Lowrance 112-362 iWay 500C Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player

User Review: - Great GPS System - Amazing Accuracy
A friend let me borrow his last fall for a trip through Vermont and New Hampshire. I was amazed at the roads this baby picked up. I mean, out of the way, top of the mountain, dirt roads. And with a touch of a button, you tell it to take you back to the main highway and you're off. I recommend this GPS system 1000%

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User Review: - Lowrance iWAY 500c - Extreme Dissapointment
I purchased the Lowrance iWAY 500c as a birthday present for my directionally challenged wife. Her mother has a Garmin Nuvi that my wife had been using and loving while on vacation in Florida. I purchased the Lowrance after looking at reviews on CNET, which rated the unit as the second best on the market and above the Garmin.

After receiving the unit, I have been extremely dissapointed. While the screen is very easy to read, the touch screen user interface is not nearly as intuitive as the Garmin. What is even more disspointing is that the unit often struggles to find our location. It takes between 45 seconds up to 3 minutes to find itself after being turned on. The Points of Interest catalog is very dissapointing and largely inferior to that of the Garmin. Additionally, the unit often instructs us to make turns that do not make sense. For example, in route towards our home via a major thoroughfare, the Lowrance instructs us to turn onto a side street that is full of stop signs and ultimately loops back to the main thoroughfare. The only thing that CNET sited as less than ideal was the massive size of the unit. I was willing to deal with that to take advantage of the many reported positives. I now regret that decision since there do not appear to be any positives about this device.

In fairness, I haven't contacted Lowrance yet to discuss the problems. My recommendation to others would be to head toward Garmin or another device over this unit. What a dissapointment

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User Review: - SUCKS
I hate this GPS. It got me lost in the boonies more than once, it takes forever to get satellite signal, maps are extremely hard to read while driving, having to use the stylus is really inconvenient. My suggestion is get a more user-friendly GPS that you can easily navigate at red-lights or short stops. I have a Mio c310 it was really cheap and easy to use...literally take it out of the box and get going. This thing is something else.

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User Review: - This GPS is a mixed blessing
I have used my iWay 500C for the last two years and believe that I have gotten pretty good use out of it, but there have been some serious issues:

1. I bought this unit because it was waterproof and rugged (I mounted it on my motorcycle as well as used it in my car). However, the iWay overheats on a regular basis. During the summer in the car, it frequently warns of shut down, even though the temperature in the car is not excessive (air-conditioned).

2. The navigation database has some peculiar route anomalies and often chooses a less than optimum path. For example, I live about 15 miles from a main highway in rural Missouri and the iWay insists on a route to said highway that is over 3 miles longer. Even though secondary roads are paved and in good condition, their database appears to be treating some of these roads as no better than dirt tracks.

3. The software update process from 1.3 to 1.4 took over two hours and the unit worked worse and had more database issues after I performed the update.

I have decided to sell the iWay and have bought a Tom Tom One, which costs less than a third and works a whole lot better.

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User Review: - not a good unit
Our unit died just before the warranty was up, I sent it back ($50 because of weight and insurance). They sent me a refurbished one, didn't work. I sent it back (on their dime). They sent me another refurbished one; it stopped working after two hours. I sent it back; they sent me a new 600C. This one works for now, but I don't expect it to last the full year. I thought Lowrance made quality products, but after this experience, I believe there quality has suffered a devastating blow. I would not recommend there products anymore.

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