Garmin Nuvi 350 And Nuvi 660

[indothai]

Hi all,

Anyone know where I can get the Nuvi 350 or the 660 in Bangkok?

Thanks.

[Berty]

Try Gadget Trend.

[HDRIDER]

Hi all,

Anyone know where I can get the Nuvi 350 or the 660 in Bangkok?

Thanks.

http://www.gadgetrend.com/

[corkscrew]

Hi all,

Anyone know where I can get the Nuvi 350 or the 660 in Bangkok?

Thanks.

The last time that I was in Pantip a place on the 2nd floor...Platinium....had a lot of GPS devices. That is where I bought my Garmin StreetPilot.

I don't know anything about the Nuvi line of GPSs. What are they like? Thanks in advance.

[indothai]

Thanks all for replying. Got the Nuvi 310 anyways, 350's were out of stock, and 660 "not yet in country".

I've spent only about an hour fiddling with the thing and so far it's great. I did not have the time to take it out on the road yet, but so far... it's good, real good.

Easy to find places via word searches, easy to scroll thru the map to manually find the places. It's thin, square, small and very light, fit into a shirt pocket easily.

Actual battery life is still unkown yet, but the specs says "4 to 8 hours depending on usage."

[MarcoH]

Thanks all for replying. Got the Nuvi 310 anyways, 350's were out of stock, and 660 "not yet in country".

I've spent only about an hour fiddling with the thing and so far it's great. I did not have the time to take it out on the road yet, but so far... it's good, real good.

Easy to find places via word searches, easy to scroll thru the map to manually find the places. It's thin, square, small and very light, fit into a shirt pocket easily.

Actual battery life is still unkown yet, but the specs says "4 to 8 hours depending on usage."

Hi Indothai

im intersted to hear how is NUVi on the road and if you are in and out from BKK would like to know how it covers all up?

have you checked already if that can pic up the radio as well?

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR ALL FROM ANTARCTICA,(Ushuaia, Argentina)

-Marco-

[indothai]

Marco,

I've managed to go around town today for about 3 hours, here's a quick description.

The Nuvi 310 that I bought from ESRI has the latest thai map installed, v7, which includes the new airport.

The package contains:

Nuvi 310

USB cable

Windshield mount

Dash board base

12v car charger

v7 Thai map CD (2 years map updates free if bought from ESRI)

User manuals.

It does NOT come with a AC charger (kinda weird, since this unit is marketed as a portable device).

Satellite reception:

Satellite lock is quick, obviously, the more unobstructed view it has of the sky the faster the lock and the more accurate it will be. In general, I did not have any problems in Bangkok, I was sitting in the rear left side of the car, and had no problems. Tall buildings and over-passes caused minor problems, but it was acceptable because the satellite lock for the unit was quick.

Nothing negative in this area.

Map coverage/Routing:

Extensive. It pretty much covers the entire country. ESRI does mapping for Thailand, I think they are the primary source for GPS maps for Thailand. The coverage for Bangkok is excellent, I'm guessing that it has at least 99% of the soi's here.

POI's (buildings, businesses, gas stations, etc) extensive. Need to fill up gas?, Only at a Shell station?, do a partial name search and it will find the nearest one for you. Impressive.

Point to point routing is pretty much "computer minded", it will track the shortest path for you. My father laughed at it because it chosed a different route, one that seems to be "longer" than it should. This Nuvi 310 does support Traffic reporting, but Thailand does not have that system in place yet, so... sitting in traffic would be unavoidable. BUT, with it you can choose an alternate route to the destination. It will also automatically and quickly re-calculate the path should you decide to go outside the given route.

The negative points I can only think of in this area is the spelling. I can't remember what it was I was trying to find, thought it was not in the GPS, but it turned out that I was not spelling it correctly. Although it's a slight problem at first, I'm sure it will go away once I'm used to the spelling of the device.

Screen size/quality:

The screen was large and bright enough for me. My father had a hard time with it, found it too small. This is where I highly suggest you go and check it out yourself. I initially wanted to get the Nuvi 660 because it had a bigger screen, but it was not sold here yet.

Battery life/charging/PC:

I've only used it for a total of 2 - 3 hours, rough guess is that battery life is good considering it's a GPS unit with built-in bluetooth for your phone. You can pro-long your battery life by closing the GPS antenna, this will turn off the GPS "engine" draining less power.

You can plug the Nuvi 310 into a PC to transfer files (MP3, pictures, maps) either to the onboard memory or to the SD card.

It didn't come with an AC charger? Bad Garmin, very very bad. The only way you can charge the Nuvi 310 is either with your car or your PC. The PC charging is cumbersom, have to plug it in, then use the Windows XP "Safely Remove Hardware" option, only then will the Nuvi tell you the status of the battery (charging or full). I did not time exactly how long it would take to charge from empty to full, but a rough guess would be 1 - 2 hours.

Well, that's my take on the Nuvi 310. This unit does have bluetooth so you can use your phone with it for hands free calling, a nice positive feature. I was also able to search my contact list on the Nuvi 310 without using the phone, which was nice. The only thing I didn't like about it was there was no AC charger, I was able to fix the problem by using my Ipod charger instead. The unit is compact and light enough for me to put it in my shirt pocket or pant pocket with ease.

Can't go wrong with the Nuvi 310. Happy with it, the cost is higher than in the states, but justified by the fact tha ESRI will update my unit for the next 2 years. ESRI updates their maps once a year towards the end of each year.

Happy New Year !!!!

[MarcoH]

Marco,

I've managed to go around town today for about 3 hours, here's a quick description.

The Nuvi 310 that I bought from ESRI has the latest thai map installed, v7, which includes the new airport.

The package contains:

Nuvi 310

USB cable

Windshield mount

Dash board base

12v car charger

v7 Thai map CD (2 years map updates free if bought from ESRI)

User manuals.

It does NOT come with a AC charger (kinda weird, since this unit is marketed as a portable device).

Satellite reception:

Satellite lock is quick, obviously, the more unobstructed view it has of the sky the faster the lock and the more accurate it will be. In general, I did not have any problems in Bangkok, I was sitting in the rear left side of the car, and had no problems. Tall buildings and over-passes caused minor problems, but it was acceptable because the satellite lock for the unit was quick.

Nothing negative in this area.

Map coverage/Routing:

Extensive. It pretty much covers the entire country. ESRI does mapping for Thailand, I think they are the primary source for GPS maps for Thailand. The coverage for Bangkok is excellent, I'm guessing that it has at least 99% of the soi's here.

POI's (buildings, businesses, gas stations, etc) extensive. Need to fill up gas?, Only at a Shell station?, do a partial name search and it will find the nearest one for you. Impressive.

Point to point routing is pretty much "computer minded", it will track the shortest path for you. My father laughed at it because it chosed a different route, one that seems to be "longer" than it should. This Nuvi 310 does support Traffic reporting, but Thailand does not have that system in place yet, so... sitting in traffic would be unavoidable. BUT, with it you can choose an alternate route to the destination. It will also automatically and quickly re-calculate the path should you decide to go outside the given route.

The negative points I can only think of in this area is the spelling. I can't remember what it was I was trying to find, thought it was not in the GPS, but it turned out that I was not spelling it correctly. Although it's a slight problem at first, I'm sure it will go away once I'm used to the spelling of the device.

Screen size/quality:

The screen was large and bright enough for me. My father had a hard time with it, found it too small. This is where I highly suggest you go and check it out yourself. I initially wanted to get the Nuvi 660 because it had a bigger screen, but it was not sold here yet.

Battery life/charging/PC:

I've only used it for a total of 2 - 3 hours, rough guess is that battery life is good considering it's a GPS unit with built-in bluetooth for your phone. You can pro-long your battery life by closing the GPS antenna, this will turn off the GPS "engine" draining less power.

You can plug the Nuvi 310 into a PC to transfer files (MP3, pictures, maps) either to the onboard memory or to the SD card.

It didn't come with an AC charger? Bad Garmin, very very bad. The only way you can charge the Nuvi 310 is either with your car or your PC. The PC charging is cumbersom, have to plug it in, then use the Windows XP "Safely Remove Hardware" option, only then will the Nuvi tell you the status of the battery (charging or full). I did not time exactly how long it would take to charge from empty to full, but a rough guess would be 1 - 2 hours.

Well, that's my take on the Nuvi 310. This unit does have bluetooth so you can use your phone with it for hands free calling, a nice positive feature. I was also able to search my contact list on the Nuvi 310 without using the phone, which was nice. The only thing I didn't like about it was there was no AC charger, I was able to fix the problem by using my Ipod charger instead. The unit is compact and light enough for me to put it in my shirt pocket or pant pocket with ease.

Can't go wrong with the Nuvi 310. Happy with it, the cost is higher than in the states, but justified by the fact tha ESRI will update my unit for the next 2 years. ESRI updates their maps once a year towards the end of each year.

Happy New Year !!!!

Indothai

Thanx for detailed info and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

seems to be good deal indeed but pitty that 310 dont have AC inlet\Charger.

but in the other hand small size is ok so i can install to to my goldwing with out any problems.

[Heckler]

Hey guys i just got a Garmin Nuvi 350 (With Euro map Pre-Installed) and to get teh Thai map installed it will cost me 12 000 Baht and i dont want to fork out more just after i paid for my GPS Unit. Do any of u guys know how, if possible to get the thai map free? i would be really greatful if any 1 could point me in the right direction!!!

Please give me an email at: [email protected] if u can help

Cheers

-Mike