Garmin StreetPilot c320 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
|
List Price: Our Price: $129.00 You Save: $620.99 (83%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $29.99 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin StreetPilot c320 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Does everything more expensive systems can do (except live traffic routing), for so much less!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a first time GPS buyer and want an easy to use unit with intuitive touch screen controls and the best unit you can get for under $300, I recommend the C320 (or C330 which comes with pre-loaded maps). I bought this unit for much more a little over a year ago and so far I am quite happy. It has saved me many miles of extra driving! It also makes me a braver night time driver as I have difficulty spotting a sudden turn in the road at night time. But with my GPS I know exactly when to turn and it even tells me 'stay right' etc. This was confusing at first but now that I know what it means I find it very helpful to not have to change lanes at the last minute. It makes me feel safer on the road at night in unknown places! I can easily type in addresses on the touch screen with it's large display or look for a place of interest (a restaurant, library etc.) if I change my mind while at an intersection and then continue on the specified route. I often type in store names like "Target" or "Borders" on a whim and it takes me to the nearest one in the area. It just made a couple of mistakes so far once for a Kroger and once for a Walmart as the store had moved to another location about half a year ago but even Google maps had shown me the wrong location for that Walmart. It is also convenient to be able to specify the cuisine and locate the nearest restaurant to your current location or near your destination. However the restaurant choices are by no means exhaustive, it may miss a couple of good ones here and there but may show you ones you never knew existed.
I chose the C320 as you can load whatever maps you need by just getting a larger SD card, especially as SD cards have come down in price.
Before using this unit, I had used the Magellan Roadmate 300 for a few days, and Garmin's routing is a definite improvement over Magellan in terms of speed of route calculation and accurate routing. The Magellan locked up a couple of times although it was a new unit and I had to pull off on an exit and power it down for several minutes before it started reading the correct route. The Garmin C320 has never frozen on me. If I do not take the prescribed route or miss a turn it takes just about 2-3 seconds to figure that out and recalculates my route, this is way faster than Magellan or any other GPS system I've encountered so far. This is great feature as the next turn might be just 5 seconds away and you may miss it again if the unit takes too much time to recalculate!
Some reviews complained about the maps saying the unit said that they had reached the destination even though they were 100-200 feet away and sometimes confused between left or right of the street. But if you have used other GPS systems you would know that no GPS navigation system is perfect and I generally prefer Garmin navigation over Magellan.
The C320 allows you to specify your preferences such as - Avoid highways, avoid U turns, avoid toll roads etc. And you can set it to "Shortest distance" or "Fastest time". I've found that the shortest distance can sometimes take you on backroads or unusual roads which you normally may not take. This option gave me a great new route between office and home which avoids traffic but when I used the same option on a longer drive it suddenly detoured off the highway ans took me through bumpy back roads, a most unpleasant experience! But with experience I have learned the best way to calculate my route using the options. There is a bit of a learning curve with all GPS systems and the more advanced GPS users have rated Garmin navigation very highly in the several comparisons I read on the web.
The C320 does get a bit confused in situations where -a) there is a small roundabout (like in apartment communities) and may keep missing the exit turn and b) when there are intersecting highways over and under the highway on which you are traveling, especially if it takes you more than 15-20 seconds to cross that area where the highways intersect c) In very long tunnels. But now that I know this I just stay on route and as soon as I've crossed that area it starts showing the earlier route.
Some reviewers complained that the unit does not show the complete route turn by turn text instructions - that is not correct- as it will show you the turn by turn text instructions if you touch the green text bar over the route map.
If you want to take a detour at any point in your route it will calculate an alternative route for you if you touch the detour button, but will try to get you back on the original route very quickly. You can create points of interest in the route through the software and you can also save your favorite locations or most used addresses on the unit.
I prefer having a portable GPS than an in-car GPS as the software update is cheaper than in car GPS and I can carry it with me to use in rental cars when I travel. I tried out the in car GPS system in my friend's Honda and Garmin had better routing and a better "voice". The Honda GPS's high-pitched "Chinese Schoolgirl" voice drove me to distraction....!
January 7, 2007 update: I've gotten so used to my GPS that I don't know how I lived without it. The only complaint I have about the unit is that it is very hard to read in bright sunlight and I have to depend on the voice instructions. Also, please don't leave it mounted in the car if it's above 90 degrees as my unit's battery died after it was out in the summer for a few days at 100 degree temperatures and now it takes time to read satellite signals when I start out as it starts from a "cold" state.
May 7, 2007 Update: I called Customer Service last week as my internal battery died and the unit started falling off my windshield as the heat exposure reduced its grip. Hold time was very short, 3-4 minutes each time I called. They offered to have the unit repaired for $150 which is more than half the cost of a new unit, so I refused as it wasn't a critical problem. However, they offered to send me a new mount (including the windshield mount piece and car adaptor) for free despite being out of warranty . It was FedExed and reached me in 3 business days. That's good customer service!
Overall I am satisfied with C320. Better GPS systems exist (some made by Garmin) but this one is the best bang for my buck by far!
Customer Review: Five stars if the map data was more up to date.
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the c320 the middle of October, 2005, and have updated the software to version 4.8 and the map data City Select North America NT version 7.0. This is the latest software and map data as of the date of this review. I really like this unit and would buy it again. I would have given it 5 stars except for the Map Data being just a bit too much out of date. Still, this is an amazing device. Here are some quick pros and cons for those who don't want to read the whole review:
Pros:
- It will get you to your destination.
- Easy to use; you can figure out how to do most things just by playing around with it.
- Calculates new routes very quickly.
- Lots of Points of Interest (POI).
- Map database shows even very remote roads, i.e. dirt paths out in the middle of nowhere.
- Long battery life: about 10 hours.
- Small enough and accurate enough to use while walking.
- North American NT V7 is compact enough to fit ALL on a 1G SD card.
- There is no itty-bitty hard drive to wear out.
- Pleasant British English voice.
- Knows when the sun sets to switch screen brightness.
- ETA is updated in this software version.
- Does not have any problem picking up satellites in any car (or train) I've used it in.
Cons:
- Map data is too far out of date; data must be at least 2 years old.
- Screen is hard to read in direct sunlight.
- Complex process to unlock new map data DVD.
- It's a little fussy about street names when looking up an address.
Nits:
- No altitude indication.
- Does not know when you cross time zone to change clock.
I've used this now for a couple of months, including a train and car trip from Iowa to Arizona. I've also updated the unit software and the map data so I have an idea how easy that is to do.
You can indicate your routing preference (shortest distance or fastest time, no toll roads, no unpaved roads, etc). This will at times produce some funky routes. For example, shortest distance and allowing unpaved roads can send you down some pretty rough roads. If you use it in a place you know well, you will probably disagree with some of its routes. That is to be expected because it does not know about busy roads or traffic lights or other things like that. On the other hand, since using this locally I have found some good routes I have not known about before.
I took this on a train ride across 6 Western states. It had no problem picking up satellites if I kept it up against the window. If you set the unit to show enough detail, it will show you traveling right down the middle of the railroad tracks. Since this is a car navigation device it has a preference for roads, so if there was a parallel road near enough to the tracks the cursor would jump over to the road. Crossing those remote areas showed how much detail is in the map database; some roads that were no more than two dirt ruts showed up on the screen.
We used it in the rental car when we got to Arizona. From the middle of nowhere to Phoenix it worked great. We were able to use it to avoid some heavy Phoenix traffic by just getting off the interstate and driving city streets. Even though Phoenix is pretty much laid out in a grid, I don't think I would have tried to navigate around the traffic jam without the c320. The out of date map data problem showed up in Phoenix in particular. The city is growing so fast that there was several times where the map data did not show a new street.
I've used this in 7 different cars (and 1 train) so far and never have had a problem picking up satellites. Just to try it out, I bought an external antenna that I have mounted on my truck roof. With an external antenna, the signal is a little stronger and maybe it might take a little less time for the unit to first acquire satellites, but the external antenna is not really necessary.
Sometimes looking up a specific address can be difficult. If you don't spell the street name exactly as it expects, it won't find the street. For example, if you are looking for "East Park Ct" and spell it "E Park Ct", the c320 won't find it. The solution is to be less specific; just search for "Park" and pick the correct street from the list it will give you.
I received a free map data update since the new map data was released before I bought my unit. Unlocking a new version of the map data is too complicated. After getting a new DVD, I had to visit Garmin's web site several times to finally figure out how to get my "unlock code" for the new data. Once you get the data unlocked, loading it into a SD card is easy. The "MapInstall" software Garmin gives you is simple to use.
The City Select North America NT version 7.0 map data is the same data as is in version 6.x, but V7.0 is more compressed. As a result, all of the V7 data will fit on a 1G SD card, including all 50 states, all of Canada, and Puerto Rico. Since you can now get all the map data on one SD card, why buy the c330? (The c330 is exactly the same as the c320, except the c330 has its map data preloaded on a little hard drive.) Here is how I see the c320 and c330 compare:
c330:
- Map data is preloaded.
- If the internal hard drive crashes you are screwed; it's not user replaceable.
- Some reports of the c330 not working above 10,000 ft, but will start working again when it's moved below 10,000 ft.
c320
- Map data must be loaded onto a SD card by the user.
- Even if you consider in paying for a 1G SD card, the c320 is still about $100 less than the c330.
- No moving parts.
- If the SD card fails (not likely) you can just replace it with a new one and reload the map data.
- About twice the battery life of the c330
- Works above 10,000 ft.
Overall, I think I would buy the c320 over the c330. I don't know why Garmin doesn't sell a c320 with map data preloaded 1 G SD card and discontinue the c330.
Customer Review: Overall pretty nice
Summary: 5 Stars
We've been using it for almost a month now.
Pros:
-Size.The size of this thing is perfect because it doesn't obstruct your view while sitting on your dash board.
-Memory. With the c320 you have the option to use an SD memory card to store you map. USE THIS OPTION. Invest in a 1 GB memory card for around $50 now a days, and you can pretty much store the entire US on it. The memory card sticks into a slot on the side.
-Battery Life. This thing came charged which was a huge surprise and bonus because it allowed me to test it out right away. The battery life likely wouldn't be an issue since the cradle plugs into the lighter and you'll likely be using the cradle most of the time anyway.
-Ease of use. It's all touchscreen operation and the icons are very bright and easy to see. Also when searching for an address, the thing is intuitive enough to know what State, or City or Street you are looking for after keying in the 1st two or three letters. This saves a ton of time when keying in addresses. The database of attractions is really extensive. We've been able to find stores, restaurants, coffee shops, GAS STATIONS!!, pretty much everything under the sun.
-Sound. The volume can go very loud! We used it in an convertable rental car and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to hear it over the wind noise. At highway speeds with the roof down, we had no problem hearing it, and it wasn't even at the highest volume setting. The volume is controled via a wheel on the side, not via the touchscreen. This allows you to change the volume easily without navigating through any menus.
-Map Views. You can view your route in several ways: 3D Birdseye, Plan View like a traditional Map, Turn by turn. You can also zoom in really close or zoom out far en route. The more you zoom in the more road detail you get, when zooming way out you can get a sense of your proximity to other points throughout the region.
-Price. Amazon had the best price on this unit when I purchased it. $479. I've since seen it in stores and online for well over $599. At this price point it's a bargain.
December 2005 EDIT:
Reroute/ Detour feature is GREAT!! Found ourselves in a bad traffic jam on highway 29 in Virginia over Thanksgiving holiday. The highway was pretty much shut down... I pushed the Detour/Reroute button doubtful that it was be of any help. BOY was I surprised!!! The unit told us to turn right in 400ft, onto some little back country road that wasn't even paved!!! 15 minutes later we were back up to almost highway speeds on some of the most beautiful back country roads and several miles north of accident and traffic we were in previously...
Cons:
-Map Transfer. The maps come in CD/DVD format and you must transfer them to the unit via a USB connection to the device. Depending on how many maps you want to load up, it seems to take a while. My PC has USB 2.0 but i'm not sure if the unit is USB 2.0 so that may be the cause of the slow transfer. But I imagine maps are pretty large. I transfered the entire east coast and southeastern region and it took over 30 minutes. The maps are actually being transfered to the SD Memory card so it may be possible to load them onto the card via a memory card reader. I haven't tried this however. So just allow plenty of time to transfer your maps.
-Map Update. The maps that came with my unit say 2004 edition and have been fairly accurate. We vacationed in CHarleston, SC and while using the unit there, some of the new roads were not updated on our edition of maps. The roads didn't seem to be newer than 2004 though. I went online to see if there were any map udates available. Unfortunately, the update is only available for the c330. That kinda perturbed me. It seems like the updates should be available for the entire c3XX series since they are all still current models. Maybe they will release one later. It'd be nice to have the most up to date maps as possible. In our home town of Washington, DC I haven't run into too many problems with new roads other than the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Springfield areas. But that area changes every week so......
edit: I now see that a map update will be mailed out in October. That is encouraging.
December 2005 EDIT: Map update was released. It was FREE!!!! My 5 star rating remains in force....
-The suction cup for mounting on the window is strong but i've noticed that if the front windshield defroster is on, the cool air must weaken the suction because it tends to fall. This only happens when the front windshield defroster is on though.
Overall I say the c320 is a good buy. The c330 doesn't offer an SD Card slot to load your maps onto, and i'm not sure how much memory it has. If it's at least 1GB then thats pretty decent. But if it's less, then it eliminates the option to load the entire US . With the SD card option you can carry all the maps with you at all times.
Customer Review: an in-depth 5 month review of the c320
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the StreetPilot c320 in July 2006 when it was $320. In the past few months I've been using it, it has been very reliable and easy to use, and definitely worth the money. I noticed that the price has dropped even more since then, so that's an even better reason to purchase it. I turn it on even when I'm driving somewhere I'm familiar with because I like it so much. So far I have only used it in the city of Chicago, IL and the surrounding suburbs, but it has found every address and point-of-interest I have entered. I still haven't gotten over the novelty of being able to confidently drive 2 hours away to a concert, or 10 minutes away to an unfamiliar part of the city.
Here's some information on the unit based on my experiences over the past few months:
Inside the package you'll find the c320 GPS unit, a 128mb SD card, a USB cable, an AC charger, a windshield mount (including a plug for your cigarette lighter), and the software discs. It's also equipped with a battery so you can take it out of your car and walk around with it. Note: this is not Mac-compatible.
You can save your favorite locations in the "My Locations" list, type your address in on the touch screen, select a location from a list of recently selected locations, or select a point-of-interest from the c320's huge database. The addresses are usually pretty accurate. It thinks my apartment building is on the opposite side of the street though, so be warned that you might encounter that problem.
The maps are not preloaded. You need to hook it up to your computer via the included USB cable and load the maps for the areas of your choice. When I purchased it, United States Version 6 maps were included. I was able to get a free upgrade to the Version 7 maps. You must install them all onto your computer, and load them onto the included SD card. It's not any more difficult than putting songs onto your iPod, but if you're technically challenged, you might want to buy a GPS with the maps pre-installed.
It comes with a 128mb SD card to hold the maps. 128mb will hold about 5 US states. That's plenty for me, but if you do a lot of traveling, or you'd rather not have to load maps every time you travel outside a 5-state radius, just buy a bigger card. 1 gig should probably hold the whole country.
The screen size is 3" x 2". That's probably as small as you should go for a GPS unit. On the c320, everything is easy to read in a quick glance. There are several units with smaller screens for a lower price, but then you'd have to do more than a quick glance at it to see where you are, and that wouldn't be safe. The 3D map view is very easy to read, and the on-screen (and audible) indicators make it almost impossible for you to miss your turn. I think there's also a bird's-eye-view map if you're not comfortable with the 3D map.
I have one complaint about the screen. I wish there was a compass on it so you could see what direction you're driving. Instead, there's an Estimated Time of Arrival indicator, which is usually inaccurate because of traffic, so it's pretty much useless. You can view other statistics about your route by hitting a few buttons, but that's more time my eyes aren't on the road, and I can't spare it.
The voice is loud and clear. There's also a handy volume wheel on the right side of the device so you can quickly lower the volume if you have to take a phone call. The voice does not tell you the name of the road you will be turning on though. I believe the c340 unit does that. I was debating on getting the more expensive c340 for that feature, but it turns out I'm fine with "Make next right." The name of the street is displayed in large type at the top of the screen anyway.
The reason I give this unit 4 stars instead of 5 is that it takes a while to pick up a satellite in the city. Normally it finds one in the suburbs pretty quickly, but I guess all the buildings block the view of the sky downtown. In general it'll take about 3 minutes to find one in the city, but today it took it 3 miles for some reason. That's just one of the reasons you should take a good look at a real map (I use Google Maps) before you head out. But after the unit finds a signal, it holds onto it pretty well unless you're stuck under an overpass for too long.
Another reason you should be familiar with your route before leaving the house is that, as with any GPS, it doesn't always select the best route. For some reason, the c320 always likes to try to get me on highways when side roads would be faster in some cases. So it's always a good idea to be familiar with your area. You can specify in the unit's settings to avoid highways, toll roads, u-turns, etc. if you want.
So there you have it. The StreetPilot c320 is a great GPS unit, with a few basic flaws that are easily overshadowed by how useful it is.
Customer Review: Garmin C320 Vehicle Navigator
Summary: 4 Stars
EDIT Dec 25th:
One thing I want to point out is that A Gordon is wrong about the map upgrade to the latest version 7. I bought my C320 a couple of weeks ago and the map upgrade is 100% FREE. You have to go on the Garmin site and order the DVD, but it's totally free and you use your existing reg. to unlock the maps. Done deal...ok, so read below for my review.
This GPS rocks for the price I paid. (I paid 399.99 with free shipping here on Amazon). It's easy to learn how to use, the text is big enough for even a blind bat like me to be able to see it easily, and the included suction cup locks her right onto your windshield until you remove it. Make sure you clean the area on the windshield as well as the bottom of the suction cup for best results.
I live in MA and I've got all of New England loaded up and it fit quite well on the 128MB SD card. IF you want to be able to load up alot of states at once I'd recommend a 1GB card.
It has been very accurate and always gets me where I want to go, but I have noticed it doesn't necessarily choose the shortest route but it does tell you the ETA. If you mess up and take a wrong turn then the unit quickly recalculates another route for you. I've had a much different experience than others who said their unit took a long time to acquire satellites. Mine is very quick to locate satellites and I've never lost a signal nor have I had to wait for it to recalculate a route if I took a wrong turn which I have done intentionally just to see how quickly it will provide me with a new route.
Only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars is because it came with outdated unit software as well as map software. The unit software you can download right away, the updated map software they will send you on a dvd. Once I placed the order on for the version 7 map upgrade, I received it in 4 days. You use your original registration code to unlock the maps and it IS A FREE UPGRADE for the V7 Maps on the C320 Street Pilot.
I shopped around and looked at many GPS units such as Magellan, Lowrance, and Tom Tom. THis one has everything I need and then some. I believe it uses the same maps as the more costly Tom Tom Go 300. Some cool features that I really like is the ability to show you a list of eaterys, entertainment, movie theaters, airports, hospitals, and many other important points of interest. Additionally, with a touch of the screen you can instantly navigate to these places. Oh, and I almost forgot about the favorites. You can save any route to a favorites list instead of having to retype in your destination address or scroll through the categories.
For the price I paid as opposed to the cost of others in its class, I think the C320 is a great unit and I'm 100% happy with the purchase.
Update: I put this thing to a good test yesterday as I had a service call in Boston at a new clients home. I am happy to report that it works well helping you navigate the busy streets of Boston. The voice navigation will tell you how many miles before you have to turn, example: "turn right in 1.2 miles". As you get closer to taking the turn, example: a right turn, the voice nav will begin telling you, "stay right". Then when you are coming up on the turn, the voice will say turn right. Now, you do need to use some common sense a bit. IF there are several streets one after the other, then just look at the screen and it will display the name of the street that you should be turning on and the approximate distance it is from you. For best results seeing the screen on a sunny day, mount the unit in a spot where it's easiest to see. You can be creative. I removed mine from the windshield and now have it mounted on the shelf area above my steering wheel and its totally visible during the day. Read some of the other reviews on GPS units that cost 200 and 300 more than this one...I got news for ya, all of them have the LCD screens and all of them can be tough to see if the sun is shining either in your eyes or on the unit. It got me to my destination in the middle of Boston so its already worth it to me. You can change the way it plans a route in the settings by choosing either fastest route or shortest route. For my trip to Boston I found that the fastest route took me down the expressway, and the shortest route took me through the back roads. I let it take me the fastest on the way in town, and the shortest on the way home. Both were clear and got me to my destination with no problem. The fastest was 19 miles, the shortest was 14 miles. I love this thing and think it does a great job for a 400 dollar color GPS unit. Despite it's few imperfections, I find it 100% better than jerking around with map books, mapquest, or trying to read written directions from a piece of paper while you're driving!