Mio Digiwalker H610 and C220 GPS Units - Individual Testing (H610 and C220)

Mio Digiwalker C220s Testing:

I tested this unit first, and after giving it a quick charge I was up and going pretty much instantly. Like with most units I test, I usually just pick them up and start trying them out without reading any instructions or anything, and with the C220s I really had no problems whatsoever, I was plotting routes in the first couple minutes and the navigation through the menus is pretty straightforward and uncomplicated.

So after the first 10 minutes of use, I was feeling pretty confident in using this unit, I had found most of the options and then it happened......

Ooops, Fatal Error

Ooops, then I got everyone's favorite screen, the good old Windows exception error. I'd only used this unit for about 10 minutes when this happened, and I was a bit disappointed and was just dreading getting this error over and over again. After a quick reset (~20 seconds) I was back up and going like nothing ever happened. The reset was super easy, and I was quickly back up and going, so it wasn't as bad as I was first expecting.

So part of testing is trying to get the thing to crash and I had done it, now I tried to recreate the error, and after about 30 minutes of trying the exact same things I had originally done, I was unsuccessful. I was never able to get it to crash again until about two weeks later when it crashed again, but once again I was unable to get it to recreate either of the times it crashed, and in the two weeks I had this unit in my vehicle I used it a ton, anywhere I went I would use it even if I'd been there a million times, so quite honestly the crashing wasn't a big deal to me, especially since rebooting was so simple and fast.

Usage of this unit is pretty simple, you enter the address and it plots you the course, now when I first used the C220s I left it on the default "Shortest" mapping option. Well, it definitely was the shortest, but it had me cutting through residential areas, crossing major roads and criss-crossing all over the place. At the time of the day I first tried it traffic was pretty light so it didn't work out too bad, but during rush hour I doubt it would have been the shortest due to some of the roads I was required to cross being congested I doubt I'd be easily able to cross them very quickly. I found that if you changed the mapping option to "Fastest" or "Economical" you were able to get places much quicker in traffic, I normally had it set on economical, that way it used major roads more often rather than trying to cut through residential areas and such. Also in the routing options you can specify if you want to use toll-roads or highways, unpaved roads and such. That way if you don't feel comfortable going on the highway you can unselect that and it will route you through secondary roads instead, so even the way it routes you can be easily customized. You can even select what type of vehicle you are driving (Car, Truck, Taxi, Bicycle, Walking, etc) for even more customization as it will route you differently according to your mode of transportation.

Mio Digiwalker H610 Testing:

I tested the H610 second, and after using the C220s for a couple weeks, I was pretty comfortable using the GPS software, as the H610 and C220s have the same GPS software installed. Basically my usage was very heavy on this unit and unlike the C220s which crashed on me twice, the H610 never crashed and never missed a beat during the entire testing. This could be due to the different version of Windows CE that was installed (The H610 has a newer Windows CE version than the C220s).

As for my usage, my experience was pretty much identical to the C220s, it was able to quickly route me to where I need to go, and had a lot of options depending on what type of route I wanted to take (Fastest, Shortest, Most Economical), as well as what mode of transportation I would be using (Car, Truck, Walking, Bicycle, Etc). I really have no complaints with the GPS software, its well laid out and works flawlessly and quickly.

The extra features are the big selling feature on the H610, and with all the extras it makes this unit a traveler's best friend. If you're planning on taking a trip where you may not be driving the entire time, and especially if you are planning on going to a foreign country, this little unit will be your best friend. I'll go into detail on the extra features in the next section.

H610 Extra Features

The H610 has a few more extra features that I'll briefly go over, for example it's got some built-in games, which at first I was a little taken back to see, because why would I want to play games on my GPS? Well, it comes with 5 games (Fireball, Jewel Master, Gems, Flux and Plumbin), and a couple of them are addicting, I found myself playing Jewel Master (Bedazzled knockoff) and plumbin (waterworks knockoff) a couple times, and it was pretty decent. I found some of the games frustrating because of the small touchscreen and had a hard time with precise control, but for the slower games the touchscreen was ok.

The H610 also features a MP3 player built-in, which is another feature you don't really expect from a GPS, but if you're taking this handy unit jogging, you can kill two birds with one stone and leave your MP3 player at home. The playback over the speaker actually isn't too bad either, it was better than I was expecting, but I'd assume majority of users will be using headphones when using this anyways.

Mio Digiwalker H610 - Games

Mio Digiwalker H610 - MP3 Player

There is also a contacts list that you can use on the H610, which once again is another feature that I didn't think would come with a GPS unit like this. I'm not sure how much someone would actually use this, but I guess if you're running around and run into an old friend and need to take down a number, this little feature will do. I really doubt though that someone would use this feature constantly, as entering names and numbers on a small touchscreen isn't exactly speedy, but in a pinch it does the trick.

The H610 also has a feature called "WorldMate" which is pretty much a all-in-one travelers best friend, it's got everything from a currency converter, to a clothing size converter, to a weather forecaster, to a packing list, to a measurements converter, and much more. I was truly surprised how many different features the "WorldMate" option had, and I could see this being extremely handy to have if you are traveling outside your own country.

Mio Digiwalker H610 - WorldMate Main Screen

All of these extra features are well thought out, and all of them work great, and quite frankly its all these extra features that really make this unit worth buying if you are planning on traveling.