Review of the Garmin Streetpilot GPS Navigation System

The Garmin Street Pilot navigation system is probably the best vehicle GPS units you can buy without breaking the bank with a expensive in dash car navigation system. The Garmind Streetpilot C340 Portable Navigation system is out of the box ready and can even be hooked up with real time traffic. For an extra price of course.

Garmin Streetpilot GPS- Out of the Box Ready

On the box for the Garmin GPS it says that it is out of the box ready. I read that and took it with a grain of salt. I have seen many a electronic piece of equipment that said out of the ox ready that required downloading, or batteries, or something. I took my Garmin GPS out of the box at home. I opened the directions to see what I needed to do first to setup the Garmin GPS. Turns out the first step is plugging it in your car and turning on the car.

That really is all you need to do to get the Garmin GPS to work. You don't even really need directions to learn how to use the Garmin GPS. It is all very simple and self explanatory. Everything on the Garmin GPS is controlled by the touch screen. There are two button on the outside of the Garmin GPS for controlling volume and a on off switch.

Garmin Streetpilot GPS- Main Screen

If you keep your Garmin GPS plugged into the car it powers on every time you start the car. When the Garmin GPS starts it asks you if you want to view the map or get directions. If you click on the button for see map it pulls up a map of you and your location within seconds usually. I say usually because with all things GPS you tend to have some sort of delay when in mountains, or cities, or such. I have never really had a problem getting a signal. Sometimes it takes a little longer to get a signal depending on where you are at. The only place I have had to wait to get a signal was on a small back road on the side of a mountain so I expected as much. In less that a minute I had a signal on my Garmin GPS

The get directions feature on the Garmin GPS is also obviously very useful. On the main screen of the Garmin GPS you have a series of buttons for gas, lodging, shopping, dining, airports, etc at your fingertips. Simply click on one of these buttons on your Garmin GPS and it will automatically fnd and list the nearest one based on distance. You can then pick which ever one you want and the Garmin GPS will take you back to the map and give you step by step directions.

Garmin Streetpilot GPS- Getting Directions

When using your Garmin GPS to get directions I think the Garmin GPS gives you the fastest route by default. If you want you can change it so that the Garmin GPS gives you directions based on shortest distance.

What I really like about the way the Garmin GPS gives you directions is that it is quick to notice when you go off of the provided route and quickly changes the directions to get you toward your destination. What is neat is that if you make a wrong turn, but can actually get to your destination from that road the Garmin GPS will remap the directions for you instead of just giving you directions to make a U-turn. This is a great feature because with GPS systems I have used in the past it took the GPS a good minute to recalculate directions if I missed a turn or got off route. Which is something you don't want when your lost driving around in circles.

Another key feature is the Garmin GPSs ability to lookup locations. My past GPS systems would let you type in the address or search for a location by typig in a name. While this may seem like all you would need, it didn't always work. Sometimes you don't have the address or cant find one and when you typed in store names the results were very limited and almost never what I was looking for.

Not with the Garmin GPS though! The search option is amazing. I typed in a virtually unknown store and the Garmin GPS knew exactly where it was. I even typed in a very well known store into the Garmin GPS and it showed me a closer route to the one I thought was actually farther away.

Besides being able to get directions with your Garmin GPS by search and by address you actually have even more options. You can search for street names, intersections, and zip codes.

Garmin Streetpilot GPS- Real Time Traffic

The Garmin GPS is also real time traffic ready if you spend the $200 on the optional receiver. I don't know much about how the Garmin GPS real time traffic works, but what I do know is this, it has a MSRP of $199 and requires a subscription. When you buy the receiver you get a year of service for free and then it costs $60 a year. Not a bad price if it works well. I would spend $60 a year if it ment I didn't have to sit in traffic or wait on construction crews.

Garmin Streetpilot GPS- In the Box

Seeing as how the Garmin GPS is out of the box ready there is not much inside the box. The box has the Garmin GPS StreetPilot c340, windshield mount, USB cable, Lithium-ion battery, and a optional disc to mount the Garmin GPS to the dashboard. There are a brief set of instructions for getting the Garmin GPS running, but that's it. There is no instructional manual in the box. If you need or want to read one you can visit the Garmin website direct. Like I said though, the Garmin GPS unit is pretty simple and self explanatory.