Garmin GPS - Which to buy? StreetPilot c340 vs c530

Author

Which to buy? StreetPilot c340 vs c530

wolverine

2007-11-12, 10:33 pm

Ready to buy one of these. The c340 tells me to turn at main st. the
c530 just says turn in 200 ft. I like the voice thing what concerns me
is High-sensitivity receiver: is marked no on the c340 should I be
concerned?

Is there anything else I should know about their differences?

TIA for the help

Johnnyb

Phil Hornby

2007-11-12, 10:33 pm

wolverine

2007-11-12, 10:33 pm

Not sure I'm that adventurous to be changing things within the unit
but thanks anyway.

Johnnyb

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:47:19 -0000, "Phil Hornby"
<Phil.Hornby@nospam.org> wrote:

>"wolverine" <thebigone@none.net> wrote in message
> news:89lhj35r5t4tipb
sd3ejn9q4iethobvqa7@
4ax.com...
>
>The C530 can be made to do Text-to-speech ;-)
>
>See: http://geepeeex.googlepages.com/text2speech
>

BigJim

2007-11-12, 10:33 pm

I have a c340 and it works well. It also has enough memory to do the 2008
update map.
The screen will wash out in bright sunlight so I use an external antenna and
keep it
in the shade of the car. It doesn't have all the bell and whistles the more
expensive gps units have
but it works fine for me.
"wolverine" <thebigone@none.net> wrote in message
news:89lhj35r5t4tipb
sd3ejn9q4iethobvqa7@
4ax.com...
> Ready to buy one of these. The c340 tells me to turn at main st. the
> c530 just says turn in 200 ft. I like the voice thing what concerns me
> is High-sensitivity receiver: is marked no on the c340 should I be
> concerned?
>
> Is there anything else I should know about their differences?
>
> TIA for the help
>
> Johnnyb

2007-11-13, 4:33 am

"wolverine" <thebigone@none.net> wrote in message
news:89lhj35r5t4tipb
sd3ejn9q4iethobvqa7@
4ax.com...
> Ready to buy one of these. The c340 tells me to turn at main st. the
> c530 just says turn in 200 ft. I like the voice thing what concerns me
> is High-sensitivity receiver: is marked no on the c340 should I be
> concerned?
>
> Is there anything else I should know about their differences?
>
> TIA for the help
>
> Johnnyb

I would definitely pick a c5xx. I have c320. The unit works fairy well in
general, except for two major negatives. One is the screen. It has too
much glare. Anti-glare film fixes this problem. The 2nd issue is the
reception. It uses old GPS chip. You lose satelite near tall buildings. I
believe they fixed these problems in c5xx models, although I have not used
it myself. c320 does not speak street name, but I never found it a problem.

frodo@theshire.net

2007-11-13, 3:33 pm

the c530's screen is MUCH improved over the C3xx series; and its Surfstar
III chipset is also improved.

You might look at the Nuvi line, like the cheap Nuvi 200. It has a bright
screen, like the C5xx, but the cheap Nuvi 200 uses a Garmin in-house
chipset; it works well tho. Upper tier Nuvi's do use the SurfStar3.

My GF has a C530, which we love; I got myself a Nuvi 200, which I love.
Frankly, my 200's chipset (knowb as the "Type B") seems to be at least as
good as her SurfStar3. And my Nuvi 200 is way smaller. They do have some
subtle differences; I think the Nuvi interface is better. The Nuvi 200
goes for about US$210 these days, a good buy (www.buydig.com I can
recommend)

Note that neither of ours does the "text to speech" trick, which is nice.
Without it you do need to peek at the top green line to read the name of
the street. Not that big a deal really.

Making the C340 do text to speech requires an older SW version, and then
applying a hack (prev post had link to hack). Garmin has done its best to
invalidate that hack, so don't count on it working anymore.

just my two cents...

willshak

2007-11-13, 10:33 pm

on 11/13/2007 2:19 PM frodo@theshire.net said the following:
> the c530's screen is MUCH improved over the C3xx series; and its Surfstar
> III chipset is also improved.
>
> You might look at the Nuvi line, like the cheap Nuvi 200. It has a bright
> screen, like the C5xx, but the cheap Nuvi 200 uses a Garmin in-house
> chipset; it works well tho. Upper tier Nuvi's do use the SurfStar3.
>
> My GF has a C530, which we love; I got myself a Nuvi 200, which I love.
> Frankly, my 200's chipset (knowb as the "Type B") seems to be at least as
> good as her SurfStar3. And my Nuvi 200 is way smaller. They do have some
> subtle differences; I think the Nuvi interface is better. The Nuvi 200
> goes for about US$210 these days, a good buy (www.buydig.com I can
> recommend)
>
> Note that neither of ours does the "text to speech" trick, which is nice.
> Without it you do need to peek at the top green line to read the name of
> the street. Not that big a deal really.
>
> Making the C340 do text to speech requires an older SW version, and then
> applying a hack (prev post had link to hack). Garmin has done its best to
> invalidate that hack, so don't count on it working anymore.
>
> just my two cents...

Deduct one cent... :-)
The c340 has text to speech installed.
Text to speech is good when you come to an intersection that is known as
"the 5 corners", where 4 streets radiate out from the intersection, and
not always evenly spaced apart..

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

frodo@theshire.net

2007-11-14, 3:33 pm

willshak <willshak@00hvc.rr.com> wrote:
> Deduct one cent... :-)
> The c340 has text to speech installed.
> Text to speech is good when you come to an intersection that is known as
> "the 5 corners", where 4 streets radiate out from the intersection, and
> not always evenly spaced apart..

you're right of course, I meant the 330, as the guy who mentioned the hack
said.

Wolverine@Mlive.org

2007-11-15, 10:33 pm

Hey,

Thanks for all the insight. The chipset and the anti-glare may be more
important than the need for it to tell me to turn left on easy street.
I really like some of the higher end Nuvi's but with most of them they
have all sorts of crap included I don't need - picture veiwers? mp3
player and I wanted to stay under$240.

Wolverine

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:54:27 -0000, frodo@theshire.net wrote:

>willshak <willshak@00hvc.rr.com> wrote:
>
>you're right of course, I meant the 330, as the guy who mentioned the hack
>said.

frodo@theshire.net

2007-11-16, 3:33 pm

Wolverine@mlive.org wrote:
> Hey,

> Thanks for all the insight. The chipset and the anti-glare may be more
> important than the need for it to tell me to turn left on easy street.
> I really like some of the higher end Nuvi's but with most of them they
> have all sorts of crap included I don't need - picture veiwers? mp3
> player and I wanted to stay under$240.

> Wolverine

then the Nuvi 200 sounds just right, US$215. No frills, just works.
Note the US version does not have canada or mexico, just the continental
48.

frodo@theshire.net

2007-11-19, 3:33 pm

FYI, this weekend (18nov07) I saw a newspaper flyer for Office Depot that
had the c530 w/ a $70 rebate - total price after rebate $179.99. That's
the lowest I've seen.

Wolverine@Mlive.org

2007-11-20, 7:33 am

Thanks, I wondered what black friday prices would be. That may seal it
for me

Wolverine

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:16:03 -0000, frodo@theshire.net wrote:

>FYI, this weekend (18nov07) I saw a newspaper flyer for Office Depot that
>had the c530 w/ a $70 rebate - total price after rebate $179.99. That's
>the lowest I've seen.

Wolverine@Mlive.org

2007-11-23, 3:33 pm

May be a moot point I see that Garmin has moved the c340 and c530 to
the discontinued page. I think to stay current I need to move to the
nuvi series - I think the 260 suites me well. Staples had it for $249
today but I wasn't getting up at 5am to buy it. I imagine from now
till christmas I can find it for less than $250.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Wolverine

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:42:00 -0500, wolverine <thebigone@none.net>
wrote:

>Ready to buy one of these. The c340 tells me to turn at main st. the
>c530 just says turn in 200 ft. I like the voice thing what concerns me
>is High-sensitivity receiver: is marked no on the c340 should I be
>concerned?
>
>Is there anything else I should know about their differences?
>
>TIA for the help
>
>Johnnyb

sammy

2007-11-23, 3:33 pm

which Nuvi is 250 and do you have a link

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:16:49 -0500, Wolverine@Mlive.org wrote:
[color=darkred]
>May be a moot point I see that Garmin has moved the c340 and c530 to
>the discontinued page. I think to stay current I need to move to the
>nuvi series - I think the 260 suites me well. Staples had it for $249
>today but I wasn't getting up at 5am to buy it. I imagine from now
>till christmas I can find it for less than $250.
>
>Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
>Wolverine
>
>On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:42:00 -0500, wolverine <thebigone@none.net>
>wrote:
>

Wolverine@Mlive.org

2007-11-24, 4:33 am

It was at Staples but it was a in-store sale only. they sold out
quickly.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/s...br /> echnology

Wolverine

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:58:59 GMT, sammy <garryhatter@telus.net> wrote:
[color=darkred]
>which Nuvi is 250 and do you have a link
>
>
>On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:16:49 -0500, Wolverine@Mlive.org wrote:
>

frodo@theshire.net

2007-11-24, 10:33 am

fwiw, www.buydig.com has garmin nuvi's at pretty much the lowest price,
they are a good outfit, reliable and trustworthy in my experience.

Wolverine@Mlive.org

2007-11-24, 12:33 pm

They are $30 higher then the lowest prices I've seen. Tigergps.com has
the Nuvi 260 for $249 buydig.com $284

Wolverine

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:26:27 -0000, frodo@theshire.net wrote:

>fwiw, www.buydig.com has garmin nuvi's at pretty much the lowest price,
>they are a good outfit, reliable and trustworthy in my experience.

Joel

2007-11-24, 12:33 pm

frodo@theshire.net wrote:

> fwiw, www.buydig.com has garmin nuvi's at pretty much the lowest price,
> they are a good outfit, reliable and trustworthy in my experience.

Heck! if they read then they should have read at least 2 members mentions
Costco and Fry's are having Nuvi 680 onsale for $299

*But* if they won't read then it's the price they have to pay for by
paying more for older model with fewer features.

LinkBot