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: Just about perfect basic GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I've used my son's Magellan 800, and I like the Garmin C330 MUCH better. The operation of the C330 is very intuitive. It seems to acquire a satellite signal much more quickly and frankly, it seems more accurate. Not that the Magellan does a bad job, it does not. It's just that the Garmin is just a bit more responsive. The word I'd use to describe its performance is 'Crisp'. It is most definitely crisper than the Magellan 800.
The screen is much easier to read in bright sunlight than the Magellan 800 as well. So that's a plus.
No photo viewer, no MP3 player, just a good reasonably reliable GPS device. Don't get me wrong, it isn't perfect. I wish it would give you the turn warning at 2 miles out instead of 1 mile out. When you are traveling thru a strange city during rush hour, sometimes it may take more than one mile to get into the proper lane. Extra warning in those situations would be nice. Though if you DO miss a turn, it has no problem quickly recalculating a new route to get you back on route.
Also, I set it to avoid toll roads today and it kept trying to route me via a toll road, so that's a bit of a bummer too. But neither is a deal breaker in my mind. If you find a fair deal on the C330, I'd say take it without hesitation.
Edit 8/9/2007 - This product routes me around toll roads just fine! In my example above, it tried to route me to the toll road's frontage road. But I didn't trust it and assumed it was trying to take me down the toll road itself. I think to successfully use these things, you need to learn to trust them and not try to second guess them.
Edit 8/23/2007 - I've been working in the suburban Chicago area and I've had a chance to really test it out. In Chicago, I sort of know the area and sort of don't. I have been purposely NOT following its routing suggestions just to see if 1) how quickly it re-routes me to my destination. and 2) if I could find a better route on my own.
The recalculations are pretty fast and if it can get you back to your original suggested route it will try to do so. But at some point in my deviation, a whole NEW route will make more sense and it had no problem developing a new route from where I was at, and not from where I WAS.
So far, I have been unable to find better routes to/from my work and hotel. As awful as some of the Garmin suggested routes were, when it came to traffic congestion, the ones I developed on my own were MUCH worse!
Now it could be I'm an idiot and couldn't navigate my way to anywhere! But so far, I think relying on the Garmin to route you to your destination is a pretty good idea.
Customer Review: Roadtrip - Gotta Have It!
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased my C330 about 1 month ago. My wife is a visiting nurse and we love to travel on the weekends. I did quite a bit of research before the purchase and found the Garmin mapping system seems to be more accurate then some of the other manufacturors. I wanted a unit that could easily be moved from car to car (we own 3 and could use any of them depending on where we are going). I wanted something with a large enough screen to read easily, yet small enough not to block the windshield. It would also have to be very easy to use as my wife is not very computer literate.
The C-330 passed all these requirements with flying colors!
If you cannot operate it within 10 minutes of taking it out of the box you have a major problem. All programing has been done at the factory. Just plug it into your power outlet and go! It is the absolutely easiest piece of electronics to operate that I own. The voice is clear and loud enough to be heard above a bose stereo at a moderate volume level. The volume control of my C330 is not calibrated very well. The lower 3/4's of the scale is almost useless while the top 1/4 adjusts the volume adequately. The screen is bright enough in most situations. Occasionally, on a bright day the screen may be washed out by glare but that is usually temporary, remember you are moving in a car and the glare will change as your direction changes. Its not really critical because the voice will still guide you very accurately.
The mapping program is excellant. I used it locally to learn how it thinks and gain confidence in it. I love to use the Detour function to find an alternate route to someplace I've already been. I find myself avoiding the heaviest traffic by jumping off an exit and letting the unit find another route to my destination. We actually did that going to Philly Airport yesterday and it got us there with no problem taking a route that I would have never used before my C330!
It has two mapping modes to choose from, Fastest route or Shortest route. Fastest route takes you mostly interstates and highways. Shortest route draws a line from point A to point B and takes you there. City streets, backroads, whatever, as long as its the shortest. I tend to keep mine on the Fastest Route for most driving trips.
To sum up. Its an awesome bit of technology at a moderate price. I am totally happy with my purchase and its performance. I rated it 4 stars because of the minor problems with the volume control and screen glare. Note: I've found that TomTom makes a glare guard for its units. It seems to be a common problem, maybe Garmin will take the hint!
Customer Review: Great 1st GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
Some Background:
I had a Magellan Roadmate 300 which never seemed to work very well from day one. That was about 2 years ago and after about 1 year of trying to get it to work halfway decently, I decided to cut my losses and went with the Garmin C330
The C330
As a Basic GPS this thing can't be beat. It is very simple to use straight out of the box. If a Simple, Basic straight forward GPS is all you want, Look no further. It doesn't have the Bells & Whistles of more recent GPS's but it will get you from point A to point B with No hassles, It's accurate unlike my recent experience with the TomTom720 which is in another review. I've owned this C330 for a little more than a year now and have never had a single problem, nor has it ever failed to get me to my correct destination.
Features:
It basically has none other than Voice guidance. Basically enter your address and hit 'GO' and follow the voice prompts to your destination. The C340 gives you spoken street names, which while a nice add-on isn't a must have in my opinion. The C530 adds the C340 feature plus gives you Bluetooth for hands free phone calls.Since I have the C330 let's no get side tracked.
What I like:
The simplicity and ease of use. You really can remove it from the box and start using it without ever reading any instructions. The windshield mount is the strongest and best I've ever seen including my recent TomTom experience. The mount also is where you plug in the GPS to your Car accessory port or cigarette lighter for us old folks, What's nice about this is that you can remove the GPS without ever having to unplug it or remove the mount. Another nice feature is that the GPS automatically turns on when you start your engine, no buttons to push and hold. The POI's or Points of Interest is easy to use and handy when you want to find someplace to eat or buy gas in an area you aren't familiar with. There isn't a GPS on the market that will ever have ALL POI's preloaded, But the C330 comes with I think over 5 thousand preloaded, so there should be something for everyone, once you do find a place you want to eat, simply tap the screen and select go. The C330 will automatically route you there. the POI's aren't just for gas or food, there's also houses of worship, parks etc..Things I've never needed to use.
What I don't like:
Nothing really other than it's not feature rich like newer GPS's and some folks may not like the bulkiness as compared to newer slimmer GPS's.
The Bottom Line:
This is a true plug n play GPS and is the best Starter GPS you can buy.
Customer Review: Great package for the directionally challenged --***UPDATED***
Summary: 4 Stars
This was my very 1st GPS unit (bought after much research). Now I can confidently go anywhere! (w/o a mapquest print-out...which sucked if U missed a turn!) And that new-found freedom and confidence is absolutely AWESOME!
-Reasonable price for what U get.
-Great resolution, large screen -- but not obstructive -- and good sound control w/ clear voice.
-Saves your searches, so U don't have to keep re-entering info. I'm a big fan of the "go home" tab. Easy touch-screen icons. VERY user-friendly to enter info to start a search.
-Has plenty of memory; U don't have to download maps for the U.S. (it comes built in!). Just get in your car, enter your destination, and go!
-Portable enough that U can disengage it from the mount and hand-carry it (for ~3 hrs). A lil'l bulky as a hand-held unit, though.
-Tells you appox. what time U'll reach your destination.
-If you use one of the icons (e.g., restaurants), it will show U a healthy list of restaurants, how far away from U they each are, and in what cardinal direction they're located in respect to U.
-Using the "tools" tab located on the bottom of the main screen you can configure what U wish to avoid by clicking on the "navigation" tab (e.g., U-turns, major highways, toll roads). I've found that keeping the "avoidances" option as "disabled" helps; gives U more chance of truly getting the "fastest route".
-For the directionally-impaired, as long as U have this & can get satellite reception (which is pretty good), YOU WILL GET TO YOUR DESTINATION!
DOWNFALLS: This may be true for all GPS units though. Hmm...
- My mount frequently falls off my windshield! No matter how hard I push the suction cup into the glass. Can be very irritating.
- Does give choice of shortest & fastest routes but it still will tend to take U on side/residential streets, which are often NOT the fastest route. I personally hate roads w/ lots of stop lights too.
-If there's a road closed/blocked and U drive past it (because U have to!), it often tends to keep trying to bring U back to the road U can't use! U have to just keep driving away from the unwanted area until the gps finds a new route. Can be frustrating. (And as far as I can tell, there's a "detour" button/tab that may help in that situation, but I haven't tried it yet.)
-It takes a bit of time to calculate where you are every time U start it up. Garmin could definitely improve this area.
Customer Review: You Get What You Pay For
Summary: 3 Stars
We bought this Garmin c330 GPS for our second car; we use a Magellan Roadmate 6000T for our main travel car. The Garmin cost less than half as much as the Roadmate, once again proving the ancient adage that you get what you pay for. In terms of capability there is no comparison between the two; the Roadmate is light years more capable. The Garmin takes longer to acquire a satellite; provides very sparse voice directions; does not show the direction of the upcoming turn on the main screen, and it does not say aloud the name of the street into which one is to turn; it just says "turn left," and rings a bell; often it provides strange, less than optimum, routes to the destination; sometimes it even provides totally incorrect routes; you cannot enter a destination by intersection, only by exact address. The Garmin maps do not display anything like the detail of the Roadmate. The screen is smaller and less visible, especially in daylight. The window mount for the Garmin is shoddy and does not provide a stable base. The permenent dashboard mount, a three inch disk which needs a significant flat space on the dash, is all but worthless, at least on my dash, which does not have enough uncurved space for the disk to adhere. Also, the dash covering is pebbled, which means the disk will not adhere even if there were enough flat surface. Because of this I had to order a new kind of dashboard mount (not from Garmin, which does not offer it on their own website), one which uses weighted arms to hold the device in place. This mount, which cost an extra $30, actually works pretty well. The Garmin only allows the charging cable to be plugged into the mount, not into the device itself, in contrast to the Roadmate, which permits both forms. So, while the Garmin permits recharging through one's computer, which is a convenience, you have to take the mount out of the car to do it. The Roadmate case is metal, making it more durable; the Garmin case is plastic.
Having made all these negative comparisons, I do not regret buying the Garmin, since it is only for the second car and only for use locally. I wouldn't want to spend $700 for a fallback GPS; so the Garmin, with all its drawbacks, is ok for its intended use. Therefore I gave it an OK rating. But I would not want to rely on it for a long, complicated trip into unknown areas. It just has too many shortcomings.