Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
A PDA and sat nav system in one |
| Disadvantages: |
Looks cheap and tacky |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I am a grat believer in less is more. I can't see the point in carrying around several different appliances when only one is required.
The main problem with this attitude is that although you can get everything you want all in one package, the overall quality of the finished products is generally inferior to the quality of individual units.
Take the Mitac Mio. I like PDAs - they combine a media player (to play both MP3's and JPEG video), personal organiser, a gaming machine and several other items all in one. However, the sound quality of a PDA is not up to that of an Ipod. The video quality of a PDA is not up to that of a portable DVD player. Point made?
That said, if you are on a train it is awkward to carry an Ipod, portable DVD player, personal organiser etc etc. It is all about compromise and whilst the PDA quality is not superior - it is acceptable for my requirements.
The Mitac 168 combines a PDA with a sat nav. system. And whilst the PDA is of inferior quality the Sat Nav element of the Mitac is most definitely not. It is on par with stand alone GPS units such as
Navman, Tomtom etc.
The Mitac has a built in GPS receiver. If any of the readers of this review have ever had to sync an external GPS receiver to a PDA then they will appreciate what an excellent feature this is. I used to have a Toshiba PDA and separate GPS receiver. I never got the two linked up properly and experienced so many problems, including lost signals, no satelites showing etc etc. the list is endless.
In turning on the
Mitac and pulling out the GPS receiver satelites are found within about 30 seconds - this is just as quick and efficient as my father's Tomtom.
The Mitac uses mio maps which includes voice by voice directions, and whilst it may not have the same amount of features as it's rivals the features it does contain are those that are most important. I don't really mind if I can't get Homer Simpson or Darthvader telling me to "turn right". I am quite content with the voice of Jacky.
The Mitac can also be used for hiking and cycling. I suppose other stand alone units can as well, but the advantage of the Mitac is it's user friendly shape that fits in the palm nicely - or can be fixed in to a holder if used on a cycle. The way other systems are attached to the
screen, such as the Tomtom, does not really lends itself to these uses.
The main criticism of the Mitac is the finish. It looks cheap and nasty but I can assure you that it is anything but.
Another criticism is the way in which it is connected to the screen of a vehicle. The arm on which the Mitac is placed is too long and experiences a lot of vibration. In order to overcome this there are aftermarket fixing kits available. These are highly recommended.
If you only want a sat nav system then buy a stand alone - the price of these has fallen dramatically with the Navman being available at under £100.
However, if you are like me, and are a minimalist that wants everything in one, and don't mind that the quality is a little poorer then I would seriously consider the Mitac. It has bags of features and a number of uses.
Try one - you will not be disappointed.
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