Garmin GPS V user reviews

Pros Can be good - when it works. on March 7, 2011 by rickity-1  | Read full review

Pros Gray scale=long battery life, can change orientation of screen, stays locked on sats even in congested areas, water proof to 1 meter, rugged buttons, good screen resolution, variety of mounts to suit almost any application available on March 29, 2009 by Timthemech  | Read full review

Pros Affordable; Durable; Relatively portable; FULLY customizable menus (power utilization, screen views, etc.); Includes map CD ($139 value); Routable basemap (driving directions); Waterproof to 1 meter. on November 12, 2005 by xnyoung  | Read full review

Pros accurate, compact and water resistant on March 7, 2005 by geordie  | Read full review

Pros Paid $315 and the unit provides all I need in GPS at this point. Efficient, pretty easy to learn, good battery life. on January 3, 2004  | Read full review

Pros Ninety-nine percent of the time, the GPS V is right on the money. Once I was sent into the wrong part of town while seeking a shopping mall. on November 15, 2003  | Read full review

Pros I've had it a year and a half and it still costs more now that it did when I bought it (retains value). The product is pretty sturdy and very reliable. on November 7, 2003  | Read full review

Pros I love my GPS V. For a portable/transportable gps system of $350 got me the Deluxe Package with shipping. The maps are detailed and it gets me to where I need to go. It's pretty accurate. Realtime is about less than 2 seconds off. on October 29, 2003  | Read full review

Summary I purchased this unit along with additional Mapsource software to use with my laptop. Included with that package is a nine pin (female) serial connector. My laptop (and most, according to Garmin technicians) does not have a serial port. I have purchased several USB converters (including Garmin's) and none of them have worked with the unit. Garmin technicians told me that there is only a 40% chance that the USD connection will ever work. Today I purchased a PCMCIA data card serial adaptor and I hope that this works. Get with the times Garmin, how about selling a USB or Hotwire connection? I would have paid extra for this option!

Summary I used it for offroading, travelling downtown with addition external antena, never let me down or lost

Summary I use the Garmin V on long distance cycling trips. It provides DETAILED information that goes way beyond longitude and latitude. Sure, the ultra detailed maps are extra if you want the entire USA or world, however, the price seems fair. I had one occation where I needed customer support to deliver a CD to me on the road. THEY DID IT WITHOUT BATTING AN EYE. It was express mailed to an address where I picked it up. Being able to use topo maps and Garmin's Mapsource products at the same time on the same GPS is a great feature. This is my third Garmin. I do wish that it had a scratch pad for notes, but maybe that's coming.

Summary Prior to purchasing my GPS V, I tried the Magellan Meridian GPS but I returned it because didn't like the fact that it did not have the auto routing features that the GPS V has. This is a good unit that I recommend if its primary usage will be on a vehicule. Here are the pros: - Autorouting features - Good precisions of the unit and maps - Solid unit - Good screen resolution (but small) And the cons: - Slow to process routes and to redraw maps - The map details do not cover much area in Canada as compared to Magellan MapSend which is very complete. Only major cities are covered. -No possibility to add memory. The 19 MB is only sufficient for two large city and there is not much left for anything else. Garmin should use standard SD memory cards in their units. -Very slow uploading process: Uploading the 19 MB takes approximately 55 minutes at the fastest 115,200 mbs xfer rate -No auto-off feature -The user interface is not as well designed as the Magellan unit - No possibility to convert a trail to a route as the Magellan unit does - Small screen - Sometimes gives wrong routing especially when going from city tu rural locations (Montreal to the northern rural areas)

Summary My Garmin V somtime "hang" when it have made a turn by turn and the recalculation is somtime very slow. But I am very happy to have it. If Garmin is able to fix thise minuses it will be a great GPS

Summary A great design that will last for a long time. the hardware is good. Excillent product! The software, however, is a little outdated which is expected. I can't wait until they update the software. Compared to the much more expensive indash $2000 gps, thier software accuracy is about the same. I can take the GPS V where ever I want but the indash ones can't. The refresh rate is a little slow too. For the money I spent on this versatile and intelligent(most of the time) product, I can't complain. Good job Garmin!

Summary I have three other GPS units. This one Blows them all away... Best value yet, you could spnd all the more for a street pilot but this one can do it all and in the palm of your hand. Fits perfectly in my jeep and on my bike. Used for Geocaching and works great. Best sat aquisition and accuracy of all my units. External antenna in my car makes it super accurate and responsive. If you are considering it dont hesitate.. buy it now. Come with full unlock now so even more usable covering North America. Only complaint... slow serial transfer... solution for big trips load info night before and your set! I turn it on in my car before i start the engine... even when not navigating.. the map screen displays the next street ahead at all times... Garmin has out done itself this time! This is the last GPS for a while... unless Garmin makes a better version of the V... Super Unit!

Summary I really like my GPS-V but the fixed internal memory, 19Meg, limits me to how much map I can load. Example; I have most of the San Francisco Bay area but when I needed to go to Santa Cruz I didn't have detailed maps because I didn't have enough time to load them via the serial port before leaving. I sure wish it had a Compact Flash slot.

Summary My third Garmin GPS in the past 8 years. Accuracy is nothing short of amazing with WAAS enabled. Needs more memory. Map redraws a bit slow.

Summary It needs more memory!!!! The GPSv does all that it says it will, perfect directions and turn by turn is wonderfull.

Summary I had the SP III and found it to be too big on my dash. I loved the color screen and the size of the screen, but it just took up too much space, and it could not be used other than in the car. Enter the GPS V. The size is great, the screen, although small is perfectly readable, and the routing and audible alerts are great. While I do miss the voice prompts of the SP III, i am more than happy with this unit.