Tech reporter who doesn’t know tech

There are a few tech reporters that are well known and well respected in the industry. David Pogue and Walt Mosberg to name the most famous. Both men write pretty good reviews and seem to be right on the money with what they say. So much so that their reviews can greatly influence a product’s success in some circles. Today I read a review by Jonathan Blum about the Navigon 2100 and can’t understand how he gave it a positive review. (I’ve seen a few other positive reviews of it and my conclusions below apply to all of them.) One of the following explains the review:

  1. He never actually used the device (it looks great on paper). I used one for about 5 minutes and was disgusted by it.
  2. He has very low standards for GPS devices (my old Garmin iQue 3600 performed better than this)
  3. He has never used a competing product from Garmin or TomTom

You might be saying that these are serious acquisitions, but has anyone actually used one of these devices? It is slow, cumbersome, and lacks decent points of interest.

Am I writing this because I’m a fan of Garmin having written positively about them in the past? No, I’m writing this because if you want a decent GPS unit, don’t get the Navigon!

(Generally I like Garmin, but my biggest criticisms of the company are a) their dizzying array of similar units (they’re competing against themselves and driving people away because consumers have no idea which one to choose) and b) their units are quite expensive.)

Disclaimer: I own stock in Garmin, but have no inside information about the company, don’t know anyone at the company, and they don’t pay me to write this stuff.

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