By Gary and Genie Anderson
Automobile navigation systems have been one of the most interesting new technologies introduced in the last 10 years. Continued improvement has brought them to the point that they are genuinely useful today.
They are still quite expensive, usually adding $1,500 or more to the price of a new car, and they are permanently mounted on the dashboard. To address these problems, electronics firms have developed portable systems.
Based on our tests, which confirm a recent Consumer Reports study, we believe that the Garmin Nuvi 360 is the best of the group and worth considering by any auto traveler.
We liked three features right out of the box.
First, the Nuvi 360 is less expensive than an installed navigation option on a new car, listing at $850 and selling for $720 on Amazon.
Second, it’s small, measuring 4-by-3-by-3 inches by less than an inch thick, and can run on rechargeable internal battery or plug into a car’s power socket.
Third, it can easily be moved from car to car, attaching with a small ball-pivot lever suction cup to the dashboard or windshield. We attached it to our MINI’s central speedometer dial over the speeds we never reach.
Once we started using it, we found out how good it really is.
The front of the instrument is nearly all display, using touch-screen technology for controls. Even better, this is one of the few computer-based gizmos we’ve used recently that was almost intuitive. After finding out where the on-off button was, we were off and navigating within minutes.
The map readout is very clear and easy to understand at a glance. Turning and route instructions are easy to follow, appearing on the screen and pronounced by a clear voice (with your choice of American, English or Australian accents, believe it or not).
To pick a destination, all you have to do is punch in a name on the screen keyboard (our system found the Quail Lodge in Carmel by just typing that in). Or you can search by types of destinations, selecting a hotel, restaurant,
attraction or other category;
from lists sorted by distance from the pointer on the screen; or by touching a location on the screen.
The system can just as easily help you find a particular brand of gasoline, hamburger or coffee while you’re following a route on the road. All you need to do is punch up locations, touch “restaurant,” then the type of restaurant, and the system will list the closest of that brand to your current location, chart a detour to the restaurant and put you back on the main route, all with about six screen touches.
We’re definitely going to be getting one of these for our own fleet of cars.
