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Garmin StreetPilot c340 or Magellan RoadMate 3000T ?

post #1 of 20
4/27/07 at 4:24pm
Thread Starter 
Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the GPS (Navigation) section of AVS, so I wanted to ask some questions in here before I buy a GPS unit.

I recently went on a Hot Air Balloon ride and the people that "chase" the balloon had a GPS in their Van that would actually tell you what the name of the street was that you were about to turn onto: "Turn Left, 200-feet, on Spring Lake Road".

I have been looking around and narrowed it down to the Garmin StreetPilot c340 or the Magellan RoadMate 3000T as the least expensive "text-to-speech" GPS's available.

So now I have two questions.

1. Are they the least expensive (I am not interested in a hand held model) for an Automobile?

2. If anyone has them (either one), how do you like it and would you recommend it?

I am also willing to hear recommendations on TomTom, or any other Brand anyone may know about including other models of Garmin or Magellan.

Thank you.
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post #2 of 20
5/3/07 at 7:30am
have you looked at magellan's new maestro line? they have the same form factor as garmin's nuvis but with a larger screen and very competitive pricing. the 4040 is an absolutely great value and can be upgraded to have the same features as the 4050 if you want.
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post #3 of 20
5/5/07 at 6:24am
I've had the c340 for several months and really like it. The voice to text(street name announcement) is REALLY a great feature. In crowded cities actually hearing the street names makes a world of difference. Our old 03 honda pilot had factory nav and it doesn't hold a candle to 340. Garmins map coverage is simply awesome...though in my area there is a lot of new development which won't be covered for awhile. If you go with the 340 you might want to add the dash tripod. I bought the dash tripod so I don't have to mess with suction cups plus by having the gps on the dash it's down lower so it's not blocking the view of the road as bad. It makes it easier for the passenger to enter info into the unit as well.

Bottom line...I've used the 340 on several long trips and it never fails to get me where I'm going.
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post #4 of 20
5/8/07 at 2:48pm
I got the Garmin 330. So I think the 340 will be similar.

I am very happy with Garmin. The main thing I looked at was EASE of use...
Garmin seems to be the easiest interface especially with the touch screen.

Also the maps are very good.
I was quite impressed with the built in Point OF interests. It is very detailed, much more so than I anticipated.

I mapped all the golf courses around the house,
ANd at any time I can see what the closes restaurants are by category.

It is very very nice...and easy to use.
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post #5 of 20
5/8/07 at 3:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dobbins View Post

I got the Garmin 330. So I think the 340 will be similar.

I am very happy with Garmin. The main thing I looked at was EASE of use...
Garmin seems to be the easiest interface especially with the touch screen.

Also the maps are very good.
I was quite impressed with the built in Point OF interests. It is very detailed, much more so than I anticipated.

I mapped all the golf courses around the house,
ANd at any time I can see what the closes restaurants are by category.

It is very very nice...and easy to use.

Yep pretty much the same units. The 340 adds two things and that's text-to-speech (calls out actual street names) and it adds an antenna input for real time traffic updates. Other than that all the Garmin consumer units use the same excellent maps which I believe show over 6 million poi's which is among the most in the industry.

I used mine today to get me to a new golf course near the TN river(65+miles away and it's in a very rural area)...I just wish my golf swing could be as reliable as the driving directions i get from the Garmin.
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post #6 of 20
5/9/07 at 11:46am
Just a suggestion, but look at the price of new maps when you compare units. I have a garmin IQue3600 and updated maps are $75.00. Updated maps for the factory nav in our BMW are $199. by the way the garmin is much much better than the BMW unit.
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post #7 of 20
5/9/07 at 12:38pm
Good point Dan. I remember getting update notices from Alpine(oe manufacture for Honda's nav system) and they wanted similar money (around $200) for their update disc that really only updated major metro areas. Since I live in a rural area the Honda/Alpine maps had VERY spotty coverage once I got off the major hwys. Again this was a 03 model Honda so I don't know how good or bad their maps are now.
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post #8 of 20
5/10/07 at 12:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KenWH View Post

I've had the c340 for several months and really like it.

can you tell me how you "scroll" a map with garmin? is it "touch and drag" like most others? the "touch and drag" is absolutely difficult to do on a moving car, and it's a wonder if they actually tested it...
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post #9 of 20
5/10/07 at 1:06pm
As far as I've been able to tell it doesn't scroll at all. I do miss that as my Honda oe nav had a nice joystick to move around the with.
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post #10 of 20
5/16/07 at 11:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KenWH View Post

As far as I've been able to tell it doesn't scroll at all. I do miss that as my Honda oe nav had a nice joystick to move around the with.

wow! this will be unacceptable... scrolling around the map is a good way to find a quick detour or getting a quick orientation of the area. zooming out will work but you lose detail and some streets...
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post #11 of 20
5/30/07 at 1:17am
how is the mio c520??
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post #12 of 20
5/30/07 at 5:36am
I have the 330 also for about the last year and have truly enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time reading through the reviews and accessing the features I'd actually use and this fit the bill. Excellent bang-for-the-buck.

The next GPS unit I get will be the all out kind with XM (or whatever) Sat Weather info! Many times I wished my 330 had weather. But, there's a huge price difference between the entry level ones and the weather capable models right now.
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post #13 of 20
5/31/07 at 9:33pm
no one here uses a mio gps. I have heard that they are good but garmon is better.
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post #14 of 20
6/1/07 at 5:59am
I have TomTom Mobile for Windows Mobile that I use on my Palm Treo 750. From everything I've seen and read, it's exactly the same as the stand alone units. It is truly excellent and very easy to use. The one feature that I wish it had was text to speech on road names. Other than that, absolutely no complaints. I did have to get 2 sets of maps, but only because I actually use the phone for other things. The entire US map set (that I rarely ever use) is almost a gig, so I got a set of SE US maps that weigh in at just over 200megs. If I had a 2 gig flash card, wouldn't be an issue, though.
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post #15 of 20
6/3/07 at 8:14am
I just picked up the Garmin Nuvi 360 from Amazon. At $420 is was a little more than I planned spending but it was well worth it. It's small, in fact it's the most portable of any that I've seen and will fit in your pocket. It's a great unit however the best feature is hands free calling via BlueTooth. It automatically detects your phone and unlike the Tom Tom One you can call out from the Nuvi through it's touchscreen, your address book, or just select a Point Of Interest and touch it's phone number to call. I was going to get a Tom Tom One, it's nice but the Nuvi 360 is much better.
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post #16 of 20
6/8/07 at 1:18am
the nuvi 350 is the best gps i have seen for the money.
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post #17 of 20
6/13/07 at 10:05pm
Not sure about pricing of the nuvi, but the Garmin found all the back-road wineries in VA for two solid days. Incredible.
Just my $0.02.
Karl
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post #18 of 20
6/14/07 at 10:20am
I have the TomTom Go 910, and it works great for me. I love the bluetooth connectivity and speakerphone option (I hate using my headset), and the maps have been exceedingly accurate.

You can make calls out from the touch screen on the 910, in reference to someones point about the ONE, and it's not that big. It's not pocket sized, but its small enough to fit in any small bag, and doesn't take up a lot of space on your dash board.
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post #19 of 20
7/20/07 at 5:07pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I owe a big thank you to everyone in the thread and being able to find the Garmin Streetpilot C340 for $285.00 brand new (at C o m p a r e m a s t e r . c o m) has made my decision final.

I really love this unit and it does a lot more than just give great directions. I like the screen where it tells you how many miles you have driven, what direction you are going in (North, North East, etc...), even how fast your average speed is. I thought it would just give directions...which would have been plenty good enough...but it does much more and is truly a must have for anyone who drives.

My favorite feature is being able to punch in your street address and saving it as "Home", so no matter where you are all you have to do is select: "Where To?", "Favorites", "Home" and it tells you how to get home. I'm sure they all probably do that, but I love it none the less.
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post #20 of 20
8/6/07 at 7:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by comptr View Post

how is the mio c520??

I have the Mio c520 and so far have been very happy with it. I have found it's directions to be right on and route recalculations are quick if you get off track. It can also play video if that interests you which the Garmin unit can't. You can also hack it to get access to the windows CE 5.0 environment.
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