Garmin nüvi 370 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 370 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Used it in Europe, worked great! (UPDATE 2nd Trip to Europe)
Summary: 5 Stars
SEE UPDATE BELOW ORIGINAL REVIEW
I have just returned from a trip to Europe (London, Paris, Rome, and Florence) where I used the Nuvi 370 extensively and it worked great. First of all, I put a lot of the places I would be going to in the "Favorites" list before I left. The great thing about Nuvi is that it sorts this list based on distance from wherever you happen to be. So I didn't have to scroll through points for Paris or Rome when I was in England and vice versa. Very useful. I also found that the points of interest had all the sightseeing landmarks that I was going to visit and nearly every restaurant that I had earmarked for meals. I also got the translation guide which came in very useful (especially to explain "tap water" at European restaurants, they really want to sell you bottled water and pretend to not understand what tap water means, but showing them in their own language on Nuvi always got the point across). Now here is a report of actual real world use as a pedestrian in Europe.
Pros - It had every street that I walked on without exception. It knew that I could walk the wrong way on one-way streets as a pedestrian (in pedestrian mode). Usually very fast lock on of satellites. Currency converter very useful. Language guide easy to use and very helpful with menus. Learned a few phrases by imitating the voice on the language guide which led to a lot of goodwill in France and Italy. Used it to show addresses to cab drivers which was always helpful. Tracked the taxi rides and could tell when cabbies were way off route and a little protesting got them back on track. Used it to make easy decisions between walking, metro, or cab by routing a destination and seeing how far the walk would be. Nuvi lets you scroll through the route and is pretty accurate as to how long it will take to walk.
Cons - 1. In pedestrian mode, I almost always started walking the wrong way because Nuvi isn't sure which way it is pointed when you are standing still. This is fixed by walking a few feet until you see if you are going the right way, rarely more than 10 feet. 2. It doesn't automatically reroute in pedestrian mode if you get off the selected route, you need to hit "detour" which sometimes leads to a much longer path. 3. Sometimes satellite signal would get lost in the narrow older streets, especially in Italy. Sometimes the display would suddenly indicate that I was walking the exact opposite way that I had been going due to lost or confused signal. But these are all nits and were easily handled.
Overall - The Nuvi 370 worked exactly the way I was hoping it would. If you live in America and plan travel in Europe, I highly recommend the Nuvi 370 and Language Guide.
UPDATE 2ND TRIP TO EUROPE
I recently spent two weeks in Spain where I used the Nuvi in pedestrian mode and drove throughout Southern and Western Spain. The Nuvi worked perfectly except where maps were somewhat out of date. The scariest words in my life now are "Enter roundabout and take second exit to roundabout". At one point we did three consecutive roundabouts! If you are not used to driving in a foreign country, I highly recommend Nuvi 370. The POI's pointed out gas and food when we needed it, and in both pedestrian and driving mode, it got us through many medieval streets with no problems. I again used the language guide(very useful) and was able to figure out what was what on local menus. I find the estimated arrival times in both pedestrian mode and driving mode to be pretty accurate and helpful in decision making. I even used it on the AVE high speed train between Madrid and Cordoba to see how fast we were going (180+ mph). I have now had this for a couple of years and can't live without it.
One of most useful features is the ability to find metro stations nearby when you are in pedestrian mode. Very helpful in Madrid and Barcelona.
Customer Review: Very Useful
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first GPS, so this is not a "Garmin vs. other brands" review.
First a word of advice: Do not leave either your GPS *or* the mounting arm in your car when you park. My mom's car was broken into by someone who saw the bare mounting arm and broke her window just to *check* if the GPS was hidden in the glove compartment (it was). The thieves know what that mounting arm/bracket is for.
GPS:
This GPS is very user friendly, and has all the POIs I've needed so far already added. It acquires satellites rather quickly and has the SirfIII chip which supposedly makes for better acquisition with obstructions overhead. I have no reason to doubt this so far. The speaker for turn by turn directions is loud and clear (in fact, you may have to turn it down a couple of clicks if it's too loud for you). The graphics are clear- it's difficult to get confused about which road to take. It does not do custom routes but there are ways to do quasi-custom routes. (If you want a scenic route through a park with roads, for example, you can set it to "avoid highways" and then also set a "via point" in the middle of the park. It will route you through the park. You can only set one manual "via point" for each calculated route.)
Bluetooth handsfree:
Good interface, minimal screen touching while driving. Speaker is loud and clear (again, may even be too loud at maximum). Microphone is also good (according to a friend I was speaking to, someone can tell you're using a speakerphone, but can hear you loud and clear nevertheless. It even works with your phone's voice-activated dialing if your phone has that feature.
POI loader:
You can load custom POIs via a free program called "POI loader" on the garmin website. The interface could be more user friendly, but if you're the slightest bit computer savvy you'll figure it out. It doesn't require programming, just the POI loader software and a textfile or Excel spreadsheet with the POIs you want to load. Instructions are on the web on various GPS-related sites. Nice if you want to set a warning alert when you enter a speed trap you know about- it'll warn you if you're above the speed limit.
Traffic:
Get this service, get this service, get this service. It's only about $12 a year, and has already paid for itself in my opinion. I've had the service for about 1 month and it's already routed me around three traffic plugs via (empty) side roads I didn't even know about or taken me off the highway and routed me through relatively uncongested local streets to avoid highway jams in the middle of rush hour. This is *the* feature that makes a GPS useful even if you're driving a route you already know. I will renew this service when the trial period expires in 2 months.
If you think you'll want this service, get the Nuvi 370, not the 360. The 370 comes with the traffic antenna (about $100 by itself), which the 360 doesn't, and is about $100 more than the 360. That means you basically get the Europe maps included free if you were going to buy the traffic antenna anyway.
Features I'd like to see:
If there's a road that's always a nightmare, a way to set it to avoid that road in all calculations (near me, a particular "major road" is always a mess, yet the GPS routes me through it because it's a "major road" and the GPS thinks it'll be faster).
Better custom POI loader interface
Compass feature for geocaching
All in all, a great GPS. I might do more research next time to see if there's a more cost-effective GPS that works as well but, that said, I'd buy this GPS again.
Customer Review: What a stress reducer!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this now for about three weeks, but in practical terms it's only been used for about a week as I live in a smallish city where I don't really need the Garmin on a daily basis. However, I bought it specifically for trips, and it worked like a charm in Orlando (and Minneapolis). It is amazing how much stress this reduces by not only giving you live updates to the next turn's distance, but also by telling you what side of the road the turn is on!
By taking a few of the key addresses and saving them in the favorites, you can ensure that you always know how to get to the important places--no matter where you happen to be at a given time. I truly felt confident that I would get where I needed to be, and the Garmin did not disappoint me.
There were a couple of hiccups along the way, but these are easily outweighed by the enormous benefits. I'll list the "problems," though, for your benefit.
1. The Garmin kept trying to direct me through a dead end where literally no road existed. It turns out that a road was supposed to be there but it was legally challenged by a resident and no road has been created. So, you may occasionally find a situation like that. However, as you can zoom out and see the destination point that you are headed towards, all you need to do is detour in the general area and it will re-route the plan for you.
2. I did a search for Walmart and found a number of them. Of the first two I tried, no Walmart existed. They were apparently prior locations and were no longer valid. However, when you first choose a destination from the list given, it provides the exact address and phone number. If you have a cellphone, you can just call ahead to verify if you have any doubts.
3. On occasion, the road name Garmin gives you doesn't match with the signs. This is generally at a location where Cherry Street turns into County Road 13, or some similar situation. The sign may show Cherry St., but the Garmin wants you to turn on County Road 13. Believe me when I tell you to trust the Garmin, though. If the street name doesn't match but you are supposed to turn in 150 ft., I strongly suggest turning! The one hitch I ran into was a place where the road split into three different directions *and* the road names weren't matching the instructions! It was a "think fast" moment and I chose wrong, but I got a recalculation real quick, and it didn't cost me.
I've seen some reviewers complaining about the load time of the maps. In the 30+ times I have turned my unit on, I have only had one time where it had a hard time picking up the satellites--and that was still only a couple minutes. I have also seen complaints about pronunciation. Really, I don't have a problem with the pronunciation. I have no doubt that the majority of people would get them wrong too since proper names have so many variations. If a name can be pronounced two different ways, how's a machine supposed to know the correct way? (I will say it was funny, though, when the unit wanted me to turn onto XYZ "Doctor" instead of "Drive!")
Most of the learning of the unit comes from using it and exploring with it. I have found many useful things like: when viewing a map you can drag it with your finger. Also, if you tap the power button quickly when it is turned on, you will have a "quick settings" option for volume and tint.
All in all, this one-time investment is WELL worth it. I seriously have no stress driving in big cities now. The old school way of printing off route planners has so many flaws. This is definitely the way to go, and I would recommend this for anyone who has a hard time with directions.
Customer Review: Happy Traveler
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a vacation coming up in Italy where we have a rental car for the duration of the trip. I hear Italian driving is crazy and it's not fun getting lost when you don't know the language or the country. I can see already how this unit is going to be nice to have when we're lost exploring and we want to return home, find some food etc. That why I picked the 370. Any Garmin that ends with a "70" has both Europe and US maps. Nice to have if you like to travel.
My brother bought a Mio 220c (something like that) a week before I got my Nuvi for just under $200. I like how the Mio is more customizable over the Nuvi, but his mapping software isn't as accurate. It's close but the Nuvi still a bit more reliable. You can change map colors, and a bunch of other little stuff on the Mio, for the price it's hard to beat. So you probably want to know why we got similar units and I spent $275 more? Preloaded with European maps is huge. That about $125 to buy no matter what GPS you have. Second, it's a Garmin. Tried and true, more updates and support. Ton's of "points of interest" and websites where you can download more points of interests for your travels or add your own. One thing over the Mio is that the Mio is a little confusing to navigate at first and I'm a tech kinda guy. The Nuvi is like a Mac. Simple to use. USER FRIENDLY!
I also purchased the Garmin Travel Guide for Europe. It's ok. Lots of the same POI that The NUVI 370 already has, but goes in more detail much of the time. It will tell you the store phone, address, what they sell or some other background info. I am still thinking about the language dictionary... maybe. I don't use the MP3 player becuase I have a new Ipod and PDA phone, but it's cool and I still might have a use for it in the future.
Things I don't like that Garmin needs to fix.
The keyboard is in ABC order, not like the keyboard your use to typing on. You get use to it, but still annoying. I wish it also showed stores, sites, etc on the map as you pass them by. If you zoom in right it will, but it's just a small dot. Could be improved. Bluetooth doesn't work with my phone, but I knew it wouldn't. I have a Samsung i730 PDA phone with Windows Mobile 5. No big deal, but I can use it with the fiancée's phone. This unit will tell you when to turn, but you can't change the distance before warning, some might think this is an issue, but I haven't had a problem with it. Never used the traffic update, but whatever, you need to be near a big city to use it.
I looked that the 600 series NUVI and I like the widescreen, but with me it's all about portable and this fits in my pocket no problem. I fear with the widescreen version I wouldn't have been able to carry it with me as much and it cost a lot more. In the box it came with European adapters, a nice car mount and the unit is mini USB which works with some cell phone chargers if you are in a pinch. Tons of voices to pick from and pronunciation is very good...so far. I like the English guy or learn a language when you drive! In your hometown you will think it gives an asinine route from time to time, but in your hometown you know the "shortcuts" etc, NO GPS is going to make up for that experience.
Overall, if you don't need the Euro maps, go with the 350 or 360, but you will be happy with your purchase that's for sure. Something like this, a GPS, it's worth spending an extra 100 buck or whatever to get a unit that will perform and do what you want. No more "map quest" directions to follow, this does it all.
Customer Review: Best Purchase - Nuvi in Ireland
Summary: 5 Stars
Needless to say, the 5-star ranking does not do this product any justice. After our trip to Ireland, I would have to say that this is the best piece of electronic equipment that I have ever purchased. Simply put, it saved time, money and my marriage.
Driving can be hard enough in Ireland, much less worrying about taking a random third turn on a bloody roundabout. (Fellas, you know what I'm talking about...driving in a foreign country on the wrong side of the road/car, with your wife routinely "white knuckling" the hand rest on the door every time a car approaches going 120km/hr.) Simply follow the directions given and get where you're going with no navigational anxiety. This is what makes the Garmin so great.
"Maggie" (affectionately known to us) proved to be about 95% accurate in her navigational skills, leaving the other 5% up to the imagination of the traveler. Now, some people might have a different view on traveling on dirt roads, but we thoroughly enjoyed these little 5% "safaris" that Maggie decided to take us on. They provided some absolutely unbelievable views that we would have completely missed had we used a map and stayed on the highway. These can also be avoided if you DON'T select the fastest/shortest route option.
It is true that she gives the street names for every turn, which some might find to be annoying. Alternatively, we found her attempts to be hilarious when trying to pronounce such streets as "Kilmacanogh-Gledullagh Rd". Truthfully, we didn't pay attention to the names that much anyway, since we saw a grand total of three proper street signs in over 12 hours of driving. Just listen to the "right" or "left", and watch the distance meter to turn and you'll be just fine.
One feature of this product which helped greatly was the ability to program in a destination to get a rough ETA when planning the day. One surprise that we encountered was the total miscalculation of driving time when planning the trip. A 40 mile trip in Ireland could take as long as 3 hours which seems impossibly ridiculous, but it's true. The Garmin ("Mags") nailed each trip within 15 minutes.
The walking mode also came in handy in both the streets of Dublin, and various hiking trails. Again, very accurate ETA's.
All in all, I would highly recommend this product after two weeks of near constant use in Ireland, and three months here in the States. No defects, no complaints and no regrets.