463
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #41,381 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Nicely Done, Garmin!
The Garmin C330 is a well designed, easy to use GPS. It does not offer all the bells and whistles of the Garmin 2620 or Magellan RM700, for example - but the C330 offers simplicity and quality in a nice neat package. The advantages of the C330:
- The display is awesome - high resolution with good contrast.
- No buttons! Everything, except volume and power, is controlled by the touch screen.
- The software is fast; route calculations take just a few seconds.
- After the initial lock, this little unit locks on very quickly after powering up.
- The internal battery is terrific; you can do your route planning indoors without looking for an AC receptacle, and you can leave the unit on during a rest stop on your trip to preserve trip data. Battery life is 3 to 4 hours.
- The OS is super intuitive.
- The 3D view is simple to follow, but the map view is excellent, also.
- Navigation performance is excellent.
- Speakers are built in, with excellent sound quality.
- Windshield mount is small, sturdy and simple.
- The unit is small enough that it won't obstruct your view.
- The power cord is hardwired to the windshield mount - no plug to contend with.
A few disadvantages I've noticed:
- The battery is not user replaceable
- The C330 cannot save a route. But this is not a big deal. When you start up after a stop, you just have it calculate the route to your destination, which takes just seconds - or just leave it on if your stop doesn't exceed 3 to 4 hours.
- The display can get washed out in direct light on a bright day - but I expect that is common to all GPS units.
- As I mentioned, it doesn't have the bells and whitles of the 2630 or RM 700. For example, you can't monitor satellite signal strength from indiviual satellites. you can't determinen your lat/long position, and as I mentioned, you can't save routes in the C330. And you can't program it for several different users like you can with the RM700.
But all in all, the C330 is a winner. It's simple to operate, well designed, very effective, and reasonably priced. It's a strong buy!
May 2005 · Electronics