NaviGadget

Cobra NavOne 4500 Real Time Traffic and Traffic Cameras Reviewed

Jun 27, 2006 cobra, gps navigation, reviews Leave a comment

Today we are looking at one of the high-end all-in-one GPS units. The Cobra 4000 and 4500 are the same units, but the 4500, which is being reviewed here, has real time traffic. Common street prices are $599/$799 (4000/45000).

The 4500 is a large unit that has a full 5 inch touchscreen. To give you some idea of its size here is a shot of the unit next to my Cingular 8125 phone. The unit uses a SiRF chipset, but not SiRFIII. I found reception good, but it did loose lock several times in New York City and I would recommend an external or reradiating antenna if you are in a difficult reception situation. It comes with TeleAtlas maps of the United States and Canada and 7.6 million Points of Interest. It is a 12 volt unit and, unfortunately, does not have a battery. An AC power adapter is available as an optional accessory. It should be included, in my opinion, especially at this price. Also available as accessories are a carrying case and an external antenna. The unit comes with a suction cup mount which is strong and has withstood winter cold and spring heat. The traffic receiver is an extra piece and is velcroed onto the mount. Not a very neat installation, unfortunately. Cobra could have done better here. The traffic receiver also comes with an external antenna which is really two wires and suction cups that attach to the front windshield. You can see the receiver and extra antenna in the shot above. In my area of New Jersey the extra antenna is necessary, but it might not be for you. The unit does not do pictures or play mp3s.
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GPS devices add extras, but meaning may be lost

May 22, 2006 gps navigation Leave a comment

Cobra NavOne 4500 vs Tom Tom Go 910

Here’s a Father’s Day idea for the dad in your house who doesn’t like to admit he gets lost. And to make the blow to his pride easier, point out that he can put MP3 files and pictures of the kids on the device.

I’ve been testing two global positioning system car navigation kits, and both are good choices for getting from point A to point B. But one unit does a lot more and has a nicer, more compact design. The Tom Tom Go 910 comes with so many extras that it is practically a portable media center.

Chicago’s Cobra Electronics offers the bulkier NavOne 4500, and it works well with less style.

There are many choices in this category besides the two units I tested, including models from Garmin, Magellan and even mobile phones.

Why would you want one? Maybe you make a lot of sales calls. Perhaps you’re new to a city or like to take road trips. Both the Tom Tom and Cobra units are portable, so you can take them with you if you fly somewhere and rent a car.

Sales of navigation devices are increasing, but there is one issue that could keep these very useful products from reaching a broader audience: price. Both models I tested sell for roughly $800, depending on the retailer.

Why so much? Well, these are pretty complex machines.

“They need to have maps built in and need a graphical user interface with a touch screen,” said Jocelyn Vigreux, Tom Tom’s president. They also need a power source, a speaker and a GPS receiver to access satellites.

Both models work right of the box. You simply attach the device to a windshield mount and then plug into what used to be called the cigarette lighter. After a brief on-screen tutorial, you’re ready to go.

Using the Tom Tom, I selected a woman’s voice with a British accent to guide me.
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Cobra NavOne 2750 Portable Mobile Navigation System

May 1, 2006 cobra, gps navigation 9 Comments

Speaking of Cobra NavOne series, another product that is recent from Cobra is the NavOne 2750. Doing a side-by-side comparison you see that it costs $100 more than the NavOne 2500 because the screen is 5.2″ compared to the 3.5″ on the 2500. The smaller of the two is the 2500 and even features memory expansion slot and 3D maps.

* Portable Vehicle Navigation System: Take from vehicle to vehicle; just plug in and go
* Automatic Route Navigation: With turn by turn directions and clear voice guidance to an address or Points-of-Interest.
* Over 2 million Points-of-Interest: Includes banks, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and many more. P.O.I. search using business phone numbers.
* Automatic Re-routing: If gone off course or detouring.
* iA.S.A.P.™ (Intelligent Accelerated Satellite Acquisition Protocol) Technology: Technology for faster acquisition and uninterrupted satellite signal reception in urban canyons and dense foliage, using state-of-the-art GPS Engine.
* North American Street Level Detail Map: Complete mapping for the United States and Canada on board the automotive grade Hard Disk Drive – all unlocked and ready to use.
* Easy Map Access: No need to load CDs or download map from PCs.
* 5.2 Inch High Resolution, Ultra Bright Colour Display: For easy view, night and day
* Automatic Brightness Control: Using Photo Sensor, adjusts the display for easy viewing – day or night.
* Backlit, Intuitive Functional Soft Keys: For easy access to specific functions in any given mode.
* Trip Data: Includes odometers, trip timers, speedometers and more.
* Trip Planner: Allows you to pre-program up to 10 destinations in each plan. (5 total plans)
* Trail Mode: Allows you to go off-roading and mark your favorite waypoints for future return.
* SmartPower™: Shuts off power to the unit when the ignition is turned off.
* Compass: Shows 8 cardinal points.
* Navigation Text/Voice Language in Unit: English, Spanish, and French
* Acquisition Time: Approximately 8 sec. (hot), Approximately 38 sec. (warm), Approximately 45 sec. (cold)
* Update Rate: 1/sec
* Velocity Accuracy: 0.1 meter/sec
* Dynamics: Performs to specifications to 4 g’s
* Antenna: Built-in patch antenna
* Temperature Range: Operating: 32f to 146f (0c to 80c)
* Storing: -40f to 176f (-40c to 80c)
* Warranty: 1 year limited warranty

Cobra NavOne 2500 coming out August 2006

May 1, 2006 cobra, gps navigation 5 Comments

Cobra is coming out with a new navigation system device; namely the NavOne 2500. Compared to the NavOne 4500 this one is a little smaller in size but can compete with the 4500 functionality wise. This site plans to sell the NavOne 2500 starting this August for $700. Here are some of the specs:

* Portable Vehicle Navigation System: Take from vehicle to vehicle; just plug in and go
* Automatic Route Navigation: With turn-by-turn directions and clear voice guidance to addresses or Points-of-Interest
* SD Expansion Slot: for optional Premium Travel content data cards and wireless connectivity for Cobra accessories
* 3.5” Touchscreen High Resolution, Ultra-Bright Color Display: Large and bright, for easy view, night and day
* Millions of Points-of-Interest (P.O.I.): Includes banks, hotels, restaurants, gas stations attractions and many more
* Automatic Re-routing: Includes detour and “via” capabilities
* iA.S.A.P.™ (Intelligent Accelerated Satellite Acquisition Protocol): Technology for faster acquisition and uninterrupted satellite signal reception in urban canyons and dense foliage, using state-of-the-art GPS Engine
* North America Street Level Detail Map: 48 contiguous United States plus Hawaii and Canada all unlocked and ready to use
* Easy Map Access: No need to load CDs or download map from PCs
* Trip Data: Includes odometer, trip timers, speedometers and more
* Trail Capture: Allows you to go off-roading and record your trail
* SmartPower™: Shuts off power to the unit when the ignition is turned off
* Navigation Text/Voice Languages in Unit: English, Spanish and French
* Warranty: One (1) Year Limited Warranty

NavOne 4500 from Cobra gets a bad review from PC Mag

Mar 24, 2006 cobra, gps navigation, reviews 1 Comment

Talk about seeing the big picture. Cobra Electronics’ NavOne 4500 portable GPS navigation system ($929.95 direct) sports a 5-inch, 320–by-240 pixel touch screen that makes it a lot easier to see your desired route at a glance. The device includes a matchbook-size FM-based traffic receiver that (with a subscription to Clear Channel’s traffic data) lets you get live traffic reports for your area, potentially helping you to detour around delays. Unfortunately the NavOne 4500’s routing performance and its lack of routing options are disappointing.

The 4500 (also known as the GPSM 4500) has five dedicated buttons along the right-hand side of the screen. The top button is the power switch, which doubles as a brightness control. The center button will cause the 4500 to repeat the last instruction, and the bottom button takes you to the main menu. The two buttons surrounding the Speak button are for volume up and volume down. The hard drive on the 4500 comes with street-level maps preloaded for all 48 contiguous U.S. states plus Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada.

The 4500 comes with a suction-cup windshield mount and a traffic receiver that attaches to the mount with Velcro. Setup is quite simple: You just mount the bracket to the windshield, plug in the power adapter, attach the 4500 to the bracket, and power up. You may then select English, French, or Spanish for your voice-prompted directions. It gives those directions in a natural-sounding recorded voice, but only for numbered streets and highways. Unlike the Garmin 2720 and 2730, the 4500 does not support text-to-speech conversion (this allows a GPS to pronounce the full name of streets as part of its voice-prompted directions). read the full review