Garmin StreetPilot c330 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $249.00 You Save: $300.99 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $29.98 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin StreetPilot c330 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Meets basic needs - my '4 stars' review could mean '2 stars' to you
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using a c330 for a couple of weeks already. Given that I had used this model on a rental car in the past, I knew what I was going to get and I made an informed decision to buy a feature-poor but relatively inexpensive device.
This is what the c330 has going for it:
- As far as I can tell, it is very accurate. It always takes me to the destination, I never got lost or ended up somewhere else and I never found myself driving lots of extra miles by following the directions.
- It's inexpensive.
- It's easy to set up.
- The voice directions are loud and clear and the screen, while small, it's easy to view and read.
- It quickly recalculates your route once you stray off the recommended path.
- The basic package has all that you need if your needs are 'basic'.
The following are some issues I have with the c330:
- No flexibility in modifying the recommended route other than the ability to add ONE (and only one) stop.
- The support web site and the available firmware upgrades is worthless. The upgrades are posted but I have no idea what they exactly are for and the warnings and disclaimers are so strong, they scared me away from proceeding with any.
- The menus are not the friendliest.
- The device seems to keep track of all kinds of things, including the maximum speed since the last reset. I'm not sure I would want to have that if a cop ever stopped me and the stats were displayed in plain view and I don't know a way to prevent it from collecting these stats.
- The display shows 'expected time of arrival' but there's no ability to, maybe, show 'miles to destination' instead. In fact, I don't believe there is an easy way to figure out how many miles you are going to drive.
- The c330 decides how to take you there and there is no way to give it some parameters as 'shortest route' or 'favor highways'. It seems to do what appears to be 'reasonable' - favors highways to back roads, which is okay but, again, it is not too flexible.
- Can't hold a specific zoom level. As soon as enter or a highway or cross a main road, it zooms in and it never gets back to the zoom level you set it initially. This can be quite annoying.
- On a bumpy road, sometimes the display turns blue and it claims that it just lost power from the source and wants you to confirm it using the batteries or it shuts down. If you don't confirm, it shuts itself down even though it's quite apparent that it only lost power for a fraction of a second as you were going over the bump.
Given the above, I am happy with this device because the main reason I bought it is to get me to unfamiliar destinations and to get me home or to work when I run into strange and unusual 'detour' situations. I will buy a device with more features in a couple of years when I can get more features for the amount I paid for the c330 today.
Customer Review: An oldie, but a goodie.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've owned and used a Garmin C330 for roughly 5 years, and I've had 2 of them. Great little item. By todays standards (June 2010) this unit somewhat bulky, heavy, and a little slow... But it gets the job done. The user interface is simple, and one of the things that I find a big plus is that the volume is an old school external scroll wheel. On many newer units, you have to jump though a few screens to get to the settings and adjust the volume via software. It sounds stupid but having a simple knob that you can reach and feel for without taking your eyes off the road is a big plus.
It isn't without it's flaws though. All GPS have their particular quirks about how they plot a route, or how they handle loss of a signal in mid route, and the C330 has some odd ones. I'd trust the navigation the C330 about 90%, the GPS is fairly accurate, but the program that handles the routing is very basic. One particular situation comes to mind on route I travel often. There are 2 roads running parallel that both eventually reach the same destination. One road has a slightly faster speed limit, but also has numerous intersections with stop signs, the other is just slightly longer, but has no stop signs or lights, and is much more convenient and is the quicker route. Unfortunately the old C330 continually suggests that I take the route with the faster speed limit. Newer Nuvi Garmins don't make the same mistake.
Another flaw, has to do with the interfacing locking you out of turn by turn directions if you lose your signal. This is a common occurrence if you are driving through tunnels, or under bridges. You'd think that Garmin would at least let you see an old fashioned list of directions in the event where you lose your signal when following a route, but no. If you try to use that screen, it flicks up for an instant, then dumps you out to map you had on display when the signal was lost.
The only other gripe I'd have with the C330 is it's a bit vulnerable to drops. The outside case is sturdy and I've never had an issue with the screen, however the internal battery isn't held securely.. and after time or a few shocks you can hear it rattle around. The problem is that over time the connection to the battery can fail from bouncing around inside the casing. Once that happens you either need to rip it apart to re solder the connections, or hopefully you have the extended warranty. If you buy one used, be wary of the battery, as after a number years they just don't hold much of a charge. Mine holds maybe a 45-60mins of a charge and it's from 06/07.
If you can find one for a reasonable price (40 to 50 dollars?) I'd say it's a good value, but with some of the newer slim models that fit in your pocket selling for 80 or less it's hard to suggest one over the newer models simply for a better volume knob.
Customer Review: NO MAPS FOR YOU!
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me first start off by saying, I never thought I would need a GPS Unit. I only decided to pick one up because of the great deal I found on the Garmin StreetPilot C330 (tragic foreshadowing). I must admit, a GPS unit is really quite handy. However, there is a secret to the C330. The maps are outdated.
I quickly discovered that my unit did indeed have old maps. In fact, my maps are from 2006. I navigated my web browser to the Garmin website (which also needs some improvements, but I digress) and I began looking for the map updates. What I found horrified me. You could buy a map update for $70.
I thought to myself, "I spent more than twice that for this unit, surely they can't want me to pay an additional $70 update fee for a new out of the box unit?" WRONG.
After waiting almost 30 minutes on the phone to speak with a representative, she shared with me the following (Side Note: She was a very polite and calm representative):
Customer: "Can I get a free update?"
Operator: "I'm sorry sir, your unit it not eligible for the free map update."
Customer: "Why?"
Operator: "Because you bought the cheaper unit."
(Well duuuuh. I was looking for a deal. Perhaps Garmin's next invention could be a time machine to take me back to 2006, at least then I would have accurate maps.)
Customer: "Which units from Garmin are eligible for a free update?"
Operator: "Virtually any other unit than the one you purchased sir."
Operator: "May I put you on hold?"....
Customer: "Sure".... No hold music
Operator: "I can offer you the update for half price."
Customer: "Do you think that's fair?"
Operator: "No sir, but it's company policy" (Hey, at least she was honest).
Customer: "Don't you think they should put a bright orange sticker on the box indicating outdated maps?"
Operator: "They probably should" (Hint to Garmin: Adding a sticker to the box might prevent all of us confused and cheated customers calling your call center. i.e. This might cut down on your ridiculous wait times on the phone. I'll accept a free map upgrade as compensation for my suggestion.)
Then the icing on the cake.....
Garmin Operator: "Is there anything else I can do for you today?"
Customer: "Tell me the quickest way to get rid of this unit."
Operator: "Certainly sir, you may return it to the store where you purchased it from."
..... Which is exactly what I plan to do. So ends my love affair with my poor man's GPS Unit and with Garmin. I bought it because they were rated so well. Now I must love another brand.
Thanks Garmin.
Customer Review: Doesn't work with Macs!
Summary: 4 Stars
I just finished a 1000 mile trip with my c330 and agree with most of the previous customer reviews. It does what it's supposed to do, it's accurate, it's very easy to use, sometimes glare makes it unreadable, sometimes finds a very complicated way to go somewhere easy, and if you have the window down or the radio on you can't hear it. You can take it right out of the box, plug it in, and follow the onscreen directions to get where you want to go, but you won't be taking advantage of many of its capabilities if you do. These tightwads won't include a $2 manual with their $500 product, but it's worth your time to go to the web site and skim the online manual to see what else you can do with the unit. (Don't print it; it you won't need it after you've read it once and it doesn't cover many of the best features.) Want to load your own waypoints? It's not in the manual, but you can do it if you'll spend an hour or so in your living room running through all the menus. Same thing with navigating to an in-between point; you can do it once you figure it out. How about examining up-close an area far away? Easy, but not in the manual.
NOTE: THIS UNIT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MACINTOSH COMPUTERS! They don't tell you this and it's not mentioned on the box or in any of the accompanying documentation - only in an obscure paragraph in the back of the online manual. This means Mac users won't be able to update maps or points of interest without loading the enclosed software onto somebody else's PC. If this unit hadn't been on sale I'd have returned it and purchased a Tom Tom, which supports the millions of us who prefer Macs. Here are a few other little glitches I found:
1. For at least 20 years Aurora Ave in Seattle has had a center divider so you can't turn left onto it, but my c330 always tells me to go to Aurora and turn left!
2. Once I've selected an enroute point, I can't find any way to delete it. If I change my mind, I've got to stop navigation and start all over again.
3. My favorite restaurant wasn't listed. A week later I found it, on the "bars" menu.
4. Other than adding one midway point, you can't plan your own route. The unit decides how you're going to go and you can't override the selection. Their handheld units allow you to preprogram your own route; why can't you do this with the auto units?
5. Once the suction cup is applied to the windshield, it's almost impossible to get off. There's a clamp to undo and a tab to pull, but I still have to pry it off with a knife every time. Better than having it fall off during a trip, but a nuisance.
IN CONCLUSION: This is an excellent unit for PC users. Mac Users should buy something else.
Customer Review: Its almost perfect in every way.........
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife gave me this Garmin C330 unit as a B'day gift to me and i was more than delighted to have it since i was already looking for one.......coming straight to point:
Good Things:
1) Works out of box......switch it on n u r ready to roll
2) Easy to use......even the not so tech savvy among us will find it very easy to use...very simple and practical menu without frills
3) Fairly accurate (i'd say 97% of times)
4) Very strong signal reception(works even in my house)
5) Quickly computes alternate routes (i.e. if you take wrong turn) without user intervention
6) Screen is very bright and can be seen easily from angles too.
7) Very loud voice prompts (u can hear them with windows rolled down....some ppl say we cant hear this unit with our music on...i feel sorry for them....i wud suggest try to reduce music vol...lol)
8) Handy and portable (important coz its gud idea to remove the unit when the car is parked away from sight.....will easily slip in ladies purse, glove compartment or center console)
9)Very easy to mount on stand provided and easy to detact too.....mounting stands holds to windscreen like super glue
10) Very decent batttery life (mine goes for 7 hrs without charge)
11) Volume control is external and old school rotating type (easy to increase and decrease volume)
12) Touch screen is very responsive
Bad things:
1) No user manual.....u can find one on garmin's website but it is not very comprehensive....u can use it out of box but need to spend some time to learn about complex features.
2) No instructions on how to connect to computer.
3) Can have more features.
Some ppl write that unit cannot be operated while driving.....this is wrong...there is safety feature built in by garmin to dissuade people from fiddling with the unit while driving, this feature can be easily disabled and then u can use the unit while driving (not recommended thou)
abt dirt roads: Some ppl say that it does not show country and dirt roads, this is wrong, by default dirt roads are not displayed but u can switch them on n c them all (most of em)
I would like to add that there is no unit on planet earth that will have complete exact maps of every thing, that is just not possible, some minor roads might not be there in the map and some places might be missing but this is absolutely ok. I would suggest to buy an upgraded maps CD (available on garmin website) and upgrade the unit every year or two.
Other than that this unit is just perfect in every way.....its easy to use and there r no complex menu's to mess around with....its among the very best one's out there.