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Reviewed by UK Guest, 15th Jun 2007. |
| Review Summary: Garmin leads the way |
Overall Score: 4/5
 
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Review: Had my Garmin 310 for about a month now and it came just in time for me to use it during my holiday in the Peak Disrict.
Straight out of the box and with barely a glance at the instructions, the unit was easy to set up with some very informative on screen menus.
Fitting the unit to its holder and attatching it to the windscreen was simple, but I did not push the power lead all the way home in my car's aux socket, which I realised when we lost power about 90 minutes into our journey. I soon learnt that the lead needs to be pushed fully home until the red light is on and we were soon back on course again.
I also quickly realised that I was getting to the turning points slightly earlier than the instructions to turn were heard. I guess this was down to how many satellites the unit had locked onto, and once I had worked out that I was about 40 feet ahead of where it said I was, then everything was fine. Another little problem I found was some unclear instructions at non-standard road junctions. Some left and right forks were called as turns while at others I was told to bear left or bear right. I got caught out once when there was a right turn directly after a right fork and I assumed the unit was telling me to take this right turn. As I turned it told me that it was recalculating the route and I realised that I should have just beared right at the fork and ignored the turning. Another quick lesson had been learnt and I made sure of taking a glance a the screen (which is very clear and easy to read) whenever an instruction was called just to see exactly where the purple coloured route arrow was pointing.
The unit also tried to direct me down some lanes which were sign posted 'Unsuitable for motor vehicles'. It soon found me an alternative route though ( in about 2 seconds flat) when I ignored its instruction and drove past.
It comes pre-loaded with Safety Camera data and this was very helpful as a reminder to me along my journey as it kept telling me what the speed limit was.
It's a nice size that slips neatly into its leather case and can be carried around easily in your pocket. Much less bulky than my friend's Tom-Tom!
I have loaded some of my own photos onto the unit to use as the splash screen that displays at power up and also added some MP3 files, but the sound quality is very poor compared to my PC speakers (which are not that good either) and not very enjoyable to listen to.
All in all though I am very pleased with this neat little unit for the price I paid, and have been very impressed with how quickly it calculates a route (usually in less than 10 seconds) and the quality of the map detail. Another great feature is the ability to find the nearest restaurants, hotels, petrol stations, local attractions etc just by using a simple menu and it even gives you the telephone numbers of the establishments.
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Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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4 |
| Review Score: |
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4 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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Car Accessories