It's rush hour on the PND market. One brand new device after another is being introduced, and all promise to be the ultimate navigational solution. Reason enough for us to test a few of those newcomers, and determine if the promises are lived up to.Mio Technology is also trying it's hardest with their next-generation line-up of PND's, which are meant to quickly make it's users forget about the former models (Mio 268+ and 269+). And since the C210, C510E and C710, which were all announced last February, are now all available for purchase, we thought a review was due. For starters, we took a look at the C510E, Mio's midrange PND, which can be found in the shops for about ¤ 325,- (£ 225,-).
Just one remark beforehand: most things written in this review of the C510E are also valid for the C710, since both devices are practically identical. The main differences are located in the available amount of internal Flash ROM (512 Kb in C510E, 2 GB in C710), and the maps that are installed on the device when it ships (regional on C510E, Europe on C710). The C710 also has a few extras in it's box: a carrying bag, a bicycle mount, a 230 volts charging-chord, a set of headphones and a TMC receiver (optional for the C510E: ¤ 75,- / £ 50,- ). The C710 is ¤ 150 euro (£ 100) more expensive than the C510E.
In the box
In the opened box, we find several items. Foremost of course the C510E itself, but more on that one later. First, let's take a look at the other parts, like the car mount eg. This mount consists out of two parts: A flexible connection with a suction cup to attach to the windshield of the car, and a holder for the C510E itself. Both are clicked together and make for a firm car-assembly.Also present in the box is a 12/24 volts charging chord for in-car use. Something that is noticed immeditaly, is the fact that the chord has a mini-USB connector. That's right, the C510E is powered through it's USB port, and so it can also be charged when it's connected to your computer via the supplied USB chord. Mio has chosen not to include a 230 volts in-home charger with the unit (included with the C710!), but if you would still like one, you can order it as an option for about ¤ 19 (£ 13). For carrying the C510E around, it features a wrist strap.
Of course there's also software included. It's shipped with the unit, onto two discs. The first disc is an application CD with USB drivers, the complete manual in .PDF format and the Mio Transfer program for communication between the PND and the computer. The second disc is a DVD containing the navigational software and the detailed maps of 24 European countries. And finally, there is also a brief manual and a registration card inside the box.
Compact
The C510E is a very compact PND, with modest dimensions and weight (110 x 70 x 20 mm, 170 grams). Being this small, it should fit into every inside pocket. The device also has a very sturdy feel to it.On the bottom we find the headphones/TMC connector (1), the USB connector (2) and the reset hole (3). The device has four buttons on it's side: volume down (4), volume up (5), main menu (6) and the on/off button (7). All the rest of the controlling is done by means of the 3,5 inch touch screen, which has a 320 x 240 resolution and 65.000 colours.
On the top of the unit, there's the SD card slot (8) and the internal GPS antenna (9), and on the backside, the connector for the optional external antenna (10) and a grid which covers the internal speaker.
For a complete overview of all specifications, we would like to point you towards our products files of the Mio C510E and Mio C710.
First test
After a few hours of charging through the USB cable, the battery indicator turns from yellow to green; the battery is now charged and should provide enough power for a few hours of navigational fun. According to Mio's technical data: four to five hours worth, which should be plenty.After switching on the C510E for the first time, we're asked to enter our language of preference and set the date and time of the device. But entering date and time may be skipped, because after receiving the first GPS fix, those are automatically registered. And talking about the GPS fix: this happens very fast. Within 30 secons the unit already has got a few satellite locks. This isn't unexpected, if you know that the integrated GPS chipset is the already very renowned SiRF Star III chipset. This chipset is used in lot of PND's currently and has already more than earned it's merits.
I've already mounted the mount in my car. This is very easy to do by the way: it's just a matter of attaching the suction cup to the windshield and bending the mount into the right position. The C510E is then clicked onto the mount and voila: all is set. While driving, the C510E constantly receives between, 7 and 9 satellites, and this is in a car with a heat-reflecting windshield. So it's pretty safe to say that the reception quality of this device is a-ok. I do notice however, that when the road becomes bumpy, both the C510E and it's holder tremble a bit.Navigating
Mio's former range of PND's relied on Navigon navigational software. No more with this new range: these are all shipped with MioMap 3 installed (edition May 2006, which is based on iGO software). This fairly new product on the European market excels both in speed and compact storage of maps. Mio uses a slightly adjusted version of iGO, because they include non-standard features like speed-limit signs and safety cameras. The C510E also ships with a free one year subscription on updates for European safety cameras for every owner who registers his product.The C510E features 512 MB of internal flash memory into which the region of purchase and the major roads of Europe are installed. In my case, this still left me with 365 MB of free space left in case I wanted to install other regions or put MP3's or photo's onto the device. The maps are supplied by Tele Atlas and are based on the 2006-1 release.
Getting started with MioMap 3 is done very quickly. In my case, I only chose a different voice and kept all the other options into the factory default setting.
I choose, by means of the on-screen QWERTY keyboard, an address in Luxembourg: Rue de Luxembour in Echternach. The keyboard 'buttons' are big enough to be able to do this with my fingers, no stylus is required. Not even 10 seconds later, the route, which is 359 km long, is computed.Detailed
The screen of the C510E is very clear and the maps look beautifully detailed. The automatic zoom in/out feature provides for a nice view. Navigating itself goes perfectly, and when a different route other than the plotted one is chosen, recalculation of the route is done in mere seconds.There are quality differences in the voices though. The Dutch voice didn't sound very good to us, the Flemish voice was a lot better. The UK voice is fine though.
For almost every road/street, the speed limit is shown on the screen, and in general it's correct also. If you exceed this speed limit, you'll hear a spoken warning. In the settings menu, you can enter the speed at which you would like to be warned, or you can completely disable the warings altogether.
Of course the C510E also contains thousands of POI's (Points of Interest). They are very extensive and simple to select. Finding the nearest hospital of petrol station is incredibly easy. A nice detail is that in case of a multi-route trip, you can ask the software to calculate the optimal route between the entered itineraries. Very nice indeed!
Extra options
Besides the basic navigational functionality, the C510E can also be used as a handsfree carkit for mobile phoning by means of a Bluetooth compatible phone. I tested this with my own Nokia phone, and it worked flawlessly. This functionality can be used during navigation and when in conversation, the spoken navigational commands are temporarily disabled.Also playing MP3 files and displaying photo's is a standard feature for this Mio. The sound which the MP3 player produces might not be comparable to CD-quality sound, but still, the quality is very reasonable. A final extra option is the management of contacts. These can even be synchronised with MS Outlook and once installed, this data can also be used to phone your contacts or to navigate directly to them.
As already stated, I still had about 365 MB of memory space left on my Mio. This was more than enough room for MP3's or photo's which are easily transferred onto the device by means of the Mio Transfer software.
Maps
That same Mio Transfer software can also be used for installing the extra maps which are shipped with the unit on an additional DVD disc. 24 countries in total to be exact: Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Gibraltar, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Leichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Czech republic, Vatican city, Sweden en Switzerland.Adding the detailed map of eg. France (174 MB) to the flash memory immediately provides border-crossing navigation to France. If you desire to add even more countries, you can do so by installing them onto an SD card. For the entire continent of Europe, a 1 GB SD card is required.
The C510E can also communicate with your computer by means of Bluetooth. With this it becomes possible to eg. add alternative voices. For this review, we didn't test the unit's navigational capabilities if mounted onto a bicyle.
