Navigon 5100 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
By admin | July 16, 2008
Navigon 5100 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator

With free lifteime traffic, Zagat Ratings, 3D 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. It’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. Otherwise, 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:. Icons 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 Of Interest: 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-Ons
- 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
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 III GPS chip, 64 MBs of both RAM and ROM 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.
Free Lifetime Traffic
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The NAVIGON 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 NAVIGON 5100 and works out of the box. |
Reality View
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Reality View™ provides 3D images and actual road sign text when approaching complex interchanges — so you’ll never miss your exit again. |
Lane Assist
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No more wondering what lane you need to be in to stay on course. Your NAVIGON will guide you with simple to follow lane guidance with arrows so you can make your turn and stay on track. |
Zagat Ratings
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Now you can enjoy the world’s most comprehensive restaurant and entertainment guide — right on your NAVIGON GPS device. With ZAGAT’s trusted Ratings and Reviews, you will know exactly where to stay and play during your travels and, with NAVIGON’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. |
What’s in the Box
- NAVIGON 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)
- Integrated 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 ROM 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.
The Navigon Family of Portable Navigators
| Screen Size (diagonally) |
Maps |
Reality View | Real Street Names |
Lane Assistant | Bluetooth | POIs | Lifetime Traffic Data Service |
Zagat Ratings |
FreshMaps 3-Year Map Update Service |
|
| 2100 |
3.5 inches |
continental U.S. |
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1.3 million |
Requires Activation | Requires Activation | Requires Activation | ||
| 2120 |
3.5 inches | U.S and Canada |
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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 | ![]() |
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millions |
Included | Included |
Requires Activation | |
| 7100 | 4.3 inches |
U.S and Canada | ![]() |
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millions |
Included | Included |
Requires Activation |
NAVIGON Real-Time Traffic City Listing
USA
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Canada
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About Navigon
NAVIGON has been a leader of GPS navigation since 1991, and has a long history of industry innovations. NAVIGON 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.
NAVIGON 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 NAVIGON’s award-winning MobileNavigator(MN) software delivers reliable information on millions of destinations in an intuitive, easy to use format. NAVIGON is a valued partner to the automotive industry, and in 2006 strengthened its category competency by acquiring NAVTEQ’s navigation software business.
NAVIGON is a privately-held software company based in Hamburg, Germany, with NAVIGON USA headquarters in Chicago, IL.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star worst GPS i’ve EVER used
i returned this gps today after using it for 5 days. at first i loved this product, big screen, text to speech street names, preloaded maps, free traffic alerts, and relatively quick locking on satellites, low prices (i got it for 149.99) - what’s not to love?
only after i installed it in my car did i realize why they are selling this at such a huge discount - the routing thing totally doesn’t work! i work in jersey city and live in central NJ, all other GPSes (the preinstalled ones in my other car, yahoo/google maps, and another garmin that i upgraded from) all suggest the same route exit 14A on the NJTP and then take the 78 extension. Not this one - they want me to go all the way up to 15E.
a lot of local routes are also weird, if you miss a turn, it does recalculate but mostly trys to route you to the original route it calculated. talk about being stupid.
for all the savings i get in the lowered price i would’ve given it back in 3 days on added gas money, car depreciation for going more miles, and the additional time it takes to get you to your destination.
WORST GPS EVER!!!
5 Stars Sanity Check!!
Up to this point, I had planned to only write book reviews but feel compelled to write this after the mixed bag of reviews for this product. The listed reviews created alot of confusion for me; I’m always suspicious of the “one-item reviews” that either damn or glorify; maybe this info will be helpful if you are considering a purchase.
I purchased the Navigon 5110 last month (June 08), have used it for several trips, and couldn’t be happier with it. In a nutshell, to address some of the issues brought up in the other reviews:
Pros
1. Mount system is ingenious-no velcro, screws, sticky tape, etc…just suction cup it to your windshield and hook up the power to your cigarette lighter. You can use it for any automobile that has a working cigarette lighter (even an old 1970 Ford Oldsmobile). For security, you can detach the GPS from the mount in a matter of seconds. And overall, it has a sleek, minimalist design.
2. Navigation is highly intuitive; I missed a turn in Berlin, took a turn at the next traffic junction, and the Navigon recalculated and put me back on track. I really liked the highway sign visuals-you will never be confused again about major highway turns.
Let me address 2 complaints from the other reviews.
U-Turns: if you miss a turn the voice command will say ” Make a U-Turn now.” to let you know you missed a major turn. You get this voice prompt even if you are on a 4 lane highway. So you take the next turn/exit, and the Navigon recalculates and puts you back on track. (If you are one of those persons who would try to make a U-Turn on a 4 lane hgihway because the Navigon said so, it would probably be too dangerous for you to own any type of car navigation system.)
The other complaint was about getting commands to make turns too late or too early. I found the voice command for turns to be spot-on in every case-including a 3K, 1K, 500m, 300m and 100m warning prior to the turn. This was critical in busy, city traffic.
3. Voice Commands-I really liked this feature, esp. the female, British accent. I have a slight case of ringing in my ears (tincture) from years on firing ranges and rock concerts from my younger years. Still, with the radio playing, I had NO PROBLEM hearing and understanding the voice commands.
4. Options and Updates-traffic warnings and the ability to get road updates online is a big plus. I’m currently using the Navigon in Europe, but it also has maps for the continental US when I go back to the states. For that matter, I used it in Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin, both former eastern Europe.
Cons
1. Screen-there is one legitimate complaint-some of the numbers are small-ie if you want to read total distance of trip, your current speed, current elevation, you need to really look at the screen to read those numbers. Also, it can be a little difficult to read if you are driving into the sun, but this may be true of all navigation systems.
2. New Destinations-I think this is a Con-I need to check the user’s manual. I would like to have the ability to go somewhere and then enter it as a new destination. This may be possible-I need to check the User’s Manual.
3. Price-no issues for me for what I got, but like all technology, wait 6 months and the price will probably drop $100.
Highly recommended.
2 Stars Not ready for the US market
I purchased the Navigon 5100 but returned it after a day. I have a Garmin GPS for the last 5 years and purchased another unit last year that are better in terms or accuracy, ease of use and POI database.
I believe that Navigon is not ready or the US market. I am a tech savvy person and use the GPS for multiple tasks. I tried to locate Lowes or Home Depot using Navigon but it is missing from its POI database. Similarly I could not locate BestBuy or the factory outlets using the Navigon 5100. It has a great food and restaurants database but severely limited to the common POI that we need.
Garmin provides POI software for free with a huge database that is a big selling point. I did not find POI Warner to be free and Navigon 5100 in its list.
I also found out that the screen colors are mainly shades of gray/white that is hard to see in bright day light. Roads are not as visible as compared to Garmin, I wish if it would give some better color templates.
Life time traffic feature is great as well as the Zagat ratings that may be the selling point.
4 Stars Navigon 5100
I have only had the Navigon 5100 for one month. The last trip I had friends along and they had their Garmin 260W and we compaired the two side buy side. They both took us right to the door where we were going but the Navigon had much better grapics and detail along the roadway. My friend even attested that while on the highway system the overhead signs were exact the lane choice with the arrows were great. I would have rated the Navigon 5100 five stars but the only down fall I see is the battery life. On a full charge it does not last longer then two to three hours. Other then that a great product so far.
1 Star DO NOT BUY THIS!
I bought my Navigon 5100 and was fairly happy with it for a couple months. Then one day it could not find my current location. I’ve tried rebooting it and restarting it at different locations, but it never worked again. now it just sits there and mocks me.
The one thing that sold me on buying this product was the lane assistance, but it never worked well. It only comes on when there is light or no traffic. I don’t really need lane assistance when all the lanes are open. It would tell me there was traffic even when I could see there was none.
When the Navigon did work, it took anywhere from 3-10 minutes to start giving directions. When giving directions it does not tell you if the highways off ramp is south, north, west or east. It’s terrifying when your driving and can’t figure out which off ramp to get off on.
I never understood why they put the speakers on the back of the product. It makes the verbal directions low and muddy. If they had simply put it on the front, it would have had great sound.
Whenever a traffic alert came up you would have to touch a small box on the screen to make it disappear. Living in Los Angeles, new ones were coming up once every two seconds. Annoying and disrupts driving.
Navigon is a bad product. DO NOT BUY!
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