13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Works great, very fragile
Date of Review: Aug 22, 2006
The Bottom Line: Good when it works, but may not be rugged for taking with you on the road.
I purchased the the BU-353 receiver to use in my car with a Windows notebook running Microsoft Street & Trips. I was very happy with its performance -- the BU-353 is by far the most sensitive GPS receiver that I've ever owned. Although the USB cable is a bit inconvenient, the setup works pretty well.
My one big quibble is that the unit is very fragile - less than 2 weeks after I bought it, I accidentally knocked it off my dash and it dropped onto the console. That impact was enough to break the top lid off the unit and expose the electronics.
It was not a particularly hard fall - the problem is that the lid is held in place by five small plastic legs that seem to be fairly fragile.
USGlobalSat will not sell you the replacement lid by itself, and directed me to my GPS vendor to handle any repairs. That vendor wants to charge $15 for shipping and administrative costs ON TOP OF any charges that USGlobalSat will charge. Given that I paid $60 for the receiver, it seems rather steep!
Given this experience, I'm not sure if I want to recommend this unit. The electronics is good, but I don't think it could withstand travelling!
