NaviGadget

Pharos Drive GPS 140 review

Nov 18, 2006 gps navigation

Last month we ahd an article about the new Drive GPS 140 from Pharos. Just recently it got reviewed by the cruel CNet team and scored 6.7 out of 10. According to us the Drive GPS 140 deserves to lose couple of points just because they’ve used some cheap plastics but the reviewers are mostly complaining about the confusing interface, sluggish performance with certain tasks and the lack of text-to-speech functionality (most systems don’t have this). But they had a lot of good things to say about Drive GPS 140 too.

We tested the Pharos Drive GPS 140 in San Francisco, and it took only a couple of minutes for the unit to get a GPS fix from a cold start. Subsequent starts were faster, and the device was even able to pick up a signal indoors, which was impressive. Even better, the GPS 140 accurately pinpointed our location as we drove around the city. Unfortunately, things hit a snag when we started planning a specific trip, as the system had a hard time keeping up with our demands. There was a noticeable lag as we entered addresses, and it took a while for the device to compile the POI list. That said, the GPS 140 did offer accurate driving directions and quick route recalculation.

We had no problems pairing the unit with the Cingular 8525 and were able to make hands-free calls, with relatively good call quality. Music playback through the unit’s speakers sounded a bit blown out, and video quality wasn’t the greatest. The picture was really pixelated, though if you’re in a pinch, it will serve its purpose. Also, this isn’t a unique problem to the Pharos device. We have yet to see a portable nav system that does multimedia well. The Pharos Drive GPS 140’s battery is rated for 4.5 hours.

If hands free bluetooth feature is a must in your GPS navigation Pharos GPS 140 maybe one of the cheaper options. Even though it is listed at $550, Amazon sells it for $480.