Possibly the worst GPS device ever - MY500XT by Navman

After all the issues I had with my Garmin GPS unit, I decided to replace it with the most expensive device I could find. It turns out it is a Navman My-500XT. I have persevered with this device for many months, and now at the point of extreme frustration – I have decided to reach out to Navman for some advice. Below is an extract of my support ticket to the good folks at Navman.

My unit seems to be faulty. It was sold as being able to play video and music files, as well as being a market leading navigation device.

There seems to be a lot of functionality missing that is included in far cheaper devices – so I can only assume that there is something wrong with this particular unit.

Firstly, the device seems unable to play any video uploaded to it with your software. Playback is jerky, and pauses for long periods of time.

Music playback is also troublesome – with the music menu being unresponsive and slow.

I can not find an option to have the device automatically turn off when the car is turned off. Perhaps this option is in a menu that I have as yet been unable to locate.

Traffic reporting is operational, yet – unlike every other unit I have compared – I am yet to see your device automatically route me around traffic events. As I am sure you are aware – interacting with a GPS unit while the vehicle is in motion is prohibited by national and state law in Australia. So, presenting a hidden window that requires the user to interact with it is surely a bug?

I can’t seem to find any reasonably functional software to manage the music and videos on my device. The only software I have come across was on the software pack included with it, and isn’t even available for download from your site. Surely your own staff have used this software and identified the need for something else? Could you suggest something that doesn’t try and emulate the functionality of other much more widely accepted applications (like iTunes or Windows Media Player).. I don’t need yet another application, managing yet another media library.

Finally – the suction cup vehicle mount has now become so loose as to not be able to keep the unit facing towards the driver during normal use.

All in all – given that your unit is far and away the most expensive GPS device available in the domestic market at this time, I am sure that all of the issues raised above are simply bugs specific to my device. I look forward to your advice regarding a software update to resolve all these issues.

I would be deeply disappointed having to raise my concernes with the office of fair trade if you have misrepresented the device in your advertising as being able to play audio and video when it is obviously under-powered to do so.

Agree, disagree? Tell somebody!

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The What’s wrong with the NAVMAN My-500XT by Troy Kelly, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.