 The c330 obviously got me to my destination, but can it find me a restroom? |
When your car needs to go
I also searched for gas stations, bathrooms, and eateries. I'm sad to report that this is an area that the c330 could improve on. Searching for a bathroom was the first non-intuitive snag I'd hit with the c330. Under the "where to" tab, you have a total of 18 search categories, whether for a specific address or for a POI. You'd think one of those would be "restrooms." Strangely, the only entry I found for this kind of public facility was under "auto services." Last time I checked, relieving oneself was a human service and not an auto service, but I could be mistaken. Perhaps the makers of the Garmin c330 have bladders of steel.
 Searching for a new destination while already en route brings up this screen, which shows these green arrows pointing in unexplained directions. Good thing you have the option of viewing a map of each new destination before you decide to go there. |
A little sooner would be nicer
The other area where the c330 is slightly lacking is providing information in a user-friendly way when searching for a POI while driving. It's easy to search for a restaurant, say, but once you're confronted with a list of restaurants, these odd green arrows appear that point in curious directions. Not even the manual says what they're pointing to. Is it the direction I'm driving in (in which case, they'd all be pointing the same way), or is it the direction I'd have to go to get to the restaurant? I could never be sure. Fortunately, the same restaurant list does provide the distances from your current location to each restaurant. And, once you choose a restaurant, you can hit the "show map" tab for a preview of where the restaurant is in reference to your current location. However, I would have preferred a little more guidance in the decision-making process of where to eat at an earlier point in the search.
It's a keeper
But, on the whole, the c330 performed beautifully. I made it to every single destination I had to find, even after I took wrong turns (my own fault). The c330 is remarkably fast at recalculating a route when you've gone off course. Usually, the computer figures out you've made a wrong turn within 100 yards of the mistake, and takes just a few seconds to recalculate a new route. And I was very impressed with how accurate the maps and directions were. I was dealing with a lot of spaghetti junctions, on-ramps and off-ramps, side-roads and alleyways, and rural roads. Driving through busy or confusing junctions, like those going into and out of Charleston, where I made the majority of my wrong turns, the c330 was always there with a way to get me back on track. You really couldn't ask for a more reliable or patient wedding date.
