Navman Navigation iCN 630 GPS Navigator
By: Navman Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 14
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 On: 2005-01-05
I have used a factory installed navigation system in my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a year; and have found the Navman icn 630 I purchased for my other vehicles to be less confusing and faster to re-route; I surmise it is because the Navman does not have a hard drive as in the Jeep. Also, the Navman map is less confusing to follow because of the 3D feature that automatically displays when approaching a turn. Another great feature is the ability to update your maps at no charge by downloading from the Navman site. Most factory systems require the purchase of a new DVD or set of CDs to replace obsolete or incomplete map data.
The Navman unit is ruggedly built, the display is very clear and bright. A great value at approximatey 1/3 the price of a factory unit.
On: 2004-12-16
This is the first in car navigation I have purchased. I used handheld units (back in the "old" days) that required putting in waypoints. These were great for fishing and other outdoors things, but not so hot for riding around in your car. We have been really pleased with this product. Since we have relatively new cars but with no navigation, these are great for us. (We purchased 2 as my spouse and I both travel for work). We have both had great experiences with it and no major snafus. Getting everything installed and up and running was a little difficult, but getting anything new that requires a set up process is never very much fun! However, we did not get a great deal of help from the tech support. By the time we purchased the second one, it went smoothly as it was "old hat". We highly recommend the product and will be buying one for my in-laws for Christmas!
 On: 2004-09-05
I like to start reviews with some background on myself, because I think it helps readers better evaluate my ratings. With that said... I am no pilot, sailor or mountaineer, but I have been using GPS gear since about 1999, when I got a Garmin GPS III simply because I was a gadget lover. At that time, the GPS III was about $400, which was as much as I was willing to spend on what was admittedly a toy. Since then, I have owned a Garmin eMap (with MapSource data for streets), a Magellan RoadMate 700, and now the NavMan iCN 630. Ill be discussing the NavMan iCN 630 mostly in relation to the other products, especially the Magellan RoadMate 700. The short version is the NavMan i630 is a great product that I would choose over the RoadMate 700. Read on for the long version.
I was generally happy with the user interface and overall quality of my older Garmin units. I even used my eMap as an in-car system quite a bit, though it did not have street-level routing: at least it showed me where I was, and which direction I needed to go. The RoadMate 700 was my first purpose-made automotive GPS, and while it "got the job done" I considered it to be overall a slight disappointment. True, it had a nice touch screen, and the voice directions were good, but it seemed a bit sluggish and unpolished.
So what about the NavMan iCN 630? On paper, it seems to lose out to the RoadMate 700. It has no touch screen. It has no hard drive, so you must load in the maps for your area into its system memory, or onto a memory card, which is not included. And it is a lot less expensive, so it must be worse... right? Wrong.
For one, it is just plain easier to use. Not having a touch screen means it is slower to input an address, true, but other than that every aspect of its user interface is more polished and easier to understand. I often snarled at my RoadMate 700 until I learned its quirks, but my NavMan 630 didnt provoke me that way. Truthfully, the RoadMate gets it done, but it just isnt pleasant to use in the same way.
Second, the screen on the NavMan 630 is better-clearer, brighter. The color schemes are more pleasant. Roads are labeled more legibly. The screen is a little smaller, but the resolution is no worse, so it is just a little more compressed. It also has a very nice "perspective" view of the map, which lets you see more of what lies ahead. (Amazon says it has a 2 inch screen, but thats wrong. Its definitely bigger than that!)
Third, it comes with some useful accessories. You get a nice suction cup window or dash mount, not the wobbly "stick-it-in-the-vent" mount that Magellan gives you. NavMan even gives you a carrying case and cloth for cleaning the screen. You even get an AC power adapter so you can turn it on inside. Those arent deal breakers, but I was really disappointed that Magellan didnt provide the same things when you bought the expensive RoadMate 700.
Fourth, the NavMan is quick. If you want to scroll the map around, you can do so easily. Zoom out, pan over to another city, zoom in, look around, no problem. The RoadMate would always choke badly when I tried this.
Fifth, the lack of a hard drive makes it rugged. It has no moving parts. The RoadMate 700 may have maps for the whole country on board, but someday that hard drive will die, and then you are in for an expensive repair. Personally, I will trade off the ability to have all the maps on board at once for reliability. (If I planned to upgrade again in a couple of years, I wouldnt worry so much, but I am looking for an in-car system to keep for the long haul.)
No car GPS review would be complete without addressing the quality of the built-in maps and routing. I have to rate NavMan just slightly ahead of the RoadMate on map quality, and on par with the RoadMate in routing. In my area, Seattle, the NavMan 630 seems to have slightly newer map data than the Magellan, but within the limitations of the map data, they route (and re-route for missed turns) just fine. In your area the map quality may differ.
Speaking of maps, I should address the map storage. The NavMan has a Secure Digital slot for memory cards, and 64MB of internal memory, of which something like 50MB is free for map data. The whole state of Washington takes up about 25MB, but just Southern California was about 45MB. Clearly, depending on where you live, you may need to buy an SD card to store more maps. Fortunately, they are getting very cheap. You can get a 256MB card for about $20, and thats enough map data for a heck of a road trip.
Other areas where the NavMan and Magellan units are roughly tied are lock-on time, quality of voice directions, route exclusions and satellite reception. The NavMan 630 not without fault, though. These are the things that I do not like about it.
It should display the next cross-street that you are approaching. It doesnt.
It only shows you one piece of "extra" info when you are on a route: speed, distance to go, distance to turn, etc. There is enough room on the screen to get a few bits of data showing at once. This should be customizable.
Entering in addresses is a bit of a drag, largely due to the lack of the touchscreen.
The buttons feel a little mushy.
It is hard to flip up the antenna if you have already put the unit into the mount. You really need to remember to do it beforehand.
Nonetheless, overall I am very pleased with the NavMan iCN 630, and I would recommend it to anyone who needs an in-car GPS system, especially over the Magellan series.
As a final note, I should mention something which applies to both the NavMan and Magellan units. If you are used to "general use" handheld GPS products, these car units require an attitude adjustment. They dont have all the little features you have come to expect, like entering in a waypoint directly as latitude/longitude, or displaying a trip computer with your maximum and average speeds, total time, and rolling time. They cant tell you VMG (Velocity Made Good). They are pretty useless once you get off the roads. That was disappointing to me, but as soon as I stopped trying to use my 630 like my old eMap, and started using it like an automotive system-which it is!-I got along with it a lot better.
On: 2004-09-04
I like to start reviews with some background on myself, because I think it helps readers better evaluate my ratings. With that said... I am no pilot, sailor or mountaineer, but I have been using GPS gear since about 1999, when I got a Garmin GPS III simply because I was a gadget lover. At that time, the GPS III was about $400, which was as much as I was willing to spend on what was admittedly a toy. Since then, I have owned a Garmin eMap (with MapSource data for streets), a Magellan RoadMate 700, and now the NavMan iCN 630. Ill be discussing the NavMan iCN 630 mostly in relation to the other products, especially the Magellan RoadMate 700. The short version is the NavMan i630 is a great product that I would choose over the RoadMate 700. Read on for the long version.
I was generally happy with the user interface and overall quality of my older Garmin units. I even used my eMap as an in-car system quite a bit, though it did not have street-level routing: at least it showed me where I was, and which direction I needed to go. The RoadMate 700 was my first purpose-made automotive GPS, and while it "got the job done" I considered it to be overall a slight disappointment. True, it had a nice touch screen, and the voice directions were good, but it seemed a bit sluggish and unpolished.
So what about the NavMan iCN 630? On paper, it seems to lose out to the RoadMate 700. It has no touch screen. It has no hard drive, so you must load in the maps for your area into its system memory, or onto a memory card, which is not included. And it is a lot less expensive, so it must be worse... right? Wrong.
For one, it is just plain easier to use. Not having a touch screen means it is slower to input an address, true, but other than that every aspect of its user interface is more polished and easier to understand. I often snarled at my RoadMate 700 until I learned its quirks, but my NavMan 630 didnt provoke me that way. Truthfully, the RoadMate gets it done, but it just isnt pleasant to use in the same way.
Second, the screen on the NavMan 630 is better-clearer, brighter. The color schemes are more pleasant. Roads are labeled more legibly. The screen is a little smaller, but the resolution is no worse, so it is just a little more compressed. It also has a very nice "perspective" view of the map, which lets you see more of what lies ahead. (Amazon says it has a 2 inch screen, but thats wrong. Its definitely bigger than that!)
Third, it comes with some useful accessories. You get a nice suction cup window or dash mount, not the wobbly "stick-it-in-the-vent" mount that Magellan gives you. NavMan even gives you a carrying case and cloth for cleaning the screen. You even get an AC power adapter so you can turn it on inside. Those arent deal breakers, but I was really disappointed that Magellan didnt provide the same things when you bought the expensive RoadMate 700.
Fourth, the NavMan is quick. If you want to scroll the map around, you can do so easily. Zoom out, pan over to another city, zoom in, look around, no problem. The RoadMate would always choke badly when I tried this.
Fifth, the lack of a hard drive makes it rugged. It has no moving parts. The RoadMate 700 may have maps for the whole country on board, but someday that hard drive will die, and then you are in for an expensive repair. Personally, I will trade off the ability to have all the maps on board at once for reliability. (If I planned to upgrade again in a couple of years, I wouldnt worry so much, but I am looking for an in-car system to keep for the long haul.)
No car GPS review would be complete without addressing the quality of the built-in maps and routing. I have to rate NavMan just slightly ahead of the RoadMate on map quality, and on par with the RoadMate in routing. In my area, Seattle, the NavMan 630 seems to have slightly newer map data than the Magellan, but within the limitations of the map data, they route (and re-route for missed turns) just fine. In your area the map quality may differ.
Speaking of maps, I should address the map storage. The NavMan has a Secure Digital slot for memory cards, and 64MB of internal memory, of which something like 50MB is free for map data. The whole state of Washington takes up about 25MB, but just Southern California was about 45MB. Clearly, depending on where you live, you may need to buy an SD card to store more maps. Fortunately, they are getting very cheap. You can get a 256MB card for about $20, and thats enough map data for a heck of a road trip.
Other areas where the NavMan and Magellan units are roughly tied are lock-on time, quality of voice directions, route exclusions and satellite reception. The NavMan 630 not without fault, though. These are the things that I do not like about it.
It should display the next cross-street that you are approaching. It doesnt.
It only shows you one piece of "extra" info when you are on a route: speed, distance to go, distance to turn, etc. There is enough room on the screen to get a few bits of data showing at once. This should be customizable.
Entering in addresses is a bit of a drag, largely due to the lack of the touchscreen.
The buttons feel a little mushy.
It is hard to flip up the antenna if you have already put the unit into the mount. You really need to remember to do it beforehand.
Nonetheless, overall I am very pleased with the NavMan iCN 630, and I would recommend it to anyone who needs an in-car GPS system, especially over the Magellan series.
As a final note, I should mention something which applies to both the NavMan and Magellan units. If you are used to "general use" handheld GPS products, these car units require an attitude adjustment. They dont have all the little features you have come to expect, like entering in a waypoint directly as latitude/longitude, or displaying a trip computer with your maximum and average speeds, total time, and rolling time. They cant tell you VMG (Velocity Made Good). They are pretty useless once you get off the roads. That was disappointing to me, but as soon as I stopped trying to use my 630 like my old eMap, and started using it like an automotive system-which it is!-I got along with it a lot better.
On: 2004-07-13
I got the Navman iCN 630 after trying the Delphi Mobile Navigation system, as these units are based on the same hardware and similar (but not identical) software. The screen is sharp and easy to read, while the voice instructions are loud enough to be heard in a car traveling at highway speeds with the radio on.I considered the Garmin 2610 and the Magellan Roadamte 500, but I went with the Navman because the Garmin doesnt have 3D views (which I find very useful for a quick visual of where youre heading) and the Magellan seems to have a host of quality control problems (see the forums at www.gpspassion.com). Benefits of the Navman vs. the Delphi include:
(1) Navman bundles USA and Canada maps with the unit, while Delphi only provides the USA maps.
(2) Navman has released a couple of service packs to improve the display and the routing algorithms, and these service packs are NOT compatible with the Delphi GPS. Be aware that the Amazon information is pretty outdated. The new Navman units ship with 4 CD-ROMs containing the software and Tele-Atlas maps, not Navteq maps. Ive found the Tele-Atlas data to be pretty good in my area, but youll have to make that determination for yourself. Also, Navman just announced that it will be coming out with the iCN 635 in a few months, and that unit will include a remote control and more base memory (128 mb vs. 64 mb). If those features are important to you, then you may want to wait.
On: 2004-05-17
This is my first GPS and I love it. It does exactly what I wanted and even if I miss the turning it very quickly corrects the route. The voice is very clear and if you happen to be talking it reminds you when you reach the turning. The screen is very easy to read. The information I received from my initial enquiries to Navman were answered immediately. I had one query after purchase and that again was answered straight away. It is my best mate now - I will never get lost again!!!!
Jeannie (Australia)
by: Anonymous On: 2003-12-15
For $700 bucks dont expect AI military precision and functionality. This product does as advertised and I am generally happy with it. I took it down to Los Angeles and San Diego and I was able to get around without a bunch of maps as I normally do when traveling. After a couple of days in LA I thought I knew where I was going, I got lost one night and it was pitch dark on some expressway at 1am. I could not read the signs so I pulled out my Navman and it worked as advertised and it took me back to my hotel. As with any new product there are a couple of minor annoyances. The unit sometime tends to advoid freeways and use major streets to get you to your destination. If you know your route and you ignore the street dir and head for the freeway then once on it, Navman does a pretty good job of getting you off the correct freeway exit and taking you to your final destination. When traveling on the freeway and you happen to miss your exit it may be advisable for you to get off the freeway and turn around. Reason is Navman can take a long time for it to recal your route. What I am suspecting is that as you are speeding away from your intended destination Navman goes into a frenzy of trying to recaluate your route. If you are on the steet and missed your turn and you are finding Navman is taking an awful long time to recal then pull over to the curb. Naveman does a much faster job of recaluating when your vehical is not moving. This happend only a couple of times to me. Another advise is to buy the extra 256mb of memory. It only cost around $45. Your digi cam dont come with extra mem so why expect Navman to. I was debating between the Garmin and Navman and decided on Navman. I thought the Navman unit looked better and all 48 contiguous maps are free. I think it is extra with Garmin. Navman also has a handy test mode that you can enter your dest and trace your route. Good feature to preview where and how it takes you but this tends to be slow if your route is long. The voice prompt and display are loud and clear. This product is not a substitue for your brain. In my opinion the product is good but it is not perfect (I am sure Navman will address the annoyance that its GPS tendency in avoiding freeways in future product releases) so overall if you treat it as a tool and use along with some common sense it should serve you well.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-12-10
After doing a lot of research I settled to buy this unit. The ... rebate was attractive as well. Unfortunately I had to return it.Pros:
1. Excellent screen and easy to use.
2. Route recalculation is fast.
3. Mounting bracket included along with a carry case.
4. Uses non-proprietary CF cards, limited to 256MB CF usable card data although you can use larger capacity card for storage Cons:
1. Limited memory, 64MB built in + 256MB CF card.
2. No data for Canada yet.
3. In my testing it avoided major highways for in-city travel thus adding additional 20-30 mins to travel time.
4. It would at times end 200ft before reaching the target. I did speak with tech support who stated an upgrade is in progress for release in Jan 04 which would include Canadian maps. I am now thinking about the Magellan Roadmate 700.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-11-27
Where do I start? Firstly I have used many GPS systems in cars and I noticed that they never tried to get me do illegal things like making a right hand turn at a No Right Turn sign or telling me to make a U turn..Navman does! It gives you an estimate of how long a trip between A & B will take...it told me 9 minutes for a 15 mile journey along a normal major suburban road which would take me no less than 30 mins at best. It is hard to put in street names compared to other units I have used. It took several minutes to log onto a satalite. All in all I hate this product.
On: 2003-11-01
Do not buy from Navman. Bad company. Bad products. Bad supoort. BAD BAD BAD!!!
by: Anonymous On: 2003-09-06
You will not miss the manufacturers GPS systems if you have this.Very Very good accuracy....
Absolutely clear screen...very attractive
very sophisticated tech....in terms of downloading maps etc.
clear voice instruc....on time.
needs 256mb SD Ram for sure. it is simply the best available after-market car GPS.
I have never bought a product without regrets. I can safely say this is the first one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On: 2003-08-20
I cross shopped Garmin and Magellan units before buying the Navman, and I think I made the right decision. You cant get more for your money!The unit works very well. Sure, its a bit slow to enter your destination if its not stored in one of the 100 shortcuts (a nice feature!), the voice is a bit low if your radio is on, the maps are slow to get you back-on-track if you decide to go in a different direction (to get around traffic hotspots or avoid contruction), small internal memory that necessitates you having to buy a 256 mb SD card to store your maps, and the system is a bit slow to boot up. But the Navman has a LOT going for it!
1) price!
2) a great screen that works in all kinds of light
3) small siz & portability
4) a windshield mount that lets you place it directly in your line of sight so you dont have to take your eyes off the road
5) excellent accuracy, considering the small small built-in antenna
6) the overall coolness factor of a small, portable, afforable GPS unit that works! I recommend it without hesitation to those that need an afforable GPS system that is easy to use, easy to install (and wont leave any marks in your leased car!!), and one that works really well!
On: 2003-07-14
In general this works very well. The maps in my area (middle of nowhere KY) look like they were created from current and planned roads from 1980. Any road less than 10 years old is not included and many never built roads are included.
Pros:
1) Signal aquirement is very fast.
2) Re-routing is very fast.
3) Audible directions are good.
4) Display is excellent.
Cons:
1) Maps only come in regions of 1/2 - 4 states (about 35 Mb each) and can not be broken up. Therefore the 64 Mb of data storage can not be efficiently used (you can generally only fit 1 region on the unit at a time). If you live on the edge of a region then you may find yourself forced to purchase a SD media card for programming.
2) There are no base maps (Interstates or Highways). If a region is not loaded then there are no roads!
3) You can not store a "point". You can store a street to a range of addresses. It claims I have reached my destination 2/3rds of a block before I get home.
4) It will instruct you to "bear right" when the road you are on goes from 2 lanes to 4 lanes. When there happens to be an intersection there it is easy to make a mistake.
5) It does not report elevation.
6) You can only select one piece of optional information on the screen (Direction N-NW-W-SW..., Speed, Distance to Destination, Time, ETA, Distance to turn)
7) If you dont have a specific destination programmed then the display is limited to North up display. You also lose the option to select any of the optional information.
8) No batteries - this could be a handheld but only if you want to build your own battery case. This is not as big of a deal when you consider that it does not appear that it is designed to work when you get off of a recognized street.Overall I like this. Investing in a 256 Mb SD card seems wise if not even a necessity. I have hopes that some of the CONS will be addressed through upgrades someday...
On: 2003-05-28
I have used several GPS systems in the past; Deloreme Street Atlas 2003 on my laptop with their Earthmate ,and the Garmin GPS III.The Navman ICN 630 is far and away superior to all of the above. It is more accurate then the Delorme. The screen is like the screen on a laptop computer. It is bright and easy to read. It is very easy to operate the unit. The accuracy is excellent. Regardless of zoom level I am always on the road. The 2 inch speaker provides clear verbal directions. Verbal directions are provided early and often. I would recommend a 256MB SD Card. Each region is between 30 and 50MB. You can load two regions in the base memory of 64MB. Software installation is smooth. All updates and map loads are performed via USB. Map uploads can take 15 minutes per region (no big deal). The software is bullet proof, you can do other tasks while performing map uploades. ...
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