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| Garmin nüvi 370 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Bluetooth, Text-to-Speech, North American & European Maps | 
 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $899.99
Buy New: $265.00
You Save: $634.99 (71%)
New (35) Used (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  196 reviews
Sales Rank: 95
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 1 x 3 x 2
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 0100053878
Model: 0100053878
UPC: 753759068011
EAN: 0753759068011
ASIN: B000MF7L5A
Release Date: January 8, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED! SHIPS DAILY FROM USA! (REF#FN-9000)
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| Customer Reviews:
 My 5th GPS August 5, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is my 5th GPS. I bought it because I want the European Map. Everything works as expected and better than my three previous Garmin units. However, there are at least two things that can be improved. First, the text-to-speech sound is very tinny and not loud enough if you are over sixty years old or your radio is playing. Next, it cannot pronounce Spanish names correctly. This is very annoying living in Southern California. It will be fun when I go to France or Germany. By the way, if you want a lot of POI, you will be disappointed. In my opinion, Garmin has never been great on POI, but they excel on the important things on navigation.
 Fantastic in and outside the US August 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recently took my GARMIN on a trip all across Ireland and I would not have been able to travel without it. The GPS was fantastic in all areas country and city and allowed us to take our time and wander more than have mapped out destinations. This is highly recommended for international as well as domestic use.
Awesome GPS!! July 31, 2008
Wow. Just back from a 1000+ mile journey through Italy and this GPS saved my butt a gazillion times. It navigated us through some of the smallest and hardest-to-find country roads without ever getting lost. It was easy to use, intuitive and worked like a champ right out of the box. Now, I just need to get back to Europe to try out some of the other countries, but on this journey, Italy and Garmin scored an A+. I used to have a Tom Tom (that TSA stole from my luggage on a recent trip) and this thing smokes Tom Tom in every way.
s
 A company not keeping up with the demand... July 28, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Until now I have been an admiring and faithful Garmin customer.
Our household now as 2 Garmin NUVIs less than a year old and I have a decade old Garmin MAPS 12. I am inspired to write this review as I am on a projected 35 minute hold (this could be a long review) with Garmin Technical support to obtain a RMA number required to send it back for repair. This is my second experience with horrendous wait times to get Garmin support on the phone. The first pertained to a snafu in obtaining their free North America maps update that took 18 hours to download with a satellite internet connection. The download ended up being for Europe. I had a week of arguing resulted in I made a mistake and "sorry but I would have to pay to get North America".
My ~8 month old NUVI 370 has since stopped functioning. I get a quick start-up screen when unplugged then dies. When plugged in either to the car or the AC charger it will not start. I have left it connected overnight to ensure it is charged but no change. There has been no adverse handling or conditions to cause to to fail. I keep it in the case in my brief case whenever not in use.
I have become greatly disappointed with Garmin products and especially their support. Maybe in our world of off-shoring services we should expect this kind of service for goods we only pay several hundred dollars for vs. several thousand...
My guess...Garmin has been focused on Marketing, developing a huge product line and is dropping the ball on good design and customer support.
Hey a person, and only 26 minutes...Wish me luck on this call.
Oops guess it was my fault. According to the technician the battery is dead and the car or AC charger will not charge it (don't look for this info in the manual, it is not there). I must connect it to the computer USB connection for 8 hours and it should recharge the battery. Also it is imperative that I do on-line software updates regularly (she would not tell me why but I am guessing it has to do with the unit not shutting off and the battery going dead). Another important piece of information not in the manual... I suggested adding this and she seemed too busy to even acknowledge this thought.
So if your going on a long trip bring your computer to charge your NUVI should the battery inadvertantly go nearly dead.
Fails Basic Test (+comparison with TomTom 930) July 27, 2008
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
There are 3 fatal flows with this product: (1) announcing too late and (2) giving confusing directions at complicated lane guidence situation and (3) taking too long to find satellite initially. I have been testing this product for a month in San Francisco and the Bay area.
(1) announcing too late
When your car is about to pass the intersection at which it is supposed to make a turn, then and only then it announces you to prepare for a turn. I missed so many turns because of the late announcements. It is also incredbly dangerous as you are tempted to attempt last-moment lane changes in order to make the turn. Also the distance to the turn is not that accurate -- when you are almost already at the intersection it shows you are 200 meters away (I changed the measurement setup to meters). SUGGESTION: Certain navigations have a bar-graph showing countdowns to the intersection, and perhaps that's what this navigation must have as well. Also certain navigations ask you to prepare well ahead. Make a customizable setting how long before to make the pre-announcement.
(2) giving confusing directions at complicated lane guidence situation
Time and time again, I missed the right exit on the highway. The map is absolutely no help. The multiple lanes look all overlapped!!! Red lines are cofusing as hell. Annoucement is in this fashion: "Keep to right and then keep to left." What is that supposed to mean and which lane are you supposed to be in? In a fast highway situation, this is incredibly dangerous. I almost got into accidents at many interchanges as I was trying to look both the road signs and my navigation and could not make any sense. SUGGESTION: the map needs major improvement on interchanges -- show us the way!!! Also get rid of "keep to right and then keep to left" style BS for a clearer direction.
(3) taking too long to find satellite initially
If you park your car outside, that would be fine but if you park it in a garage, woe to you. It will take at least 20 blocks to find the satellite and you will be either parking your car on the roadside waiting for godot or meandering down the street without knowing where you are going for very very long time. This is not acceptable. I used other product (magellan) before, and it found the satellite so much quicker. SUGGESTION: technological improvement or better processor.
[ADDED TO THIS AFTER I BOUGHT TOMTOM GO930 AND TESTING IT FOR A WEEK]
After my much frustration with Garmin NUVI 370, I purchased a Tomtom GO930 from local Best Buy. (The price of TomTom 930 at Best Buy was the same as the price at Amazon at USD 450, although I had to pay the tax.)
Wow, what a difference. That's all I can say. TomTom 930 is a bit more expensive than the street price of Garmin NUVI 370, but is so much better that the price difference is immaterial.
(1) prepare... prepare...
TomTom announces well before each turn and actually tells you on which side of the lane you should be in for the next turn. Incredibly friendly announcements. The arrow direction on the map display shows whether you should be making left or right turn as well. I never missed a single turn thanks to the ample announcements.
(2) guiding complicated lane situation with ease
the roads never appear overlapped like the NUVI 370. If there are five diverging roads, all are clearly shown, with the clear indication where you are and where you should go. Mind you, I haven't seen that many Advanced Lane Guidance screen yet as TomTom advertised (I hear that they don't have this on every intersection yet) but even without this, lane guidance is incredibly clear and easy (they show both on the map and on the status bar with muted arrows and one clear arrow). What a refreshing change from Garmin NUVI 370. The voice direction is a lot more clear and easier to understand as well -- it is as if somebody is actually speaking fine English to me. I never missed the right exit.
(3) lightening fast in finding satellites
It actually finds satellites when I am in my room with 4-5 bars. Need I say more?
(4) extras... extras...
TomTom has voice address input feature that is very useful. There are many situations that you hate to put in long characters (In California there are so many cities starting with San...). Simply pronounce it and the machine finds it for you, including the streets. I find this to be working well about 95% of the time. Also it gives you a few choices so that what you pronounced is almost always among the choices. SUGGESTION: This voice feature is not available for Place Name under Point of Interst (available only for the actual address).
Point of Interest feature in TomTom is incredibly extensive. I tested many restaurants listed in Zagat survey and found out that almost all (even obscure ones under "Best Value") restaurants have been registered in TomTom by names and phone numbers. I did not find that to be the case with Garmin NUVI 370 (I actually had to type in the exact address under my favorites). This makes inputing job so much easier. I typed in "Marshalls" under Point of Interest in Sunnyvale, and TomTom returned 7 results, some of them are as far away as San Jose, Mipitas, etc. Again, not so with Garmin.
Downloading updates and changes through computer seems painless and efficient as well. Works perfectly and took about 3 minutes to get the latest updates. Again, Garmin NUVI 370 does not have this feature. I don't know how actually useful the updates would be, but it is assuring that I am using the latest whatever.
Time estimation in TomTom is so much more accurate than Garmin. I found Garmin to be always a bit on the optimistic side (ie I never actually arrived as Garmin estimated especially in a city traffic). I don't know if it is because of the IQ Routes feature of TomTom but the timing estimate seems to be right on and there is little need for any traffic subscription service.
CONCLUSION: I will be updating this review to find any shortcoming of TomTom 930 (and I am sure there will be many) but so far it seems that TomTom is a very clear winner and fully justifies the extra USD 100. If you are looking for a navigation that includes both American and European maps, I guess your choices will be cleary limited: you would have to go for either the Garmin NUVI 370 or the TomTom GO 930, and my recommendation would be the latter -- not for the extra features but mainly for the basic abilities that I listed earlier in this review.
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