Garmin GPS Review

Garmin Nuvi 360 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant

The Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant is a GPS navigator, personal translator, multi-media entertainer and tour guide all wrapped into one. In addition to all the advanced features of the Garmin Nuvi 350 — including automatic routing, turn-by-turn voice directions, an MP3 player and audio book player, JPEG picture viewer, and much more — this pocket-sized personal travel assistant comes with hands-free Bluetooth wireless technology, making it the hands-down go-anywhere travel companion.

The versatile Garmin Nuvi 360 packs GPS navigation, multi-media entertainment, and more into a single device.

Navigation is easy with automatic routing, voice directions, and more. View larger.

The Nuvi 360 sports a handy MP3 player. View larger.

Make Hands-Free Calls
The Nuvi 360 integrates wireless technology with a microphone and speaker that lets you make hands-free mobile phone calls using your compatible Bluetooth-enabled phone. Simply dial numbers with the Nuvi’s touch screen keypad to place a call, and to answer calls, just tap the screen and speak directly into its built-in microphone.

In addition, you can easily look-up and dial numbers from your personalized phone book or from your phone’s call history log. Don’t know the phone number for your destination? Simply find and dial it from Nuvi’s database of more than six million points of interest — including hotels, restaurants, stores, and attractions.

Navigation and Entertainment with Ease
For starters, the Nuvi 360 includes a high-sensitivity integrated GPS receiver that offers exceptional performance and reception. The unit’s flip-up antenna includes an MCX-type connector for optional external GPS antenna connection. Preloaded software features maps of Europe or North America, and it includes automatic routing, 2D or 3D map perspective, turn-by-turn voice directions that speak street names, and a fingertip touch screen interface — making navigation as easy as it gets.    

But navigation is just the beginning. Like the Nuvi 350, the Nuvi 360 also includes many entertainment and travel tools including an MP3 player, audio book player, JPEG picture viewer, travel alarm, and currency converters.

The Nuvi 360 features a bright, 2.8 x 2.1-inch TFT display with white backlight for easy readability. At 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87-inches (WxHxD) and just 5.1 ounces, the unit is small enough to be placed on the dashboard with the included suction mount, or into your pocket for easy transportability. The unit also features Garmin Lock — an advanced anti-theft feature that disables the unit from performing any functions until you type in a specific four-digit PIN or take the unit to a predetermined location. A built-in lithium ion battery will give you up to eight hours of power, and an included 12/24 volt adapter cable will let you run the navigator off your vehicle’s power. An AC battery charger is also included.

A built-in Travel Kit that includes sample MP3s and audio books will get you started with entertainment, and with the unit’s SD memory card expansion slot you can add optional software, such as language and travel guides. A USB port is also included for loading and updating data.

Garmin nuvi 360 Features:

• GPS Type - Automobile
• Form Factor - Fixed
• Map capabilities - Internal
• Enhanced accuracy - WAAS enabled
• User interface - Touch Screen
• Receiver type - Parallel-Channel (12)
• Display Size - 2.8 in. x 2.1 in.
• Display Type - LCD TFT Display
• Resolutions - 320 X 240
• Special Features - Waypoint Icons, MP3 Player
• Audible Features - Voice Navigation Instructions
• Trip calculator - Maximum speed, Odometer, Route Recalculation
• Included Software/Maps - North America Maps, Europe Maps
• PC Interface - USB, Bluetooth Wireless Technology
• Expension slot type - SD (Secure Digital) Card Slot
• Antenna - Built-in, External Antenna Hookup
• Accuisition time - cold - 38 sec
• Accuisition time - warm - 1 sec
• Update rate - 1 per second, continuous
• Waypoints - 500
• Battery Type and Quantity - Proprietary Lithium
• Dimensions:
• Height - 7.4 cm
• Width - 9.8 cm
• Depth - 2.2 cm
• Weight - 0.1 kg

What’s in the Box
Gamin Nuvi 360, Preloaded City Navigator NT North America or Europe (full coverage), vehicle suction cup mount, AC charger, 12/24 volt adapter cable, dashboard disk, USB interface cable, carrying case, owner’s manual, and quick reference guide.

Customer Review: Room for improvement
I tested the Nuvi 360, along with a separately purchased Europe NT SD card during a recent trip to Italy. A lot has been written about the positives and the technology in general is remarkable and should not be taken for granted. However, given the increasing competition and the many new GPS models introduced every year, as well as Nuvi’s premium price, here is what I wish the Nuvi 360 had:

Hardware:
= A built-in FM transmitter to play audio through the car radio. It is strange that a $50 device such as Delphi’s Roady XT XM radio has a great built-in FM transmitter, while the $700 Nuvi 360 does not. And it should not cost additional $200 to get it in the Nuvi 660. Otherwise the hardware was solid and to my knowledge the 350/360 remains the most portable device on the market. The device never lost satellite reception, including in many short tunnels.

Software issues:
= Very limited (inadequate) customization.
= While Jill did a good job with street names in the US, she failed miserably in Italy - her speech was useless as the spoken street names were completely unrecognizable - and soon the butchery of the Italian language became extremely annoying. Unfortunately, switching to the Italian lady did not help as she did not even try to pronounce the street names - she only instructed us to turn left or right in a given distance, without telling us the names of the streets.
= Another major software issue was the lack of color distinction in the display of the traveled vs. not-yet-traveled route - the identical purple path display was very confusing at ramps, complicated intersections, and u-turns - it was often impossible to tell which way to follow and we had to rely on street signs.

Less significant software issues included the following:
= Speed was not displayed on the main page while driving to a destination. Instead, the semi-static ETA display took the place of speed. I wish the ETA were displayed for a few seconds initally, and subsequently only for a few seconds whenever there was an ETA change or a route recalculation. The continuous ETA display should have been relegated to the secondary page, or at least the user should have been allowed to choose between speed and ETA display on the main page;

= The map display zoomed out automatically as the speed increased beyond a certain level ignoring the zoom level selected by the user. The auto zoom feature could not be disabled and was unpleasant. Apart from being more respectful of the user’s preferences, without the autozoom the Nuvi would have been quite helpful in displaying the geometry of the next turn of the winding minor road in the hills of Tuscany. The auto zoom feature also meant that the points of interest (POIs) seized to be displayed at all at a certain speed, regardless of the wishes of the user;

= the Nuvi was of limited value when driving in Rome due to the following: 1) the street name pronunciation issue, 2) the delay in updating the display after a turn which presented a significant problem when driving along the short and narrow streets where turns came quickly and u-turns were often not a possibility, and 3) the strange routing in the city - on several occasions the GPS instructed us to make a detour of about a mile in order to get to the next point on the indicated route - only a block or so away from our current position and reachable in a perfectly legal manner;

= the Nuvi lacked an option to select a touchscreen keyboard layout - the built-in sequential keyboard (abcdef) was quite awkward to use given that every other portable device I have has a qwerty keyboard;

= it was impossible to choose to display POIs selectively by categories - for instance, when driving I would have liked to display restaurants I passed by - instead, the autozoom did meant that no POIs were displayed most of the time, or when waiting at a light all nearby POIs of all categories became displayed resulting in a crowded and useless map. In addition, I would have liked the POI display to show the POI’s name and not only the category symbol;

= the simulated route was useless as currently implemented, as it needed to be `traveled’ in real time - in the TomTom One the same feature allows high speed browsing of the route and thus the ability to review and influence the selection;
= there was no way to turn off the Bluetooth when not required - I assume that it consumed unnecessary power and shortened the battery life when the Nuvi was operating unplugged. In general, I found the Bluetooth quality lacking.

Before I left for Italy I downloaded Italian speed cameras POIs - this feature worked very well and may result in significant savings to drivers who may be mislead by the seemingly erratic driving in Italy and elsewhere in Europe (cars going 200 km/h and then suddenly breaking and barely moving for no apparent reason) - due to speed cameras known to the locals.

I was also impressed to find out that many unpaved roads were correctly shown on the GPS - I followed some and experienced more thanks to the device.

In conclusion, I am still debating whether to keep or return the unit. With GPS prices falling rapidly and competition intensifying, I very much hope that Garmin will make some significant changes to the software and make us feel good about having bought the best.

Customer Review: Fantastic for Address Navigation, Bluetooth not worth it though
I’ve had the Nuvi 360 for a couple of weeks now and has really performed fantastically. From finding us places to eat and sleep in Hawaii (Oahu) and correctly navigating me to about 15 different addesses as I was checking out houses in the Southern California area, the unit has provided incredibly detailed and timely driving directions and even tells you which side of exit ramps to bear to, so that you can accurately go east/west or north/south as the case may be.

The FIND function is good for finding things nearby your location, but don’t count on it to take the place of the yellow-pages. Though there are POI’s stored on it and it easily locates some of the more frequently visited establishments, this real worth of this device is not in finding you the nearest restaurant you’re in the mood for, but navigating you to that destination given an address or intersection. You will do yourself a favor if you always have an address or intersection, as you can not find a single road with the Nuvi–so a little prior planning will go a long way.

I got the 2GB SD card with it, but just know that it is totally unnecessary. You don’t need it for navigation or restaurant storage–in fact the country, language and Fodor’s guides are all on separate and special SD cards. If you get one, it will only be to store photos or MP3’s. If you’re using this as your sound system however, perhaps you should be putting the money somewhere else first, before getting yourself a Navigator :O)

The included cigarrette-lighter plug works out nicely when you keep it plugged in all the time. It automatically turns the unit on when you turn the keys in the ignition and shuts down in 15 seconds when you leave the automobile. If you choose not to use the Nuvi while driving however, it simply charges the Nuvi for later battery use, for instance, if you wanted to take it biking or on a walk (yes, it has navigational settings for both!).

The visitbility is fine and the suction-mount is terrific, so there’s no permanent commitment necessary. The only problem with the obvious windshield mount of the device is that once you link it with your Bluetooth phone and try to talk through it, your face is so far away from the front of your windshield that people on the other end can barely hear you and it’s a tossup of how well you hear them (forget about it if you have a sunroof or convertible top down).

For the difference in price between the 350 and 360, I wish I had forgotten about the Blue Tooth option and just went with the 350. Enough people seem to have other hands-free devices these days that having “another” one, that only works in your car, is really not worth your while.

Apart from the Bluetooth glitch, the Nuvi is one of the greatest devices I have ever owned and I think has payed for itself in uselessness, just this past week. And I don’t think driving to a new location and asking it to show you driving distances to everything “nearby” will ever get old :O) I love it!

Buy Garmin Nuvi 360 or Find other Garmin GPS products.

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Tags: electronic, review, gps review, garmin, gps, garmin gps review, garmin gps, shopping

Garmin Nuvi 360 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant

The Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant is a GPS navigator, personal translator, multi-media entertainer and tour guide all wrapped into one. In addition to all the advanced features of the Garmin Nuvi 350 — including automatic routing, turn-by-turn voice directions, an MP3 player and audio book player, JPEG picture viewer, and much more — this pocket-sized personal travel assistant comes with hands-free Bluetooth wireless technology, making it the hands-down go-anywhere travel companion.

The versatile Garmin Nuvi 360 packs GPS navigation, multi-media entertainment, and more into a single device.

Navigation is easy with automatic routing, voice directions, and more. View larger.

The Nuvi 360 sports a handy MP3 player. View larger.

Make Hands-Free Calls
The Nuvi 360 integrates wireless technology with a microphone and speaker that lets you make hands-free mobile phone calls using your compatible Bluetooth-enabled phone. Simply dial numbers with the Nuvi’s touch screen keypad to place a call, and to answer calls, just tap the screen and speak directly into its built-in microphone.

In addition, you can easily look-up and dial numbers from your personalized phone book or from your phone’s call history log. Don’t know the phone number for your destination? Simply find and dial it from Nuvi’s database of more than six million points of interest — including hotels, restaurants, stores, and attractions.

Navigation and Entertainment with Ease
For starters, the Nuvi 360 includes a high-sensitivity integrated GPS receiver that offers exceptional performance and reception. The unit’s flip-up antenna includes an MCX-type connector for optional external GPS antenna connection. Preloaded software features maps of Europe or North America, and it includes automatic routing, 2D or 3D map perspective, turn-by-turn voice directions that speak street names, and a fingertip touch screen interface — making navigation as easy as it gets.    

But navigation is just the beginning. Like the Nuvi 350, the Nuvi 360 also includes many entertainment and travel tools including an MP3 player, audio book player, JPEG picture viewer, travel alarm, and currency converters.

The Nuvi 360 features a bright, 2.8 x 2.1-inch TFT display with white backlight for easy readability. At 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87-inches (WxHxD) and just 5.1 ounces, the unit is small enough to be placed on the dashboard with the included suction mount, or into your pocket for easy transportability. The unit also features Garmin Lock — an advanced anti-theft feature that disables the unit from performing any functions until you type in a specific four-digit PIN or take the unit to a predetermined location. A built-in lithium ion battery will give you up to eight hours of power, and an included 12/24 volt adapter cable will let you run the navigator off your vehicle’s power. An AC battery charger is also included.

A built-in Travel Kit that includes sample MP3s and audio books will get you started with entertainment, and with the unit’s SD memory card expansion slot you can add optional software, such as language and travel guides. A USB port is also included for loading and updating data.

Garmin nuvi 360 Features:

• GPS Type - Automobile
• Form Factor - Fixed
• Map capabilities - Internal
• Enhanced accuracy - WAAS enabled
• User interface - Touch Screen
• Receiver type - Parallel-Channel (12)
• Display Size - 2.8 in. x 2.1 in.
• Display Type - LCD TFT Display
• Resolutions - 320 X 240
• Special Features - Waypoint Icons, MP3 Player
• Audible Features - Voice Navigation Instructions
• Trip calculator - Maximum speed, Odometer, Route Recalculation
• Included Software/Maps - North America Maps, Europe Maps
• PC Interface - USB, Bluetooth Wireless Technology
• Expension slot type - SD (Secure Digital) Card Slot
• Antenna - Built-in, External Antenna Hookup
• Accuisition time - cold - 38 sec
• Accuisition time - warm - 1 sec
• Update rate - 1 per second, continuous
• Waypoints - 500
• Battery Type and Quantity - Proprietary Lithium
• Dimensions:
• Height - 7.4 cm
• Width - 9.8 cm
• Depth - 2.2 cm
• Weight - 0.1 kg

What’s in the Box
Gamin Nuvi 360, Preloaded City Navigator NT North America or Europe (full coverage), vehicle suction cup mount, AC charger, 12/24 volt adapter cable, dashboard disk, USB interface cable, carrying case, owner’s manual, and quick reference guide.

Customer Review: Room for improvement
I tested the Nuvi 360, along with a separately purchased Europe NT SD card during a recent trip to Italy. A lot has been written about the positives and the technology in general is remarkable and should not be taken for granted. However, given the increasing competition and the many new GPS models introduced every year, as well as Nuvi’s premium price, here is what I wish the Nuvi 360 had:

Hardware:
= A built-in FM transmitter to play audio through the car radio. It is strange that a $50 device such as Delphi’s Roady XT XM radio has a great built-in FM transmitter, while the $700 Nuvi 360 does not. And it should not cost additional $200 to get it in the Nuvi 660. Otherwise the hardware was solid and to my knowledge the 350/360 remains the most portable device on the market. The device never lost satellite reception, including in many short tunnels.

Software issues:
= Very limited (inadequate) customization.
= While Jill did a good job with street names in the US, she failed miserably in Italy - her speech was useless as the spoken street names were completely unrecognizable - and soon the butchery of the Italian language became extremely annoying. Unfortunately, switching to the Italian lady did not help as she did not even try to pronounce the street names - she only instructed us to turn left or right in a given distance, without telling us the names of the streets.
= Another major software issue was the lack of color distinction in the display of the traveled vs. not-yet-traveled route - the identical purple path display was very confusing at ramps, complicated intersections, and u-turns - it was often impossible to tell which way to follow and we had to rely on street signs.

Less significant software issues included the following:
= Speed was not displayed on the main page while driving to a destination. Instead, the semi-static ETA display took the place of speed. I wish the ETA were displayed for a few seconds initally, and subsequently only for a few seconds whenever there was an ETA change or a route recalculation. The continuous ETA display should have been relegated to the secondary page, or at least the user should have been allowed to choose between speed and ETA display on the main page;

= The map display zoomed out automatically as the speed increased beyond a certain level ignoring the zoom level selected by the user. The auto zoom feature could not be disabled and was unpleasant. Apart from being more respectful of the user’s preferences, without the autozoom the Nuvi would have been quite helpful in displaying the geometry of the next turn of the winding minor road in the hills of Tuscany. The auto zoom feature also meant that the points of interest (POIs) seized to be displayed at all at a certain speed, regardless of the wishes of the user;

= the Nuvi was of limited value when driving in Rome due to the following: 1) the street name pronunciation issue, 2) the delay in updating the display after a turn which presented a significant problem when driving along the short and narrow streets where turns came quickly and u-turns were often not a possibility, and 3) the strange routing in the city - on several occasions the GPS instructed us to make a detour of about a mile in order to get to the next point on the indicated route - only a block or so away from our current position and reachable in a perfectly legal manner;

= the Nuvi lacked an option to select a touchscreen keyboard layout - the built-in sequential keyboard (abcdef) was quite awkward to use given that every other portable device I have has a qwerty keyboard;

= it was impossible to choose to display POIs selectively by categories - for instance, when driving I would have liked to display restaurants I passed by - instead, the autozoom did meant that no POIs were displayed most of the time, or when waiting at a light all nearby POIs of all categories became displayed resulting in a crowded and useless map. In addition, I would have liked the POI display to show the POI’s name and not only the category symbol;

= the simulated route was useless as currently implemented, as it needed to be `traveled’ in real time - in the TomTom One the same feature allows high speed browsing of the route and thus the ability to review and influence the selection;
= there was no way to turn off the Bluetooth when not required - I assume that it consumed unnecessary power and shortened the battery life when the Nuvi was operating unplugged. In general, I found the Bluetooth quality lacking.

Before I left for Italy I downloaded Italian speed cameras POIs - this feature worked very well and may result in significant savings to drivers who may be mislead by the seemingly erratic driving in Italy and elsewhere in Europe (cars going 200 km/h and then suddenly breaking and barely moving for no apparent reason) - due to speed cameras known to the locals.

I was also impressed to find out that many unpaved roads were correctly shown on the GPS - I followed some and experienced more thanks to the device.

In conclusion, I am still debating whether to keep or return the unit. With GPS prices falling rapidly and competition intensifying, I very much hope that Garmin will make some significant changes to the software and make us feel good about having bought the best.

Customer Review: Fantastic for Address Navigation, Bluetooth not worth it though
I’ve had the Nuvi 360 for a couple of weeks now and has really performed fantastically. From finding us places to eat and sleep in Hawaii (Oahu) and correctly navigating me to about 15 different addesses as I was checking out houses in the Southern California area, the unit has provided incredibly detailed and timely driving directions and even tells you which side of exit ramps to bear to, so that you can accurately go east/west or north/south as the case may be.

The FIND function is good for finding things nearby your location, but don’t count on it to take the place of the yellow-pages. Though there are POI’s stored on it and it easily locates some of the more frequently visited establishments, this real worth of this device is not in finding you the nearest restaurant you’re in the mood for, but navigating you to that destination given an address or intersection. You will do yourself a favor if you always have an address or intersection, as you can not find a single road with the Nuvi–so a little prior planning will go a long way.

I got the 2GB SD card with it, but just know that it is totally unnecessary. You don’t need it for navigation or restaurant storage–in fact the country, language and Fodor’s guides are all on separate and special SD cards. If you get one, it will only be to store photos or MP3’s. If you’re using this as your sound system however, perhaps you should be putting the money somewhere else first, before getting yourself a Navigator :O)

The included cigarrette-lighter plug works out nicely when you keep it plugged in all the time. It automatically turns the unit on when you turn the keys in the ignition and shuts down in 15 seconds when you leave the automobile. If you choose not to use the Nuvi while driving however, it simply charges the Nuvi for later battery use, for instance, if you wanted to take it biking or on a walk (yes, it has navigational settings for both!).

The visitbility is fine and the suction-mount is terrific, so there’s no permanent commitment necessary. The only problem with the obvious windshield mount of the device is that once you link it with your Bluetooth phone and try to talk through it, your face is so far away from the front of your windshield that people on the other end can barely hear you and it’s a tossup of how well you hear them (forget about it if you have a sunroof or convertible top down).

For the difference in price between the 350 and 360, I wish I had forgotten about the Blue Tooth option and just went with the 350. Enough people seem to have other hands-free devices these days that having “another” one, that only works in your car, is really not worth your while.

Apart from the Bluetooth glitch, the Nuvi is one of the greatest devices I have ever owned and I think has payed for itself in uselessness, just this past week. And I don’t think driving to a new location and asking it to show you driving distances to everything “nearby” will ever get old :O) I love it!

Buy Garmin Nuvi 360 or Find other Garmin GPS products.

Bookmark to:

Tags: electronic, review, gps review, garmin, gps, garmin gps review, garmin gps, shopping