Mitac Mio168RS to Take North America by Storm! Maybe.

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=4172' target='_blank'>http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.a...?ContentId=4172</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Mio Technology Ltd. has introduced to the North American market its GPS pocket PC, the Mio168RS. The new handheld device is a fully functional Pocket PC featuring their newest mapping system that is fully interoperable with the built-in GPS antenna and navigation system. The Mio 168RS is a small and light (112.8 mm x 69.6 mm x 16.3 ~ 24.15mm, weighing 147g) Pocket PC based on an Intel Xscale 300 MHz processor and Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition. The new Pocket PC comes with 32MB Flash ROM and 64MB SDRAM, a SD/MMC card slot, and Consumer IR. The suggested price at launch for the standard Mio168RS is US$599."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20050311_mio168rs.jpg" /><br /><br />Decent, but I'm having a hard time getting excited about this. Especially when you can get a better Pocket PC, a BT GPS, and decent nav software for less than this integrated package. What do you think? Is an all-in-one worth the premium?

[klinux]

"fully functional" - as opposed partially functional? :?:

[powder2000]

What again makes this different from all the others that look and act (speed/memory) the same? For a pocket pc, the best gps system is a seperate bluetooth receiver, IMHO.

[Jimmy Dodd]

Aside from the Windows Mobile 2003 SE, this doesn't look any different than the original Mio 168 (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30262), which was a nice enough unit. Any word on whether the software has been upgraded in any way?

[Dave Conger]

The all-in-ones are worth the price if you always want a GPS with you. But this device doesn't have the specs to warrent the $600 price tag. Something like the Garmin iQue M5 gets me much more excited.

[Fishie]

You guys get this while we have been able to purchase the 269 since mid january, a mluch nicer unit that packs an internal hard drive to boot.

[denivan]

Funny, I just bought one about 10 minutes ago ;)

I used to have an ipaq 3660 + gps receiver , but sold it together with my old car.

My main PDA now is a Dell X30. I could have gotten a BT receiver for it, but I didn't. What I like about the 168 is that it's a fully package in one. I only need one charger and don't need to worry about the BT receiver's battery for instance.

Plus : I've got a got a company car (volvo v50) which is replaced every 4 years and I regularly drive replacement cars, this way it's a very easy process of moving my navigation to another car.

Kind regards,
Ivan

[Sven Johannsen]

Hmm, I would have said that I would never do this. I want to have the flexibility to change the PPC, GPS and software as things change. I'm looking at it though from a "got a PPC, need a nav solution". denivan made me think about it differently when he mentioned he has a primary PDA, and has this as a nav solution.

If you think of this thing as primarily a nav solution, It's pretty compelling when put against the dedicated Nav GPSs. Price is good, comparatively, and you get a whole lot of extra functionality.

[OneAngryDwarf]

What GPS software does this thing use, it looks nice... for that matter what is the best gps mapping software?

[Christian]

I've been using iGuidance (which I believe may also be sold under different names) with a bluetooth GPS for the past couple of years and have been very satisfied with the results. At the time, I spent quite a while researching GPS software. iGuidance has a very intuitive interface, nice 3D map views, automatically switches to a light-on-dark night mode, and has a comprehensive POI list. Performance on my iPaq 2210 is also very acceptable. If you want more detailed information, I recommend checking out the reviews over at www.gpspassion.com :)

[simonjfisher]

I bought a 168 in December primarily for use as Sat Nav. I chose it because the gps receiver was attached which makes it easy for transferring from one car to another and came complete with everything you could need (memory card excepted).

[herrner]

I guess $600 is just too far over the top - somthing that speaks strongly for these devices in germany is that they are cheap:

http://www.preissuchmaschine.de/psm_frontend/main.asp?produkt=324658

so i guess they'll be much cheaper when they are freely available for some time in the US.