
This may be one of the slickest little gadgets I've ever owned. It is not without some relatively minor deficiencies which pale in comparison to this products overall design and function.
First the good news. This is the smallest, most elegant and compact AIO (all in one) GPS navigation solution I've come across. The mapping details are excellent. The Nuvi 360 has map v8 updated from the v7 in the Nuvi 350. The voice prompts are loud, clear and timely. The ease of use is just fantastic and the visibility and quality of the display are very good. The 360 uses the low reflection screen and brighter display which were only found on the very latest 350s. POI access is excellent and can be navigated to much more simply than the TomTom unit which requires additional cumbersome steps. The attachment system for the Nuvi is superb and very secure. With the Nuvi 360 you can access your POIs directly by name rather than having to go through a cumbersome category menu and then only getting the POIs by proximity as is the case with the TomTom 910.
The new screen display in the 360 is nearly as good or equal to the TomTom 910. The automatic panning is not quite as good as the TomTom. And bright light visibility is nearly as good as the TomTom 910. Despite these minor comparative deficiencies, all the other advantages of the Nuvi much more than outweigh the disadvantages of the TomTom 910 (their top of the line). As with all GPS units, you want to place the Nuvi so as to reduce the sun's glare.
This device is intended as an extremely simple point to point navigating AIO GPS navigation solution and is not intended to enable the use of way points or easily changing the course selected by the unit. You have essentially two options: the shortest route and the fastest route. Fortunately, the mapping program selects routs that are very acceptable. Personally, I like to look at the overall route and fiddle with it. This unit is not designed for such use. Microsoft Streets and Trips is ideal for this kind of tinkering, but terrible for point to point navigation while on the go at which the Nuvi has no peer.
Make sure and get the most recent firmware updates on the Garmin website which will fix the known bugs and further improve the functionality. This unit is so easy to use that my 85 year old father purchased one for himself and he loves it to. He is, to put it kindly, technologically challenged but this unit is so intuitive and easy to use that he's had no problems whatsoever. He doesn't like to be distracted while driving so he plans his trip before leaving and simply listens to the voice prompts.
The new bluetooth feature makes using hands free use of your bluetooth enabled phone a pleasure. If you don't need or want the Bluetooth feature save yourself a couple of hundred bucks and get the most recent Nuvi 350 but make sure it's got the low reflective screen, the bright display and map v8. Remember, only the most recent Nuvi 350s have the bright low reflective screen. I believe if you get a 350 with map v8 it will automatically have the brighter display with the low reflection screen. I give this unit a 5 star on form and a 5 star on the functionality for which it was designed. You will not be disappointed.
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