Home > Consumer Reviews > Navibe GM720 Water-Proof High Performance USB Mouse GPS Receiver - SiRF Star III(WAAS Enabled)

I purchased the Navibe GM720 without having much prior knowledge of USB GPS units and finding very little in regards to customer reviews/feedback of the unit.

My Navibe GM720 is connected to my laptop which runs Microsoft MapPoint 2009. In my line of work I'm on the road all the time and constantly find myself in places which I am not familiar. Previously, I relied on Google Maps on my cell phone for directions. This worked well except for the small screen and lack voice directions.

A recent trip found me in Fairbanks, Alaska in temps around -15F. The Navibe GM720 was on top of my van overnight even though the laptop was taken into the hotel room. The next morning, I connected it to my laptop and by the time the MapPoint software loaded my map the GPS had already locked onto 9 satellites and was correctly reporting my location.

This unit is fast, sleek and reliable. I love it!

NOTE: One thing that I haven't seen advertised on this unit is that it does have magnet mouting. This would be important for people who plan on using it in close proximity to their laptop.

Hey, if you want a GPS and don't know which one to get, get this one for very little, get educated, then make the pricier purchase. This unit does everything you need with a little software off the web, and your laptop. Infact, you'll never get a GPS with a screen as big as your laptop!

I have purchased two GlobalSat BU-353's in the last couple of years and have loved using them with Microsoft's US Streets and Trips (2009 currently) and Autoroute (the French/European version) and I have been frustrated by the difficult acquisition by the units of Satellite reception. Often I have had to open my window to hold the BU-353's outside the car on the roof and even then it often takes several minutes or even longer to get a signal on normal unencumbered roads in the countryside. I therefore purchased a Navibe GM720 on a lark to see if it works better and the acquisition of satellite signals is unmeasurably superior. I have even unplugged one and plugged in the other in comparative tests and the Navibe GM720 acquires a signal almost instantly while the GlobalSat BU-353 takes a long time and sometimes the program cycles out before acquisition. I would be interested in knowing how different the circuitry is. After all cheap Garmins seem to acquire and retain a signal in almost any condition so why shouldn't these USB models work just as well?

The one drawback of the GM720 is that its bottom is smooth and thus it slides all over the dashboard when my car turns quickly or accelerates. The GlobalSat model has a rough sort of rubbery bottom surface that tends to prevent sliding around.

Very good product. Acquires rapidly. Stable signal. Great for use with laptop and Oziexplorer or google earth. Great buy for the price.

Purchased as an upgrade/replacement for a DeLorme LT-20, I have owned this product for 18 months. Initially I was delighted with the signal reception, strong enough to get GPS readings inside my single story house. In conjunction with Streets & Trips 2007, it guided me through 12000 miles of adventure.

But along the way, this rugged looking unit proved otherwise. Generally left magnetically attached to the door pillar, it was sometimes in the way of passengers, removed, sometimes dropped, and stored with my laptop. After this normal treatment, something inside came loose and rattled around. Eventually it stopped working.

Being broken, I opened it up to discover the rattle was a detached magnet. A magnet in a metal case that bounced against the tiny circuit board and electrical contacts when the device was not magnetically mounted. Given that it usually was mounted, it failed later in a task unmounted to the car.

The problem is a design flaw: four plastic posts about a mechanical pencil lead thick protrude from the plastic back into 4 small holes in the magnet's metal bracket. These are heat formed into little plastic blobs holding the magnet in place. And they break when you drop this puppy.

Not recommended.