I have been using this product over the past month. I bought this for when I travel, but I have been testing the directions around where I live (within 100 miles) where I know the routes I should take already. It has caused me to have concern about using it on the road. About 50% of the time it has given me directions that made no sense and in one case was in the opposite direction from where I was headed. I now fear relying on this device when I travel to areas I am not knowledgeable. My experience with the Hertz rental car systems has been completely different. The Magellean systems also seems easier to use.

The product comes with only a small pamphlet for user documentation. Very inadequate for such a complex device.

Finally, this may have come with old map data. They advertise other North American maps on the web site for an additional charge of about $140. The web site description was inadequate for me to determine if the new maps would improve the device performance to justify the added cost. On the other hand, why didn't this system come with the latest maps? I wouldn't mind paying for upgrades down the road, but not right when I purchase it,

Overall I find the Garmin Nuvi very disappointing and overrated.

I have bought two 360's, one for my wife and one for me and will buy a third (as a replacement), so I'm a fan and I would recommend a Nuvi over any other competing product hands down. However, that doesn't mean there aren't issues:

A few plusses and minuses:

ON THE PLUS SIDE

1) There is no better product on the market for GPS and the rest of them are toys by comparison. The interface is so wonderful that it's the GPS equivalent of the iPhone. There are minor issues but they're not worth discussing. I could write pages on how wonderful the interface is, but everyone else has done the product justice already.

2) The 360 is the size to buy unless you are vision impaired. It is small and thin and light and you can stick it in a pocket.

3) Maybe it's silly but I really like the audio book and mp3 feature. I use it constantly.

4) The Europe software is awesome. Travelling with a Nuvi in Europe is unbelievably less stressful. I've covered every country and it's wonderful. I would ask that they buy some database of tourist attractions because I ended up programming most of my own. And yes, eastern europe is twitchy and limited but it's still much better than paper maps. I used it all over Moscow and St Petersburgh and it was fine.

5) The usb charging is wonderful and some phones like smartphones share charging plugs limiting the number of cords you have to carry. The clamps, and connectors are well designed, and easy to work with. THe use of SD cards for map data rather than relying on PC connections is great. The abilty to store mp3's and audiobooks on SD cards is useful. I carry a set of SD cards and this means I dont need to carry a separate unit while travelling.

ON THE MINUS SIDE

1) The web site is awful, uninformative, and customer-unfriendly. The mandatory registration is awful to use, and confusing. In the support area, they clearly want to protect themselves from customers rather than explaining clearly what they can and cannot do for customers. They make it far too hard to contact them. Whoever does their web site thinks far too much like they are talking to their distributor channel and is entirely ignorant of their customers. For example, they bundle all customers and products together and treat them the same even though the products, while having similar functions are for very different customers with different skill levels.

2) The product is fairly fragile. It is complicated technology, and it is not housed in protective shells, and breaks easily. I have broken the screen on one by dropping it on a (thinly) carpeted floor in a restaurant, and broken the audio output plug on another unit simply by keeping the earphones plugged in and wrapping the cord around the unit. There are too many reports of gps antenna problems as well. So the units are reasonably fragile given their intended purpose and their fairly high price tag.

3) Given their fragility their customer service is in the obvious position of having customers who break the unit try to blame the product, and the company is trying to evade responsibility for when the product fails during reasonable use. This is why customers are often unhappy with product support: because the product is actually fragile, the company will not say that the product is fragile, and then must dance with customers to find out if they can reasonably replace it or not. Instead, they should simply be honest with customers using the reason that it is advanced technology that is fragile, or they should change the housing and antenna and connectors so that they are less fragile. Anyway, that's the problem with support. THey don't want to talk to you. They have a reason why they don't talk to you - they're afraid to. They are not sophisticated in how they manage customers either on their web site or via the phone, and they are that way because they have too much channel influcence and not enough consumer orientation. They should hire a new VP of customer service from a major brand like Nike or Apple. (No I don't have any inside knowledge, I simply run one of the country's larger consultancies on such things).

4) The satellite reception and triangulation is still wanting and sometimes frustrating. The reception in cities, where it is actually hardest to navigate, and where you have the least reaction time as a driver is terrible. In New York, San Francisco, Chicago and even Pittsburgh, you can wait for ten minutes or more before the unit acquires sattelites and can give you directions, even if you seek out an open space like a small park. I stood in the shopping district in Chicago waving the unit in the air for twenty minutes acting like Verizon's "can you hear me now?" character trying to acquire sattelites so I could find the restaurant for my next meeting. Since this is NOT anywhere as bad a problem if you leave the unit running as it is if you turn it off and on again, there is a problem with the approach they're using. This is also a problem at airports, where you've rented a car and have to throw the unit up on the dashboard or hold it out a window for ten minutes waiting for it to acquire satellites before you can put it somewhere more visible and use it. As a person who is busy travelling, thats an issue. Unfortunately, the way around the problem is to leave it on all the time which the battery won't tolerate. I don't know where they're getting their batter life estimates from but if you use the thing much, the battery burns down in more like two or three hours than what's advertised. And there isn't a switch to kill the video in order to preserve battery life. (And no, don't add yet another button combination to the power button. It's like tapping out morse code as it is.)

5) The speaker is weak and distorts too easily. I end up driving with an earphone almost all the time. There is a tradeoff here in engineering terms, because if you make it much louder it's a power drain. While they've put Bluetooth in the unit, it's pointless because you can't hear the other person, the speaker distorts too easily at low volume (which is a bad product decision because better speakers are available), despite the fact that the microphone does work reasonably well. I have a Jaguar, a Porche and a Ferrari. They represent the full range of internal sound levels. The Jaguar is almost perfectly quiet, but the audio is still underpowered in that environment. (I won't even talk about how pointless it is in the Ferrari.) The unit's speaker is on the back, facing away from you. So if you hold the thing, or lay it down on cloth like a seat, you have to turn it up, which then puts the speaker into distortion mode. This product design choice relies on relection to improve the sound quality, and I undestand preserving the front of the device for screen only. But just putting a better speaker inside and facing it forward or even downward would be a better answer. "We have the technology" to make a seventies pop culture reference.

6) Response time given the weakness of the antenna is a problem. It looks like they wrote the software without changing the lead time on directions to reflect the driver's speed and frequency of turns. Driving around the UK for example, with the twisting little roads is difficult because unit does not give you notice in time for the turns. Once you get down to a lower number of sattelites, especially in London, the thing becomes effectively useless. Nothing is more annoying than having the cutely accented narrator tell you to turn right fourty feet after you've passed the turn.

7) The voice software isn't smart enough to recognize "St Albans Street" as "Saint Albans Street". It needs to smarten up regarding common abbreviations.

8) The foreign language software, for phrases and such, is so bad that it would be better not to include it. Really. It's terrible. And it is totally unsuited for the user interface. I mean, who has twenty minutes to look up how to ask for lunch?

So, whomever is in charge of the software for the product should get a promotion and bonuses. Whoever is in charge of product engineering, purchasing and manufacturing should get a talking to, and should work harder. Whoever is in charge of customer service should get demoted. Whoever is charge of the web site should be fired, and with predudice. I wonder, that since this sequence of problems is the OPPOSITE of what is difficult in product development, how this can happen in a company unless it's a senior management problem in the first place. Customer service is easy to get right. Software is almost impossible. Engineering is something the Japanese usually get right day in and day out, but American companies can't seem to: American engineers are too often rewarded for being cunning, and not for being wise, and that is the feeling I get when using the product. Hardware development tried to be cunning not wise.

And I also get the feeling that the executive management is unwisely cheap and still does not realize how great a product they have on their hands, and what to do about it. As it stands, a competitor with brains could improve on the software and engineering. So why not take advantage of the one thing that a competitor cannot so easily steal: the loyalty of customers who truly depend on the product, by making customer service the company's core competency?

PRO: Portability, Ease of Operation, Auto Shut-off

CON: LCD screen can be difficult to read in bright sunlight

I have to admit that when I bought this GPS that I did not feel I could blindly trust the routes it set out for me; so when I first got it I only asked it to take me places I already knew how to get to. I was amazed that it took me to my destination every single time. After a few of those trips I took the plunge and had it guide me to a location I had never been to, about 1.5 hours away from my house...I was a nervous wreck. I was still a bit weary so just in case I printed Google maps directions and kept them in my glove compartment as back-up. I was nervous the entire drive wondering if I was going the correct direction. The Garmin was great about guiding me and warning me when a turn was coming and what exit to get off of. Again with amazement and a little of of relief it worked again! I have had the Garmin for a few months now and have learned to trust it completely and it has not failed me yet. At the beginning it was sort of like having a stranger lead you through NYC Time Square blindfolded and having to trust them to take care of you, but now I know that I can trust my Garmin.

One thing that I wish it would do is allow me to change some of the routes a bit. When I went to places I knew I noticed that the Garmin gave the most direct route, but I knew of a few short cuts and would go off the path of their suggestion. The good thing is that within seconds of leaving their suggested path it adjusts and re-routes the directions for you. Actually, in some cases I actually learned of some better paths to places I knew based on their suggestions, but I still wish you could adjust it sometimes just in case I don't want to go via the expressway or things like that.

In conclusion, I love it! It syncs with my phones address book, it acts as a speaker phone when people call, it does all the GPS stuff it promises to. Completely suggest it, super easy to use...I don't know how I could live without it now.

Experiential viewpoint towards the Nuvi 360...

Driving from Phila to Chicago with a few stops in between was easily managed using only the Nuvi. We drove the entire round trip without a map and without website print outs. I have never drove in Chicago before this trip. If you have ever attempted driving in Chicago, you know it is not easy for non natives: it's like driving on a 1970's circa disorderly circled, multilane Mexican road. We were navigating through 16 lanes of a crisscrossed high/byway system with many of those lanes randomly under construction. You also have to contend with the typical aggressive city drivers: very few give an inch, you have to take it. Doing this with the Nuvi was like having an astute local expert in the front seat guiding every move. Each of those moves was done with uncanny precision and perfection. We used the detour feature several times to get around a few long road blocks. Our constant comments were, "I love this device", "I can't believe that", "Cool", "Wow", etc... I personally hope it takes the rest of America a few decades to catch on so the detour feature retains its value ;-)

The windshield mount

Many people have complained about the windshield mount slips. We did not have any problems with the mount.

What I don't know about the Nuvi 360.

How long will it last. How accurate is it in smaller towns (There was 1 consistent misguide to a hotel in Michigan).

Would I buy this device again?

If I lost it today, I would immediately buy a new one. Until the Acura navigation comes down in price, I will always own a Garmin navigational unit. I now rely 100% on this device when driving in unknown territory: Thank you Garmin!

I'm one of the earliest baby boomers and not so familiar with all the modern electronics so when I decided to take a chance and rely solely on the written reviews and ordered the nuvi 360 I was hoping it was all that they said. I am not at all dissapointed!!! It works wonderfully. But the best part is that you don't have to be a genius to operate it. It's simple and so easy "a caveman can do it." The holder that attaches to the windshield is strong and secure, the screen is large enough and bright, and the volumes is more than adequate for the normal ear.

I turned it on, let it do it's thing, typed in an address for a new customer way out in the boonies of New Hampshire, got into my car in Massachusetts, and it told me exactly what to do from my driveway on, and I arrived on schedule with no incident. My Verizon phone works fine through the bluetooth option, (except for the address book being transferred...no big deal), but the speaker phone is loud and clear etc. This is one modern gadget I can live with and even enjoy!!

We purchased this device after my wife had gotten lost while using Yahoo! Maps on a business trip late at night. We have since used the our Nuvi several times (although not as much as most people, since we live in NYC and don't drive much).

Most recently, we used our Nuvi to go on a long weekend to the Hudson Valley. Had we not had a GPS device, we would have had to print a dozen or more maps from Yahoo! - to the Inn, from the Inn to Dinner, back to the Inn, Inn to the winery for a tasting, back to the Inn, and on and on. Instead, all I did was look up a few of our destinations before the trip started, enter them as favorites and off we went! It made the trip and driving absolutely stress free, especially with some tricky turns in one of the towns, and locating a restaurant that was so set back from the street, we never would have found it otherwise.

My wife calls GPS the 'next killer app' and she compares it to TiVo - there isn't a better compliment in my mind.

Many people complain that their GPS device doesn't always give them the best route and I agree. However, NOTHING will ever beat local knowledge. I don't rely on my Nuvi when I am near home (although I do keep it on in case it finds a better route, like it did to the Queens Costco). I need my Nuvi when I don't know where I am or where I am going, and in that case, I don't care if it isn't the most effecient route, as long as it is a correct route. That is something the Nuvi has never let me down on.

UPDATE DECEMBER 2007: now that I've been using the Nuvi for several months, I still love it and can't imagine not have GPS. However, there are a few features that other manufacturers support that aren't supported by the Nuvi. For example, the Magellen devices have two great features:

1) More control over the detour function. When detouring with the Nuvi, you don't have any control over the distance of road it will detour you around. I believe Magellen allows you indicate the distance the detour should last before putting you back on the road (great if you know there is traffic for 2 more miles). Very often, I hit detour on the Nuvi and it takes me a completely different route, when all I wanted to do was avoid a couple of miles of traffic due to an accident (even with the traffic service, this doesn't work well on the Nuvi)

2) Multi-point routing (or multiple via points). This allows you to enter several intermediate destinations and the device will calculate the most effecient route to hit all points. Great when doing sightseeing type of things (or visiting wineries!)

At the time I purchsed the Nuvi, the Magellen devices were larger and more unwieldy, with buttons all around the face. However, Magellen has recently introduced a line that appears to be closer to the Nuvi form factor. I can't compare to the TomTom, as I didn't do much research on that brand when I was looking originally, since I wanted Navteq maps.

This product is great. I'm not going to waste your time rehashing what others have already said. The GPS works well and you should buy this product primarily for this reason.

However, many have asked why the need for an MP3 player. I agree that playing the MP3 player through the peakers of the NUVI is a stupid idea. But, If you have the NUVI hooked into your car speakers IT WORKS GREAT.

How do you do that? Well, I went to radio shack and bought a cable that has RCA on one end (RED & WHITE) and a headphone jack on the other. I hooked the RCA plugs into the back of my car stereo and hooked the headphone jack to the NUVI. Now I listen to my directions and MP3's through my car stereo. This is not that hard to do. Go to a car installation place and ask them to do it for you. The cable at Radio Shack is $10.

Alternatively, if you have a tape deck you can buy those tapes with a headphone jack and hook that to the nuvi headphone jack.

Why this is great:

1. The nuvi plays your songs and pauses them for directions. After the directions are given it resumes the song. So, if your listening to your stereo, you will never miss a direction again

2. If you recieve a phone call it pauses the song and when you end the phone call it resumes the song.

Try it out....well worth it :)

HOSA CMR206 Stereo Mini Male to RCA Y-Cable - 6 Feet

This is the cable I used. I connected one end to the AUX port on my car stereo and the other in the headphone jack of the NUVI.

If you have a tape player, you can use this :Philips USA PH-62050 CD/MP3/MD-To-Cassette Adapter.

Revised Feb. 26th, 2006

I should mention that the NUVI comes with 500MB of free space. The mapping software takes up 1.5GB. So, if you plan to use this as an MP3 player, buy an SD card.

This is definately a wonderful tool, functionally complete with only a few trivial improvements to make it absolutely PERFECT. For reference I will compare it to the TomTom One with Bluetooth, which has almost exactly the same dimensions and feature set. I used the Tomtom One for a week until it failed to distinguish between 3 oblique right turns.

Notable differences include

1. Garmin Nuvi 360 announces streets by NAME, so that when looking at a funny intersection with two oblique right turns (like spokes in a wheel)

a. Garmin says, "turn right on Street X" while

b. Tom Tom sahys,"turn right and then stay right"

This feature makes the Garmin so very much better than the TomTom even though the TomTom seems to be more user friendly with less compromises.

You can stop reading this now and buy the 350/360 ...

2. Garmin has A-Z keypad, but

TomTom let's you toggle between A-Z keyboard OR QWERTY keyboard

(I really wish Garmin had Qwerty)

3. Pocket size?

A. The Garmin has a fold up antenna, but TomTom's is internal.

This means you can put TomTom in your shirt pocket as you walk or hike,

but Garmin will not fit, otherwise they have the same dimensions

B. On the other hand, when Garmin's antenna is closed, GPS is off, perhaps saving battery, letting it still function as a map and a yellow pages. Garmin says their battery life is longer, I can't say yet.

4. TomTom has a screen that shows relative satellite position, signal strength and coverage. How cool, but with that info, now what?

5. Bluetooth (not on 350 but on 360) works fine even on the emasculated Verizon phones. TomTom too Dorothy. You can not use VZ's "say a command" feature.

6. Yellow pages ...well not "Yellow" but "Business Directory".

When stationary Garmin lists the results of your search in order of closes proximity indicated by 1.2 mi NE, 1.9 mi SW, 2.2 mi NW. But these compass indicators turn to relative arrows, up, down, left, and at 45 degree angles. This is another marriage saver. My wife wanted to visit 3 ethnic shopping centers in Los Angeles, a town so very foreign to me. The Garmin found them so quickly and painlessly that my wife's hate of the $550 purchase turned to joy. We have named this Nuvi 360 "Wife #2"... the worst thing it has ever said is "recalculating..." ... it says it the 7th time just a patiently as it did the first time. Don't get a ticket driving aimlessly around your neighborhood trying to confuse it.

I highly recommend that whatever you choose that you ALWAYs take 5-10 minutes no matter what kind of hurry you're in, to park and run through your trip on the map first, understand the major junctions BEFORE turning the key. These things do MAKE MISTAKES, and always will make mistakes because

A. obsolete maps and mispelled street and business names are provided by 3rd parties, ...these require YOU to think.

B. Overcast, overgrown and canopied roads can distort satellite line of sight

When new, it's a good idea to see how it handles a familiar route.

In my case, each day on the familiar route leaving work, both Garmin and TomTom told me to take a non-existant right turn over a near-vertical canyon wall.

This gave me a great feeling of superiority since I knew better, but what would happen to me if this happened when out of town or in Europe in the dark? Therefore do not relinquish your mind to the machine...it's no substitute for human intellect.

Conclusion:

**NUVI** 350/360 is hands down the best ONLY because of the ability to speak the NAMES of each street... with just a few humorous and perplexing mispronunciations... (Wateridge becomes Wait-idge) and compression of words, swallowing some final syllables...it cost $550 on Amazon in Dec 06

TomTom One - nearly equivalent EXCEPT for the text to speech feature above. TomTom's development team showed finer attention to detail with more friendly configuration options. It cost $350 at Staples.

The Garmin (and maybe the Tomtom?) can act as a Removable Hard Drive plugged into your PC's USB port. It plays MP3s, even shows Album art, and has screensaver applications. When the human voice speaks the

My wife and I just moved to a new city and this tool was a lifesaver. It is accurate 99% of the time, and truly provides a useful service whether you are travelling, or new to the area. The only reason we gave it a 4 was due to the suction mount popping off the windshield. This has only occured twice, but it is pretty annoying when it does.