There are 3 fatal flows with this product: (1) announcing too late and (2) giving confusing directions at complicated lane guidence situation and (3) taking too long to find satellite initially. I have been testing this product for a month in San Francisco and the Bay area.
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br /(1) announcing too late
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br /When your car is about to pass the intersection at which it is supposed to make a turn, then and only then it announces you to prepare for a turn. I missed so many turns because of the late announcements. It is also incredbly dangerous as you are tempted to attempt last-moment lane changes in order to make the turn. Also the distance to the turn is not that accurate -- when you are almost already at the intersection it shows you are 200 meters away (I changed the measurement setup to meters). SUGGESTION: Certain navigations have a bar-graph showing countdowns to the intersection, and perhaps that's what this navigation must have as well. Also certain navigations ask you to prepare well ahead. Make a customizable setting how long before to make the pre-announcement.
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br /(2) giving confusing directions at complicated lane guidence situation
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br /Time and time again, I missed the right exit on the highway. The map is absolutely no help. The multiple lanes look all overlapped!!! Red lines are cofusing as hell. Annoucement is in this fashion: "Keep to right and then keep to left." What is that supposed to mean and which lane are you supposed to be in? In a fast highway situation, this is incredibly dangerous. I almost got into accidents at many interchanges as I was trying to look both the road signs and my navigation and could not make any sense. SUGGESTION: the map needs major improvement on interchanges -- show us the way!!! Also get rid of "keep to right and then keep to left" style BS for a clearer direction.
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br /(3) taking too long to find satellite initially
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br /If you park your car outside, that would be fine but if you park it in a garage, woe to you. It will take at least 20 blocks to find the satellite and you will be either parking your car on the roadside waiting for godot or meandering down the street without knowing where you are going for very very long time. This is not acceptable. I used other product (magellan) before, and it found the satellite so much quicker. SUGGESTION: technological improvement or better processor.
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br /[ADDED TO THIS AFTER I BOUGHT TOMTOM GO930 AND TESTING IT FOR A WEEK]
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br /After my much frustration with Garmin NUVI 370, I purchased a Tomtom GO930 from local Best Buy. (The price of TomTom 930 at Best Buy was the same as the price at Amazon at USD 450, although I had to pay the tax.)
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br /Wow, what a difference. That's all I can say. TomTom 930 is a bit more expensive than the street price of Garmin NUVI 370, but is so much better that the price difference is immaterial.
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br /(1) prepare... prepare...
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br /TomTom announces well before each turn and actually tells you on which side of the lane you should be in for the next turn. Incredibly friendly announcements. The arrow direction on the map display shows whether you should be making left or right turn as well. I never missed a single turn thanks to the ample announcements.
br /
br /(2) guiding complicated lane situation with ease
br /
br /the roads never appear overlapped like the NUVI 370. If there are five diverging roads, all are clearly shown, with the clear indication where you are and where you should go. Mind you, I haven't seen that many Advanced Lane Guidance screen yet as TomTom advertised (I hear that they don't have this on every intersection yet) but even without this, lane guidance is incredibly clear and easy (they show both on the map and on the status bar with muted arrows and one clear arrow). What a refreshing change from Garmin NUVI 370. The voice direction is a lot more clear and easier to understand as well -- it is as if somebody is actually speaking fine English to me. I never missed the right exit.
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br /(3) lightening fast in finding satellites
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br /It actually finds satellites when I am in my room with 4-5 bars. Need I say more?
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br /(4) extras... extras...
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br /TomTom has voice address input feature that is very useful. There are many situations that you hate to put in long characters (In California there are so many cities starting with San...). Simply pronounce it and the machine finds it for you, including the streets. I find this to be working well about 95% of the time. Also it gives you a few choices so that what you pronounced is almost always among the choices. SUGGESTION: This voice feature is not available for Place Name under Point of Interst (available only for the actual address).
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br /Point of Interest feature in TomTom is incredibly extensive. I tested many restaurants listed in Zagat survey and found out that almost all (even obscure ones under "Best Value") restaurants have been registered in TomTom by names and phone numbers. I did not find that to be the case with Garmin NUVI 370 (I actually had to type in the exact address under my favorites). This makes inputing job so much easier. I typed in "Marshalls" under Point of Interest in Sunnyvale, and TomTom returned 7 results, some of them are as far away as San Jose, Mipitas, etc. Again, not so with Garmin.
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br /Downloading updates and changes through computer seems painless and efficient as well. Works perfectly and took about 3 minutes to get the latest updates. Again, Garmin NUVI 370 does not have this feature. I don't know how actually useful the updates would be, but it is assuring that I am using the latest whatever.
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br /Time estimation in TomTom is so much more accurate than Garmin. I found Garmin to be always a bit on the optimistic side (ie I never actually arrived as Garmin estimated especially in a city traffic). I don't know if it is because of the IQ Routes feature of TomTom but the timing estimate seems to be right on and there is little need for any traffic subscription service.
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br /CONCLUSION: I will be updating this review to find any shortcoming of TomTom 930 (and I am sure there will be many) but so far it seems that TomTom is a very clear winner and fully justifies the extra USD 100. If you are looking for a navigation that includes both American and European maps, I guess your choices will be cleary limited: you would have to go for either the Garmin NUVI 370 or the TomTom GO 930, and my recommendation would be the latter -- not for the extra features but mainly for the basic abilities that I listed earlier in this review.
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br /ADDED Later: I have been using TomTom for some time now, and again the fundamental qualities are excellent. In addition to reliable guidance, I find the voice address input feature truly useful and accurate. I use it all the time.
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br /Another incredibly useful feature is the initial preview of the whole route (Garmin Nuvi 370 does not do this). When I used Garmin 370, I did not even know highway 280 existed since it almost always guided me through 101! However, with TomTom 930, at the outset I have the chance to view the entire route, pick and choose any alternative routes from it. This is just so convenient. 280 may be a tad bit longer route, but it has much less traffic than 101, with much better road conditions and scenic views, and just whole a lot better than 101 -- I can't believe Garmin simply never showed it to me!
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br /However, here are a few suggestions to make TomTom better: (1) "Clear Address" is not immediate. If you want to clear the previous address input, you have to touch the screen a few times. This is not convenient. There must be an instant way to clear address. (2) Occasionally (bur very rarely) it misses U-turns. (3) When you turn off the ignition, it does not automatically turn off (unlike Garmin). You must push the button on top. This is not very convenient.

We are flying home tomorrow. We just completed 12 days in Normandy, driving all over the place and in our car just about every day. I suppose this product isn't perfect, but my wife and I will tell you that going on a car trip in Europe without one of these babies is just totally retro and you'd have to be a complete fool to not take one. It took us down a lot of little country roads we would have never had the nerve to go down. What a great security blanket! I've driven all over Europe and this is the first time I've enjoyed it at this level. $475 is chump change for what you get. Not to mention the use we'll have for this in the U.S. GREAT product.. (No... I'm not a Garmin employee. This gadget isn't perfect. Forinstanct, the documentation is pretty sketchy. But who cares, it's so intuitive to use).

The Garmin Nuvi 370 would be awesome if you needed the European maps as well as North American maps. It costs more than the Nuvi 350/360 but worth it for the two map packages. European software package would be $250 if purchased separately with the Nuvi 350 or 360. Worked flawlessly for me while in Europe. I even tracked my flight path while onboard the plane. I used unit on my river cruise down the Danube and located every town we passed in Germany and Austria. Small size of unit and battery life of 8 hours makes this unit very portable.

I absolutely love this GPS. This is my 3rd Garmin GPS, but my first Nuvi. The portable size is great - I took it with me to London and Prague, and it worked like a charm (except that the attractions in Prague were written in Czech, which I don't understand - though there may have been a way to change that which I didn't know!!) The built in Europe maps are a lifesaver for a frequent traveler, and the multi-country adapter is very handy.
The screen is very easy to see. The window mount is great - and the Nuvi is easy to take off of the mount to take it with you.
The only thing I do wish is that Garmin would put an instruction booklet in the box, since I really find that I never take the time or energy to load the disc and read it on the computer - but I guess that's jsut a preference and an old fashioned opinion!!
Really, even if it's not this model, Garmin is the way to go!!

I'm sure other reviewers have covered the functions and features. I put this out there as a separate review for prospective buyers curious about Garmin's service. I've had two occasions to ask for their help and in both cases they get my highest ratings.

My suction cup mount was not sticking properly to the windshield. I travel a lot and the thought to call the service department always hits me at night or on the weekends. So last weekend I sent an e-mail about the problem. I came home today and there was a box on the kitchen table with a replacement mount. No canned e-mail reply, no red tape; they just took the initiative to send me a new one based on my e-mail.

I can tell you that something so simple, makes me a loyal Garmin customer.

My husband bought me this Nav system because we are stationed in Germany and he is deployed for 15 months! I am seriously challenged when it comes to tech gear...but this system is SO EASY to use. We tried it out right out of the box...comes preloaded with tons of fun and practical locations. I love that we can use it in a pedestrian mode so even if we visit a big city, we can save our car's location and spend the day on subways and trains and still make it back to our car. It uses addresses or coordinates and is very easy to use. I love that it reroutes itself if you miss a turn (very handy for Europe since road directions are sometimes a challange). No matter how lost I get myself (which I shouldn't with this!!) I can just ask it to take me home and home we go! Also, every place of interest we visit we can save to the system (without having to know the address, just "save current location")and I don't have to worry about remembering addresses again, I can just ask it to go "such and such" next time we want to visit and it's there, no problem. There is no "programming" to worry about. It just brings up your list of locations to choose from (or type the address or coordinates). Also, it will let you ask for points of interest in other cities so you can browse those and preplan a trip if you like. It has found fun stuff we weren't aware of. Very handy, and gives much needed peace of mind for me and the kids (he also purchased a roadside assistance program so I wouldn't be afraid to actually get out and use this while he's away!). Really LOVE this little gadget and don't know how we ever managed without it!

The garmin nuvi pocket is an great device, but it is as only good as the maps. We bought it for purposes of a trip in Europe. It was fine on the main roads, but we had some strange experiences on lesser roads, as it had us making some strange turns that anyone who lived in the area would know not to do. We found that off the main roads we could not rely on it by itself, and someone had to take a look at a real map as well as use the garmin. If you generally know what you are doing, and where you are going it can be quite helpful, but it is not wise to rely on it by itself. At night, when we stuck to main roads and could not read the maps, the garmin was lit up and very useful.

Needless to say, the 5-star ranking does not do this product any justice. After our trip to Ireland, I would have to say that this is the best piece of electronic equipment that I have ever purchased. Simply put, it saved time, money and my marriage.

Driving can be hard enough in Ireland, much less worrying about taking a random third turn on a bloody roundabout. (Fellas, you know what I'm talking about...driving in a foreign country on the wrong side of the road/car, with your wife routinely "white knuckling" the hand rest on the door every time a car approaches going 120km/hr.) Simply follow the directions given and get where you're going with no navigational anxiety. This is what makes the Garmin so great.

"Maggie" (affectionately known to us) proved to be about 95% accurate in her navigational skills, leaving the other 5% up to the imagination of the traveler. Now, some people might have a different view on traveling on dirt roads, but we thoroughly enjoyed these little 5% "safaris" that Maggie decided to take us on. They provided some absolutely unbelievable views that we would have completely missed had we used a map and stayed on the highway. These can also be avoided if you DON'T select the fastest/shortest route option.

It is true that she gives the street names for every turn, which some might find to be annoying. Alternatively, we found her attempts to be hilarious when trying to pronounce such streets as "Kilmacanogh-Gledullagh Rd". Truthfully, we didn't pay attention to the names that much anyway, since we saw a grand total of three proper street signs in over 12 hours of driving. Just listen to the "right" or "left", and watch the distance meter to turn and you'll be just fine.

One feature of this product which helped greatly was the ability to program in a destination to get a rough ETA when planning the day. One surprise that we encountered was the total miscalculation of driving time when planning the trip. A 40 mile trip in Ireland could take as long as 3 hours which seems impossibly ridiculous, but it's true. The Garmin ("Mags") nailed each trip within 15 minutes.

The walking mode also came in handy in both the streets of Dublin, and various hiking trails. Again, very accurate ETA's.

All in all, I would highly recommend this product after two weeks of near constant use in Ireland, and three months here in the States. No defects, no complaints and no regrets.

I bought the 370 before a trip to France this fall. It was handy in Paris but it really proved it's worth in Brittany. When we got off the train and into our rental car in Rennes we were lost, until we turned on the 370 and let it lead us out of town. We became more and more trustful as we drove. And, no more arguments over map reading! We named our 370 Madeline and she has been a reliable companion in Europe and back in the States. I've become fond of her bluetooth capabilites for hands free phone use in the car - works great.

This is the first GPS I've owned so don't have anything to compare it to, but I didn't expect perfection. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the Garmin Nuvi 370 exceeded all my desires.

I registered it immediately as recommended by others. I turned it on. It downloaded the maps and I was up and running. The menus are easy to follow without a user guide. I feel it's really user friendly and doesn't require a lot of esoteric knowledge to use. The screen is suprisingly easy to see considering it's size, even in my car in the sunlight.

I had a lot of fun trying different settings like asking it to choose routes based on traffic or distance and seeing how they compared. When I deviated from a course it quickly recalculated and gave me new directions. Am I being overly sensitive or does the voice sound slightly disgusted when I passsed a recommended turn and it announced, "recalculating"? The American English voice was easy to understand. When I entered a brand new subdivision where roads were not available on the map the best it could tell me was to head east. However, that's better than any paper map can do.

I realize that I'm using it at home where I'm already familiar with the streets. I bought the Nuvi 370 because I travel to Europe a lot and can really use it there. I'll see how well it functions in a place I'm less familiar with in a few weeks. I love that it's so small and lightweight. I'll be able to carry it while walking without having some bulky piece of equipment weighing me down. However, I do see it as prime pickpocket target in Europe.

I think I found this item easier to use because I had no expectations based upon other GPS's owned and I did a lot of reading before the purchase. It certainly helped since I knew to go to the Garmin website and update the maps for free.

I don't expect the Nuvi 370 to meet every need I have, but I'm directionally challenged. After wandering around America and Europe for years anything has got to help. So far I'm extremely satisfied.

I used mine all over France including Paris this summer(2007) and it was very helpful. For walking about it fits in your pocket and needs to be set to the pedestrian mode.
It was pretty invaluable. On driving, it WILL take you through the shortest or fastest route(selectable) and not the most obvious one! It can get pretty scary sometimes but you will eventually get there most of the time. On a few occasions it will take you into dead ends or non-motorable roads. (Happened twice with me, deep in rural France- it was probably due to bad maps) so keep a lookout- and don't follow the directions blindly.
The added benefit is that you get to see the really scenic back roads without the fear of getting lost. It is worth every penny of its price.
Sometimes when the traffic receiver is connected and there is traffic ahead, the nuvi will vacillate between two routes - one avoiding the obstruction/congestion and the selected one. If you are aware of this you will quickly learn to ignore this quirk.
Some reviewer said that they were confused by the road names and preferred only the direction (as available in the lower featured models)- it is easy to select it on the nuvi: just select a voice that does not support TTS (text to speech) and the road names will not be called out.

This is my first GPS, so this is not a "Garmin vs. other brands" review.

First a word of advice: Do not leave either your GPS *or* the mounting arm in your car when you park. My mom's car was broken into by someone who saw the bare mounting arm and broke her window just to *check* if the GPS was hidden in the glove compartment (it was). The thieves know what that mounting arm/bracket is for.

GPS:
This GPS is very user friendly, and has all the POIs I've needed so far already added. It acquires satellites rather quickly and has the SirfIII chip which supposedly makes for better acquisition with obstructions overhead. I have no reason to doubt this so far. The speaker for turn by turn directions is loud and clear (in fact, you may have to turn it down a couple of clicks if it's too loud for you). The graphics are clear- it's difficult to get confused about which road to take. It does not do custom routes but there are ways to do quasi-custom routes. (If you want a scenic route through a park with roads, for example, you can set it to "avoid highways" and then also set a "via point" in the middle of the park. It will route you through the park. You can only set one manual "via point" for each calculated route.)

Bluetooth handsfree:
Good interface, minimal screen touching while driving. Speaker is loud and clear (again, may even be too loud at maximum). Microphone is also good (according to a friend I was speaking to, someone can tell you're using a speakerphone, but can hear you loud and clear nevertheless. It even works with your phone's voice-activated dialing if your phone has that feature.

POI loader:
You can load custom POIs via a free program called "POI loader" on the garmin website. The interface could be more user friendly, but if you're the slightest bit computer savvy you'll figure it out. It doesn't require programming, just the POI loader software and a textfile or Excel spreadsheet with the POIs you want to load. Instructions are on the web on various GPS-related sites. Nice if you want to set a warning alert when you enter a speed trap you know about- it'll warn you if you're above the speed limit.

Traffic:
Get this service, get this service, get this service. It's only about $12 a year, and has already paid for itself in my opinion. I've had the service for about 1 month and it's already routed me around three traffic plugs via (empty) side roads I didn't even know about or taken me off the highway and routed me through relatively uncongested local streets to avoid highway jams in the middle of rush hour. This is *the* feature that makes a GPS useful even if you're driving a route you already know. I will renew this service when the trial period expires in 2 months.

If you think you'll want this service, get the Nuvi 370, not the 360. The 370 comes with the traffic antenna (about $100 by itself), which the 360 doesn't, and is about $100 more than the 360. That means you basically get the Europe maps included free if you were going to buy the traffic antenna anyway.

Features I'd like to see:
If there's a road that's always a nightmare, a way to set it to avoid that road in all calculations (near me, a particular "major road" is always a mess, yet the GPS routes me through it because it's a "major road" and the GPS thinks it'll be faster).
Better custom POI loader interface
Compass feature for geocaching

All in all, a great GPS. I might do more research next time to see if there's a more cost-effective GPS that works as well but, that said, I'd buy this GPS again.

Recently spent two weeks vacationing in London and throughout Italy. The Nuvi 370 was invaluable, worth every penny we spent. Not only did it let us find gas stations, stores, restaurants, hotels, and most of our destinations fairly easily, the built-in MP3 player, calculator, and unit conversion utility came in very handy as well. For example, since it is portable, we were able to download "walking tours" of Venice and other locations and listen without having to worry about checking paper maps every 10 minutes.

Putting in destinations wasn't that difficult, but there were several times when it took several tries before we could successfully lock in a destination. Apparently, there are several naming discrepancies that the Nuvi couldn't resolve on its own. For example, according to our travel agency, our hotel in Rome was located on a street called "Piazza Di Montecitorio"; however, the Nuvi had the hotel listed under "Monte Citorio," which we eventually discovered after trying for 10-15 minutes. It would be nice if the Nuvi could have suggested other street names instead of giving up. The Nuvi 370 also attempts to pronounce the street names, but it does a poor job of pronouncing names, especially in Italian. I ended up looking at the display anyway because I couldn't understand it most times. I guess this is a minor thing. I recommend saving all of your planned destinations ahead of time (under your Favorites) so that you don't have to waste time putting in new locations when driving or walking.

Italian cities have many narrow alleys between 3-5 story buildings that pass as streets. In the older areas, most streets aren't laid out in an organized way, e.g. few streets follow modern grid patterns with a parallel/perpendicular layout. Moreover, in Italy we didn't see any street signs mounted on poles (at the corner) as we have in the US. Instead, street names are chiseled in hard-to-read print on stone wall markers. After a while, these streets start to look the same, so having a portable GPS can save you from walking/driving around in circles. Note: When you power up the GPS, it takes 1-2 minutes to establish contact with the satellites. If you are in a narrow alley, it can get confused - just walk toward an intersection to re-orient the unit.

Also, signage in Italy was poor in some places, especially outside the city. With the GPS, we were never afraid of getting lost. Asking for directions when you don't speak Italian can be very frustrating; On one occasion, we ended up walking back to the hotel to get the 370 instead of asking random folks on the street. The maps in the 370 are getting dated, but it wasn't really a problem. I highly recommend this unit if you plan to travel extensively in Europe and the States!!!

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GPS! I TOOK MY FIRST TRIP TO ITALY, I WENT ALONE, DO NOT SPEAK ITALIAN, AND DIDNT KNOW MY WAY AROUND. I DROVE ABOUT 800 MILES FROM SICILY TO ROME. I JUST PUT IN MY NEXT DESTINATION AND THIS WONDERFUL, FEMALE, AUSTRAILIAN VOICE TOOK ME TO THE FRONT DOOR. IF A TURN IS MISSED, NOBODY YELLS AT YOU; A SWEET VOICE JUST "RECALCULATES" AND GIVES YOU THE NEXT BEST ROUTE TO GET YOU BACK ON TRACK.

THIS IS THE BEST TRAVELING PARTNER YOU CAN HAVE FOR A NAG FREE TRIP!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND HER!

We just returned from a 3 week driving trip in Portugal, Spain, France and Holland. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT PRODUCT. Also, very easy to operate. It never let us down and took us door to door from Barcelona to Paris and from Paris to my uncles driveway in Amsterdam. Unbelievable!! I've read the other reviews and did not experience any of those issues. MP3 player is weak...the optional Language guide was useful, especially in Portugal...I recommend the portable friction mount (no suction cups = less theft chance)....Bluetooth reception was pretty good (could be improved). Overall, I highly recommend this Nuvi.

I used the Nuvi 370 in December 2007 when for a business trip that brought me to Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. The map and the mapping software is very accurate. As expected, the pronunciation of non-American streets is incorrect but that is to be expected. The important thing is that as soon as my rental car left the Frankfurt International Airport, the GPS was up and running immediately and brought me to many beautiful European cities.

Tips for a better experience:
1. Put a drop of water (say from your Evian bottled water) on the suction cup before attaching it on the windshield. This will prevent the suction cup from falling.

2. SLOW DOWN when you are about 2 or 3 miles from your exit. It's way to obvious but the reason why most people miss their exits (even with a GPS) is that they are driving way too fast. No, it's not the GPS's fault.

The Nuvi 370 is absolutely worth the money. I've used it the US too and it's been flawless so far.

Bottomline - works as advertised. The other most important thing that the unit has is the currency and unit of measure converter. The others (mp3 player, bluetooth) are regular add-on, not too impressive but maybe useful for other folks.

We bought this hoping it would work both in the US and in the backwoods of southern France -- and it more than met our expectations. It worked just great in the US, which was no surprise. In France, is was "impecable!" It was able to direct us to all the addresses we imputed, told us which exit to take off the numerous traffic circles, and even warned us of speed traps. It did have difficulty locating the more remote addresses (those without street names or numbers), but once we got there we were able to save those locations and it was able to navigate back to them. I would recommend this to anyone who spends a lot time traveling outside the US.

Like another reviewer, I purchased my 370 for a trip to Italy. The Venice area specifically.

I tried it around home for 1 day before I went, and found that it was generally ok, but sometimes gives you exit names that are not on the signs. This was ok when I was playing with it at home, but once I got to Venice, it was a nightmare.
I tried to go from the airport to my hotel, and the first problem I had was trying to enter Italian addresses. It did not recognize the address, but it at least found the road I needed. Ok, so I now had a rough idea of where to go, but no specifics. Not much better than I would have had with a paper map.
It missed my turn, and I ended up on a toll road. I finally turned around, and it again missed the exit I needed. It was apparently taking me out into the middle of nowhere, so I finally resorted to paper maps and found my hotel.

The next day I used it to find the company I was visiting. It got me in the general area again, but did not exactly put me right at the address. On the way, the voice told me to turn right at one point, but the route on the map showed left. I turned right without looking at the screen, and then figured out the mistake. A couple miles later, it tried to get me to turn left, then right, which would have put me into oncoming traffic. As someone else said, it frequently uses the term "turn" when it is really only a road name change. In another case, it wanted me to exit the freeway I was on, go through a roundabout and get back on the same freeway. Overall, I did not trust it in Italy, so it was a stress raiser rather than a stress reducer.

I have run into similar problems using it here in the US now too. Overall, I am not thrilled for $500. If it were $150-200, I wouldn't be so bothered having it sit there but for $500, it is too much money for the inaccuracies and for the amount that you actually are traveling in unknown territory. I think GPS is like a lot of things. If people actually evaluated how much they will use it vs the cost a lot less would be sold. I think I will return mine if I can.

Does what it is built to do. Has Europe maps built into it. (Buying it separately costs about 200$ extra). The only reason that I did not give it a 5 star is that lacks some of the features of higher priced models (like voice recognition, map share on TOMTOM). Also travel utilities are some kind of shareware, you have to purchase the fully functioning ones. I went to store and tried all different brands. The main reason that I purchase this was:
1. Included Euro map
2. Size, [yes sometimes smaller is better, I do not leave the GPS in the car, this one is almost a size of a wallet ( a little thicker)]
3. Garmin has the best graphics, Font sizes are great, and readable
4. Blue tooth, the hands free feature is definitely prevent accidents, I set it up quickly, it transferred my contacts from Razor fast and was good to go.
5. Has the longest battery life (up to 8 hours claimed, wide screen means more battery consumption!, more expensive wide screen models have less battery life)
6. Price, I bought it from Amazon for 380$ at new year's sale
7. Included traffic receiver, (separately costs about 125$)
Overall, it is a great product, no GPS system is perfect, but this one is the cheapest for what it offers, I recommend it as it is a reliable Garmin with great price to features ratio.

Easy to use, very recent address may not be in the data base. over all I am very pleased with it.
PS Amazon requires a person to sign for delievery so don't expect the UPS man to leave it on your door step.

I have only used the Nuvi a couple of times but right off the mounting arrangement could be better. With todays cars having fast sloping front windows the Nuvi winds up very far away from the driver. Makes it darn hard to see what is going on or to change something. Fortunately, the vocal directions save the day. So far the routing seems to be very good as the few times I have used it, it seems to have taken me by the most direct and quickest route. More use of it will tell the whole story.

Works well in the US but has definite problems manuvering in Italy. Was better than nothing - especially in pedestrian mode - helping to find the way home, but maps are unacceptably incomplete and you are left looking at big blank areas or unable to find a way out. In vehicle navigation was so good that we abandoned the Nuvi. Also the MArco Polo Guide was not very handy.

When thieves stole my faithful Garmin StreetPilot c320, I replaced it with a Garmin-refurb'ed c330 - essentially the 320 with pre-loaded maps. Amazon's price was VERY attractive. But I quickly realized there'd be a security advantage in a model I could easily slip into my pocket when leaving the car. So I opted for a second replacement, the slim and sexy Nuvi 370, again a Garmin-refurb'ed unit from Amazon at about 2.8x the price of the 330.
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br /After using the two units side-by-side for a couple of weeks my observation is that the 330 is the better value. Yes, I like the 370's ability to announce the street name ("Turn left at Main Street") rather than the 330's more generic "Turn left in 500 feet". Yes, it's fun having a unit that plays music I've downloaded to it, but that's superfluous because I already have an iPod and the 370's sound is gratingly tinny. The 370 also offers slide-shows of my transferred JPEG images, a feature I'd hate to defend to my insurance company after an accident.
br /
br /Worse, my 370 is flawed. (Is yours too?)
br /* It randomly disregards my finger-tap-entered character, flashing the on-screen key to acknowledge my entry but then failing to show the character on the data-entry line.
br /* The 370's screen is less legible than the 330's because it displays smaller characters but is comparably subject to wash-out in sunlight.
br /* The battery life is about half the 330's.
br /* After several hours the 370's mounting bracket loses its suction grip on either the windscreen or the dash-affixed metal plate despite my having lovingly prepared the components according to the directions.
br /* And most egregiously for a Mac fancier, the 370 refuses to acknowledge the full deletion of the SD card's files; instead it insists on displaying (and playing if requested) the Mac-deleted MP3 files. I have to erase files by using my obsolete Toshiba laptop running Windows XP-SP1.
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br /But the 370 surely does fit neatly in my pocket.
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Overall very good value for the money provided you get a discount from list, which is almost always possible on Amazon. Two faults, however: 1. On a bright day with the unit mounted on the dash in the sun it nearly impossible to see anything on the screen. Thanks for good verbal directions. Maybe Garmin should provide a shroud to clip on the front to provide some shade. 2. Mine came with updated maps for 2008 but I quickly learned they were not always accurate. Just like Google and MapQuest maps, they do make mistakes. Cape May NJ was a good example . . . old town, lots of little streets, avenues,lanes, etc, that confused our Garmin navigator. Hardcopy maps are still a good back-up. Sorry Garmin!

I got the 370 Garmin Nuvi 370 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant with European Maps because I wanted the European database for our upcoming trip. I have used 3 different GPS receivers in the past and the 370 is, by far, the best. I especially liked the ability to use the European "zip" codes to insert addresses. This cuts down the number of key strokes you need to input an address.
The unit will take you on the shortest route even over dirt roads. We traveled several in Italy. I thought this quit unique.
The 370 announces the street name at each turn. It does not speak German or Italian correctly. That is to say if you have selected English for the 370 to use it will speak the street name with no accent and as a word written in English and not the native language.
What I loved the most was the ability to drop a way-point at each of our Hotels or Villas. We could then roam around during our day trips and at the push of an icon on the screen be given the most direct way back to our "home".
Having the unit battery power is very useful. Short trips don't require the power cable hookup. This allows for the swift removal of the unit at parking lots etc.
Satellite lock-on was rapid. We only lost satellite lock when in a tunnel.

I bought this rather than rent one with the car when I was traveling to Scotland (the price was barely more than it would have cost to rent it for eight days from the rental car company) and just got back from my trip. It worked perfectly - helping me navigate my way on the wrong side of the road. We found our way through big cities and also crossing across the country.
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br /I've used it for about a month at home, too, and it is useful, not just for the ability to map out directions - but also for finding parking and fuel.
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br /It was simple to use when I switched countries - picking up Scotland automatically. No complaints so far.

I love my Garmin Nuvi 370 and wish I had purchased it long before this. The directions are spoken in a clear voice (with street names) and if you make a wrong turn or start out in a diferent way it recalculates the directions quickly. It is also bluetooh compatible for hands free talking which is a plus for me because I make a lot of calls from the car. I will be trying out the European maps in Dec. when I take it to Germany and am excited about that. I love that it is small and lightweight so I can just drop it in my purse. Don't worry about putting it through xray when going through airport security.........I've done it and everything was fine.

I've had my Nuvi 370 for about a month. I also have a Lowrance iWay 500C. The Nuvi is excellent for someone who always uses a device as-is out of the box. If you want to customize the display, you're mostly out of luck as few features can be changed by the user. My personal dislikes are the unchangable display of the useless and inaccurate "arrival time" and the lack of any way to modify the types of information displayed. Also, the text size and location of information on the screen can't be modified. The Lowrance allows the user to pick and choose items to display and allows the text size to be changed. The one advantage of the Nuvi is that it's size and weight make it easily carried in a shirt pocket.

Nuvi 370
During planning stages for our European '07 trip we've decided to purchase navigation aid. In the past we relied on printed maps, but this time due to extensive list of places on out travel list GPS was a must. Before going on this trip we tested 370 here in California - with very good results. Maps appeared up to date and detours were correctly suggested.

In Europe
During our first stage we traveled in Greece. Unfortunately the quality of maps outside Athens and immediate suburbs leaves a lot to be desired. On our trip from Athens to Delphi 370 took us onto Main toll roads, while the direct route was not available. We end up driving for 4-1/2 hours before reaching final destination, Delphi. Nuvi manual does not spell out map detail quality! Only after getting back to US and looking closer on the box we found that only partial maps are available for Greece! Even though we were able to navigate, except that we were four wheeling (on the way back) through Greek country side while driving on secondary (paved) roads.

In France unit really showed its value - navigation accuracy, traffic alerts, speed camera locations, gas stations were right on the money. French name pronunciations, well, we smiled a bit and drove on.

Unit is not cheap, but it solved myriad of navigational problems and gave us additional flexibility - more places were visited during this trip than ever before. User interface is reasonably well designed, compact design further lends itself for active travel. Small display is not an issue (at least for us). We recommend this unit, but check maps before going.
//RF

One of the best portable navigator I've come across. Very accurate but US maps is not up to date for some local roads. I might need to pay for an update??? A bit slow to connect to the satellites compared to the TomTom 910. I have both devices and would use more often the TomTom if it was not for its size and lousy mounting contraption. The only test with the Nuvi 370 in Europe was done in Paris and it was doing OK but did not shine. The European map seems to have much less details or not up to date. I am not sure if it is worth the $200 extra to have the european maps, may be the Nuvi 350 is a better deal.

This is my 5th GPS. I bought it because I want the European Map. Everything works as expected and better than my three previous Garmin units. However, there are at least two things that can be improved. First, the text-to-speech sound is very tinny and not loud enough if you are over sixty years old or your radio is playing. Next, it cannot pronounce Spanish names correctly. This is very annoying living in Southern California. It will be fun when I go to France or Germany. By the way, if you want a lot of POI, you will be disappointed. In my opinion, Garmin has never been great on POI, but they excel on the important things on navigation.

I have had a Garmin Etrex for years and just upgraded for a family trip. The Nuvi 370 was a great choice. Priced very reasonable for the power of this unit. I had all the detail that we needed. It lead us to food choice everyday and kept us on a good time table. I am excited to see what it can do once we are overseas. I like so much, I have purchased one as a Christmas gift for my parents.

I purchased this about 2 weeks ago and have found it to be quite satisfactory. Mine, too, came with v8 N. Am. maps but I registered it immediately and they sent me the updates to v9 which I received and downloaded today. I have not used it in Europe yet but have a trip planned soon and have already programmed several destinations and the mapping seems to be exactly what I would need even to a hotel in a very small village well into the mountains of Switzerland. It shows every little street and showed the exact street number location on the street. We have a built in system in our Mercedes and it starts instantly so this seems a little slow to boot up and acquire sat's. in comparison but nothing I can't be happy with.

To those of you who may never have used a GPS navigation system, these things can be great stress reducers. I previously owned the Garmin C330 which I was happy with. The one problem routinely encountered with the 330 though was that the screen was quite difficult to see in bright light. The Nuvi screen is very easy to see in comparison. The maps included with my Nuvi were very up to date. The C330 sometimes would get lost due to new roads or re-routing of roads. The Nuvi hasn't got me lost yet.

The text to speech is a gimmick in my opinion, don't let that sell you. The mounting system is a suction cup system which works very well. The whole thing can be installed in a minute of so. It takes a couple of minutes for the maps to load and for the unit to find the satellites.

The detour function is a bit flawed; you can ask for a detour, and it will find one for you, but if you don't want to take the suggested detour, it will usually suggest the original route (kind of dumb). Garmin should find a way to detour a certain highway, or at least have more than one detour available.

The ability to use "via route" is very limited with this unit. You can input your final destination and one waypoint in between; that's it. This is a very simple system that is very easy to learn, so there isn't much in the way of functions that are likely to confuse newbies.

Watch the internet for good deals on these Nav units. The prices seem to go up and down quite a bit. For some reason, prices seem higher now (Oct. 2007) than they were six months ago.

This is a very worthwhile piece of equipment if you find car navigation stressful.

Highly recommended!

The problem is Amazon phone operators. I got a call the day before the delivery of a Garmin Nuvi 370 GPS from Amazon stating the delivery would be the next day between 8 AM and 5:30 PM, and that I was the only one that could sign for the unit. UPS attempted to deliver the Garmin at 12:30 PM while I was away at a lunch meeting. I called Amazon in an attempt to find out if I could sign the UPS delivery attempt, and leave it attached to my front door, or perhaps someone else at my home could sign for it. The Lady at Amazon told me the only way I could get delivery was to take off from work and wait for the 2nd attempt at delivery which was scheduled for the next day, or make a long trip to the UPS delivery center and pick it up. I said I could not do that. At that point Amazon said they would cancel the delivery, which they did. The bored lady at Amazon said they would refund my money (I have not received it yet, but I am sure I will get the refund from them). I tried to email Amazon to see if there was some other way to get the delivery, but they never replied to my email. I BOUGHT THE UNIT FROM ANOTHER DEALER. The Garmin is great, it is just a problem with Amazon's policy of making you wait at home for delivery all day. If you save anything at Amazon, it is quickly lost by time wasted waiting for the delivery.

I normally dont write reviews because of busy schedule. But for a product this useful. I have to recommend it to any one and every one.

Saves us a lot of time and its peace of mind knowing you are never lost. Points of interest are excellent and its never failed me to take me to exact location, be it United States or Canada.

Recommend purchasing the 'Garmin Portable Friction Mount for Nuvi' which makes the unit much easier to use and improves visibility by moving the unit lower and closer to the front of the dash. Unit shipped with older Bluetooth and GPS firmware which was easily updated by going to the Garmin Website. Plan to update map software after registration.

Walking feature especially useful in large cities. Unit is also useful for overseas trips since it Europe as well as North America. Combination unit is cheaper than purchasing add on map but map loading is slightly slower than the 360 which is North America only.

Performance very similar to built in GPS unit on my Lexus; Nuvi had more up to date and better POI lists. GPS appears to be accurate within 40 to 60 feet
Unit supports Bluetooth connections to more units than listed on Web site and is particularly easier to use for dialing out

We bought this unit for two reasons. It was only double what a unit would have been from our car rental company during a vacation, and our son will be travelling in the US and Europe for the next 5 months or so and we thought he would find it useful. This Nuvi 370 is a nice upgrade over the dealer installed GPS unit in my BMW, which I believe is made by Magellan - not a surprise since it's 7 years newer, but GPS is now a tenth the cost it was then, and is much more useful. The Nuvi recalculates very quickly after a missed turn. It's very easy to program the addresses, and the "favorites" feature was very useful. It seemed that the unit stayed charged for quite a while and it recharged quickly, but we didn't time it for this review. Being able to switch modes, say from auto to bicycle to pedestrian, is also really helpful. The screen was easy to read both at night and during bright sunlight. We found no errors in the maps. Travelling through the midwest, we were able to locate restaurants and gas stations very quickly. We didn't lose connectivity anywhere. During one segment of our trip, the Nuvi calculated a route that was quite different than the one we usually take that we're familiar with. There was some discussion whether we should follow our familiar route or "listen to the lady in the box". The Nuvi route was faster and smoother - the lady knows. Every once in while though, the lady's accent was a little clipped on pronunciation, so that "nineteen" sounded like "ninety". No buyer's remorse here.

Just back from two weeks in London and Paris. I purchased this model because I wanted a pedestrian option and I needed Europe maps. It worked perfectly. Many times we came up from the Metro or Underground and were stumped on where we were. I just asked the Garmin to find our destination (she has all of the attractions listed) and she easily led the way every time. She was also excellent at finding the nearest Metro or Underground station. This model was really flawless and a great addition to our trip. It saved time and aggravation. When you're exploring on foot, you really don't want to get lost and use up precious energy. I would highly recommend this model for people who are travelling in London and Paris and exploring on foot.

Bought this Nuvi 370 March 2007. Worked fine just out of the box for 3 months. Then it started to malfunction and not receive satellites. Garmin replaced it with a reconditoned one. Out of the box the keybord of the second one was not working. Sent it back at my expenses and received a third one. Worked fine for 4 months and AGAIN stopped receiveing signal from satellites. I think they have a problemwith the receiving unit and Garmin is not admitting it. Hopefully my 4th will be OK. I am close to the end of my warranty. If it goes bad I will not buy an other Garmin.

I have been using a Mio C310x for two years and bought the Nuvi 370 for a recent trip to Germany and Italy--I needed a GPS with the European map and the text-to-speech feature and the Nuvi seemed to be a good fit. However, I am disappointed because of its inconvenience to use. It's a very BASIC GPS: if you want to go to a place, find it on the GPS and it will take you there. But if you want to do some more complicated planning or research, it's probably going to disappoint you. After using it, I can understand why it has been discontinued. I think the Nuvi 370 represents five-year old technology (if not ten).
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br /Pros. OK--It DOES work. The signal was fine most of the time during my road trip of Frankfurt-Nurnberg-Munich-Florence. On several occasions I have to wait for 5-10 minutes to get a signal, but I think it's not uncommon for any GPS.
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br /Cons. I find the following tasks either inconvenient or impossible to do with this GPS. (1) Incapable of planning a trip with multiple "via points". You cannot edit the trip by swapping or deleting a via point; you have to do it all over again from scratch (2) Planning a trip from A to B while you're at C--a very simple task but it's too much hassle than it should be on this GPS. (3) The points of interest you saved are all in one folder; you cannot create any sub-folders. (4) No QWERTY keyboard layout. (5) No cockpit mode, making it more difficult to find your way in the European roundabouts. (6) The external traffic receiver cannot be used in Europe because it needs additional power accessory. (7) When you find a point of interest, you have to save it before you hit the "go-to" button. Otherwise you will lose the chance to save it and have to start anew to find it.
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br /I think the Mio C370 is only a BASIC GPS. However, compared to it, the Nuvi 370 is RAW and RUDIMENTARY in terms of functioning.

Oct.27 - This is an update to my review earlier.

Garmin today told me that the DVD map update 2008 for North America is OUT OF STOCK. So, my 6 weeks of waiting for the map update is just the beginning !

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Good:

It is portable and simple to use. For the most part, it will get you to where you want to go. POI search capability is better than other brands.

Bad:

- The routes suggested are usually not optimal, neither for faster time nor shorter distance. The route suggested can't be optimized in advance unless you force the unit to recalculate the new path by deliberately driving on the path that you know better. In general, if you know the area well you can do much better than what this unit offers.

- The prompt "turn in xxx" at the right bottom corner is not good enough. It should be supplemented with a graphic arrrow showing turn left or right so that the driver knows what lane to be in before the turn. The timing of audio prompt is too far or too close before the turn, especially on busy and complex highways. I missed the highway exits many times because of the wrong timing of the pronouncement.

*** The map version for North America shipped with the unit (bought from Amazon) is v8 and really old. Many old roads, business places have been long gone but they are still there according to the map. Many new areas and establishments in the recent years do not exist according to the unit ! I requested the free upgrade from Garmin for one month now and it still hasn't arrived yet! They said experiencing back orders and problems shipping internationally with free upgrades. My orders are still sitting in their warehouse as I checked with Garmin this morning.

My first impression of this unit was really good, but graduadlly turns to less and less so.

Since it is to be used in the car, I liked the ease of use and minimum key strokes. The displays are making me more aware of distances and street names in areas I already travel.
br /
br /There is both a quick start booklet and an online manual. However, there is a great deal of functionality packed into my nuvi that the documentation only hints at. I wish that there were tutorials that demonstrated sever practical applications of the model I purchased.
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Maps - need updating when Twin Cities area is concerned re major freeway closures, relocation of establishments, and mistakes re locations of establishments (i.e. name of location of establishment is provided, but street doesn't indicate whether it's East, West etc. so the GPS takes one to the wrong place. Some addresses of established businesses or other institutions can not be found through the GPS.)
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br /Traffic Update Antenna - can't be hooked up because it gets hooked up where the GPS is connected to car battery or to electrical charger. When one hooks up the antenna in order to try eliminate the problems above, the GPS tells you that you need an external power supply. How can you connect the machine to an external power supply if it uses the same connection point for the antenna?
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br /Slowness of Start - until the GPS starts and calculates where you are, lots of time is wasted for the maps' upload. In the winter, you'll be freezing in your car in the meanwhile.
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br /Technical Support - impossible hours for working people. Inadequate assistance.

There is no problem with this device getting you to your destination. I have used it on a 1,500 miles round trip around the UK, including some major cities.
Two objections to it:
1. It will hold only 500 waypoints in "My Favorites". I had attempted to download many more than that, from a previous GPS mapping system.
2. The ATM 12 accessory for traffic I had thought also acted as an FM transmitter for your MP3 music files to be picked up by your car FM system, but this doesn't seem to be the case...Garmin nüvi 370 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

I took my newly purchased Garmin nuvi 370 on a trek south from Providence to Cape May and on to Philadelphia. In general it was great not to worry about maps and hearing directions very clearly. A few problems: Last minute directions about turns do not give enough time to get into the appropriate lane; directions to follow a route for a number of miles and no correction when the route goes off in a different direction but a new (right!!) route is followed (very disturbing until I realized that it was the right thing to do); directions to turn right on a parkway that has a divider not permitting a right turn. All in all a very satisfacory purchase. Will try it in Europe in the spring of 2008.

Excellent product - gets me everywhere I've wanted to go so far. It's already gotten me out of some places that I have gotten lost in the past. Size is perfect for what I wanted, and it boots up in a reasonable amount of time. Usually. I do wish Garmin would make it easier to find suggestions though. On my iPhone, I can just type "pizza" and get a list of pizza place; it takes too many steps on the Garmin.
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br /Also, why not a QWERTY keyboard?? This is the only thing keeping the unit from getting five stars. It takes way too much reorienting to get accustomed to the alphabetised keyboard.

I bought this for my boyfriend who has a real problem with getting lost, being on time, feeling unorganized, etc. He has never mentioned wanting a GPS unit, and was very surprised when he opened it. Now, he doesn't know what he would do without it! I comparison shopped quite a bit and this is a great buy for the features and ROI.

this GPS is really fantastic for the transatlatic travels, recomputes are fast, never bug, this slips into the pocket, and more... 100% Garmin ;)

I had a choice of the Nuvi 360 vs. Nuvi 370 and with european maps preloaded, getting the 370 made more sense. Getting the european maps separately costs over a 100$. This also has a traffic receiver which is NOT integrated. It is a separate attachment which is pretty small, nevertheless not integrated. Voice prompts are great and I haven't tried listening to music or an audiobook but the good part is that it will stop playing when it has to mention the next turn and will resume play after that.

Great product!

I get lost everywhere I go. When I had to start traveling for work, I was horrified. The Nuvi took my mind off my worries because it helps me to get around just like I have a local tour guide in my rental car. Here are the positives about the Nuvi 370:

1 - Comes with North America (including Canada) and European maps - a HUGE plus if you travel to Europe a lot. You can update your maps by registering the product right away. I don't know what maps it came with, but I registered my product and then downloaded the 2008 maps for free.

2 - It recalculates directions right away when you deviate from the chosen route. I tested this at home and the Nuvi starts recalculating within seconds. I have seen other units take 5-6 minutes to realize you're off-route and recalculate. You can be way off track in 5-6 minutes, so I was happy to see the Nuvi recalculate so quickly.

3 - It comes with everything you need: carrying case, car mounts, car charger, home charger, USB cable for the computer, FM traffic receiver - you name it, it's in the box.

4 - You can look at the map or you can view the line-by-line directions - very nice for those of us who need to see the directions in writing.

5 - You can use the Nuvi for walking, biking, and driving. It also has different settings for taxi cabs and semi trucks.

6 - Extensive database of restaurants, attractions, gas stations, airports, parking garages, etc. When planning a trip, I can input my hotel, chosen restaurants, and even find close gas stations before I leave home. When I arrive at my rental car, I just have to turn on the Nuvi and select my destination and chosen detours.

7 - Beeps and provides verbal instruction in advance of your turn. Even tells you to stay left or right on the highway depending on where your next exit is located or when the highway will split.

The only problem I've had with the Nuvi is that it will not find a satellite signal from inside a parking garage. I had figured this prior to travel, so I had a general idea of which highway to take when I left the parking garage. Once outside the parking garage, the Nuvi picks up a signal right away and you're on the way to your destination!

I cannot say enough good things about this device - it's an absolute lifesaver!

I had a Nuvi 350 for six months until it got stolen... I upgraded to the 370 because of an up coming trip to Germany, I wanted the FM-traffic monitor, and because I wanted to try the blue tooth interface with my phone. After checking the maps compared to a very confussing area I am familiar with in Italy, they appear to be very accurate. The only problem with the blue tooth is the capacity of #s you can transfer.
The FM traffic is great!!

This cost ~$100 more than the 350. Sperately, these features would have cost over $250.

I now make sure to take it out of the car and make sure I don't leave a "ring" on the windshield from the suction cup.

Outstanding product. I have used now in the US, Switzerland, Holland and United Kingdom without problem. Good customer service response from Garmin to supply updated version of map software. My wife and kids also love using it...I need to get a second bracket, cradle and cable in order not to have to keep swapping it out from different cars.

This Garmin has many great features and if you register it in the first 60 days you can get the most current Euro and N. America maps for free. Easy to use and very functional. The battery life has not felt like 8 hours, but maybe 6. The Garmin 370 doesn't show when the unit is fully charged, which I understand this was a known problem. Bluetooth works very 'echo'ey but if you ran an fm modulater or headphone jack to a car stereo you could do a better job of hands free calling by way of the car speakers. My Lg vx8550 chocolate phone through verizon did not function with transferring the phonebook to the Gps via Bluetooth; so I don't know who is calling on the 370.

I bought this thing over a year ago, it is my only GPS to date, and works smooth (and better than some models friends have).
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br /The nice thing is you can take this to-go, and plug it into a friends car. Or bring it with you on a place and put it in the rental car. I went to Brazil, and aside from having to get the Brazil maps loaded on in advance, worked very nicely, with Points Of Interest there too.
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br /The fact that they made the traffic antenna a seperate thing is a bit ugly, hopefully that part is integrated into the devices soon (if not in the newer models allready).

We don't go on any long trips without "Jill" any more. She's great - quite helpful in North America, and totally invaluable in Europe, where the signage in some countries is difficult to interpret at times.
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br /You already know how great the Garmin products are in North America - so I won't waste your time on that.
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br /Where Jill has really helped us out it on trips to Europe. I have had her guide me through Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Czech Republic thus far, without any difficulties. Quite impressed at her database - I often go orienteering, which takes me well off the beaten path and onto back roads that other GPS systems didn't have in their databases. For example, in Czech this year, some friends rented a car in Prague with on-board GPS, while I rented one without and brought along Jill instead (a good savings there already, by the way). We were quite surprised to find that their GPS (rented in Czech) only had major roadways and larger cities on it, while Jill was able to navigate us successfully through the back roads and forests of the country.
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br /If you need to travel a lot, and especially if you need to drive alone in a new country, then you ought to have a GPS with you. And this Garmin series is quite impressive, both in terms of features and database. They are also quite readable on the move, and very portable (and durable). I travel often with this GPS unit, and definitely don't baby it. It's tough, and has withstood a fair bit of abuse at our hands. When the time comes to replace this unit, another Garmin will definitely be coming our way.

I recently took my GARMIN on a trip all across Ireland and I would not have been able to travel without it. The GPS was fantastic in all areas country and city and allowed us to take our time and wander more than have mapped out destinations. This is highly recommended for international as well as domestic use.

Having exhaustively researched GPSs of the portable, 'Personal Assistant type, and aware of Garmins reputation as both a market leader and innovator, my expectations were high for this new technology which I'd only read about, but never seen in use. After receiving the product, and using it for the first of many times, I was constantly amazed by its versatility, exceptionally user-friendly interface, features such as "lodging", "Food", etc. which were, when employed in my own neighborhood, spot on in accuracy and ease of use. It's ability to 'simulate' a route when satellite acquisition is not possible was truly amazing. It's most basic function, mapping s route from a given location to the trip destination was extraordinary, and the visual map, audio instructions, and ancillary data such as ETA, driving data including speed, mileage, and so on blew me away. All doubts I harbored regarding its ease of use, accuracy, etc. about this first GPS I bought and used for the first time vanished the instant I turned it on and began experimenting, and learning about how to use it. I can honestly say it is one of those uncommon products which not only meets but FAR exceeds one's expectations. I recommend it whole-heartedly and without resrvation.

I did quite a bit of internet and owner-interview research on many/various GPS products and vendors, and the Garmin 370 and Amazon are outstanding in every respect. The G-370 works great in the USA, Europe, and with their new '08 map of Mexico (where I'm traveling now) it is fantastic. Absolutely no complaints at all. Theft is a problem and the unit can be easily carried in your pocket, the wired connections are simple and convenient, battery life is great (6-8+ hours depending upon how you manage it), and it is shipped with all the accessories needed. Additionally, Garmin provides easy/simple internet access for updates and service/questions. I'm truly satisfied!

I had high hopes for this unit based on the reviews, especially for a trip to Europe and the Pacific I planned.
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br /The unit never got a signal in Germany for 3 days. When i arrived in Hawaii, it took forever to acquire a signal, then lost it at underpasses. In Miami and Tampa it took forever to get a signal leaving the airport.
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br /The call to take exits comes way too close to the turn. And the display doesn't offer enough detailed info (arrival time, total distance, etc.)
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br /Go with Tom Tom

I just completed a 2 week driving trip in Switzerland, Italy and France using my Nuvi 370. In general I was disappointed in the type of directions given by this unit. I used the unit in the US for three months and it was fine but in Europe, esp. in rural areas it has its problems.

I lived in Europe for 2 years and had an Audi with a built in GPS which was designed for use in Europe. When in rural areas of the countries listed above rarely are there street signs only directions to the next town(s). The Nuvi software always gave directions at intersections and at roundabouts by street name when none were posted vs. the unit in my Audi which would tell you to go in the direction of town x, which is how the routes are marked. Yes they both said take a left or the 3rd exit in the roundabout but the addition of the steet name was confusing and the lack of directing you by town name a major drawback. I was just glad that I also had alot of Michelin maps with me.

In addition I had similar problems to another reviewer with the satellite reception in the Dolomites of Northern Italy - not sure what the problem is there since there were no issues in the French nor Swiss Alps.

Excellent product. Easy to set up and use. Maps were fine in both Florida Keys and Germany; although Voice directions sometimes a little slow, especially when intersections are close.
4.5 stars.

Great form factor, speaks street names, pretty fast. Bright display, but could use more pixels. Pre-loaded US map was buggy - wouldn't let me enter an address on a 100-year old street in a 200-year old city (fixed in the 2008 map update). Another address was off by a 100 yards (but every online map gets that one wrong). Have not had a chance to test the EU maps yet. Bluetooth also has bugs - pairs with LG VX8700, but cannot stay connected more than 30 seconds during a call. Your callers will hear a loud echo. I still give it 4 stars, since Bluetooth is not of primary importance for me. But think twice if you are counting on using its phone features heavily.

The garmin 370 is a great gps and I have owned a few including one installed on my Lexus. It is small, portable and quick in starting and making adjustments. This series of garmin products are easy to use even when driving. I recently used it while traveling in a rented car and it was terrific. The bluetooth works well and is a pleasure to use since all of my cell features are available on the gps. Also Amazon had the best price. I have not use the Europe maps yet, but am looking forward to it. I got an external antenna just in case because some cars in Europe have a coating on the windows. Roy

This is a great product. It is far more accurate than others we have tried. The bluetooth works well with the cell phone for hands-free communication. Be careful, the bluetooth will work if you leave it turned on in the car, but take your cell into a nearby building. Only real complaint is the sound quality of the navigation voices. Still understandable, but fuzzy.

It is very easy to use, so I am not going to lose direction.
defect: high cost.

This is the first GPS I have owned but I have used other GPS before in Rental cars and in-car GPS. Overall I will recommend this GPS.

Review:
1) Maps were quite up to date and Garmin provides the free update for the latest maps for 2008. To get the update one has to register in the Garmin's website and provide the serial number of the device. It takes around a month to get the update from Garmin.
2) Routing is very good but sometime it is slightly incorrect or quirky. The device routes me through two different routes from my home to the highway without any specific reason. Though the distance is very similar, one of the roads has more traffic light and is slower. I am yet to find a reason why the device choses one route over the other on certain days.
3) The text to speech is really useful. You don't have to take your eyes off the road to check the map to make the turn.
4) Bluetooth phone integration works very well. The audio quality is not the best that I have heard but it is definitely better than most of the bluetooth speaker phones. Coupled with that you can enable the Bluetooth "push' feature if your phone allows it. This enables you to see the phone's directory on-screen along with call history. The coolest feature that I have found is to able to listen to the SMS that you receive while driving.
5) Traffic routing works well in my area i.e "San Francisco Bay Area". I have also used the traffic routing in Denver and it worked very well. Although the traffic system needs few updates which I believe is possible since TMC provides these information. The traffic incident report is typically quite vague. It says "slow traffic" or "accumulating traffic" on the highways. It will be much more useful if the actual speed on the highway is also mentioned. I have seen that sometime the slow traffic implies 20 mph and sometime it is 50 mph. It is often very difficult to decide to avoid the traffic bottleneck based on these information. Also the time taken for the traffic information to update is slow. It is almost close to realtime in my experience for building up the traffic delay but it takes way more time to clear the incident report. I think this will help if Garmin includes speed data in the traffic report.
6) The suction mount works well. My car has a flat region on the dashboard so it was much easier to mount.
7) GTM-12 traffic receiver is not integrated in the GPS. Often it is a hassle to connect the traffic receiver.
8) POIs are not that extensive.

i just spent 45 days in Europe with a car. we spent the first month in Italy and then traveled to Austria, Czech Republic, Amsterdam and down to France. for the vast majority of the time, the 370 provided very good directions. however, one time the GPS sent us down a hiking path in Austria to the back door of the hotel (i had to turn around in a field of tall grass on the side of a mountain). on the way to Cinque Terre, the GPS sent me through a small village and onto a street between buildings where i had about 2 inches clearance on either side of the car for about 70 meandering meters -- very, very, very slow driving. this was clearly not the main traveled highway to Cinque Terre (using the default settings of the GPS). in Milan, the GPS wanted me to go down a 1-way road the wrong way and i had difficulty getting it to redirect me as it kept trying to get me to go back around the round-about and down the road wrongly.
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br /the GPS also uses some odd phrasings -- turn onto A3 sounds more like turn on 2A3. this really confused me for the first few days. "onto" should be 1 word.
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br /the GPS does a poor job of pronouncing street names. now granted, i'd have trouble with these as well. but i even heard the GPS stutter once, which gave us all a chuckle.
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br /i haven't used the GPS in the USA yet as it arrived a day before i left for Europe, so these comments only apply to using it in Europe . . . but that's largely why you'd get this model. if i was going back to Europe, I'd take this GPS with me again rather than look for a new GPS. i figure non of them are going to be perfect at the USA and Europe, but i also have learned more about its nuances that perplexed me at times over the first 2 weeks or so of using it. i still felt better having it than relying on maps. i'd honestly rate it a 3.5 if that was an option.
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I have previously used a Tom-Tom 910 in Europe and in the US. The screen on the Garmin is easier to read in all light. Like the Tom-Tom 910 it has both US and European maps. It has a significantly longer battery life than other Garmin and Tom-Tom products. It seems easier to use than the Tom-Tom and is just as accurate. I like the voices on the Tom-Tom better than the voices on the Garmin. Overall, I am pleased with the Garmin Nuvi 370. The price was very competitive.

I have found this product very easy to use, although I discovered a number of routes resulting in dead ends (roads not completed). Good to have maps covering USA and Europe - at a very good price. I recommend a hard case (as it is easy to damage the touch panel if pressed or dropped). Friction mount is more flexible than windscreen mount.

Light and thin. Very clear and visible display even in the sun. Be aware though that sun glasses with polarized lenses reduce visibility. It fits easily in your pocket. Extremely easy to use. Very effective and precise both in a car or on foot. Plenty of features. It comes with all the needed accessories.
I have recently and extensively used it during a trip up to Maine (I live in NY)and it never got stuck. If you happen to skip a turn Nuvi 370 quickly recalculates and take you to the right route.
Completely satisfied!
Unfortunately about three weeks ago my nuvi 370, inxplicably, stopped receiving satellites signals. I tried averything even with Garmin tech's assistance on the phone, but at the end I had to send it to the factory for repair or replacement. Well in less than ten days Garmin International, not having succeded in fixing my unit, sent me a brand new Nuvi 370.
A little disppointed for the inconvenience but definitely satisfied with Garmin speed and efficiency.

Great GPS. Easy to use. Clear turn by turn instructions. Acquires satellite signal usually without much delay. For those of you who does a lot of driving to new places, I strongly recommend this GPS.

Tremendous so far - best GPS I have had, although my others were from prior generations.

You get great value, accuracy, ease of use, impressive options. One caveat: If you shut it off, andf then turn it on anew far from your location when it is activated again, it can be a little inconvieniently slow to find position again. In fact, it at first thinks you are in the old locale.

But, you really can't go wrong with iot. A- product.

I am very happy with my Nüvi 370. It works very well in the USA AND in Europe. It even worked on the plane flying over Ireland and England. I would certainly recommend it.

Th De Decker, Oostende, Belgium.

Wanted one for getting around Chicago but thought it would be nice to have for and upcoming business trip to Switzerland and Germany. The 370 was a better deal than buying the 350 and additional maps for Europe so I went for it. The traffic feature is really cool around Chicago and it was able to navigate me through the German countryside without a hitch. It would have been very difficult to navigate all the small towns without it and it was great for finding places to eat as well. All and all I'm very impressed... I wish it had a feature to log your track for a few days but that's really my only gripe. It made the whole trip much more enjoyable without getting lost or having my head stuck in a map.

It is such a pleasure getting a new product from Garmin. I have been using a Garmin Street Pilot for over 5 years now and am very impressed with the advances in this model.
The 3D view is great and speed of route calculation is much faster. Recalcualation after you take a wrong turn is almost immediate.
Another nice feature - when I leave it powered on in my car (which has permanent power in the cig. lighter) it somehow goes to sleep when I park my car and wakes back up as soon as I open the door. Not sure how this works but I like it. I never have to turn the GPS on when I get in the car.
Once again, a very impressive product from Garmin.

After doing some research, we picked this particular model because 1) it is discontinued and so we got an awesome price and 2) I wanted the text to speech for street names and 3) we will be travelling in Europe next spring and it came bundled with both North America and Europe maps. (Even though the model is now discontinued, it came loaded with current maps - dated 2008 and 2009.)
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br /We love it. So far its major test was landing in a large, unfamiliar airport late at night and having to find our way 30 miles to our destination in the dark in a rental car. It was perfect.
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br /I really appreciate the "text to speech" feature - the exact street name is far easier to follow than just "turn right" when you're in a crowded area.
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br /I also like the size - the screen is easy to see, yet it's very compact - and the fact that it's really easy to pop into a pocket or purse. We're looking forward to using it off-road walking around European cities. The limitation there will be the battery time, but it did come with European adapters for the AC charger, so we can charge it up each night.
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br /This model came with other features I have not tried and will probably never use (MP3 and bluetooth e.g.) but the basic navigational functioning is great.

I absolutely adore this GPS. My first one and I'm not at all disappointed. It's so easy to learn, and the CD that comes with it is very helpful (I just needed it to help setting the time and 'Home'). The thing I found out is you just have to trust it - it will get you where you're going. Sometimes instinct wants you to go the way you've always gone, for example, but if you follow the GPS you'll be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes, it's a little longer, but you find new routes that way. The one thing I wish were different is: when you're driving on a road (Main Street for example) and you cross over into another town, it doesn't verbally tell you the name of the street has changed. It shows the new name at the top of the screen but it would be nice to have it say: "Road is now Maple Street." Other than that, so far, it's been great and I don't know how we ever lived without them. I bought the weighted dash mount instead of using the windshield mount for security reasons (I guess thieves look for the tell-tale ring on the windshield and then break in). I paid around $12 for the dash mount - well worth it. Then I just take the GPS in my purse and hide everything else in the glove compartment. Have fun!

For the price the features are great! Instead of paying a car rental for a GPS rental we bought this, it updated online and everything is current. It is really nice and I have not had a problem with it in the US or in Europe.

I have owned a Garmin Ique5 GPS for over 5 years. My previous model developed an intermitant and began shutting off automatically about a month after the warrenty expired. I looked at alternatives since I was rather upset that Garmin wanted $150 to repair the old unit. I discovered the Garmin N350 at Amazon and couldn't pass up such a great deal.
br /Obviously skeptical, I received my unit and can't tell you how happy I am with it. It is everything that was advertised and more.
br /I took the extended warrrenty to avoid the problem i had with my other unit. I only hope that it will not develop a problem when the extended warrenty expires.

I've had this now for about three weeks, but in practical terms it's only been used for about a week as I live in a smallish city where I don't really need the Garmin on a daily basis. However, I bought it specifically for trips, and it worked like a charm in Orlando (and Minneapolis). It is amazing how much stress this reduces by not only giving you live updates to the next turn's distance, but also by telling you what side of the road the turn is on!
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br /By taking a few of the key addresses and saving them in the favorites, you can ensure that you always know how to get to the important places--no matter where you happen to be at a given time. I truly felt confident that I would get where I needed to be, and the Garmin did not disappoint me.
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br /There were a couple of hiccups along the way, but these are easily outweighed by the enormous benefits. I'll list the "problems," though, for your benefit.
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br /1. The Garmin kept trying to direct me through a dead end where literally no road existed. It turns out that a road was supposed to be there but it was legally challenged by a resident and no road has been created. So, you may occasionally find a situation like that. However, as you can zoom out and see the destination point that you are headed towards, all you need to do is detour in the general area and it will re-route the plan for you.
br /2. I did a search for Walmart and found a number of them. Of the first two I tried, no Walmart existed. They were apparently prior locations and were no longer valid. However, when you first choose a destination from the list given, it provides the exact address and phone number. If you have a cellphone, you can just call ahead to verify if you have any doubts.
br /3. On occasion, the road name Garmin gives you doesn't match with the signs. This is generally at a location where Cherry Street turns into County Road 13, or some similar situation. The sign may show Cherry St., but the Garmin wants you to turn on County Road 13. Believe me when I tell you to trust the Garmin, though. If the street name doesn't match but you are supposed to turn in 150 ft., I strongly suggest turning! The one hitch I ran into was a place where the road split into three different directions *and* the road names weren't matching the instructions! It was a "think fast" moment and I chose wrong, but I got a recalculation real quick, and it didn't cost me.
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br /I've seen some reviewers complaining about the load time of the maps. In the 30+ times I have turned my unit on, I have only had one time where it had a hard time picking up the satellites--and that was still only a couple minutes. I have also seen complaints about pronunciation. Really, I don't have a problem with the pronunciation. I have no doubt that the majority of people would get them wrong too since proper names have so many variations. If a name can be pronounced two different ways, how's a machine supposed to know the correct way? (I will say it was funny, though, when the unit wanted me to turn onto XYZ "Doctor" instead of "Drive!")
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br /Most of the learning of the unit comes from using it and exploring with it. I have found many useful things like: when viewing a map you can drag it with your finger. Also, if you tap the power button quickly when it is turned on, you will have a "quick settings" option for volume and tint.
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br /All in all, this one-time investment is WELL worth it. I seriously have no stress driving in big cities now. The old school way of printing off route planners has so many flaws. This is definitely the way to go, and I would recommend this for anyone who has a hard time with directions.
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A poor GPS experience. Poor battery life (max. 3 hours, which makes day long navigation in Europe by mass transit/foot obsolete). Not very accurate - I have found mine to be as much as 150 yards off, which isn't very convenient when you get off on the incorrect exit and it doesn't alert you until it's much too late. You can not mute the voice commands and have to go through the menu settings just to change the volume. Very obnoxious to be on a business call and the voice command interrupts your conversation and you can do nothing. Takes a long time to "boot" up and recognize my new location - as long as 5 minutes. I have also had it tell me I was in a location that was 750 miles away. Kind of tough to navigate somewhere in Atlanta when it tells you you're in Baltimore. England country roads very poor; Venice, Italy navigation impossible. We bought Garmins and TomToms for our employees and have found the TomTom to be a far superior GPS as far as functionality and in each and every side-by-side test. I have used Magellans in rent cars and found them also to be more accurate and far more intuitive.

Firstly, Europe and US mapas were the main reason I bought Garmin 370. The size is amazing. In general I loved the new features as guide, converter, bluetooth capabilities, mp3 and all of the innovations embedded. However it takes too long to find a destination, if we choose it from the preinstalled list of preferences. It has to be improved.

This is the first portable unit I have owned. It has performed very well. The only quirk that I have noticed is that it sometimes plans a route which is not the most logical or quickest to the destination. It has certain back roads that it continuously wants to make me go through which bypass larger roads which are much faster and more direct. Otherwise I have no complaints.

This product is pretty good; most reviews I read were on the money there are a few snags such as the taking diff. routes than you would think would be the most logical,but Overall I am am happy with it for the price. The air vent mount is the best way to go. Overall 3.5 to 4 stars

I have finally started using this GPS and I absolutely love it. Once I registered it I was able to get all these new features and customized it to my liking and all I can say is that I am very pleased.
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br /Definitely a must have.

the gps is a user friendly, compact unit with european maps and adequate battery life. it occasionally gets confused when recalculating routes if another route is taken. the map of Greece is limited in that it only shows Athens and immediate suburbs and does not do a good job of showing other cities. The worst criticism is that the suction holder for the car does not work. I have tried it on a number of different vehicles and it falls off. I am looking at buying a vent mounting from radio shack.

It worked great in my Canada trip. I had difficulty in entering address. As I have Magellen unit and Magellen allows you to enter only possible characters in city or street.
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br /One need to be careful entering french addresses for Montreal or Qubec, etc.
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br /Otherwise unit worked fine with price I paid $250.

I like the features on this unite and it seems pretty easy to use. The only real problem for me is that many locations are not up to date. The strip mall down the street opened over 2 years ago and only around half the locations are in the Garmin. I did an update of their software and none of the locations missing came up. I realize there is some turnaround in getting this stuff mapped, but 2+ years should be enough time especially given that around half the businesses are there. They all opened pretty close to the same time. Pretty annoying to think that if I search for a restaurant while traveling that it might not show if it opened in the past 2+ years?

"Baxter" is wonderful! We used him in Germany, Austria, Italy and somewhat in Slovenia as the maps are limited for the former Eastern Europe countries.
This allowed us to drive through major European cities without a problem.
A must have!

I've had two types of GPS's the Garmin 370 and another brand name. The Garmin was much better. The features where better and the maps were more up to date. It was recently stolen out of my car so make sure you set your security code on it. I'm going to buy another this time I'm going to get the 670.

I bought this for an extended trip to the British Isles and Switzerland. It took me on some beautiful B and C roads through the British Lakes District and the Scottish Lowlands which I never would have seen without this device. Easily worth 4 times the price when you factor in the feeling of security of knowing where you are and where you are going. Simply put, if you are going to Europe and will be driving, you MUST buy this GPS system.

I bought this gadget mainly to find my way around Italy in April, but started using it at home to figure out how to use it. In no time, it has become one of my favorite gadgets. It is still able to do things I have yet to figure out, of course. But for the basic get-me-from-here-to-there, it is quite magnificent, and I look for chances to go somewhere new for the fun of using it. It has been rock solid accurate, right down to where the place is on the street. Choice of routes is excellent. It's pretty easy to tell it where you want to go. The instructions are given in very timely fashion. I am now working on my timing: if I ask, "What do I do next?" at the right time, I can sometimes trick my passenger into thinking it's a real conversation ...

P.S.
It finds addresses in Italy perfectly well, although I won't be there until next month. It even located the waaaay off the beaten path location of the house in rural Piedmont where I'll stay. Quite a confidence builder.

Purchased the NUVI for a trip to Europe. Have been using it to go to places I know to test the routes. With some minor route deviations it works great. I've been able to locate food, fuel and other services quickly. Lots of features beyond route planning. The ability to add points if interest is nice. I'm looking forward to using it in ped mode in cities. The bluetooth is a little weak but the problem may be as much my phone.

1. I used it Amsterdam, Vienna, Salzburg, Kufstein, The unit performed very well, I had no problems.

2. The voice activated feature is excellent as it saves you the effort of looking at the map constantly

3. The only drawback is if you are inside the hotel or basement it cannot connect to the satellite. In the open it performs very well.

4. The display is good, never face problem with any kind of glare

5. I used the friction mount and I was surprised how well it does its job.

6. Used the unit in USA and have not had problem at all

7. The above review is based on 2 months of experience with the unit

8. I paid 450 USD + 25 USD for friction mount, I am very happy and would recommend it.

I bought the Garmin 370 after reading the reviews on Amazon. I bought it primarily for use on a trip planned for Europe because it includes all the European maps we will need. I have used it several times and find it to be very easy and user friendly. I tried to trick it multiple times on the initial run but it always stayed on track. We have an in-car original equipment GPS system that we've been using and enjoying for two years. The Garmin 370 is even easier to use. We bought it primarily to take on trips to new locations. The unit will pay for itself in no time considering the premium rental car companies charge for GPS.

Last week we checked out our new Garmin nuvi 370 GPS for a 100-mile trip to a new destination and it worked amazingly well. We decided not to put the adhesive mount on the dashboard (came with warning that it is difficult to remove) until we found out if we liked it. So my wife just held it on her lap and it quickly and easily found the satellites and stayed locked on them even inside the car - so it doesn't really need to be mounted under the windshield. We already knew the best route to the general area and it took us there by that route and when we got to the general area it took us right to the desired location. While in the area we were able to search for closest and/or desired restaurants, gas stations, and shopping. The "text to voice" feature was worth the extra cost because it was helpful to know the street name of the next turn - spoken with at least 3 advance warnings. A required U-turn is called out as a left turn onto the same street that is being traveled on and it knows where U-turns are not allowed and takes us around the block with right turns. And, this little thing (smaller than a cigarette package) has many other travel features. I had already read through the instructions, but it's so simple that my wife figured it out as we were traveling without reading them and mostly without my prompts. This trans-Atlantic version will be extremely useful when we are traveling in Europe and the UK this summer.

Last night I easily linked up our cell phone to the Garmin muvi 370 using the Blue Tooth interface. It works great and displays the "calling list" to select a quick and easy dial-out number and even responds to the voice activated dialing better than the phone itself. This will be nice to have after July 1 when the new law will require "hands-free" calling on mobile phones while driving.

I bought this as a birthday gift for my husband, whose car doesn't have a nav system (so he was always borrowing mine!). We took it along on a trip to CT where we rented a car, and it did a terrific job of helping us find our way around. I especially like that it does give street names, rather than just "take the next left." We also rented a car in Spain and drove around the entire Costa del Sol. The terrible pronunciation of Spanish street names was pretty hilarious--which did mean that it was very important to pay close attention to be sure we caught a turn. (For example, "Calle" (street) came out "Cawl" instead of "Caiyay"). The Costa del Sol has roundabouts with as many as 6 exits, and the Nuvi was a godsend. We're lending it to some friends who are going to Europe in the Spring and I'm sure it will be as helpful to them as it was for us. We'll be taking it along any time we drive outside of Madison.

I am in Italy and the time I have had to use the Garmin was excellent. I hope it can continue to be of excellent use.

Moved to small unit - was using Streets & trips on laptop with a blue tooth receiver. Took too long to setup (unpacking laptop etc) for short trips so I ran into trouble occasionally. I'll focus on what I find convenient on this 1. Hotels - as I'm driving along interstate I can find hotels at increasing distance from where I am - phone numbers are there - I can dial through bluetooth on unit & phone. 2. Restuarants - in area you don't know, can search out in distance from where you are - find type / style / chain you want to go - hit the place and your route is mapped out.

Has only steered me wrong once - in rural Wisconsin a road had changed so it had me for a short period on a dead end road. Easy to "force" your way out of it, start heading in direction you know you are heading (West in this case) and soon it "reroutes" you and the dead end road was out of the picture.

Much better than laptop alternative for me all round. I haven't used Europe maps yet, or the traffic alert information. Startup time could be a bit better - but it does have to acquire the satellites.

We've used the Nuvi to go downtown and for a 250 mile trip to visit friends. In every instamce it has taken us door to door within feet of our destination. It's intuitive programing make it very easy to use. You can be set up and ready to go within a minute.

Purchased this product because we will be traveling to Italy next year. It seems to work well in the US and has good reviews for use overseas. Hope that it makes my trips less nauseating because I won't have to look at a paper map for directions or to find out where I am on the map.
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What a great little product. I bought it for my daughter who is studying abroad in France this year. She will be traveling all over Europe and the maps will help guide her way. Note I said more for less... my husband has an older garmin that originally cost $500+ then when we went to Europe last year we bought a chip for approx. $200 so we could drive different places. This little jewel that I bought my daughter was almost the cost of the chip and has so many more features. If I get the deal again I am going to buy one for myself.

This is one of the most useful gifts I've ever recieved. Great product and very user frendly.

THIS IS THE BEST PRODUCT I EVER PURCHESED, COMPACT,EASY TO USE RELIABLE SO FAR.HIGHLY RECOMENDED ALSO PRICE IS RIGHT

I live overseas and visit the States yearly - this product is absolutely a necessity now that gas prices are so high. It is not even in one's budget to get lost any more! Very easy to use, it's my husband's favorite gift ever! So worth the money! Make sure you lock your car though as this is our second one purchased with insurance money from the first being stolen out of our rental car when we were in the States this summer.

I live in Italy and have used this bad boy to get around Italy, Germany, Austria, and Holland with no problems. When visiting Venice, I used this Garmin to help navigate through the walking streets/alleys to find our way back to the train station.
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br /Every once in awhile it likes to try to get me to take a road that's one-way or for bikes only, but no GPS product is perfect. This one gets the job done and I haven't been lost in Europe since I've owned it.

br /I have the Garmin 670 for routine local use in my car, got it for the larger screen etc. Got the 370 for travel-it packs easily, great for walking, bicycling or driving. The screen is terrific, easy to read-bright and clear and the directions are fantastic-the voice is easy to understand, thorough and prompt. I would highly recommend this product to anyone, family members or close friends. You won't go wrong. In addition, the coverage for Europe will be very handy when I return there. With the 670 and the 370 I am very well covered locally and abroad. While both cover Europe I prefer the 370 for travel outside the U.S. just due to the fact it takes up less space. I could not be happier with this combination, both are ideal.

Wow. Just back from a 1000+ mile journey through Italy and this GPS saved my butt a gazillion times. It navigated us through some of the smallest and hardest-to-find country roads without ever getting lost. It was easy to use, intuitive and worked like a champ right out of the box. Now, I just need to get back to Europe to try out some of the other countries, but on this journey, Italy and Garmin scored an A+. I used to have a Tom Tom (that TSA stole from my luggage on a recent trip) and this thing smokes Tom Tom in every way.
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In looking to update our Garmin with European maps, it turned out that, for a modest amount more, you can get a new Gamin, the 370, with updated US and European maps. Ours arrived promptly and worked like a charm in Switzerland, Austria and Germany and was a life saver on a couple of occasions. Some complained about the lack of packing support, but that didn't seem to trouble ours at all. A good buy.

I recently purchased the Garmen Nuvi 370 for a trip to Italy for Christmas 2007 thinking it would be helpful navigating through Northern Italy over our 16 day holiday. We had plans to drive around Tuscany, with stops in 10 different ancient towns and cities, often with hotels in the city center. I thought this would be handy in the city centers, which I knew from past trips to be confusing, driving challenges.
Fortunately, I brought along the Michelin Italy: Tourist and Motoring Atlas (Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas : Italy), which proved to be our savior, "go to" source of navigation information.
The Garmen Nuvi 370 was very disappointing in that it consistently sent us on the most convoluted and least efficient route to our destination. Even if we toggled between logic modes: Fastest vs. Shortest. Often, the directions where just plain wrong, with many bizarre turns and shunts off of main roads when it was clearly signed and obvious we should continue on the road we were on. When we would finally be forced to look at the map and reorient, the map route would have little relation to the Nuvi route. The Garmen also did not recognize many one-way streets or pedestrian only streets, (both very common in old cities), leading us into situations where we could not follow the directions it offered. "Recalculating route" became a joke, except for the fact it usually attempted to take us back to the same one-way street. Even when we tried to use the Garmin in less challenging situations, like freeway travel, it was hard to relax and trust the prompts, knowing the likely hood of it failing was high. It got to the point after, 8 or 10 attempts at using the 370 we just turned it off. It was distracting to listen to the inane prompts while trying to navigate through the tangled web of Italian city streets, particularly when the prompts did not jibe with the map route.

I would not recommend this device unless you are completely helpless with a map and even then don't expect to get to your destination if it is in the city center of an older Italian city. I should have taken my money and bought a cell phone to call the hotels to ask directions.

I have had similar experiences using the Nuvi 370 around the San Francisco Bay area: strange turns and lots of back roads that wander through residential neighborhoods. (Frustrating and even scary in certain parts of the East Bay.) The logic the Garmen uses to navigate still needs lots of work before it becomes a substitute for a good map.

Over all a frustrating and useless device that I should have left at home, along with the bulky and heavy charger, case and plug adapter.

Nice product. Battery holds up well. The European maps section was not worth the upgrade (Price) as many place addresses aren't listed or not used there. I did download books and really liked that feature. Didn't spend the $ for translation feature.
Also I was promised by my salesperson that it would contain the 2008 maps---It didn't.
All in all don't know how we got around in new cities without it.

I am a guy who has had GPS for many years now. I have had handhelds since handhelds came out in the late 90's. I have had expereince with the military GPS in the mid/late 80's when the GPS was the entire back of a Hummer!! But I digress. This is about the new Nuvi 370. I dont hate it, but I definately dont love it. It is small, but not compact. The screen is fairly bright, but still is hard to read in bright sunlight. The voice mispronounces "almost" everything she reads. You really have to pay attention to what she is trying to say. There is also a flaw in the design as far as it frequently "thinks" there is a turn if there is a bend in the road. It will say "keep left" for I-10, and this wont make sense to you because I am already on I-10... You dont need more confusion if you are in a new place. I would give this unit a C at best.

bought for wife, she simply cannot navigate or follow directions. she loves this unit, and so do I.

Until now I have been an admiring and faithful Garmin customer.
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br /Our household now as 2 Garmin NUVIs less than a year old and I have a decade old Garmin MAPS 12. I am inspired to write this review as I am on a projected 35 minute hold (this could be a long review) with Garmin Technical support to obtain a RMA number required to send it back for repair. This is my second experience with horrendous wait times to get Garmin support on the phone. The first pertained to a snafu in obtaining their free North America maps update that took 18 hours to download with a satellite internet connection. The download ended up being for Europe. I had a week of arguing resulted in I made a mistake and "sorry but I would have to pay to get North America".
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br /My ~8 month old NUVI 370 has since stopped functioning. I get a quick start-up screen when unplugged then dies. When plugged in either to the car or the AC charger it will not start. I have left it connected overnight to ensure it is charged but no change. There has been no adverse handling or conditions to cause to to fail. I keep it in the case in my brief case whenever not in use.
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br /I have become greatly disappointed with Garmin products and especially their support. Maybe in our world of off-shoring services we should expect this kind of service for goods we only pay several hundred dollars for vs. several thousand...
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br /My guess...Garmin has been focused on Marketing, developing a huge product line and is dropping the ball on good design and customer support.
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br /Hey a person, and only 26 minutes...Wish me luck on this call.
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br /Oops guess it was my fault. According to the technician the battery is dead and the car or AC charger will not charge it (don't look for this info in the manual, it is not there). I must connect it to the computer USB connection for 8 hours and it should recharge the battery. Also it is imperative that I do on-line software updates regularly (she would not tell me why but I am guessing it has to do with the unit not shutting off and the battery going dead). Another important piece of information not in the manual... I suggested adding this and she seemed too busy to even acknowledge this thought.
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br /So if your going on a long trip bring your computer to charge your NUVI should the battery inadvertantly go nearly dead.
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For may years I have used Garmin GPS electronics sailing across the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cayman Islands and I love the equipment. I also own the portable Palm 360 model as well as a few older models for automotive use in the the US and Europe. I did not think twice about ordering the Nuvi but, I truly regret it. No software to back up or insert waypoints is such a skimp! Shame on Garmin for a less than great product as they have in the past! Quick to pick up satelites but slow to react to straying from original route and Jill needs a pronouncing lesson that she could get from her predesessor...

Garmin nüvi 360 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator. Great product. It has worked perfectly

We bought the Nuvi 370 for our trip to France. It was great to have the preloaded European maps and it saved us from getting lost. Would definitely recommend this when traveling in a foreign country.

I was very pleased with the GPS.I had to make a business trip to Sweden and Denmark. If I did not have this GPS I would have been completely lost in the big cities.

On a recent road trip from the Denver, Colorado area to Canyon De Chelly and Monument Valley in Northeast Arizona, our Garmin Nuvi 370 worked well most of the time,but did give us two problems. In Pagosa Springs, CO the Nuvi sent us to an incorrect address for our motel. After driving around the arrival location several times, we found our motel's address was 260 EAST Highway 160 while the Nuvi had sent us to 260 WEST Highway 160. While we were driving from Chinle to Kayenta on BIA Highway 59, the Nuvi kept telling us to take unpaved side roads to Kayenta. This may have been because I had set the Nuvi for 'shortest distance' instead of 'least time'. Overall, we are very pleased with the Nuvi's performance and highly recommend it.

I was shipped a referbed unit sold as new. After years of good service from Amazon I was disappointed and returned it. The unit itself is a great GPS. Bought the same thing from another vendor

Although the product is listed as one of the best, my husband used it less than 2 weeks and it kept on losing its satellite signal. The company was gracious in paying for the shipping costs to return it, but we made it very clear that we do not want a used product. I bought this product supposedly new from Amazon and we want another new GPS. This incident made me a little shy from using Amazon for electronics again. Other than that, it is great for its portability, not so much on accuracy, but I guess we aren't there yet technologically. GPS still beats paper maps.

Do NOT BUY this product if you plan on using it in France! We charged the product and tested it in the U.S. and it seemed to work fine. We specifically got it for our trip to France. We get to Paris, turn it on, it loads up to 43% and then says it does not have enough memory to work. We tried it twice more and the same thing happened. I have no idea if the same thing would happen in other European countries since we only tried it in France. I hope this review helps those from making the same mistake we did.

5/5 for Amazon's service
br /4.5/5 for product quality
br /4/5 for the price of the product! On a comparative basis, I paid 20% more.

This is in addition to my Garmin 350. Received in excellent condition. Everything I have ordered from Amazon has been very good both in service and delivery.

Have only used a couple of times, but was very easy to use. Was right on with the directions.

The 370 comes with all accessories you need for travel. (car and home charger, traffic receiver, European maps, mounts..etc). Easy to use just like all other Garmin devices. Overall, this is an excellent product and I enjoy using it.

Couple notes: If you do not plan to travel to Europe, there is no need to purchase the 370. Stick with the Garmin new 260 model and save yourself some money. If you are thinking of getting the 360 model, why not spend a bit more and get the 370 which is identical to the 370 except it does not have European maps.

I am very disappointment with this product. I owned an old model of garmin (2720). That one worked well but just not looked too bulky for my new car. So I bought the garmin nuvi 370 for its sleek look and the potential to work in Europe. However, the basics are not good. The suction cup lost it suction capacity after only a few times of usage.