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Lowrance 000-0125-03 iWay 250C 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator and MP3 Player
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| Price: |
4 new or used available from $110.00
Average customer review:
Product Description
The new iWay 250C makes a perfect fit for any car, any pocket, and even the smallest budget! Now, from the SEMA Award-winning iWay line of mobile navigation products comes a new niche-filling option. Sleek, Handy, Portable, with multimedia extras. Bright, high-detail 3.5 inch diag., 16-bit color TFT touch-screen display has 320x240 pixel resolution for superb mapping detail, with adjustable white LED backlighting. Built-in 12-channel GPS+WAAS receiver with flip-up antenna, Automatic turn-by-turn routing and re-routing (for missed turns and detours) with visual and voice directions, Full-featured MP3 player and JPEG picture viewer with easy touch-screen control, Complete with value-added support and mounting accessories USB to PC cable, suction-cup mounting bracket with quick release and flexible arm, cradle, 12-volt accessory power/charger adapter, and soft protective fabric cove.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #23652 in Consumer Electronics
- Brand: Lowrance
- Model: Iway250c
- Dimensions: 1.00" h x 4.00" w x 3.00" l, 1.00 pounds
- Native resolution: 320 x 240
- Display size: 3.5
Features
- Portable multimedia GPS device with 3.5-inch, 16-bit color TFT touchscreen display
- 12-Channel GPS receiver; full-featured MP3 player and JPEG picture viewer
- Includes 2 GB MMC/SD card preloaded with NAVTEQ mapping detail for the USA and Canada
- Turn-by-turn routing and re-routing for missed turns and detours; includes visual and voice directions
- Massive points of interest database; supports all current plug-and-play map/chart options from Lowrance
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description
This compact, portable color GPS navigation system features built-in battery power, a stereo MP3 music player, and a picture viewer, making it the perfect companion for your next trip across town or across the continent. The iWay 250C includes a 2 GB MMC/SD card preloaded with NAVTEQ mapping detail for the USA and Canada, complete with millions of accessible points of interest (POIs).
The iWay 250C sports a sunlight-viewable, 3.5-inch, 16-bit color TFT touch-screen display with 320 x 240 pixel resolution. The display features optimal brightness for viewing in all driving conditions. The device also features a stereo MP3 audio player with a digital media card slot for loading audio files with an SD/MMC memory card. A full-featured picture viewer is also provided, allowing you to display JPEG photos stored on MMC/SD memory cards.
 The iWay 250C packs a stereo MP3 music player and picture viewer into a compact, portable, GPS unit. |
 Street address searching, plus auto-routing choices to help you avoid toll roads. |
 Play audio files with an SD/MMC memory card. |
Users from different countries will appreciate the iWay 250C's ability to offer voice directions in seven languages as well as display text in 12 languages. The unit also features street address searching, plus auto-routing choices to help you avoid toll roads and interstates. You can even avoid left-hand turns.
The iWay 250C comes with enough memory to store up to 1,000 addresses, and the included 2GB MMC/SD card is preloaded with NAVTEQ mapping detail for the USA and Canada. The maps also feature millions of accessible points-of-interest. The device also supports all current plug-and-play map/chart options from Lowrance (FreedomMaps, Fishing Hot Spots Elite, LakeMaster ProMaps, and NauticPath). The maps can also be updated via the device's internal USB port, which enables a PC connection.
What's in the Box
iWay 250C unit, stylus for touch-screen operations (with built-in holder), suction-cup mounting bracket, adhesive-backed, European-styled dash mounting plate, USB to PC interface cable, software CD-ROM, and user's manual.
Customer Reviews
very nicely done with the important detalis included
We enjoyed the convenience of traveling with our Roadmate 500. When you arrive in a new city somewhere, you are tired and unfamiliar and no matter how much you love each other, getting lost on the way to the hotel is good for some cranky exchange.
The 500 is obsolete as far as European maps are concerned so with an upcoming 3 weeks in Italy, it was time to see how far the new portables have come. My Lexus GX is disappointing and ridiculously expensive for what you get. It is non-intuitive (IMHO) and you cannot change anything underway requiring pulling over in spots equally as dangerous as Toyota/Lexus feels changing while moving is.
It came down to Garmin's sexy and capable NUVI 360 and the fishfinder Lowrance company's iWay 250C. I tried both side-by-side to see how they performed. You cannot go wrong with either one and I found the differences negligible for my needs. Navteq maps are superior to anything else in the USA and Tele Atlas are the benchmark for Europe. Lowrance did that right among other things. NUVI uses Navteq which is apparently very good in Europe as well but Tele Atlas is reprted to be better there.
Both are intuitive out of the box. The NUVI is sleek and slightly smaller and both are about the same weight. The NUVI resolution is superior and the voice street names are great. Lowrance will name some streets and the others are clearly annouced as "Left turn in 400 feet" or whatever. The NUVI sports Bluetooth capability with your compatible phone but the volume is not suffient to make it useable even in a nice quiet Lexus or equivelant so that is wasted on me. The MP3 capability is of little interest to us but we may learn more and find it uselful. NUVI will play your MP3's while navigating which the 250C will not, I don't care.
As far as POI's, the 250C found more for me but it was a relatively small sample so don't make a decision because of this. I found the real resosn for owning either one is the navigation. It is hard to justify paying twice the price for same maps and a slightly inferior voice capability. The auto version of the mapping on the Lowrance is so cool as it knows to give you the grander picture when you have some distance before the next turn and kindly switches to an expanded view when necessary.
The mount on the NUVI is excellant and so is the Lowrance. Both have enroute travel power cords and both have supplementry maps on cards wherever you want to go. I will keep the Lowrance and return the NUVI, the price is just not worth the difference, at least to me, although your mileage may vary...
Nice interface but some things lacking
Purchased this and was very impressed by the touch screen and the ease of use. However, after using it for a couple of days, I'll tell you the things that I found lacking:
1. It knows when you stop the car and will power off automatically. However, it won't power on automatically. You have to unplug, turn on the power, then plug back in. Not so fun after repeating the process several times.
2. The "warm-up" time after it boots up is quite long and I consistently found it took 5-10 minutes to find my current position.
3. Using the turn-by-turn instructions can be challenging at times because the distance is off by about 100 feet. For example, it will tell you to take a left turn in 300 feet. It is actually 200 feet so you get a little confused at first but you get used to it.
4. If you want to cancel your destination, that button is buried in the options page and even when you arrive at your destination, it doesn't always register so as you're driving away, you'll have to listen to it tell you to go back to where you came from. Cancelling the navigation is a pain while you're driving by the way so don't try it unless you want to have a head-on collision with oncoming traffic.
Positive features are that the points of interest are abundant and it saved me much time driving around looking for an ATM or gas station. The "Gauge" page is also pretty cool as it will tell you your current speed and estimated time until destination.
Average GPS unit - overall I am satisfied
I bought a lowrance 250c after a good deal online. So far its been a unit that has worked for me. One has to understand that this does not use the latest technology in terms of acquiring a signal so everytime you power down then power up, it may take as long as 2-3 minutes before the satellites find your location. Once it is acquired, the signal has so far kept on point (as long as you don't power off again). This is a little more than a minor annoyance for me because I am an impatient person and do not like to sit in a car waiting until a signal is acquired. This unit has also been pretty accurate in my travel, but I've noticed that one road was displayed as "times blvd" while the real road is "rice blvd". The maps and points of interests (POIs) are up-to-date, I believe they are the 2006 version. I went ahead and bought a 4 GB SD card 150x speed to allow for extra memory for MP3s and I heard the 150x speed actually makes the Lowrance faster (in acquiring a signal or calculating routes, I don't know, hopefully both). So far here are some pros and cons of this unit.
Pros:
- A huge memory of POIs. I was amazed at finding a hole-in-the-wall chinese restuarant I go to (some internet maps don't even show it in their database)
- Inexpensive compared to similar models of other brands
- Long battery life (6-8 hours for me)
- Good voice navigation (with exception-see below "Cons")
- Comes with a nice mounting interface (sticker also included) and power charger
- Can play MP3s and navigate at same time (unit will pause MP3s when giving directions, then automatically continue playing MP3s)
- Accuracy to location is pretty good (less than 100 feet for me)
- Updated preloaded maps from 2006
- Once signal is acquired, the signal remains fixed on vehicle continuously
- Compact size, one may be able to pocket or put in a small purse
- Very customizable display, you can show speed of car and distance/time left to destination if you want)
- Automatic power-down and off function.
Cons:
- Takes at least 2 minutes to acquire a signal. Too long compared to other models (less than 30 seconds for Garmin Nuvi). It could definently be longer if overcast or raining. It will be a pain for those who travel constantly as a job (e.g. Fed-Ex guy), because u can't afford to wait until signal is acquired again (i suggest don't power off the unit at all to keep the signal).
- In daytime, the sunlight causes glare on the screen and is not very readable. Worse if you wear sunglasses, I had to rely solely on the voice commands.
- Small capacity for MP3s (40MB) on the packaged 2GB SD Card, people who wants to use dual functions simultaneously (MP3s and navigation) must buy a 4GB SD Card
- No text to speech function. If I can't read screen, I would prefer that the voice says the street name instead of calling out "take right in 500 feet"
- A few POIs are incorrect, experienced a time where a restuarant was at the right side of the street while voice commanded me to take a left instead.
- If you use picture mode, the pictures are very slow to load.
- Does not give you alternate routes (route fo shortest time). I noticed that it gave me a route that would definently take 20 minutes longer if I decided to take it. I believe it calculates routes skewed to taking the main roads and highways instead of smaller obscure ones.
Overall, I'm satisfied with this 250C unit. I could have definently afforded to buy a Garmin Nuvi for twice more, but didn't think I needed to. I also thought about the Mio, but aside from a fast acquired signal, I heard too many bad things about it including awful maps and directions. Now if my job required me to travel everyday, then yes, spend the cash and get the Garmin Nuvi.
