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plnelson
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Joined: Oct 09, 2006
Posts: 20
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 Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:52 pm Post subject: Help Me Choose . . . |
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I'm looking for a GPS navigator to use mostly in the car, but maybe on bike trips, too, so it should have a built-in battery but I don't need the built-in to last mre than a few hours. It should do voice turn-by-turn with street names.
I think my two choices are the Nuvi 350 or the StreetPilot C340. There's a big difference in price between these two. Part of what you get is the Nuvi is smaller and lighter, but I could probably live with the 340's dimensions if that was the only thing. What other important differences are there? Someone on Amazon said that the C340's pronunciation of street names is poor quality. Is that true? Is it worse than the Nuvi? What other differences are there?
Thanks in advance! |
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zogman
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Joined: Sep 05, 2005
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Location: swindon uk
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:07 am Post subject: |
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the garmin site allows you to do a 'comparison' between products....this might help you ....
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Lester_Burnham
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Joined: Oct 17, 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:18 am Post subject: |
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| Does either of these units have the newer chipset? 'cos that'd certainly influence my choice... |
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swing
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Joined: Nov 04, 2003
Posts: 2225
Location: Bedfordshire, UK
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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| The Nuvi has a SiRF GPS, whereas the c340 doesn't. |
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plnelson
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Joined: Oct 09, 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| zogman wrote: | | the garmin site allows you to do a 'comparison' between products....this might help you .... |
No it's not very helpful. For one thing it doesn't say anything about voice quality. Also, it doesn't describe the differences in real-world practical terms. For instance one has a "High sensitivity GPS receiver by SiRF" and the other has a "12 channel" receiver. But I don't know how much practical difference that makes. (do you?) One offers "Preprogrammed internal memory that stores City Navigator NT detailed maps" and the other has "Pre-programmed internal memory that stores City Select detailed maps of North America or Europe."
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The reason people post questions here is to get other people's real-world experience so we DON'T have to rely on marketing hype. |
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Lester_Burnham
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| plnelson wrote: | | zogman wrote: | | the garmin site allows you to do a 'comparison' between products....this might help you .... |
No it's not very helpful. For one thing it doesn't say anything about voice quality. Also, it doesn't describe the differences in real-world practical terms. For instance one has a "High sensitivity GPS receiver by SiRF" and the other has a "12 channel" receiver. But I don't know how much practical difference that makes. (do you?) One offers "Preprogrammed internal memory that stores City Navigator NT detailed maps" and the other has "Pre-programmed internal memory that stores City Select detailed maps of North America or Europe."
ETC
The reason people post questions here is to get other people's real-world experience so we DON'T have to rely on marketing hype. |
Well I don't have any real-world - or other for that matter - experience of either sat nav. However, everything I've read, suggests that sat navs with the newer SiRFstar III chipset in, are worth having over their predecssors.
Reception (including retaining good lock in situations previous sat navs would be out of signal, and being more tolerant of areas with poor signals), performance and time-to-acquire are meant to be greatly improved. |
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plnelson
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Joined: Oct 09, 2006
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:05 am Post subject: |
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| Lester_Burnham wrote: | | plnelson wrote: |
The reason people post questions here is to get other people's real-world experience so we DON'T have to rely on marketing hype. |
Well I don't have any real-world - or other for that matter - experience of either sat nav. However, everything I've read, suggests that sat navs with the newer SiRFstar III chipset in, are worth having over their predecssors.
Reception (including retaining good lock in situations previous sat navs would be out of signal, and being more tolerant of areas with poor signals), performance and time-to-acquire are meant to be greatly improved. |
I know but I'm posting to a forum like this because i want to know how much practical difference it really makes. I have a friend with a C340 who said he's never had any problem losing satellites with it.
I've been using my Verizon LG VX8300 cellphone for a month on a free promotional VZNavigator and I had it lose satellite tracking just ONCE. I pulled over to the side of the road to wait for another satellite to hove into view and in one minute it was happy and I went on my way. BTW - I've been driving for 35 years and I've had to stop and wait for trains, emergency vehicles, funeral processions, blasting, and once I even had to stop and wait while a herd of cows crossed the road in Vermont. But you know you've arrived in the future when you have to stop and wait for a space satellite! |
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Skippy
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Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:14 am Post subject: |
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| Lester_Burnham wrote: | | However, everything I've read, suggests that sat navs with the newer SiRFstar III chipset in, are worth having over their predecssors. |
In my experience of comparing my Garmin unit to SiRF-III units, the SiRF-III is a lot better. Indeed, Garmin have chosen to use it in their new Sat Nav units. Definately recommended.
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