Brand new to the market, the Mio DigiWalker C230 is the best travel assistant you can for the price. The perfect GPS device for a first timer because of its affordability and ease of use, you will have a hard time imagining navigating again without it. Mio has done a great job putting only what is needed into this entry-level device but not sacrificing quality to keep the costs low. The C230 is predicted to overtake the Garmin Nuvi 200 as the most popular entry level GPS.

The Mio Digiwalker C230 takes everything loved about the C220 like its great style, intuitive easy to use menus and design, and of course, the very affordable price. They used these as the base and then improved everything they had complaints about. People didn’t like the screen so they updated it to a new anti-glare display with a bright backlight. People didn’t like having a separate SD card that held the maps so they have preloaded the maps onto the flash memory to keep the SD memory card slot free for anything else you might want to load up onto it. The biggest improvement on the Mio C230 over the Mio C220 and the first time we have ever seen this feature implemented onto an entry-level portable navigation system is the text-to-speech functionality which is a big deal if you have ever crashed trying to figure out which street on the map you had to turn at in 500 yards.

Getting Started with the Mio Digiwalker C230 GPS

As soon as you open the box with your device in it you should make sure everything is there. The box should include the actual Mio C230 gps unit, a car charger, an AC charger, the mounting device, the cradle to hold the unit that attaches to the mounting device, a USB cord, a small reference book, and the software for your computer.

1. Power Button
2. External Antenna Connector
3. Power LED
4. 3.5″ LCD Screen
5. Mini-USB Connector
6. SD/MMC connector
7. Mounting Hole
8. Speaker
9. On/Off Switch

For the initial start up you will have to flip the switch on the back of the device from off to on. You will usually leave this in the on position and use the button on top of the device, the top power button leaves it in a suspended state (which you want), while the on/off switch on the back turns it right off. I’d suggest only using the switch on the back if your device freezes up. Make sure no cables are attached when using the back switch.

The first thing your DigiWalker C230 will ask you to do when you first turn it on is calibrate the touch screen. All you have to do is tap and hold the center of the target on the screen, it will keep moving the target so keep tapping and holding it until the process is complete. Next it will ask for your language from the 16 available and then the date and time. After this one time setup is complete the MioMap program will start running and it will take a few moments to acquire a satellite fix.

The Beauty of the Mio C230’s Design

The Mio DigiWalker C230 looks great. I really like the on/off switch on the back, it is almost impossible to hit by accident and way easier to use than those little reset buttons you have to stick something in to reset most other navigation systems when they freeze.

It is one of the smaller automotive navigational systems out there measuring only 3.2 inches high by 4.2 inches wide by 0.9 inches deep. This is actually smaller than most PDA’s on the market so it should easily fit in your pocket or purse and only weighing 5.08 ounces it hopefully won’t be dragging you down while you go along with your day. It also makes it great for pedestrian or bicycle use. The screen is actually a fair size at 3.5” and is much improved over the C220’s dark screen. The C230 has a much brighter backlight that shows 65000 colors along with antiglare so if the sun is behind you shining on the screen you will have no problems reading it.

The C230 has both the windshield and dash mount included in the box which is great for places like California and Minnesota where the windshield mount is illegal. Once your mount is in place it is very easy to hook the DigiWalker into place with the little holder connector on the back of the unit. It just clips onto the holder and then you simply push the little tab on the bottom of the holder to release it. GPS navigational systems are now the number one thing stolen from cars so having such an easy system for connecting and disconnecting it might just save you from an auto theft.

Navigation with your Mio GPS

The Mio DigiWalker C230 makes it extremely easy for you to navigate where you are going while focusing on driving. It has very large main menu icons that are easy to press and offers text, visual, and voice directions to find your way.

To start your trip you can enter a specific address, select your destination from a list you have made in your “My Favorites” or a list of recent destinations, or just tap a spot on the map you want to go to and press the “Route To” button. Routes can be calculated by the shortest, fastest, or most economical route.

Before you start on your trip you can look over all the directions it has given you to get to your destination by looking at the Itinerary or get a running demo of the route with the Fly Over function. Watching the unit do a simulation of where you are going to drive takes out any surprises that may come up. If you still find a way to get off route your device won’t tell you to make a U-turn, it will recalculate the route and give you a whole new path to your destination.

While traveling along your route you will get directions in three ways. The first is the written text on the screen telling you the direction of the next turn, the distance to the next turn, and the street name of the next turn. The second is the actual map with the route highlighted by a different color and the next turn shown by an arrow. The map can be shown in either a 2D or 3D mode and it also has a night mode that switches around the color scheme so it is easier to read in the dark. The third is possibly the easiest way to navigate. The device will actually speak the directions by letting you know the direction and the distance to the next turn and then when it is close it will let you know the direction to turn and the name of the street to turn on. Having the actual street name spoken is an amazing feature to have and makes navigation much simpler. If you want more information about your trip there is a cockpit tool that shows you information about your next turn, the distance and estimated time of arrival to your destination and much more useful information.

A nice feature of the C230 is the ability to make multi-stop trips. You can enter in more stops along with the destination and it will create a route that hits all of them on your way. Along with adding extra spots to hit, you can add spots to avoid if say you happen to know there is construction going on or something. You just hit the “Avoid” button and it will give you a list of options.

The C230’s Cool Tools & Features

The DigiWalker features a high-performance 20-channel SiRFstarIII WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and TeleAtlas maps. SiRF is the best producer of top quality GPS receivers. With this SiRF chipset you will find satellite acquisitions to happen in usually less than a minute on startup and you will find it very difficult to lose the signal. The only instance I have heard of where a signal was lost was in a tunnel which is normal with most GPS receivers. TeleAtlas makes top quality maps that are extremely up-to-date. This unit features maps of United States and Puerto Rico and they are preloaded right into the device. They are continuously updating and updated maps are available for purchase online. It might be something to look into a year down the road when there may have been substantial changes in the maps.

Possibly the best feature on this device is it’s text-to-speech capabilities. Text-to-speech means it can speak words written in text held in the maps and point’s of interest. Instead of being told “right-turn in 300 yards” you will be told the actually street name like “right turn onto Water Street”. Doesn’t seem like a big deal until you use a device without it and you find yourself making a turn in 100 yards but having two turns close to each other. Then you have to search the map for the street name you’re actually looking for before you get to the turn and make sure you’re not driving off the road.

The Mio DigiWalker C230 contains about one million points of interest and I believe more can be added via SD memory card. These POI’s include things such as gas stations, ATMs, lodging, restaurants, and entertainment spots like concert halls or arenas.

Along with the POI’s is a list of all known speed camera locations. These can be extremely helpful in saving you from speeding tickets, it may even make the C230 pay for itself. A program can be downloaded off the Mio website called MioSync that will synchronize your device with their constantly updated list of locations of the cameras.

The safety camera information is a pretty helpful safety feature. The device has other safety options you can use like alerts if you are speeding and a screen lock that will disable the touch screen while the car is moving so you don’t change screens and then crash while trying to get back to your directions.

Possible Improvements on MioTechs C 230

I didn’t list many negatives about the device because there really weren’t any. Things I would like to see changed in future releases would be:

- Maybe have a widescreen version for people who don’t mind having a larger unit that is easier to use and read while driving.

- Bring back all the POI’s! The number of POI’s was cut from 3.5 million to 1 million to fit everything onto the flash memory so SD cards weren’t necessary. There is still definitely enough to get by on, but it seems like a bit of a step backwards.

- Make the satellite lock-on process a little more consistent. Lock-on times really varied from a few seconds to a few minutes when I started the device up and the location I started it up in was usually my drive-way so it was a bit frustrating when it couldn’t find the signal right away.

Closing Thoughts on MIO’s C230

Mio has created the best portable navigation system in its price range with the DigiWalker C230. They took all the problems from the C220 and fixed them while adding extra features that you would normally only find in a higher price range. To rate it I’d have to give it a 5 out of 5. The negative things I found about it really didn’t affect the actual usage of the device too much and I really can’t say enough about the extra features for its affordable price.