Review of Garmin® nüvi 360

Although the maps and directions are great, I think the best features of the nüvi are the POI database and the "Detour" button. On numerous occasions the nuvi has helped me decide where to eat. Most of my favorites restaurants are included in the extensive point of interest (POI) database, which will display by cuisine and proximity. Sometimes on road trips, I will let the nuvi display a continuously updating list of nearby restaurants while driving through unknown territory - it is like having a food radar!

Update: Review of nuvi 760

The "Detour" feature is enough in my mind to justify the cost of the nuvi. On several locations I have been driving on the interstate and come up on an a long line of break lights. With an exit approaching I consider my options. By hitting the detour button, the nuvi calculates an alternate route to my destination, helping me decide whether or not to bail out. More than once I've re-entered a nearly deserted freeway, knowing that a big wreck a few miles back is causing others much anguish.

Here is a journal of my first expeiences with the nüvi.

The Basics

Car Pool

On my way to take the kids to school, I stuck the suction cup mount on the windshield and clicked the nuvi in place. The nuvi is small about the size of my Palm Pilot (T3). I initially thought the small size be a concern, but the map display is very efficient. Several of the "buttons" on the touch screen are transparent allowing you to see through to the map detail while providing menu items big enough to see and use while navigating.

On power up, the nuvi acquired initial fix in less time than it took for my 4-year old to buckle into his car seat. The speed and sensitivity of the SiRFIII chip set is more sensitive than previous technology and before pulling out of the drive way, I had added "HOME" to "My Locations".

I really like the "3-D" map display which makes it look like you are flying over the road at low altitude. My kids like to watch the little car indicating our location, turning right and left as it followed the road.

The green bar along the top of the nuvi's map display shows the name of the approaching street, which is real handy when the actual street signs are missing or too far away to read. The roads on the map have street name labels too, which gives you a heads-up on alternate ways to go.

In addition to street names, map labels include parks, hospitals, apartment complexes.. Every time I glanced over I noticed another one of the 6-million points of interest in the City Navigator NT database. It boggles my mind to think that all this data - for all the United States and Canada - is preloaded.

After dropping off the kids, I made stopped at the coffee shop before heading to work. The nuvi's travel kit is very well engineered allowing me to easily remove the nuvi while leaving the suction cup mount firmly in place.

At the Office

I went online at garmin.com/products/nuvi360/ and looked for software updates. First order of business was to update my Garmin WebUpdater software, as this program not only updates the GPS firmware, it also manages updates the voice features, traffic services, etc.

I connected the nuvi to my desktop via included USB cable and launched WebUpdater. The WebUpdater program found some updates I needed and allowed me to select which ones I wanted (I didn't think there was any reason to update the foreign languages at this time).

After updating the firmware, I used Windows Explorer to browse the contents of the nuvi's 2 Gig of memory. My computer (Windows XP) saw the nuvi as any other mass storage device, like a flash drive, iPod, etc. So, then, I did a little file management for the purposes of customizing my new nuvi. Specifically, I copied some of my personal JPEGs and MP3s for fun (it was obvious where to put the files), and opened the waypoints.gpx file with MapSource to see that it contained my "HOME" location saved earlier in the day. Being able to work with the nuvi in USB mass storage mode makes file management very intuitive.

One other task I accomplished at work was pairing my Bluetooth enabled cell phone with the nuvi. Pairing Bluetooth devices always seems to be more complicated than it should be, perhaps it's just me fumbling around, but I eventually got my cell phone to see the nuvi as a handsfree device. I practiced using the voice dial feature to call my wife (she always gets annoyed when I call her just test some new phone feature). It worked, and sounded great.

Navigating Home

After work, I decided to test the "Go Home" feature. The routing was flawless, except for when I had exited on a freeway ramp that had been realigned within the last six months. The nuvi was quick to recalculate the route when I got back on the old road. Other than that, the map detail appeared to be up-to-date.

Loaded for Bear

In preparation for an upcoming road trip - and to get more use out of nuvi around town - I spent some time loading it up with GPS data and more audio files.

Audio Books

My wife likes to listen to audio books on long drives, so on Garmin's recommendation I went to Audible.com, created an account, downloaded the AudibleManager software and a couple of books I thought she would like. The AudibleManager handled the transfer of the books to the nuvi. It was easy to do.

GPS data

The nuvi pulls location data from several source files. All source files are available to nuvi at all times. That is to say, that you do not have to open a file to use data; once data is properly stored on the nuvi it is ready to use.

"My Locations"

I found locations that I saved using you the nuvi stored in the Garmin/Waypoints/waypoint.gpx file. This is where I found my "Home" location and this is where I will store locations that I frequently need to navigate to.

Anticipating use of the nuvi on our upcoming road trip, I saved the location of our favorite German restaurant in the mountains and and the location of the B-n-B where we plan to stay. The restaurant was in the built-in POI database but the restaurant was not (I have a few more things to say about the POI database below). I had to save the approximate location of the B-n-B by entering its street address.

Custom POIs

The Europeans have popularized the use of Custom POIs, which are typically speed camera locations. Garmin's POI Loader software enables you import a table of information about speed restrictions in proximity to specific locations.

The nuvi is configured to alert the driver when approaching a Custom POI. The nuvi sounds an attention tone and, across the top of the map page, the green bar turns to red and warning text is displayed.

I used POI Loader to import a list of school zones near where I live. The custom POI are stored in the Garmin/POI/poi.gpi file

TourGuide

Since I in the business of creating GPS-enabled, self-guided tours, the nuvi's TourGuide feature is of particular interest to me. A TourGuide point is a special case of the Custom POI. When an audio file is linked to Custom POI, the nuvi will play the audio file when approaching the POI.

When the audio starts to play, a little speaker button shows up on the display. If you touch the speaker button while the audio is playing, the nuvi will display a page of information relating to the point of interest. If the TourGuide includes an image a thumbnail, it will be shown on the point of interest information page. Touching the thumbnail will bring the picture to full display.

Note: To keep your TourGuides separate from your Custom POIs, give them unique file names. This may sound obvious but it is easy to overwrite files especially when using POI Loader software, because the software always creates poi.gpi file.

Try using Travel by GPS (tm) tour guides on the nuvi! These self-guided, GPS-enabled sightseeing tours are free!

nüvi nüisances

POI Database

Looking up a POI by name spelling took several minutes even when the GPS and other functions were turned off. For example, I tried to lookup "Chestnut Inn" and the nuvi when off to the graybar zone for longer than I had patience. The time it takes to look up a POI seems to depend on how far away it is. The nuvi eventually found a Chestnut Inn 410 miles away. Evidently, the one I was looking for - about 90 miles away - was not in the database. POIs that are near are found more quickly. The nuvi located my neighborhood "Applebees" in an instant.

It's appears that the database contains many of the public services, ATMs and chain restaurants and retail outlets in my area, but your results may differ.

Battery Consumption

I like the clean look of not having an umbilical attached to the nuvi, but relying on battery power requires charging prior to each day of use. On long trips you will have no choice but to use the 12/24 volt adapter. One consolation is that nuvi charges when connected to USB, so every time you file manage your MP3s, you are getting a power boost.

Picture Viewer

I could not get JPEG files larger than 300KB to display on the Picture Viewer. If I reduced my larger image sizes in a photo editor to match the nuvi's screen resolution (320 x 240 pixels) the images displayed perfectly.

MP3 Player

The nuvi's speakers are not the best for listening to music. They sound good for voice prompted navigation and as a hands free phone device, but the low frequencies are not reproduced well when the nuvi is mounted on your windshield.

It's a Personal Device

My wife liked the nuvi so much she kept borrowing it and personalizing it with her own photos MP3, books... So, I decided to give it to her as an early Christmas present.

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