Garmin StreetPilot c320 Portable GPS Navigator

Garmin StreetPilot c320 Portable GPS Navigator

With a simple touch screen interface, automatic route calculation to any destination, and turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions, the StreetPilot c320 GPS navigator is a powerful companion for your adventures on the road. Plus, Garmin has designed the “c-series” of car navigation units to be as simple and easy-to-use as possible– no more intimidating features, just straightforward, basic navigation at your fingertips.

The streetPilot “c-series” GPS navigators feature a simple touchscreen interface, with automatic route calculation to any destination.

The 3.5-inch diagonal, 16-bit color display makes navigation a snap.

A convenient touch screen allows for quick access to features such as addresses, recent locations, food, and lodging.

Selecting a destination is as simple as a few finger-strokes, and you can choose between a three-dimensional navigationuview or the more traditional “bird’s eye” overhead view.

Although the c320 boasts distinctive and sleek styling, simplicity is the name of the game. The only buttons are a rotary volume knob and an on/off switch. The device is secured by a suction-mount cradle that fastens to the windshield for easy portability between vehicles. You can customize the unit’s appearance with an array of colored faceplates that are sold separately.

For navigators who only require detailed maps for a limited area, the StreetPilot c320 features an SD card slot, a 128 MB SD card, and MapSource City Select street data on CD-ROM. To load the area you need, simply select the specific area of interest on your computer and the data is transferred from a PC to the unit via a fast USB connection. The c320′s bright, 3.5-inch diagonal, 16-bit color display makes navigation a snap. The unit also features dual integrated speakers for high-quality voice prompts, and an internal lithium-ion battery for out-of-car route planning.
What’s in the Box
StreetPilot c320 receiver, vehicle suction cup mount w/integrated power cable, PC/USB interface cable, 128 MB SD memory card, and setup guide. Also, Americas Recreational Basemap and MapSource City Select North America CD with full unlock.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars gift for dad
I bought this as a gift for my dad last year – he loves it and uses it all the time. Often he gets lost in his thoughts or misses a turn, this will reroute you and send you back on your way if you need to. It also comes with updating software, and my dad reports that even dirt roads will show up on the maps (don’t know how well it works in the city). this device charges in its cradle/mounting device.

3 Stars Good product for the price
I needed to upgrade the memory chip, but good product for the price at the time. It works nicely, but will upgrade soon.

4 Stars a sound piece of smarts
I have owned this for 4 months now. My husband and I travel for work so it is used almost every time we get in the car. We are in TX right now and I would be lost without it! I left off a star for 2 reasons. No. 1, she has taken me to the wrong place several times. Most often though, she will be in the area you at least need to be in so you need to switch over from tech gear to brains. No. 2 reason is b/c my husband got me a newer version that automatically detects what city you are in so you dont have to involve your computer in the situation. I turned it on and it started up immediately. This is an older version of course though which is why I graded a bit gentle. I would recommend everyone get a GPS navigator no matter what brand it is. It helps relieve tension on getting to where you need to go and you can concentrate on your end result and not have a tension headache when you get to your destination. P.S. Hubby has the “older version” now Ha ha

3 Stars All the good stuff but…..
I won’t go over all the specs and positives, because others have gone through all of that and there is no need for repeating. The Garmin is everything great that other reviews are mentioning, but I’m just going to review the battery issue I have continued to have on this Garmin…. After having the GARMIN c320 for about 9 months or so, i had the problem of the battery not working on it’s own (the unit would only work when sitting on the car charger mount. Even though at times it would say something like “charging the battery” in it’s off setting, it was NOT charging the battery (since when taken off the mount it would not work at all). I procrastinated for about 3 months, because I didn’t take the unit out of my car much so it wasn’t such a big issue, but almost on the last day of warranty, I called and just had it replaced. Customer service for Garmin is great. There’s no convincing or “did you plug the unit in” sort of questions.. they just took your word for what was happening and replaced the unit. I had the second unit for about 4 months or so before the same battery situation happened again. This time I was out of the 1 yr original warranty and the 90d warranty of the replacement… but customer service were more than willing to switch it out again.. (great customer service, very flexible).

With this 3rd unit, it didn’t take more than a couple months for it to have the battery issue again. I’ve been too cheap to buy another unit, and there isn’t really a reason, since this one does work when it’s connected to the car charger mount.

The main inconveniences of this battery not working is that it seems to lose it’s satelites since it’s a dead unit when the car isn’t on. It seemed before that with the battery working, the unit connects immediately to the satellites and maps your way very quickly. When I turn my car on now.. the unit will be show the time when I had turned the car off and will take anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes to connect to satellites. There have been times that i’ve had to turn it off and on (usually around the 10 minute mark) to see if maybe it was “frozen” or something…..

BTW, I’m sure the locating satellites delay issues is a problem with the unit, since I’m in a very urban city (Los Angeles) and it did not have these problems prior to the battery issue.

Oh, one other issue, in downtown Los Angeles, it gets very confused…(maybe due to streets with freeway overpasses; though this happens when i’m not near the freeway too)….so even when it has mapped a nice set of directions and I’m following them, out of nowhere it’ll recalculate and ask me to make some turns when the location is straight ahead…

Also, there are several locations where it will tell me to take an inconvenient onramp to a freeway where there is a perfectly good one, one block ahead on my right (make sense?).

I’ve still had the unit for 3 years or so… so I’m not entirely unhappy with it,…

4 Stars Great GPS, but too heary, Easy to fall down from windshield
I would like to give 5 star to the GPS function. It takes several minutes to connect to the satellite.

The problem is that GPS unit is too heary. It falls down easily after you used it for a while. I would not recommend any one to buy this GPS unit. Buy the light weigth GPS like Garmin Nuvi series.