What is it?

The MIO Dig Walker C320 is one of the newest entries in to the GPS market from MIO-Tech. This nifty little unit comes in a slicker black case for those of you who remember the MIO C310x from last year. I received this unit just over a month and wanted to wait until I was going to get a chance to use it for a road trip before I wrote my review. So with out further delay check out the MIO C320.

How does it Work?

The MIO pronounced (Me- oh) measures about 5 inches in length and sports a nice size display that’s virtually the size of the unit with very little unnecessary plastic casing. The screen is bright during daytime driving and the light sensor switches over to night for an attractive blue on black map that’s great for evening trips. The MIO C320 opens to a screen of the four different modes you have to choose from. There is MIO Map, Audio, File Manager, and the settings page for the usual date/time language screen and volume controls. The MIO out of the box handles 17 different language options to choose from so our International readers need not worried you’re covered. There is a power save feature that will shut the C320 off at pre-chosen intervals in the event you are running on battery.

Check out what comes in the box with the C320:

• Device holder
• Windshield mount
• Car charger (DC adapter)
• Software & documentation DVD

The File Manager is a smart interface that lists your files on the device and what you have on the optional storage card (Standard SD MMC card) up to 4GB should work just fine. I’ve not tested if you can use the MIO as just a picture viewer but it could be a good option to take it from the car to the desk or office for viewing those weekend day tip photos or some pictures of the kids. The next option is one of the more interesting on the MIO is the MP3 player that’s included. I wasn’t exactly sure why MIO decided to include an MP3 player on their GPS units but my mind was changed after I wanted to take the MIO with me to navigate a walking trip and didn’t want to pocket the Zune for the music. I just copied over the music I wanted to listen to and went on my walk/run for the next couple of hours. There is also a power save mode for the screen so you don’t run down the battery.

Lastly the Map Interface it totally brilliant which I don’t say often about products. The greatest thing about it is the point of interest enhancement or at least I think it’s an enhancement. OK a little background on my MIO experience is I have the MIO C310X so I’m used to having to browse to the POI screen and searching for what I was looking for. Now if you have ever used a GPS you know as well as I do that’s not the smartest thing to do if you are traveling the Interstate and need to know what exit the nearest gas station is and you missed that sign a few seconds ago because it was raining and you don’t know where you are anyway! Oh sorry flashback there… anyway all you have to do Is touch the POI little icon on the right side of the screen, and up pops all the POI’s in your area for gas stations closest to your location.

One of the screens you will see is the Home screen that list icons for the most frequently used commands. The list is address, Favorites, Map, POI, History, and settings. The settings in my opinion are one of the things you have to pay the most attention to when using the MIO. There are several options you have which include: Safety Mode which restricts operation while the car is in motion so don’t enable this feature unless you don’t want your GPS to work while you are driving. Another interesting setting is the “Warn when Speeding” and the Safety Cam settings that warn you when speeding via an on-screen warning or with the safety cam you can get an audible and voice warning that lets you know when a cam is coming up. Take heed the safety cam is just to let you know a cam is coming up. It’s not a pass to speed or run red lights so please use your best judgment and a little common sense (BJ doesn’t think we have too much of that) when using these features.

The MIO also has optional TMC service you can subscribe to. This is a traffic monitoring system that informs you of traffic conditions which gives you the option of taking a better route. I don’t have that service so I can’t really tell you how it works but I’ve heard good things about it. One of the most important settings you have to be mindful of is the route settings. This tells your MIO C320 how to get you where you are going and can really foul you up if you’re not careful. For example earlier in the year I was in Chicago and had my MIO set for Pedestrian mode which was really cool for walking around and getting from place to place on foot. Well guess what I forgot to do? That’s right I left it there and when I left to drive home we kept getting routed via the darn side streets and couldn’t figure out what was going on. The reason is the highway was running along the access road and the MIO was jumping back and forth so we thought it was a problem with the MIO when in fact it was us setting is wrong. Well the good thing about the route setting is you can change it for travel on foot, bike, bus, taxi or car. The taxi setting saved me about 20 bucks in New York this past September when navigating across town in a rush with a cabbie trying to make an extra buck. I can’t say enough about the route feature because the ability to look like you know where you are going is totally worth it in a big city. For example you can throw MIO C320 in your shirt pocket and plug in the headphones…instant walking tour guide. That way you are not stumbling around looking lost. You just blend in like another iPod Zombie (Zune in my case) going about your business.

Should I buy it?

Well in short Yes! The MIO C320 is one of the most feature packed GPS units you can purchase for a MSRP of $299.95 The MIO C230 doesn’t fall short of features, usability or style. The MIO C310X I personally own has worked well for me and I’ll be purchasing the C320 for my wife and have already recommended it to several friends and coworkers. I did a comparison to a couple of the more expensive units and I really couldn’t see a reason to spend more money for only a few more features. Now that’s not to say the higher end models MIO sells are not worth it because they are, but if you are getting your first GPS or giving a GPS as a gift then I would recommend the MIO C320 Digi Walker. It was a pleasure trying this unit out over the past few weeks and I’m sure the winner of this MIO-tech sponsored giveaway is going to enjoy this unit for years to come.

The MIO C320 is a resounding “BJ Approved”

The response to the MIO C320 and Corel Painter X has been so great that we are extending the giveaway until Monday midnight! A few members emailed me about cyber-Monday and thought it would be a good idea to extend it until then. Well looking into everything Cyber-Monday is not really the best day for online retailers. It’s actually according to Mastercard transactions it’s December 5th which is the Monday after this Monday and Dec 12th, but hey who knew. Anyhow we are extending the giveaway until then so get your comments posted and tell your friends about the giveaway.

Look out next week we will giveaway Honestech Clamation Studio!

That’s right guys Santa is a monkey! This month has been really really great so we are doing two giveaways so far with more stuff to come. The featured products are:

CorelDRAW Painter X

Mio C320 GPS

Don’t miss out this is our best give away so far with over $800 worth of product! Heck we are listing the Mio before the review is completed so you can register early and make a comment on one of the other reviews. Just click on the Register Here on the menu bar and make a comment on one of the articles posted.

What could be easier?

Well when we first received our copy of CorelDRAW Painter X I was a little worried it would be too difficult to learn quick enough to do a informed review. After all BJ doesn’t have a full time designer on staff yet so creative guys are few and far in between. Lucky for me Corel takes care of that in a manner of speaking.

What is it?

CorelDRAW Painter X  is what’s called Natural-Media® painting and illustration software. It features unique digital brushes, art materials and textures that mirror the look and feel of their traditional counterparts according to the Corel Website. Now you can find that information just about anywhere but what you can’t find is the information that’s not on the website.

How does it work?

CorelDRAW Painter X has to be one of the most complete natural painting software I’ve used in a long time. I’m not an artist but I was able to make some decent adjustments to photo and even complete the included tutorials that come on the disk. The included tutorials are detailed and take you step by step from very basic functions to creating logos, Vector images, and ho to use the workspace. It’s pretty hard to get me excited about graphics software but Corel is different than something like Photoshop. CorelDRAW Painter X is designed with professionals in mind. In the box you get Corel Draw x3, Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3, and Corel CAPTURE X3 respectively. Each of the products come with what I would call a learning lab to show you how to use the products most popular features. Corel PHOTO-PAINT for example covers adjusting images and reviewing things like color and tone. It goes further to demonstrate retouching photos and correcting red eye, riped edges and common problems you get when scanning photos. One feature I found really interesting was the instructions about how to stitching together two photo’s to make one panoramic photo. You won’t find that in Photoshop’s manual now will you. The written documentation was just as impressive with a few hundred pages of how to use each feature. There was nothing left out and everything was explained in a way that was easy to understand.

Should I buy it?

When buying graphics software you want to be careful and pick something you are going to be able to use for a long time. Mostly because of the cost of the software and the time it takes to learn about it and become skilled with it.  CorelDRAW Painter X is the perfect choice for seasoned professionals that want to produce more than just good pictures, but actual artwork.  Corel is also the perfect choice for beginners with the informative training that accompanies the software and the well written user manual. The novice can produce professional looking artwork and clean up photo’s for friends and family in no time.  CorelDRAW Painter X is undeniably “BJ Approved”

I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing Rapid Video Blogger from Honestech over the past couple of weeks and I have to say I was a little surprised at what I found, or I think I should say what I didn’t find.

Honestech Video Blogger is supposed to be a quick way to upload video and pictures to the web for easy access.   Now this is right up our alley since we of course run this blog.  Normally I start reviews with the What is it question right.  Well I couldn’t exactly figure that out until after I had installed the application and tried to use it.  I was under the assumption Rapid Video Blogger was going to enable me to produce video and pictures I could easily upload to my FTP server and embed into this blog.  Much to my surprise that’s not what this software is for.  Now I can start the review

What is it? 

Rapid Video Blogger  is not a blogging tool at all it’s more of a video production tool that can be used to create interesting video or photo slide shows and projects that can be played back on your computer, burned to a DVD or other portable media in various popular video formats.  Ok that’s the good part about the product.

How does it work

Rapid Video Blogger is not the best video and picture processing software I’ve run into as of late.  The instructions are confusing and getting video imported and into a project was  very cumbersome.  I actually spent about an hour attempting to upload video then photos via the interface and get them to work with the templates provided.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get either to work.

Should I buy it? 

I can’t say I think you should buy this one.  I think if there was a video tutorial on their website or a better written guide that actually walks you through the steps of creating the media you want would have been helpful.  I also have a problem with the name of the product because I think it’s playing on the popularity of blogs in hopes that people will purchase it.  I ended up being disappointed with Rapid Video Blogger and though I think it has some really great potential if they make the guide more understandable. This product get the “Rotten Banana”