<p>How is the Nuvi different from the C340? What are the advantages of one over the other?</p>
<p>I bought DH a Garmin C340 for Christmas and we’re just now getting around to taking it out of the box and figuring out how it works. I have what I guess is a dumb question, but the literature in the box doesn’t address it. Where on the windshield do you attach it? High up beneath the rearview mirror? Down low near the dash? Husband’s Camry has a very slanted windsheld and it would be a really far reach if he attached it to the bottom of the windshield. Since it’s a touch screen, he needs to be able to reach it easily. We will probably get one of the dashboard mounts so we can switch it easily from car to car, but in the meantime, where do we stick it?</p>
<p>Ah, interested to hear the answers. We ended up buying the nuvi 350 for D. She has been just carrying it and hasn’t mounted it yet–hadn’t thought of the issue of needing to touch the screen. She is in an SUV and that might be a long reach.</p>
<p>We have a Garmin Quest and DD had a Garmin Street Pilot until last month when it burned up along with her car. She now has a TomTom Go GPS. We love the Quest and DD said she loves the TomTom. The Quest is very easy to use. We’ve had it for four or five years, I guess, and there are many options. If I need gas, I can hit an option to show me the closest gas stations. If we’re looking for a place to eat, it will list all the restaurants in the surrounding area. It saves addresses that I have entered and it shows different routes to a destination, depending upon whether you choose a faster time, shorter route, etc. For $75, we were able to purchase the most updated maps and download them onto our Garmin GPS systems (2 systems max) a couple of months ago.</p>
<p>DD enjoys the TomTom Go. I haven’t ridden with her enough since she got it to really see how it works in comparison to our Quest, but she said she likes it a lot. She misses the remote control she had with the Street Pilot, but there is an option to buy a remote for the Go.</p>
<p>We use the windshield mount because it just seems a bit easier for us, though we do have a weighted dash mount that works well, too. DD’s Go mounts on the windshield.</p>
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<p>We mount ours near the bottom of the windshield. We find we can reach it fine (we also have a Camry). Just experiment until you get the positioning you like. You also need to see the screen clearly, without taking your eyes off the road too much.</p>
<p>Lurk - do you mount it in front of the steering wheel area or a bit to the right (like where your right arm would most naturally reach if you stretched it out in front of you - sort of like over the center left A/C vent)?</p>
<p>^^^ Yes, exactly. We mount it to the right of the driver. That way, the passenger can work the touchpad too.</p>
<p>We just came back from a spin around the neighborhood after installing it. What fun! My husband didn’t think he was going to want a GPS, but after seeing what all it can do, he loves it! I’m going to order a dashboard mount on Amazon ($11.99 on sale!) so we can have the option to use it that way in my car, and a little case to keep the thing in when we remove it from the car so it doesn’t get scratched up and banged around.</p>
<p>Whoops, my mistake. The dashboard mount is $32 on sale – you SAVE $11.99. My bad, I was reading too fast. Sorry!</p>
<p>It’s still a good investment! My husband loves ours too, even though it’s MINE! (A birthday gift from said husband.) :)</p>
<p>Also, I forgot to add that if you live in California, you cannot mount the GPS on the windshield. Apparently there’s a law prohibiting it in that state.</p>
<p>Word of caution: My H’s friend had his car broken into, and the GPS was stolen. He always takes it off and puts it in the glove compartment, when it is not in use. My H asked me how the thief knew to break in and take it. I told my H that someone may have followed his friend (that GPS really stands out when lit up at night) home, and then broke in after it was parked for a few minutes.</p>
<p>We both have Magellans and love them (my H bought an updated model, and I inherited his older one).</p>
<p>^^^ We remove ours when we’re parked and either leave it in a compartment or take it home with us for the night. Also, we bought the A/C charger (optional; it cost 15 bucks or so) and we charge the unit if we’re in a hotel overnight on those college trips!</p>
<p>lurkNessMonster, He also removed his from the dashboard, and put into a a compartment in his car. The point is that he may have been followed while using it.</p>
<p>I got my wife a Nuvi 350 for Christmas and used it for the first time on our trip to Florida. It was great to use it in an unfamiliar area. Very helpful for getting around and finding that nearby McDonalds at midnight. I am not sure how useful it will be here at home since 99% of the driving is over very familiar territory. It is very compact and has a little leather carrying case so it will be easy to remove from the car which I think is a good idea to prevent theft.</p>
<p>Back to where to install it, we usually put it under the rearview mirror, mid way, as it needs to beam up to get the satellite feed.
My H says to put it in the glove box while we travelled the college circuit. don’t tell him, but I always left it on the windshield…I’m a trusting soul.</p>
<p>We also have a NUVI and have just given our son/future d-in-law one for Christmas. We all LOVE it, though at times our older one goes into what we call “Zomby-mode” and cannot locate the satellites. You just have to re-start it when this happens. Hopefully, the problem has been resolved on the newer models. The other advantage to the NUVI is that available updates to the software can be periodically downloaded. </p>
<p>Obviously, any difficulties we have had with this unit are minor since we just bought a second one!</p>
<p>Our Garmin had trouble starting the day before the next college tour. I love using it and I didn’t want to have problems on the road. We bought a Nuvi, not the top of the line- my H says- but it connects to my Bluetooth phone so I can handsfree call with it (my phone book shows up and it does voice activating dialing) you get traffic info on it and it’s about 1/3 the size of the old ones. We just went East on it and it found everywhere we wanted to go and more!</p>
<p>fourkidsmom-
sorry your Garmin took a powder. Both of my boys have Garmins and they really like them. You can usually find deals on <a href=“http://www.edealinfo.com%5B/url%5D”>www.edealinfo.com</a> , <a href=“http://www.tigerdirect.com%5B/url%5D”>www.tigerdirect.com</a> or <a href=“http://www.slickdeals.net%5B/url%5D”>www.slickdeals.net</a></p>
<p>I did get D. the nuvi 350 for Christmas. She has loved it. She carries it in her purse when traveling in other’s cars and has even used it on foot when searching for restaurants in an unfamiliar city.</p>
<p>I got a good deal on it at Best Buy. I took in the offers from some of the online sites and the store met those prices! I didn’t know they would do that.</p>