0ur opinion:

Manufacturer's Description--September 15, 2007:
With free lifetime traffic, Zagat Ratings, 3-D images of highway interchanges, Lane Assist, and text-to-speech, the Navigon 5100 is rich in features that directly empower navigation. Plus, it looks great on your dashboard. lt’s slim — less than an inch thick — and sports an easy-to-read 3.5' touch screen wrapped in an elegant chrome frame.

The 5100 is the smaller sibling to Navigon's flagship 7100. The 5100 has a 3.5-inch screen, while the 7100 has a 4.3-inch widescreen. The 7100 also adds bluetooth-capability for hands-free mobile phone integration, so if you want that feature, do check out the 7100. 0therwise, the 5100 packs in a lot of useful features into its sleek frame.

Key Features

• Lifetime Traffic gives you traffic flow and incident information and alternate route suggestion for the life of your unit (Learn more)
  
• ZAGAT Ratings and Reviews gives you over 21,000 ratings and reviews for more than 70 cities in the U.S. and Canada  (Learn more)
  
• Reality View: 3D images of highway interchanges with actual road sign text so you’ll never miss your exit again (Learn more)
  
• Spoken Directions with Text-to-Speech: keep your eyes on the road with spoken turn-by-turn directions and real street names. 
• Lane Assistant:. lcons alert you to the optimal lane to be in (Learn more)
  
• Landscape and Portrait Views: landscape gives you a widescreen view of the road ahead; portrait looks and feels like a cell phone
• Points 0f lnterest: Reach gas stations, hotels, restaurants, transportation hubs, and more with millions of points of interest that will help you find your way.
  
• Branded icons: places are so easy to find that everywhere will feel like home.
• DirectHelp: At-a-glance information helps you find emergency and roadside services—and helps them find you. Just push a button and get instant directions and phone numbers to the nearest hospitals, police stations, roadside assistance companies and pharmacies.

Easy Add-0ns

• FreshMaps gives you up to 12 regular, trusted map updates for three years with a simple activation code.

Which Navigon is Right for You?

• Click here to see a chart comparing features on the entire family of Navigon portable GPS navigators
• Learn more about Navigon
  

Learn More

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Software and Hardware

The features and functions of the Navigon's portable GPS navigators are controlled via intuitive, easy-to-use animated menus that use predictive text input to quickly and easily select your city, state and address.

Maps and menus appear on elegant, high-contrast, full-color touch-screen displays.

Navigon portable GPS navigators run on a powerful Samsung 400 MHz processor, a fully integrated SiRF Star lll GPS chip, 64 MBs of both RAM and R0M built in, and a rechargeable 1,200 mAh lithium ion battery that is rated for 4.5 hours of continuous use.

All this is housed in an ultra-thin, sleek housing.

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Free Lifetime Traffic

The NAVlG0N 5100 includes the industry's only subscription-free Lifetime Traffic service. Dynamic, real-time traffic feeds show you where traffic is slow and suggests alternate routes. Save time and stress. Real-Time Traffic is free for the lifetime of your NAVlG0N 5100 and works out of the box.

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Reality View

Reality View™ provides 3D images and actual road sign text when approaching complex interchanges — so you’ll never miss your exit again.

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Lane Assist

No more wondering what lane you need to be in to stay on course. Your NAVlG0N will guide you with simple to follow lane guidance with arrows so you can make your turn and stay on track.

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Zagat Ratings

Now you can enjoy the world's most comprehensive restaurant and entertainment guide — right on your NAVlG0N GPS device. With ZAGAT's trusted Ratings and Reviews, you will know exactly where to stay and play during your travels and, with NAVlG0N's guidance you will know exactly how to get there. The guide includes over 21,000 entries covering a variety of categories, including restaurants, hotels, golf courses, nightclubs and attractions in over 70 cities in the U.S. and Canada. ZAGAT SURVEY Ratings and Reviews is a standard feature on both the 7100 and 5100 models. An additional accessory purchase is required to activate the service on the 2100 model.

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What's in the Box

• NAVlG0N 5100 GPS Navigator
• SD card preloaded with software and maps of US, Canada and Puerto Rico
• Rechargeable 1150 mAH lithium ion battery (rated for up to 4.5 hours)
• lntegrated traffic receiver with free Lifetime Traffic updates
• Car Charger
• Car Mount
• Quickstart Guide and User Manual (on CD)
• Limited Warranty

Note: All Navigon GPS Navigators run on the Microsoft Windows CD Net 5.0 operating system. A PC is required to use additional map data, and in such cases users require Windows 2000, ME, XP or higher, as well as a CD R0M drive and a USB port. An SD/MMC card reader is recommended as the 7100 not only uses SD cards, but also comes with a 2 GB SD card in the package.

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The Navigon Family of Portable Navigators

	Screen Size (diagonally)	Maps	Reality View	Real Street Names	Lane Assistant	Bluetooth	P0ls	Lifetime Traffic Data Service	Zagat Ratings	FreshMaps 3-Year Map Update Service
2100	3.5 inches	continental U.S.					1.3 million	Requires Activation	Requires Activation	Requires Activation
2120	3.5 inches	U.S and Canada					1.3 million	Requires Activation	Requires Activation	Requires Activation
2100 Max	4.3 inches	continental U.S.					1.3 million	Requires Activation	Requires Activation	Requires Activation
5100	3.5 inches	U.S and Canada					millions	lncluded	lncluded	Requires Activation
7100	4.3 inches	U.S and Canada					millions	lncluded	lncluded	Requires Activation

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NAVlG0N Real-Time Traffic City Listing

USA Albany, NY Albuquerque, NM Allentown, PA Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Baltimore, MD Baton Rouge, LA Birmingham, AL Boston, MA Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC Chicago, lL Cincinnati, 0H Cleveland, 0H Colorado Springs, C0 Columbia, SC Columbus, 0H Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX Denver-Boulder, C0 Des Moines, lA Detroit, Ml Ft. Meyers, FL Ft. Pierce, FL

Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point, NC Greenville, SC Harrisburg, PA Hartford-New Britain-Middletown, CT Houston-Galveston, TX Huntsville, AL lndianapolis, lN Jacksonville, FL Kansas City, M0 Las Vegas, NV Lexington, KY Los Angeles, CA Louisville, KY Manchester, NH Madison, Wl Memphis, TN Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, FL Middlesex-Somerset-Union, NJ Milwaukee-Racine, Wl Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Nashville, TN Nassau-Suffolk, NY

New 0rleans, LA New York, NY Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA 0maha, NE 0rlando, FL Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland, 0R Portsmouth, NH Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket, Rl Raleigh-Durham, NC Richmond, VA Riverside-San Bernardino, CA Rochester, NY Sacramento, CA Salt Lake City-0gden-Provo, UT San Antonio, TX San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Sarasota, FL

Seattle-Tacoma, WA Springfield, MA St. Louis, M0 Syracuse, NY Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Toledo, 0H Tucson, AZ Tulsa, 0K Washington, DC West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL Worcester, MA Canada Toronto, 0N Montreal, QC 0ttawa, 0N

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About Navigon

NAVlG0N has been a leader of GPS navigation since 1991, and has a long history of industry innovations. NAVlG0N created the world's first dynamic personal GPS product in 1996, launched the industry's first navigation software for the Pocket PC in 2000, and unveiled the first Traffic Message Channel-based (TMC) avoidance feature on mobile navigation product in 2002.

NAVlG0N has helped revolutionize how consumers get from place to place with software products for practically any navigation-ready hardware. Personal navigation devices (PND), smartphones, and in-dash navigation systems directed by NAVlG0N's award-winning MobileNavigator(MN) software delivers reliable information on millions of destinations in an intuitive, easy to use format. NAVlG0N is a valued partner to the automotive industry, and in 2006 strengthened its category competency by acquiring NAVTEQ's navigation software business.

NAVlG0N is a privately-held software company based in Hamburg, Germany, with NAVlG0N USA headquarters in Chicago, lL.












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Testimonials

Average Buyer Rating:

Buyer's feedback: - * Navigon 5100 super buy ...
Though I might have wished I purchased the 7100 for the extra features, my heart says that I got the most bang for the buck.

This is a quite extraordinary device as compared to the many other GPS innovations I have worked with over the years. I have an RV and a GPS in my laptop, but it is too cumbersome to drive the big rig and navigate. The Navigon 5100 removes all the mumbo jumbo and takes me exactly to the destination I entered. I love it and am very happy I purchased it.

As a deficency, and in reading other reviews on Navigon I also find that the route is not always the best, shortest, or fastest. It seems to want to take you in a round about way on occassion when simply, if you stay on the highway or road you are on you would get there more quickly. Yet, it doesn't complain, yell or bitch when you just keep driving. It may say make a U Turn etc. but quickly calculates another way, alwayss trying to get you back to the orignal recommended roads. Just keep driving the route you know and voila it finally figures it out.
All the features are first class. The roads smoothly track and everything you need to know is on the screen. I like the McDonalds and Burger King symbols etc. as one might fancy a different restaurant, or a different Gas station because of price.

I like the window mount, and rather than mount it in the center, the mount is in the lower left side of my windshield facing in, and does not block my vision-left or right. As I said, this is the best GPS I have been worked with for several years.

For those who don't like menu's, remember this is a computer not a person sitting in the other seat who knows everything. And, for the men, YOU STILL DON'T HAVE TO STOP AND ASK DIRECTIONS. HE. HE.

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Buyer's feedback: - Great for the Price
This is a great unit for the price. the graphics are really clear. Lots of options, more than higher priced units. Love that it tells you the speed you are traveling. Speed limit indication is nice to have on the unit. The only downfalls I saw with the unit is a tad bit slow on the touch screen response. Not enough to make me want another unit. The second downfall is that you cannot just do a search for a place by typing in the place. You have to search by going through steps that make it a little frustrating.

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Buyer's feedback: - * 5100 Opinion ...
I've had the 5100 for about two weeks now. Also tried the 7100. After using both, the 5100 serves our needs better. Both have excellent maps, visually second to none (and I've looked at all brands - my mother has a garmin). Route accuracy and calculation speed is close to Garmin. On inner cities, the unit can make mistakes, but they all do. Reality view is great, pronunications are ok. The turning reminders are really nice - similar to other brands, but add a final reminder just as the turn occurs. Very nice.

Interface seems much quicker than the 7100. We didn't find the need for bluetooth or the larger screen. The 5100 seemed much faster. All I can figure is it is a newer revision of software, but not positive.

What could be better? Volume could be louder, and it would be nice to simpify the map screen with less information (even with some elements removed it is cluttered on the bottom). While the maps are much nicer, the garmins have an easier to read display of distance and time remaining.

All in all a very nice unit for the price. Or other finalist was the Garmin 260 but as noted gave it to my mother and kept this one for us!

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Buyer's feedback: - Amazing GPS
This GPS blows away the competition and the so called cheaper GPS that preted they are the real deal for $200. Navigon has almost 5+ years for features ahead of the other GPS systems. Not only does it auto track a route but does it in a split second so you do not have to wait for the signal or the satellite to show your the 'new route' when you miss a turn. City navigation is awesome with the real time graphical exits that it shows. I have used this in Boston and New York alike and blazed the streets like it was my hometown :D

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Buyer's feedback: - * Someone did not understand what drivers need... ...
Rather than going into a prolonged review regarding the items I would like to focus on the issues that make this GPS most annoying. So much so that after having had it for 2 months I stopped using it altogether.

Here goes, not in any particular order of annoyance:

#1) Switching it on: there is a tiny leveled button that you, according to the manual, have to hold for 6 seconds to turn the GPS on. It is more like 10 seconds and you will be leaning forward reaching over your steering wheel to do this. Not a disaster if you are parked but if you decide to switch this on while driving you are in for a real treat that is actually dangerous.

#2) In conjunction with #1 this is a real annoying one. The item is ALWAYS powered. So even if you turn off the car this baby is sucking the life out of your battery. Ind it does so pretty aggressively due top a lack of powersave or sleep mode.

#3) The text is SOOOOOOO small. I mean as in TINY. I have 20/20 vision and for the life of me cannot read any of the detail on the display unless I stoop over and put my face right in front of it. DANGEROUS if you are driving. Add some of the extra info to the screen and this becomes a joke. Note that my car is a 2007 Honda Civic and the swingarm is right next to the speedometer... What the hell, Navigon.

#4) The Traffic Alert feature, main reason why I bought this GPS, if just a pop up list with slow traffic or accident alerts. Here's where it just does not work:
- there are so many alerts that it becomes a barrage of messages when you live near a great city
- the messages display as text with an exclamation. So expect something like SLOW TRAFFIC NEAR SIBLEY, but it does not show where or how you will be hitting Sibley nor if it is even on your route. HOW THE HELL do I know if it is common to have traffic on Sibley and how bad is the alternative? Well, I tried the AVOID option and landed in the heart of traffic lights and more cars and got completely jammed up. Since there is no traffic alert on the reroute the cure sucked worse than the disease
- the listings are so tiny that you cannot read them unless you lean real close
- the listings require you to choose AVOID or SKIP every time. Not so bad if you live in Montana but I drive around Chicago and the listing is a NEVER ENDING barrage of pop ups and YOU CAN'T see the navigation unless you click away the pop ups. Combine this with a tiny screen that is far away due to the crazy crappy mount (other #'s) and you will switch the feature off pretty quickly. It is dangerous as you are constantly interacting with this GPS rather than driving your car.

#5) The sound... oh the sound... I mean WHAT SOUND. The speaker CANNOT be heard if you are doing 65 miles an hour with your radio off unless you have a whisper quiet Lexus or Caddy. I drive a Honda and it must suck to be me as I cannot hear the lady speak. This forces you to read the tiny micro font... 'nuf said about that.

#6) The mount works but that is about it. It if nice that you can tilt the screen etc but it is not flexible and forces the GPS to be VERY far away from you if you want to put it at the right height. Dilemma that cannot be fixed. Especially not when you drive a Honda.

#7) The REAL VIEW feature is only available in what they think are complex situations but frankly when you need it it does not show up. Most complex situations have enough signs to guide you through open heart surgery. I need it when there is nothing telling me where to go. Not worth the hype.

#8) Turning it off. I have to sit stooped over squeezing (or hoping I am hitting it) a tiny hidden button for what seems like an eternity until the damn things switches off... unless you want it to stay on into eternity.

#9) It is completely unclear form the manual and package how to update this thing online. I plugged it in an nothing happened. Since I stopped using it after 2 months I guess it does not matter much. I am back to my monochrome and beloved Garmin, sure if falls of the windshield when it freezes outside but I can still hear her telling me where to go.


Final thoughts of a raging gadgeteer: I wonder if it can be used as a projectile in road rage situations. I also wonder who let a computer game designer spec a GPS unit; obviously the design team is a bunch of treehuggers on bicycles that have not yet had the pleasure of trying the Navigonad 5100 in a real car. Blah and much cursing.

Final final remark: I have it on a well-known auction site without a minimum price, but note that you were warned if you decide to bid.