Garmin StreetPilot c340 Car GPS Receiver

Very compact unit with long battery life. You can charge it at home with an optional AC Charger and then use it all day without worry. Or you can use the included suction device and plug the DC cord into your dash power outlet. The problem with that is the cord is only a few feet long, so it hangs down in plain site, great for thieves, in the way for most of us motorists. Also you have to use the suction cup to charge the unit, the cord hooks to the suction cup and not the GPS unit itself, so you have to use the suction cup thing or nothing if you want to charge it. Garmin, how about a longer power cord?

The interface is easy to use - an instruction manual? We don't need no stinkin instruction manual. Just input your address, you need to input the address number then the street name separately, odd and a little cumbersome, but you get used to it. Press the GO button on the screen and voila, it calculates the directions to your destination. It has excellent directions and has every address in its database, after I updated it. I would suggest you connect the GPS unit to a computer with internet connection with the included USB cord. Go to Garmin.com and download their Webupdater software to get the latest version.

It says it has the capability for Traffic updates to warn you of traffic tieups, but that is with an additional $220 equipment and a $100 subscription! Yikes, I will stick with the radio, its still free, at least for now.

It also has the capability for POI, points of interests. Download a file from the internet, where there are a variety of websites that will transfer a file to your GPS thru the USB cable to warn you of speed cameras, traffic light cameras and other ways of taxation without representation before you drive through them, but of course, these are only for EUROPE! Not much good in the good ole USA. Garmin calls them AVOIDANCES. This is irritating. I am convinced that we are headed to be the most powerful third world country. (Repeat after me, there is no such thing as global warming, the world is flat, we don't need stem cell research, there is no such thing as evolution, etc. ) But I digress. I can't much blame Garmin for that. It does have the capability, but not much use for it.

It does have some difficulty in acquiring satellites on occassion. Even in rural areas, with a clear view of the sky, it can take 1 to 10 minutes to acquire a signal, very irritating. Forget about using it in a large metro area, such as downtown Chicago, St. Louis or New York. It wouldn't work in either location. Concrete and steel blocks the GPS signal, making this useless. They need to do the same thing satellite radio stations such as Sirius and XM do. They have the same problem, they use repeaters, small antennas placed around the city that boost the satellite signals, so if you are in a major urban area, you can still use the device. There is an optional antenna, another $100 bucks that connects to a suction cup on the inside of your windshield, or you can buy a flange to place it on your trunk, but

The GPS also gives you restaurants, hotels, gas stations, stores, attractions, parking, parks, rest areas, hospitals, but the data base is at least 5 years out of date. I looked for a local store, and they listed one that went out of business in 2000. I looked up a restaurant, and it showed the former address, 6 years ago. Updating this apparently had no effect. Better than nothing, but not to be relied upon however.

Despite the caveats, if it connects to the satellites, you put in the right address, it will show you exactly where to go. Its small, convenient and easy to use. All of the maps in the US are already installed, don't have to use an SD card to continuing to install maps onto your GPS. Nice unit. Not for off road use, can't be used for GPS Caching, this is for street addresses only.