our first grader set destinations, its that easy. The streets are up to date in metro-detroit but I lose gps signal easy under large bridges. I will be testing with an external magnet attachment to see if that helps. For geocaching, we pan the map to the general location and then press on the screen and save favorite. It would have been nice to program coords. Haven't used the mp3 player so no comments on that feature. I hope buy.com gets this item back in stock soon.
 
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Pleasantly surprised... everything seems to work fine. <br> Initial loading went thru with no problems<br> Dint acquire GPS signal inside my apt (1st floor of 3 floors). went to the balcony... signal was acquired within seconds(pretty fast) came inside... signal was locked<br> Tried routing from home to work (45 miles), directions were weird from home to NJ tpk, after that it was ok. Tried different routing options but still it dint display the starighforward route i prefer.<br> Mp3 player is cool. created a playlist from sd card. while it was playing songs, i was able to go to navigation & settings screen. to do this after clicking the play btn in the mp3 player screen, click on the bottom right corner btn to go to navigatoin. however, when i chose demo route, the voice prompts dint suppress the song volume, instead it just overlapped. may be this is happening in demo mode, I'll try tomorrow in real mode. if you press the menu btn on the unit mp3 playing stops. Once stopped, it restarts from song 1 in the playlist <br> Day/night mode automatically determined by the time. Screen is nice, have to chk in sunlight. Date & time is holding properly, but timezone isn't. In navigation menu, goto localization, choose ur timezone, DST and other option even though it seems selected<br> <strong>Make sure you charge to the full before you switch it on for the first time. Otherwise you may have freezing issues.</strong><br> Hope the unit last for long .
 
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I bought this GPS because of the price and the positive comments. Turned out to be a good decision that I have made. First of, the unit came in the well packed/quality package, the unit is small and light enough to put in your packet, the mounting hardware also work well, even come with a remote control.. a bonus. Now, the GPS work right out of the box, turn-on follow the prompts on the screen and it operate as advertised, very user friendly, I was able to go thru the menu and figure how to use it in minutes. It navigates very acurate, and the re-route feature is fast and work wells. It even get Saterlite signals from inside the house. The demo mode let you see the routes before your trip, so you can see which hwy you will be taking on your trip. The only complaint I have with this feature is that you can not change the speed of the demo, so if you have along trip planned, the demo could take awhile to finish. The voice prompt featues also work nicely, the volume can be controlled by a manual dial on the side of the unit, so you don't have to go thru the on-screen menu while driving, a good user interface feature. This GPS do not have the text-speech feature, but the voice prompt does speak numeric highway name (like highway 30 east, 820 north, etc.) Touch screen design work perfectly as well and fast! The speed warning is acurate to 1 mile, and works really well, this feature could save you speeding-ticket money! It came with preloaded Navteq US map and 1.6 mil POIs, but like any other GPS, the map and POI is alittle outdated (within 6 months, I think), but for most of the typical places, like chain restaurants and holtels, the information are in the database (avail w/addresses and telephone numbers) Overall, you can not go wrong by buying this affordable GPS, it has most of the GPS features that a GPS suppose to have and performs excellent at a very reasonable price and as a bonus it also play mp3 music (not while using GPS function)
 
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Given that it is out of stock on buy.com right now, i feel very lucky to have purchased this item at $119 after rebate. I used it for one day so far and it runs perfect. Given this price, i think it is the best deal one can ever get. It is very easy to use, just remember after you turn it on, wait 20 minutes for the GPS to load. I'm not gonna spend time to praise this product, because it is really good. The only one tiny complain I have about this product is that it 3D view is not as neat and pretty as Mio or TomTom... but then again, it doesn't affect how much i love this product.
 
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Pros: <br> -Very accurate. <br> -Quick to find satellites. <br> -Voice is clear and easy to understand. <br> -Tells you ahead of time when you need to turn "in 1000 feet turn right" as well as when you need to actually make that turn "turn right" <br> -Display is easy to read. It shows the name of the street you are on on the bottom and the name of the street that you will make your next turn on at the top. Also shows estimated time of arrival and distance to your destination. <br> -The "stopover" feature is easy to use.<br> -Touchscreen and stylus are great easy to pan and zoom. Also works with your finger. <br> -The POI lists are good, especially good to have the ATM one and the Hospital one. <br><br> Cons:<br> -Doesn't zoom out very far. The farthest out was 10 miles, so you can not get an overview of your total trip if you are travelling long distances.<br> -Turn by turn directions do not give the name of the street, but only turn right or left. <br> -Sometimes tells you to bear right or left, when really you are just following the same road, but maybe passing another intersection.<br> -You cannot save any "waypoints" by coordinates and you cannot set any destinations that are not on a road. For example, I tried to set a destination in the middle of a park, but it then attached it to the nearest road. This makes it good for auto navigation only, and not hiking or geocaching. Too bad, cause it is a very compact unit, and if it had just that feature, it'd be great! I looked at Magellan crossover units that will do this, but they are much more money. So for the price, this unit is a very good value, and I can afford to get a cheap handheld unit for those uses.
 
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Oh wait - you can't get in on buy.com anymore since they seem to be out of stock. Not surprising given how this unit was put together and for the price, it was an absolute steal. I won't start singing it's praises just as yet since i got it only today but i do have to admit that i have a very good feeling about it right from the minute i took it out of the box. Like most everyone else, i was waiting for something in the sub $200 range before i could get myself to get a GPS. At $139 after rebates, i didn't need any more convincing. I'd like to think of myself as being technology savvy and try not to refer to the owners manual prior to operating any gizmo, with disastrous results in the past i might add. The Nextar though, can lay stake to the claim of 'GPS for dummies' - you just turn it on and everything else is a breeze from there....very intuitive and easy to operate. Not sure what one reviewer was talking about 'wishing the on/off swith was on the front'. It is in fact on the front, just the hard reset button is in the back where it should be. Acquired the satellite within a couple of minutes. I then entered a destination and tried the 'demo route' feature - took me along the same exact route i commute everyday, avoiding a shorter route but with a lot more street lights and more traffic. Even if you can't find it on buy.com, it might be worhtwhile to spend a few extra bucks and get it from other retailers. That's it for day 1 - will try and provide more updates after i have had a chance to play with it some more.
 
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We have been wanting a GPS for some time now but were waiting on the prices to drop. I got this one on sale but not as cheap as it is right now! Fabulous price offer for this item. It is super easy to use, never even had to use the instructions books. Turned it on and it found me sitting in my living room saying I was off road. It has found every address I have thrown at it including a family member who lives on a dirt road out on a lake in the bayous of Louisiana! Just amazing. So many features on this thing, way too many to try to mention. Love the Points of interest and wonderful that they include all hospitals! Should you be in a strange town and need a hospital just hit a button and there they are. This is great for me becasuse I have health issues. We wanted to try a new bbq place around us but did not know of one I just used the points of interest and let it guide me to one near me. The mounting bracket works great in both of our vehicles, it did take a little work to get it set just the way we wanted it but once set it stays put. I highly recommend this GPS unit and for this price it is a steal. A true no brainer! Just do it!
 
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