- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 72 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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17 out of 17 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Good, but QC needs to be better"
Pros: Compact, Simple, Text-to-speech
Cons: Map not perfect, voice direction a bit late
Summary: I have not used any other in-car navigation product before this product.
I wanted a GPS in-car navigation for my wife. I wanted it to be affordable and my wife wanted "text-to-speech". So, we settled with Garmin StreetPilot C340 because Garmin seemed to have a pretty good reputation in this market and because I got the impression that TomTom seemed to have some issues with the U.S. maps.
This is my second C340. The first one I got initially had a difficulty acquiring the satellite. The arrow showed that I was at Long. 0 and Lat. 0. However, this wasn't that big of a deal because I finally realized that I had to tell it that I had "moved more than 100 km". After that it did acquire the satellites.
However, the problem that prompted me to exchange the unit is that the software was giving me choices of states only between "Alabama" and "Alaska" (I am in California, btw). The maps were showing all the streets and all, but I just could not choose a location with an address.
So, I called Garmin's Support (the email doesn't seem to get answered quickly). After following the instruction to reset and everything, I was told that the unit was bad. It seemed this wasn't an isolated case either (the curteous support person seemed to be checking their support database). From my own experience and from other user comments on this site, I really think that Garmin has a serious Quality Control issue.
Anyway, my second C340 worked fine from the start. No problem finding satellites, so problem selecting California! If we only realized sooner that my wife's power outlet was broken! (Well, my wife thinks somehow I intentionally sabotaged her car so that I can play with this thing longer.
)
o. Posivites
- All North American maps are preloaded.
- Navigation and direction works (Navtech so similar to Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps).
- Simple operations.
- Text-to-speech is mostly understandable.
- Suction mount holds well.
- Screen is bright enough (I leave it at 50%).
o. Negatives
- Some map info was not quite correct but the same inaccuracies seem to be in Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps as well.
- Maybe I am driving too fast, but I felt the turning direction was too close to the actual location. Instead of just relying on the distance only, they should also consider the time to the location using the current speed. Of course, you can also look at the screen, but if you are relying on the aural cue only, this could be an issue.
- Screen is mostly okay, but in direct sun-light (or light reflected off of the back of the steering wheel), the reflection makes it a bit difficult to see.
- Sound volume could be louder. If the windows are closed, I didn't have a problem understanding it, but if the windows are down (which I liked to do instead of the AC), the loudest setting is a bit difficult to hear in the wind noise on a freeway.
- Traffic antenna addition is a bit too expense. Also, it seems to require opening up the front dashboard panel of the car to connect the FM antenna wiring, which I thought was too much. Why can't it have an FM antenna by itself?
Overall, I am quite happy with the product. We will be using it in many rental cars for our future trips!
- 1 reply to this review
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This is my first GPS unit and it's great. It was easy to setup. No quality issues, so far. I found it useful especially at night, finding street names and in the fog one morning. I really like the POI's that are included and the text-to-speech feature. For the price (less than $400.) it seems to fill my needs nicely.
Where to buy
Garmin StreetPilot c340:
$549.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$549.99 | See Site |
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