Albertsons Visco GPS vsc-530a $99

Don't have to wait for BF to get cheap gps. Albertsons will have this gps on sale for $99 starting wednesday 11/14-11/27. Donno much about it but it uses the new receiver I believe (20 parallel channels). If anyone can comment on this device would be great!

VISCO 3.5' LCD GPS VSC-530A
3.5" Touch Screen;
240 x 320(QVGA)


SPEC Screen Size 3.5” Touch Screen
Mounting Adjustable Stem w/Suction Cup
Navigation Features Audible & Visual Navigation Instructions w/Voice Prompts and Warnings
Resolution 240 x 320
Integrated GPS Receiver 20 parallel channels
Mapping Software Tele-atlas
Navigation Software Smart 2 Go
Included on DVD Rom US Maps & Highways; English / Spanish / French Languages; Users Manuals
SD Card Includes 1GB SD card loaded with maps
Processor Samsung S3C2440A, 400MHz
Operating System Microsoft Windows CE. Net 4.2 Core Version
Memory 32 MB NAND flash memory and 64MB SDRAM memory
Car Holder/Charger Input Voltage: 11V. ~ 28V.; Output Voltage: 5.5V + 0.3V
Battery Rechargeable 2400 mAh. Li-ion; 4-8 hours battery life for full function
Antenna Built in
Extension Slot SD/MMC
LED Red/Green LED for battery charging status
Audio Built in speaker
Temperatures Operation 0°~40°C; Storage -10°~60°C
Accessories AC/DC chargers, mounting cradle, mounting stem, stylus, and DVD Rom
Dimension 95.5(W) X 77(H) X 22(D) mm
Weight < 180g
UPC 891939001110
Color Black/Gray

Albertsons website Link

Visco website Link

This is not in S. FL stores ad. Last year, stores in Florida, Northern California, Rocky Mountain and Southwestern regions were sold to an independent group of investors, and evidently they don't have this it. Great price, but I've had experience with a few GPS's and bad software can make it almost useless, IMHO.

EDIT: the mfg entire product line is half dozen LCD TV's and this GPS. I would expect support on this to be zilch.

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3.5" screen seems a little small, what are the screen sizes of typical units?

cpusrvc said: This is not in S. FL stores ad. Last year, stores in Florida, Northern California, Rocky Mountain and Southwestern regions were sold to an independent group of investors, and evidently they don't have this it. Great price, but I've had experience with a few GPS's and bad software can make it almost useless, IMHO.

EDIT: the mfg entire product line is half dozen LCD TV's and this GPS. I would expect support on this to be zilch.

Yeah, I definitely agree with the importance of the software, until I actually read the specs.

I was surprised; this unit uses Smart2Go, the same software that is found on Nokia smartphones [N95], but was released to the public for free this year. Smart2Go is well developed, is backed by Nokia, and is updated regularly. If they implemented this correctly, then this is an awesome deal for a product with good software. Green'd.

I get the feeling not much information is available on this brand as far as user reviews goes but the price point seem interesting. Anybody owns this unit and can write about their experience with it would help others like me looking to buy this product

Thanks in advance

It has serial I/O connections on the back. This isn't the USB port, but just individual contacts. I wonder if this could have the elusive NMEA-0183 4800 baud serial output that could be used for APRS? I'm going to try to pick one up tomorrow, then I just need to find a PC with a serial port to check it out on...

Hot for eBay?
My 2 Albertsons have 18 total.

Have car, can travel for more....

That is the best price I have seen on a GPS - and it has Tele Atlas maps, so you know it is a good one.

Yes it can run tomtom since this can be easily hecked back to windowCE desktop.
I believe this unit is similar or the same with Holux 53 gps unit.
The gps software is a bit hard to figure out how to use, compare to the Mio 310x, maybe someone can shed some light about this.
I can only find few Taiwanese site about hecking the Holux unit.
Don't have much time to play with it.
the MP3 is ok, ebook is nice to have, video is a bit slow, the satalite is a bit hard to catch needed channels.
Screen seems ok, touch screen is ok, sound volumn is ok, but don't have the volumn control buttoms. menu buttom doesn't seem to work.I will try more later.

They are all in the user manual and you can get it from the website.
the ebook function is not too bad.

bigtisas said: caealalao said: They are all in the user manual and you can get it from the website.
the ebook function is not too bad.

I am reading the manuals. Looks like it doesn't has an audio out for headphone. Could you confirm that? thanks.

Looking at the actual item, no headphone/speaker out.

My favorite line in the user manual:

"For safety reasons, do not operate this system while driving a vehicle."

A similar unit has been unlocked. Posters in that thread recommend iGO s/w for PDAs.

thirdstrike, thanks for that link. I tried the hack mentioned in the first post, and it worked perfectly. However all the menus and directories are in what i presume is Chinese. Just means I need to learn a new language.

Picked up one yesterday at local Acme.
I think it is a great unit for that price. Got satellite signal in less then 30 seconds (7 satellites) - in heavy rain condition. Was very surprised - my Mio Handheld (2 years old) usually takes at least 3 to 5 minutes with clear sky.
Pretty easy to work with. Calculates and re-calculates roads well as long as you pick proper options under roads settings (fastest, tolls, etc.)
On the downside on-screen zooming control is a little bit of pain. Also it is not very accurate when you are getting to the "final destination". And it does not tell you if it is on the left or on the right side of the street. Also since it does not tell you the name of the street where you have to make a turn (gives you distance to the turn in yards) you do need to take a look on the screen for the street name (big letters on the top of the screen with the direction pointing arrow in the top left corner) just to be sure.
Again, I still think it is a great buy for such a price with no rebates involved. It does it's job and performs pretty fast.

wshunli said: testing
Why r u testing everywhere?

I picked one up last night at Albertson's in La Habra, CA.

I had a hard time finding someone who knew that they sold GPS's. I received mainly blank stares from employees. I finally found someone who knew about the unit, and pulled the last one out from the back.

Compared to my Navigon 2100 (which I picked from Staples a few days ago in the hopes of PM'ing on Friday), the Visco looks and feels inferior. Given that they are both $99, I would without question choose the Navigon. The Navigon is a much better quality unit, from the Navteq maps installed, TTS capability, and overall user interface. Navigon has been in the GPS business for many years, proving OEM solutions for car manufacturers. They are based in Germany.

The main benefit I see about the Visco is that appears to be easily hackable, as you put other tracking software on it. The price is right, if you are not going to be shopping on Black Friday.

I have not interest in hacking it. Unless one of you has an interest in purchasing it, this unit is going to be returned. I doubt that Albertson's will be having it at this price as this was a promotional item. Regular price that it rang up was $169.

I bought the Holux GPSMILE 52+ last week for $150 from Frys. Two of my friends bought the $99 Units today. It looks like same but Visco has newer software version better Screen than GPSMile 52+. I can't return the Holux because Frys charge 15% of restock fee. sigh!
Google for the the unlock info. IGo is very good navigation software for this unit.

Hi guys.
I just bought this unit yesterday, and gave it to my wife today for christmas because she isn't very good with directions. Well,.. this won't help with that problem.
Was going to my brothers house for christmas dinner, and before myself and my wife left our house I decided to try this thing out and dial in my brothers home address. Bear in mind I had spent about 2 hours just playin around with this thing at home getting the feel for all the settings.

My brother is in a nice area of town, and in some housing developments that are relatively fairly new, they have been inhabited for about 6 years now. My brothers address, even his street, are not in the map directory. So I just drove to his house anyways without having the unit give me directions how to get there. Once in the area, on the display you can see all of the sorrounding streets and their names on an arial view. Unfortunately,... NONE of the streets in my brothers neighborhood were named on the unit.

So,.. on the way back home I decided to dial in my home address, to see how well it'd plot the course back to my house from my brothers. It's typically a 5 minute drive to the freeway, and 15 minutes on the freeway from his house to mine.

It took 45 minutes to get home tonight.
The unit actually had me get off of the freeway one mile after I got on it,.. turn, and drive up a hill for 4 miles, and then proceeded to tell me to drive forward for another 800 yards, and turn right. Which was unfortunate, because directly in front of me was a dead end brick wall, with a cliff on the other side.

I turned around, drove back to the freeway,.. and the entire time it was trying to tell me to go drive off of a cliff. heh,.. it was like having my highschool guidance counselor in the car

Finally, when I got off of the freeway by my house, it redirected, and told me to go a reeeeeeeal roundabout way to get to my house from the offramp.

When I exit the freeway, I'm normally home in 3 minutes. It is exactly 1.25 miles from the offramp to my front door how I normally go. This had me turn the opposite direction off of the freeway, and drive on the streets COMPLETELY around the paremeter of a gated community, before approaching my apartment complex from the backside, and then driving through the complex to get to my home.

I went to the VISCO website to try and hope that there is an update for this hunk of junk, new maps or something. The pages are down.

*sighs*

My first days experience has so far shown me that this thing sucks more than a tiajuana hooker.

Nothing like picking up a GPS while I'm at the grocery store for Fried Chicken!