Customer Rating:      Summary: LOVE my Dash Express Comment: I can not speak highly enough about this product! I simply love the device and all its features. Being able to add additional services and "applications" to it only makes it that much sweeter. Even when driving around town, I feel naked if I don't have my Dash with me to find new places to eat, drink, or be merry.
There have been complaints about routing problems- I have only experienced an inability to find a route from Manchester, NH to a small town in Vermont that borders Canada. These issues are being addressed by Dash developers, and each map and software update shows significant improvements.
One of the biggest strengths of this device is the fact that the software is updated regularly. If there is a feature that a Garmin or TomTom has that isn't present on this device, it can be added by Dash. This is a huge plus in my book! In addition, you do not have to connect the device to your computer for updates- they download automatically over WiFi!
If you are in the market for a GPS device, I can not suggest this unit strong enough. Though it does not come with the bluetooth or contact-management features that other GPS units have, it is made up for with strong navigational features. After all, a GPS that doesn't navigate well isn't worth anything.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Fantastic Connected features Comment: Overall, this device is merely average. If you're looking for a basic GPS, move along--you'll find an inexpensive Garmin unit much, much more to your liking.
However, if you like gadgets, this is the GPS for you.
I waited until after the first software update to purchase one, and it's still not ready for mainstream, sadly. There are a few interface quirks and bugs to work out. However, the connectivity features of this unit are totally worth the price. Again, this is if you're an early-adopter gadget freak type (like me!).
My biggest love of the device really is the connectivity--the best part of which is *not* the traffic (although it's wonderful), but the "search along my route" feature. Want to stop for ice cream along your route coming home from work? No problem! Just input your destination, and perform a connected search--voila!
My biggest complaint is that the routing engine consistently guides me along routes where it knows traffic information, rather then more direct routes. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it often doesn't even offer me the "direct" route as one of the options, of which it will offer you up to four. However, I've used the "report problem" button in the settings menu, and the support staff has always gotten right back to me within the day--a pretty amazing feat, if you ask me. It is obvious that they really care about improving the device, and taking advantage of the connectedness they have by performing updates--it's almost like GPS as a Service (GaaS!).
Customer Rating:      Summary: beware the refurb units Comment: If you get one of the refurbs from Amazon (ie: warehouse deals), do be aware that you won't get the full 90 day trial of the wireless service. Instead, you'll get whatever was left when the last person returned it. In my case, it was 52 days, around 40 hours less than what would come with a new one ($12.99 value).
Here is what customer service said "Thanks for your reply. We currently do not have a policy on this as we do not sell used devices. As Amazon is selling open-boxed devices, these are treated as such, and do not include the 3-months of free service in which the new devices do. Whatever free service is left on the device from the previous user (if any) is carried over, but usually isn't more than a month or so."
Some other reasons this will be going back to Amazon:
This is for sure a 1.0 product.
- The white line on beige for your navigation is very hard to read, low visual contrast
- Parks and other natural features are not shown as you are driving, it just looks like thin lines on a background. Not as well done visually as the garmins. My guess is that this is to reserve the colors off the screen for the traffic updates, but this should be an option, especially if someone isn't using the traffic
- Road names are not very clear, instead of angling to match the roads, they are represented by a dot and then the name of the road. On a busy screen, it's very non-intuitive and hard to tell what roads are what
- No options to change what the "car" looks like. I don't have a blue sedan. That's the only choice. If you have a blue sedan then you are in luck!
- No options at all to set GPS resolution, number of roads visible, thickness of roads, font size for street names
- No signal strength indicators on main screen. You never know how strong your gps, wifi or cellular signals are. So you never know if you are connected (besides checking in the menu system) and getting or sending traffic updates.
- The voice isn't great. It says "stree" instead of "street". You'd think with the word most common to be said by this unit, that it would have been enhanced some.
- The "menu" button on the top of the unit is cumbersome. It would be better as a soft button
- This unit is MUCH SLOWER than a 4 year old garmin to recognize and draw turns in the road (ie: the car turning to a new road) and when you miss a turn
- Speaking of missing a turn, it doesn't tell you when you missed a turn. (my garmin says "recalculating" aloud. If you're not paying attention, you could keep driving in the wrong direction, especially if on a freeway
Granted many of these issues could be changed via a software update. Stay tuned!
And finally, here's a winning suggestion for the dash team. It seems like a lot of areas don't have coverage because people don't have dashes. A chicken and egg kind of problem. How about the first 3 people in a zip code (or group of zip codes) who buy this get a free year of service? You'd get amazing press, and people in areas would be falling over each other to be one of the first 3. You could even have a map on your website that showed what areas still were up for grabs. You need a bigger headstart on garmin, magellan and tomtom. Or do you plan to sell your tech to them??? ;-)
Customer Rating:      Summary: Good idea, bad GPS. Comment: I had the product for roughly 2 weeks, and used it on a daily basis to get from point A to point B. This product was purchased with hopes of escaping the dreadful Los Angeles traffic. To test the product, I tried driving from Santa Monica to Los Angeles during peak period, and was appalled when the GPS showed no alternative route to LA, except through the 10E. I personally think, the GPS system could use some massive upgrades. In another occasion, the GPS got lost when I was driving under the highway... one minute it shows me as driving on a local street, the next I would have somehow miraculously appear to be driving on the freeway right above my head!
Overall, good idea.. but I would not get the product until it has been throughly tested!
Customer Rating:      Summary: Commuter Gadget Comment: Good for knowing traffic conditions on familiar routes. Confuses me out of town (missed turns) and few stored points (must connect to Yahoo). Prefer my old Garmin Streetpilot out of town. Garmin should buy this company and use their technology, but I much prefer the Garmin user interface. The subscription fee needs to come down.
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