SatGuide Moov 200

Full Review

SatGuide’s latest GPS device- the Mio Moov 200 is a mid range gadget that does more than merely assist you on the road. Predictably, its performance as a GPS device is more remarkable than as a PMP.

Features & Design

The Moov’s fully black body is mostly made up of plastic except for the front screen bezel which is dark metallic. The body has a clean design but it isn’t the most attractive device out there. It has one power switch at the top, an SD card slot on the left and a miniUSB port at the bottom. The back has a mono onboard speaker.  The Moov 200 is as big as a pocket calculator and is easy to carry around. The overall build quality is fair but not sturdy as the plastic finish feels a bit tacky.

It has a 3.5-inch touchscreen that displays QVGA resolution (320x240) which seems adequate for viewing maps and text. The device is powered by a Samsung CPU and a 20-channel SiRF star III GPS chip. It has 32MB RAM and 2GB of internal memory. Its internal 720mAh Lithium battery has a claimed 2.5 hours of battery life.  The internal hardware is on par with what the competition offers today.

The preloaded SatNav map currently supports over 600 cities with over 20 lakh Points of Interest (POIs). The map supports Night Mode, 2D/3D mode, Pedestrian/Vehicle Mode and Free Map Browsing. The destination can be set by either selecting POIs or street addresses. They can also just be picked from the Recent Locations or Favorites menus. You can also tap any point on the map and drive to that location. There are some nifty features like multi-route planners, options to avoid routes and route playback. The Moov 200 does not offer just navigational assistance but also lets you watch, play and listen to media files (audio/video/images). The package includes a device holder, USB cable, AC charger, In-car charger and the requisite manuals and CD.

Performance

The Moov 200 booted up in just a second. The device’s menu interface is simple but accessing some map features requires some digging. The device responded at acceptable speed in most operations and the on-screen QWERTY keypad also worked fine. The screen is responsive to touches but visibility outdoors in pedestrian mode is average.

Navigating to a desired location using any of the given options was easy overall. It took a little while for the device to pull up the list of POIs for the selected location. In addition, while searching by street address, searching by house number is not yet supported, so you can only search by street name in a city. Most of the street addresses and POIs I tried in Bangalore were picked up right away from its extensive database. To start the navigation, one can opt for either Short or Quick navigation. Once, I hit the Go button, the device acquired the satellite signal within 2 minutes outdoors which is impressive. Route calculation happened almost instantaneously and the suggested route was clearly indicated by a blue line. While changing our course or when we missed the turns, rerouting also happened without any hiccups.  Its voice prompt was also clear, loud and sharp.  There are 10 languages for voice prompts including English. The route suggestions were very accurate for Bangalore at least. Due to the constant change in Bangalore road traffic, the Moov 200 did not recognize some one-way route at times. The device’s reception quality is stable and quite commendable when it comes to acquiring/ reacquiring satellite.

The map screen shows the current street’s name and address plus some other useful information. Toggling between the 2D and 3D map views is also possible using the compass icon on the screen.  While navigating, the top screen shows a pop up with the direction and distance for the next turn which is helpful.

Media playback is average at best. There is no headphone jack and just the tiny onboard mono speaker which is insufficient. Also, the low resolution screen just does not suffice for video and pictures. The battery when fully charged lasted for 2 hours (approx) against the rated 2.5 hours.

The Mio Moov 200 priced at Rs.11,990 (MOP) may not look all that great and may not operate at blazing speeds, but the solid signal reception and comprehensive maps make it one of the better choices in the market.

Bottom Line

Solid signal reception and a functional design is what the SatGuide's Moov 200 is all about. Its navigational capability is more impressive than its passable media playback feature.