Nextar throws in free traffic updates for life on Q4-LT navigator

Nextar has been pretty steadily adding newcomers to its Q4 family of navigators, and it's not about to let up now with CES just around the corner. The latest member, the Q4-LT, touts a 4.3-inch touchscreen, built-in speaker / antenna, text-to-speech support, 2D / 3D NAVTEQ maps of the US and Canada, 1.6 million POIs, an MP3 / JPEG player, rechargeable battery and of course, free traffic updates for life. Hope you're not too fond of the feature set, though, 'cause it won't even be available for purchase until Q3 2009 for $249.99.

[scott @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:14AM]

hmm..i may be interested when it comes out...in almost a year! -.-'

[Ph4r @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:51AM]

Gimme a free one

[Saad Rabia @ Dec 23rd 2008 6:52AM]

"for life"

Or until they file a bankruptcy.

[John @ Dec 23rd 2008 7:56AM]

Just need to throw in free map updates for life. I hate how a lot of the low price gps units you see everywhere have a map database 1 to 2 years out of date, with a update costing as much as $70 for the most recent year and each year after.

[Macca @ Dec 23rd 2008 8:34AM]

Are people even interested in GPSs anymore?

[Robin @ Dec 23rd 2008 9:19AM]

I am interested in GPS. Google Maps has put me in the wrong part of town more than once lately, and not the best parts of town either. Plus my phone's web seems to be sloow anymore.

[TRAFFICBLOWS @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:42AM]

wow... didn't even finish my christmas shopping yet for 2008 and i already know what to buy for 2009

[blackomegax @ Dec 23rd 2008 6:55PM]

only 1.6 mil POI's? sad.

my old MIO had 12 million.....

[AndyO @ Dec 24th 2008 10:59PM]

Nextar seems horrible with updates/upgrades. Just bought a X3-03 GPS unit the other day at K-Mart because they were on sale for $99.99 with a $20 mail-in rebate. Dates on all the files in the Maps folder on the SD card read Aug. 2007 but I think they are from closer to Feb. of that year. For all the models of GPS units they seem to manufacture none of them seem to have any support other than downloading the owners manuals for each of them.

The X3-03 seems to preform very well and it has text to speech which is hard to find at this price point, but with lack of map updates it's pretty much useless. Also 1.6 million POI is pretty weak. I actually sent them an email about lack of updates and this was their response:
======================
Dear Valued Nextar Customer,

We are sorry, but there are no updates or upgrades for this product at this moment. We are currently working on updates but do not have a scheduled release date. When available, the update/upgrades will be posted on our website (listed below). For now, please do not use any upgrades other than Nextar upgrades, or the product will malfunction and your warranty will be voided.

For additional questions please check out our website’s support page:

http://www. nextar. com


Thank You & Merry Christmas

Nextar Customer Service: 1-888-849-0846
===============================

I also purchased a TomTom One 125 from Circuit City for review and comparison. Unit has tons of features plus map updates through a program they call MapShare. Only thing is it does not have is TTS, only turn by turn voice commands like "Turn left" or "Turn right"

I'm leaning more towards keeping the Nextar but I fear updates will never come and will be stuck with an extinct GPS in another few months.

[wturley @ Feb 8th 2009 3:27PM]

Is there any free updates for the next ar x3-t.