Averatec Voya 350 Handheld GPS
By: Averatec Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 15
More Information
 On: 2007-04-29
I ordered this for my wife for Christmas. We have used it for a few months and are VERY dissatisfied with it!
1.It didnt come with instructions.
2.The battery dies after about 45 minutes or so. Lose your addresses.
3.It loses all the addresses when the battery dies. It doesnt save the addresses to the "Smart Chip"
4.The battery dies just sitting while turned off. You have to leave it plugged in 24/7.
5.The unit software crashes during use and you have to reset it. Guess what? You lose all your settings and your addresses.
6.The time NEVER displays at the correct time. The amount its off varies every time you use it.
7.The customer service sucks! This is a side product for Averatec. They sell computers mainly. If you call them there isnt even an option for their GPS units. I called them to return it and they didnt even want to talk to me. Said I had to contact Amazon. Didnt even try to talk me out of getting rid of it. They know it is an inferior product.
On: 2007-02-21
I have my own computer service company and one of the services I provide is house calls. Many of my customers live in the country and during the winter months it gets dark early making finding some houses hard to do. So, I decided to purchase a GPS. I did a lot of research. One of the first things I found out is how expensive GPS are. During my quest I stumbled upon the Averatec Voya 350. It had all the features I didnt want (MP3 player, etc.) and it was the least expensive of all the ones I looked at. There was also not a bad review to be found about it. So I purchased it. Well, they say you get what you pay for. The device started acting up right from day one. It froze. I had to reset it. During the almost 2 months I had it, it would freeze up a lot. Sometimes I would have to remove the battery which would cause all my settings and favorites to be erased. Finally, one day, it just stopped working. I called tech. support and they coldnt help. Fortunately, I purchased it from a place that I could return it to and I did. On the premise that the unit I had was a lemon, I purchased another one because I really loved the way it worked when it worked. I only had that unit a month when it too stopped working just like the previous one. Again, I was able to return it but this time I purchased another brand.
 On: 2007-01-15
Product work fine after replacing the car charger. Other than the inconvenience and small expense of sending the charger back, the company responded quickly to replace the defective item.
 On: 2007-01-12
The software did not take into account "No Left Turn" restrictions on the main roads in San Francisco. It caused me to be in the left lane when I should have been in the right lane to negotiate "three Rights" for a left turn. This was throughout the City.
On: 2007-01-10
I am a contractor and this system does a great job getting me around without having to stop and refer to a street guide. This system is so easy to use that it doesnt even come with directions. Although it is a good system it does have its flaws. Sometimes you know a faster way than where it is telling you to go, also I have been on a few older streets that are not on its map. Another bad point is that this machine is for listed roads only, you can take it off-road to get position, but you cant leave trails or waypoints. Also I called the company about updated maps and the new ones will be available yearly for about $100.00. Overall I would say it is a good product, but Im not going to throw away my street guides.
On: 2006-12-07
I am very pleased with this GPS system. I have purchased two other GPS systems for a much larger price and only to return them. This was purchased for my husband for Christmas. He has not used it, but I have tried it out. It is really easy to use. No set up, just take out of box and start using. It has great features like many other brands, but for an affordable price. I know he is going to love it! The company sent it right to me. I am very happy with my purchase.
 On: 2006-12-05
I bought it on Black Friday of 2006 for $225.00, and I just couldnt wait to write a review on this product.
Pros:
Very easy setup and navigation right out of the box. Easy mount on windshield, easy to detach. Backlit buttons is convenient for night time driving. Excellent for city navigation. Can play music files, so its good for a walk.
Cons:
1. Took GPS on a long distance trip, GPS avoided interstate highways, taking us along local roads through cities. We got lost, got directions from gas station attendant to reconnect with interstate. Theres no setting on GPS to avoid local roads. We ignored GPS thereafter, until destination city where GPS became useful in getting us to our host.
2. Battery life too short, manual says 2 hours, but unit drains very quickly even when turned off. Takes too long to recharge, and then it drains too quickly.
3. GPS requires frequent reset, losing your local settings.
4. Clock setting is not steady, always defaults back to 12.01 am, or something like that.
5. Regional setting always defaults back to Pacific Time. It refuses to set at my local time zone - Eastern.
6. GPS setting would not remain steady at Georgia, it always defaults back to Oregon when unit is turned on. It also does not remember my home address.
7. When I tried to calibrate, it goes into a loop. Had to reboot to get out of loop.
So today I took it back to store for a refund, just over a week since I bought it. On a final check I found that I still had my music files stored. I looked for an on-screen delete feature, found none. Could not find a hard reset button either. The only way to delete is to reconnect back to computer. Got no time to play with it anymore, so I left my music files in there for the next owner. Received full refund, will add maybe a couple of hundred dollars for a Garmin or something of that sort.
Im sure Averatec will do better next time.
On: 2006-11-11
The Voya 350 is extremely easy to use out of the box and offers a 12-channel SIRF III high sensitivity chipset, which is one of the most advanced tracking GPS components you can find in anything in the $300-400 range. The number of channels indicated the number of satellites it can simultaneously use for triangulation purposes, and the SIRF III chipset offers some of the fastest responses for recalculating routes (if you take a wrong turn) and for connecting to the satellites.
On the downside, the Voya 350 is a little buggy. For example, a couple of times it has lost our saved "home" location and we had to reinput it. Also, sometimes it seems a little confused when you input the address and requires you to reinput it.
Overall though, it is easy to use, accurate and extremely fast (which is essential since with some models if you take a wrong turn it can take you a minute or more to recalibrate). For the price, this is clearly a "best buy."
On: 2006-11-11
Pro: Probably the neatest design I have seen in a GPS navigation system. Easy to program, excellent mount, good voice, extremely fast satellite acquisition and route recalculation. Worked well walking.
Con: Third day of use it had two soft crashes - navigation program gave error message and shut down. Fourth day started with a frozen system. Had to reset. It then sometimes took a very long time to acquire signals. Could not get the detour function to work at all. Occasional really odd route recommendations when in a complicated area such as an interchange. Nothing about updates in the manual, and customer service told me that they had not yet decided how to do updates!
Returned it for a refund. (Love Amazons return policy.)
 On: 2006-11-10
My husband and I just moved to a new city out of state, so we figured a GPS system will help. Once we took the gadget out of the box and charged it, it had worked as expected right away. It has been particularly useful as the highways exits and road systems are quite different from one state to another, so having the GPS telling you to stay on the left or right lane before a turn or exit saved quite a lot of headaches.
Also the decision of buying this vs other more known brands of similar price (we were going to get the Megellan Roadmate 760 as recommended by Consumers Reports) was because this has a battery, and its flat so it is very portable. I can actually fit it in my purse.
Our only complain (and this is minor) is that the volume seems to be loud sometimes. We didnt find any volume control on the system, but it hasnt bothered us enough to go look in the box or online to see if there is such an option yet.
On: 2006-11-10
I am assuming I received a defective piece and returned back. I was disappointed after the entire struggle I made and bought this item as memorable gift. This GPS shut downs suddenly and all the information you save in it is lost. Some times it wont even start back. It has nothing to do with charger. I am really not sure if the piece which I received was defective or this Averatec piece itself is not good. Not satisfied with this item.
On: 2006-09-22
I am one of those directionally challenged ladies and I have a hard time navigating on the road in unfamiliar places. I was looking for a inexpensive GPS unit so I tried the Garmin C340 first. The C340 was very annoying, and was overpriced. It was hard to see the C340 screen in the daylight. The C340 was big, heavy and clumsy.
I heard about the Voya 350 on another site and was skeptical at first because I had never heard of them, but and I am 100% pleased with my purchase. My husband wants one now.
Pros
Touch Screen.
It pronounces the name of a few streets most major highways (text to speech).
Fast GPS signal.
Never lost the signal.
Accurate.
Quickly re-routes trip if you make mistake.
You can customize your trip ie, avoid highways, detour, short route, etc.
The rechargable battery is replacable (it only costs $14.00).
You can save your favorite locations.
You can put in multiple addresses, like waypoints (if you have to make more than one stop).
You can use it while walking, cycling, and on a motorcycle.
Loud enough to be heard over the radio.
You can use it right out of the box.
Cons
I wish it said all the street names (maybe they will add it when the updates come out).
The Averatec Voya 350 is $xxx online and it also has a $xxx manufacturers rebate. Total cost $xxx. The Garmin C340 cost $xxx (I saved $xxx and got more features). Not bad at all.
On: 2006-09-19
I have had the unit for three weeks. It has failed to start twice.
Tech support had me do a hard reboot by removing the battery and peeling the serial number sticker off the reveal a reset button.
Once you remove the battery or let it fully discharge, all of your personal settings will be lost.
You can not save more than 8 favorite places to volatile memory.
Tech specs. States "USB connection". There is some sort of a connector on the bottom of the unit (NOT USB) but no cable shipped or mention of USB connection in the manual.
Unit will not work if the SD card is removed, locked or damaged.
This is Averatecs first GPS and they are still working on support.
For $40-50 more you can get a very good mid level Garmin or equivalent.
On: 2006-09-19
Ive had the unit for about a week now and am packing it up to return it for a refund:
The price point and function are good, but,
1. I found the units screen hard to read in most light conditions, if I brought it below the dash then it was fine, but anywhere on the dash it was difficult to read at best.
2. It is very quirky - in my opinion being able to view the ROUTE LIST is critical, following the instrcutions I was able to get it to display the route list maybe 1 time in twenty. The topper was when I called tech support (they were there on Sunday !) and described the problem I was told that it sounded like a software problem & I needed to talk to the S/W mfr (navteq) that they only supported hardware problems !
That last really did it for me.
I gave it two stars for effort and being available on weekends.
ALL GPS units will make strange decisons at times and it is crucial to review long distance routes in advance - demo mode doesnt help as it appears to take place in a real time mode.
On: 2006-08-17
My experience with Averatec products have been very positive. I own two notebooks from this brand and both have been good work-horses for me. So I decided to try their GPS, since I have been in the market for one and I didnt want to spend a large amount on it.
From what I have noticed, Averatec products are priced lower than other brands, yet it it comes with the same feature when compared to other notebooks. Also, it actually performs as it should.
The GPS is the same. It comes with alot of features that the more expensive brands come with. It is very easy to use, and the buttons on the touchscreen are very large (I have thick fingers). The best thing about this GPS piece is that it is portable (it comes with a rechargeable lithium battery - will last about 2 hours) so that you can use it while walking in metropolitan areas where the streets are really close by. It comes with a car charger and a home charger (if you use it as a portable).
The price is incredible, I have seen it as low as $350 elsewhere, but I bought it at Amazon because I have bought other things here and I have never had a problem with them. The only other one that I have seen that is similar to this GPS from Averatec is a Garmin, but the Garmin is about $800 and it has alot of other stuff (like playing music) that I really would not care for or need.
Overall, I have been thouroughly satisfied with this product. Averatec is a brand that I can say has earned my business.
|
|
