Ride the highways and byways guided by the voice of K.I.T.T. - the most iconic TV car of all time with Mio's Knight Rider portable GPS navigation unit. Boasting fast and accurate GPS reception, top-notch mapping, and a comprehensive POI (Points of Interest) database in addition to a 4.3-inch widescreen LCD and memory card expansion, all that's missing is Michael Knight, his patent leather jacket and a comb to feather your hair.

But is this Knight Rider GPS all hype and marketing? Would this be a worthy GPS without the Knight Rider logo and K.I.T.T. voice or should you buy a Garmin Nuvi instead? Let's find out.

Requirements:

• Knight Rider fan
• The desire to never get lost again
• A car might make sense too

The Voice of K.I.T.T.

For an authentic Knight Rider experience, Mio collaborated with Navtones to include exclusive voice guidance and turn-by-turn directions featuring new recordings made by William Daniels, who provided the voice of K.I.T.T. for the 1980's TV show. The Knight Rider GPS will even play a randomized greeting every time you turn it on.

To ensure the fantasy is complete, the Knight Rider GPS by Mio ships with over hundreds of male and female names pre-installed, so you'll be addressed by name as you head out to rid the world of evil, or just head down to the corner store for a gallon of milk. You can be Michael if you're a purist, or choose from one of the list of 300 names. It's up to you.

And by the way, the Knight Rider GPS also has an active LED voice synthesizer display that moves in sync with the voice, just as it did on K.I.T.T.'s dash, which provide a clear representation of all audio commands as they occur. The unit can even be programmed to advise you of speed limit infractions just in case you're applying too much turbo boost.

Unfortunately, that's where the geeky fun ends. It would be impossible to record William Daniels saying every street name in America and Canada. So what did Mio do? Did they have a synthesized voice take over and say the street names for Mr. Daniels? No. They left it out. KITT will still tell you to "turn right in 500 feet" but all streets names have been nixed from the voice prompts. This is a huge disappointment. Sometimes when driving you can't always look over at the GPS and rely on the voice prompts. Especially in complicated New Jersey intersections (ie. the 1&9, 139, John F. Kennedy Blvd, and Tonnelle Ave. intersection isn't exactly fun).

K.I.T.T.'s LCD Screen

So having William Daniels tell you where to drive is cool, but let's check out the LCD screen. Intelligently designed, the 4.3-inch anti-glare touchscreen LCD allows for more on-screen information and additional details about upcoming intersections. This full-color display also offers a 480 x 272-pixel resolution for easy at-a-glance information.

The Knight Rider GPS features a 4.3-inch LCD, pre-loaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, and over 4 million points of interest.

GPS Receiver

But what if this GPS unit didn't have vocal talents of William Daniels? Is this thing all hype and marketing or will it actually help you get to where you are going?

It's not all hype. The highly sensitive SiRFInstantFixIII GPS receiver provides a rapid time-to-first-fix positioning (via Tele Atlas), is WAAS enabled, and can acquire a signal even in urban canyons and under dense foliage. With pre-loaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, the Knight Rider GPS is ready to operate in minutes with no computer set-up required.

Containing over 4-million POI's (points of interest) such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations and more, you are never more than a few keystrokes away from your destination. Simply select the category of your desired location, make your choice from the provided list, and you are ready to find just about anything you are looking for, giving you a local expert as a traveling companion.

Product Features and Technical Details

Product Features

• Preloaded U.S. and Canadian Maps with no PC-Map data download have you up and running straight out of the box.
• Turn-By-Turn Voice Navigation, featuring the original voice of K.I.T.T. allows you to keep your eyes on the road and still get directions.
• Knight Rider's voice syncs with lights, move every time a navigation greeting, or a navigation voice instruction is given.
• Voice greeting: Ability for user to change name in greeting (KITT recorded voice files with 150+ male & 150+ female user-selectable names)
• Easy and intuitive Point Of Interest search helps you locate over 4 million gas stations, restaurants, hotels and more - quickly and easily.

Technical Details

• Brand Name: Mio
• Model: MIO-KITT300
• Connectivity Technology: Bluetooth
• Display Size: 4.3 inches
• Resolution: 480 x 272
• Battery Average Life: 8 Hours
• MP3 player

Final Thoughts

If you were a fan of the original Knight Rider 1980's TV show, then you'll love this GPS unit. This GPS gives you authentic Knight Rider experience wherever you roam with red LED light accents and voice guidance and turn-by-turn directions provided by the original voice of K.I.T.T. (William Daniels) to help you get out of any jams (traffic or otherwise). It would have been nice to include a synthesized version of the street names in the audio prompts but for many fans that probably won't be a deal breaker.

Now all you need is a black Trans AM.

This item is available for purchase from Amazon.com Mio Technology develops and markets products which enable users to take advantage of the latest developments in mobile services in both their professional and personal lives. For more information, check out: http://www.mio.com Rating: Requirements: Probably a car Manufacturer: Mio