Sanyo Easy Street NVM-4370 4.3” Portable GPS Navigator with FM Transmitter and Text-to-Speech
Sanyo Easy Street NVM-4370 4.3” Portable GPS Navigator with FM Transmitter and Text-to-Speech
From a recognized leader in navigation technology solutions, Sanyo’s Easy Street NVM-4370 offers the latest features and a user friendly interface to make your life on the go enjoyable and convenient.Introducing the SANYO Easy Street NVM-4370 portable GPS navigation system, equipped with intuitive user menus, convenient navigation features and entertainment options.Easy Street’s NVM-4370 unit features turn-by-turn, text-to-speech navigation. Text-to-speech technology announces approaching street names and the number of feet or yards until your turn. It’s like having your own personal guide riding with you in the car.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Pretty good but definitely could be better
Im not for a whole lot of words so I’ll keep it short and simple.
Pros
- the NVM-4370 feature set is strong and works mostly well
- bluetooth talk-free works amazingly well with my Samsung cellphone
- obviously the ability to play video, music and pictures (and even get sound over the FM transmitter)
Cons
- POIs are a little out of date with no easy way to update
- FM transmitter can be extremely weak in urban areas, out in the country it works very well
Other thoughts
- would have been nice if voice map navigation was available in the background while viewing videos
- the FM transmitter works well when there are few FM signals in the air…maybe if Sanyo made the transmitter more powerful (like on my XM satellite radio) this would negate the problem of weak signals in urban areas.
- i wish the bluetooth had more profiles other that cell phone and data transfer. if it could sync with my car stereo or a set of stereo headphones that would be an additional option besides the FM transmitter (however the unit does have line out)
Overall, for an all-in-one device, Sanyo has done a commendable job. The navigation feature has a ton of options to specify how it should behave. I’m in an urban area. As long as the area your traveling to has not changed in the last 18 months or so, the NVM-4370 will provide directions perfectly. Currently, with all the highway infrastructure upgrades taking place all over the United States, in about another year or so this device will only be good for getting you close to where you need to go. Right now, I feel the device is hitting about 85% accuracy. If only Sanyo would give a map update now or in the future … this would be the only GPS device that should ever be bought.
If you need pure GPS, looking at another brand such as Tom Tom, Garmin, or someone else is probably your better bet. Buying the NVM-4370 is absolutely the best if your into multimedia entertainment and handsfree bluetooth calling.
1 Stars Widespread memory issues. Needs to be recalled.
Let me start by saying that if this device worked as intended, it would score a 4 stars. It is feature rich albeit extremely proprietary but for the price (under $100) I can see past that problem and adjust.
The problem with the unit is that it is broken out of box. So far, my family and friends have purchased a total of 4 of these units and so far all have been broken down with the “cannot load bitmap” error. Some took longer than others to break for instance, my friend had this error only the 2nd day of operation while mine took about 60 days before seeing the same error. My parents broke in about 2 weeks and my sisters in about 1 month.
Thats not the worst part…
We all had our devices replaced by Sanyo. Unlike other reports they were actually very friendly with us and all I needed was to register the system with them and send them a copy of a receipt to get a replacement. But the bad news is that all 4 replacements have broken down as well. I was the last to replace my own and on the 2nd day of operation i started getting an application error: contact.exe and after that I got the “cannot load bitmap” error. Everyone but my sister and myselt have return their gps’s because they were within the 30 day return period but unfortunately I cannot return it nor can my sister.
This thing would be fantastic if they just fixed their memory error problems.
Also, none of our systems could read a 8gb memory card. The instructions clearly state that it should be able to read them but none of the units could access them at all.
Lastly, you cannot access the memory card slot through usb. In other words you need to prepare your memory cards using other devices before inserting them into the gps because you have no way to transfer music or videos to the card using this unit alone.
1 Stars Did not work out of the box
I bought this PND or should we call it a POS. I thought that I made a great buy from RadioShack, it was on sell for 99.99. I read the instructions and did everything like the manual said. When I went to the navigation icon nothing happened, it had an error that there was no navigation SD or unable to read don’t quote me. So I went back to the Shack and the idiot manager said that I needed to buy a SD memory card and install the software. So this idiot(me) did and I tried several times to install the CD with no luck. I got tired of messing with this POS, so I brought it back to the Shack and I was very pleased that I got all my money back for the POS and the memory card. Can anybody recommend a better PND, I do want one with a good hands free feature to use with my cell phone and blue tooth will be nice. I don’t care about pictures, video, and other stuff.
PS. I went to post this and I had to give this POS one star, that it does not deserve.
5 Stars Works Great
Overall: *****
The Good: Bright clear screen, clear audio, re-routes in seconds. Works.
The Bad: Getting initial signal takes 2 to 3 minutes at startup
The Ugly: None
3 Stars Impressive features but buggy
This unit has a very impressive feature set. It’s one of only two units I could find with both Bluetooth handsfree calling and backup camera video input… the other is the Pioneer F500BT. I gave this unit a try even though the reviews were very hit-and-miss. So far, it’s lived up to the reviews.
When it works properly, it works well. 3D view and voice prompts are comfortable to see and hear. Backup camera works as advertised once camera is installed properly. Bluetooth call volume is a bit low, but acceptable. FM transmitter is weak, but my local airwaves are fairly crowded. If there were no bugs, I’d be thrilled.
That said, there are bugs a plenty. About 1/4 of the time SOMETHING goes wrong. Usually it’s in the form of the unit locking up while doing the initial routing after a destination is input. A reset usually fixes the problem, but it’s a big annoyance due mainly to the 2-3 minutes required to re-acquire satellite signal. Other times certain screens won’t overlay properly on the map and, most strangely, sometimes voice prompts are spoken backwards (”Street Main on right turn” instead of “Turn right on Main Street”).
The unit appears to run a custom UI over WinCE 5.0, so I’m hoping there’s some hope for hacking and installing different software, but the memory is internal so it’ll take a bit more effort than some WinCE based units where the software is on an SD card.
I’m going to send this back to Sanyo to see if they can service it under warranty, but if not I may be going after the Pioneer F500BT now that it’s dropped drastically in price.
Filed under: Portable GPS Ratings