Garmin nuvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $114.90 You Save: $535.09 (82%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nuvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: European trip experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Garmin nuvi 270 only a couple of days before leaving for a month-long driving trip in Europe. The decision to purchase this particular unit was influenced mostly by the included US and European maps, and to some extent the cost. It was intended to be a backup GPS for the NAVI systems in the rental cars. The day before we left, I used the upgrade option to download and install the latest European maps, since we would be doing quite a bit of driving in remote areas, and wanted the most up-to-date maps we could get. It turned out to be a critical device, since the first rental car came with a nuvi 270 handed to me in a case that was quite a bit older than my own, and the second rental had a German-only NAVI system.
The trip included Switzerland, northern Italy, a bit of France, then northern Germany and along the Baltic coast to the Gdansk area of Poland. We spent time in some cites - Zurich, Venice, Monaco - where the terrain or tall buildings might have affected reception, but never had a problem acquiring and keeping satellites. The unit was also very good about keeping and or immediately re-acquiring satellites through the numerous tunnels on the Italian auto-stradas. There were a few isolated incidents in the Dolomites where traveling in a deep valley between cliffs resulted in dropped signals, but the unit always re-acquired after a change in highway direction.
I can't say enough about the accuracy and level of detail in the maps. We explored some very remote areas and always had more than enough detail to find our way into and out of anything. We even navigated down un-named dirt tracks in a forest in Poland that were on the map.
We had one case in a small Italian hillside town near the Cinque Terre that the unit sent us up a one-lane street between buildings with a number of 90 degree turns that ended in a set of stairs before the street continued. We could only laugh as we ended up backing out of that one.
We did use the pedestrian mode in Zurich, and again in Venice. It worked very well in both cities. However, please remember to set it back to vehicle mode before driving. I forgot once in Zurich and ended up driving the wrong way down a street, with a streetcar coming at me.
I am thoroughly impressed with the device - a superb value.
Customer Review: Indispensable travel guide in Italy
Summary: 5 Stars
Since this was my first purchase of any type of GPS device I was a little skeptical of relying on a GPS in my motor travels through Italy. However I was pleasantly surprised how well the GPS was able to navigate the complicated streets of Italian cities. I still needed to use maps to get an overall picture of where I was going,
but after awhile I began to rely on the Garmin nuvi 270. What was critical to understand was; that as a destination was within 500 meters and I was in a maze of complicated 1 way streets in city centers; it was best to get out of the car and explore on foot because the GPS could not guide us through all the one way streets.
Customer Review: Works great here in the us and europe
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought two, one for me to use here in the us and the other for my brother to use in europe. I think it is very precise, very easy to use and best of all very cheap as it has the europe map integrated (which was a must for me as I travel to europe every now and then). The screen was small but I considered that as a plus because it makes lighter to carry and even put in your pocket.
I definitly recommend it to everyone looking for multilanguage gps that works everywhere.
Customer Review: Used it in Europe
Summary: 5 Stars
We have recently used it during our trip to UK and Ireland. Worked perfectly flawless. Made our trip more enjoyable because we don't have to worry about directions. Little annoying at some time when the car symbol which was used by us to show our location on the screen does not transition smoothly to the direction and we thought that we have made a wrong turn.Customer Review: OMG
Summary: 5 Stars
This gadget revolutionized my recent driving trip in France!
I would never drive in Europe (or anywhere unknown, for that matter) without a GPS.
I put nearly 3000 miles on my rental car in three weeks and "The Girl" got me everywhere I needed to go. It even locates French "Lieu Dits" which are groups of country houses with no address. I was also able to enter coordinates of a friend's country house (again, no address) from Google Earth and I drove right to the front door!
It's not completely effortless and I would recommend having a paper map on hand in order to get a bird's eye view of your trip, but once you get the hang of it, the routes and guidance are practically flawless. And even if you make a bad turn or get confused, it still results in much less time behind the wheel that if you were using old fashioned navigation using a paper map.
I read many of the reviews here and never had a problem with satellite acquisition or bad directions. While some of the routes seemed counterintuitive, if you just let The Girl do her thing, you'll arrive at the programmed destination.
Added plusses: the speedometer which was more accurate than the car's; the traffic cam alerter; super accurate arrival time which is key in Europe where distance and time only vaguely related; the British voice option in English.
Disclaimer: I never used the GPS while walking.