|
Garmin nüvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator  | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $649.99
Buy New: $129.99
You Save: $520.00 (80%)
New (39)
Avg. Customer Rating:  118 reviews
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 3.8 x 0.8 x 2.8
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: Nuvi 270
Model: Nuvi 270
UPC: 753759068080
EAN: 4060800148858
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Features:
| • | 3.5-Inch Qvga Display | | • | Sleek, Pocketable Form Factor | | • | No Flip-Up Antenna | | • | Full Coverage Of Us & Europe | | • | Map Data Of Internal Flash Memory |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Product Description
Navigate both North America and Europe without loading more maps with the affordable nüvi 270. This entry-level Personal Travel Assistant makes traveling so simple. For even more mapping options, nüvi 250 and nüvi 200 offer less map coverage at a lower price. Like all nüvi 200-series members, the 270 features an easy-to-use colorful touchscreen and ultra-slim design--perfect for everyday navigation. 
The nüvi 270 comes preloaded with maps for North America and Europe, and features an easy-to-use touchscreen and ultra-slim design. | 
Configurable vehicle icons let you select car-shaped graphics. | 
nüvi 270 accepts custom points of interest (POIs). View larger. | Smart, Powerful Design
The nüvi 270 is built with a high-sensitivity WAAS-enabled GPS receiver for extreme accuracy, as well as an SD card slot for storing your media and additional navigation tools, and a USB interface for loading data. All this is wrapped up in a package that measures 3.8 x 2.8 x .8 inches (W x H x D) and weighs just 5.2 ounces. The nüvi 270's 3.5-inch (diagonal) display is touchscreen-enabled, making it a cinch to control the device with your fingertips. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to five hours of battery life depending on use. Navigate with Ease
nüvi 270 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. In addition, nüvi 270 accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 270 features many travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. It also comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature, and configurable vehicle icons that let you select car-shaped graphics to show your location on the map. Optional plug-in SD cards for our line of Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide provide detailed data for attractions and information on nearby merchants offering discounts, so you can customize nüvi for your travel needs. Note: Like most USB Mass Storage Devices, the nüvi is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me.
What's in the Box
nüvi 270, preloaded City Navigator NT for North America and Europe (full coverage), vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk, and set up and go guide.
| Customer Reviews: Read 113 more reviews...
 GPS With European Maps August 23, 2007
174 out of 174 found this review helpful
The Garmin GPS was a godsend on our trip to Europe. If you have ever driven into cities or small towns in Europe you will know how difficult it is to navigate, while trying to read foreign street signs, dodging motor scooters and bicylists, finding the right exit out of a around-about all the while being pushed along by the very aggressive drivers behind you. But with the GPS most of that stress goes away as you know when and where to turn and you drive through towns like a native. I was very impressed that even going through the miles long tunnels of the alps the GPS must be programmed to keep the unit tracking without a satellite signal because several minutes later coming out of the tunnel it still provides instructions. I purchased the pricier model 270 because of the factory installed European maps. If you purchased a GPS with only North America maps and had to load the European maps the cost of those maps would be another $250. It's less money to get the 270 or 370 with maps already loaded. The windshield mounting is excellent and worked well in the rental car. The Nuvi series GPS is convenient enough in size to be carried in the pocket for walking around the cities. But it does not work as well for pedestrian purposes because it cannot keep bearings well as you tend to rotate the device and it looses it sense of direction. I read all the reviews on GPS's and chose the Garmin because of it's higher ratings for search engine, ease of use and maps. You will immediately become an expert user even without reading instructions with this device. It is literally that easy to use.
 Not for Pedestrians in France and Switzerland June 1, 2008
145 out of 159 found this review helpful
I retired a couple years ago as a commercial pilot who dealt with GPS's on a daily basis and have a factory installed unit in my Acura TL.
I bought this unit to use as a pedestrian sight-seeing in France and Switzerland. This review is only my experience trying to use the Garmin Nuvi 270 as a pedestrian in European cities. I make no supposition how it would work in a car in the USA nor in a car through the narrow streets of Europe or as a pedestrian in US cities..
The Garmin Nuvi 270 has a pedestrian mode and is pre-loaded with maps of Europe. At slightly over $300 the unit was very appealing so I bought one for my trip in May 2008.
The Good:
1.The touch screen is very responsive
2.The screen is very clear and bright.
3.3.5 inch screen, in my view, is the perfect pedestrian size.
4.The database used is good by today's standards.
5.Physically the 270, in my opinion, is the correct size for walking.
The Bad:
1.The first bad feature and by far the overriding issue is the Nuvi 270's inability to acquire satellites in European cities . (Without Satlilite communication the Nuvi 270 is not able to navigate.) I read all the reviews posted on Amazon and elsewhere, although many mentioned this issue, none seemed to adequately drive this point home enough for me not to buy it. On our day trip to Strasbourg, France, I held the unit out at arms length for 1 1/2 hours while walking and saw only two screens, `Acquiring satellites' or `unable to acquire Satellites do you want to continue'. The unit never ever acquired enough Satellites in Strasburg to even show where we were, let alone navigate. I even stood on a round-about in the middle of a busy intersection for 20 minutes hoping it would acquire enough Satellites to be functional....it did not! I cannot over stress this enough....it was useless in Paris, where it would acquire for a short time and then lose them during the walk, in Geneva where it acquired them on the lake, but lost them in town. In Marseilles where it acquired them going to an island but quickly lost them in town.
2.Once acquired, satellite retention is very poor. Sometimes aircraft GPS', as well as my Acura will take a couple minutes to acquire satellites, particularly if the unit has been moved while turned off, but once satellites are acquired they seldom lose reception, if ever unless you drive through a tunnel. The Garmin Nuvi 270, on the other hand, readily loses reception.
3.There is no Operating manual available for the Garmin Nuvi 270 either in the box or on the web. Only 11 quick start booklets in 11 languages.
4.Once you have looked for a destination it now resides in Recently found places, but cannot be deleted unless all destinations are deleted. If there is a way I couldn't figure it out as there is no manual.
5.When charging, the unit says it is charging but never tells you when it is fully charged. I let it charge for over 24 hours and it continued to display, `charging'..
6.The unit has a segmented bar that let's you know how much battery charge is left, but Garmin obviously hasn't figured out how to correlate that to time. A total of 5 bars, one would think 2 bars would indicate 40% left. WRONG, 2 bars generally meant less than 20 minutes left of usage.
7.Does not use changeable batteries, so if you're away from your hotel, walking, you can't put fresh batteries in; coupled with not having any real clue how much charge you have left on the permanently installed battery, leads to a problem. (How much do I conserve, how much charge is left in real time, etc.)
8.You can't plan your trip unless you are there. For example: If I'm in the USA and I want to see what attractions are located around the hotel I plan to stay in in Paris, the unit will not do it. It will only show me the attractions located close to where the unit physically is at that point. (Assuming you can get reception).
9.The current satellite reception strength indicator is not visible on the map screen.
10.When walking, in pedestrian mode, you have two choices for screen orientation. One allows the map to orient in the direction you are walking, the other North remains at the top of the screen. For the short time my 270 was able to retain satellites, I tried both. The unit's computing speed coupled with current satellite available accuracy makes the mode where the screen orients in the direction you are walking near useless. The screen near continually `hunts' for correct orientation. (Perhaps when the next generation satellites are all up and SA has been removed completely, this mode will work) Best to leave it on North at the top although I could not fully evaluate this in Paris because I never had constant satellite reception long enough.
11.The screen is easily washed out by bright sunlight.
12. No place exists on the unit to attach a lanyard; this is a problem in that the unit's case is very smooth and can slide out of your hand easily.
All in all the unit is the right size for a pedestrian with a nice touch screen, but falls unacceptably short in Satellite reception capabilities and battery longevity (3-4 hours) given the batteries can't be changed. Assuming it found a few satellites where are you going to charge it during a 10 hour walking tour, or a hike, or a bike ride?
 OK, but needs some tweaks September 6, 2007
59 out of 64 found this review helpful
Used this on a trip to southern Ireland. Only Garmin seems to have current maps of Ireland so it was hobson's choice.
Overall worked fine. Ireland is under major construction so it's helpful to have looked at a map before going someplace. Found several cases where the roads no longer existed or the new Nx freeway was formerly a field of stones on the map, but overall worked good.
Major flaw was the system can't tell the Irish difference between an N road (freeway of sorts) an R road (probably means a real road) and everything else, (cow path with or without cows). It routes by what it thinks the shortest path is, which may be the longest time wise. In some GPS systems, there's a SELECT freeway option. In Ireland, it would have been wonderful if there was NEVER SELECT cow path option. It may be that competition like Tom Tom which doesn't have cow paths actually gets you there faster. I would gladly take an N road for 4 times the distance and arrive in half the time of an optimally routed cow path.
There is a new slogan in ireland. Give the Gift of Life. Get a Doner Card. Then drive at the posted speed limit. Garmin calculates trip times at the posted speed limit. If you plan on donating body parts, you too will drive at the posted speed limit. Over two weeks the average trip time was what Garmin calculated plus 45 minutes, whether the distance was 10 kilometers or 200 kilometers. Just add 45.
The more expensive Garmins will pronounce road names instead of turns. In Ireland, that's probably a very bad idea. Let's say you're on the N9 coming up to a round about. The 270 will say, "enter round about and take the 2nd exit". If you actually pronounced the roads it might have said "enter round about and take the o'Hagerty cow path on the left" Road names change every 50 meters or so. Plus, they're only identified on the map. Look for a street sign and you'll die of old age going round and round the roundabout.
System never got lost. Always got us to our destination.
Compared to U.S. destinations Ireland destinations were about 50% present by name, 25% findable under a different name, or otherwise findable by selecting a pub in a nearby town. For Galway, finding the nearest grocery store might take you to Dublin, so some of the features weren't real for Ireland.
Half the time, I thought the unit was trying to get me to die in traffic. Half the time, I thought it was a life saver. Probably more about Irish roads than GPS features.
Net net, study the map before you go so you know if you should be on an N or R road instead of the cow path. Otherwise, it will get you there, somehow.
 Good technologies with some mysteries June 30, 2007
57 out of 59 found this review helpful
My Nuvi 270 arrived two days ago, and after a few minutes to locating satellites, the unit found my location and in all later driving followed my routes faithfully. The POIs are accurate, and reasonably up to date although resturants, gas stations, and hotels have changed names although not locations. The routing to destinations seems good with my limited experience although the estimated mileage to destinations I have visited often seems underestimated.
I purchased the Nuvi 270 unit (my first GPS) for upcoming trips to Midwest USA, England, and Northern Europe. I anticipate that it will perform well with mapping and directing my movements in these regions.
But I suspect that the unit has many additional capabilities that I have not been able to learn because the "manual" for the unit is a joke. Where is a full guide for users who want to fully use the Nuvi 270's features? This lack of documentation is the primary reason that I give the Nuvi 270 only three stars instead of 5.
Presently I would like to learn how simulate directions from a location different from the present location of my unit. For example how can I sit in California and find the driving directions from Bloomsbury in London to Oxford. How can I display a map of my likely destinations? (I find that "sliding" the map with my finger, will bring me to London. But I can not then zoom in without the map display changing back to my home.) Without better information I guess I will have to wait until I arrive in England.
Another issue where better documentation might help is in the use of the picture viewer. This is a rather nice feature, and a fairly large number of pictures on a SD card can be displayed in a slide show. The show can be stopped at a particular slide, and the image can be enlarged and "slided" to regions of interest. However with a large number of pictures (arranged in directories on the SD card), I can not figure out how to view efficiently a picture far down the list of files. The Nuvi 270 appears to not allow the user to use the directory structure for images, but rather just presents a long list of pictures that take a long time to sequentially display and provide only a slide show with all of the pictures. What is a user supposed to do: buy many SD cards with different sets of pictures?
I am very happy with the unit, and in no way do I regret my purchase. However with more attention must be made to users who want to get maximum benefit from their investment.
Nuvi 270 - Two Week Vacation in Europe September 5, 2007
34 out of 35 found this review helpful
I bought the Nuvi 270 in anticipation of using it during a trip to Europe. I did extensive research comparing the major brands. I also considered TomTom, but their maps for Europe were less comprehensive than the Nuvi and the Nuvi had newer technology and maps. Reviews for the Nuvi were excellent at all tech sites, as well.
I initially used it in the states and was impressed by its design, display and compact size. Excellent verbal directions, sound and visibility in the car. Good access to settings and easy to customize (would like more options for voice and icons, though). Good battery life. Easily obtained 6-8 hours of use with display set at 30%. There are a few quirks in the interface. For instance, I find it hard to browse a town when you are not in the town itself. POI database is nice but not comprehensive. Sometimes difficult to find historical landmarks. Very impressed with accuracy and ease of use in the car. Had some "drift" initially when stationary but this was improved by downloading latest software upgrade. Overall, I was not pleased with difficulty determining which way I was facing when at stand still. Sometimes the database amazed me with the obscure places it could find. Other times I was amazed at points not available in the database.
First tested the unit on the airplane over the atlantic. It showed position and speed if I held the unit against the window. Arrived in Barcelona and had significant difficulties obtaining good satellite signal, even when near a large window. This problem was especially pronounced during start up, requiring me to leave the unit on a lot to maintain contact with satellites. Signal reception was also poor when walking the streets. Streets and alleys in Europe are much more narrow than US. This problem plagued me from Spain to Italy, France, Greece, Croatia. Accuracy especially erratic in Greece.
Overall, I was disappointed in the unit while in Europe. Poor reception (extremely frustrating), difficulty determining heading while walking slowly or standing, difficulty with searches and POI.
I will still keep the unit because it is great in the states and it is a quality product. Hand-held GPS still has a long way to go before they are practical for use outside US and for walking tours. Garmin is the industry leader as far as I am concerned. They market this as a "personal travel assistant". I think it fell short in Europe.
The reception seemed to suffer after I downloaded the software upgrade. Maybe I just got a weak unit. Having a harder time obtaining signal at start up. Signal seems to be stronger in US in general. Quality hardware, though. You really don't need a higher end Garmin unit for use in the states. The 200 series is great and should be enough for most users.
|
| |
|
2005-2007 Zone1electronics All rights reserved.
| |
|
