Garmin StreetPilot c330 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin StreetPilot c330 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Solid GPS for the price. But you'll still need your street atlas.
Summary: 4 Stars
(I've made a few corrections and an update at the bottom)
I've had the C330 for about 4 months.
The good:
You've read it in most of these reviews: the C330 gets you from here to there effortlessly. The unit intelligently zooms into streets as you approach turns, the voice comes in a reasonable distance from a turn, and the route recommendations are well thought out (no, they won't beat your own prized routes if you know the area well enough, but then again, why use a gps under that circumstance?). If I had to summarize the unit in one word, I'd say "trustworthy".
Garmin keeps upgrading the unit's software -- just plug the unit into your computer using the usb connector, and you can get the latest software patches for free. And yes, you can also get map updates ( first update is free if you do it shortly after buying the unit, subsequent updates cost about $75. That's on par for other units).
The battery in the system serves a few good purposes. You won't lose your route if you have to turn off the vehicle (for gas or food), you can take your gps on foot, and you can setup waypoints from the comfort of your living room instead of the car.
And finally, C330 supports industry standard waypoint files. Which means you can download files from the web containing all the speedtraps in your area, or all the Dennys, or anything else you can find out there.
The bad:
Keep in mind that I recommend the C330 to all friends, because it excels at plotting routes. But I find reviews more helpful when they nitpick rather than gush. As such, here is a list of grievances...
First off, there's no way to alter how the unit sets up a trip. Let's say I want to get into New Jersey but avoid the George Washington bridge. There's no way to set such a parameter in the C330. The work around is to:
1. store a destination point that you`d ideally want to unit to take on the route. In this example, I want the unit to use the Tapanzee bridge, so I created a nav point to the bridge.
2. Then have the unit plot a trip to New Jersey.
3. Once the trip has started, I can set a detour to the Tapanzee bridge. Once the unit gets to the Tapanzee, it will route to the destination in New Jersey from that point.
The unit is at its worst when you don't know the exact address of your destination. A dated and sometimes idiosyncratic POI system can be quite frustrating. For example, I was looking for a beach in a town called Ipswitch. I wasn't exactly sure what the beach was called, but there's only one beach in Ipswitch. The C330 couldn't find it. I later realized that the beach was listed under "Ipswitch Town" rather than "Ipswitch". Ipswitch Town? Does that mean I have to search for things in Boston under "Boston City"??? That's just plain wrong. Another time I was trying to find a tavern in a golf course, but I didn't know the exact name of either the bar or the golf course -- since it was the only golf course in the area, I didn't think it was asking much of the POI system -- but no matter what I tried I could find neither. Dissapointing to say the least.
The screen size might seem smallish, but it is almost perfect for following the unit's route instructions. Where the size disappoints is trying to use the online maps as a replacement for paper maps. Driving through the Boston area, you can't tell that Mass Ave is 4 blocks away from Davis square and a good route to get right into Boston. Sure if you have an exact address, the unit will get you into Boston no problem, but my point is that you can't use the unit to get an idea of how things are laid out in a town . So believe it or not, I still have a road atlas in the car with me.
I've also noticed that a few times the unit gets the left confused with right when announcing what side of the street a destination is. For that matter, on one road trip I notice that the display had mislabeled the highway I was on -- it was putting the highway number on the road running parallel to the highway.
In bright sunlight, the screen can be difficult to see. And the volume control is extra sensitive. It would be great if the volume auto adjusted based on your speed, but that's probably asking a little much of a sub $400 gps.
Finally, there are a wealth of hidden functions that you'll have to search the web for to find -- functions you should know about: like the screen calibration feature and the reset function. I know they want to keep the doc light to emphasize the user friendly interface, but really!
Update:
I upgraded to the C340 thanks to a nice car thief who helped him/herself to my C330. The C340 adds the pronounciation of street names and realtime traffic alerts. So far I like the C330 better! The C340 has a well known problem with verbal directions coming too late (google "c340 late turn notification") -- and yes, I've experienced it myself. Also the C340 is buggier with maps not drawing correctly even with the latest firmware update. I want my C330 back...
Customer Review: Not all the bells and whistles, but still great...and who needs bells and whistles anyway???
Summary: 4 Stars
Ok, I'm not going to give a super technical breakdown of the pro's and con's. You can read the 2xx other reviews for that. I will tell this much: c330 is a great unit for one heck of a price (299 shipped!!!). You really just take it out of the box and it's ready to go. First off, I've never owned any GPS equipment. So even though higher models like the c340 speaks the street names, or the nuvi 350 is no bigger than a deck of cards, the c330 has everthing a gps newb needs to get around town, or across the country. US and Canda are already loaded. I really wanted the Nuvi 350 but it was out of my price range. I was considering the c320 to save more money, but with the $20 price difference (on Amazon) it was only logical to get the c330. It's got most major restaurants, gas stations, attractions and a bunch of other categorized POI's that I'll probably never need, but just nice to know they exist if I need them...or if I'm bored and just want to see what other POI this thing has. As far as the voice nav goes she usually tells me to turn when it's at .1 mile. I think the "turn" prompts can be a bit sooner, but as long as you're aware you will be fine. Now it would be nice if it said the actual street name, but all it takes is a quick glance to see which street she's talking about and you're on track.
The text on the screen is clear and readable. I have mine mounted near the bottom of my windshield. Btw, that mount has very good suction. I don't know what people are talking about when they say the mount doesn't hold. Here's what some people might overlook on the mount: It's got a lever that is in the "locked" position when you get it. So what you've got to do is flip up the lever to "unlocked". Stick it to the windshield and flip the lever down to "locked" and that thing will be on there nice and tight! To take it off, just work it in reverse and off it will come.
There are a few things I noticed. Almost all routes chosen where the ones my fiance would choose (she's the Baltimore local not me). I have mine set to Fastest Route , but some destinations have me take a turn too early or go around. Case in point, I went to Costco today and was told it was right if off the highway, but the c330 told me to go right basically making one big circle. It was just a couple minutes extra so no big deal. Now if I was by myself I wouldn't have even noticed b/c I was not at all familiar with the area. So yes, there is the chance that it won't pick the most ideal route, but then again that Garmin route won't have you too far off from the route that a person familiar with the area would chose.
I haven't tested the SD slot, but I've read that it's pretty useless for loading custom POIs until you step up to the c530 models and higher. The SD slot does read maps for other countries so all hope is not lost if and when you plan to travel to areas outside the U.S. In order to load custom POIs you'd need to take the c330 in with you and use the USB to plug it directly to your computer. You'd basically load it directly onto the c330's internal memory. Garmin says its got 2mb of internal memory, though they didnt specify how much of that is actually used by the unit. So up to this point I don't know how much usuable internal memory there is. I don't plan to load tons and tons of POI so its doesn't seem to be an issue with me. What I've done in the few days I've used it is to look up where I want to go (on the internet) and get the address or just look it up on the c330. I've saved locations that I frequent in the Favorites section so they'll be there when I need them.
Another thing I want to mention is the size. Don't expect to fit this in your jeans pocket and not have people notice ;). Yes, it is small, but not Nuvi 350 small. But to get Nuvi 350 small you need to cough up about $150 more. May not seem like much more, but for those on a budget I think you can overcome the size issue. I usually keep mine in my jacket pocket where there's more space. I don't even notice it's there. I also carry a side bag, but I won't be putting it there until I get a case for it.
I haven't had the chance to use it in direct sunlight. People say the glare is killer, but I'm sure it's not anything that an antiglare screen can't fix. Amazon sells those too. They're from Boxwave if you're curious.
So there it is. Just a few minor setbacks that can easily be overlooked or overcome with a few adjustments. It doesn't have all the fancy features like an mp3 player or bluetooth, but if you just want to know how to get somewhere with confidence and at the same time have some really useful functions with a well known brand you cant go wrong with the c330...btw, did I mention it's only $299 :)
Customer Review: An Excellent Li'l Toy...
Summary: 5 Stars
So I recently went out and treated myself to a brand new 2007 Mazda RX-8 GT. I'd originally had my heart set on the internal navigation system, but after a brief reality check with the dealer, I realized that an external system can work just as good as, if not better than, the internal one. And at less than half the cost. So in the end, all I'd be missing out on is the cosmetics of it (still, it'd be neat to have the in-dash system vice the alternative). But I digress.
For a while now, I've been wanting to get a good GPS system that was a sufficient step up from the Garmin GPS10 Bluetooth device I had had for my iPaq a few years ago. So in the end, it came down to a choice between this one, the Garmin nüvi 200, the Magellan Maestro 3100, or the TomTom ONE. There was quite a bit of deliberation, and with the aid of a couple comparison matrices from a couple websites out there, I went and narrowed it down to the c330 due to a few things, including the cost, the ease of use, and the 500 waypoint allowance. I doubt I'll ever be able to use up all 500 allotted waypoints, but... one can dream.
So I bought mine from Best Buy just last night for a relatively decent deal, and opened up the box the second I got into the car. Pulled out the GPS, slapped it on the included mount, mounted it to the windshield with the most ease of any windshield mount I've EVER used (for the record, I don't know what the problem is with people who have a problem with this mount; it's a solid piece of hardware), and then plugged 'er in. Within a minute, I'd run the setup to identify my timezone, DST settings, and all that other good stuff, and I'd punched in the address back to my apartment.
Before I continue, I'd like to say something on the matter of the display. The show model in the store was outfitted with a glossy display... one that I wasn't looking forward to due to fingerprints being more prevalent on those than the other, more dulled down surface. I was more than relieved to find out that my c330 had the non-glossy surface, and was more than bright enough to do its job. Excellent marks all around in terms of the display...
Well, en route to my apartment, my friend who was with me at the time thought it'd be fun to check out the other languages on the unit. So, he shuffled between Russian, Swedish, and Canadian and traditional French. All the while, he's translating what the voice is telling me (and let me tell you: his voice was no substitute for the somewhat smooth British voice we'd selected from the outset). At some point toward the end, he launched into some tangent about something or other, and I missed the turn the c330 had given me, and was I ever surprised by how fast it recalculated the route.
Within seconds.
Got home shortly thereafter, set it as my home location, and called it a night more or less. So, I've put about twenty or thirty miles on the unit so far, and no hiccups at all... with the unit or the mount. But, as a true acid test of the c330, I'm going on a decently sized roadtrip next week to visit a friend of mine in Georgia. He claims that no GPS can find his place due to its secluded locale, but... we'll see. And update will be forthcoming.
Also, trying to find out if I'm eligible for a free update to the new 2008 mapset. If I can, that'd be slick, but if not... well, that'd be the anti-slick.
Update - August 14, 2007:
Well, I've been playing with the c330 for a few days now, and it's still a real fun toy to play around with. I have yet to get lost, I've only lost the reception when I was under the cover of a real thick canopy of trees (and even then, it was only for a moment), and the recalculations take seconds. As far as satellite acquisition, I've only had to wait more than a few seconds once. And that was under some serious cloud cover. However, the main gripe that I have is that sometimes the turns sneak up on you if you're going at a decent speed.
It usually works out like this:
"In point six miles, turn left."
(Get within ten feet of the turn.)
"Turn left."
And at that point, you're already past the turn. Granted, this problem can be overcome if you just pay attention to the road you have to turn on on the GPS and the actual street signs around you, but if you have to concentrate on the road due to heavy traffic, you kinda rely on that last turn warning.
So all in all, a minor issue or two cling to the c330, but the ease of use, the price, and general reliability make this device worth every penny.
Customer Review: Great Product - Well worth the investment - Good bye paper maps.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought the Garmin C330 for our 1-week trip to California. Before I left Iowa to fly into LAX, I entered all the addresses I planned to visit. This unit took me to all the right locations (hotels, restaurants, attractions, friends',etc) in San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco, San Jose and back to LAX. Particularly, I had to stop by a house in Newport Coast, CA unexpectedly. This house is in a gated community on a hill top overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It requires many turns to get there. I consider myself a good navigator with traditional map but I think I would have difficulty trying to get there without the GPS. People at the house were shocked that I was able to get there the first time given just the address. I was really impressed with the C330's capability. I also like the POI's features, especially the "fuel" and "restaurant" features. At anytime, it can show me the restaurants (by type such as Fast Food, Chinesee,etc) nearby. It really helped because sometimes a McDonald is only a street or two from either your left or right side and you do not know it. The unit will show all the restaurants nearby around your current position.
On I-5 from LAX to San Francisco, it took us to a gas station that had been closed. Luckily, there was another gas station that was about a mile away. New businesses open and old ones close everyday, so I do not expect the POI (point of interest)to be 100% updated and accurate.
Negatives: I think another reviewer has pointed out, the volumn control does not work very well. It is either max (a little loud) or you cannot hear it if you turn it down. However, I consider it a minor problem. I wish they have a listing for "pizza." My daughter loves pizza especially Pizza Hut and Papa John. I was having difficulty finding it at first under "fast food" but later on found out they were listed under "Italian." They don't seem to list pizza places that only have carry-out and delivery. Before I leave for a trip, I normally check the Pizza Hut and PPJ websites for their locations, then enter them in the unit.
Mounting: The unit comes with suction cup, but I have not tried it out. Since I was going to California (it is against the law in CA to have anything attached to the windshield) I bought the dash mounting kit. The mounting kit worked very well in my rental car. It never slipped even going on the steep hills in San Francisco. I plan to use this dash mount in my own car in Iowa also.
I considered a Magelan unit first but after reading user reviews I decided to buy the Garmin C330. I saved about $75 by buying from Amazon compared to same unit sold at Best Buy and Wal Mart.
The C320 unit does not have the preloaded map. You would get a CD and need to connect the unit to your PC to download the map of the region to plan to travel to from the CD to the GPS unit.
The C330 has preloaded map. It keeps telling you how far before your next turn (e.x "in 1.2 mile turn left, in 500 ft turn left") but does not tell you what street to turn to. All you have to do is glance at the unit. The top of the screen instructs what street to turn to.
The C340 is the same as the C330 except it has 2 additional features: the voice tells you which street to turn to, and the traffic management feature (I think you have to subscribe to this service.)
In conclusion, I really like this unit. I thought I would not need a GPS since I was very good at navigating using traditional maps. Now, GPS is the way to go for me. Another benefit is when it is foggy or raining and it is difficult to see the street names, you can tell what streets you are coming to next by looking at the GPS.
Thank you the US Department of Defense for making the GPS available to us.
Customer Review: New C330 has "V8" maps from June 2006.
Summary: 3 Stars
Amazon's listing for the C330 says that "every unit sold will come with the most recent map version". This statement is not true. I just got a brand new C330, which is loaded with City Navigator North America "V8" maps (found by touching Map, then Map Info). Today I visited the Garmin web site, went to the map update page, and entered my device's serial number. The web site told me that an update is available for my unit: "Map Update 2008 City Navigator".
Somewhat perplexed, I called Garmin's customer support line and received the following explanation from Peggy. The V8 map package was issued in June 2006. A newer mapset, version 2008, was issued in June 2007. However, the size of the improved and more detailed database in version 2008 is larger than will fit in the memory of the C330. Therefore, when you install the update, you have to choose whether you want to load the database for United States, or the one for Canada. The Canadian subset includes all of Canada plus the border states (including Massachusetts, not strictly a border state, but useful for Canadians who visit New England).
If you purchase the 2008 Update, you can make the decision about which subset to load into the C330 repeatedly. So it can be updated first with the V2008 maps for the US, and then subsequently loaded with the V2008 maps for a vacation trip to Canada. Of course, if you're not living in a border state, you won't be able to use the Canadianized C330 to navigate to Canada, but once you're there, you're all set.
Should you choose to install the US portion of the database, all of the old (V8) Canadian data is deleted. Similarly, should you install the updated Canadian 2008 maps, the V8 US information is wiped. In my view, this was a poor design decision.
Even though the C330 has an SD slot for expansion, it is not possible to load the US database from the 2008 update into the unit and put the Canadian database into an SD chip (or vice versa).
The Map Update 2008 is $70US and is shipped on a DVD. Whichever subset of the data you choose, a PC or a Mac is required to load the 2008 update into a C330.
If you want your cake and eat it too, you have to buy the complete V2008 Mapsource City Navigator North America NT map product from Garmin ($140US list). The entire North American database will fit on an SD card.
Peggy was unwilling to provide me with a free update to the 2008 maps, even though I just purchased a brand-new unit that was advertised as having "the most recent map version". I have read elsewhere that some purchasers were able to obtain an update to 2008 maps at no charge, but Peggy would not be swayed. Her explanation, which was carefully wordsmithed by Garmin's marketing department, was that the V8 maps are the 'latest that were shipped from the factory' with the C330. Thus, the unit that I purchased, in Garmin's opinion, is the most recent version that was offered for sale.
According to Peggy, the same limitation in map storage and upgrade applies to the StreetPilot C530 version, a more modern unit that was recently discontinued by Garmin.
I am now debating whether to keep the C330 or not. It's a nice product, and seems very easy to use. But I resent being sold a mapping device with map data from 2006, especially when it was explicitly advertised as having the most recent map data "through April 2007". Garmin's policy to then demand an additional $70 to upgrade strikes me as designed more to satisfy shareholders than customers.