Navigon 2100 - talk-a-lot

This is not the first Navigon device we’re reviewing. Navigon 7110 proved to be a real queer fish, we have liked its design the most. Well, 2100 is as interesting like the day of a knight guarding the Holy Grail. This wasn’t the reason why we have asked for one from PDAFutár, but because according to the news there has been a serious map update, so I have expected great enhancements in terms of navigation from the subject of our current review.

No matter we like it or not, nowadays navigation has advanced in such a manner that it has really become an integral part of our everyday life. “Supporting” this process, we’re trying to review as much navis as possible on the site, mostly when we have no cell phone review for that day. We’re struggling to publish a review every day, so navis have been included in the site’s portfolio. According to feedback we think that we have done this correctly, but I again ask all our readers to send feedback if they’d like to.

There have been no revolutionary events at Navigon, so I won’t be going through website exploration again. I have really mixed feelings regarding 2100, and I have to say that those mistakes that I could forgive for 7110 because of its unique design, are not passing through so easily this time. Some of these problems have been present at 7110 too, I just didn’t tell them off that time. Well I will do so this time, as by the end of the test I have been seriously thinking about a ritual execution of the navi. Why? Details beginning on the next page.

After opening the package it becomes evident that 2100 is not the number one flagship of Navigon’s fleet – simplicity in every corner. Of course this doesn’t mean that it’s an absolutely low-end device. Besides the navi we can find a passive holder, a USB cable, a car charger, a CD and some papers. The passive holder is the fixed type; it won’t be shaking during driving, so we can always have a clean view of the device that has good visibility even in bright sunlight. Why don’t cell phones have these types of readable displays? The car charger is a bit thicker in its center, because it has the TMC antenna inside. It’s an extremely practical solution, I can only congratulate!

The device itself much less new features. On the front we can see the 3.5” display that I have already mentioned, a Navigon label on the shiny black surface, while in the top right corner there is the LED for the charger. The navi has rounded shapes, just like its bigger brother, which strengthens the brand’s image. However the designers weren’t working their ass off, that’s sure. On top of the navi there is the power button on the right; while on the left side we can see the external antenna connector under a rubber plug.

On the right side there is the SD/MMC card slot, with a card inside that has the maps – just like all lower-end navis, the 2100 also uses the memory card as the primary storage, rather than the internal memory. On the left there is the reset gap, its loneliness is not disturbed by anything. On the bottom there is the miniUSB connector. The good news is that the navu can be charged through this, and of course TMC data also passes here from the car charger’s cable. The center of the back cover is something like the 7110’s, but in this case it’s a design element. On its left there is the speaker’s grating, while other parts of the back have a spotted design. It’s funny that the back has the most design elements, even though that’s the one that we see the least.

The subject of our current review has a Samsung 2440 CPU, ticking at 400 MHz, just like many other navis nowadays. Windows CE 5.0 is also a good old friend and the 64 MB ROM/RAM is nothing new either; we have a classic hardware, we could say. The SIRF Star III receiver inside the gadget establishes connection in a couple of minutes. I have estimated an average of 1-2 meters precision – Navigon’s software is not so sincere in this matter than iGO. I had no problems with reception, but this time I couldn’t test TMC, as during the testing period I haven’t been travelling abroad, but I suppose it has the same features as the one in the bigger brother.

I have extremely mixed feelings regarding the updated map. To tell the truth if I don’t know, I wouldn’t even have observed. To be even more sincere I didn’t even observe this way either. At the external section of the Szentendrei street, near Cora, there is an overpass that has been constructed more than half a year ago and it’s not on the map, but this wouldn’t have been such a great problem. The most frightening thing happened when I was headed to Nyíregyháza. At Polgár the software has firmly told me to exit the highway (not knowing about the roundabout that has been constructed there), than it has told me to return to the highway. To the same place. Although there is an outlet center at that place, but I didn’t want to go there. But this hasn’t been its only trick. At Pilisvörösvár it told me the following: “Turn right. Turn left.” But there has been nowhere to turn to. Funny, isn’t it?

The software’s usability didn’t change a bit. They have omitted the QWERTY keyboard again, in Budapest it forces me to choose from districts when it doesn’t even know where I want to go. When defining a detour it is quite difficult to add an intermediary target. If we define a target after power-on then it offers us to show a demo since there is no connection yet, but then it won’t tell us that meanwhile it has connected to the satellites, so it might even show the demo for hours instead of navigation.

2100 can navigate. Period. There are no other features inside. That’s the very reason why it’s annoying that it’s not designed properly. There are some stupid vocal recordings too. For example all distances are defined like: “After 300 meters turn right”. The speeding alarm is just a simple “Attention!” Just as if I’d be hearing my mother from the back seat. It won’t tell me what to pay attention to, but at least it scares the hell out of me. At the destination: “You will reach your goal in 200 meters”. It doesn’t know the notion of “keep left/right”, it always uses the verb “turn”. Even more if we’re driving on a street which turns into one-way backwards after a point, then the navi thinks (and navigates – “at the end of the street turn right”) that we’re already at the end of the street. Although we’re not, we just have a no entry board. To put it short, there are serious language issues.

And that’s not all. In downtown it will get on our nerves in 5 minutes as it tells us in which direction to go at 300 and 130 meters before the turn and just before it too. This practically means that it’s talking continuously. An even more, it starts every sentence politely, with “Please’, thus making its speech even longer. If we have a passenger then there’s no chance of talking with each other, we won’t understand a word from the radio, we’ll only hear the navi talking continuously. I have sworn on the first occasion that at the end of the test I will jump on it, burn it and then saw it in to. Twice. Of course it’s a test device so I didn’t kill it, but I had the intention. It completely upset me.

Sounds of course can be heard clearly, there can be no complaints about this. On the whole Navigon 2100 is neither good-looking, nor really smart, but at least it gets on our nerves either with what it says, or with where it navigates. And it’s even expensive: I think that near €210 EUR is too much for the Europe-map edition, for such a price we can get navis with iGO that have similar features or even more. If we’d have an “Unrecommended” award, then I’d surely give it to this gadget.