Garmin nüvi 360 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Text-To-Speech
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 360 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Text-To-Speech
Customer Review: My experience with the Garmin 360.
Summary: 5 Stars
Garmin nüvi 360 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Bluetooth and Text-to-Speech
Ok, I'm ready to talk about it now!!! I'm being a little dramatic, only to try and grab your attention, but I was so excited when I first got this unit, I could hardly wait to write a review, but I decided to wait till I'd read the entire owners manual, and really used this little guy for a few weeks. I think I can talk fairly intellegently about it now that I have some "real world" experience under my belt.
Before I get into some detail and pros and cons about the unit, I realize that many of you, like me, are reading these reviews in order to try and make a decision on which one to buy. I really felt I did my homework on this one, and after reading many reviews about some Magellan products, Tom tom, and especially the Garmin 760 and other Garmin units, I finally decided to get this baby. The "decision maker" for me on this unit was partly the price, partly the scary things I read about the blue tooth issues, in relation to noise, radio reception, etc. but probably the most important aspect of all this review thing for me was all the GOOD REVIEWS, I seemed to read about the 360, and how well the bare bones features like GPS NAVIGATION, seemed to be touted in a positive sense. You know, I like bells and whistles too, but when it comes right down to it, for me the "main deal" for me about a GPS unit is: How well does it find my location, without a bunch of problems, and I'm happy to say, that I'm about 98% satisfied with this unit. (I'll tell you about the other 2% in a minute).
I'd say that I'm a pretty "techey", kind of guy, but I think I'm still keeping a perspective when I say that "right out of the box", I was able to just about set it to a destination, and go for it. After saying that, (for all you "instruction manual", haters, I'd still have to say, read them anyway. You'll be glad you did. I learned a lot of other info that helps me tremendously from the owners manual. Might I add, that another part of the "deal maker" for me was that they actually included a CD rom with the owners manual on it, a lether carring case, a "real" car charger, "real" AC charger, (for home), and a USB cable to charge it from my computer or download the latest version of maps from Garmin FOR FREE, within the first 30 days of ownership, and a suction cup. Try that with some of the other units!!!!!!!! Ok, that being said, I fired this sucker up, and low and belhold,,, it actually led me to my destination in style.
Ok, now let's get down to brass tacks. I'm not gonna say much more about the picture download feature, the MP3 stuff, or any of that stuff, because to me, I mainly bought this unit to find a location, but I did listen to a few of the "pre-loaded" music clips and like one of the other reviewers said: Make no mistake, this isn't a "stereo system", unless you run it into an amplifier and bigger speakers, where it might do a decent job, which, by the way, is one possible way to eleviate, that "small speaker syndrom" that every one of these units that I've ever used seems to have. Hey, folks, lets face it. Your not gonna have a boom box sound with a teeny, tiny speaker on a small GPS unit, HOWEVER, the real blessing here for all of you is there is a headphone output, that could possibly be sent to some kind of amplifier and bigger speakers to enhance the sound. I'll leave it at that on this issue.
In the real world, I cranked up the volume to the top end and if you roll up your windows, you can hear that "sexy", Australian lady, tell you directions, but even if it's a hot day, there's still the "printed word" on the unit, telling you to "turn left on Main St." or where ever, and by the way, this feature of telling you the street where to turn, as far as I'm concerned is a "must have feature". She's not gonna always tell you 3 blocks ahead of time, but if you pay attention, she or the text does a pretty good job of directing you when and where to turn.
As far as "typing in" the City, Street, number, etc. I had a little issue on part of this but I think I found a way around the problem. Here's the problem: When you type in the city or street name, sometimes the "computer" as it were, puts the names in front of you, that are possiblilities, but sometimes the possiblilities aren't your city or street, your looking for. The way I found "around this", and listen closely here: Before you type in the "full name" of the street or city and hit the "done" button, just type in part of the name, and hit done. By doing that, the unit gives you more choices to choose from and so far every time I've done this, I could find the street or city I was looking for. I think this is poor engineering on Garmin's part, but at least this is kind of a "work around on this problem".
I went to a parking lot down the steet and programed in a "point of interest" or something to that respect (sorry, I'm not precise on this, but read the manual, and you'll find how to do it). Once I did this, I was able to find the little "flag" they give you to find where I parked my car, probably within 20 feet. Not to bad, considering, they don't even "tout" this in the "ad" on this unit.
Kind of "wrapping this thing up", here, I'd like to see a little more "robust" POI list, but you might be able to download a bigger POI list from Garmin. One more negative for me was that they don't seem to include a "zip code" feature on this unit, (where you can find the city and area by zip code, but another work around on this is that you can find a map of the area you want, and literally with your finger slide the map to exactly where your looking to go and zoom in on that area too. On e last feature that I like is that it can save a pretty big list (maybe 500) of addresses and/or destinations that you've previously been to, and with the "spell feature", you can narrow that down to what your looking for.
All in all, I'd have to say that this "bad boy" really kicks butt, and does what it says it will do and then some. I'm very pleased with the clear consice visual readout, the audio information to back all that up, and the fact that 98% of the time it takes me right to the house I'm trying to deliver too. (Oh, by the way, I'm a delivery driver, by trade).
Customer Review: Very nice portable GPS...at a great price.
Summary: 5 Stars
Last year, reviewers stated that this GPS was a "must buy"...and that was when it listed for three times it's current price...so I decided to try it out after my previous portable was stolen...and I am extremely happy. Here are some highlights:
- Very attractive SMALL case with decent size screen. One hard button for power...that also allows single and double-clicking for quick access to brightness/volume and the MP3 player. Yes, the MP3 player.
- Other external case features: External USB-style port for power or connecting to your PC; SD card slot; Flip up antenna that supports several different angles (GPS is disabled when the antenna is not unfolded); Jack for external antenna; headphone jack.
- A suction cup windshield mount with a plug for the power cable...and electrical contacts that mate with the unit when you place it in the mount. Very nice feature that obviates the need to manually connect/disconnect a power cable when you install/remove the device from the mount...and you should remove it when your vehicle is unattended...unless you like spending your morning vacuuming broken glass out of your car. Grrrr.
- Very attractive UI. Stylish and optimized for fat fingers. No stylus needed (or included)...and the menus are well laid out and really make operating this unit a breeze...whether you are entering an address or searching for a configuration setting.
- Nice looking anti-aliased maps...with three views (north facing, direction facing, and 3D)...and selectable vehicle icons...and selectable degrees of detail.
- Excellent POI database. I was able to find POIs in this database that were not present in any other portable or integrated system that I had tried. For example, my daughter's private high school has been at its current location for decades, yet this was the first unit of any that I have tested that knew its location. BTW, the POI database includes phone numbers...that can be dialed by clicking if you have paired the unit with a Bluetooth phone.
- Very nice phone integration...at least with my phone, including access to the address book. The caller will, however, know that you are on a speaker phone...but hey, you are in your car...so perhaps they should know...so you can get back to driving. ;-) Okay, granted, that's a stretch.
- Good routing with rapid recalculation...but it only presents one route (not a choice of routes). It does feature a "detour" button if you would like it to get off of the current road...and it will get you off the road pretty much at the next turn. Thus far, this feature has not worked all that well for me since it seems to want to detour me to the next major route rather than viable side roads. BTW, the unit LOVES highways when route selection mode is set to "fastest"...and it periodically makes some fairly bizarre "get on the highway" choices in that mode. I have since reconfigured my unit to use the "shortest" route to avoid some of those issues while driving around town...but the routing is still very good in either mode.
- You can adjust the unit's settings to specify transportation mode (e.g., car, truck, bicycle, pedestrian) so it can better optimize your routing.
- Nice "text-to-speech" option for voice, so you can hear "turn left in 500 feet on elm street" instead of "turn left in 500 feet"
- Includes a bunch of features of questionable utility, including a picture viewer, an MP3 player (which also reads the audible book format), calculator, currency converter, unit converter, language converter...and the option of purchasing additional travel guides from Garmin.
- Can be mounted as a drive in Windows simply by connecting the USB cable. When connected in this manner, you can use Garmin's excellent PC-based utility to automatically update the unit nearly effortlessly. You can also view the directory structure and add/delete files, including MP3s, books, pictures, and custom vehicle icons. The internal storage seems fairly generous, but you can also store media an SD card if you need more room or flexibility.
- Can be configured to automatically invert the display colors at sunset...based (presumably) on the current date and your present location...and it seems to do a great job of deciding when to do it...unlike my last unit, which blinded me for some time before it finally decided that it was dark.
- Automatically turns on when in the mount and the car is started...and auto turns off after a countdown (which you can interrupt) when you turn off your ignition.
- Not very customizable. Seriously. The unit does have a range of settings that can be adjusted, but far less than my last GPS. Don't like the map color? Oh well. My last unit supported about ten map color schemes...although, granted, most were garish. My last unit also had "sliders" for highway and urban road preference. This unit simply has checkboxes to avoid various types of features. In general, I was surprised by the lack of customization options for routing, map display, POIs, etc...but not enough to turn me off to this otherwise incredibly elegant unit.
- Keyboard layout is not querty. Not bad for entering search info since it presents options for matched locations/addresses/POIS as you type...but its lack of a "shift" key can be annoying at times when you are trying to override its automatic switching between upper and lowercase when naming "favorites." BTW, it reads the location name that you have typed when you arrive...and it automatically interprets state abbreviations for some reason...so it will interpret the roman numeral VI as Virgin Islands...which almost made us crash while laughing...since it was part of the name of a Catholic School that we were driving to. :-)
- It doesn't crash. May seem like an odd thing to mention, but perhaps not if you ever owned a NavMan GPS. I began to think that the "illegal operation" dialog was my home icon.
I could go on and on, but what really matters is that it is a joy to use and it routes very well. If reviewers thought it was worth over $900 last year, it's pretty much a steal now. Personally, I can't see spending more given how quickly this technology advances...and how quickly they tend to fly off dashboards in the dead of night.
Customer Review: Almost Perfect and A Poor Man's In-Car GPS Navigation System
Summary: 5 Stars
I used iGuidance 1.0 for the Pocket PC for over 4 years before I got the Garmin nüvi 360. I loved the iGuidance but the Garmin nüvi 360 blew me away!
Accuracy
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The nüvi is very accurate; it has yet to fail to bring me to my destination. However, I've encountered a few instances where an address or road wasn't in the nüvi database - and I have the most current (2009) maps. In such cases, your best bet would be to simply enter an adjacent or nearby location into the nüvi.
Directions
The software lets you know how far ahead your next turn is when you're within between about .1 to .5 miles. It says something like "In .1 miles, turn left onto Broadway" and a few hundred feet before your turn, it omits the information on the distance before your turn and simply says "Turn left onto Broadway." I wish it used feet instead of miles when specifying distances .2 mile (1056 ft) or less but it's a minor complaint.
The software gives you the directions for two successive turns that are very close together (say, 300 feet apart) all at once to make sure you have ample time to respond to the second turn that immediately follows the first. For example, "Take exit 70, then keep left", or "Turn right, then immediately turn left."
However, it may occasionally notify you of a turn a little late, which results in you missing the turn. Thankfully, this doesn't happen very often. If you do miss a turn, however, the software recalculates a new route very quickly (within a couple of seconds)!
Auto-Off/Resume Function
My Garmin is a permanent fixture in my car. I leave the car adapter permanently hooked up to the unit. What I really love about it is it automatically turns off when the external power supply is lost. What this translates to is whenever I turn off my car engine, the unit automatically shuts itself off. When I start my car, the unit automatically fires back up. It gets better - it remembers your set destination when it turns back on and resumes giving you directions to your destination. This feature is handy for when I need to fill up on gas midway to a destination. After I'm done filling up my tank, I start my car, at which point the GPS unit fires back up and immediately resumes giving me directions to my destination. Very cool! This makes the Garmin nüvi the perfect In-Car GPS solution!
Data Entry
The keys for entering addresses into the nüvi are arranged alphabetically from A-Z, not in a QWERTY format. Personally, I find the tedium of having to hunt for letters in the A-Z format a real inconvenience and annoyance!
Lock It
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You can lock your nüvi with a 4-digit PIN. The package comes with 2 decals that state that your GPS unit is secured with a security code to deter would-be thieves from stealing the unit.
Text-To-Speech
The text to speech still sounds like it comes from a synthesized voice but it's perfectly intelligible.
Multi-Point Routing
Even though Multi-Point Routing is NOT an intended feature on the nüvi 360, it doesn't mean the nüvi isn't _capable_ of Multi-Point Routing. Here's how it's accomplished: Say, you want to go from point A to point D via point B and point C.
(i) You want to first set the destination to point D.
(ii) Then, once again, you set the destination a second time, this time to point C. You will receive the following prompt from the software asking "Insert as via point?", which essentially means: Do you want to overwrite the destination you've set in step (i), i.e. the point D destination or do you want to go to point D VIA point C. Answer YES.
(iii) Yet again, set the destination a third time to point B. Answer YES when prompted whether you want to "Insert as via point?"
There you have it, the nüvi is going to take you from point A to point D VIA points B and C. It's a clumsy roundabout way of getting the nüvi 360 to do Multi-Point Routing, but it can be done.
Nice Extras
- SD card Slot
Since the unit can serve as an MP3 Player and a photo viewer, it has an SD card slot allows you to load mp3 and photos (JPEG) onto the unit.
- MP3 Player
The MP3 Player is very basic. It has shuffle and repeat track/playlist. The unit will only read mp3 files in the root directory of the SD card; it will not read mp3 files that are in a folder. It will, however, read playlist (pls) files, which can have their source from one or more folders / sub folders. There are other limitations to the mp3 player:
(i) you cannot delete tracks
(ii) you cannot arrange/edit your playlists
To edit/delete your tracks or playlists, you will need to do so in your computer, mobile device, or music device.
- Picture Viewer
You can load your photos via the SD card slot and view it on the screen.
- Bluetooth Phone Hookup
I'm, unfortunately, still using a cell phone that's doesn't have Bluetooth (it's one of those antiquated phones reminiscent of the cell phones from the 90's) so I'm unable to test this feature. But I'm able to tell you it's a feature that allows you to hook up your phone to the GPS unit via Bluetooth so you can use the GPS unit as a handsfree console. Now, that's pretty nifty.
Conclusion
The Garmin nüvi 360 is a very affordable In-Car GPS Solution. Apart from the cumbersome interface (A-Z keys) for entering your destination, I really don't have very much else to complain about it. Highly recommended!
Customer Review: Here's the deal
Summary: 5 Stars
Here are some other details you may not know about this product that they don't tell you on the page. Copy paste this if you wish to save it.
This is a great system. However, be aware that this series is discontinued. Therefore, new accessories will not be made by Garmin for this device. Not that it matters because everything you need is already out there.
This unit is very nice and I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase.
Pros:
1. Yes, it actually speaks the names of the streets. It also speaks the name of your Points of Interest (POI's). It tells me "Arriving at Adams House on the left". It comes with Points of Interest already loaded and it will also pronounce those as well.
2. Battery will last between 3-7 hours depending on how you use it.
Charging it doesn't take very long at all.
3. Anti theft lock. If someone steals it, they're stupid cause they'll never use it unless they know the pin number. If you forget your pin number you can take the unit to your secret, custom programmed location and it will unlock for you allowing you to reset the pin.
4. It can operate at temperatures from 32 degrees to 114 degrees F
5. It has a built in MP3 player! It's great. It allows you to play albums, genre, artist, play all, shuffle, repeat, etc. Even allows you to play custom created playlists.
6. It has a trip odometer and more. Shows you all kinds of calculations to your drive for the savvy person who's really trying to be specific.
7. You can customize the vehicle displayed. I no longer use the default blue arrow. I use Mario from Super Mario Kart. :D There are hundreds to choose from on the internet.
8. You can download Red Light Camera files from the internet for the Nuvi and the Nuvi will notify you as you approach these intersections. This is definitely a bonus in my book! Tip: Find those files at poi-factory.com
9. Select multiple destinations at once via Waypoint. Great for couriers or other delivery personnel.
10. FM Traffic receiver ready! Buy the extra FM traffic receiver and your Nuvi will suggest other routes depending on color coded traffic information.
11. Antenna capable.
12. 3.5mm jack on the side for headphones, or audio out (play the sound through your car speakers)
13. SD Card slot on the side. This has been invaluable because I use an 8gb card and it's full of music. Garmin says there is no size limit for the SD card slot. So, buy them as big as you want!
14. Simulation mode. You can actually run a route in simulation mode allowing you to simulate actually driving somewhere. This will come in handy for those that like to customize individual POI's.
15. External microphone ready.
Cons:
1. Touch screen....isn't 100% perfect but pretty darn close. My suggestion; be EXACT when pushing the buttons. Ensure the button you're pressing highlights as you push it.Otherwise, you may end up pushing the wrong button. You can't speed type because it's not a qwerty keyboard.
2. The POI loader is basic and sucks but most people won't even bother to use that unless you're into customizing and stuff.
3. More than likely, you will have to update your map but it's free for 60 days after you turn it on. Plug in the USB cable, install the CD, Update the Map from garmin. DO NOT FORGET TO UPDATE THE FIRMWARE TOO. Thanks to POI-Factory.com for notifying of this and helping me do it.
4. The MP3 player has a bug. If you're listening to a song and you approach a coordinate with a custom proximity alert, instead of the alert sound being played, it for some reason, skips to the next song on your mp3 player. Weird, I know but apparently, I'm not the only one with this issue. (update: There is a fix for this...only add wav sounds for POI sndfx)
5. The suction cup mount sucks and if it falls, it could damage the equipment. So, for your sake, find a better method. There are bean bags, friction grips, vent mounts, cigarette lighter goose neck mounts, etc etc. After 3 tries, I may have finally found one that is perfect for my car.
6. There is no way to change the factory installed POI's. Example: It calls the gas station down the street from me a Mobile station but it's not. It's a Chevron and doesn't allow me to change it myself. It hasn't been a Mobile for 3 years. I updated the Map but apparently business names aren't updated as often as one would assume.
TIP2: Join POI-Factory.com. It's free and there are tons of people there willing to help you with your questions about this product. Sure beats sitting on the phone with Garmin.
For those that have a problem with the sound from the spoken directions I would HIGHLY recommend you find the program called "TTSVoiceEditor". This will allow you to amplify the voice sounds. I also had a problem with that and after about 5 minutes, it was fixed. It's really very simple. While I'm recommending programs, I may as well point you to these as well for your review.
Extra_POI_Editor
GUpdateMod
POI Loader
TTSvoiceEditor
For those that say it loads slow or takes a little longer than they'd like to "acquire satellites" please keep in mind that the colder the temperature you use it in the longer it will take to load.
Rule of thumb: If it's too cold or hot for you to sleep in the car then the same applies to your GPS. These little things can be sensitive. So, put it back in its leather case and bring it in the house.
Customer Review: Terrific NAV tool... but keep your eyes on road just in case!
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently purchased the NUVI360 and have to say that I am, overall, impressed with the product. I appreciate the size and weight of the NUVI as it is small and light, yet it does not come up short in screen size, or features.
A couple of things I would like to mention with having well played with this product for the past 5 weeks;
You can insert your own picture for splash screen, modify vehicle icon to personalize your NUVI and the list goes on and on. This is also true with the voice that prompts. You can select the voice, or language (and there are quite a few to choose from) that will prompt you. Of the 6 languages that I speak, 5 are available on the NUVI and each is very clear, crisp and precise.
Searching for and setting up destination/ favorite destination was a breeze. I doubt it can get much easier than this!! Select > Where to? > Address > Spell State > Spell City > Type in house number > Type in Street name :: and selction(s) that matches your search criteria appears for you to select. You can even do a simulated drive... although this is done at actual speed (YIKES!!).
I have not come across a more sturdy windshield mount... Very well made !!! Good job Garmin!!!
The trip information center? (touch the speed indicator located to the bottom left of the screen) gives distance count down and trip information including maximum speed, moving average speed and actual/ current speed. Oh yeah... it is very accurate!
I would recommend using the security feature (Garmin Lock). In the event your NUVI is ever lost, or permanently borrowed... there are 3 ways to unlock the unit. A PIN that you program, a specified GPS location (in my case, it's 3 feet over the edge of my balcony... Anyone standing at that physical location would be very noticeable... at the very least!) and in case you have amnesia (but did manage to register your NUVI with Garmin), then send it back to Garmin to unlock. The latter I'm sure will be at cost so try not to forget!!
Bluetooth feature > WOW!! My SLVR L7 easily discovered my NUVI and then auto connected without further need to select anything. Voice recognition dialing is ok, but its probably better to select from your address book. I have tested the unit in both my cars. In the TSX (which already has a GPS), the interior cabin is so quiet that the speakerphone option works at true driving speed.
In my `run-about' (a previous gen Corolla), I would have to say it did not do so well over 55mph. Road noise pretty much drowned out the conversation. Maybe it is a good thing as you really should concentrate more on driving (more at that type of speed) than to worry about conference calling anyone.
Distance accuracy is typically off its mark by about 18 feet, but I believe current non-military GPS devices compensates for this as I usually get a warning to turn at approximately .2, or .1 mile before I get to the turn. On the screen, touch the satellite signal status on the upper left corner to see what the accuracy is. Its pretty cool.
My NUVI can be used for European road system. I believe the v8 DVD is about $250 at the time of this review and will be purchased before I head off on another major driving trip in mid 2007. I am hoping accuracy will be better and not play out as it had on a recent trip (see below).
Accuracy became a bit frightening at one point. On 1/1/07, I drove down to Berlin, NJ for a family reunion at my uncle's. The trip in was relatively easy... 95S to 295 towards Atlantic City. I was able to locate the general area and then had to go to map because this location is a `recent build'. Yeap, the NUVI thinks I'm driving off road and into farmland!! But in actuality, it is a brand new housing community/ complex.
On the way out, late into the PM, it navigated me through local route before connecting to 295... Hmmm... odd. At one point on this route, I was told of and shown a straight road on the screen and was driving at about 40 mph. It was a good thing I looked down the road far enough to notice that the actual roadway now turns a sharp left, and where the NUVI had indicated a road, is now a deep ditch. The road that was once there is no longer and had I kept at speed, and did not pay attention, then I would have been in that ditch.
The same can also be said about the accuracy of the gas stations and restaurants indicated on the NUVI. Some have since closed down and/or have moved location, so don't wait until you are down to a quart of gas as you may be well disappointed.
Short of having access to the military's GPS's accuracy, I would have to give my NUVI a relatively high rating. It is true that it almost put me into a ditch, but then again, so could an out dated road atlas, or map any where on the planet.
Being a good driver has to be first and foremost, and then everything else. I now know the shortcomings and understand the best way to use this particular product. With that, I would give the NUVI360 a 4 star rating
But wait... there's more! On top of the 4 star rating, I have to say regardless of how good the product really is, there is nothing like a terrific technical support team that can help the end-user decipher and sort thought the functionalities and features of the product. Nathan @ Garmin, thank you for your assistance (and because of this), the product receives 1 additional star.
GARMIN NUVI360... you are a 5 star wonder gadget!!!