Garmin Streetpilot c330; WOW.

[JustinR32]

First, on sale at Circuit City for $529. I didn`t even check if it could be had online for less, I drove down and bought it and had it right away... just checked, that`s a match of the lowest available price online.



Second, this thing is as slick as waxed ice. The learning curve is essentially zero; take it out of the box, plug it in, and navigate. Whoever designed the interface deserves an award.



This is the most impressive consumer electronics device I`ve seen in years. As disappointed as I was in GPSs 4 years ago, I`m that impressed now. It does exactly what you want a GPS to do; it gives you turn by turn instructions visually and verbally from anywhere, to anywhere, inside North America or Europe (depending on which map set you got and of course where you are using it).



Highly recommended.







Tom

[autoweenie]

I have a Garmin Ique 3600 (a GPS/PDA running Palm OS).

Got 1G sd card in it. Can store most of US map.

(I have not tried the 2G sd card - not sure it would work).

Pretty good toy (crashed from time to time).

Got it 1 1/2 years ago for about $400.



By the way, it is MP3 player too.

IPod kicked its a** in term of user interface, though.

[White95Max]

How does it mount inside the car?

[autoweenie]

I assume the question is for me?

There is OEM`s beanbag mount and suction cup mount.

I have the suction cup mount (it sticked to the windshield).

The mount comes with the power cord that goes to the 12v thingie

in the car. The mount also has a built-in speaker (with volumn control) so that the driving

direction from the GPS is loud and clear.

The mount is serviceable - not the best.

There are a lot of after-market mounts. The sky is the limit for some of these

mounts (like the car mods that some of you guys are really into. :grinno: )

[White95Max]

Well, no, my question was for Mosca, but I`d guess it`s a similar mount for all Garmin vehicle GPS units?

[Scottwax]

Sounds like a great product. Probably be great for us mobile detailers.

[Reflections1]

Thanks for the heads up Scott. I have been thinking about a portable unit for the tow trucks. AAA keeps me busy all of the time and being in a very busy and congested area makes it difficult to remember all the streets. I have a pioneer AVIC N1 in my pick up but its a permanent mount. I think I will go and look into the one you got. If its the same quality as other Garmin products I have seen and used, Its a bargain. BTW... Does it tell you total milage from point a to point b before you leave? Some AAA members only have a basic membership and get 3 free miles before I need o charge them. Many times they dont want to meet me at the destination and wat to pay before I leave. Having a GPS that can tell me the milage of the trip will be a huge PLUS!!!!

[JustinR32]

Big suction cup to the windshield or to a supplied plate that gets mounted to the dash. I put the unit next to the rear view mirror and the mounting bracket is invisible there.





Tom

[imported_hadboosttroy]

Big suction cup to the windshield or to a supplied plate that gets mounted to the dash. I put the unit next to the rear view mirror and the mounting bracket is invisible there.





Tom



mosca would you mind taking pics? pretty please? :)

buy the way i used you qew hall of fame thread the other day, thanks a bunch :bigups

[klnyc]

Carmin its so so and over priced.

* Get M$ Street n Trips 2006. Hint: get this w/GPS kit at COMPUSA for 99.99 on Black Friday.

* Get a USB GPS from Ebay for 39.99

* A laptop or pocket pc.

[Mitchubishievo]

Glad to hear you like it! I work as a Roadshop Product Specialist at my Circuit City (Vernon Hills, northwest suburb of Chicago), and that has been the easiest of all navigation systems to use. Personally, I liek the Tom Tom`s more, but I have a much eaier time showing people how to get acquinted wiht the spC330. Once time, as customer said "I`ll but it if you can help me install it...it looks kinda of technical." 4 minutes after he pulled around and had me set it in place and put in the directions, he was gone :).

[JustinR32]

Glad to hear you like it! I work as a Roadshop Product Specialist at my Circuit City (Vernon Hills, northwest suburb of Chicago), and that has been the easiest of all navigation systems to use. Personally, I liek the Tom Tom`s more, but I have a much eaier time showing people how to get acquinted wiht the spC330. Once time, as customer said "I`ll but it if you can help me install it...it looks kinda of technical." 4 minutes after he pulled around and had me set it in place and put in the directions, he was gone :).





It`s all about the people, isn`t it? The guys at my Roadshop are great. The work they do is super, and I get better service there by far than I do with the attitude-laden people at the local car stereo shops.



I liked the Tom Tom, but not as much as the price differential between it and the Garmin. $500 was my trigger price on getting a GPS, and I decided to go the extra $30 to have all the maps preloaded (the c320 was a tick under $500). I notice that the price has been creeping up $10/day, btw!



klnyc, please justify your statements. What makes the Garmin overpriced? Why is it so-so? What good is a usb gps to me? How would MS Street & Trips work for me? Why would I want to carry around a laptop or pocket pc? Can I mount those to my dash or windshield? Will they have touch screen navigation? Wouldn`t it cost more to do what you`re saying, but with less ease of use?





Tom

[klnyc]

Tom,



Dont take it soo seriosly, its only my 2cents. I had 26xx in the past. The 1st week I use it, there were 8 dead pixels, so I rma to Garmin. Then 2.5 weeks later I got it back and used for 3 weeks. For no reason it wont pick up the satalite. So, I rma again to Garmin, waited 2.5 to 3 weeks more, so I finally got it and put on ebay for sale. 2thumbs:

Im on my laptop w/usb gps and work pretty good. I dont have all the touch screen feature,but I can live with it. The MS TnS 2006 have Voice navigation now ;)

[GP Infinity]

I bought mine a few months ago, not at that low a price and think its great.. even better than the GPS in my Acura.. I really looked at it and the Tom Tom and liked the technology behind the Garmin better. no problems with it either. We use it between the truck and the Suzuki.. its interesting to see how it maps some routes vs the Acura GPS too.. We also use it on vacation since we rent a car.. now we dont have to buy the Herts Never Lost option...

I agree. It was super easy to learn and use..

Dana

[JustinR32]

Tom,



Dont take it soo seriosly, its only my 2cents. I had 26xx in the past. The 1st week I use it, there were 8 dead pixels, so I rma to Garmin. Then 2.5 weeks later I got it back and used for 3 weeks. For no reason it wont pick up the satalite. So, I rma again to Garmin, waited 2.5 to 3 weeks more, so I finally got it and put on ebay for sale. 2thumbs:

Im on my laptop w/usb gps and work pretty good. I dont have all the touch screen feature,but I can live with it. The MS TnS 2006 have Voice navigation now ;)





I`m sorry, I was being too confrontational. I don`t want to get in your face over it, that was wrong. I apologize.



Hopefully I won`t have any of those problems that you had. I like the touch screen and the compactness; to me, the incredibly intuitive interface is the best thing about the unit, and going with the solution you chose probably would work but wouldn`t give me what I was looking for. Most of the times that I`m going to a new destination is with Mrs Mosca, who wouldn`t appreciate all the wires and having a laptop in her... lap! ;)



And re: Garmin vs Tom-Tom: I`ve heard it a couple places that Garmin reverse-engineered their interface from Tom-Tom....I don`t know that it`s true, but in the store they seemed very similar. The Tom-Tom had some advantages, but in my estimation they wern`t worth $170.





Tom