Product: Alpine PND-K3msn
Supplier: Alpine USA
MSRP: $299.99     Find Lowest Price @ PriceGrabber
Author: Garret
Date: July 29, 2009

GPS devices are becoming increasingly more common by the day whether you’re using it for turn by turn directions in your car or for outdoor navigation. Today we’ll be taking a look at the PND-K3 with a MSN Direct subscription from Alpine USA. The device seems from first glance to be packed with features.

Features

• OnPoint™ Advanced GPS Positioning
• 4.3” Wide High-Resolution Touch Screen
• Pre-loaded Map Coverage Across the U.S. and Canada, Including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands*
• Alternate 3D Map View
• 8 Distinct Selectable Map/Menu Color Schemes
• Turn-by-turn Voice Guidance (New! Announces Street Names During Route)
• Bluetooth® Hands-Free
• SD Card slot for MP3/WMA Music Playback
• Easy-to-use Windshield and Dashboard Mount
• English, Spanish and French Support (Menus and Voice Guidance)

*Select MSN services available in select cities, see MSN Direct for coverage details.

*Full US and Canada coverage include only roads and regions that have been mapped in a digitized format.

Packaging/Contents

Included with the Alpine PND-K3msn is an instruction manual, car mount, Mini USB cable (for attaching to your computer), and a wall charger. The GPS supports up to a 4GB SD card. The car mount comes in two pieces that attach together and is extremely easy to use. Once assembled the mount attaches to the windshield with a suction cup and has an included cigarette adapter for powering the GPS. The mount was very secure and never fell off the windshield, even after some fairly intense off roading. The GPS clips onto the mount with ease and is removable with one button for secure storage when you’re parked. The GPS also powers itself on and shuts down automatically when it detects being attached to/detached from the car mount.

Usage

When booting the device up you are prompted to choose a language and advised that it’s a bad idea to operate the GPS while the vehicle is in motion. After choosing a language you are presented with the ‘home’ screen which allows you to navigate to the various options.

The Alpine PND-K3msn supports playing MP3 music off of an SD card, and Bluetooth pairing to cell phones. Pairing the GPS with my iPhone was extremely simple and allowed me to use the GPS to make and receive calls. It pulled my address book off the iPhone allowing for easy call making. Sound was then routed through PND-K3msn, however I didn’t find it too practical. While the speakers aren’t too bad, I quickly became frustrated with not being able to hear calls and abandoned that plan.

Programming the address of your house is extremely simple and once entered, getting directions home is as simple as pressing ‘home’ from the main menu. Once you input where you’d like to go it calculates your route based off your current position and displays the directions on screen. The provided map shows the distance to the next waypoint, what road you’re on, the next street you’ll be on and your approximate arrival time.

I found the directions to be very reliable with few exceptions. One such incident occurred while using it on a long road trip when I decided to take an alternate route. The GPS repeatedly tried to direct me back onto it’s originally planned route. It took approximately 15 miles of driving before it finally gave up on the old route and chose a new one. I feel it should have chosen a new route based on the new location and heading sooner than 15 miles.”

Updating the firmware on the Alpine PND-msn couldn’t be easier – simply plug in the GPS to your computer. The GPS mounts in Windows as a removable device with an executable inside. Simply run the executable and it goes online and searches for newer firmware and automatically installs it.

The MSN direct subscription is very handy; it provides you with numerous features such as weather, movie show times, traffic alerts (with limitations), current gas prices, and more. Traffic alerts seems to only work on major highways and no in town streets (or if it does support in town streets, it’s not supported in Tucson). I only received traffic alerts for the section of I-10 that runs through Tucson. One of my favorite features was the ability to push directions from MSN’s map service directly to the GPS.

The gas prices give information for various stations around the city, their price, and when the price for that store was last updated. Once you touch the station you’d like to fill up at, the GPS will route your directions accordingly. One of my favorite features is the ability to push directions from MSN’s map service directly to the GPS.

Conclusion

Overall I was very pleased with this GPS, it’s packed with features, is extremely easy to use, and most importantly it’s reliable. I would have no problem relying on this device in situations where I’m either lost or unfamiliar with the area. I know that I’ll be provided with quick reliable directions that will help me get out of most situations that I find myself in.

Pros

+ Feature Rich
+ Easy to use interface and firmware updating
+ Strong car mount

Cons

- Pricey
- Doesn’t know when to give up on predetermined route
- Low speaker volume for bluetooth and music playback

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Tags: Alpine, GPS, MSN Direct, PND-K3msn