Nextar X3-03 GPS Review

I recently received a Nextar X3-03 portable GPS as a gift. At first, I was reluctant to accept such a device knowing that I can hardly even afford to go anywhere. But, I decided to check it out and make my decision after I took it for a test drive. Nextar is not as well known as Magellan or Garmin, but their products have similar features. The X3-03 has a 3.5" touch screen display, 2D/3D view, MP3 player, and a Photo Viewer. Navigation is aided by clearly pronounced voice prompts and 1.6 million points of interest.

I like its ability to automatically recalculate your route for missed turns and voice prompts are timely and accurate. The MP3 player and photo viewer are nice extras, but will probably get very limited use. My biggest complaint is the accuracy of the touch screen. It seems to work best when you use the provided stylist instead of your finger. Unfortunately, they didn't provide a place to store the stylist on the unit, and it will probably get misplaced over time. 1.6 million points of interest sounds like a lot, but other units now come with 6 million.

Hopefully Nextar will provide a POI upgrade for this model in the near future. It should be possible, because there is an SD memory slot and USB port. The instructions state that you need to place your MP3 files and pictures on an SD card and then insert the card into the unit. This seems strange as most other devices allow data transfer over the USB port. The GPS device was not recognized when attempting to plug the unit into a computer USB port. So it looks like an additional device driver needs to be installed on the computer before this will work.

The Nextar X3-03 has some nice features and functions in an affordable GPS, but there are still some minor issues. If Nextar provides the necessary software and firmware updates, most of the issues could be corrected, but that remains to be seen. Speaking of updates, this week a new online book store was added to Poetlady.com. This new online store was created on my Amazon affiliate account and will feature books, DVD's, and video games. The Budget Technology Store, which was launched last week, will feature affordable computer hardware and software.