Mio Moov Spirit V505 TV Review

Recommended? Yes
Pros: Simple to use, TV function, Clear maps, Lane departure, Foot navigation, Lane Guidance system, Safety camera, Traffic warning
Cons: Unnatural sounding nav voice, At times confused warnings, Fiddly when in a rush to put on windscreen
Price: Around £170
Time Spent: Three months

Introduction
With a much greater choice in the sat nav market, manufacturers have to come up with better and better devices that can see off rivals with similar functionality or even cross-platform offerings such as the iPhone. The Mio Moov Spirit V505 TV is a sat nav that pretty much has it all, including a digital TV for when you’re actually parked up somewhere. Frankly it is a product that comes with so much out of the box you’d have to be crazy to not consider it if you’re in the market for a navigation device.

What’s In The Box
Everything you need is supplied directly within the box of the V505, including the unit itself, the DVD disc with the software for your PC, TV card, USB cable, windscreen attachment, TV antenna windscreen attachment.

De-boxing
Probably one of the best moments of getting any new piece of gadgetry is taking the thing out of the box. Immediately, I was impressed by the overall size and quality of the unit. It looked both well put together and the high resolution display on start up was a very welcome sight. I then slotted in the TV card (extremely simple) and started charging the main Mio unit via my computer.

Placing The V505 In Your Car
I found this to be one of the awkward elements to the device until I got used to it. I was keen not to get fingerprints all over the unit and attached the holder to the windscreen. I then slotted the unit into place and plugged the charger into the 12v cigarette lighter slot. This definitely took a little longer than my other GPS devices, though this could be down to the larger size and flat screen nature of the Mio.

Once in place, it was extremely easy to access all of the menu options and add a route selection to the Mio. Perhaps best of all, it was settled well onto the glass and had no problems. Previously I’ve had GPS systems jump off the glass when on the move so it was a pleasure to see that the Mio was both safe and secure.

The Display
Crisp, quality and a nice high contrast display means that you’ll be quite happy looking at the Mio (not too much obviously!). The device will change from day to night colours automatically and will show on a large screen when you need to stay in a lane/stay on the motorway. I can’t really fault the colours and the little touches like zooming out when travelling at speed makes the V505 that little better from other similar products on the market.

I couldn’t finish this section without mentioning the TV – which does actually display very well on the screen. Colours are vibrant and I experienced few artefacts when using it. In fact, you might well be surprised at the quality of it.

Audio
This was one of the very few drawbacks I could find on the device. The basic selection of voices was poor and a little ‘matronly’. It would have been nicer to have a more pleasant choice – my preference is for a gentler female voice on the move, especially when stuck in traffic. On the plus side, lane departure and accurate naming of roads made navigating junctions and complex roundabouts a doddle. On the TV/audio front, there was a little distortion at the top end but on the whole it was actually quite good.

Using Mio Moov Spirit V505 TV
A power switch includes three different options – on, off or reset (couldn’t be much easier now could it?). There are a wealth of navigation options on offer including favourite destinations, nearest points of interest, petrol stations etc etc. All of these are accessible from the very simple to use navigation menu that you get from using the single button. Oh yes – it’s easy to use!

Route planning is very quick – having said that, if you’ve used one of these GPS devices, then you’ll have used most of them. The V505 falls into this category – it didn’t seem to direct me any ways which were quicker than my usual routes, but then that’s probably to be expected. I did notice that it was slightly less inclined to demand a ‘U’ turn from me though that some other similar products.

Safety Camera Information
I found this to be an excellent feature. The warnings were clear, well in advance and correctly noted cameras coming up. One thing to be aware of is that as new cameras can go up almost overnight and due to my penchant for back roads, there was a couple that the V505 wasn’t aware of – but they were very much the exception rather than the rule.

Traffic Warning
This is something that is missing on my other satellite navigation systems – namely something to tell me when I’m soon to be encountering major traffic problems so I can re-route my journey as necessary. It is a relatively new field for sat navs to head in and many of them charge a significant premium for this. I found mixed results from the V505.

On one occasion, it told me I was about to hit a jam that I’d been in for over five minutes already. On the flip side, on another couple of occasions it correctly pointed out tailbacks that I otherwise wouldn’t have been aware of. I’d suggest that all things in consideration it actually works rather well and I’d be loath not to have it included!

The TV
The V505 has a very pleasant display with which to watch the in-built digital TV – which of course should only ever be operated when stationary (I used it when parked up recently at a service station). It is very simple to operate and the aerial that comes in the box is of the sucker variety, making it easy to place on the windscreen of your car. It also has a built in antenna that’s within the unit – but I’d recommend the external version if you can use it.

As the unit is set up with a digital receiver, a scan is needed to pick up channels prior to commencing use. I found this took a short while (a couple of minutes), but when it was complete all of the channels I was expecting based on my Freeview unit at home showed up. The seven day programme guide is particularly good for checking what’s on.

How Does It Compete With Other Devices?
This Mio certainly looks like a premium device from the front, with a nice clear display and a lot of kit coming as standard. In comparison, my TomTom looks extremely dated and is hampered by less useful software. It does however have a slightly more intuitive interface, though this could just be down to a lot of use. It’s very clear that this is a good dedicated sat nav with extra functionality and it blows away most pretenders that have other things as their primary function. If you’re looking for a GPS with something that offers a little extra than navigating around the M6, then this could be your answer. Definitely one of the top three to consider.

Specification list for the Mio Mio Moov Spirit V505 TV:
Screen size: 4.7 inches
Weight: 160g
Touch: Yes
Battery life: Up to 3 hours
Auto backlight: Yes
Memory: 1GB and MicroSD card slot
Traffic warning: Yes
Speed camera warning: Yes
Multiple destination system: Yes
MP3/Photo: Yes
TV in-built: Yes