Here is a partial listing of the
features NOT present in the c3x0
series that ARE in many car navigator units and especially in the
StreetPilot 2610/2620 units.
1) You cannot set destination
waypoints (except for Home)
directly. You can input addresses and store these in your
FAVORITES list.
2) There are no user adjustable data
fields such as speed, distance,
etc. What you see in the review photos are what you get.
3) When you power up, you do not go
automatically to the map screen
without pushing a touchscreen button.
4) There is no way to store tracks,
routes, or waypoints, Just your favorite addresses as noted above.
5) There is no readout of
longitude/latitude available.
6) There is no altitude readout.
7) There is no satellite display
page. There is an "indication"
that 1,2,3,4,5(or more) satellites are locked.
8) The only datum available is WGS-84
(not that unusual for car
navigators).
9) The smallest "map chunk" you
can load in the C320 using the
furnished CS6 maps is one state. You cannot load a part of a
state.
10) There is no "pop up" window to
show turn details as you approach an
intersection. (There IS a pop up guidance window, but you must
press the SPEED/Distance to Go display while in a route to view
it. You can also
view the coming turns in a route by further pressing the down arrow on
this pop-up window.)
Instead of the pop-up window, for
normal turn guidance, the c3x0 units
place a large arrow on the map showing the proposed turn.
Note: I find this somewhat less than satisfying as the display of
the OTHER streets, ramps, cross streets, cloverleaf roads, etc are
intentionally "washed out" so that they have very low contrast relative
to the route which is quite readable. This (for me) makes
determining exactly where to go a bit tedius on complex road
interchanges.
11) If two turns are closer together
than about 200 feet, the unit
fails, much of the time, to annunciate the second turn by voice.
12) You cannot upload tracks to your
computer as tracks are not stored.
13) You cannot view the trip computer
unless you are running an active
route. (Press the ARRIVAL TIME readout to view the trip computer
screen.)
14) There are just a few options in
the various setup features.
(See screen images.)
15) The unit has a simulator mode but
you have to wait for the GPS to
try and lock and then time out to use it.
16) VIAs are not supported. That
is, you cannot direct the unit
to take you from address A to address C by way of address B.
17) There are no options for route
calculations such as "quick, good,
better, best" in the c3x0. Route calculations are very fast (Much
faster than the SP2610) but I have often seen the c320 take
out-of-the-way loops and other short "excursions" that the SP2610 did
not suggest taking. None of these was serious, just
unexpected and inefficient.
18) When you tell the c320 to
take a "detour" it can take you
pretty wildly out of your way, but it eventually gets you there.
The SP2610 detour routes make more sense. I have seen it (on a
just a few occasions) take a 5 mile detour route when just making a U
turn would get you where you to the new route in just a mile. I
suspect this is a result of the routing algorithm not taking time to
check available alternative routes.
19) When making a "detour" on the
simulator, I notice that the machine
asks if you want to simulate the route. If you happen to be going
SOUTH and want to detour, the simulator has no problem immediately
asking you to go in the NORTH direction which can be hard to do on a
limited access highway. I will try this out in a real situation
and report further.
20) There is no GPS estimated accuracy
readout. (Not that one is
needed on a car navigator that does not present lon/lat position.)
21) There is no Sunrise/Sunset display
as on a SP2610/2620.
22) AutoZoom cannot be turned off in a
route since this is essential
for turn guidance if you do not have pop up windows to annunciate turns.
23) Applies to c320 only: You are not able to route to cities or
to intersections on the basemap. You can route ACROSS the basemap
between two "detailed map islands". It is possible to "pan"
across the basemap and then to route to a point that you pick out but
this is pretty tedious.
Please do not read the above and think
that these are ESSENTIAL to a
properly functioning GPS Car Navigator. MANY OEM and competitive
units are limited in more areas than these. This list is meant to
convey to experienced GPS users that the c320/c330 series are truly
BEGINNER's car navigators and as such does NOT have some features
that many have come
to expect in Garmin and other "full featured" car navigators such as
the StreetPilot 2610/2620.
RETURN to C320/C330 review.
Return
to MAIN GPS INFORMATION.NET
webpage.