Navman GPS 3420 for iPAQ H3600, H3700 & H3800 series pocket PCs

• Vocal & visual turn-by-turn directions to get you to your destination
• Back-on-Track gets you headed in the right direction when off course
• Intuitive user interface
• Portable design for in-vehicle and hand-held operation

I Purchased the Navman 3420 for the iPAQ after becoming extremely dissatisfied with the Pharos Ostia GPS product. See my review of that product. Like the Pharos system the routing software wants to choose you route for you and may not always be the best or most practical way to go. If you want to stick to the interstates, you can't if it thinks another way is shorter. This is also a flaw in the Pharos system, but the Pharos is much worse. Also it does not offer the flexibility to get from point A to point C via point B. But that is the worst thing I have to say about this product. Overall the maps are pretty good and fairly detailed. I have found a few quirks like a missing road segment or bridge which causes the system to route you the long way around as well as a few landmarks that are not in the right place, but the re-routing capability is pretty good. The maps are fairly good size, probably averaging 50mb and will require a CF card. A 256mb card will do and hold 4 or 5 maps, but I would recommend a 512.

From the hardware point of view, the Navman 3420's GPS antenna sleeve fits the iPAQ like a glove and has an integrated compact flash slot and is still compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket. Also the suction cup windshield mount fits right into the back of the sleeve allowing the unit to be mounted conveniently to the driver.

The functionality is pretty good and the menus are clear and easy to navigate. Most of the menu items are large enough to be selected with a finger and the zoom and toggle toggles are controlled with the action button. There have only been a few times that the software has gotten `confused' and required a reboot (vs. frequently with the Pharos). You should be up and running right out of the box in the time it takes to load the maps.

I have not had the occasion to use Navman's tech support, which in itself is a plus, so I cannot comment. I'm not going to go so far as to say it's the perfect product but it's design and operation is practical and sensible. The manufacturer has obviously put some thought into the product. I would like to see further development of the mapping software and more flexibility in route planning, like via waypoints.

Summary: Overall I'm pleased with this product. Hardware 5 stars, Software 3 stars.

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I was running the NAVMAN GPS on a iPAQ 3955. To make this short, after doing a "Hard" reset and applying the latest Soft-Paq I could get it to work 1 out of 10 times.

Another mistake I made was buying a SanDisk 512mb CF card so I could store the program and maps (You'll get about 1/4 of the US on the card.) You can't install the program to the CF card as it will not function and the program (4.3mb installed) definitely slowed down my machine.

Just so you know I sent it back to Amazon and was refunded.