I live in California and travel a LOT for business. I saw the H610 in a magazine and picked one up for myself. I will never leave the house without it! No matter what city I visit I can easily navigate from the airport to the hotel and can easily find a great restaurant or night spot for afterhours. And the media player has saved my sanity more times than I can recall. Now when I sit on a plane I can listen to songs, watch movies or play games - without having to bust open my huge laptop.
br /
br /I cannot imagine hitting the road without one!

i don't have car in NYC, just wanna have a GPS for cycling. I screwed the device holder to a Garmin handle bar bracket on my bike, cool!!! Vehicle type can be defined in several types, including bike and pedestrian. Each of them has even more detailed settings. I have used it just in NYC for few days. The preload POI is helping me finding lots of hideaways. But has no public toilet marked:( I have to do my own collection. As many review have said, 610 is a very adorable gadget in cities.
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br /However, there are some issues bother me. Maybe I just haven't figure out the correct way. If you know the solution, please put in your reviews here. the first issue is to orient through the operation system. It seems the system is a combination of unrelated pieces. You have main interface, which you can setup your settings, light, volume, power saver... but in the sub-section, MioMap, you have a different set of these setting work independently again. You also will find "setting in setting" in MioMap. It is annoying at the beginning. But for a while, I start to remember which is where.
br /
br /Another issue is to create personal POI. Even though you have many places to get POI information, only one place to create and edit your personal POI GROUP. You can change you self made POI between groups, but cannot copy preload POI into your personal collection. If you do need it, you have to input the information yourself. And there is no way to put note on your self-created POI, such as store hour, telephone No, floor located...
br /
br /I have briefly tried couple of Garmin models. They don't seem to solve many of these issues either. Also be aweare, the bettery in Mio610 works up to 5 hours is believable. Many low end car use units have only 2-3 hours bettery life. Before purchurse, make sure the bettery life meets your need. So, over all, at this price range, I strongly recommend city users to pick up this hard to find low speed friendly device.
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This is my first foray into the world of GPS navigation. That being the case I didn't want to have to carry around another device (I have only so many pockets!), so I wanted it to be truly 'hand held' and have multimedia player built in (photos, vids and mp3's,wma files) to replace my non-iPod mp3 player. Tall order? Behold..What I finally found was the Mio H610. And it delivered all the above and then some. This device features pre-loaded maps of the US, a fast processor,a a hi-res 2.5' touch screen, a SD card slot (4 gig max, preloaded travel software and utilities, and a handful of cool games including a 3-D space racer game which shows off the processors' power nicely. Since I've received it a month ago, I have used it almost flawlessly navigate to weekend destinations all around my home state of Florida. It features the new SirfStar III chip set that triangulates a signal rather quickly from what I understand (under 2 mins). I've mounted it onto my Dahon Matrix bike and while biking it can play music files (while in nav mode I'll add) through its built in and speaker which is surprisingly loud! This has turned into the most favorite gadget I've ever picked up, and I've picked up a few in my time. The only issues I have with the unit is the video player and music player. Although the converted mp4s play every time, very rarely can I get the video to play in horizontal format. I have also found that when you play music files you can't 'scrub' thourgh the songs to find a certain section. For now, these are small bugs I'm sure that will probably fixed in an upcoming software update. The li-ion battery life on standby is also impressive and I find myself carrying it everywhere. Also comes with both a car and home power adapter (mini USB based), a nice carry strap with built-in screen tapper (great idea), great quality color matched headphones with in-line controller, and a well designed car mounting kit. Great unit, period. I would recommend it highly!

I have the H610 for about one month now and it proved to be well working and fun to play with in its multiple
br /capacities as a GPS navigator as well as an entertaiment and travel helper gadget.
br /The small size (about the same as an iPod)makes it easy to
br /carry around and use it outside a vehicle.
br /The GPS part works well enough and the Miomap software
br /seems to be quite stable (I encountered a couple of crashes,but the software recovered well).
br /The display is smaller than available in most competitor devices ,but the use of portrait mode reduced somewhat the disadvantage.
br /The map lettering is difficult to read while driving,but the essential "turn" arrow and the mileage to go are large,clear and easy to discern.
br /A "distance to turn" graph bar that appears just before a turn is a very nice feature.
br /The mp3,video and photo players,as well as a few games work well enough and may provide some entertainment while walking or,say,waiting in an airport.
br /Some travel related programs such as a currency exchange
br /calculator,alarm clock,multiple time zones and even a list of things to pack are provided.A list of contacts could be made and saved,but the suggested transfer of existing contacts from Outlook did not work.
br /I thought it would nice to have the device in your pocket
br /while walking an unfamiliar city in a place where you don't
br /speak the language and find easily the way back to your hotel.Unfortunately I could not locate any Europe maps to add to the GPS,hopefully Mio will offer them at some time.
br /The device seems to be well built.The battery life is more than adequate and the recharging is quite speedy.
br /All in all I'm happy with my purchase.
br /

my first gps (Mio 310) was stolen, so i decided to take a look at TomTom 920 (has european maps) and Garmin nuvii 650(good reviews)...
br /The fact that TomTom 920 lists POI by name only (no address or city name) turned me off righgt away, also the screen is hard to read on a sunny day.
br /When i took Mio310 out of the box, i thought it is too small(especially after TomTom's 4 in screen), but after using Mio310 for a day, I am sure i don't need a huge screen("small TV") with just roads on my windshield window; in addition huge screen makes TomTom920 and Garmin Nuvii bulky and in NYC you better take it out of the car.
br /
br /Mio 610 pros:
br /-very neat and cute design
br /-size
br /-packaging: wrist strap with stylus, neck strap, windshield mount, car charger, wall charger, earphones with volume and play control
br /-user interfase and very intuitive menues
br /-well organized POI, nice POI listing - with addresses, so you don't need to click on every one to find out where it is located
br /-Canadian Maps
br /-price; (TomTom has a big selection of voices, languages, car images, map colors and many other things(built-in and downloadable, free and not free); i think that many of them i will never use, for example I need just one pleasant voice and one good map color choice)
br /-love its 3D map, easy North-up, Route-up and North-up plane-view switch, smartZoom
br /-can be used just as an mp3 player
br /-nice WorldMate travel kit
br /-many other features that i yet need to explore and don't need to pay for
br /
br /Cons:
br /- i am not sure where i can buy Eropean Maps
br /
br /Hope it helps. Thanks to mio-tech for the great product.

My Mio stopped working after about a year. I contacted the company and was informed the battery life is about 1.5 years. Mio charges 100 dollars to replace the battery and insists upon your shipping the device UPS. Just be aware it works great for a year or so but appears to have an annual cost of 100 + dollars a year in upkeep for battery.

I have compared this device directly with the Garmin equivalent and while they seem pretty similar, the Garmin handles new construction areas better (maps are just plain superior). Frankly, Garmin seems better suited for U.S. travel. Just my opinion.
br /
br /I am also confused about why the Mio restricts voice selection. It seems pointless to do so.
br /
br /Still, the Mio is very portable and overall well constructed and useful.

I love this little guy. First off, ignore the 'feminine' aspect - every guy I've ever shown this to loves it and wants one also. It's so convenient, easy to use, and work fantastically. The POI's could use an update, but that's on the way anyways. It announces turns in a loud, clear voice. It recalculates driving errors immediately and accurately. It has a really cool 3D view on which you can change the angle in real time. I've used many GPS units, and this is by far my favorite.
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br /The smaller screen does take some getting used to, but it's the trade off between size and portability. I bring this on trips all the time and it makes my life perfect. Want a Steak and Shake at 4AM in a city you've never been to before? Type in the name, and whammo - you're practically driven there.
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br /I can't recommend this unit enough, and everyone I show it to wants one too. Plus the games are addictive as well.

I have very limited vision and use the H610 in "Pedestrian" mode. The voice directions are great but the display "washes out" in sunlight. I have only used the mapping feature locally but found the H610 relatively easy to use. The manual is good on "button" descriptions but leaves their utilization mostly on a trial and error basis. I would have liked more examples of route setup and the other features. The GPS seems to be fairly accurate but have yet to try it in a downtown setting with tall buildings.
br /
br /There are a number of other features that are useful to people on the go. The MP3 player is OK but better done in other brands.
br /
br /All in all, I am very pleased with the H610 and hope that the maps and POIs are updated on a regular basis.

I rated this GPS unit a 4 out of 5 stars because the date/time doesn't always come up correctly when powering up the device and initial link to the gps network.
br /This is not a big deal as I have other devices for telling me the time, although it's nice to have the estimated arrival time correct.
br /Usually once I get the date corrected the gps auto corrects the time (an option I enabled). I tend to find the time is only off by one hour, and I do wonder if it is because I had it shipped to and initially set it for PST-while I actually live in MTS, the settings do show it is Mountain time...I wonder too if it has to do with DLS...but again it does seem to update correctly eventually.
br /The video/mp3 and picture viewer all seem to work great. I haven't used those features to much as I got and use it for navigation mostly.
br /The initial GPS signal does take up to a couple minutes when cold booting it after it's been off for a while (a couple hours or longer has been my experience) but as people have stated after that the signal is quickly linked. I have only lost the signal a handful of times, with the majority of them being inside buildings (while I am inside I look up a POI), while driving I have only lost it twice momentarily (maybe 5 seconds) while driving inside a heavily wooded canyon-esque area a couple times;[for those who care it was along hwy 22 (or 20 maybe...) near Detroit Lake on my way from Portland to Bend in Oregon]. The transfer time to the SD card seems fine to me too, 50mb mp3s take just a few minutes and I know the movies will take longer so I haven't sat there and timed the progress- definitely doesn't take "all day or night" though.
br /I am a window/door delivery driver and installer- so I have new construction as well as jobs in previously developed areas. I am in Utah which is basically a grid system so not having every single new road is not crucial as long as I have enough to get me in the right area...
br /It even had several of the "no name" dirt [off]roads available while I was camping outside of Bend, OR and was able to take me on them for the "fastest" route home...that was totally unexpected and made our drive more fun and interesting! although it didn't offer to pay for the much needed car wash after.

Pros: I really like it's compact design and multimedia capabilities. The games are very addicting.
br /
br /Cons: The screen is very difficult to see in bright daylight and many of the Points of Interest are outdated. On many occasions, it takes over 3 minutes to link up with GPS satellites. It is not compatible with SD cards over 4 Gigs.

Chalk up another satisfied customer for this one. I had an in-dash GPS in my last car and I actually prefer the navigation mode of the Mio h610 unit much better -- at about 1/8 of the price.
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br /Everything I have tried on this unit works terrific, including all of the media functions.
br /
br /The screen is very bright and vivid. It has a night mode which I wasn't sure I would like but actually works very well.
br /
br /All in all I think it is a great product at a very good price.
br /
br /p.s. I ordered an aftermarket gps antenna that plugs into the back of the h610 and has a small black gps antenna unit that attaches magnetically to the roof of a car, like a satellite radio antenna. The h610 worked fine without the external antenna but the antenna helps the unit orient more quickly when first turning it on. It also seems to pull in more signals more strongly, based on the h610's signal strength meters. This is definitely not a necessary addition but it only cost $18 for the antenna and I think it's worth it, particularly if you're going to mostly just leave it in one car.

I have only had this for a couple of days, however I am amazed at all the capabilities jammed in this small unit. I was looking for a "All in One" portable device and this comes close. Just think, a GPS, MP3, Picture Viewer, Movie Player, Calculator, Compass, Games World Mate Software, all in one handy package.
br /
br /I have purchased Sony and TomTom GPS units in the past and this Mio GPS seems to be just as accurate. The MP3 player is nice and includes a playlist feature and graphic equalizer presets for "Rock, Jazz, Country, etc."
br /
br /One nice feature I mentioned earlier is the included "World Mate" software. This software features a currency converter, calculator, clothing size chart for traveling abroad and also weather updates regionally and global. I punched in my local zip, synced it with my laptop and boom, there was my local 5 day forecast, provided by The Weather Channel. This is going to be handy when planning a trip.
br /
br /The display is incredible!! The graphics are smooth and the colors are rich and bright. My TomTom and Sony don't even compare! Although the display is smaller(2.7") it's just as easy to read as the traditional 3.5" displays.
br /
br /Overall I am happy with the unit, give me about 6 months and several road trips and I will really rate this unit. As for now - Nice Work Mio!!

Compact, stylish, all-in-one, GPS plus Entertainment system. Graphics superb, map rendering smooth, sound quality above average, battery life more than you expect. Maps up-to-date including millions of point of interest. This GPS rocks.

I purchased this a week ago, got it yesterday, and fired it up today. When I typed in my home address, it couldn't find the street. In fact, it couldn't find any street in my development, despite the fact that I have lived here for three years and the development has been here for five years! When I called tech support, they said that the map data was 2005, and they weren't going to have an update until next year. In addition, when I took it outside, the screen washed out in the sun and was completely unreadable. The only good thing was the tech person was polite. My Nuvi is a much better unit. I bought this one because it was a little smaller.

I purchased this unit to find that it doesn't have Vista support. Mio justified it by saying lots of devices don't have Vista support. Not a good answer. I also found out they don't have any map updates. Every trip I have used it on has had a problem with errors in the mapping. With Vista support and map updates the unit would be great. Without it is useless.

There are some nice hardware features. The device is small, the screen has good resolution and the SIRF GPS chip locates your position quite quickly.
br /
br /However, the software is poor and difficult to use. For example:
br /
br /1. For some reason, if you don't use the device for a few days, the battery runs down quickly.
br /2. The on-screen keyboard is so small as to be unusable without a stylus.
br /3. The mapping software is not intuitive at all. It is difficult to initiate a navigation session or know when you have initiated it. It is doubly confusing to terminate a navigation session. I contacted Mio and they said you must "delete" the navigation session, which is silly, because it is reasonably likely you will want to use the same route again. Thus, you end up inputting the address with the tiny keyboard all over again. One of the worst problems is that the mapping software is very slow to "recalculate" to a new route. When I tested it going to work, I changed the route and it kept wanting to send me back to the old route by backtracking a number of miles. I don't know how many times it said "recalculating".
br /4. The device also works poorly as a "walking" device. The maps are not detailed enough to provide any detail on local walking paths (even in walking mode). It also is useless as a bicycle GPS. It had no maps for bike paths and only wanted me to use local roads.
br /5. As I said above, you could put the device in your purse or bag, but it is likely the battery will run out in a couple of days, and so it will again be useless.
br /
br /Ultimately, the question is do you find the device useful such that you want or need to take it on trips. The answer is no. It is more trouble than it is worth. GPS devices are frustrating to begin with, at times, but to have a device with such poor software, one is constantly driven to "just throw it out the window".
br /
br /By contrast, I have an older Garmin Nuvi 350. There is no comparison whatsoever. The device is simple and user friendly. I take it everywhere I travel.
br /
br /After everything is said and done, "it's the software stupid" with these and other devices and the H610's software is poor.

Mio DigiWalker H610 Handheld GPS and MP3 Player
br /Received this GPS from TigerDirect through Amazon. Planned to use it on trip to Nevada and Colorado. Mountain bike trip in desert and concerned we might get lost. This unit's battery failed almost immediately and could not use it on the trail. Had it less than a month when it failed. Difficult to understand how to set trip destination. We should have purchased a TomTom and should not deal with TigerDirect.

Unfortunately, the old saying of you get what you pay for definitely applies to this product. When I first received it, everything worked fine and I was very pleased with all the great features. When compared to similar products by other more popular brands, dollar for dollar, this was the best deal. Then after about 2 months all the problems began.
br /The GPS would periodically freeze up, requiring a re-boot which in turn would delete all your prior settings, history, stored POIs, etc. The audio/video player would not play certain files, even if they were loaded properly via the mio tranfer software that came with the GPS. As others have mentioned, the maps are definitely dated. A few "new" roads near where I live that are about 3 years old did not appear on the GPS at all.
br /I contacted Mio tech support on multiple occassions, and eventually returned my GPS for repair 2 separate times, but it still has the same problems as before. BTW their customer service is atrocious! They are friendly at first, but after they realize they cannot fix your problems, that quickly changes! They will not refund your money and will not send you another device to replace your defective one. In today's day and age, I find that completely unacceptable!
br /If you're looking for a cool little device that works great for a couple of months, then feel free to waste your money on this. All others should avoid - Remember you get what you pay for!

its a great product but the thing is its not capable for window vista which is a problem for me to update it...its an old version so need to update because it sometime read wrong direction..

this is a great little gps. where the screen isn't as big as otherr car navigation systems it is very portable and the directions are very clear through vocal directions. it has all the maps in it so scouting out a path prior to travel is simple.
br /it took a litte practice to figure out how to use all the features, but after that, it is fantastic!
br /also, the battery life is good but not great. but it comes with a power adapter for your car for those long drives...as long as i remember to grab it...lol
br /and the games are fun too...

I have had this product since May. I purchased it for a cross country move. The research I did said a map update will be available, so I purchased it, but it really doesn't look like Mio is working very hard on it with their new line of Moov units. I really love this gadget now that I've had time to tinker with it. Here's why:
br /
br /Size: Its a versatile unit, but it is supposed to be carried around with you, thus it has a small screen.
br /
br /Software: Its ok, I have never tried anything else, so I wouldn't know what I'm missing. It has alot of layers so you have to play with it to do what you want it to do. Just like the other reviewer said about adding your POIs, it takes time and practice to figure it out.
br /
br /Function: It has hung up once on me, I haven't used it on my Vista machine yet. I always drain the battery and then recharge it, so my battery life is pretty decent still, I would say ~5 hours. The pedestrian feature is cool, there is also taxi, truck, emergency. The truck feature took me away from the parkways and restricted places in New York when we arrived, that was cool. But the fastest route one time took us off the freeway onto a highway, then back on the same freeway. Also in Nigara Falls it was telling us to go the wrong way to get to the bridge. So you have to understand it is not perfect, so if you see a sign that says turn right, then do it even if the Mio says left. All I'm missing is Subway and bus routes in NYC.
br /
br /Features: I still haven't figured out what the CAMs are that you can add in places. Recently I've been using the Track Log or Route feature to record the distances that I run, like a wrist GPS, except this one plays music also, so I carry one device when I run and it tracks the distance and time that you are recording. I need an armband, but it still works in my pocket so far. In the car this feature keeps track of distance traveled when you don't have a destination set in the map.
br /
br /Accessories: This thing comes with about everything you need. It has the car mount with 2 universal mounting disc things that were great in the Penske truck beverage holder on the dash. It also has 2 lanyards, one wrist and one neck, for when you are walking and dont want to drop it. It comes with a wall and car charger and a miniUSB cable. Also, comes with headphones that have a mute and volume control on the cable.
br /
br /I paid 110 at Tiger, so not much in comparison, if I have problems like others have had I will be sad and will look for a GPS with similar features.

Portable, wearing around my neck.
br /Video, image and music playing is great for me since I do not use GPS at all the time.
br /Old map, 2005, they say an update will be available by dec 2008, and I will buy the update (around $80), expensive since I pay $120 for this GPS.
br /I practice using every feature and trick on this GPS, and now love every bit of it. Fast reroute, clear voice, very responsive and fairly accurate are a few good points I can remember now.
br /A few things I do not like, for example is you can not easily plan your trip by entering departure and destination and let it route like Micheline GPS (Micheline GPS is more accurate, tells you destination point on left or right), will not retain settings when power off completely (should have a button batt for back up), very slow locking on GPS after a long time off and too much glared.
br /Over all, it is a fun toy for me.

This little do it all wonder is my second unit purchased as a gift. It is compact and fast with a 400mhz processor. The processor alone is worth the money. It is easily customizable and I have been able to change the map software several times. I do have to warn you that the unit is very compact but this may be a drawback due to the small screen size which may be difficult to clearly see while navigating. Excellent gps for the price.

Pros:
br /
br /Portable means I pretty much carry it in my pocket wherever I go.
br /
br /You can listen mp3s and play videos(which I have not tried) but I thought the sound on mp3s was above average.
br /
br /Play your mp3s while using to navigation, it works flawless as far as I have used it.
br /
br /Enough amount of POIs.
br /
br /The program menu layout is good.
br /
br /The device looks cool.
br /
br /I like that you can pick economical, fast or shortest routes
br /
br /It is has got options like unpaved roads, high ways, for you to make a decision what kind of roads to take
br /
br /CONS:
br /
br /For some reason the program cds that came with it did not work in my computer(I am using windows vista)
br /
br /Even though I unselected the unpaved roads option when i was going out of the city, I had to drive like 25 miles on a couple of different unpaved roads, I own a sports car so it was a nightmare for me
br /
br /Although, it has the POI that I wanted listed in it, it couldn't find it, but i am glad I was just testing the device otherwise i would have been mad
br /
br /The system has been frozen a few times where I had to restart it
br /
br /The maps are not the greatest, they seem a little old because it couldnt find some roads around here in Minnesota
br /
br /Final thoughts:
br /
br /Like I said, the device is good but not great. It doesnt seem that dependable when it comes to finding your way, well at least around here but for being portable and the fact that I could use it like ipod made me give this device a 4 out of 5 stars.
br /
br /
br /

After playing with the store display at my local Fry's a million times, I finally decided to buy this baby (from Amazon, of course).
br /
br /It's portable and that allows me to map my next journey while I'm grabbing a burger. That also allows me to use it in any vehicle I'm in without setting up an antenna wire. It's loud enough and I don't have to turn off the radio while I'm driving. It recalculates routes very quickly.
br /
br /The printed instructions/user guides leave a little to be desired (minus one star), but luckily I like to explore gadgets and have figured out everything I need to.
br /
br /The battery life is adequate. Though, I generally plug in everything to charge while driving (phone, iPod).
br /
br /All in all, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

This little guy packs a big map. Its portability makes it a must have. Put it in a cell phone case and walk around with it. Put in your car and never get lost. This was my best new Tech Toy I purchased so far this year.

This product is very small but has lots of great features built into it, like games, a digital compass, weather updates and many many more. The screen is very clear and has great video playback with a crisp clear picture!! It also has great sound when listening to mp3s! I would recommend this to anybody and everybody who is looking for an affordable yet compact GPS device!!

This GPS is amazing. Very nice, portable and easy to use.
br /I love it.
br /

A little hard to use due to the size, but has a lot of nice features. The customer service is out of India, and are the slowest to respond but once it's up and going, for the price it's a steal. I give it full recomendations.

After reading several good reviews on the H610 I decided to purchase as I am living in Italy and roads are difficult at best to navigate. I knew it came with US maps loaded but wrongly assumed it would be an easy thing to get the Euro maps. After I checked their website, they said "maybe" they would have the maps ready by spring 2007. This was baffling to me that a GPS would be released with all these "world traveler" features like currency/temp conversion, etc. and not have world maps available. Besides that, the user manual can only be accessed through the CD, which can be frustrating when you are looking for how to do something. The tiny booklet that came with explained almost nothing. I still am not sure what the M button on the side was for, other than the fact that it kept getting stuck down and would make the MIO boot in some sort of maintenance mode. Finally, I was not impressed with the look. The screen is just too small and cannot be changed to horizontal (or at least not easily because I could not figure it out). Also, the color and wrist strap that come with the thing have a decidedly feminine look to them and then I found some websites where the thing is advertised as "GPS for Ladies". You can imagine how much fun my coworkers had with me when they saw that. All this added up to me returning the product for a refund. Regarding the GPS features, it seemed to hold a signal well and play all the multimedia junk fine, but the negatives far outweighed the positives.