Garmin nüvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Not for Pedestrians in France and Switzerland
Summary: 1 Stars
I retired a couple years ago as a commercial pilot who dealt with GPS's on a daily basis and have a factory installed unit in my Acura TL.
I bought this unit to use as a pedestrian sight-seeing in France and Switzerland. This review is only my experience trying to use the Garmin Nuvi 270 as a pedestrian in European cities. I make no supposition how it would work in a car in the USA nor in a car through the narrow streets of Europe or as a pedestrian in US cities..
The Garmin Nuvi 270 has a pedestrian mode and is pre-loaded with maps of Europe. At slightly over $300 the unit was very appealing so I bought one for my trip in May 2008.
The Good:
1. The touch screen is very responsive
2. The screen is very clear and bright.
3. 3.5 inch screen, in my view, is the perfect pedestrian size.
4. The database used is good by today's standards.
5. Physically the 270, in my opinion, is the correct size for walking.
The Bad:
1. The first bad feature and by far the overriding issue is the Nuvi 270's inability to acquire satellites in European cities . (Without Satlilite communication the Nuvi 270 is not able to navigate.) I read all the reviews posted on Amazon and elsewhere, although many mentioned this issue, none seemed to adequately drive this point home enough for me not to buy it. On our day trip to Strasbourg, France, I held the unit out at ½ arms length for 1 1/2 hours while walking and saw only two screens, `Acquiring satellites' or `unable to acquire Satellites do you want to continue'. The unit never ever acquired enough Satellites in Strasburg to even show where we were, let alone navigate. I even stood on a round-about in the middle of a busy intersection for 20 minutes hoping it would acquire enough Satellites to be functional....it did not! I cannot over stress this enough....it was useless in Paris, where it would acquire for a short time and then lose them during the walk, in Geneva where it acquired them on the lake, but lost them in town. In Marseilles where it acquired them going to an island but quickly lost them in town.
2. Once acquired, satellite retention is very poor. Sometimes aircraft GPS', as well as my Acura will take a couple minutes to acquire satellites, particularly if the unit has been moved while turned off, but once satellites are acquired they seldom lose reception, if ever unless you drive through a tunnel. The Garmin Nuvi 270, on the other hand, readily loses reception.
3. There is no Operating manual available for the Garmin Nuvi 270 either in the box or on the web. Only 11 quick start booklets in 11 languages.
4. Once you have looked for a destination it now resides in Recently found places, but cannot be deleted unless all destinations are deleted. If there is a way I couldn't figure it out as there is no manual.
5. When charging, the unit says it is charging but never tells you when it is fully charged. I let it charge for over 24 hours and it continued to display, `charging'..
6. The unit has a segmented bar that let's you know how much battery charge is left, but Garmin obviously hasn't figured out how to correlate that to time. A total of 5 bars, one would think 2 bars would indicate 40% left. WRONG, 2 bars generally meant less than 20 minutes left of usage.
7. Does not use changeable batteries, so if you're away from your hotel, walking, you can't put fresh batteries in; coupled with not having any real clue how much charge you have left on the permanently installed battery, leads to a problem. (How much do I conserve, how much charge is left in real time, etc.)
8. You can't plan your trip unless you are there. For example: If I'm in the USA and I want to see what attractions are located around the hotel I plan to stay in in Paris, the unit will not do it. It will only show me the attractions located close to where the unit physically is at that point. (Assuming you can get reception).
9. The current satellite reception strength indicator is not visible on the map screen.
10. When walking, in pedestrian mode, you have two choices for screen orientation. One allows the map to orient in the direction you are walking, the other North remains at the top of the screen. For the short time my 270 was able to retain satellites, I tried both. The unit's computing speed coupled with current satellite available accuracy makes the mode where the screen orients in the direction you are walking near useless. The screen near continually `hunts' for correct orientation. (Perhaps when the next generation satellites are all up and SA has been removed completely, this mode will work) Best to leave it on North at the top although I could not fully evaluate this in Paris because I never had constant satellite reception long enough.
11. The screen is easily washed out by bright sunlight.
12. No place exists on the unit to attach a lanyard; this is a problem in that the unit's case is very smooth and can slide out of your hand easily.
All in all the unit is the right size for a pedestrian with a nice touch screen, but falls unacceptably short in Satellite reception capabilities and battery longevity (3-4 hours) given the batteries can't be changed. Assuming it found a few satellites where are you going to charge it during a 10 hour walking tour, or a hike, or a bike ride?
1/18/2008: This review was once one of the most helpful negative reviews. It now no longer lists if anyone found it helpful and is buried deep.....is Amazon manipulating reviews?
2/1/2009: After writing to Amazon and asking them why my voting disappeared, the numbers are back up....Amazon claims a software glitch.
Customer Review: Garmin Nuvi 270 works for us.
Summary: 4 Stars
Garmin Nuvi 270 works for us.
Garmins have worked well for us before, so when buying our own GPS, we bought a Garmin. It works just like the others so we're happy with it.
We like the size and shape. We bought a regular screen, not a wide screen. No regrets. Why would I want a wider screen? The 270 is thin, not bulbous like some other Garmins I've used. Thin is good if you plan to pack this in your suitcase, right?
Maps: I chose the 270 over other units in the 200 series because it has a lot of maps, including Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe, in addition to USA. (see the Garmin website yourself to be sure what maps are included with the unit that you choose) When we go to Montreal, just a few hours from our home, we don't want our GPS to run out of maps at the border. We'd rather be in a restaurant ordering dinner in French than lost, trying to get directions in French. We've only used the maps near home. They have been great. We're looking forward to testing the maps in exotic places. (Addendum: a commenter checked the web site and states that Mexico is not included in the map set. Dios Mio! We'll get lost in Mexico.)
Reception: occasionally displays "acquiring satellites". But this has never inhibited my navigation. I have suction cup mounted pretty far forward on the inside windshield of my Prius. I have never used it hand held. I think that GPS signals are effected by rain, a heavy canopy of trees, and asphalt jungles, but reception has been just fine for me. (Addendum: I tried to use this as a hand held in a pine forest. Forget it. No useful signal at all.)
Display: I think it's a great LCD display but my father-in-law says that it does not work for him. He has some visual impairments -- not as young as he used to be. If you have such issues then try someone else's GPS before you buy. If any LCD screen works for you then this one will too.
Speak, Garmin, Speak! The unit gives spoken directions, turn by turn. I usually mute these, but if you are worried that you'll miss your exit then turn-on the sound. You can relax and drive and the unit will tell you when you're nearing your exit. The 270 doesn't say street names, and that's fine with me. I chose not to pay a lot more for spoken street names. No regrets. I can read the street name in the display.
Having a GPS unit promotes tranquility in our family. We used a borrowed Garmin during our Florida vacation last year. I did the driving. Garmin did the navigating. The others helped to navigate when needed, but we spent little time worrying about directions and more time enjoying vacation and enjoying each other's company. There was no "Honey, just stop for direction, will ya?"
Wish list? Just one thing. This unit does have a mini USB connector for the power connection. I was hoping that the GPS would accept power from all of my USB power cords like the one that powers my cell phone. Nope. And I was hoping that the Garmin power adapter that came with the GPS would recharge other mini USB devices. Can't depend on that either. The plugs fit, but things don't always power up. USB power adapters are not all interchangeable. I wish that the Universal Serial Bus were just a bit more UNIVERSAL! Other than that, the unit does everything that I want. My wife likes it too. She's a genius, but no computer nerd. (That's why I have to write the review).
HAPPY NAVIGATING!
Addendum: Even though the power adapter is shaped like a mini usb, you cannot use it to charge most cell phones. And cell phone adapters will not power the GPS. I think that Garmin designed it this way for a reason (see below), but they really ought to add a work-around that permits you to use a standard usb power supply for this device. Because, hello, you use a GPS for traveling, and when you travel you don't want to carry multiple chargers.
Why did they design it this way? I'm guessing that Garmin wired this charger so that the GPS can tell it is connected to the car charger and go in to navigate mode. When it is connected to any computer (or anything else) using a standard usb interface it goes in to "mass storage mode" and tries to talk with a computer over the usb cable. They should just add an icon to the touch screen that lets you bypass the mass storage mode and navigate using a standard usb charger. Fix this, Garmin, please, So that I can continue to buy and recommend your devices!
Customer Review: Good device, could use some more user-friendliness
Summary: 4 Stars
I will preface this review by admitting my own bias: I have quite possibly the worst sense of direction in the known universe, so I am going to love ANYTHING that helps me get lost less often.
So obviously, I love this thing. I don't know what I used to do without it. (Well, actually I do know: I got lost a lot.) It does occasionally have trouble finding satellites, but in general it works great, gives me fantastic directions, and has a surprisingly large database of "points of interest." You can search for restaurants (filtered for type: Italian, Asian, fast food), subway stops, hotels, stores (again filtered by type: grocery, convenience, apparel, etc.), attractions, historic landmarks, banks, post offices, libraries, etc. It lists the results in order of shortest distance from your current location. You can also sort of/imperfectly search for locations not specified in the menu by using the "spell name" feature, so if you're ever in an unfamiliar (or even very familiar) city and think, "Man, I would love some ice cream right now, I wonder where the nearest ice cream shop is," you can just type "ice cream" into the search. I have used this feature so many times, and it's fantastic.
I think my favorite feature is the option to set the map to be "track up," which basically just automatically rotates the map to be facing the same direction as you are. Rotating paper maps was always such a pain.
Also, the power adapter that comes with the device has this nifty feature that allows you to swap the prongs for those of the appropriate country. It comes with 3 types of prongs (US, Europe, and a third I don't recognize...Great Britain, maybe?) that snap into the adapter- so if you're taking it with you to Europe you can just leave the US prongs at home and charge the device without a travel adapter. (This is wonderful, because if you're like most people you have one adapter and about a million electronic devices that need to be charged.)
Just a note: as someone who lives in a city and doesn't have a car, I have almost exclusively used this device in pedestrian mode. But I've used it in quite a few varied locations: Milan (and its suburbs), Verona, Madrid, Boston, San Francisco, and suburban New Jersey.
The cons:
* When you plug the device in, it automatically turns on. I left it this way overnight, and it didn't charge at all. Apparently you have to power it off after plugging it in.
* It never tells you when it's fully charged- you could leave it plugged in for 3 days and it will still display "charging" on the screen.
* It's mostly designed for use in a car, so when using it in pedestrian mode it sometimes gets a little confused. For example, it doesn't always recognize that you've turned onto a street, so it won't automatically read the next direction. It will just show you walking on top of buildings right next to the street, so you can still use the map just fine.
* This is the real complaint I have: As a few other people have mentioned, there's no real manual- only a "quickstart guide." This can be a bit of a pain. Some people have complained that they can't browse maps or points of interest away from their current location. That's not true, but neither is it easy to do. Depending on exactly what you want to do, it can involve three menu trees into the options to turn the simulator on, searching for a location, finding an obscure button that says "set location" and proceeding from there. Then of course, if you want to go back to what you were doing before, you have to go back through those 3 menus to turn the simulator off again. The basic functions are really easy to use- if you're only going to be typing in an address and asking it to read you the directions, you're fine. But as another reviewer mentioned, if you're looking to be a power user and take full advantage of all the capabilities, good luck to you. The more I use it the more I think of really simple features that would represent a huge improvement in how I use the device (like showing search results on a map instead of in list form). I wonder if a lot of these things are actually possible, I just have no idea how to do them because the documentation is lousy.
All that said, I think I'd still be lost in Northern Italy if it weren't for this thing, so 4 stars.
Customer Review: How did I EVER travel without this in the past????
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, you're reading this because of the European maps, aren't you? If you're not interested in European maps there's newer devices that give you a bit more features for the same price (although I see the price of this guy is dropping fast). But given that most devices come with US maps and then you'd have to shell out a hundred bucks to get European maps, buying a GPS with US+Canada+Europe for $120 is an AWESOME deal. Plus if you register with Garmin online (which takes 5 minutes of your time), you get an upgrade to the 2009 maps for free.
I first used this device in Paris in Pedestrian (walking) mode. I read a lot of reviews complaining about the pedestrian mode not working very well, and not being able to get satellites in cities. I had NO PROBLEMS at all in Paris. I was there for a week and there was one day that it couldn't find satellites for 10 minutes. Other than that, it found and kept satellites effortlessly even in the narrow Parisian streets. You also have to be a bit creative. Even if the device does NOT find a satellite, you can still browse the map and try to figure out where you are, since it does show you street names. So even when it couldn't find satellites, I still found the interactive maps extremely useful and a life saver. Battery life was pretty good, usually lasting me for the entire day (I would turn the device off during meals and inside museums & metro to save battery). And it charges with mini-usb, so that's super easy to charge without having to purchase an additional custom charger. Sweet! Well thought, Garmin!!! I will say sometimes in pedestrian mode it was hard to figure out what direction I was heading, but that's not too surprising. Sure, It's much more accurate in Car mode than in is in Pedestrian.
After that, I used it in Auto mode for a week in Provence, France. Again, effortlessly. It even told me where to go in the narrow streets of Avignon (yikes!). The Points-Of-Interest were great and very useful and we found restaurants thanks to our GPS all the time. The maps were accurate and the instructions very useful.
This device DOES have text-to-speech so you can turn that feature on and let the GPS speak to you without having to look at it. Very nice.
Another nice feature is the Detour. A few times we hit road construction, or roads that were either closed or jammed, so I hit the "Detour" button and the device found a new route for me. Very nice. And it does a very nice job recalculating a new route for you when you miss your turn or take an incorrect turn. +++.
Another thing I did with the GPS is I used it to bookmark where I had parked my car. In our travels, we would find parking, bookmark in the GPS where the car was, and then walk around a city for a couple of hours. Of course, by then you have forgotten where you left your car! So I can go to Favorites and find the bookmark to where I left my car. Very nice!
This made our trip to France absolutely effortless and enjoyable. Two months ago we drove in Germany without a GPS and it was an absolute nightmare. This trip was completley different thanks to Garmin! I am happy to give this device a 5 star rating.
It does take a surprisingly long amount of time to lock satellites when you first boot (sometimes a couple of minutes), but perhaps my expectations there are too high. Sometimes it locks satellites within a few seconds, but yes, sometimes, it can take a couple of minutes. Also there are bigger screens out there today, but I loved the 3.5 compact size since it fit in my pocket perfectly.
An Absolute MUST. I don't know how I EVER travelled without this jewel!!!
Customer Review: Nuvi 270, an excellent buy
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 270 to have a portable unit which I can use in multiple vehicles and while a pedestrian and which I can also use in Europe. For its price of less than $230 at Amazon.com, I have found it to be an excellent buy and about what I needed. It is a very convenient size for portable use and its display is comfortable to view and manage. I have owned a number of GPS units since they became available on the commercial market and I find the performance improvements, over what this technology was capable of 15 years ago, to be remarkable. The receiver sensitivity improvements particularly allow the unit to lock to the satellite signals and operate in environments (under trees, in canyons, near tall buildings) far beyond the capability of previous receivers. The speed of acquiring and locking is typical of competitive units.
The display is fine. The user is offered a choice of several map displays and details to suit preferences and conditions. I keep the brightness set at 50% which is adequate for most usage, but the display will wash out in bright sunlight. Setting at 100% improves bright sunlight use, but some shading is still necessary for sunlight viewing. The major power consumption in these instruments is usually the display, so I prefer to reduce the brightness when not required, important when operating away from charging sources. My fully charged unit seems to operate somewhat less than the five hours advertised by Garmin. Perhaps more like 3 to 4 hours. I purchased the AC charger and would recommend that accessory for anyone expecting to use the unit away from the car.
A feature I miss is the ability to view satellite positions as the GPS searches and locks. When having difficulty acquiring, it is of interest to notice where the required satellites are with respect to the horizon and mountains and buildings which may obstruct reception.
The points of interest included in the memory are adequate and acceptable for most travels. Adding points is quite simple and convenient by simply touching the screen and saving. The touch screen works very well, but is tactilely very sensitive and the locking feature is very useful when in situations where the unit is being handled a lot. However, the lock button is contained in the on/off switch, small, and on the side of the unit, not easy to find and to operate by feel, particularly while walking, or in the dark!
The data base, including the maps, is a few years old and no update is available at this time. I mention some of this as an advisory, not a complaint. I understand the challenge in keeping databases up to date; I just remind myself that I got all of the US and all of Europe for less than $230. The enunciator voice is quite pleasant and the volume can be adjusted or muted to suit conditions. Street names are not called out, only the distance to turns and points, and she can do this in 40 different languages, a few of which I have not even heard of.
The navigation features work fine when traveling simple paths. For driving in cities, such as Los Angeles, consider the navigation help a suggestion and certainly not a recommendation. The algorithms generally direct travel over major thoroughfares, interstates and freeways which can often be the worst choice for many trips. The Nuvi offers a menu of avoidance selections (no U-turns, Carpool lanes, Toll Roads, Highways, etc.) but these really don't help. Suggest depending on pre-trip planning and common sense.
In summary, I give the Nuvi 270 all around good marks.