Garmin StreetPilot c330, Portable GPS Navigator, Street Pilot "c-series" GPS navigators feature a simple touchscreen interface, with automatic route calculation to any destination and turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions along the way.
Buy the Garmin StreetPilot c330 at Go2marine.com
Review by Captain David Walker
Febuary 2007
Pro’s – Easy, intuitive to use for ANYONE! Nice, accurate mapping.
Con’s - Lacks some GPS features I am used to (like Lat/Long).
General Comments: When the Garmin c330 came out, it was nearly $800; expensive for something that does what a phonebook, map and my Garmin Vista did together. Now that the Garmin c330 is down to a more manageable price, it is a fine deal indeed. Looking for places to go, knowing where you are and finding addresses are all accomplished well with the 6 million plus business listings.
Down to it: Ok, real world. You can’t ask someone on the side of the road for directions to and from where you are by Latitude - Longitude; and the Garmin c330 is no different, it fails to use lat/long. BUT the really cool thing is in an unfamiliar place, you can ask it to show you where food, fuel and lodging are as easy as touching the screen three times. The coolness factor goes up a notch when you use the screen that allows you to enter names – like antique or cinema or books – and it comes back with a list of businesses in the area that have these names in them. So, looking for antiques in a place you are driving through is just as easy as your hometown! The time to location feature is honest but the distances can be a bit off because it believes that I can fly across water (although it does tell me which way something is before I 'map it'). I also like the feature that recalculates your course if you miss a turn, it always makes you continue on as though you had a trailer on behind and could not just turn around – or course, if you can just turn around, it will recalculate again. Instructions with weird angled streets and round-a-bouts was very good. There are multiple languages that it will talk to you in, with my favorite being a 'clipped' Mary Poppins, British English tone.
Summary: Make no mistake, this is a drivers GPS, not a boating, hiking or flying GPS. If you ever even thought that you would like to know how to get around in the countryside, a town or city that you are unfamiliar with - this is the unit! The paper map is now in the back and both of us like the reassuring voice telling us to go straight or turn. If you type in "Go2marine", the Garmin c330 will tell you where we are as well!!
Personal Background: I have sailed 15,000NM and travelled well over a million miles by land. I have been using GPS’s since sailing with my first Garmin 75 in 1992, when GPS was 'just' for sailors and pilots – before the satellite constellation was even complete. I have also used over a dozen different manufacturers of GPS’s and I can honestly say I favour Garmin for their products. GPS’s have come a long, long ways since needing to be differentially ready and just showing your basic navigation information.
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