Pharos Drive GPS 140

The good: The Pharos Drive GPS 140 has a strong receiver and provides accurate directions. In addition, it offers integrated Bluetooth and multimedia features.

The bad: The GPS 140's interface can be confusing at times, and the unit was sluggish to perform tasks. There's also no support for text-to-speech functionality.

The bottom line: Though the Pharos Drive GPS 140 has an accurate receiver and good Bluetooth integration, it will require patience on your part as it suffers from somewhat sluggish performance and an unintuitive interface.

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Description: The Pharos Drive GPS 140 is a Pocket PC-based, consumer-oriented handheld device. Compared to other consumer-oriented handhelds on the market, it is relatively inexpensive at around $140. You can expand the memory of this unit using Secure Digital (SD), or MMC media. The Microsoft Windows mobile 5.0 operating system comes installed on this handheld.

Pros: Has a 480x272 screen resolution, which is considerably higher than some similarly priced handhelds. By way of comparison, the typical cost of a product with this high a screen resolution is $340.

Cons: Weighs in at 9.5 ounces weight, which is somewhat heavier than some similarly priced handhelds. For example, the Palm Visor , a Palm OS-based handheld at around $125, weighs just 5.4 ounces weight. Also, this handheld has a somewhat hefty, 1.1-inch thickness. Since this device runs on Pocket PC, it will work only with Windows, not with Linux or Macintosh operating systems.

Suitability: A consumer-oriented handheld, suited for every-day use. Also, its display, supporting standard at 480x272 resolution, makes it barely passable for viewing standard images. However, you can use the Bluetooth capability of this device to connect to cell phones and other devices that are similarly enabled. This handheld will also store and play back MP3 audio files that are stored in the system's memory.

Value: Given its relatively inexpensive price, this handheld has great features for the money.

Suggestions: (1) If you think you'll enter large amounts of data, consider getting an external portable keyboard for your PDA. (2) For news and reviews of the latest handhelds, visit the Handhelds Feature on CNET Reviews .