Delphi NAV200 GPS

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The NAV200 Portable GPS Navigation from Delphi is a GPS device that will not only help you arrive at your desired destination, but it will also provide some extra features when you aren’t using it to guide your travels.

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Hardware Specifications

Processor: Samsung 2440 400 Mhz
Operating System: Win CE.net Core V 4.2
GPS Antenna: SiRF III
Memory: 32MB Flash/64MB RAM
External Memory: Supports up to 2GB SD card
Display: 3.5″ 320×240 pixel Touch Screen
Speaker: 8 ohm, 1×2 Watt (stereo)
Audio Out Jack: Ear jack 3.5mm (stereo)
Stylus Pen: Yes
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion / 730mA
DC Power: 5V
Dimensions: 5.3″ x 3.2″ x 1″
Weight: 6.7 oz.

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Package Contents

NAV200 GPS Unit
SD Map card
Windshield and dash mount
Car charging cable
CD with manual
Quick start guide

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The NAV200 is made of Silver plastic and has a nice heft to it when you hold it in your hand. The design is simple and non-cluttered. The 3.5 inch non-glare color touch screen takes up most of the face of the device, but flanking each side is a set of two buttons. On the Left side there is a Main Menu button and below it a Screen Saver button. On the opposite side there are two zoom buttons to zoom the map in and out.

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If you turn the unit over, you’ll see the built in speakers and the folded down GPS antenna.

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You flip the antenna up when you’re using the device. You might also notice the small gold connector on the edge of the antenna. You can use this to attach an external antenna, which can be purchased separately.

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An SD slot is built into the front edge of the NAV200. This is where you insert the included map SD card or SD card with music and videos.

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On the left side there is an earphone connector and a small power switch.

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You will find the power jack, optional TMC-RDS real-time traffic kit jack and the volume control dial.

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An adjustable goose neck suction cup windshield mount is included, which easily snaps into and out of the back of the GPS when the antenna is flipped up. If you don’t want stick the mount to your windshield, you can stick it to your dash using the included adhesive mount plate. Setting up the NAV200 in your car is easy and shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two.

I knew just how I was going to test the NAV200, when I was asked if I would be interested in reviewing it. I packed the windshield mount, car charger cable and GPS unit with me in my gear bag when I traveled to Sedona, Arizona earlier this summer. I really don’t enjoy reading paper maps and I thought it would be a great way to put this GPS through its paces. It’s one thing to test a GPS in an environment where you are already used to traveling. It’s another to trust it in a location that you’re not familiar with at all.

As soon as we got our rental car at the Phoenix airport, I connected the mount to the windshield, plugged the 5V power adapter into the car’s cigarette lighter and waited a few seconds for the GPS to boot up. If you leave the GPS plugged into the power port, it will automatically power down when you turn off your engine and will power back up went you start it again.

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The first screen you’re greeted with is the main menu, which has finger friendly sized buttons for the main features of the device. The features include Navigation, Music Player, Movie Player, Picture Viewer, Game, Calculator and World Clock.

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The music player is very basic and can play MP3 and WAV files. The music will play through the built in speakers, or thru earphones (not included).

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There’s also a Movie Player application. The only file format that it supports though is AVI.

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The Picture Viewer app supports GIF, JPG and PNG. Like the music and movie players, this viewer is really basic. I guess it is useful if your digital camera uses SD cards and you want to view the pictures on something larger than its viewfinder.

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You even get a calculator.

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And the classic strategy game Othello (also known as Go and Reversi).

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The settings dialog allows you to calibrate the touch screen, adjust the brightness, change the language and pick sounds for various events.

Let’s check out the main use for the NAV200… GPS navigation. All of the map data is contained on the included 1.5 GB SD card. It is preloaded with NAVTEQ maps of the U.S. and Canada.

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Pressing the Navi button will launch into the navigation application. This takes about 10-12 seconds every time you launch from the main menu. Each time you launch, you have to also tap an I Accept button on a warning screen that makes you promise you won’t cause any accidents by using this device. This is very annoying to have to do every time you launch. I wish this could be bypassed.

Once the application is up, it looks like the image above. As you can see, you can press a large Navigation button, Go Home button, Recent destinations button, Map, Settings and Quit buttons.

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When you press the Navigation button, you can search on a specific address or point of interest. The software contains 1.6 Million points of interest that you can search on. Things like ATMs, gas stations, stores, restaurants, etc. This type of search makes it easy to find places located nearest your location. Very handy when you’re in a strange town and need to find an ATM quick!

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Addresses are entered by selecting the city, zip and then street address. You enter the name of the street first and then the number. For example, if you wanted to travel to 123 Main Street, you would enter the word Main and then would enter the numbers 123 in the No. field. As you type, a list of matching street names will appear that you can select to make entering the name quicker.

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A popup keyboard makes it easy to enter city and street names quickly by tapping letters with your finger tip. While it is easy to enter information this way, I’m waiting for the GPS device that can take my voice commands and translate them into actions.

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Once you enter a valid address and press the navigate button, the display will change into the map view. In this view, you see a real-time view your vehicle (the Green arrow) moving down the road (Orange line). Below the map is the name of the current street that you are driving on and below it is the next street that you’re supposed to turn on. To the Left of the street names is double box. The box on top shows an arrow designating the direction of your next turn. The box below that shows the distance to that next turn. That box showing the distance till the next turn will also start filling up with Red lines when the turn gets closer. When you’re almost at the point of the turn, the box will be completely filled Red. This is a nice visual indicator. Of course the GPS also has audible indicators. A female voice announces turns such as “Turn Left in 600 feet”. The NAV200 does NOT say the street names though. It will sometimes say highway names like “Turn Right on Highway 46”, but would not say things like “Turn Right on McKinley Avenue”.

There is more information on the map screen that isn’t shown in the image above (because I had to ‘borrow’ that screen shot from Delphi’s site). I was unable to get a picture of the GPS in action because I was … um… driving! Other info includes info like the estimated time to destination, remaining distance in miles left to destination and directional heading.

This GPS also has the ability to save favorite destinations and do route planning with stopovers.

During my testing in Phoenix, Arizona, the NAV200 was a real handy tool to have along with us in the car. We didn’t have to depend on reading a paper map. It’s funny because I actually printed directions for some of our excursions from MapQuest, but I followed the sometimes different directions that the NAV200 offered. We never got lost. Not once :o)

The Delphi NAV200 is a nice basic GPS device that is priced relative to its feature set. The last GPS that I reviewed was the FineDigital FineDrive M300, which I actually like just a little bit better because it can charge via USB. I wish the NAV200 had this ability as it would be more convenient when you take the unit out of the car to use as a media player. But other than that small feature, the NAV200 is superior in that it supports the optional real-time traffic kit which can be a real time saver if you travel in busy areas. Delphi isn’t a brand name most people would typically think of when considering the purchase of a GPS device, but I can say that it is one that I can recommend.

 

Product Information

Price:249.99
Manufacturer:Delphi
Retailer:Delphi
Pros:
  • Easy to use
  • Supports the optional real-time traffic module
  • Audio and video player built in
Cons:
  • Doesn't charge via USB
  • Have to by pass a warning screen every time you use the navigate feature

30 thoughts on “Delphi NAV200 GPS”




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  2. Hey there we love our delphi nav200 but today it is saying that it wants new batteries and shows a picture of normal batteries. We only have the car lighter cord. Does it have a spot for normal batteries as well and we just havn’t found it yet?
    Thanks

  3. Need a car charger and can’t find one anywhere I’ve tried different places please let me know because no one seems to know anything about this GPS.

  4. I’ve had a Delphi NAV200 for two years now, and these are some of my impressions and observations:

    * Suction cup – not Delphi specific, but applicable to any suction cup mounted device; to stick to your windshield the best, wet the cup first, then attach. Due to the Delphi’s heft, I mount mine so that the unit rests atop the top of the dash.

    * Mapping – Many cartographic errors, especially in rural areas I live in. Maintained streets missing, while dirt tracks grown over completely shown. Misnamed streets, or parallel streets reversed. POI’s missing or misplaced.

    * Mapping II – A large shopping center with new streets surrounding it; added in 2001 in a town I used to live in; were not shown on the 2006 mapset that came with my unit.

    * Unit Weirdness – Using the side buttons to zoom almost always puts the map out to maximum and turns off the navigate mode. The icon becomes centered over Manitoba Province, Canada, I live in Nevada, United States. This forces me to zoom back down to the level I want (often taking two or more taps of the button to actually make the zoom change), then turning back on the navigation mode so the triangle icon is shown where I am and not in Manitoba. When you want to simply zoom in or out one level, this is frustrating and takes your eyes and concentration off the road.

    * Unit Weirdness II – The female voice in the navigate mode can get on your nerves. “She” sounds like a 70-year old woman who smoked all her life.

    * Unit Weirdness III – The Delphi NAV200 has a stubborn streak from time to time. Using the side buttons or on-screen commands often result in something else entirely non-related to what I’m trying to do. There’s been times that I’ve had to resort to simply shutting it off and re-booting it.

    * GPS Function – Speed readout of my vehicle is about 3 miles per hour slow. Altitude is usually 200 feet high. This is based on comparisons of side by side readings with my Garmin eTrex hand held GPS device (no mapping capabilities), which is spot on; and also based on known elevation points.

    * Conclusion – I’d like to see Delphi offer a topographic mapset like does Garmin and others.

    I use my Garmin eTrex side by side with my Delphi. I do a lot of 4WD exploration in very rural and empty public lands in Nevada. The Garmin is easier to program specific waypoints and these can be “stitched” together to create specific routes. The Delphi cannot guide me in navigate mode because my destination is not a street address. If I want to find a Burger King in a strange city, yes, it does that just fine. But to find a campsite in specific meadows in a mountain range, it cannot do that. But I leave it in map mode just to get an overall look at where I’m at.

  5. I am been having trouble with my delphi since purchase it . The battery is not working ,eg no power unless it is pluged into a power source. If i stop the car during the trip i have to reset the unit with all the information it retains nothing.
    Can you help?????
    Maree

  6. My Delphi GPS 200 has been working just great, but now when I press the navigate button it will not navigate ,it’s like it was not even pushed.All the other options work ,but not the navigate button >What can I do or who and where do I send it to.I live in Hamilton Ontario Canada.Google

  7. When I switch it on, it goes normal and without any pop up for “I accept” , it reaches to Main Menu and when I touch the ‘NAVI’ button, it does not respond and hence abstruct my use. Other applications responding normal.

  8. Michael Hutchinson

    I have a Delphi Nav200, and I would like to update the Australian maps, how can I do this, and where can I get the soft aware from.

  9. i have delphi since 2007 but i want to update the usa and canada map where can i get it? and where can i get a SD card for Philippines and how much would it be?

  10. My Delphi GPS 200 has been working just great, but now when I press the navigate button it will not navigate ,it’s like it was not even pushed.All the other options work ,but not the navigate button >What can I do or who and where do I send it to.I live in Perth, Western Australia

  11. I have a Delphi Nav200, and I would like to update the Australian and New Zealand maps, how can I do this, and where can I get the software from ?

    .

  12. Hi there, how do i load music onto my Delphi? Ive just bought it and i dont know how to put music onto it.. Thank you

  13. Please advise how I can access updates for the Australian maps on my delphi nav200. It was purchased in 2008 and still has original maps which are severely outdated! HELP!!

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