Sheng Jay's SJ-5289 GPS navigator bumped into the ugly stick

While it was quietly displayed at Computex Taipei earlier this year, it looks like the real coming out party for Sheng Jay's SJ-5289 "NavMonster" will be at CES next year, and there sure is a lot to see. Unfortunately, it's all wrapped up inside what could quite possibly be the ugliest enclosure for a GPS device known to man. But if you can get past the surface, it's hard not to love the 7-inch 800 x 480 widescreen LCD, SiRFstar III GPS, Windows CE 4.2, 32MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, 400MHz Intel CPU, full compliment of MS apps, CF/SD/MMC slots, SIM card slot and even an option for GSM/GPRS connectivity. We're not sure how much this 1.2-inch thick monstrosity is going for, or if we'll even be seeing it in the States beyond January's brief stint in Vegas, but we're not even sure aesthetics like these could keep us away from this thing otherwise.

[Eddie @ Dec 8th 2006 7:24PM]

It looks fine to me.

[Colton Sims @ Dec 8th 2006 7:25PM]

I don't think its ugly, it would accent alot of todays car's interiors nicely.

[Brian @ Dec 8th 2006 7:38PM]

Sorry Miller, so far it's 3:1 on the ugo-factor.

[Mat @ Dec 8th 2006 8:48PM]

Take a hike Miller, how does it look any worse of then the rest?

[Tom Jelen @ Dec 8th 2006 9:49PM]

What's so ugly about it?? I think it looks sharp.

[Cliff @ Dec 8th 2006 11:30PM]

Looks alright to me. Doesn't have the bulky look of other ones.

[G @ Dec 9th 2006 3:36PM]

The interiors of recent American cars look quite ugly to me. The fact that these would match nicely and blend in, making the display easier to glance at quickly, seems about right. Not that I'm condoning either design. True sexy would be a touch-screen with no bezel upon which to form an opinion.

[... @ Dec 9th 2006 4:48PM]

Yet another horrible post by Paul. Why do you have to bash 1/2 of the thing you write about? I mean this post would have sounded 10x better had you just noted that there was a new gps out that had this and that, but why do you have to fill 1/2 of the post with BS about it looking bad?

Is someone paying you to bash products?

[Seshu B Kanuri @ Mar 12th 2007 7:00PM]

This is an unfinished hardware unit with non-working software. Do not buy this. I bought this unit from Sheng Jay automation through Alva Tsung paying $360.00 for one unit. It's software hangs every few seconds. The USB port is not functional. Windows software cannot be updated. No drivers are available for MP3 or Video files. Its Video is very bad and appears all hazy and garbled as it cannot render properly. Audio is one of the worst examples of what can be wrong in designing the hardware.

This ugly schtick is too heavy and cannot be carried in hand. This unit does not mount on the car dashboard. The GPS antenna does not work. USA Maps are not available with the unit. This unit comes without any Flash SD cards and you have to buy these cards and a card reader from a hardware vendor like BestBuy or on Ebay.

By the way you should also pay additionally for the Maps software and take all pains to burn the maps to the SD Card. The SD Card slot has a limitation of 1GB and hence you cannot put all US maps on one card. So you have to buy multiple cards and use them based on where your car is at that moment.

There are hundreds of other problems I have seen, which are too many to list here.

Seshu Kanuri

[Seshu B Kanuri @ Mar 12th 2007 7:01PM]

This is an unfinished hardware unit with non working software. Do not buy this garbage. I bought this unit from Sheng Jay automation through Alva Tsung paying $360.00 for one unit. It's software hangs every few seconds. The Video does not render properly and hense the map is a hazy mess. The USB port is not functional. It is just ornamental as was told to me by Sheng Jay. Hence you cannot update the OS / Windows software. No drivers are available for MP3s or Video formats. Video cannot refresh. Audio is one of the worst examples of what can be wrong in designing the hardware.

This ugly schtick is too heavy and cannot be carried in hand. This unit does not mount on the car dashboard. The GPS antenna does not work. USA Maps are not available with the unit. This unit comes without any Flash SD cards and you have to buy these cards and a card reader from a hardware vendor like BestBuy or on Ebay.

By the way you should also pay additionally for the Maps software and take all pains to burn the maps to the SD Card. The SD Card slot has a limitation of 1GB and hence you cannot put all US maps on one card. So you have to buy multiple cards and use them based on where your car is at that moment.

There are hundreds of other problems I have seen, which are too many to list here.

Seshu Kanuri

[John Stead @ Mar 13th 2007 9:42AM]

Re: Comments made by Seshu Kanuri

Before you base and decisions on what this person wrote, consider what was written.

a) Seshu states that a software hangs every few seconds ..... What software is he making reference to? Is it the Operating system made by Microsoft?. Is it the multi-media software by Brojent? Is it the PrymeNav navigation sofware? Is it the Destinator navigation software? We lacking a LOT of facts here.


b) Seshu states that a USB port is not working .... another statement without description or fact. Just because you cannot connect to a USB device does not mean that a USB port is broken.

c) Seshu states that the video cannot refresh ...... I have no clue what he is trying to describe.

d) Seshu meantions an audio design problem ..... What audio problem exists?

e) And on and on about ugly, this not included, that not included, maps not available ...... Destinator and PrymNav both have maps for USA and Canada. Do you think it is ugly?

I will wait for another opinion on this unit and not consider that of Seshu. You are entiled to your own opinion and I am also.

Note: I have no affilation with the manufacturer or with Seshu.

[Seshu B Kanuri @ Mar 20th 2007 12:34AM]

There is no John Stead in real life and blood. John Stead is Sheng Jay
automation, makers of this ugly shtick. Beware of the scam going on here.
This John Stead 'thing' does not even know what is meant by Audio and What is a Video, but this 'thing' came to the quick defense of this garbage.

Let me explain what is not working in detail:

1) USB Port: The USB Port is not "broken". It just does not exist inside as an installed hardware component. The USB Cable that comes with it and the USB interface hole on the device is just a dummy, a sham. If you connect the USB
Cable between the PC and the device, nothing happens. This was already confirmed to me by Alva Tsung, who is selling these units all over the world, including mine.

Because there is no port to communicate with your PC, there is no way to update your software on this unit, including the Operating System.

2)Software Hangs: When u try to navigate between the menus or within the menu list and press a "Back" or other option, the unit simply hangs and does not respond. This is not a Windows problem. This is the bad GPS Application software written on this unit. If You press any of the keys more than once, it freaks out and restarts the GPS unit, thereby losing all your work.

3)Video Problem - The map Image gets garbled once you are moving from one part to another, not something I have seen on other GPS Units. May be the Processor is too slow or not fit for this bulky unit or something. The Hardware, OS Software and the application software are just not blending well and hence this unit is a complete disaster.

4)Audio problem - The Audio Prompts are too low in volume and not audible when you are driving. The audio quality is poor and gives a whirrrrr kinda noise rather than clear prompts.

5) Maps - Not included in the price. You have to pay additional charges to buy any maps you want, be it US maps or Canada maps or EU maps. You have to buy them and burn to an SD Card or compact Flash card - Your Penalty is $50.00

6)No SIM/SD cards included - This unit comes with no SD or Compact Flash cards. You have to buy them additionally and when you buy the map software, you have to burn them to the cards and use them - Your Penalty is $20.00 for a 1GB SD card.

7) No direct copy of the Maps to the Unit - The Unit does not support any storage, other than the existing and non-upgradable OS. This means, you have to buy an SD Card Reader/Writer and write your maps to suc additional hardware and use them in the SD card slot or the CF Card slot provided on the unit - Your Penalty is $30.00 to buy the card reader/writer.

There are several other problems which are too many to list here like Non-working menus, menus disappearing while using, keyboard view disappearing while using, not being able to input any address in straight address format, etc.etc

Please be aware of these problems, before you invest in this unit.