Which GPS system should I buy?
 

I know there have been questions on here before about this, but they were two years old. With more knowledge on the stuff now, maybe the opinions will be better.

I was told by a guy at Garmin that I should either buy a Garmin Nuvi 350 or a StreetPilot c340. Anybody have any experience with either, or both?

Our plans include going to three destinations where we've never been and road maps that we used to buy that were very good are no longer very good.

Really, all we want to be able to do is get from Point A to Point B with little discussion and not making any wrong turns. If the unit has some other features, great. But which would best suit us? Or is there another model not mentioned here that would be best?

Thanks

I trust you have done a search for GPS..there are MANY threads which are way less than two years old I can assure you.

Some of those newer threads are in the "Europe" forum.

Just got a Garmin StreetPilot c330. I looked into the Nuvi 350 and it had more stuff on it than I needed. I'm very pleased with the c330 because it's easy to use and very accurate. Highly recommend it.

I have a Garmin 350 and I love it! While I don't use some features (audiobooks, mp3 player) currently, who knows, I might down the road (so the flexibility is nice). It is SMALL, easily packed, which is what I love most about it. Easy to use with on-screen buttons is another plus. I was at Best Buy the other day and see they have a cheaper model now, the 200 (I think)...might be a navigator without all the bells and whistles.

I have the StreetPilot C330 and have used it in the U.S. and Europe (purchased the European maps separately). I'm very pleased with it. The price has dropped considerably since my wife bought it for Christmas for me 1.5 years ago.

I understand the Nuvi 350 is more compact, but for the price, do you need the features?

Check them out and test drive them at a circuit city or other electronic store, but search on line for the best deal. ((b))

This was interesting to me. I priced the Nuvi 350 at amazon.com and at Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart price was about $100 HIGHER.

Anybody know why that is?

I went and checked at our local Wal-Mart and the items in the box there and the one on Amazon were exactly the same.

Thanks for the replies so far. I am leaning toward the Nuvi 350.

Correction: I just checked the Web site for Wal-Mart and the price was only about 5-6 dollars higher than Amazon.com. It was just our local store where the price was almost $100 more.

Here's a list of on-line dealers that you can check out to find the best price. Also, consider tax and shipping. Some companies ship for free with no tax.

http://www8.garmin.com/cgi-bin/onlin...T=Show+Dealers ((b))

Whichever one you get, think security of device after you get it. Article in local paper reports it as most stolen item in car break-ins. Makes sense - it just sits there on dashboard looking inviting and expensive. So lock it up out of sight when out of car - which admittedly is a pain.

The price of the Garmin StreetPilot c330 has dropped ($250 at Circuit City), I suspect because of the new 340, which speaks street names. I am waiting for a good sale on that. I don't need all the other bells and whistles. ((*))

My 2730 is in a beanbag mount, and I simply lift it from the dashboard and place it near my right foot BEFORE arriving at a parking spot. There is no outward indication that I have a GPS. I don't put gift packages in my trunk and walk away at Christmas time, either.

People with evil intentions watch for people who "hide" things after parking.