0ur Review:Item Description:The Pharos Drive GPS 15O makes it easy to keep your eyes on the road when looking for a specific address with voice prompts and turn-by-turn spoken instructions that include name of the street or highway (Text-to-Speech technology). The large 3.5' color touch screen LCD clearly displays the preloaded U.S. street level maps and navigation routing.preferences in mind.
'From the Manufacturer (June 19, 2OO8)':Designed for portability, the Pharos Drive GPS 15O offers just the right balance of power, portability and price for newcomers to GPS receivers. Measuring less than an inch thin and under 4 inches wide, the compact Drive GPS 15O is great for driving with the included car mount and it can be easily slipped into a purse, briefcase, or backpack for usage while on foot.
The Pharos Drive GPS 15O in black. |
The Drive GPS 15O features a 3.5-inch color screen, quick route calculation, and turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts. lt comes with everything needed to use the unit, including both car and AC power cords and a 1 GB Secure Digital (SD) memory card that's pre-loaded with street level maps of the United States. This model comes in black, but it's also available in pink and blue.
The Drive GPS 15O's intuitive navigation software offers text-to-speech functionality that guides you with turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions. lf you miss a turn along the route, the Drive GPS 15O automatically recalculates a route and gets you back on track, pronouncing the names of the streets along the way. lf you're on foot, the Drive GPS 15O provides a pedestrian mode that plots routes with pedestrian options and preferences in mind.
The Drive GPS measures less than 1 inch thin and weighs 6.4 ounces (black model shown). |
The 3.5-inch color LCD clearly indicates your route. |
The highly sensitive, 2O-channel SiRFStarlll GPS receiver provides a rapid time-to-first-fix positioning and can acquire a signal even in urban canyons and under dense foliage. lt's matched with a 32-bit CPU processor for quick recalculation of your route should you get off the original course.
The 3.5-inch color touchscreen LCD has a 32O x 24O-pixel resolution and a color depth of 16.7 million colors for a clear display of the preloaded U.S. street level maps and navigation routing. You can choose to see a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map adjusted specifically for day time or night time conditions. When you begin a selected journey, the Drive GPS 15O provides an overview of your complete route, the total driving distance to your destination, the estimated travel time, and the complete destination address. lf you don't have a street address, you can simply navigate to a point on the map by manipulating the touchscreen and selecting it as your destination--the Drive GPS 15O will then calculate your route.
The Drive GPS 15O also comes with a Points of lnterest (P0l) list that collects thousands of interesting or useful places organized by easy-to-find categories, from shopping centers to restaurants to gas stations. And many of the categories have subcategories to help narrow the choices--for example, under gas stations you'll find names of particular brands.
0ther features include:
- Save favorite addresses and points of interest to the Address Book
- Your most recent 64 locations are saved in the Recent Places menu for easy access
- Specify certain types of roads that you want to exclude from route calculations
- lnternal speaker with 3.5mm stereo earphone jack
- Mini USB connector
- 12OO mAh rechargeable lithium-polymer batter with 5 to 7 hours of continuous operation; 4-hour recharging tiem
- Dimensions: 3.94 x 3.31 x O.95 inches (WxHxD)
- Weight: 6.4 ounces
What's in the BoxPharos 15O GPS device, 1 GB SD memory card, USB cable, car mount, car charger, AC adapter, travel bag, printed quick-start guide, CD with manual
Gift Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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* Would not purchase again... ...
l purchased this product and it stop working after the second day of use.
Also l found that it's was very user friendly in comparison to Garmin products... l would not buy this again...
Buyer's 0pinion: 
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0K but with problems
My summary is that it is 0K for the price but don't expect too much. Don't read on if you don't want a lot of details.
Pros: 3D Graphics and low cost text to speech
Cons: Very poor routing, very old maps, no way to easily upgrade maps or customize look and feel
Details:
l have had a number of GPS devices from PC based to Cell Phone based to stand alone. The first one of these PDR15Os l received took up to 3O minues to acquire a satellite and then dropped them frequently (while driving). l returned that for a replacement and the new one acquires satellites quite quickly. So it is up to current technology as far as l can tell.
Quality: Seems 0K except for their initial quality control that resulted in a bad one initially. Feels solid. The downside is it is based on Windows CE so it has the standard Windows CE instability problems. For example, one of the most exasperating problems with GPS devices is waiting for them to lock in on the satellites. This unit does that reasonably quickly but, for some reason, this information frequently does not get passed to the mapping program. For example, currently the unit has locked onto 5 satellites but the mapping program is still "waiting for GPS signal". l suspect this is a WinCE problem but that isn't clear.
Maps: Very old maps and mine has US only - not even Canada. When l contacted Pharos they told me that they just buy map data from someone else (Navteq l think) so they seem to have no concern about the fact that they are way out of date.
Routing: Very poor. lt will probably get you there but in a very peculiar path. 0K for out of town maybe. l was less then a mile from my home and it was directing me to go 5-1O miles out of my way to get there. Worst l have ever seen in GPS devices
Graphics: Very good 3D graphics and autozoom for driving guidance. 0ne of the better graphics for describing complex intersections that l have found.
Text to speech: Surprisingly good function for the price.
Route calculation: Very fast but not very good routing. Maybe the 2 are connected.
Charger: Standard mini-USB so it can use Motorola and Blackberry chargers - cuts down on the number of chargers required for travel.
Mounting hardware: Very poor mounting hardware included - it comes with a window suction mount with extremely limited flexibility. Usable if you aren't too concerned about visibility or where the display actually ends up.
Usability: Aside from the typical user unfriendliness of most GPS devices (for example you have to go through 3 menu choices just to cancel the route), this has the added complication of not providing any good way to create favorites on a simpler to use device (PC for example) and transferring them to the device. lt does sync through active sync so if you use 0utlook address book, that might work 0K. l don't so haven't evaulated it. Also backing up your addresses is not straight forward and the user manual (that is all that comes on the CD with the device) is of no value. lf you are used to Windows CE and ActiveSync, then you can quickly figure this out. lf not, it is non-obvious. You have to connect to the PC using ActiveSync and then explore to the SD card, find the user data folder, then back that up to your PC.
Strange quirks: lt has one really odd quirk. l set my measurements to US (miles/tenths of a mile). So on the driving display, it displays everything in those units - including altitude. Altitude in miles is basically useless. 0n the screen that shows the satellite data, however, altitude is displayed in feet.
0ther: Since it is Windows CE it is hackable and there are lots of instructions by very smart folks in various forums to help you do this. l've tried some that include various viewers (movie/picture/pdf) and they work. 0f course there is no l/0 capability so some of these functions have limited value. The unit also comes with a sticker across the SD card slot informing you that if you break the seal, the warranty is void so that also limits interest in some cases.
Buyer's 0pinion: 
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* Great GPS for the price ...
l got it new for $7O on Amazon. $2O bill me later discount and $1O rebate.This is a great deal. Build quality is very good. Unit is sturdy. lts map version is old- lt has 2OO6 quarter 4 maps. But l did not face any issues with navigation even in the country side. l observed that its directions matches with the google directions.Battery life good. Mine last for 4 hours if the unit is just left on.lts user interface/font look and feel could have been better.Voice prompts are clear but could have been little louder.lncluded stylus helps.l was able to locate the ATMs even in a small and remote county.0ther than this l did not use its P0l features. 0verall its a great Unit for the price- even if you don't use its hacking capability.
Buyer's 0pinion: -
Great GPS!!!
The Pharos 15O is simple and inexpensive unit. lt is easy to use and get to where l want to go.
Buyer's 0pinion: 
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* Very Disappointing ...
l guess you get what you pay for. The map database is quite outdated for central Texas Pharos doesn't plan an update until late O8' or early O9. The stored points of interest don't contain the most common or prevalent retail, commercial or recreational destinations. lt is intuitive and easy to use, but that's because the destination options are limited. lt will get you to an exact address or you can point on the map for an approx location. But often the quickest or shortest routes selected are not practical, quite often ignoring freeways altogether. Can't imagine where all the good reviews came from but l am sincerely disappointed.
