|
|
When you first fire up the DigiWalker C520 it takes around 45 seconds to locate the signal from a few satellites and determine your position. The unit only has a power button, everything else is done via the touch screen. Some buttons are a little small and decent fingernails come in handy. Unfortunately it's not obvious what all the icons do and even the labelled icons aren't always self-explanatory. Turning to the manual doesn't help because amazingly there's no chapter on using the interface. It turns out those instructions are only provided as a PDF Quick Start guide on the supplied CD (which didn't come with our review unit). Why on earth Mio couldn't just include this as a chapter in the hard copy manual is beyond us.
Once you master the interface, selecting a destination is made easy by predictive text when entering suburb and street names. Once you've typed the first few letters of the suburb it narrows it down to a short list on the screen, then same again with the street name. You can also nominate stop-off points and even run through a flyover before you set off. Unfortunately you can only bookmark two locations, work and home, but you can access a list of recent destinations. The advanced settings offer a choice of taking the fastest, shortest or most economical route and you can choose your mode of travel from car, taxi, bus, truck, emergency, pedestrian or bike.
What helps the DigiWalker C520 stand out from the crowd is it's one of the first GPS navigation units in Australia to offer text to speech, meaning it can read aloud the names of the streets rather than just saying ''next left''. You're given the choice of 16 languages, many with male and female voices. Jason and Samantha are A-mare-ecans while Thomas is a Brit and Philippa an Aussie. Only Samantha is capable of text to speech.
While her pronunciation of street names was occasionally off, Samantha did an admirable job of guiding us around Melbourne. Driving through the back streets she does an excellent job of announcing street names and upcoming turns well in advance. Sometimes she advises of two close turns at once, to give you plenty of warning. She quickly compensates for wrong turns without panicking and is informative without being annoying. The display offers a choice of 2D or 3D map views and the C520 uses an auto-zoom feature that hones in as you approach an intersection to give you a better look.
Moving to the freeway, Samantha's speech to text skills allow her to read out turn off names and route numbers. Unfortunately the volume control is buried in the menus and we often found her too soft. The unit has a headphone jack, along with Bluetooth for connecting to a wireless earpiece, so it could be use on a motorbike for audio instructions with the unit safely stowed in your pocket or bag.
Along with the gift of speech, the DigiWalker C520 has many other blesseings. CONTINUED
The DigiWalker C520 is blessed with a bright LCD screen which is easy to see in the car even on a sunny day. You can view the maps full screen or dedicate the right-hand third of the display to useful information such as distance to next turn, an icon describing the next turn, your estimated time of arrival, your current speed, turn-by-turn written instructions and points of interest such as petrol stations. The brightness of the screen and the colours used in the maps can be adjusted for day or night driving.
|
The DigiWalker C520 is also compatible with the new Traffic Message Channel technology, which delivers live traffic information via FM radio. Australia's SUNA Traffic Channel, developed by Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) subsidiary Intelematics Australia, should be available in Australia by Christmas.
Previous car navigation systems we've tested have taken us on a merry ride through back streets full of round abouts and speed humps, instead of the more logical main road. The DigiWalker C520 performed well even during short trips when the myriad of options can confuse some other devices.
The unit is very light at 190gm, and it's only 20mm thick, so once you've arrived at your destination it easily slips into your jacket or pants pocket when you leave the car. It comes with car mount and soft carry case as well as a car charger, AC charger, USB charger and USB cable. It can also can as an MP3 player (with 1GB onboard storage and an SD slot), calculator, address book and even a hands-free Bluetooth car kit. Disappointingly the address book isn't linked to the mapping application.
The DigiWalker C520 comes preloaded with Sensis' 2007 Australia-wide maps. Sensis releases new maps annually, which you can buy from stores that sell Mio devices or online at www.mioeshop.com.au. The maps sell for $AU159 - which is expensive compared to a paper street directory but remember you're getting Australia-wide maps. As with your paper street directory, you'd probably only want to buy an update every few years.
While the DigiWalker C520 does a fine job, there are some tasks for which a paper street directory are still better suited. While Samantha managed to get us across town, when we got there we realised we'd remembered the street name incorrectly. She'd taken us exactly where we'd asked to go, but it wasn't where we actually wanted to be and we couldn't remember the correct address. We were running late for an appointment but we knew we were close, so we grabbed the trusty Melways directoryfrom the back seat and scanned the suburb until we recognised the street name we were looking for. Doing this on the DigiWalker C520's small screen would have been a slow and painful task.
With a big, bright screen, speech to text and excellent travel-planning logic, Mio's DigiWalker C520 is the best high tech co-pilot we've tested to date. It was a little expensive but the recent cut from $AU699 to $AU499 means if you spend a lot of time on the road then the DigiWalker C520 is a worthy travelling companion.
Mio's DigiWalker C520 retails for $AU499. For more details visit mio-tech.com.au
