Cons:
* Icons and sounds for POI’s cannot exceed one per file.
* The latest map is a bit slow in showing when you pass streets.
* The main POI files contains 6 million (+) entries, but they are NOT editable by the end user.
* The newest map available is about 2 years old right now.
* The internal POI’s have misspelled names and many like points are inconsistent with each other.
* The map/POI correction process with Navtec (the provider of the map) is painful!
* The cost of lifetime maps ($120) makes one think of upgrading GPS units every two years.

I sat watching these car GPS units develop over the years. The first ones were like my old handheld Magellan hiking unit — slow and antiquated. These new units are far better than I ever imagined they would be.

The map is spot on. The ability to customize the POI’s is a real plus, especially with Speed and Red Light camera notifications loaded in as a separate POI. Satellite sync is as quick as starting the car and backing it into the driveway. Talking turn-by-turn directions aids in focusing on the road and not signs in heavy traffic. Not as feature filled as the more expensive models, you still have one of the best North America street level maps fitting on your dash and at your disposal while driving.

Garmin has produced a winner here. After using it around town and on a couple smaller trips over the last two months, I’m glad I purchased this unit and would recommend it to anyone without reservation.

There are some minor issues but I don’t consider them a huge deal. It simply may have something to do with updating the unit. Twice it took me down streets that were dead ends. The streets were intended to be extended but construction was never completed. The only other problem I had was when I was in the city and it was due to the me choosing the wrong option. It kept instructing me to take a major highway vs. the city streets. I finally realized that I had programmed the GPS to use major highways instead of local roads. Now I know to choose local roads while driving in cities. This unit has a lot of options, such as time of arrival and/or time left to your destination. It finds business’ easily, especially compared to the Garmin, and you can choose to have certain locations displayed on the map, such as restaurants, gas stations, etc. These options are great for long trips. I love this unit and will never go back to Garmin.

Approaching required turns there is a “countdown” bar on the right side of the screen that gives you plenty of warning prior to the “two dings” of the chime for the actual turn. If activated, another feature provides you with an expanded diagram of the approaching intersection or freeway ramp. User preferences are very easy and intuitive to find and change.

The unit has served us very well on at least three extended trips; one to Alaska, One across the country and back, and another from the west coast all the way east to Prince Edward Island in Canada.

On one trip we activated the 6-month free city traffic receiver program that comes with the purchase. It worked very well in all the major cities that we visited.

Another thing a user should know is that there is a need to periodically update the unit. This fixes many known “glitches” and provides database updates. Downloads are very easy to use from their web site, and the site should be checked for new updates every month or so. There is also a “pop-up” reminder in the GPS that periodically advises you to check for updates. For one large update they sent me a free CD. The software appears to be provided from Tom Tom. So far there is no cost for this.

Telephone technical support has always been fast, courteous, and accurate. A BIG plus these days. We could have saved some calls, however, if the documentation was more extensive and informative. This is the main reason that we gave it a four rating, rather than the maximum five.

We have a Toyota Highlander with the built-in GPS. Toyota recommends updating the unit every six months – at a charge each time of $200.00 for the DVDs and plus an hour of labor if you can’t install them yourself. So for the update cost for one year – $400+ we can purchase a new unit. I can honestly say that the Cobra unit is easier to understand and operate than the Toyota unit. The Toyota feature that prevents a passenger from entering or changing routes while moving is a MAJOR inconvenience. We plan to buy a new “portable” unit for the Toyota and ignore the installed unit.

One anomaly that has yet to be fixed is somewhat strange. In Canada, about 60 miles north of the US border, the “time to go” reduces the time by 50% (time to go becomes half of what it should be). This happens whether you are using kilometers or miles and continues until you return south of the offending latitude. I have brought this to their attention by email and telephone, but still no fix.

It would be nice to have an internal battery but it isn’t a big issue for us. With the supplied AC and DC adapters I can program or reprogram the unit in the vehicle or inside at any time. I often enter planned routes the night before by using one of the adapters. The unit usually receives the satellites quite well inside as long as you are near a window; but you don’t need reception to program it. For walking and hiking we purchased a very nice, hand-held, Garmin battery powered unit.

It is a very good unit and has served us very well. I highly recommend it, however, it is becoming a little outdated compared to some of the newest model GPS units. Still a bargain at the current price.

I forgot to add with the updates. it doesn’t jump page to page like mentioned in other reviews.. it moves along just like a tomtom.

Went to the Cobra website for FAQ’s about the problem or maybe a software patch, which there was one for this unit from 2 years ago, later than what I had installed, downloaded it, installed it and next time we stared the car there was a loss of internal memory and the unit stated in the welcome screen that there is possibly an update to the system memory. Called Cobra tech support, they told me to send it back and they updated the BIOS and installed the same update which I had done previously. This worked for 2 days with the same result after that with all loss of inputed memory.

In summary if you want to buy this product you should be pretty sure of the warranty and possibly what the return restrictions are as some stores won’t accept returns of used GPS units.

If all the inputs you made to the memory drop off and you can’t retrieve it don’t even hesitate and call Cobra support at 773-889-3087 to ask how to return this model as it seams they can’t even fix it.

So don’t waste your time and hard earned money, buy another brand.