Mio H610 review

Mio packages the H610 with a number of accessories, including a vehicle mount (windshield or dash), a car charger, a USB cable, a neck strap, a wrist strap with attached stylus, a pair of earbuds with remote control and reference material. While we certainly appreciate the breadth of extras, we wouldn't mind a carrying case to help protect the pretty H610 from scratches.

Features
The Mio H610 is equipped with a 20-channel SiRFstarIII GPS receiver and comes preloaded with TeleAtlas maps of 24 European countries, so it's ready to navigate right out of the box. As with most navigation systems today, you can enter your destination by address, postcode, a point on the map, a point of interest (POI) or from your Favourites list.

You can instruct the H610 to calculate directions by the fastest, the shortest or the most economical route as well as tell it to avoid motorways or toll roads. The unit also features a comprehensive POI database with all the major attractions and more specific categories. Though a small detail, we really like the organisation of the POI database -- the Mio H610 presents them in a neat list with relevant breakdowns of major categories (ie restaurants by cuisine type).

Maps are available in 2D and 3D view with day and night colours. You can zoom in and out of maps, plan your route via points or destinations along the way and use the Add Cam tool to mark where safety cameras are located. As we mentioned earlier, though, these functions aren't always evident as they're buried under a submenu in the corner of the screen.

Also on display is the name of the street you're on, the next turn, the remaining distance and the estimated time of arrival. Of course, you get text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, though the H610 doesn't support text-to-speech functionality to speak the actual street names. There are options to get a Fly Over preview of the prescribed route or view a detailed itinerary, and the device also supports automatic route recalculation if you get off course.

In addition, there is a Travel Kit menu option that brings up a compass, and a complimentary three-year subscription to the WorldMate travel application, which includes useful tools like a currency converter, world clocks and weather updates. There's also a section for your contacts, but entering information is confusing and cumbersome -- it's not clear how to input text into a field. Only through trial and error did we find out that clicking on the entry twice brought up an on-screen keyboard, and a cramped one at that. You can, however, get directions from the Contacts page, which is handy.

For entertainment, Mio includes a built-in music and video player and an image viewer. The H610 supports MP3, MPEG4, JPG and BMP file formats, and includes an equaliser and repeat and shuffle functions. We suggest you invest in an SD card to store all these files. Finally, the company throws in five games for your pleasure: Fireball, Gem, Plumbin' Frenzy, Flux and Jewel Master.

Performance
We tested the Mio H610 in the middle of a city, and it took about three minutes for the unit to get a satellite fix from a cold start. The H610 did a good job of pinpointing our location as we drove around. Route calculations were quick and the system provided accurate directions to our destination. It also got us back on track after we took a wrong turn.

We also gave the H610's music player a listen. Sound quality was good, though a bit weak on bass, and we were impressed with the built-in equaliser, which enhanced the sound. Plugging in a better pair of earbuds also helped the music experience. We did notice, however, that when listening to tunes and viewing a photo slide show, the music started to hiccup. Also, the transfer process for multimedia files took a really long time.

The Mio H610's lithium-ion battery is rated for up to five hours on a single charge.

Additional editing by Kate Macefield