| Products Electronics & Photo GPS Garmin nuvi 360 | Satisfaction | Experience | |
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| Name | Date | Helpfulness | Review | Overall satisfaction | Ease of use | Quality of Manufacture | Durability | more... |
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| Amazon.com customer | 2007-12-22 | | Very disapointed | 2 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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.
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| Overall satisfaction | 2 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-11-15 | | Preferred over Escalade Nav | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | With a 3rd child on the way I was somewhat forced to go from my Escalade to a Suburban since my wife needed a new vehicle to support our growing family. Her Trailblazer just wasn't up to the task of holding 3 car seats. So, I volunteered to let her take my Escalade and we traded the Trailblazer off on a Suburban (Escalade is the Tahoe sized version). Anyway, none of that matters really except that my Escalade had the factory navigation system in it and the Suburban did not, which led me to my search. Background out of the way, my search landed me with the Garmin nuvi 350. Being a gadget guru I soon realized (even before it had arrived) that I made a mistake. Not because the 350 was a poor choice or inferior in quality, but because it was lacking Bluetooth technology. Having grown accustomed to this greatness I quickly purchased a 360 (only difference is Bluetooth capability) and put the 350 up for sale. EDIT I stand corrected, it seems there is one more difference. The nuvi 350 supports up to a 2GB SD card while the nuvi 360 supports up to a 4GB SD card. I'm not a newcomer to GPS or even navigation systems, but I'm no expert either. What I've used in the past are devices such as paper maps, Garmin eTrex, Garmin 12, Lowrance iWay 350c, the factory nav of my Escalade and now the wonderful nuvi line. My thoughts on the nuvi versus anything I've used in the past are nothing but positive. Even on the rare occasion I think I find a flaw I soon realize why they did it that way and I'm in awe of it's mastery. One example I found when I was comparing side by side the nuvi to my factory navigation, I saw that the factory nav showed more street names when going down the highway I take to work daily. At first I was kind of bummed the nuvi wasn't up to this task, however what I realized is that the nuvi does show the street names at lower speeds. My personal preference soon changed to how the nuvi works. When going down the highway I don't need to know every street name which would quickly crowd my display, I only need to see the major exits which show up perfectly. It's small details like that which seem to separate the nuvi from anything else I've tried. It just works. Earlier I mentioned that I'm a gadget guru... well, part of this is having to mess with every feature and accessory. I haven't yet tried the traffic antenna as my area is not covered, however it's on my list anyway. What I have done however is hardwire the headphone jack to my Suburban's audio system and purchased the microphone (reviewed as well). This combination has greatly increased the value of my nuvi 360 to the point where I feel I have a solid hand free setup and golden navigation unit in one awesome package. I'm 100% sold on this model, and if I needed another navigation unit tomorrow I wouldn't hesitate in the least to buy another. Points of Interest database is excellent, using it is simple and efficient. Customization is minimal (other than the vehicles you can download), but I find I don't really want to customize it much. The only thing I wish it had was an option to set a default at startup, I always have to choose one of the options where it would be nice to just have it default to map view for example. Why 4 stars? It's rare that any product is 100% perfect, although the nuvi certainly comes close, and who knows... the more I use it the more I feel it may deserve a 5, I just know Garmin will amaze me with future releases and perhaps updated firmware that amaze me with an already unbeatable product at this level. Recommend? Most definitely. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-11-03 | | Great with a few minor complaints | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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?
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-10-10 | | Garmin Nuvi 360 - Thumbs Up! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have a built-in GPS in my car at home and purchased this to use with rental cars when I am out of town. I found the unit much more accurate and user freindly than the GPS's the car rental places use. I have used it on two trips since I purchased it, New Orleans & Akron/Cleveland. The screen is small, but easy to read. It has a nice cover to store the unit in and is compact enough to put in your bag or hide out of sight under the seat or in the glove compartment when the car is parked. My only complaint is that it tells you the time you should arrive somewhere, not how long it is going to take to arrive at your destintation. I have not used it as an MP3 player or for hands free calling, but by judging from the voice clarity & speaker from the GPS, it will be monotone and hollow. I don't expect it to sound like a high end speaker, so it works for fine for me. I do like being able to select a destination by entering the phone number, I have that feature on my automobile's GPS, but I know that several GPS's don't use it. It makes finding a hotel that is on a "new" road very convenient, it also usually faster than entering street address. When searching a for a restaurant or a store, it gives you the nearest locations along with their phone numbers. It is nice to be able to call ahead to see if they have what you need. I also purchased portable friction mount for it, that also works great and stays in place. Overall, I like the unit. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Shopzilla customer | 2007-09-28 | | Great Navigation Tool | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | PRO: Portability, Ease of Operation, Auto Shut-off CON: LCD screen can be difficult to read in bright sunlight | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-07-13 | | A really great purchase! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | This has to be one of the most satisfying purchases I've made in a long time. This unit functions so intuitively that the manual is rarely needed. I've had it for about 1 month and I LIKE it! I purchased an 8 GB SD card and loaded it with 6 GB of MP3 music. I plug a cassette adapter into the side of the unit to play thru my car's stereo...it sounds great. The voice guidance for the GPS is so good that the display is almost not needed! The bluetooth function paired with my cellphone and works flawlessly. All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with this GPS. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-07-07 | | It actually does what it is suppose to | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-06-28 | | Nuvi 350 vs 360 vs Tom Tom One - software version (v8 vs v9 maps) | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I purchased the Nuvi versus the Tom Tom One because of the speech-to-text recognition that announces "turn left on Fillmore Avenue in once-quarter mile" versus "turn left in one-quarter mile." Its a subtle difference, but in a crowded city or suburb with rapid-fire streets the signage announcement keeps you from looking at the screen to see if you're turning on the correct street (Nuvi 350 is $78 more than the TT1 at this writing). I upgraded to the Nuvi 360 for bluetooth which is cool, but probably not worth the extra $50 for me). The interface is simple, the windshield mount extremely well designed, and the overall package exceptional. However I am returning the unit simply because it came with v8 of maps, and v9 will be out very shortly (weeks) - with a $75 price tag to upgrade bringing the overall cost to over $500. Garmin tech support is non-committal whether they will upgrade recent v8 purchases. Apparently, some Nuvi 360 units are shipping with v9, so its available somewhere. Overall, total thumbs-up on this product, I just want to hold-off a wee bit. UPDATE - I've had this for 2-weeks and used it on a 1500 mile road trip. And I just returned it due to aging map software that will be renewed soon (Garmin: "could be weeks, could be months"). Garmin doesn't commit on whether they will offer a free upgrade to recent Nuvi buyers (they do for recently released version of European maps). The TTS feature is great, and Karen is hot (the Australian female voice). A few weird routes (a very circuitous route Oakland California was a little scary), but overall, very effective. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-06-25 | | Experiential viewpoint towards the Nuvi 360 - no specs, just my observations. | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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!
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-06-04 | | Really easy to use | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | This is my first GPS and I love having a GPS. It's like when I first got my E-Z Pass: I wonder why I didn't get one sooner! This is so easy to use, I have only read the manual to make sure I didn't forget anything when I hooked it up to my car. I was able to tell it to take me somewhere after powering it up for the first time and I was up and navigating. I did spend time later to find out more features and customizing it just by pressing things on the screen. There are a whole lot of things I like about the nuvi. Since other reviewers have already talked about them (and you can find out even more about the features on Garmin's site), I'll just list my favorites: text-to-speech (TTS) saying street names, colored 3D view (water is blue, parks are green, etc), points of interest (POI) with address and phone numbers as well as direction and distance from current location, real-time driving statistics (avg MPH, ETA, time stopped, etc), one press operation for the next direction and it automatically goes back to the map, way point insertion via map. I did wonder whether the bluetooth functionality was worth it since my phone already has a speaker phone function. But I am really glad I got the 360 instead of the 350. If nothing else, it's like having a heads-up caller ID. It also directly accesses my address book on my Blackberry 7105t. So I can receive and make calls without taking my phone out of its holster (which is sometimes a hassle with the seatbelt buckle/jacket/coat in the way). I have my nuvi connected to my stereo via a cassette adapter so I can clearly hear the caller. For privacy, the 360 allows you to send the call back to your phone but it requires three presses on the screen which is a bit inconvenient. Now for the things I don't like so much: * Many times, the person on the other side of the call has trouble hearing me. I've ordered the external microphone which will hopefully take care of this. * The MP3 player works well, but my MP3 files are much louder than the navigation audio. This pretty much makes the MP3 player useless to me while navigating since I would either have to listen to the music much louder than I want or struggle to hear the navigation audio. I've sent Garmin a request to make this adjustable. * The data is outdated even if "new". I guess this is not specific to Garmin and is the nature of the beast, but I've gotten wrong directions and been taken to places (POI) that no longer exist because the data is basically two years old. Even though they update once a year ($75 each update), by the time a consumer gets it, the data is already closer to two years old. For example, the newest data was released on April 2006 but it wasn't shipped until September 2006. And just because it was released on April 2006, I don't think it means everything was up to date at that time. But that's just conjecture on my part. What I do know is, it lists stores/restaurants in my area that I know were no longer in business way before April 2006. I think some of them even closed in 2005 but they are still listed in my nuvi. * It's not perfect. It didn't know about a concrete barrier so it kept telling me to go through it. It was trying to get me to go through a private road once. Sometimes the route isn't the best. Summary: Even with its flaws, I am glad I bought the 360 as it has given me a greater sense of adventure and security that I will not get totally lost. Instead of spending minutes looking on the web for directions where to go, I just make sure I have the address before I walk to the car. In a 10-day period recently, I drove to a wedding in NJ, to a vacation in NC (Outer Banks) and back to a wedding locally in VA. The nuvi got me to all three places without getting lost once, while some of my friends got lost to some of those places (but they didn't have any GPS). UPDATE: Here's my thoughts after 6 months of use: I still love it! Garmin was generous and gave everyone who bought a nuvi by a cutoff date the 2008 update free. It was easy to upgrade although it did take a few hours to complete. Getting more up-to-date info is definitely a big plus. I wish they would update twice a year (at half the cost each time, of course). Garmin said they cannot do anything about the MP3 problem I emailed them about. They're not even sure they will incorporate it in future models. It's a shame since it's not practical for me to use the MP3 function while navigating with the way it is now. The external microphone helped but I think the real problem is me plugging in the Nuvi output to my tape player. Now, when someone calls, I make sure it's not playing through my tape player and I've gotten less complaints from callers about echoes or not being able to hear me. The Detour function seems to help a lot when there's a big delay when you're in a major highway. It does a good job of getting you to a different way which has been avoiding the delay most of the time. Note: I do not have the traffic service so it's just re-directing you.
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-04-24 | | Nuvi 360 Excellent Performer | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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!! | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-04-15 | | A Really Fine Product | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Although the Garmin Nuvi 360 doesn't always go where I think it should, it gets me there. And if I stray off the path it wants to send me on, it recalculates quickly, almost as if it knows where I want to go. I bought the friction mount Garmin Portable Friction Mount for Garmin GPS Units (010-10306-00) which I like better than having it stuck on the windshield or rather permanently on the dashboard. Oh yes, you can pair it with your bluetooth-enabled phone and make and receive calls. Very cool. Most of the reviews for the model 350 have already said what I have to say, so there's not much to add. You do get a free Audible book (two "small" ones or one big one) which you can listen to if while you travel. You are required to sign up for a trial Audible membership, but after you've downloaded your book, you can cancel on-line. (I bought Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which I had already read, but want to re-visit). A Short History of Nearly Everything In sum, the Nuvi 360 is one of the coolest "toys" I've ever owned. Just don't let it distract you too much. You won't be able to take your eyes off it, even though it speaks very well on its own. (P.S. My wife and I agree that "Jack" is an easier voice to understand than "Jill".
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-03-13 | | A killer app on the level of TiVo | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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.
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-02-25 | | Really Terrific | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I had never owned a GPS unit before, but on a shuttle trip to the airport the driver had a Garmin unit, and I was surprised to find that even from a couple rows back I could still see the screen clearly. So I did a little research and got the Nuvi 360 for two reasons in particular: (1) it reads street names aloud, and (2) the Bluetooth connection to the phone (here in California, it's about to become state law that drivers must use a hands-free device with their cellphones, and I didn't have one). It doesn't take long to learn that probably any GPS unit is going to have certain problems. For example, with LA's horrible freeway traffic I have the Nuvi set to avoid freeways; but certain streets that I consider surface roads are considered highways by the Nuvi (Santa Monica Blvd. is part of Route 66, for example). The better I know the area I'm driving in, the more often I see how the Nuvi isn't terribly smart about finding a really optimal route. But of course that's the sort of situation where I don't really need a GPS unit because I already know my way around; and if I don't know my way around, I don't much care if my route isn't optimal, so long as it gets me there. What I really love is how simple it is. The screen is easy to read, and the Bluetooth connection works wonderfully--once the cellphone is paired with the Nuvi, they simply find each other without your having to do anything ever again. It's easy to unhook the Nuvi and stash it in the glove compartment or wherever, out of sight; and I connect it even for short trips to familiar destinations, just for the Bluetooth connection. I don't really use it to find points of interest, though I'm happy to find that my local grocery store is in there, and so was Universal when I had to go to a concert. One night I took a drive and deliberately got myself lost, then told the Nuvi to get me home. It had no trouble at all, and that did it: now I'm a confirmed GPS lover, and am happy to recommend this lovely little device to anyone. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-02-25 | | Amazing Product and You CAN use the MP3 Player | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-02-13 | | Will buy again! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Bought the 360 the week it came out and loved it. Took it on a trip to New Zealand last month where it worked great (NZ maps seemed a bit pricey) till it was stolen from a rental car with defective door locks. (I know...it should have been in my pocket). I was going to replace it with the 660 till I saw the reviews here about the fm modulator. I'll get another 360 instead and am delighted to see that the price is close to half of what it cost to be 'first on my block' when it first came out. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-02-09 | | Almost perfect - a marriage saver - 4½ stars! | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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 | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-01-27 | | Nuvi vs. c550, 340 | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have a Nuvi 360 which I have used along side my sisters c550 and a c340. If you want a sleek compact GPS that easy to travel with, the Nuvi is certainly worthy. I have found it to be quite accurate and easy to use. Like some have mentioned it can occasionally fall off the windshield. The bluetooth feature while cool will leave power callers wanting more though. While it integrates well with the phone and you can dial from it and use the phone book feature on certain phones (or even direct dial from the POI menu), the Nuvi features the least powerful speakers of the three units. At speed, with road noise, etc, it can be kind of hard to hear some calls. The c550 uses the same US software as the Nuvi, but has noticably louder speakers. For bluetooth calling on a GPS the c550 would be my choice here, but I think better options exist in bluetooth speakerphones (ie Parrot Minikit). One other note, when your making a bluetooth call it deactivates the voice directions. These seems logical at first, but if you're calling and using it to navigate simultaneously through an unfamiliar city it's kind of a pain to lose the voice prompts. I can't speak to the mp3 player or audio books since it's not something I'd use. I haven't used the traffic feature either since everything I have read says it isn't terribly consistent (in Europe it's a different story). Overall, the Nuvi is a great little GPS for navigation. It's other features might benefit some, but aren't that great for me. I think the other two, while lacking the cool factor are also excellent. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-01-26 | | Great Little Navigator | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-01-13 | | Lives up to the hype -- exceptionally well designed GPS | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I had been looking at, researching, and yearning for a GPS unit for about four years before finally taking the plunge and buying a Nuvi 360 in December 2006. It was worth the wait. During the past month, the Nuvi 360 has become such an indispensable part of my driving routine that I can't imagine driving without it. I read reviews from many sources (Amazon, Consumer Reports, CNet, specialized GPS sites) before selecting the Nuvi 360. Nearly all the reviews said that if you can come to terms with the steep price, the Nuvi is the best GPS out there. Based on my first six weeks with the unit, I've joined the fan club. If you're where I was six weeks ago, and you're trying to decide which features are worth paying for and which aren't, here's my summary of my experience with the Nuvi 360: - The unit is very very small (about the size of a deck of cards) but the screen is quite large. The design is obvious the minute you install the device: By making the front panel all screen, the engineers maximized visibility while minimizing the extent to which the GPS clutters your windshield. - I almost paid more for the Nuvi 660, which has a larger screen. I'm glad I didn't. Additional vertical screen space might give you the ability to see more of your upcoming route, but additional horizontal screen space (which is what the 660 has) doesn't really help in navigation at all and it just takes up more windshield space. - The text-to-speech functionality (which allows the 360 to annouce upcoming turns and street names) is worth its weight in gold. If I had gone for a cheaper unit without TTS, I might not have known how valuable it is. I can often complete a 20-30 minute trip without ever looking at the screen -- I just follow the voice prompts. It's sort of like having someone in the passenger seat reading the map for you and calling out directions. - Installation takes about 30 seconds. I'm very glad that I bought a unit with all of the North American street-level maps preloaded. The UPS guy delivered the box, and I was pulling out of the driveway with my Nuvi installed and guiding me within minutes. - Before buying the GPS, I didn't really understand the importance of Points of Interest. Now I do. I have used the POI to navigate to a store (for which I did not have an address), to find the nearest gas station, and to find the nearest hospital (when a member of my family was injured while we were away from home). The Nuvi POI database is fantastic. One warning though: If you are able to verify the street address of the destination, you should. I one case, the Nuvi sent me to the wrong location because it had the right street name and number but the wrong town (by unlucky coincidence, two adjoining towns had streets with the same name, so it wasn't obvious to me that the GPS was sending me the wrong place until it announced that we had arrived but the store was nowhere in sight). - The speed, accuracy, and level of detail of the unit is outstanding. I have yet to find a street that's not on the built-in GPS map. - The GPS usually locks onto the satellites very quickly. However, sometimes it can't seem to find the birds. If it doesn't get a lock within 30 seconds, it seems to get "stuck" and can remain clueless for about 10 minutes. A couple of other reviewers have noted this problem. I haven't had this problem too often, and, unlike the other reviewer, I've never had to hit reset. When it happens, the unit eventually displays an error message, asks me three questions, then seems to fix the problem and lock on. I'm not sure whether this is a glitch, or whether it happens to all GPS units. It seems to happen only on heavily overcast, rainy days. - The Nuvi is so small that I take it with me in my jacket pocket when I'm in another city. It's great for finding my way to unfamiliar locations (offices, restaurants, etc.) when I'm in another city on business. I haven't had to ask for directions since I got it. We've all bought new gadgets that failed to live up to expectations. The Nuvi 360 not only lived up to my expectations, it exceeded them. As noted above, it's not perfect, but it comes incredibly close. It's well designed, works almost flawlessly, and very quickly becomes as seamless a part of your driving routine as the steering wheel and rear-view mirror. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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