Sony NV-U73T Automotive GPS Receiver

I have had this GPS for almost a month now and have been pretty much satisfied, although there are a few things I don't like and that's why I give it a 4 star. Sony carries a good reputation for having high quality electronics and that is why I bought this Sony GPS system. I didn't trust the other GPS systems out there (Garmin, Tom Tom, etc) because I knew Sony products were good.

Pros: Simple to use, clear voice animated directions, touch screen which I love, clear map with complete road names, directions written clearly on the bottom of the screen, easy to use, large screen.

Cons: The mileage to take a turn is actually less than what it really says. When it says "1/4 mile take a right", it's actually less than 1/4 mile, more like 1/6 mile. So, I have missed plenty of exits because it would not tell me until I hit almost the end of the exit "Now, turn right," and I couldn't make it over in time. So, now I've learned that when it says "1/4 mile, take a right on exit ...", I move get over as soon as possible so I wouldn't miss the exits. It does that with all the turns. It doesn't give you time to get over and make that turn when it says "Now, turn ...". Another con is that when it starts calculating your route, it won't do so until your vehicle moves. For instance, if you're at one of your destinations and you're getting inton your vehicle to get to another destination, you don't know if you should take a left or right, etc, because it won't calculate your route until you take a left or right and vehicle start moving. I was at one of my destinations and needed to get to another. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, it wouldn't let me know if I should take a left or right, it just continued to say "calculating route." I had to pull out of the parking lot, took a left, before it would tell me where to go next. I think that it should have been able to do so while I was sitting in the parking lot. The two are the only two things that I did not like about this system, but now I have gotten use to it that I know the "tricks" of its games. I am hoping that my first intuition about Sony's quality will make up for the cons of this system. Overall, I am pleased because I am bad with directions. I would recommend this product if only other consumers can learn the "tricks" like I did.

I found this unit to be as advertised. It was ready to go, right out of the box. Text to speech, was very clear and audible. Sounded like a real person. And not like a computer generated voice. I live in Michigan. The first trip I took, was to Pennsylvania. Took me right to the door. No wrong turns or faulty information. Worked just as good as the high priced spread. I would buy this product again.

This GPS system is totally awesome!!!! It never really blinks out, always has service and the free 90 day traffic updates that come with it are also awesome. Installation is simple and the only thing that you need to buy seperately is a carrying case for the actual gps. One other thing i should mention is that this gps system re-navigates you very quickly if you stray from the designated route or if you just simply miss a turn. I've been traveling for years now to Miami to L.A. and everywhere else and have used plenty of rental gps systems that are hott garbage compared to this one. I've used this one in the boonies of the everglades in Florida and this thing is solid. It even operates well in New York City also. Great buy plain and simple!!!!!!!!

I bought this GPS because of the price/screen size ratio. I tried another smaller one, and the bigger screen size is definitely better, AND it includes all of north America in the maps, not just the US. I liked it a lot when I got it, but there was a free update from Sony that brought it from Ver 2.0 to 3.2. I sent for the free disk, got it in the mail in about 4 days, but the install was not documented at all, and it took several minutes on tech support to accomplish the upgrade. The upgrade also added support for photos (Kind of like the digital photo frames you can buy) which supports the memory card which holds the pictures it shows. Other than the photo option and a newer set of maps, I'd have to say the upgrade wasn't as effective in speeding up GPS lock on speed as it claimed. I'm still learning how it works, love the 'find places' feature, where you tell it what your looking for (Gas, food, lodging or repair service among others) and it pulls up a list by closest to furthest of what your looking for...just tap the screen and it navigates you to your selection. Handy when traveling. Overall, I'm happy with it.

The Sony GPS system works well but it does have its faults. The cons is that if you are trying to spell a street name or city you have to spell it out completely because it does not eliminate the letters like most of the other gps. Directions can use some improvements. For example I was going from a store to my home and all I have to do was take a street about 3 miles in one direction but instead made me go out of my way and onto the freeway. I later figured it out that I needed to configure the route to the fastest way and avoid toll. I wish there was an option to select fastest way including toll roads. Map is very clear and I prefer them over the Garmin or Megellan gps. For the price its not a bad product but does need improvements.