Garmin Nuvi 300

[Superten]

Received today from GSD Navigation.

Been looking for a Sat Nav that I can fit in my pocket, had the Streetpilot 3 before and needed big pockets for this one, I then had an Ipaq with TomTom3 and then the Garmin Quest (not sure why I sold the Quest!!!). I then had another Ipaq with TomTom 5 and Fortuna gps.

Was looking at the Quest 2 when GSD pointed out the Nuvi, ordered yesterday arrived today, not bad service.

The screen mount is excellent holds the Nuvi nice and solid.

Speaker is loud and clear much better than the Quest.

Screen is very clear, yes you get glare in bright sunlight but I was still able to see it ok.

Full 7 digit postcode now.

Can also be used as an MP3 player, Guide Book, and Audio Book player.

One thing to mention some sites say it as TEXT-TO-SPEECH,
ONLY!!! the Nuvi 350 as this NOT the 300

It comes with UK and Ireland only, extra maps can be purchased on SD card with FRANCE for example costing about 80 quid.

All in all excellent bit of kit IMHO. :D

[Vindacatrix]

Great timing, Superten! I've been looking around for Nuvi 300 reviews, but there doesn't seem to be much online yet.

How does it compare to Tom Tom in your opinion?

Chris

[Superten]

Hi Chris,

I've got no problems with TOM TOM 5 really liked it, found it slower to recalculate than version 3 and slower than the nuvi.

Not looked at the tech specs, but the screen I find is much clearer on the Nuvi than the Ipaq.

I did carry an MP3 player as well as my sat nav but now have both in one, ok its only a 1GB SD card (65 quid) but it holds enough music.

I use an FM transmitter which you plug into the headphone socket on the Nuvi the music and the directions then come through the speaker system in your car, the Nuvi cuts into the music to give directions.

I will probably buy the France maps later but don't go there much so not that desperate.

I paid £350.00 from GSD the Nuvi 350 is about £600.00 I think, but it does have the text -to-speech and 700mb of internal memory and maps of europe as standard.

Matt

[Vindacatrix]

Thanks for the feedback, Matt. I'm 99.9% certain I'll be buying the 300 - I don't drive through mainland Europe enough to make the extra expense for the 350 worthwhile. As for text-to-speech, one of my pet hates is the fact that road names are often so difficult to spot, so I think looking out for the name would just confuse me!

I realise it's likely too soon to get a good impression, but how have you found the battery life?

Chris

[Superten]

No hard facts yet Chris, but I found with the Quest and so far with the Nuvi the batteries seem to last for ages without needing a charge.

You do get a lead in the pack which plugs into the back of the screen mount so it can be left in place to charge the Nuvi when in use.

[Superten]

Hope its ok to mention on here but a place I've purchased from before BIGPOCKETS have a deal on at the moment with SD cards etc. prices look really good.

www.bigpockets.co.uk

45 quid for a 1GB SD card. 8O

[Vindacatrix]

I see the Garmin people have just made their Nuvi page a bit clearer, and that the 300 is also compatible with their GMT 10 trafficmaster gizmo (before it made it look like just the 350 was compatible). Have you thought about getting one, Matt?

Chris

[Vindacatrix]

Sorry Matt, me again! Was just wondering how easy it is to add POI to the Nuvi. Say, if I visit someone and decide I want to store their location, is it reasonably simple to store it and name it?

Thanks, hope you don't mind all the questions!

Chris

[Superten]

Hi Chris,

No probs mate.

If you travel somewhere and decided you'd like to store the location, you just touch the map and it changes from a 3D view to a 2D overhead view, it then gives you the option to save the current location. Likewise if you type in an address or postcode, you can then view it on the map store it or plan a route to it.

I've loaded in the Camera database from this site and that works fine.

I have custom POI's for shoots I goto, I loaded these in after I loaded the Camera database and it appears to overwrite the camera POI's, so I placed the shoot POI's in the same directory as the camera POI's and loaded them at the same time and it works ok now.

[Vindacatrix]

Thanks again, Matt. All this good news has convinced me - I think I'll be ordering one today!

Chris

[Vindacatrix]

Just ordered one from the nice people at globalpositioningsystems.co.uk - they not only matched the GSD Navigation price, they actually lowered the price on the website.

Now I just have to pace anxiously to and from the front door waiting for it to arrive. Why didn't I pay the extra and choose pre-9am delivery instead of pre-6pm?

[Vindacatrix]

Sorry for the thread-flooding, but there doesn't seem a way to edit posts.

Seconds after hitting 'submit' on my last comment I realised I would go mad waiting, so I rang them back and upgraded to pre-9am delivery. My blood pressure will thank me if my credit card won't.

Chris

[Skippy]

[Superten]

Nice one Chris, Hope your happy with it now, don't want to be in your bad books :D

[Vindacatrix]

Well, it arrived (I still managed to fit in some anxious pacing) and I immediately went out to the car to get myself lost All I can say is that I'm incredibly pleased - the unit itself is tiny (but feels sturdy), the screen is bright and responsive, the speaker loud and clear. It's my first experience with sat-nav, so please forgive me if these are common, but I'm already thinking of all the times I normally peer anxiously at google maps stressing over cryptic directions I would generally go wrong following

Thanks for putting up with all my questions, Matt - you're definitely not in my bad books! - and if anyone wants to ask questions of their own then please do feel free. Not that I'll necessarily be able to answer them, mind, but I can try!

Chris

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