Garmin StreetPilot c330 Car GPS Receiver

I bought a Garmin StreetPilot C330 in April 2006. I found it online at CapLinkTech (www.caplinktech.com) for $454 for a brand new unit. By the way CapLinkTech was great, fast, easy shipping tracking, cheap, etc.

The first thing I did upon opening the box was to download the latest software version (very easy) from the Garmin website.

I have used it around town (Colorado Springs) and took it with me on a trip to Miami and the FL Keys. So far I'm happy with the unit. No problems or system freezes as some people report. Maybe the updated software I downloaded helped?

I've never had a GPS before. It was especially nice on the trip to FL. It really takes the stress off finding hotels, and airports. No more trying to drive down the freeway in an unfamiliar town with a cheap rental car map on my lap. It was really great.

For the most part the unit was 99.9% accurate. It made getting in/out of Miami airport and freeway a breeze. The voice directions are very good. It tells you when to turn, if you should be in the right or left lanes, if you'll need to do an immediate turn after the next turn, etc. It was so nice not to have to worry if the next freeway exit was a left exit or right exit. I always hated to left exits...especially when I'm 3 lanes over in the wrong lane at rush hour.

I just popped it in the rent a car. The window mount works very well. It's easy to mount/dismount and sticks really well. Before leaving the rental car lot in Miami I just saved my current location as a 'favorite' and it made returning the car a snap a week later. It took me straight to the Thrifty car lot.

Finding hotels, restaurants was a snap. We knew the names of the places we were going so we'd just type in the name of the hotel or restaurant (you only need to type in a few of the letters...not the whole name), select the place and hit GO. That's it.

Since I've owned it I've noticed 2 or 3 small inaccuraces but no big problem. Certainly nothing to whine about. Yes, the screen is a little hard to read in bright sunshine. But I found the voice prompts so good that you really don't need to look at the screen to find your way.

Having the phone numbers of places is a nice feature. The only feature I wish it had was the capability to enter an address by zipcode as well as city/state name. I was trying to find a friends house on Little Torch Key and the unit didn't recognize Little Torch Key. I guess it's part of some other town or something. So that was one instance that I could have used the zipcode.

Great technology at ever decreasing prices. Definitely worth the money if you travel. Easy to use. Good voice prompts.

Not major problems: A little hard to see the screen in bright sunlight. It would be nice if map updates were more frequent to accomodate new construction.