Binatone X350

...the proud owner of the Binatone Carrera X350 for £79.99. The price has subsequently dropped to £59.99 - more of that later. This version is pre-loaded with GB and Republic Of Ireland maps - for around £89.99 you can get one that has European maps as well (the Z350 if you are interested).

Binatone has been around for a long time and produce a range of electrical products and telephones at the cheaper end of the market. I didn't want ...
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On contacting the Binatone helpline, they were unable to resolve it over the phone as it looked like a software issue and would need to be sent for repair, or the other option was to contact the seller. Here, I have to say Amazon were superb bearing in mind it was ten months since purchase. They provided me with labels to send the phone back Freepost and within 4 days I received a full refund. How's that for service. I ordered another replacement ... more

My wife would be the first to admit that her map reading skills leave a lot to be desired and as she cannot link up with the global positioning satellites (GPS) encircling planet Earth then I decided to trade her in for something that could.

Despite my best efforts with Amazon, and a final offer of two camels, they finally accepted Pounds Sterling, and last November I became the proud owner of the Binatone Carrera X350 for £79.99. The price has subsequently dropped to £59.99 - more of that later. This version is pre-loaded with GB and Republic Of Ireland maps - for around £89.99 you can get one that has European maps as well (the Z350 if you are interested).

Binatone has been around for a long time and produce a range of electrical products and telephones at the cheaper end of the market. I didn't want to spend a fortune and plumped for this model after reading reviews on Amazon , the majority of which were favourable.

Before I tell you about the Satnav itself, I just want to tell you about my own experience, as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so to speak. Overall I have been very pleased with it however there may be a question mark over the reliability.

My observations.

In terms of it getting you from A to B, it does the job and does it well and I have no complaints there. Now I always thought that if I put in a postcode it would get me to my destination but having tried that method it's a little bit hit and miss. I didn't realise that a postcode can cover quite a wide area so if you are doing it that way, you could be left some distance from your desired destination, so using a street name has proved much more accurate.

I had one major problem earlier this year. We were on our way back from West Wales, when all of a sudden there was a loud beep and a pile of fatal error messages cropped up on the screen. Attempts to reset the unit failed and we had to navigate the rest of the way home via conventional methods (thank goodness I didn't trade my wife in after all as she hasn't had a fatal error in over twenty years).

On contacting the Binatone helpline, they were unable to resolve it over the phone as it looked like a software issue and would need to be sent for repair, or the other option was to contact the seller. Here, I have to say Amazon were superb bearing in mind it was ten months since purchase. They provided me with labels to send the phone back Freepost and within 4 days I received a full refund. How's that for service. I ordered another replacement from them of the same model and that's how I know the price has come down.

There does not seem to be an inherent software problem looking at more recent user reviews of the product and I was more than happy to try again. The model I have now appears to have different software installed and to date I have had no problems.

What's in the box Gary?

For your money you get,

A car mounting kit, which consists of a black plastic ratchety thingy with a lever and a suction cup to affix to the windscreen and a holder that fits onto it into which is clipped the Satnav unit,

An in-car charger,

A USB cable. This is primarily used to update maps, software and safety camera alerts via your computer.

The Satnav unit itself with an integrated stylus pen.

An instruction manual.

The Satnav has a 3.5 inch anti-reflective LCD screen surrounded by a black rubberised finish front and back with a nice metallic looking finish around it. The front has Binatone Carrera stamped in white at the top, with a charge light (red for charging, green for fully charged). The top has a sleep mode button to switch the unit in and out of sleep mode.

The back houses the integrated stylus pen, a speaker grille, the on/off switch and a reset button. The right hand edge has holes/ slots for a TMC port (for a dongle and antenna which is optional), a USB port, a SD card slot and finally a headphone jack. It certainly looks expensive!!

Before using it for the first time, the battery (a 3.7v 1,300mAH lithium polymer battery) needs charging. This can be accomplished by using the in-car charger for two hours, or five hours via your computer and the USB cable. A word of warning here - some laptops may not have sufficient power through the USB port and could damage the port so my advice would be to use the car charger. Once fully charged the battery runs for 2 - 3 hours in navigation mode. I tend to keep it connected to the in-car charger when using.

Once charged you are ready to set up. In all the times I've used this, the suction cup and holder has always stuck and held firm to the windscreen. You simply place the suction cup (made of soft clear plastic) on the windscreen and push the plastic lever to secure and it is instantly stuck. To release, press the switch down and peel the cup away. Turn the knob on the ratcheted arm to whatever angle to want (up or down, right or left) and affix the holder onto three plastic prongs. The unit then clips into place. I'm glad it is so easy as it is not wise to leave a Satnav on display in the car to entice would be thieves. Be prepared to quickly wipe the windscreen with a tissue or cloth where the suction cup was though, as it can leave a tell-tale circle.

If you have a car with an athermic heat reflecting or heated windscreen then you may need to purchase an external antenna to enable the unit to get a valid satellite signal. I've no problem with my Berlingo - I'm lucky to have a basic windscreen!!

When acquiring the initial signal, it's best to do it in an open area. I've not had any issues. Switch the unit on and it'll go through to a menu screen, showing, navigation, GPS receiver and settings. Click on GPS by tapping the screen gently with the stylus that you slide out of the back, and you'll see the unit acquiring various satellite signals via strength bars. When they go from red to green and you get at least four you are ready to go!! There's a compass circle showing the satellites that are being received. Sad I know but I like that bit. The time is automatically configured when the signals are acquired.

Distance can be in miles or kilometres, it's your choice and easy to change. It also has a day/night navigation mode and the brightness can be altered to suit the conditions. The screen is clear and easy on the eye and there have been no problems with glare affecting it.

Choose your language and voice, male or female. I personally prefer the female voice - I'm used to being told what to do by a woman!! The volume control has 5 settings and is plenty loud enough to hear above the kids in the back.

It has a choice of 2D (flat) or 3D (raised) navigation, I prefer the latter and your route is reflected by a blue line on the very clear map, changing to red (raised above the image) to show which direction to take at a roundabout or turn.

During navigation, it is so easy to read. The visual map fills the majority of the screen, down the left, from the top down it gives information such as a countdown in metres to the next action needed. For example, an arrow pointing to the left with 250 yd means you turn left in 250 yards. It counts down from the previous event so if you are on a long road it may start at X number of miles and reduces down as you go along.

Below that you have your current speed as calculated by the GPS, then the estimated time of arrival at your destination that automatically adjusts dependent on your speed and progress. The final information is the remaining distance, in miles, to your destination, that obviously reduces as you get closer. The voice prompts are accurate and clear giving advance warning of any manoeuvres you need to make.

The screen also displays what road you are on, for example A470 or name, and at the top the battery level. For navigation, it can carry out a full UK 7 digit postcode search but bear in mind my earlier comment. You can also activate a free 6 month speed camera alert in the settings function. To continue after the trial you need to subscribe - details on the Binatone web-site.

The unit is very easy to operate and a lot of the functions are self explanatory. I won't bore you with each and every one as it is all explained in the very easy to follow user guide. You use the stylus to navigate around the screen. For those suffering with arthritis or rheumatism it could be quite difficult to hold as it is very thin and around 3 inches in length but you could use either a finger (just as effective) or perhaps a pen.

Before purchasing the Satnav I was concerned that it may be distracting and would take my eyes away from the road but my fears were unfounded. It is easy to position for best effect and you could use it quite ably by the voice prompts alone. You don't need to tap the screen once it has been programmed so don't worry about having to drive and play around with it at the same time. Not recommended anyway!!

Briefly, on the destination screen, you have a 'find address' screen where you input the address on an alpha/numerical screen. It has a function to prevent mis-spelling by greying out letters that cannot be used. You can add intermediate stops and, using the mode of transportation function, to effectively reduce say motorways from your route, if you wish to keep them to a minimum. You can also, if needed take into account motorbike and/or van restrictions dependent on your vehicle.

There is also a POI (point of interest) search facility where you can look for a specific itinerary such as sights, leisure, shopping, cinema, petrol stations, hotels, cinemas, to name but a few. All selected will appear in distance order from your location.

The 'map' facility allows you to browse or track. The latter screen displays your actual position, speed, time, sea level and co-ordinates and the number of satellites currently acquired.
Another useful feature is if you take the wrong route it will immediately re-calculate a fresh route. I've tried this feature out on purpose and confirm it works well. It has 'favourites' whereby it stores previous routes which you can bookmark without having to go to the trouble of re-programming. Some concerns I read about before purchase was that it was a lot slower than other makes when it came down to calculating the route but I do not find the delay particularly onerous (30 seconds at most in my experience thus far).

The unit can also be used as a picture viewer supporting bmp and jpg file formats (500 kb for optimum usage) and a document viewer, txt file format only. They can be read from an SD card (slot on the side).

As you can see, you get a lot for your money, and for the vast majority of people, this unit should be more than sufficient for their needs.

Any problems with the unit or queries say regarding software updates, you can contact the Binatone Carrera helpline on 0845 345 9677. The manual also has a trouble shooting guide and a FAQ site.

The following are some of the technical specifications taken from the manual for those of you that are interested,

Dimension of the unit 99.9mm x 84.5mm x 20mm.
Operating system : Microsoft WinCE.NET 5.0 Core Version.
Central Processing Unit : Atlas II 324 Mhz.
Memory : 64 MB SDRAM Built in.
Antenna : 16 channels, built in with extra active port. 32bit risc CPU SIGE CHIPSETS.
Weight : Only 0.160kg.
Speaker : One watt (more than ample for the purpose).

If it wasn't for the software failure on my first purchase, I would give it a maximum rating, but even with that fault, I was prepared to give it a second chance. Superb value for money in my humble opinion. 

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