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HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion Review

I was recently given a HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion as a gift so I thought I would explain my experience with the device. I wanted the device because one of our HP representatives bought one and I was very impressed with what I was able to do in the few minutes I played with the device. It also happened to be on sale because HP was clearing out their remaining stock. I didn’t do any navigation, but I assumed the device is designed for navigation so I thought it would have no problems dishing up turn by turn directions for me and Beth. But we all know what happens when you assume…

I am going to start with what I really liked about the device. The iPaq looked great! Internal antenna, 10.9 cm screen, 800×480 resolution, slick looking 3D maps, and 3D building renderings were all the things that just blew me away. The processor was a 600 Mhz dual-core Titan that could render 3D maps faster than I can spot a Ferrari in a four car parking lot. The device even came with a car mount, car charger, wall charger, 2 usb cables, and a carrying case. The buttons on screen were easy to use and the menu system was intuitive enough to never have to pick up the manual.

With built in bluetooth, mp3 playback, jpeg image viewer, and games what could possibly be wrong?

I think the first problem of the iPaq is the name. I know it isn’t a real “problem” but it is still a negative in my book. I know HP has used it for a long time but I think they really need to stop using it, especially because this iPaq, although running Windows CE, has no PDA functionality as the name suggests. I guess I got my wish on this though because this is the last dedicated GPS device that HP is going to be making. Although they will still be using the “i” prefix on their Paq’s, at least they will be sticking with PDA functionality.

The second thing that was really noticeable when using the device was the internal speakers were never loud enough.  This being my first GPS device I just thought it would be normal and I would get used to it. I made sure the “increase volume with speed” option was clicked and assumed I would hear it enough.

??????

The first weekend I got the device I wanted to put it through it’s paces. I took it to a few places to see how it would do and what routes it would choose. The first stop was my local Fry’s. I loaded up my SD card with some music, BTW it has a SD card reader which was a plus for music and pictures, started some driving music, and synced the iPaq with my LG VX9800 in hopes that I would get a phone call. On my way to Fry’s, about 3/4 of the way, I got a “memory execution” error on the screen. The device froze and I had to wait until I could stop the car to use the jaws of life to extract the device from its car mount to poke the soft reset button on the bottom. I was familiar with this kind of error because I have used Windows Mobile enough in the past to know when the OS runs out of memory. As soon as I got to Fry’s I pulled the device from the windshield and hit the soft reset. Not a big deal to me, seeing as the iPaq was still free. I waited the excruciating long time for the device to fully reboot and went into Fry’s to get what I came for.

The next stop was the hospital to pick up a prescription. On the way I decided to not sync my phone with the iPaq to hopefully free up some memory. While this seemed to work I instead had the music stop on me for no reason. In the middle of a song it just quit. Now I was starting to get concerned. After picking up the prescription I headed home and the device just lost all satellites about 5 miles south of the 210 freeway on the 605. If you have been on the 605 freeway, you will know there is nothing blocking the view of the sky. So I pulled off, restarted the device again, and finished driving home.

The next day I decided to drive somewhere I had never been, meeting someone at a movie theater, and I didn’t print any directions. I put in my address, got in the car and put the device in the holder. Five minutes into the drive the iPaq still did not have a lock on any satellites. Luckily I had Beth with me so I gave the device to her to restart. She restarted the device, it locked onto satellites, and she put in our address. Great, now we are 20 minutes into our trip but at least we know where we are going. I put the device back in the holder and *snap* the top piece breaks off.

The next week I took the iPaq out to go look at some homes. I printed directions this time just in case. It was a good thing I did because the device never got a lock on any satellites. At least not until I found our destination and put the car in park. Then all of a sudden the GPS said, “Oh Hey! You have arrived.”

So at this point I just didn’t trust the device. If I needed to go somewhere I still printed directions. Oh and I never once got the device to re-route me when I turned off course, which happened regularly. I gave the iPaq one more shot at not leaving me high and dry.  I went out to look at some more homes the next week but had the exact same problem as before. No satellite lock on until the device was restarted.

I called HP and told them I had a faulty GPS unit. They were more than happy to return the device and fully refund the purchase price to the person who bought it for me.

I also forgot to mention that someone else at my work got the same iPaq and they didn’t have nearly as many problems as I did. They did mention that the battery doesn’t last long at all (maybe 2 hours) and it takes a excruciating long time to charge.  They have had slow lock ons for satellites but nothing as bad as I was experiencing. They also mentioned that their iPaq was able to re-route them without any problems when they went off course.

So, I would steer clear of the iPaq 310 not because it doesn’t look nice and you probably will have better luck than I did, but because there are better devices out there. Speaking of which, my next review will be of my lovely tomtom 920.