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: - * Muy bueno ...
Muy buen producto, con menus de facil acceso, buena vista, todo esta muy bien para mi.

solo un pequeno comentario el sonido deberia de ser un poco mas alto...

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Buyer's feedback: - Great Model....READ MANUAL BEFORE YOU OPERATE
I map for a living so this unit makes sense.
I was worried about buying this model when I first read many reviews on this site as well as other sites carrying the Navigon 5100. The price however was too luring at 178$. I am pleased to find that the 5100 works great if you follow the recommendations in the manual.

I am a GIS analyst so i do have experience with maps and creating products similar to google earth. I will say that the Navigon is a great model for a intermediate user. I bought my mom a garmin unit because she will not take the time to read the manual nor does she care about extra funtions like optimum route, excluding tolls or 3d view.

First issue I read about was battery failing.
If you charge your unit for 6 hours (as recommended) when you initially buy your unit you will not have issues with your battery or recharge.

As stated in the manual, powering on takes a while. This is kind of a drag and i'd say one of my "cons" for the model. Powering on and off takes 7-10 seconds.

Many people complained about the unit rerouting with U-turns. This is something that you can turn off so they obviously didn't read the manual.
Rerouting is fast and includes traffic in calculation. Something Garmin does not do. You can also select what kind of vehichle you are in (bicycle, truck, motercycle, car) to add another factor to avg speed and rate calculations.

One of the best features for me and others i work with is the log funtion. If you need to log milage for tax purposes this is a great function. Or if you need to track workers to see if they go home during lunch or leave their car idle for hours this is great as well. With rising gas prices our company saved over 10,000$ due to this tracking.

The GUI is easy to understand if you go through the manual although not as "smooth" and fast as the Garmin unit.
Poi's are outstanding tons of symbology and even better if you get the freshmaps update.It's on sale through amazon for 56$ for 3 years. Totally worth it.

One thing you won't find in the garmin unit is an info button that tells info about the POI as well as a phone #.


All roads come from Navteq or Tele-atlas which is where Garmin gets their roads from. So complaints about roads being different on a Garmin doesn't make sense.

I do like garmin's POI loader. Very nice if you have work data that you need to add to your unit.
I haven't played with the navigon's POI's I suspect if you follow format and add through notepad then your only restriction would be the size of your card.
I must warn it's probably more advanced and not as user friendly as Garmin's POI loader.

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Buyer's feedback: - * The best gps i have used so far ...
I paid over $1000 on a megallan gps that did not tell you the street name to turn down it was slow to get a gps signal , recalulations were
beyond slow and it did not have traffic alerts. I paid a faction of that price for this unit and its amazing. Turn it on and with in seconds it has a signal . It can tell if you did not make a turn in a split second and recalulates the new route before you even realize it . It tells you what street to turn down so you dont have to wonder was that the right street to turn on , and it has traffic alerts . I love this unit. I even purchased one for my spouse and one for my sister.

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Buyer's feedback: - POOR INSTRUCTIONS
i LIKE THIS PRODUCT VERY MUCH. MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING IT ARE VAGUE, ONCE YOU FIGURE IT OUT IT'S PRETTY EASY TO USE, BUT MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING IT UP WOULD HAVE HELPED A LOT

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Buyer's feedback: - * I purchased it for the mount! Nice unit! ...
Just kidding I got it for the navigation capabilities; however, the windshield mount looks like it was modeled after the alien spacecraft from the blockbuster War of the Worlds movie- so cool!

I've been a GPS user since 2000 when I first rented a car with a GPS system. Since then I've used various GPS software and hardware on Window CE devices and most recently on an AT&T 8525 PDA phone. I switched to a dedicated GPS since trying to run GPS navigation software on a phone gets complicated when calls start coming in.

Quality- Built well, thin, probably couldn't hold up to drops or abuse but overall it's a nice unit. Did I mention the mount? Absolutely beautiful design/concept. It securely holds the 5100 very well

GPS Reception- Folks have complained that this unit takes a long time to acquire satellites. I haven't experienced this. Typically time to acquire 5 to 7 satellites is approx 30 seconds to 1:30. Please in mind that acquiring satellites can be hampered by building (sky scrapers), cloudy days, positioning of the unit on the window (i.e. GPS units need clear visibility of the sky to receive good reception), heavy rain/snow and time of day/rotation of the earth. Overall no complaints; it performs very well.

Interface- For me the interface was very close to one version of software I had a while back on a Windows CE PDA. It does take time to learn the interface so don't think of this as an ATM or self-checkout lane at the store. Read the manual. Overall it works and I can find POIs or enter in addresses with ease. Doesn't seem sluggish to me. Only downfall is that I cannot sync my outlook contacts to it. Several settings are available in this unit for customization.

Screen- A tad bit washed out but not bad. You can still see the POIs, streets, etc. when driving. For the cost it's reasonable. You can adjust the screen brightness. There is a night time mode.

Navigation- The "Optimal" routing setting works best for me. It calculates routes driver would typically take. I've tested this and it works very well. Re-calculating routes works very quickly for me. Calculating a long drive, such as from Portland, OR to Dallas, TX does take some time to calculate but given the distance covered, I'm happy it can do it!

Text to Speech/Volume- The voice quality is good. A female's voice is used. She prompts me well in advance of the street name and direction. The volume when maxxed out is adequate but it's not going to over power your car radio or beat the howling wind @ 55 mph. Typically when I'm going some place I don't know I roll the windows up and turn down the radio. I pay attention.

Versatility- being able to swap between cars is ideal.

Traffic Reception- Stellar! This unit prompts me with traffic condition warnings. There is no subscription for this service as it taps into the local radio stations that broadcast this service.

I was really concerned about the negative reviews on this unit, but overall I'm satisfied and my friends consider me the "return king." Looking forward to many drives and not getting lost.

Cheers,
Brian