I LOVE this GPS. I bought it for the cell phone blue-tooth capability primarily and it's very clear both for me and the person I'm talking to. I also used the free 1-year MSN Direct and it is also fabulous. I highly recommend this GPS for anyone - so many neat features and very user friendly - easy to use.

why would you want a widescreen GPS device? who cares what is on the far left or right of your path! I need to focus on what is in front of me, this exact model is very nice, it is a bit chubby - I would guess for the bigger speakers, plays music with decent quality and the bluetooth option for your phone is loud and clear! the WAAS traffic is the best, more accurate the the step down grade, also has an informative trip counter, GOOD BUY!

Being a District Manager for Avon Products - I decided go purchase a GPS system for my travels. Living in Kansas, I don't have the problems of big city living - I have problems of which dirt road to turn down to get to my location. I have been extremely thrilled with this product and the ability to show roads that I didn't even know existed. I recently attended conference in Dallas last week and that was the best trial run for me. Remember, the area I am from, there is not traffic - unless you consider getting behind a combine on a two lane road. This item made my commute thru Dallas much less stressful! No wondering about where I had to turn or when - it was all right there for me! I loved the options of finding gas stations and other poi. We used to have the Grandy's restaraunts here in Kansas many many years ago. On our travels home, we managed to find a Grandy's in Ardmore Oklahoma. I was thrilled!

The only issue that I have right now is that the voice sometimes takes a while to update when you have quick turns to make. I won't have this problem on a daily basis, but when traveling to big cities - it was sometimes last minute when I was told to turn if just coming off of another turn. Not a biggie - I absolutely love this product and would highly recommend it to anyone who travels alot.

I recently purchased this product to use on vacation. I was concerned with all the road construction projects we would encounter driving through the various states that we would spend more time in traffic than on our journey. The Garmin Portable GPS StreetPilot c580 Navigator with MSN Direct gave us accurate information as to the construction areas and we were able to re-route our driving directions as needed. With the MSN direct, we were able to find restaurants where we wanted to eat in addition to hotels. This product made our driving trip a breeze and at the same time allowed us to make our reservations along the road as we traveled. Since our recent driving trip we continue to use this portable GPS to find better ways to reach local events diverting from the traffic jams caused by construction. This product was well worth the money spent and we use it more often than we originally thought.

I ordered this as a Father's Day gift to myself (from my family, of course). Got a great deal (right around $220), which is comparable to the low end of Garmin's Nuvi lineup. I have a number of friends that have the Nuvi, and so far, the only thing I can tell is different is the size. The C580 is not pocket sized, as it is about the 3 1/2 inches thick. But luckily, I don't ever need to use it in my pocket. Thickness doesn't matter when it is stuck to the windshield.

Here are the positives:

Bluetooth- I use Big G as a speaker phone in the car, and it works great. It immediately paired up with my Samsung blackjack, downloaded the phone book, and was ready to go. Using it as a phone couldn't be easier.

Directions- isn't this really why you buy one of these? I have no complaints on any directions, and I have done the obligitory "input a location that I know well so I can see how it does" drill, and it did fine. Sure, maybe I would pick a slightly different route a couple of times, but when I am somewhere unfamiliar, knowing that I can trust this to get me to my destination is great.

Estimated time of arrival- I travel a lot by car for business, and I can input my location and know, within a minute or two, what time I will arrive. That is a huge stress reliever.

MSN Direct- When I am in larger cities where their is service, the traffic updates are very helpful, and usually pretty accurate (not sure I would pay for this service, however, as so far I have only used it to know how long I would be delayed).

MP3 player- not a huge issue for me, as I have a Sirius and an Ipod, but nice to know it is there if I need it.

Picture viewer- I have downloaded a couple pictures of the family, and it is nice to be able to see those when I am bored in the car.

Garmin Extras- the only thing I have used so far is the Garmin Garage, which is the various icons you can use to replace the standard car. My kids all argue over who gets to pick the icon on each trip (the Black Pearl, Pizza Slice and Santa's Sleigh seem to be the most popular).

Text to Voice- having the street names is key. Not only for directions, but for entertainment. I use Karen, the australian female voice, and some of the Native American names around here really give her a hard time. She is a valiant soldier and tries anyway, much to our amusement.

Negatives- I really don't have any. Sure, the maps are missing some roads and points of interest, but they all are. I wish that Garmin offered free map upgrades, but they see that as a revenue stream. I wish that the MSN Direct service worked here in Green Bay, but it only gets a little north of Milwaukee. None of these are really a big deals in relation to this unit over others. If you need to put this in your pocket however, spend more and get the Nuvi. But to get the same features as this one, be prepared to spend a LOT more.

I have had no issues with acquiring satellites, I have gotten 6 hours of battery time on the rare times I needed it, the screen is a good size, etc. I really don't have any major quibbles with this unit.

Again, if navigation is the name of the game, and you are using this in a car (and not moving it around a lot), go with this one. For the price, you won't be unhappy. If size is critical, shell out a couple hundred more dollars and get a high end Nuvi.

The Garmin Streetpilot works great as a navigator. The MSN service works in Baltimore, but almost no-where else. I recently traveled to South Carolina. The only place I could get an MSN signal was for about 15 minutes in downtown Charlotte NC. The other 8+ hours on the trip, no signal, no traffic gas prices etc. I like the Bluetooth, but my wife says it sounds lousy on the other end. I would opt for a lower priced Garmin, with some other traffic service.

I love my Garmin. I have recently been required to travel for my employer. I feel driving to new places can be stressful, but not anymore. So much easier than reading directions while driving. I have also found the GPS to be great for Family excursions as my co-pilot has no sense of direction. Great functionality!

Garmin c580 is a very good GPS and because it comes with MSN Direct receiver (with 1 year of service included) it has the best value among other GPS devices. It is a bit bulky but it's not huge. One benefit of a larger size is that you will have two speakers which should be more powerful than speakers in "flat" GPS.

It is an older device but you can install the newest maps on it for free once you get it(Map Update 2009 as of this writing). During the activation of MSN Direct account, you will have an option to get 6 additional months of service for $10, giving you 18 months of MSN Direct in total. MSN Direct in itself doesn't really add that much to the unit but I'm not disappointed because I didn't really expect anything from it. Considering that it will cost you $10 for 18 months (or $0 for 12), it's OK. The most useful thing of MSN Direct is weather forecast. Traffic is not current and not all major roads are covered. Traffic status is not overlayed on the navigation screen, you need to go to a special section (MSN>Traffic) to see an overview of traffic conditions in your area. There is, however, an option to avoid traffic in GPS setup. Gas prices are also quite delayed and names of gas stations are almost never available (there's an option to navigate to a selected gas station.) Movie times seem to be ok and seem to be current.

Overall, c580 will give you a good GPS device with most current maps for a low price. You also get MSN Direct with the receiver included.

I chose c580 because I wanted to get good routing and maps (Garmin) and didn't want to pay a lot. I also wanted to play around with MSN Direct and with other Garmins I'd have to spend additional $150 to get a receiver which comes for free with c580. I would also recommend getting a dashboard mount: Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi Series and StreetPilot I Series, C530, C550 and C580 GPS Navigators.

All I can say is that Amazon had the best price for this GPS and if you are looking for a GPS that will do a great job this is it....I found operating the GPS was easy and the menu selections was more than I needed but nice to have in the event I decided to use these options in the future. MSN Direct is okay however you must be in an area that has the service available before using this feature. Other than that the GPS device is great.

I've had a Garmin GPS for my boat and used it in the back country in the Florida Keys and never ran aground, so when I needed one for the road bought a Garmin. I paid a few dollars more for a better unit and it sure paid off. After I bought and used it in one car, had to sell the car and bought a SUV equipt with a navigation system. Believe it or not, I like the Garmin a whole lot better.