Jensen NVXM1000 (Rock N Road) Review

It is truly a pleasant surprise to see Jensen make it in the GPS navigation competition, but are their products worth the buzz? Debuting this quarter, the NVXM1000, AKA “Rock-N-Road” is a portable GPS navigation device with lots of rare features.
You’ll notice its screen is the standard portable GPS size, measuring at 4”. It is an LCD touchscreen display and it is capable of displaying both maps and digital media information. The colors and contrast depth is pretty average, and not enough to impress. There’s just something about the color. It’s not bad, but it has rather that dull look. From our experience, un-contrasting colors and less sharp images on portable navigation devices tend to be hard to see in direct sunlight. This may be quite problematic for those who travel often during rush hour when the sun is right in the line of sight of the navigation device.

However, with that put aside, the NVXM1000 does present itself well with several interesting and useful features. You’ll notice that on its left side it has two slots: one for an SD Card undoubtedly, but one for another similarly-shaped port that’s slightly bigger. This larger port is for an XM Radio mini tuner, which acts much like an SD Card. The mini-tuner is sold separately, but to have this feature means that you instantly have the option to having an XM radio in your vehicle, or wherever you go, thanks to this XM Satellite radio ingenuity. This means that users will have 170 XM channels as well as XM NavTraffic—a feature that allow drivers to check local real-time traffic reports.

The navigation unit is a NavTeq based system with over 11 million points of interest. It has maps of the United States as well as Canada. However, we are a little bit concerned of its processor. The Rock-N-Hard navigation unit only features a 300MHz Atlas II processor. In our experience anything slower than 400MHz tends to perform sluggishly and would frustrate drivers in busy locations such as metropolitan areas. In addition, for a unit that boasts 11 million POIs in 8GB of internal hard drive space, it only features a 64MB RAM. So now you have a slow processor, with a ton of things to do and display.

Another bad aspect of the NVXM1000 is its awkward shape. It’s not a great symmetrical design, and makes mounting a harder task, especially for those of us who wish to have a more integrated look in our vehicles.
The NVXM1000 Rock-N-Road has great concept ideas, but needs to implement these ideas with better components and features. It’s also a bit expensive for its bulkiness. Its design appear to have come from the 1990s and doesn’t present itself to be impressive.

Sony Nav-U NV-U73T Review

Coming up in early April of 2008, Sony will release and ship out the Sony Nav-U NV-U73T. This will be a cutting edge navigation system that will help drivers everywhere navigate with ease.

Navigation Features
One of the most alluring navigation features of the Sony Nav-U NV-U73T is the gesture commands. Just by simply drawing or gesturing a programmable shape on the widescreen 4.3” touchscreen, the unit will automatically navigate to a specified location. The ease is undeniable. Just by simply drawing a “O” on the screen the Sony Nav-U NV-U73T loads up the directions to go home.

Vocal commands will also direct the driver as he or she drives. This provides comfort and ease, especially when driving in heavy traffic and it is difficult to safely look at a navigation screen for a specific exit. This is just one of the many features that can provide safety for the driver.

The Sony Nav-U NV-U73T has a 2GB internal flash memory that is preloaded with maps and directions of the entire United States of America, Canada, and Puerto Rico. This feature saves the user from spending extra money to buy the maps for these countries outside of the United States. For those whom travel to Canada often will really come to appreciate this helpful feature. In addition to the 2GB internal flash memory, the Sony Nav-U NV-U73T is expandable with a Memory stick slot.

Another feature that is very helpful is the TMC Traffic Information. This feature displays live traffic information, traffic conditions, length of the conditions, and the average speed of traffic on the screen. A driver can then reroute his course according to the traffic and his destination. For any driver that has commuted on the freeway knows how helpful this information can be. Any driver that has commuted in the heavy freeway traffic in Southern California can almost consider this feature a must when in the market for a GPS unit. It would be so convenient to know when there is a wreck on the freeway, exactly how far traffic is backed up, the speed of the traffic traveling through the collision site, and the fastest, most efficient way to avoid the slowdown. Why wait in traffic when the slowdown can be avoided altogether.

Similar to rerouting through a heavy traffic area, the Sony Nav-U NV-U73T can help redirect us if we make a wrong turn. Sometimes drivers get confused when driving in a new area or a new part of town. Sometimes a wrong turn is made and they are brought off course. The Sony Nav-U NV-U73T will detect this and automatically redirect with the next best route or the most efficient way to get back on the original route. As this feature is becoming a standard on most GPS navigation units, Sony does not forget to leave it out.

Size and Design
Many drivers that have used these GPS navigation units will agree that they do not want a large bulky unit or a really ugly one that will stare at them every time they get in the car. The Sony Nav-U NV-U73T provides drivers with both an agreeable size and a pleasant look. The size is comparable to many of the navigation units that have come out recently. It is 5-1/4"W x 3-1/8"H x 13/16"D, which renders it an perfect size. Not too big that it is in the way, but large enough that it comfortably fits the widescreen 4.3” touch display. The two-tone black and silver trim will compliment the interior of most vehicles nicely and bring a stylish look to the dash.

When it comes down to a GPS unit that has what driver are looking for, the Sony Nav-U NV-U73T really comes through. It might not have all features of some other top of the line GPS navigation units, but it definitely has enough to fulfill the need of the average driver and especially the commuter.