FineDrive 400 GPS Navigation System
FINEDRIVE 400 GPS NAVIGATION SYSTEM REVIEW: It Never Ceases to Direct You
March 2006 By —Stephen Krasowski
I recently moved into a house in New Jersey and thought to myself that there would be no better place to review the new FineDrive 400 GPS navigation system than in this confusing state. Navigating your way through New Jersey’s grid is no easy task with all of the jug handle intersections, circles and such, but this unit made it quite easy to do so, especially since I was new to the area and couldn’t find my way around the block let alone the city.
After taking the unit out of the box, my first inclination was that it was much smaller in size than previous GPS navigators I had reviewed. It boasts a 4-inch diagonal TFT color touchscreen interface, with automatic route calculation to any destination and turn-by-turn prompted directions. For me, it was just the right size as it fit quite nicely suctioned right below my rear view mirror and above the dash. Several other navigation units were way too large and cumbersome to stay suctioned tightly to the window of my vehicle. The menu buttons on either side were easy to use and spread out far enough on the unit so that you couldn’t hit one button while trying to hit another when navigating throughout the menu options. One key feature to note on this system is the fact that when you input the city and state, you really do not have to enter in the street name. A list of streets within that particular city is provided. You simply punch in the first few letters of the street you’re headed to and you’re good to go! Another nice feature of this unit was the fact that the voice prompt directing you throughout your route was loud and clear. Again, unlike other units, the voice prompt of this unit provided me with directions much sooner than other navigators or back seat drivers. With some devices, I would have been three streets past the actual turn I was to make before the GPS unit would tell me to make the turn. The voice prompt of this unit told me the exact mileage and even the number of feet I had left before I was to make a turn in addition to the unit making a beeping sound right at the time I needed to make a turn. Fantastic!
In order to really test this unit thoroughly, I decided to make a trip to Whole Foods Market in order do a little food shopping for the house, but I was somewhat hesitant in doing so, because I had no idea where I was going, and the Philadelphia Flyers (my favorite professional hockey team) were playing a game in 30 minutes—a game I did not want to miss. Nevertheless, I got in the car and turned on the GPS unit. My life was in its hands! Incredibly, I made it to the store and back in 35 minutes, not getting lost at all and only missing the singing of the National Anthem before the game. I was totally impressed at how this unit handled and the accuracy of the directions. In addition to great directions, this system provided me with many points-of-interest including several fast food restaurants and two shopping malls in the area of which I did not know even existed.
Most of us enjoy listening to music while in the vehicle and a built-in MP3 player program allows you to do so easily and, because you do not have to constantly keep looking at maps and stopping at gas stations for directions, you have the ability to listen to the music you most enjoy in the very comfortable setting of your vehicle. I had no trouble copying music from my laptop computer at home onto the SD card that is provided with the unit. I simply created an MP3 folder on the SD card and copied all of the MP3 files onto that card, placed the card into the unit in my vehicle and powered up. Once you select the MP3 player option from the menu, a playlist is then loaded displaying all of your MP3 files. It’s really that easy, and none of my musical selections sounded distorted in any way. Unfortunately, the navigation functions and the MP3 player would not work simultaneously. I basically had to keep going back and forth between the MP3 player and the navigation functions (Note: Please make sure you pull over to the side of the road before you start changing the functions around. The system displays this note to the user on the screen. I learned a real lesson here by not adhering to this advice!)
I really learned a lot about the surrounding areas of my new home in New Jersey by using the FineDrive 400 GPS system. The directions it provided were out of this world and much better than I had expected. I would definitely recommend this system to anyone whether you are from a small town or big city, but especially if you are planning a long trip. yy
After taking the unit out of the box, my first inclination was that it was much smaller in size than previous GPS navigators I had reviewed. It boasts a 4-inch diagonal TFT color touchscreen interface, with automatic route calculation to any destination and turn-by-turn prompted directions. For me, it was just the right size as it fit quite nicely suctioned right below my rear view mirror and above the dash. Several other navigation units were way too large and cumbersome to stay suctioned tightly to the window of my vehicle. The menu buttons on either side were easy to use and spread out far enough on the unit so that you couldn’t hit one button while trying to hit another when navigating throughout the menu options. One key feature to note on this system is the fact that when you input the city and state, you really do not have to enter in the street name. A list of streets within that particular city is provided. You simply punch in the first few letters of the street you’re headed to and you’re good to go! Another nice feature of this unit was the fact that the voice prompt directing you throughout your route was loud and clear. Again, unlike other units, the voice prompt of this unit provided me with directions much sooner than other navigators or back seat drivers. With some devices, I would have been three streets past the actual turn I was to make before the GPS unit would tell me to make the turn. The voice prompt of this unit told me the exact mileage and even the number of feet I had left before I was to make a turn in addition to the unit making a beeping sound right at the time I needed to make a turn. Fantastic!
In order to really test this unit thoroughly, I decided to make a trip to Whole Foods Market in order do a little food shopping for the house, but I was somewhat hesitant in doing so, because I had no idea where I was going, and the Philadelphia Flyers (my favorite professional hockey team) were playing a game in 30 minutes—a game I did not want to miss. Nevertheless, I got in the car and turned on the GPS unit. My life was in its hands! Incredibly, I made it to the store and back in 35 minutes, not getting lost at all and only missing the singing of the National Anthem before the game. I was totally impressed at how this unit handled and the accuracy of the directions. In addition to great directions, this system provided me with many points-of-interest including several fast food restaurants and two shopping malls in the area of which I did not know even existed.
Most of us enjoy listening to music while in the vehicle and a built-in MP3 player program allows you to do so easily and, because you do not have to constantly keep looking at maps and stopping at gas stations for directions, you have the ability to listen to the music you most enjoy in the very comfortable setting of your vehicle. I had no trouble copying music from my laptop computer at home onto the SD card that is provided with the unit. I simply created an MP3 folder on the SD card and copied all of the MP3 files onto that card, placed the card into the unit in my vehicle and powered up. Once you select the MP3 player option from the menu, a playlist is then loaded displaying all of your MP3 files. It’s really that easy, and none of my musical selections sounded distorted in any way. Unfortunately, the navigation functions and the MP3 player would not work simultaneously. I basically had to keep going back and forth between the MP3 player and the navigation functions (Note: Please make sure you pull over to the side of the road before you start changing the functions around. The system displays this note to the user on the screen. I learned a real lesson here by not adhering to this advice!)
I really learned a lot about the surrounding areas of my new home in New Jersey by using the FineDrive 400 GPS system. The directions it provided were out of this world and much better than I had expected. I would definitely recommend this system to anyone whether you are from a small town or big city, but especially if you are planning a long trip. yy
