« Mercedes-Benz SLK - A Home Run! | Main | Grand Touring in the Mercedes-Benz SL600 »
Moving GPS Navigation from Car to Car
By slmarket | February 15, 2007
Source: SL Market Letter #354
Author: John Olson
If you've yearned for a navigation GPS that you can move from car to car, save time and buy the latest GARMIN c330 or c340 and be done with it. This summer we tested the products recommended by Garmin and Magellan, the two dominant makers) and the Garmin wins, hands down better graphics, a clearer voice, fewer map errors and easier to learn.
Both units have full color touch screens displays, voice directions and operate by connection to the posthumous cigarette lighter socket. That's were the similarity ends.
I never did fathom Magellan's 740 RoadMate instructions. Its start up time was longer and turning the ignition off even momentarily shut it down whereas the Garmin runs 30 seconds after the engine is turned off. This proved handier than expected for unlocking the glove box or other primitive activity obsoleted by keyless ignitions. The Garmin c330 functions mostly by touching the screen drawing on a pre-loaded, hugely detailed US map. Both unit accept updated maps and for other countries via USB interface. The information crammed into both units is hard to believe, even exact addresses in thousands of towns and cities.
Even asking for the nearest Home Depot or Radio Shack is routine however the source of some of this data is suspect in that we were led to the street on the back side of a WallMart (outside a shopping center) and to the corporate offices of a Lake Michigan Ferry Co. rather than the dock where the ferry would be boarded. These foibles happen on the best of navigation software and can be corrected when they occur. In our home area where we know all the short cuts both units chose routes we "thought" were longer… but (choke) sometime we were wrong.
The Garmin's 3D mode is several generations ahead of Magellan's cartoonish images. Garmin shows slight overhead views (as one might look from a two story building) that requires less concentration than an overhead view as the curves look remarkably close to what appears in front of the car. Both units offer fastest routes or one avoiding expressways. Likewise both display, or omit, significant landmarks.
After living with both units for close to a month we still definitely give our vote to Garmin. To top it off the Garmin c330 retails for $589 in the USA vs. $999 for the Magellan 760. Shop a little; we found www.GPSnow.com selling the c330 for $549 and offering a c340 with added features for $699.
Topics: Mercedes-Benz Articles |
Comments are closed.