After much research I bought a Garmin Nuvi 300T from Amazon 5 weeks ago, at £169.99. I went for this one as I wanted the free traffic warning system, which is sent via a silent FM channel. So you can see delays and ask the Sat Nav to divert you. It arrived in a neat box, along with a carrying case, USB cable, windscreen holder and car charger, as well as a quick start guide, the detailed guide being stored on the unit itself.
There is virtually no set up, you switch on and can enter a postcode, place of interest, restaurants, nearest petrol stations etc and get directed. Very easy, no experience needed at all.
A warning flashes up (and audio if you wish) when mobile or fixed speed camera are approaching. You get 30 days free updates then pay £39.99 a year for this. I found it very difficult to get in and out of the windscreen holder, needing to snap it hard with both hands to remove it, this is a little alarming!
The unit is the size of playing cards so very neat to hide away in your bag or pocket. There is only one lady's voice with no choice of upgrade, but it is clear and precise. The maps are clear with 2D or 3D options and directions are accurate, although it does like to take the through country lanes, which might be shorter, but not faster! If you ignore it, it quickly recalculates your route and doesn't tell you off!!
If you are a gadget freak like me you can plug it into your PC and customize it with various cars, bikes and monster truck free for download instead of a blue arrow directing you. You can put in your own photo as a start up screen. Download audible books or Mp3's for your journey (not advisable as tiny, horrid noise through the internal speakers!) You can buy new maps of other countries on SD card. There is a foreign language guide with key phrases.
The internal memory is 1GB so you don't need an SD unless you want foreign maps, but can add SD if you want to store lots of photos etc.
I was delighted with the unit and then went on a motorway journey so plugged in the traffic module (which cost about £70 more than the unit on its own). Nothing happened. It did not scan for a signal, or have a facitliy for me to scan for one. Just said…no traffic information available! Yet I know that stretch of the motorway, friends pick up the FM Traffic signal. I tried several times then searched online. To my horror, forums are full of complaints that none of the Garmin TMC units work, Garmin know about it, and still sell them! I emailed Garmin, they told me to update the software, I did and after that their software refused to recognise my unit was plugged in. I googled it and found this is another known fault with the Garmin units! I emailed Garmin back and was told I would have to pay return registered post (£6) and they would keep the unit 4 weeks and fix it! Yet I know from forums that they can't fix the traffic bit!
I emailed Amazon ands they offered to pay the postage and give me a full refund! So sadly I sent it back, had a full refund plus postage, and ordered a Tom Tom with their new traffic unit, which is said to work, after their old one didn't!
How sad, as the Nuvi really is a lovely little unit that works very well! But what appalling customer care, why are the company continuing to sell the traffic units at £70 when they know they won't work? Why should a customer pay return postage too?
So if you just want a neat Sat Nav I would recommend this (apart from the windscreen mount!?), and update manually as the Garmin software seems to have lots of complaints about it! On the other hand, why bother if Tom Tom does the job at the same price, and its software works, and its windscreen mount is slid in and out!
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Oct 25th, 2007
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