Customer Reviews:
 Think very carefully before buying this. Take a paper clip with you. November 27, 2008
TR (Northampton, UK)
You could end up throwing it out of the car window.
It offers a very tempting feature set; Euro coverage, Bluetooth, Michelin Guides on tap and best of all free Euro TMC & speed camera updates. It looked a compelling mix to me about a year ago.
It disappoints straight out the box. Just because publicity material contains a disclaimer does not prepare you for the really bad screen display - it is very coarse and individual pixels can be distinguished even at arm's length. It is now totally outclassed. The power button is on top of the machine - exactly where you put your fingers to pick it up, so you are always switching it on and off. Very handily the device can be powered either through the cradle or through a mini-USB socket on the base which it tips over whenever you use the device without the cradle. The SD card slots in at the side - I had to tape that up so that it wouldn't ping out whenever I picked it up. The card protrudes and is highly sprung so if you pick it up another way (to avoid switching it off) you will eject the card.
It gets worse: You have to get used to restarting the device or resetting it with the paper clip. A lot. Before you are allowed to use many of the features you must install a vast amount of software onto a windows PC. The DVD contains 3.5 Gb of data pretty much all of which is installed. If you are a Mac or Linux user you have been spared. Really, you have. The only way to update POI's, organise addresses and do other maintenance is only when the device is tethered to the PC. For an in-car device this is absurdly clumsy. Once registered the device can update speedcam locations itself provided its Bluetooth works with your phone. The PC software is a nightmare: Part of the 3.5 Gb heap is taken up by maps already on the SD card. You also get to enjoy .NET and Active Sink, DRM software for the device. Having upgraded out of windows the only available PC was a 2002 AMD Duron. If you have a similarly antiquey PC then you will endure a performance drop of at least 20% after installing this pile. The machine is completely immobilised for about a minute whenever file explorer is invoked. It's not .NET it should be .NEVER! According to the Computer Misuse Act it might actually be malicious because it is so crippling. I might have expected some kind of map update service. Not so.
On use: The first thing I noticed was just how slow it is. It's glacial. Very often it speaks only after having passed the relevant junction. You end up relying on the visuals [when these work]. Not terribly relaxing. I bought an external aerial which helped to alleviate start-up issues (more on those later!) but it has not speeded the device up. I also attempted to split the Euro map into individual countries. I never managed. You have to do this using the clunky software with the device tethered. I would leave the PC running overnight to cut the maps but every attempt stalled. It seems that Active Stink fails after a few hours.
You can only utilise every Bluetooth feature if you have a very obscure and now quite antique phone (list on the ViaMichelin site). It was a very odd choice of phone to start with but I was able to update data using a Nokia and a Palm - but not a SonyErisccon. None would sync phone books with the device so I could not dial out. TMC worked very well abroad where it is widely implemented. It's an inherent fault but the map seemed quite outdated even when I got it and I got stuck a few times due to road redesigns which did not physically appear to be very recent.
ViaMichelins have been criticised for their user interface design. These are justified. It is impossible to find an address fast. There is one menu structure for the built-in addresses, another for the Michelin Guides and a third one for your own addresses none of which are significantly differentiated from each other or integrated enough not to cause confusion as to where you can find it.
You get used to it (sort of)
The firmware is also disastrous... I've driven a fair few times with voice only because the screen had either frozen or was suffering a white-out and I had neither time nor will to stop, find a paper clip, reboot the device, wait, wait some more and finally re-input travel plans. It crashes to a reset occasionally. Its most debilitating problem is its predilection to ignore GPS signals. The pattern seems to be that if the machine is switched back on shortly after use it will not respond to GPS signal input for about four minutes. Everything else works but there is no GPS input. Connecting it to an external GPS receiver seems to have cut the waiting time down by quite a bit. A paper-clip reset does not solve the problem and I just simply had to wait and wait until a signal was acquired. Having used other GPS devices this does not seem to be unique to this device but appears to be a characteristic of a particular variant of the SIRFstarIII GPS chipset.
That's not to say that it always fails but you should not rely on it for reliable guidance particularly on time sensitive journeys. Many devices seem to be used simply as speed camera detectors and it would serve that purpose well given that updates are free. Just pay what it's worth. It's a real shame because combining a Michelin Guide with a moving map could have made a really enjoyable and useful device for holiday trips or short breaks. I was hoping it would.
I would avoid maps that inflict so much on a desktop PC, use a type of SIRFstarIII chipset and that run WINCE. That combination looks like a recipe for frustration. You will be wincing hoho.
 ViaMichelin X970T Europe (New Edition) May 4, 2008
Mr. Simon W. Tye (France)
I have just bought one of these and have used it in the local region that I live in (France, Alsace, Haut-Rhin region) for a couple of weeks whilst I get used to it.
I bought it based upon a Which review, comments from users, because Michelin is French and France is where I live at the moment and (secondarily) because it had free TMC.
My only other experience with GPS is with Directions Ltd, 'Navigator 4 software for PCs. This was excellent. The reason I changed was start-up time for my laptop was 15-20 minutes. Note my copy of 'Navigator 4' is approx 5 years old.
I read a review that 'SatNav is not yet there' and based upon my experience with the X970T I am inclined to agree. Compared to 'Navigator 4' the ViaMichelin is significantly less capable of creating an optimal route and, because of the size of the screen, it is physically difficult to review a route to correct manually once created.
There are three routing options:
- Fastest: which I have an impression takes you along the most major roads even if there are eminently pragmatic short cuts.
- Shortest: Which does literally that. Once when I was approaching a cross-roads where I had to turn right the X970T directed me up a tiny access road on the right which then dog-legged round to the left to leave me with a difficult right hand turn. I suspect this route was 18 inches shorter.
- Recommended: Presumably some sort of a compromise between the other two routing options however I still get routed around cross-roads rather than - more sensibly - through them.
On routing, GPS devices are aids to navigation - not the solution, however, unlike 'Navigator 4' with the luxury of a large laptop screen, it is impossible to review an instruction as you are driving. So yes - I did turn up the access road rather than driving onto the cross-roads as I was looking for an address in an unfamiliar area.
Driving instructions are loud and clear, good for 'fast followers' (eg turn left, then right) but sometimes the X970T confused left/right turns with bends in the road and vica-versa. Some [personally] irritating instructions like: 'at the roundabout, follow the roundabout' at every roundabout and a huge annoyance - everytime I go at an inch per hour over the speed limit: 'Your speed is excessive'. Fortunately this can be switched off.
The maps [countryside, 10 miles from Basel] are at least 18 months out of date - not much of a problem for me and in fact, is may be a symptom of where I live rather than all the maps being out of date. It must be more important to concentrate on updating Paris or Manchester.
The 'you are here' icon on the map is somehow corrected to only appear on the road. (I suppose this is so that if there is an error somewhere, you do not look like you are driving through a field, 10 yards away from and parallel to the road.) This has an unfortunate consequence that sometimes there is a slight but appreciable delay in updating the visual display which I personally find annoying when I am coming up to junctions and roundabouts. (I found this out because I drove over a new main road which has been been built and opened in the last six months and the GPS tracking icon simply stopped until I re-joined the old road.)
So far the TMC (For reporting traffic jams etc etc) has reported no messages - however this may be an area thing and also time of day as the radio doesn't deliver traffic updates either although 'traffic info' is switched on. I didn;t realise at the time that to use the GPRS on my mobile phone (which I understand gives a finer granularity of traffic information) I need to set up the service with my Mobile phone provider. Hmmm! I wish I had been told this. (Then perhaps I am just naive)
Display is clear - even in sunlight, mount is rock solid. If you ever want to do the spiderman thing up the side of the Gherkin, buy four X970T mounts! The touch screen with protective cover works. Menuing system is a little confused and takes some working at. It is certainly not intuitive, and I would advise a learning period is needed, however it is not a huge piece of software so the learning period is not much of an overhead.
Battery is good. Device start-up is fast although finding the satellites takes a little time - up to 60 secs. (This really isn't a prob - I just start driving in the general direction - ie out of my road - and let the SatNav sort itself out and take over when it is good and ready)
Michelen PC software is very confused. It took me quite a time to work through it. Lack of mac option is a considerable drawback for me in retrospect - however this is my fault as I knew there was no mac software when I bought it.
Summary: Well, it works, but overall I am disappointed because this is a step back rather than as I was hoping, a step forward, from 'Navigator 4' which is several years old now ('Navigator 7' is the latest version). Would I buy it again with the benefit of hindsight? Yeah probably. Other SatNavs like TomTom get similar reviews to this so I wouldn't expect another model to make much difference and, once I use the X970T in anger, I suspect it will get me to within a reasonable distance of my destination which after all is the objective.
 Great quality for little money; few things detract October 11, 2007
Bjorn T. Madsen (Ashby de la Zouch, England)
38 out of 38 found this review helpful
I have used the 970T for a while now and generally found it very, very good. The unit itself feels solid - but do look on other sites for a 970T carry case as there are places where dust can creep in over time - and well built. LEDs are discrete and the windscreen suction-cup mount is sturdy and stays in place. Everything about the 970T has an air of quality, so first impressions are good.
The map detail is impressive and offers full postcode searches everywhere in Europe - this of course means more in countries where each street has a unique postcode and less in others where a county shares a post code - and information about house numbers are there too. The 970T will guide you from door to door, quite literally. Cross border routes work smoothly too, though generally the software prefers a bridge out of the way rather than a ferry in your path; perhaps getting a ferry break is a personal preference so I'll let that slide.
Route finding options are extensive too; the 970T will route find for you when you're out walking too (now suddenly allowing you into pedestrianized areas) and the battery life seems good, especially with the back light turned down.
Bluetooth functionality works smoothly. With the right telephone - here Sony Ericsson seems better equipped than the Nokias I tried - your phone automatically connects when in range and calls are then routed over the speaker/microphone on the GPS.
The Michelin guides are gold. On the SD card there are inns, petrol stations, garages, pharmacists, doctors, parking places, speed cameras, restaurants, hotels, motels, tourist attractions etc. Most non-generic locations, like inns and cultural attractions, have descriptions about price ranges, opening hours, payment methods and a couple of sentences describing the place and atmosphere. It doesn't take long to go from the motorway to a nice place to eat (Plan a route, Point of Interest, Restaurant, select the nearest, Go to from current position...) and you can press the phone number in the description to call ahead using Bluetooth.
It sounds snazzy, and it is.
But then, of course, there are some negative aspects.
First, the interface is a bit confusing (talking about v6.5, which is standard at the time of review - v7.0 which is due any day now seems to be a lot clearer). What is, for example, the different between "Plan a route" and "Navigate?"? Why can I go to the main menu from some screens, but not others? Sure, you pick it up given time, but it's not a pick-up-and-play unit.
Then, there's the colour scheme. It really isn't very nice. The icons are rather unattractive and makes you wonder why Via Michelin, with their financial muscle, didn't just hire a web geek to do them a snazzy interface. Instead, the whole thing has an air of programmer-art. Again, v7.0 of the software seems to improve things somewhat, but after 6 revisions of the software, you would think this could be sorted out. Still, it doesn't hinder or hurt utility, so I suppose I'm just nitpicking here.
Another minus: Via Michalin is French-run. That in itself makes no difference to me, but it does mean a lot of the themed points-of-interest packs are in France. Me being a food slob, I downloaded the "European McDonald's Restaurant Pack", thinking I would never be far from an instant 800 calorie meal, only to find the 970T suggesting I go to France for my greasy food gratification. How they can confuse "France" and "Europe" is beyond me, and that's the whole point: You want to register for a the 90-day map-update guarantee (which, admittedly, is a nice bonus)? Send your stuff to France. Is it possible to talk to someone on the phone? Oui Monsieur, en France!
All these things, however, are minor issues. Where else can you get a high-quality GPS, with free traffic information, Bluetooth capability, free speed camera updates and full point-of-interests descriptions? You cannot. The 970T is a good buy, better than TomTom or Nuvi at the moment, and where you should place your money.
PS: I couldn't find out whether the traffic updates required an external antenna or not. It does, it's included in the package and needs to be attached to the base as well as the windscreen, but it doesn't take very much space and you can always put it behind the base itself to prevent further loss of windscreen viewing space.
 Brilliant GPS July 10, 2007
Marky in Surrey (Surrey, England)
32 out of 32 found this review helpful
After hesitating between the mainstream TOMTOM GO series and ViaMichelin, I decided to go for the latter and have been delighted with it. For little more than 200 on the cheapest website, you get a serious piece of kit with useful accessories such as mains charger and a proper fixation system. The free traffic info works great and the Michelin guides make such a difference to POI richness. Personnally, I thought the differences in features were not worth paying so much more for the top of the range X-980T. Maybe less intuitive at first than TOMTOM but offers much more in the long run.
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