Pharos Drive GPS 150 and Drive GPS 250 Portable Navigation Devices Review

Pharos Drive GPS 150 and 250 portable navigation devices have picked up a few fans with the 150 being selected in Amazon’s Best of 2007 Editors GPS Picks and the Drive 250 being selected in a recent PC World Top GPS Devices list (3rd of 5). While both portable GPS navigators have the same navigation capabilities, they are differentiated by the TFT LCD touch screen size (4.3 inches for the 250 and 3.5 inches for the 150). The Pharos Drive GPS 150 model is available in three colors; black, blue and pink.

Pharos Drive GPS 250

Both devices are excellent value for money including some high end features for the price including a sensitive SiRF StarIII GPS receiver (embedded antenna) and text-to-speech. The rechargeable Lithium-Polymer battery is excellent value providing up to seven hours of continuous operation. Missing are a media player, Bluetooth for hands-free operation and real-time traffic update options.

Backlighting for the touchscreen is automatically dimmed for low ambient light conditions. A useful feature is the simple gesture control of zoom by swiping a finger across the touch screen. As they are portable navigation devices, Pharos have built a pedestrian mode into the navigation software which plots routes with pedestrian options and preferences in mind.

Navigation

A noticeable shortcoming is the comparatively small POI database totalling 1.2 million entries (internal memory is small at 64MB). Maps are from NAVTEQ and cover the U.S. (including Hawaii and Alaska) and Canada. The map data is loaded on a 1GB SD card but, it might as well be internal memory as opening the slot voids the warranty.

Pharos has utilized Destinator GPS Navigation Software from Intrinsyc software from Destinator Technologies to build their navigation interface. If you have found the navigation screens on some GPS navigators cluttered and difficult to read then the Pharos 150 and 250 are for you as the navigation screens are simple and uncluttered for easy reading.

In line with the uncluttered map view, the main menu has only three icons; Go, Map and Settings. From the Go selection, a destination can be entered as a new address, stored address, POI or recently found location (64 stored in memory). The quickest and shortest routes are generated as options. It’s possible to select a destination directly by tapping the map screen in the right spot. A QuickNav icon is also available a touch of which will have the GPS navigator calculate a route there for you. You could set this to your home address, for example.

The 1.2 million POI are categorized under 50 headings in a scrolling list. As well as browsing the categories, you can search for POIs nearby or near your destination.

An interesting route planning feature of the Pharos Drive GPS navigators is that they allow you to avoid specific roads by name.

Options for map view display include 2D north, 2D track up or 3D track up. Selecting the Map Browsing mode allows finger swipes to scroll the map.

Turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation instructions guide a driver to their destination. The text-to-speech feature pronounces street names along the way giving confirmation that one is on track without taking one’s eyes from the road. If the worst happens and a turn is missed the Drive GPS unit automatically recalculates a route to get back on track.