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 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $365.00
Buy Used: $97.99
You Save: $267.01 (73%)
New (9)
Avg. Customer Rating:  1177 reviews
Color: Dark Gray
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 320x240
Free Memory Slots: 1
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 4.4 x 2.8 x 3.2
Distance
Heading
Speed
Time/date
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Warranty: One Year Garmin Factory Warranty
MPN: 010-00401-20
Model: 010-00401-20
UPC: 753759050658
EAN: 0753759050658
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Highly Recommended - Important Battery Information here November 22, 2006
87 out of 89 found this review helpful
I love this product and can very highly recommend this unit to anyone. It's a great feeling to have this thing by your side as you freely roam aound places you may not have otherwise gone because it's so easy to find your way home or to somewhere else. I love having this in my car and would never go anywhere without it again. You'll find yourself using it to find those hidden streets and shortcuts you never knew where there ;-)
Also Garmin's tech support is very responsive and helpful. After about 11 months of using the c340 the battery stopped working. After calling tech support it turns out there is a known fundamental problem with the charging circuit in the c340 (maybe other units as well) in that the battery will not actually charge while the unit is turned on. It needs to be in the turned off charging screen for it to charge. So that means if you just leave it in your car for months the battery will never charge unless you turn it off manually. Because of this the battery drains so badly that it actually destroys the battery and it will no longer hold a charge at all anymore. I'm sending mine to Garmin for a free fixup but now I know to periodically (once every 1 or 2 months should suffice) charge the battery overnight.
So other than this glitch which I know how to avoid (and now you do too) this is absolutly the best unit on the market especially for the price it's at now-a-days. Also don't believe the hype about saving a couple of bucks on the c310. The voice on this thing is GREAT and speaks most street names perfectly, and you'll appreciate it saying the street name to turn on to instead of just turn left or right. The new units have the newer voice pack that fixed a few of the older voice problems (even if they didn't the new one is easily downloadable). The c340 is the BEST of all the streetpilot versions as it's just right. Not too much and not missing all the cool stuff. I got mine about a year ago and still LOVE it. Get one and enjoy, you won't regret it I promise.
Cheers,
Russ
Very easy to use and quick to acquire satellites November 17, 2006
73 out of 74 found this review helpful
I have to admit, I'm a GPS junkie. I've had a variety of GPS units over the past decade and currently own 3 - the c340 being my latest acquisition for use solely when driving.
I am greatly impressed with this unit. It was fast to get going right out of the box and after the initial satellite acquisition and almanac download (for those who are interested, when a GPS unit is turned off and moved a significant distance, say 300+ miles, from where it last thought it was, it needs to recalibrate itself by downloading the current almanac of satellite positions from the GPS satellites. This can take a few minutes.) In any case, after the initial automatic recalibration, the unit acquired satellites quickly whenever I turned it on.
The user interface is very easy to use. I've used Hertz NeverLost systems for years and have always thought they had a good interface. I think Garmin's is better. The touch screen is intuitive and very easy to use and the adjustment I want to use most, tinkering with the volume, is an easy-to-use wheel on the side that allows instant access without requiring interaction (and interference) with the on-screen navigation/map display. Very well thought out!
One highly useful feature is the ability not just to search for Points of Interest (POI), but to have the unit search for those points of interest that are along the route you are currently navigating. This allows you to identify, say, hotels along your route while you are driving and then, using the telephone info provided by the unit, to call the hotels up and see if you can negotiate a lower rate before you arrive - "let your fingers do the walking..."
If you don't tell the unit where to look, though, it can take quite a while to search for a Point of Interest. I didn't know which city to specify and I did a search for "Eagle Rock Rec" (I was too lazy to spell out "Eagle Rock Recreation Center" which turned out to be about 175 miles away) and the unit chugged away for several minutes but eventually came back with the right entry for me to navigate to. I later realized that even though I didn't know the exact city the destination was in, I did know a city that was near the desired destination. When I specified that information, the c340 took only a few seconds to find the right location.
The advanced user can also create your own POI lists complete with custom icons and load those into the c340. I have done this for all In-N-Out Burger and Krispy Kreme locations. The advantage to having your own custom POIs even though these places are in the built-in POI list is that the custom POIs are visible on the c340 map screen at certain zoom levels. If you are a Geocacher, you can do the same with geocaches, but you'll still need your handheld unit to find the cache.
The newer (and more expensive) c5xx units evidently have the Sirf circuitry in them which is more sensitive, allowing signal acquisition indoors, but I found the sensitivity of the c340 to be fine - especially since I have limited my indoor driving lately :-). In fact, I was just playing with the c340 in my office yesterday and it was able to acquire a GPS fix on my position, so it seems to be fairly sensitive even without the Sirf circuitry. I haven't tried the c340 under a thick tree canopy with cloud cover or in a city with lots of concrete canyons yet, so I could change my tune. The comparable c5xx unit at this price point, the c530, lacks the c340's text-to-speech capabilities (this prevents the c530 from announcing street names).
Since I already have a Garmin handheld GPS unit as well as Garmin's MapSource Topo mapping software, I used the unlock code that came with the c340 to unlock my MapSource maps for the unit. I then loaded the topo maps for the entire Western US onto an SD card (between 300-500 MB) and plugged it into the c340 to see what would happen. It worked! So now I have the c340's excellent built-in maps and POIs for on-road trips *and* Topo Maps available to me for off-road adventures.
One thing you should do if you are in the US is enable the unit's WAAS capability (the default is for WAAS to be disabled). Enabling this capability increases the accuracy of the unit when certain satellites are in range.
Also, since this unit has a touch-screen, fingerprints on the screen are inevitable. You should *never* use an ammonia-based product (like most window cleaners) to clean electronic screens - it will cause them to fog. Instead, use those little antiseptic alcohol towelettes. They are cheap and if you don't use them for cleaning your touch-screen they might come in handy for first-aid.
I give this unit a highly positive rating. I like it.
Trip to the montains November 27, 2006
56 out of 58 found this review helpful
I bought this unit here at Amazon around Nov.13th, played with it around town for a few days. Easy to set up, in fact you really don't need to set anything but your home address and where you want to go. THE BIG TEST! We just came back from our daughters new home for Thanksgiving in the mountains of Franklin, North Carolina. We have never ever been to this area in our life, our Garmin C340 took us right to our daughters front door. It never missed a road or turn, it warned us well in advance of all changes comming up. My wife and I are in our mid 60's, eye sight and hearing is not like once was. The unit is easy to see and to loud hear. We are very, very pleased.
 Great unit for the price though not the diamond in the rough it was hyped up to be November 27, 2005
53 out of 54 found this review helpful
I wanted to wait and hear the reviews before I dropped the money on the c340. The previous model had been well received and I'd heard good things about Garmin from friends and relatives. I went ahead and ordered the c340 a few weeks after it was finally released and several customer reviews had nice things to say.
Right after I ordered it I thought I should check up on the reviews and make sure I wasn't going to be facing $625 dollars worth of buyers remorse the next day. Lo and behold! The c340 is freezing up on people left and right!! I read about some other little software glitches that seemed to add up to Garmin's delayed release of this unit.
To date the buyers remorse has yet to set in. I have been relatively pleased with the c340 overall. It turns out that the software issues were similar to problems with the 2720 and the c330 Street Pilot models. In those cases Garmin eventually released some firmware updates that fixed the issues. This is also the case with the c340. If you have a PC (that's right, the unit is NOT compatible with Macs) you can simply download the software updates via a USB port located next to the volume wheel.
The touch screen menu is very intuitive and the screen size is just right: unobtrusive yet easy to read.
The window mount is a chintzy piece of you-know-what! I was worried about this after testing the c330's out at several Best Buys, but figured they were screwed up from being floor models. Not the case...The swivel that you mount the unit on does not tighten properly resulting in the unit tilting over if you take a sharp turn or hit a bump in the road. Very Annoying!!! I don't know if there is a difference in the optional dashboard mount or not...Though considering the quality of the window mount I'm hesitant to spend the money on another potential lemon. In the meantime I'm going to have to fix the problem with tape.
The text-to-speech option is a nice feature, though it is only available when you choose the American English voice "Jill." Additionally, there are several languages pre-loaded. The maps are up do date and astonlishgly accurate. Occasionaly, like all other mapping products, a route the unit suggests will get you where you're going in a roundabout way. All you have to do is touch "Detour", or make a wrong turn and the unit will recalculate a new route within a couple of seconds. Satellite acquisition is quite fast and map redraw is also relatively quick.
Overall the Garmin c340 is a worthy purchase. The few glitches it does have appear to be getting attention from the Garmin engineers. The built-in features are laudable and make the experience of using this unit fun and easy. The maps seem up to date and it is easy to load or save points of interest with the touch of a "button." The speakers are loud enough (minor distortion when turned all the way up) and the voice options are clear and understandable.
For the features and price this unit is a must buy. The optional traffic monitor seems like a nice upgrade if the price and time spent for installation is in-line with your needs. The window mount included with the unit is problematic but the suction cup is strong, so you don't have to worry about the gps flying off the window, just tilting over so you have to readjust it often. If you buy this and find it freezing on you while in 3D mode, just go to the Garmin website and download the software updates. Enjoy making wrong turns, you won't get lost again!
Garmin is the best for GPS September 29, 2006
51 out of 51 found this review helpful
I spent a lot of time trying out GPS units, and have compared Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, and several factory GPS units. All of these GPS units tell you how to get somewhere and will re-route if you make a wrong turn. However, Garmin is my absolute favorite, and here's why:
1. The most important thing about Garmin units is the user interface. It is simple to understand and easy to use.
2. The Garmin unit uses a built in database of sunrise and sunset times (based upon your location) to automatically change from daylight mode to night-time mode. This is important because the daylight screen is much too bright for use at night. With the Tom Tom, you must make this change manually.
3. If you have the Garmin unit plugged into your car power, when you turn off the car (and the cigarette lighter power goes off), the Garmin unit will detect that and automatically turn itself off (it gives you 30 seconds to override and keep the unit on).
4. When you start your car again, the Garmin unit will detect that too and automatically power up. If you were in the middle of a trip, the Garmin unit will pick up where you left off, and you won't have to tell it where you were going again.
5. Unlike most factory GPS units, Garmin will allow you to select your route and make changes while you are moving.
6. The Garmin units have an extensive database of locations and the excellent interface makes it easy to search the database to find what you want. Do you want food or gas? Just click three buttons and a list of locations (sorted by distance) will appear. If you know the name of the place you want, you can type it in on the on-screen keypad and Garmin will find it for you. You can even add your own locations using the favorites feature. I first started using this when I was out of town, but its amazing what you'll find near you when you look.
7. While you are driving, the Garmin unit will both prompt you to turn and give you a written explanation of the turn (including the street or highway name and direction) at the top of the screen. The Garmin unit also shows an estimated arrival time (usually a few minutes earlier than you'll actually arrive) and the distance to your next turn. A separate screen gives you detailed trip information, including how far and how long you've been driving and your maximum speed. I used mine on an airplane once (yes, it is allowed - read the back of the airplane magazine), and it now says that by maximum speed was 590 miles per hour.
8. I often use the Garmin even when driving locally, becase it often finds better, faster ways to get there then the way that I usually use.
9. Garmin offers a variety of installation options and accessories. My favorite is the friction based dashboard mount (three weights connected to a center stand) which is much more convenient than the supplied mounting system.
10. If you turn off the GPS receiver (see settings) and then look up another location, you will get the option to set this new location as your present location. This will allow you to use search Garmin's points of interest for the new location. This is a great feature when planning trips, because Garmin's points of interest database is quite extensive and includes all of the typical tourist attractions, plus food, shopping, gas, banking, etc.
11. Be sure to check for the latest map and firmware updates at Garmin's web-site.
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