Mio C520 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
- Portable and accurate GPS navigator complete with full TeleAtlas maps of the US and 4.3-inch TFT LCD touch-screen display
- Features digital music player and photo viewer, hands-free Bluetooth calling, and safety camera warnings with updates for 1-year
- Clear voice instructions in 16 languages give you turn-by-turn guidance so you can keep your eyes on the road
- Includes 6 million POIs, 1 GB of memory, SD/MMC card slot, USB 2.0 port, built-in speaker and headphone jack
- Weighs 6.7 ounces, measures 4.9 x 3.2 x 0.78 inches (W x H x D), and is backed by a manufacturer’s 1-year warranty
Enjoy a widescreen view of the world. The Mio C520 is based around its 4.3” widescreen. The screen size makes it easier to use than ever.You’ll quickly learn to rely on your Mio C520 for everything from location finding and route planning to looking up essential services as well as leisure or entertainment sites when you’re in unfamiliar places.Amazon.com Product Descriptions
Perfect for any road trip, the Mio Digiwalker C520 Portable Car Navigation System is an easy-to-use, portable GPS navigator. Both affordable and stylish, the Mio C520 makes it easier than ever to get where you are going, even when you aren’t quite sure where that might be. Boasting fast and accurate GPS reception, top-notch mapping, and a comprehensive POI (Points of Interest) database, this GPS navigator helps make sure that every journey you take is a good one.
Ready to go virtually straight out of the box, the Digiwalker C520 comes complete with full TeleAtlas maps of the US so you don’t need to make any additional purchases to get out on the road. All you have to do is power the navigator on, insert the SD card, clip it on to the included car mount and you are ready to go anywhere. Larger menu icons combine with a brighter user-friendly wide-screen display to make navigating the intuitive user interface a breeze. Intelligently designed, the wide-screen display has a split-screen function that lets you see the full map view on one side, and a selection of route information on the other, so you don’t have to quit the navigation screen to make changes. Clear voice instructions are provided in up to 16 languages including English, French and Spanish, giving you turn-by-turn guidance so you can keep your eyes on the road while you drive. For added safety, the C520 also enables hands-free calling when used with a Bluetooth-enabled phone.
Designed to be completely portable, the C520 easily travels from car to car, pocket to bag, or suitcase to briefcase. For this purpose, this unit is constructed with an internal GPS antenna that will not catch or snag, and has a semi-gloss finish that resists wear so your navigator stays looking as good as it performs. Containing over 3.5-million POIs such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations and more, you are never more than a few keystrokes away from your destination. Simply select the category of your desired location, make your choice from the provided list, and you are ready to find just about anything you are looking for, giving you a local expert as a traveling companion. As an added convenience, the Mio C520 tells you the likely locations of fixed safety cameras and mobile traps, and includes free safety-camera updates from Mio’s website for a full year from the time you register. More than just a navigator, this unit lets you listen to your favorite digital music or to have a look through your latest digital photos as well. When the MP3 player and photo viewer is used with the SD/MMC memory card slot, you can play all your stored music and look at your favorite snapshots, or show them to other people, all while on the road.
The Mio Digiwalker C520 utilizes a 4.3-inch transreflective LCD touch-screen display with full color and 480 x 272 pixels of resolution for easy at-a-glance information. This unit includes 64 MB of on-board SDRAM, with 1 GB of memory built in, and infinitely expandable memory via the built-in SD/MMC card slot. The GPS receiver is a high-sensitivity, 20-channel SiRFstar III with complete accuracy and quick refresh times. The C520 includes a USB 2.0 connector, a built-in speaker, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, and an internal rechargeable 1,300 mAh lithium-ion battery. The included cradle doesn’t just hold your navigator, but will also charge the battery while you drive when connected to the power cable. Combined with the windshield mount, this cradle forms a very solid device holder, providing investment security and preventing vibrations. The Mio Digiwalker C520 portable car navigator weighs 6.7 ounces, measures 4.9 x 3.2 x 0.78 inches (W x H x D), and is backed by a manufacturer’s one-year warranty.
What’s in the Box
Mio Digiwalker C520 portable navigator, device holder, windshield mount, AC power adapter, DC in-vehicle power adapter, USB cable, CD/DVD with MioMap, CD/DVD with user’s manual, SD card with complete US map, license agreement, information booklet, mount installation guide, quick start guide and warranty information.
Short URL: http://www.typerion.com/?p=18759
Posted by Rhodos
on Aug 25 2010. Filed under Technology.
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==== UPDATE October 2, 2007 ====
I bought a Nav-Mat Portable GPS Dash Mount for use in trips to California, where it is illegal to attach a GPS to your windshield. The Nav-Mat bean bag mount simply works great with the Mio C520 and is very stable. Check out the picture under customer images.
==== UPDATE August 21, 2007 ====
The following statement was in my original review and has been removed: “If you plan to use it in Europe, just Google “MioMap V3.3 Western Europe for Mio C220 - C320 - C520” and you should find some UK vendors who sell the SD card.”
The fact is that although there are vendors in UK who sell the Europe map, the current Europe maps cannot be used in US/Canada models of C520 due to a license issue. Sorry if this caused confusion. Please read the forums at mionav dot com for updates on this issue.
==== UPDATE August 16, 2007 ====
I updated MioMap to the July 5, 2007 version, still v3.3, following the directions in MioNav dot com, which is linked to the Mio topics in the gpspassion dot com forums. (Search for the topic “Updates for miomap V3.3 are available” and you will find a link to download “MioMap V3 Updater for C320 and C520” from Mio’s European website).
This update cures the stuttering problem reported in some earlier versions of MioMap. It also adds a Mute button on the map screen under the Bluetooth button. It does not update the maps or POI data, and leaves the History intact.
==== END UPDATES ====
OVERVIEW:
After doing tons of research to find a competent GPS navigation system under $350, I narrowed down my choice to two models - the Magellan Maestro 3140 and the Mio Digiwalker C520. I would have also considered the Garmin Nuvi 250, but it lacks both text-to-speech and Bluetooth capability which I wanted. If ease of use is most important, I would say the Magellan Maestro 3140, which is a huge improvement over its predecessor, the Maestro 3100, would have been an excellent choice. But since I was not gadget shy, the Mio Digiwalker C520, with its widescreen form factor and advanced capabilities was the unit for me.
The Mio C520 packs in US and Canadian maps with text-to-speech routing instructions, Bluetooth, an MP3 player, a video player, a picture viewer and a contact manager that synchronizes with MS Outlook. The installation is pretty painless. The suction cup holder, which is precision made in Germany, works very well and easily installs onto the windscreen of any car (contrary to what the previous reviewer claims). The Mio works right out of the box with instructions in the tiny manual. If you are willing read the full manual located in the supplied CDROM, and go through a very minor learning curve, you will find the user interface most satisfying and will profit from its awesome capabilities.
It has some cool features, like the ability to display map coordinates and altitude, and has the ability to automatically synchronize time and date with the satellite. It’s signal pickup is lightening fast due to the state-of-the-art 20-channel SirfStarIII receiver. It actually picks up the satellite signal from inside my house. If you are further geek-inclined, visit the forums in gpspassion dot com - which show you how to unlock the GPS operating system (Windows CE 5.0) and install custom applications and utilities.
Now consider that the street price of the equivalent widescreen Garmin (the Nuvi 660) is $300 more than the Mio C520, and you can understand why the Mio tops MobilePlanet dot com’s current popularity list. The Mio is perhaps among the best GPS’ out there at any price!
EXPERIENCE:
On a recent trip to San Francisco with my wife, the Mio turned out to be a real trip saver. It listed our hotel in its point of interest (POI) database and got us to all our destinations without ever getting us lost. Needless to say, it saved us about a couple of hours each day on the trip, even though we were pretty familiar with the Bay Area. Not once did we have to stop for (or argue over) directions! The POI database listed all the major and minor points of interest, including museums, concert halls, gas stations, car rental agencies, seven-elevens, hospitals, etc. It also included hard to find, hole-in-the-wall restaurants. It has restaurants categorized by cuisine, which includes “Japanese”, “Greek”, “Indian” and so on.
While the routing capability is excellent, it is not 100% perfect. (None of the portable GPS models are perfect). While driving on 101 southbound to SFO airport, it asked us to “bear left on Bayshore freeway southbound” seconds before asking us to take the San Bruno exit to the airport on the right. While this was not a navigational glitch per se, it did have the potential for causing confusion. (Of course, I later understood that “bear left” meant the freeway bears left, not “get on the left lane”, duh!). A couple of times it asked us to take left turns in downtown San Francisco that were not allowed. When we ignored it, it recalculated the routes in a matter of seconds, without forcing us to take U turns (which some other GPS models make you do).
Now lets put that in perspective and take, for example, a day trip to Monterey, Pebble Beach, Carmel and back to San Francisco (consisting of, say, 100 routing manoeuvers). On such a trip, the Mio would give confusing instructions perhaps two or three times in total, which meant it was perfect approximately 97% of the time. This is excellent performance in my book. I am perhaps looking at this with a more critical eye than warranted. The important thing is that Mio C520 recalculated the route the moment it realized we were off route, and always got us to our destination quickly.
By considerably reducing the planning chores, the Mio immensely improved the satisfaction of our holiday. We will never go on another trip without it!
TEXT TO SPEECH
The text-to-speech (TTS) feature, which causes the Mio to speak the street names, turns out to be valuable, especially when there are a lot of quick turns to make. The TTS (“Samantha”) voice on the Mio C520 is perhaps a bit brusque but pleasant enough. There is a chime before each voice instruction, which alerts you to an upcoming manoeuver. (The TTS voice is in no way “HORRIBLE” or “VERY” chatty as described in the previous review. With all due respect to the previous reviewer, his review is pretty opinionated and unfair). The TTS voice did not stutter even once. The version of Mio Map on my unit is dated May 18, 2007. Note that some earlier versions are reported to have a TTS voice stuttering problem.
SCREEN:
The the 4.3-inch touch screen with 480x272-pixel resolution is vivid and sharp. (The screen is not washed out, as the previous reviewer claims). And it goes without saying you can easily adjust the brightness to your desired level. The touch-screen keyboard is in QUERTY format and has a predictive function, making it easy to enter an address quickly. The automatic night mode feature is pretty neat and wow inducing. It switches to night mode based on time of sunset for the current date, time zone, latitude and logitude!
NAVIGATION PERFORMANCE:
On the subject of navigation mapping data, the conventional wisdom is that in North America, Navteq data is more accurate than Tele Atlas - which the Mio uses. However, the recent buzz is that Tele Atlas has significantly narrowed the gap with Navteq, especially with its latest map versions released after the fall of 2006. A recent comparison of Navteq versus Tele Atlas in gpsreview dot net actually shows the Tele Atlas’ mapping data to be slightly more accurate than Navteq’s, while another study in gpsmagazine dot com has the results the other way around.
In my own tests, which included comparing the Mio C520’s routing with online maps by Yahoo, Google and Mapquest, showed that none of the routing engines were perfect, with Google coming out perhaps slightly better than the others. To my delight, I found that the routes chosen by the Mio C520, which uses the latest Tele Atlas data, is pretty close to those chosen by Yahoo. Rest assured, the navigation performace of the Mio C520 is indeed excellent.
ROUTING FEATURES:
Typically you would enter an address or POI around the current city. Or you can change the destination city, state or country and enter an address or select a POI for that destination. The Mio also has the ability to route to a contact (an address you entered in the contact manager, under Tools->Contacts).
There is a peculiar way you need to enter North American addresses into the contact manager in order for the “Route to Contact” feature to work. For example, consider the address: 111 FIRST STREET, APT# 101, FREMONT, CA 94533. You have to enter ‘CA, 94533’ in the ‘State:’ field, ‘FREMONT’ in the ‘City/Postcode:’, ‘FIRST STREET’ in the ‘Street:’ field and ‘Apt 101, 111’ in the ‘House number:’ field. (Note that you need to enter the state and zip code separated by a comma in the ‘State:’ field). Once you enter the contact address as the Mio expects it, it creates the route to the contact address super fast (usually in less than 10 seconds).
The Mio has a decent job of position error filtering, which attempts to accurately estimate your car’s position on the map. Even when driving at 70MPH on a freeway, the Mio is off by no more than 10 yards. It also estimates the car’s speed within 2MPH of my car’s odometer reading. When driving on regular streets at around 30MPH, the display of the car position is spot on. There are several split-screen views which you can cycle through, giving you the distance to the next manoeuver, the current time, the estimated time of arrival, etc. If you find the display too busy, you can turn off the panel, giving you a full widescreen routing map.
FINAL NOTES:
While I have not tried the MP3 or the video player, the Mio has no problem pairing with my Nokia E61 phone with Bluetooth for placing and receiving handsfree calls. There’s a whole lot of features I am yet to try out. But I must say that this is a really powerful, well designed GPS Navigation system. There are no gimmicks. So, in conclusion, I highly recommend the Mio C520!!
PROS:
* Excellent routing engine
* Excellent, bright and vivid display
* Great, satisfying user interface. (After you get past the initial learning curve).
* Huge, well categorized POI database. (6.5 million points of interest!)
* Accurate display of current speed, map position and coordinates
* 20-channel SirfStarIII receiver which can receive a satellite fix from indoors
* QUERTY touch-screen keyboard
* Fast text entry by graying out keyboard characters as you type
* Text-to-Speech voice that does not stutter (MioMap v3.3, dated May 18, 2007)
* Automatic night mode based on current time zone, latitude and longitude
* Can be unlocked and tweaked (read the user forums in gpspassion dot com)
* Split screen display of itinerary, estimated time, arrival time, next move, current speed, etc.
* Track logs
* Ability to add via points
* Automatic and fast route recalculation
* Automatic time and date settings (through the satellite Time Sync feature).
* Graphically displays neat info like altitude, GPS signal strength, etc.
* Pedestrian mode
* 2D & 3D views with flyover and other modes
CONS:
* There is a slight learning curve to learn the advanced features
* Does not include carrying case. (I use a Sony Vaio power supply case for mine)
* Needs reboot after days of heavy use
* Does not tell you which side of the street your destination is on
* Delete History feature does not allow you to selectively delete an address
* “Route to contact” feature requires peculiar way of entering the contact address.
* Only one TTS voice
Rating: 5 / 5
The Mio C520 is my first standalone GPS. I’ve used others on laptops, cell phones, PDAs and the like, but this is the first dedicated unit I’ve tried.
I was sorely tempted by the Garmin models, but figured that I really didn’t need a more expensive unit for my relatively limited needs, knowing that I could return it to Amazon if it wasn’t suitable.
I don’t think I’ll be returning the Mio C520.
Physically, it’s a very attractive unit, about 3 by 5 inches and perhaps a half-inch thick. It slips easily into a shirt pocket. (Mio, by the way, does not provide any kind of case or protecetive sleeve. I would strongly urge you acquire a screen protector immediately and an inexpensive belt case.) This portability is a major plus because the 6 million item POI (Points Of Interest) library is truly blowaway caliber. If you’ve ever been a stranger in a city, particularly with a sign restriction, finding a place to eat can be a major hassle - not with this little hummer. Just about any category of goods, services and conveniences are represented. Some of the listings can be strange, such as the inclusion of McDonald’s under Mexican restaurants. But on the whole, the POI catalog is a major selling point for the C520.
The 4.3 inch display is excellent. Like almost all devices, it is difficult to read in direct bright sunlight, but performs quite well in all other situations. The information display, if you choose to use it, is excellent.
Even indoors, I had no trouble getting quick satellite fixes. As I write this, I am sitting indoors about ten feet from the windows and have solid fixes on six satellites. Outdoors in obstruction free areas, there is no problem.
Route calculation so far has proven to be quite good. I took it out for a test today as a passenger, while the driver took a very, very circuitous route to our destination, ignoring the unit’s suggestion. Recalculation was acceptably fast. The C520, by the way, doesn’t as many mapping programs do think that a U-turn is the first remedy and sometimes only remedy.
All the menus are accessible. I really have no complaints about about the hierarchy.
The video, photo, audio and Bluetooth functions seem to work okay, though I haven’t spent a great deal of time with them.
Overall, I am very pleased with the C520. I am looking forward to being able to slip it into my shirt pocket on my next out-of-town trip and being to depend on it as a handy and accurate guide.
Jerry
Rating: 5 / 5
I have had my Mio C520 for 3 weeks and driven over 3500 miles with it — -from Rochester, NY to southern West Virginia to Topsail, North Carolina and back. I also used it on a trip from Rochester, NY to Washington, D.C. and back. This is my second GPS. My first was a Navman ICN 510.
I researched this purchase very carefully. I read practically every review that I could find of practically every GPS model currently on sale. I also spent at least a couple of hours “playing” with the various models in Circuit City.
This review is only of the GPS functions. I have no need of the bluetooth or multimedia functions and have not used them.
I am very satisfied with my purchase and highly recommend the C520. I believe it to be the best GPS for the money currently available.
I was amazed when I found that I could get a GPS signal inside of Circuit City (I was nowhere near a window). Acquisition of a signal was always relatively fast (I always shut it down to “standby” mode). Route recalculations were very fast. The unit never once locked up. (My Navman did all the time).
The Mio C520 easily beats all competing GPS models in terms of the amount of information readily available onscreen. Its split screen has Garmin, TomTom, and Magellan beat hands down. I particularly liked being able to view the map and the next 5 turns at the same time.
The navigation menus are intuitive, quick and very easy to use. I highly recommend reading the 9 page paper manual. It will get you up to speed very quickly. The predictive keyboard (a feature Magellan also has) is wonderful! The menus for various settings are not as intuitive or easy to use. Mio could clean these “settings” menus up some more. Speaking of settings, you can set this unit up almost anyway you want it. I particularly liked being able to change the “distance to go” settings to be in miles and feet rather than the default miles and yards.
The Points of Interest database is very extensive and seems to be up to date and accurate. (I did run into a problem on a stretch of NC 17 near Topsail, North Carolina where the locations of several POI were miles off). It is very easy to save your favorite destinations in customized folders in the My POI folder.
The maps seem to be relatively up to date and routing was almost always efficient and accurate, but it was not perfect. For example, some routing around Charleston, WV (in “fast” mode) was absurd. I found the same routing in “economical” mode to be spot on. The unit also will sometimes give you different directions on the return trip from a destination. Also, some information given was occasionally inaccurate. For instance, the unit would indicate a left turn toward Poca. The “turn left” part was accurate for where I wanted to go, but going to Poca would have required a right turn.
The text to speech feature was very nice and not available in any other wide screen model at this price. “Samantha” occasionally stuttered somewhat, but these occasions were infrequent and the stutter was slight. I never had any problem understanding what “she” was trying to tell me.
The screen is bright and clear and legible in the car in any light conditions. The screen is hard to view in bright sunlight when using it as a pedestrian. It would be nice if the fonts were a little larger. (I have since found out that it is easy to find “hacks” online that make it very easy to enlarge the fonts).
Also, it would have been nice if Mio had included the ability for it to tell you which side of the street your destination is on. My Navman, which also used TeleAtlas maps, had this feature, but it was sometimes inaccurate. One thing that my Navman did (which thankfully the Mio does not) was to instruct me to “return to the highway” every time it thought (inaccurately) that I had left it.
To sum up, I believe this to be the best GPS for the money. I am very pleased with it.
Rating: 4 / 5
My wife and I purchased a mio C520 GPS for a trip the next day from St. Louis, MO to Denver, CO thru Estes Park, down to Colorado Springs, CO , over to San Diego, CA up to San Francisco, CA via US highway 1 then to Napa Valley, CA then to the Grand Canyon and back the southern route thru AZ, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and St. Louis.
The mio C520 GPS did a great job, although not perfect. I’d give it a 95% job. From street address to street address it did 100% job of getting you there. A few times it plotted a zig-zag route on a three mile strech to a restraunt that i would have preferred to go a little longer and slower on a straight away, but i guess it was shorter.
What is the great feature is knowing throught the trip how far away gas stations are as they can be sparse in the desert and remote parts of the trip. the Mio also found some great restraunts just a few miles (4) off the interstate. It also has the phone number and address of the points of interest in addition to showing it on a map. It even had a sandwich shop overlooking the pacific on Highway 1. Even though the last update to POI was April 2007, some restraunts had closed, we only has two we found. which i can’t fault the mio on. Hotels listings were great as my wife and I would drive until we felt like calling it a night.
We could use the mio to gauge distances of further out hotels. The main screen tells you if the gas stations are ahead of you, behind you or to the side of your current location, very nice. On the logding listing, the mio tells you the distance but not the direction. So you have to know the citites you have passed and what’s ahead. There were a lot of hotels and restraunts in the Grand Canyon that the mio did not even list which was surprising. Overall it did a great job finding places if you want more than fast food off the highway. The mio did list just abount every small street that we encountered which was especially helpful since many did not have street signs where we turned.
The graphics and map with 3-D are cool, it makes it seem as if you are driving a futuristic “Jetson’s ” car or spacecraft.
You can adjust the brightness down at nighttime, it can do it automatically too. The display was always readable even in the sun. The battery did not seem to last long (a few hours) so make sure you use the included auto adapter. It also comes with an a/c plug and usb cable.
The English (UK) quite realistic British accented voice Thomas made the trip quite enjoyable with his style and pronnunciation to add a touch of elegance. Althought Thomas only give distances for turning as in turn right in 1/4 of a mile. You have to look at the screen for the street name. Announcing street names (Called text-to-speech) is only available in Englishg (US) Samatha voice.
The English (US) voice samamtha gives street names although her voice is somewhat robotic, I guess I was expecting a southern belle voice after the great job mio did with Thomas’ voice.
A solo driver can follow the navagation directions, however you must for safety have the passenger use the other features aside from gas stations distances which can be chosen as an option to display on the split screen.
Other split screen are mileage remaining on trip and distance to next turn.
Several other languages are also included. I did not use any of the bluetooth capabilities.
I would recommend the mio C520 strongly.
Rating: 4 / 5
(This is revised review after 2 months of heavy usage)
Car GPS is for *helping* people, not to *replace* people. So my 5-stars opinion is based on that by setting the right expectations. Not to write a long essay, here’s something for busy and impulsive potential buyers:
Thumbs-up:
Large display with dual-panes - very very handy indeed
1) Type-ahead
2) Bluetooth
3) Good screen size for fat fingers
4) Lotsa POI (very up to date)
5) Much more features (many customizable) than others
6) Relatively fast satellite signal locking
7) No force-U-turn when doing route recalculation
9) Map position is mostly super accurate
Thumbs-down:
No hardware volume control - you’ll find this most annoying when you feel the TTS is getting too chatty
1) TTS - Instead of saying “taking the next right” the voice would say “take the next drive”.
2) Route optimization is global, not per route. This really stinks. For example, if you set the default to SHORTEST, and for one route you need to go FASTEST (like, when local traffic is real bad and you don’t mind taking the longer highway route), you have to exit the current map and go to all the way to top-level config to change the algorithm and then drill back down again. Are you kidding me? You could also tweak it at the low level but who would do that when you drive?
3) Community off-target: If your destination is a large community, the street # could be as off as 4 blocks (you’d still be on the same street, but you’d know you’re off)
4) Bluetooth volume is not loud enough when you’re driving like 60mph
5) Jumping on-and-off on parallel roads. If you happen to drive in Brooklyn’s I-278 area, you will be amazed by how you’d jump off the I-278 bridge to 3rd Ave (which is parallel and right underneath I-278) and then jumped right back up. The software does have a way to determine if you are on the bridge or on the road underneath it, but it’s not perfect.
6) Route re-calc: The good thing is that it doesn’t force you to U-turn. The bad thing is that it doesn’t make you to U-turn when you have to. Like, if you miss an interstate entrance, I may not wanna drive 10 miles all local to the next one. Not a big deal, you just need to know this is the characteristics and you must work-around it by making an U-turn yourself, thus forcing the software to pick the original route again.
7) Battery life is quite miserable when bluetooth is on.
Not-your-complaints:
1) Why people moan about maps not up-to-date? You know, the maps will *never* be up-to-date. And if you didn’t go cheap and buy those refurb units, you won’t be driving on a road that the unit doesn’t show.
2) Why people moan about driving in the black mass when in a shopping center? This is not a joke. When you’re in a shopping center, the map would show a black area with no road, as if your car is an speedboat cruising in the Great Swamps National Wildlife Refugee. But hey, you know better than the machine.
In general, I found local routes having more room to nitpick than longer routes (this is also true with the Garmin Navi 350 and TomTom I borrowed from my buddies). I usually turn the unit off when driving local. When I got detoured to unknown roads, or I am going distance, this GPS does the job very admirably.
Rating: 5 / 5