23 November, 2007

I bought a Garmin c340 GPS Automotive Unit

I bought a Garmin c340 GPS automotive unit, at http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4016517, for $234.54. I'm having it shipped to my local Wal*Mart for free. As you know, from my prior postings, I've studied these things a lot ...like geeky, obsessively a lot, and what grabs me about this one is the text-to-speech feature, where it will say "turn right on University Avenue" instead of "turn right in 100 feet". Folks say that feature really helps a lot, especially in strange cities, to have the street name spoke aloud. Also, this unit is simple to update both the software and the maps; Magellan street units suck at that...rarely if ever even having updates. At least, for the series that I can afford/would pay for. I'm in the fortunate position of knowing two people who have the same unit, so I have their comfort factor too, aside from the various CNET and other reviews.

This beats the c330 in that the former does not have text-to-speech, and I think this one lets one save more "points of interest" (waypoints for us old folks), which one can set to alert one as they are near. For example, it would be cool to be reminded that I am passing within two miles of my favorite coffee houses, just in case I somehow forgot that I am a caffeine addict.

Should be cool.