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: Lives up to the hype -- exceptionally well designed GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been looking at, researching, and yearning for a GPS unit for about four years before finally taking the plunge and buying a Nuvi 360 in December 2006. It was worth the wait. During the past month, the Nuvi 360 has become such an indispensable part of my driving routine that I can't imagine driving without it. I read reviews from many sources (Amazon, Consumer Reports, CNet, specialized GPS sites) before selecting the Nuvi 360. Nearly all the reviews said that if you can come to terms with the steep price, the Nuvi is the best GPS out there. Based on my first six weeks with the unit, I've joined the fan club.
If you're where I was six weeks ago, and you're trying to decide which features are worth paying for and which aren't, here's my summary of my experience with the Nuvi 360:
- The unit is very very small (about the size of a deck of cards) but the screen is quite large. The design is obvious the minute you install the device: By making the front panel all screen, the engineers maximized visibility while minimizing the extent to which the GPS clutters your windshield.
- I almost paid more for the Nuvi 660, which has a larger screen. I'm glad I didn't. Additional vertical screen space might give you the ability to see more of your upcoming route, but additional horizontal screen space (which is what the 660 has) doesn't really help in navigation at all and it just takes up more windshield space.
- The text-to-speech functionality (which allows the 360 to annouce upcoming turns and street names) is worth its weight in gold. If I had gone for a cheaper unit without TTS, I might not have known how valuable it is. I can often complete a 20-30 minute trip without ever looking at the screen -- I just follow the voice prompts. It's sort of like having someone in the passenger seat reading the map for you and calling out directions.
- Installation takes about 30 seconds. I'm very glad that I bought a unit with all of the North American street-level maps preloaded. The UPS guy delivered the box, and I was pulling out of the driveway with my Nuvi installed and guiding me within minutes.
- Before buying the GPS, I didn't really understand the importance of Points of Interest. Now I do. I have used the POI to navigate to a store (for which I did not have an address), to find the nearest gas station, and to find the nearest hospital (when a member of my family was injured while we were away from home). The Nuvi POI database is fantastic. One warning though: If you are able to verify the street address of the destination, you should. I one case, the Nuvi sent me to the wrong location because it had the right street name and number but the wrong town (by unlucky coincidence, two adjoining towns had streets with the same name, so it wasn't obvious to me that the GPS was sending me the wrong place until it announced that we had arrived but the store was nowhere in sight).
- The speed, accuracy, and level of detail of the unit is outstanding. I have yet to find a street that's not on the built-in GPS map.
- The GPS usually locks onto the satellites very quickly. However, sometimes it can't seem to find the birds. If it doesn't get a lock within 30 seconds, it seems to get "stuck" and can remain clueless for about 10 minutes. A couple of other reviewers have noted this problem. I haven't had this problem too often, and, unlike the other reviewer, I've never had to hit reset. When it happens, the unit eventually displays an error message, asks me three questions, then seems to fix the problem and lock on. I'm not sure whether this is a glitch, or whether it happens to all GPS units. It seems to happen only on heavily overcast, rainy days.
- The Nuvi is so small that I take it with me in my jacket pocket when I'm in another city. It's great for finding my way to unfamiliar locations (offices, restaurants, etc.) when I'm in another city on business. I haven't had to ask for directions since I got it.
We've all bought new gadgets that failed to live up to expectations. The Nuvi 360 not only lived up to my expectations, it exceeded them. As noted above, it's not perfect, but it comes incredibly close. It's well designed, works almost flawlessly, and very quickly becomes as seamless a part of your driving routine as the steering wheel and rear-view mirror.
Customer Review: A Winner for the Directionally Challenged
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this Garmin nuvi 360 since February of '08 and have used the device on several trips since. I live in Illinois and have used the unit on local trips and long trips to Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Tennessee. First, let me say that I researched GPS units prior to purchasing this one. I went to the local stores and read on line reviews to help with the decision. I decided what features and price range worked best for me and chose this model.
The 360 has the features I wanted in a GPS and the Amazon price saved me around $100 over Best Buy. The 3 1/2 inch screen is easily viewed in day and night modes and maneuvering from one menu to another is easy. I really like the way the unit announces directions and street names (Text-to-Speech) and appreciate being able to concentrate on driving, especially in city traffic, instead of on the map. The attention tone feature is also nice. This function sounds a chime immediately before an announcement so if you're visiting or listening to radio/stereo you can be ready to listen. The menu is packed full of locations organized in different categories. I like being able to look for gas stations, restaurants and stores while on the road. The built in Bluetooth was a main reason I got the 360. I particularly appreciate being able to make phone calls from the device. My wife and I used the Bluetooth several times on vacation to call hotels/stores while on the road. While I like the Bluetooth, I had complaints from several people on the receiving end of the conversation who said I sounded like I was in a tin can. They also complained of feed back. Perhaps the tin can affect is from cabin noise and distance from the unit. The feed back was probably a volume issue. I needed the volume set higher to hear directions but then the phone calls were really loud. I turned down the Garmin's volume a couple of notches during calls. I have found the Garmin's maps to be detailed and accurate for the most part. Although the screen of the Garmin cannot show a map like you see in a road atlas, you can scroll the map in order to look ahead on your route.
As I mentioned above I have used the Garmin on several trips over a period of several months. I won't detail all of those trips but will say that the nuvi generally did an outstanding job on the highway and in the city. There have been instances where the unit took me to a place or street that had changed or the GPS got confused and kept telling me to turn when common sense, experience and maps dictated differently. The latter happened once when driving through Atlanta on the way to FL and again when we were within a few miles of an Army base. The vast majority of the time, however, the unit has performed quite well and rare errors in navigating were my fault and not the 360's.
I do advise to keep map software updated. I updated the 360's map software prior to summer vacation driving and noticed a difference. I also want to include a warning: husbands beware. The first long trip on which I used the Garmin was to my mother-in-law's house in KY. Please note, I am directionally challenged, my wife is not. If you are traveling to your wife's childhood home and follow the GPS instead of your wife's directions you may encounter marital strife. Even though I keep the 360 set on "Fastest Route" most of the time and we went straight to her mother's house, my wife said there was a better, quicker way. I explained that I was following the Garmin for the sake of science but that didn't quite wash. Interestingly, on a return trip to the same place a few months later after I had updated the maps, the 360 used the route my wife suggested the first time.
I do like this product but there is a learning period and I like directions. Garmin doesn't include the full manual with this unit. Instead, they include a quick guide. The full manual can be read on the computer but if you want a hard copy you'll have to print the 67 page manual yourself.
Finally, a comment which is not specific to this Garmin product. I purchased Fodor's North America from Garmin for this nuvi's Travel Kit and have been disappointed. While I have used the extra, I haven't found the guide to be quite as helpful as I expected in locating and describing sites.
Customer Review: Excellent product, great directions, bluetooth okay
Summary: 4 Stars
I figured I was getting a good product, but I never expected to be so surprised at how REALLY good this one is. It's very easy to use, and the screen is plenty bright to be seen even in the sun. It's about the size of a pack of cards, making it very easy to travel with - you don't feel like you're lugging it along with you, it just tucks away.
We took this on a trip from Central Illinois to Kentucky, including several stops and detours along the way. The directions were very good, and in the one instance where a road no longer went through when Garmin thought it did, the device recalculated the correct route in seconds. It was equally good when we hit a detour on the way back home. I pressed the Detour button, and immediately had a new, very efficient route that only added three minutes to the total estimated time.
The Points of Interest feature works well. It helped us find several restaurants and parks that we wouldn't have known about otherwise. It obviously doesn't know about *everything*, but it is still very helpful. When searching for POI's, you can look for locations near where you are at the time, along your route, near your destination, or near a different city. The POI's are also very nicely categorized so you can quickly find exactly what you're after.
You can store locations in a "Favorites" list. These and other locations (such as but not limited to the POI's) can be inserted as "waypoints" on the way to your main destination, which is a nice feature.
The most helpful feature is how much time the device gives you to make your next turn. You get about a mile on the Interstate, which is generally plenty of time even in heavy traffic. Unfortunately this time is cut down when you're driving in town, and sometimes you don't get enough notice to make the turn on time. However, the device compensates for this somewhat by giving directions such as "In .3 miles turn right on Main Street, then turn left." In that case you at least know what you're going to have to do next and can be ready to do it quickly if you need to.
I also like that it tells you which side of the interstate your exit will be on. It will even tell you when you need to "keep left" or "keep right," so often you don't even need to watch the highway signs.
The text-to-speech feature works well and provides audible directions that are loud enough to hear easily even over an older vehicle that has a lot of road and wind noise.
Accuracy on the open road is usually about 9 or 10 feet, which is shorter than most cars and therefore plenty good.
The device will tell you what time you can expect to reach your destination, which is very accurate. It tallies the amount of time you've spent driving and the time you've spent stopped. It also tells your current speed, your average moving speed, and your overall average speed including time stopped.
As far as the "extra" features go, the MP3 player is remarkably full-featured (browse by album, artist, etc.) and easy to use. The speaker isn't really good enough to get great sound, but it's nice if there's nothing good on the radio. The bluetooth feature is also pretty good, although not outstanding. I can hear callers well, and they can hear and understand me okay, but they do hear some background noise. (I don't know how you'd avoid that in a moving car.)
There are a couple features that I'm not sure are mentioned in the owner's manual that are worth pointing out:
1.) From the menu screen, you can tap the GPS signal strength icon for a report of current positioning accuracy
2.) While traveling to a destination, you can tap the "Turn In..." icon at the lower right to have the next turn read to you, or to scroll through the rest of the directions for the trip with a map and mileage and time estimates for each step.
3.) You can get a short list of remaining turns by tapping the green bar at the top of the map that displays the current information.
4.) Tap the "Estimated Time" button in the lower left to pull up your current speed, average speed, distance driven, etc.
I am highly satisfied with this unit. I can't imagine going back to traveling without it. This makes trips so easy.
Customer Review: Highly Reccomended, great update to previous models.
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent Product!
I had a Garmin Nuvi 200, and being pleased with the functionality of that unit, decided to stick to this brand. All I did was update to this model, and I'm EXTREMELY satisfied.
I chose this model for several specific reasons.
1.) It has Bluetooth, which was important for me as I like to have both hands on the wheel as I drive, but I also need to talk to family/friends. This unit allows you to do it with ease! Simply sync your Bluetooth capable phone with the unit and the contact list is automatically downloaded to the GPS phone book!!! Press the phone button on the main menu, choose whom to call, and that's it! I can hear the people just fine and have tried the other end of the line, and while there is some background noise, it isn't a lot, and I can make out what the person in the car is saying just fine. The other great thing about this unit is that unlike the 200 model, it not only has addresses of local business and attractions, it has their phone numbers!!! This is great when on the road, you need to find a local hotel, and you don't have to search for the number! Just choose the hotel, the number will be listed, press the phone button, and voila! You're calling to find out if they have any rooms available!!!
2.) The ease of use of Garmin products is unparalleled. I was setting this unit up right after pulling it out of the box, and was playing around with what language I should use as the text and speech. Accidently, I still don't know which, I chose a foreign language I couldn't read and understand. I was terrified! How do I change it to English, I thought? Luckily, Garmin units are very visually oriented, such that within a couple minutes of clicking on the pictures, I was able to change the language setting back to English. This unit is so easy to use/understand/navigate anyone can use it with flair.
3.) I didn't need the traffic option. While I can subscribe to the traffic updates, I have done some research and as far as I understand I do not need it, since it is still in the initial stages of development and the update quality is poor as is the accuracy (only for major roads/highways only I might add). Hence, it is not, in my opinion, worth spending the money for a higher end model that includes the 3 month subscription for "free" when you buy it. I suggest you wait a couple years for the system to really work well on all streets for it to be worth paying $12+/mo.
4.) I bought this unit also because the screen size is perfect. There's really no sense in buying a unit with a larger screen size as I depend on the voice of the unit to tell me where to turn, and with a quick glance to find out in how many feet/miles I need to turn. Hence, is it really worth it paying $100-$200 for something you really don't look at too much?
5.) Finding an address is quick and easy. As you are using the touch screen, the unit will actually be searching simultaneously for streets/cities that match what you are typing, so that you almost never have to type out the full name, it will, midway, pull up a list of 3-4 names that match what you've pressed in thus far, hence, saving you a lot of time (good for people who find touch screen cumbersome at times).
6.) This unit, compared to my old model, has some funky stuff. Like and mp3 player, audio book reader (need to purchase the books on [...]), and picture viewer (an SD slot on the side provides this). However, you're getting a GPS, not any of the above. The picture quality is so-so, and the sound quality obviously won't be as good as even your car stereo, so I wouldn't use those extra options as anything to base your purchasing decision on; you did work hard for that money, so get functionality instead of bling.
Overall, this unit, for the price is what you need. Maybe Garmin 350 would be just as good (except in the future, since it has no traffic receiver, you won't be able to get traffic updates through subscription if you choose to).
Oh, and one final note. This unit costs $100 less than what my Garmin 200 cost 2 years ago, and look how much more functionality there is! So, again, definitely worth the price.
Customer Review: An "insanely great" device
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm one of those people who wondered why anyone would pay big bucks for a GPS Navigation system when a $3 map would do the trick. The Garmin Nuvi 360 has converted me! And I continue to be amazed at the power, usefulness and ease of use of this little device.
On a recent trip from San Francisco to Vancouver, B.C. I took the Nuvi with me to avoid having to lug a shoebox full of maps. It took less than 15 minutes from opening the box to having it working in my car. The mount attaches easily and securely to the windshield, and the device powers up and is ready to use quickly right out of the box. The interface is well-designed and intuitive. You really don't need the manual. Even technophobes will quickly learn how to use most of the features with ease.
Entering a destination address is easy and quick. You simply press letters on a touchscreen keypad to spell out the address. Usually after just a few keystrokes, the device is smart enough to predict what you are typing and fill in the rest. Then you simply press a large "GO!" box and the device takes over. It varies the scale of the map so you have the best view of what you need to do next, and it speaks direction commands to you at just the right time. In my experience, these commands were very accurate and extremely helpful in their specific detail, for example, "In 50 feet, turn right on Main Street..."
I've read others say that the routing is not always accurate or optimal. I have not found that to be the case. In fact, on occasion, the Nuvi has suggested a route that was better than the one I was already familiar with.
There is a "favorite places" menu which I have found very useful, and the device keeps track of the recent places you've gone, which makes going back to any of them--from anywhere--extremely easy. Just press the big "GO HOME!" button, and wherever you are, the device will guide you home.
For longer trips, the device can display a "dashboard" with useful and interesting information, like estimated arrival time, length of travel, average speed, etc. You can also watch your progress on a map which shows points of interest that are nearby.
All this is pretty cool. But what really sold me on the device was an experience with the restaurant guide feature...I was driving on I-5 in the middle of nowhere and getting hungry. Just for fun, I decided to see if there were any Chinese restaurants nearby. With 2-3 keystrokes, the device listed one within 3 miles. I pressed "GO", and it guided me there. The travel guide feature soon becomes addictive. It's full of useful points of interest which are simple to locate and select.
After mastering the basic features, I experimented with the audio player. I easily added music and podcast files from a Mac using the supplied USB cable, simply by dragging and dropping MP3 files. An SD card allows for expanding the memory capacity. Ok, so it is not an iPod, but if I could have just one device in my car it would be the Nuvi. My only quibble is that the sound volume seems not to go loud enough, especially if you are driving with a window down, it will be difficult to hear the audio. Perhaps there is a way to wireless transmit the audio output to an FM channel on your car radio. If so, that would be a great feature.
The unit is about the size of a deck of cards and feels solid. The screen is sharp and bright enough for most applications, except perhaps in direct sunlight. It's so useful and portable that I sometimes carry it with me when traveling in unfamiliar areas, and definitely use it in rental cars. I haven't yet used the bluetooth features, as I need to upgrade my phone first. But when I do, I expect it will add a whole other dimension to the device's usefulness.
In short, this is one of those rare devices (TiVO comes to mind as another) that I never thought I needed, and now that I have it, I can't imagine how I lived without it. Garmin has really hit a homerun with the Nuvi 360. It's easy to learn, easy to use, and full of useful features.