December 8th, 2007

HP Pavilion Slimline s3220n User Reviews

Category: HP, Popularity: 10% [?]

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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By Matt (Bay Area)

First let me say that I’m not one of those GPS users who expects to have a signal everywhere I go. After all, these satellites are miles above the earth floating in space! So while I expect to lose signals every now and then I don’t expect to never receive them.

My unit had some trouble picking up a satellite for the first time. The manual said 50 seconds but I waited a good 5 minutes. The manual also says something like it shouldn’t take more than 35 seconds to receive a signal if it’s cold, or 20 seconds if it’s warm. I waited minutes everytime I turned it on.

When I did get a signal, the data seemed to be very skewed. I walked 30 feet across my flat backyard and it said I dropped 20+ feet in elevation. It lost it’s signal pretty often. Then, about 5 minutes later, the unit crashed. Like a computer. The whole unit was frozen, backlight on, and a huge line across the screen. No matter what button I pushed the screen wouldn’t change. So I tried to turn it off, but even the power button wouldn’t turn it off. I had to take out the batteries.

Ok, beginner’s bad luck. I reinstalled the batteries (which were new at the time!) and tried again. After 5 minutes of waiting for reception, the unit crashed once more in the exact same manner it had 20 minutes before that. I decided then and there to return it. If this thing has trouble finding a signal, let alone keep from crashing, then I can’t trust it to get me where I need to go in the backcountry.

To be fair, I tested the unit on a calm, slightly overcast night with the temperature in the mid 40’s F. I think they would be nice test conditions for any unit.

I returned it for a Garmin eTrex Venture for a few dollars more and am much happier with it. It even held a signal in the same conditions that I tested the Cobra GPS 100 in.

My advice: go with a brand you trust like Garmin or Magellan.

By M. Schroeder “anrx4you” (Santa Rosa, CA. United States)

Whats going on with the poor reviews? I bought this and have been overwhelming delighted with it. No, it’s not top of the line, but worth more than the selling price.
It works great! Accurate to within a few feet thanks to the WAAS feature. Geocaching is a blast! The unit is very sturdy and weatherproof. It’s true it doesn’t work well in poor weather, but I’m sure few do. The only downside I can think of is the quality of their accessories. The car power cord works about 75 percent of the time. 25 percent of the time it will claim batteries are low while plugged in. Batteries drain very quickly, particularly when the backlight is on.
All in all, it is well worth the $$. It is very functional and full of features (e.g. elevation). I’ve found it to be very accurate. I give this unit a strong 4 stars. I’ll go on record as saying it’s a bargain.