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Thread: New Garmin Series

  1. #1
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    New Garmin Series

    Hello Everyone,

    I would like to know if anyone has experience with the new range of Garmin GPS devices.

    Any feedback or recommendations are welcome.

    Thanks,

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    Gold Member Martinco's Avatar
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    I assume you are talking car navigation ?

    I have the new Nuvi wide screen ( I forget the number now ) but as far as I am concerned it is still the same as the first Nuvi's with very few changes made.

    I also have a new Tom Tom with blue tooth connection to your phone, works ok but still prefer the Garmin
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    Gold Member irneb's Avatar
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    I've also got a Nuvi 1410. Bluetooth to phone works fine - works as hands-free phone call. I also checked the Tom-Tom first, but the Garmin's touch screen just works better - the TT needed to be pressed numerous times before it responds. Maps I've found good, very seldom can it not find something you're searching for. The tilted view is definitely recommended for car - the flat-plan-view resizes inconsistently causing you to not be able to judge when to turn (I hate all the voices so I turn them off, they just bug me too much).

    Apart from that, the Nuvi's slow to start up, takes an age to get enough satellite connection to calculate current position (if you start it in a different location to where you turned it off) - whereas the GPS on my cell-phone is nearly instantaneous in comparison. Panning / zooming is sometimes slow if the visible map is full of stuff. The EcoTrial thingy also allows you to estimate fuel consumption & calculate the most economical route (don't know if this was available in the old Nuvi's). I like the multi-point routing, though it works the wrong way round IMO (you first have to enter your endpoint, then add points in between). The traffic warnings are reasonable, though a bit out of date - traffic cams & road hazards aren't too bad, but by no means up-to-date.

    If you're looking for something different, I've also got a Garmin Colorado 300 with SA topo-maps - which I use for off-road, hiking & kayaking. It's a more rugged & waterproof GPS, but without touch-screen (uses the Garmin Wheel interface). It's menu is a lot more comprehensive than the Nuvi's, and it has the capability of calibrating its compass (something which all Garmins have a problem with: when standing still they generally are direction-less). If you're doing any off-road, I'd highly advise the topo maps, but I can't see the point of the 3D maps. One thing I hate about my Colo' is it's disgusting battery life (6 hours at best on 2 Alkaline penlights - I've tried NiMH and "Lithium" but have never been able to get the quoted 15h). It starts a slight bit quicker than the Nuvi, and gets satellite also a bit quicker. It's screen is a whole lot smaller though (even smaller than my Cell). And I cannot load the entire SA topo at once, only about 1/3rd - though it came with MapSource & nRoute software which IMO is much easier to use when planning routes than either device on its own.

    A friend of mine's got the Oregon 550, the only pluses I can see over the Colo: very slightly longer battery life, touch screen, camera & it's calibration is more comprehensive (includes tilt as well).
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  4. Thank given for this post:

    AmithS (10-Jun-11), Dave A (09-Jun-11)

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