Navigon 7200T November 12th, 2008 | by Nick Mokey
Full Review
Features and Design Aesthetics and Build Quality Accessories
Like Garmin's Nuvi 760, Magellan's Maestro 4350, and TomTom's GO 930, the Navigon 7200T competes at the $500 price point where manufacturers must pile on the features thick and gloss up their devices as much as possible to justify the expense over budget models. In other words, there aren't a whole lot of things the 7200T won't do.
Besides its standard GPS navigation features, 4.3-inch screen, and text-to speech for reading street names, the 7200T comes swathed in extras. Landmark View 3D adds three-dimensional buildings to metropolitan areas, voice destination entry allows drivers to pull up locations merely by speaking to the unit, and Reality View Pro augments the standard overheard view with specific lane instructions and like-real traffic signs. There's also a Bluetooth radio for interacting with phones, and ZAGAT ratings for some included points of interest.
While Navigon isn't alone in offering real-time traffic updates for its GPS systems, it's one the few manufacturers, besides Garmin, to offer free service included in the purchase price of the unit. Considering that many other traffic plans will run about $100 a year, that can add up to some significant savings over the life of the unit.
The only feature notably missing from the 7200T that appears on many competing units in its price range would be a built-in media player to show photos, play music, and view movies.
Though Navigon's 7200T doesn't immediately stand out from the crowded variety of other 4.3-inch GPS systems out there, the company did a respectable job modernizing the look of its flagship GPS device. Rather than getting a wraparound plastic bezel, the face of the 7200T runs completely flat from corner to corner, with the LCD set flush beneath the screen surface and surrounded by a slim margin of piano black. On the back, its matte black plastic shell has been spiced up with a carved-line pattern.
The bundle on the 7200T includes a suction cup car mount, plastic disc for dash mounting, car charger, and of course, a bundle of documentation.
Though most windshield mounts give us the impression they're meant to be taken up and down, Navigon's actually seemed intended to stay up all the time, and it's sturdy enough to pull it off. The suction cup is the thickest and most durable we've seen, and it bites onto the windshield with barely any play. More interestingly, both pivot points on the mount actually lock with thumb screws, making the whole arm seem like a solid extension out of the windshield after you set it up. We actually liked this configuration for leaving it permanently mounted, but if you're wary about making your car a theft magnet and want to put it away when you leave your car, it will need to be positioned exactly the same unless you want to unlock all the joints and reposition it again.
Navigon chose to build the antenna for the unit's traffic system directly into the car charger cable, which eliminates the need for separate and ugly windshield antenna, but also creates some compatibility issues. Attempting to plug the 7200T into any mini-USB charger other than the one that came with it will display a computer connectivity screen on the device, rendering it useless until you unplug it. This essentially ropes users into Navigon for buying chargers, and means the 7200T won't be able to share the common plug with other devices.
Image Courtesy of Navigon
by Mark on November 8, 2009:
“I recently purchased the 7200T over the Garmin Nuvi 765T and Magellan 4350. While both competitors has some interesting points, I found after extensive research that, feature for feature, the 7200t was the best value. At almost $175 cheaper than the next,...” More...