Dash Express is Innovative, but There's Room for Improvement

(Price: $299)

Pros:

• Near real-time "network effect" traffic tracking.
• Mobile services, including Yahoo! Local Search.
• Web-based MyDash wireless interface with GPS unit.

Cons:

• Balky routing.
• Poor display visibility.
• Service fees.

No doubt about it, Dash brought an exciting set of innovative features to the in-car portable GPS market when it launched its Dash Express in early 2008. Its Internet connectivity, near-real-time traffic tracking that uses speed data from other Dash units to create traffic alerts, and its ability to automatically and wirelessly update its firmware and features had many reviewers drooling, and many award judges handing out hardware.

Dash Navigation, Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California, is different too. It looks like a Web startup, with Silicon Valley venture capital funding behind it, and operating outside the realm of the multi-billion dollar companies that dominate consumer GPS.

There is a lot to be excited about in the Dash Express, but getting absolutely everything right in car navigation is a very big undertaking for a new contender. As the real-world miles rolled up, users, including this reviewer, got down into the gritty details and found a few things that can be improved to make this device live up to its potential.

The Dash Express's key innovation is the Dash Driver Network, which collects traffic motion data from other Dash users who are out on the highway. Putting it simply, if even one Dash user ahead of you on the highway has to slow down or stop at a location where they should be rolling along at the speed limit, the route will be highlighted with yellow or red (depending on severity of the slowdown) and you can avoid the bottleneck. With a critical mass of Dash users on the highway in a major metro area, you should be able to receive high-quality, near-real-time traffic data for most roads at any hour of the day or night.

In my road tests, the traffic alert feature was effective, but not foolproof. I encountered a couple of traffic jams that Dash didn't catch, probably because there were no other Dash users on the road ahead of me. On the other hand, I was able to avoid a major backup on I-95 because it was glowing red on my map, and I was plotting an alternate route as I went under I-95, chuckling at the chumps stopped on the overpass.

Dash supplements its anonymously gathered user traffic speed data with traffic incident, sensor, and historical data from traffic info provider Inrix. To Dash's credit, traffic tracking and avoidance is far from foolproof on any GPS I've tested, and they are doing more than any other maker to get it right.

Once you know about the traffic situation, what do you do about it? Intelligent routing is key, and Dash provides you with alternate routing and arrival time estimates. Select your destination and you are presented with a route overview screen, including traffic colors along your route, and up to four route options with distance and estimated times of arrival. You can pan the route by dragging a finger, or easily zoom in and out. It usually takes the Dash Express about a minute to calculate the route options (running under the latest firmware update). Routing preview is important, so kudos to Dash for this utility.

I had two problems with Dash routing, however. On a route I routinely take, major GPS brands I've tested have no trouble presenting several route options, including the best shortcut route that doesn't follow the major highways. For some reason the Dash wouldn't identify this best route, and even when I started driving the route, it kept trying to send me on some far-flung alternate, rather than recalculating and adjusting to the new route. Quirky or slow route recalculation seems to be one of the more common online user review beefs, as well. Something for Dash to work on in the next update.

Internet connectivity is another head-turning feature of the Dash Express. No, it doesn't have a Web browser, but the Dash uses a set of mini-applications (new ones are constantly being developed and may be downloaded and installed for free) to tap into the power of the Internet. This contrasts with static point-of-interest databases installed on most GPS units. I won't list all of them here (see "suggested reading" links), but connectivity includes Yahoo! Local Search as the featured search tool, and apps including Wikipedia (first few paragraphs only and no images), Trapster, Weather Bug, airport delays, stock quotes, and more.

They're all valuable additions to your in-car info capability, with users particularly enthusiastic about real-time on-board Yahoo! search. I found Yahoo! search very useful, and more timely and complete than canned points-of-interest databases commonly used in GPS. Real-time gas prices with station listings are a big plus too, sortable by distance or price.

Keep in mind however that Dash is not the only maker offering real-time in-car info services. Garmin has its MSN Direct and FM traffic capability, for example, and TomTom has its Plus Services with traffic and gas prices. These services come in different flavors, so read the reviews before you decide on what best fits your needs.

By the way, the Dash Express accesses the Internet via its included cellular network capability (GPRS), or via WiFi connectivity. You can adjust the WiFi setup to access any open WiFi connection, or only controlled, password-accessible WiFi points.