Rating: 
Summary: An Must Have
Review: This is my first GPS unit, and I couldn't have been more satisfied. It does everything I thought it would and then some. The build quality is excellent and the ease of use is unbelievable. If you live in a large or small city, you will love this unit. Today, I found a shorter route to work (10% shorter) than my usual route. You can also customize pretty much any GPS feature on it to suit your needs. For the price, you cannot beat it. Buy it and be happy!
Rating:
Summary: shipped with OS release 5.2.1r2
Review: Th iQue I ordered shipped Dec 26 2003, and arrived with the Release 2 pre-installed, so the reset problems should be gone out of the box now. To be on the safe side, I did apply the additional patch found on the Garmin support site.A couple of old apps I used to have on my palmpilot got installed on the iQue on first sync, and one of them (Remote) crashed it when started. You may want to make sure you delete your old Palm desktop folder, including old apps you used on older Palm handhelds, before your first sync. Acquiring satellites indoors is close to impossible, so don't be disappointed if you can't, just go outside. Takes only a few minutes in a car. Besides, you should be able to find your way to the kitchen without your iQue.... ;-) One reviewer mentioned that units with serial numbers higher than 9027xxxx had a hardware fix. Mine is one of those, and it hasn't reset once since I de-installed the bad Remote app. I've used it on a weekend trip, and it is truly awesome. One error though during navigation: I entered a "via" for an active route, but when it had to recalculate the route while driving, it lost the "via". Good thing I noticed, otherwise I would have missed my turn.
Rating:
Summary: 4.90 / 5.00
Review: Ever since the dawn of the information age, I have been waiting for this package, I can say. To me, it provides real-life-useful information in very usable ways. Period. I purchased it as an open box item. Of course, it had everything needed. (The hardware, base map & detailed map.) Besides, ther customer service via e-mail is great. Happy:
- I will hardly get lost again. This gives a great deal of comfort when driving.
- It can recalculate the route when I go off-course. I can make it automatically do it or ask my permission.
- I like the "Que" application package. It maps, guides(in background), provides GPS information, searches, tracks and plays tune(in background). IMHO, this "package" is an excellent combination of HW, SW(applications/OS), data(map) & infrastructure(satelites). Less happy:
- Like a few reviewers pointed out, it crashed randomly several times. Later I found that Garmin is providing s/w upgrade from their web. The process was not simple but after that, the device seems a lot more stable. When I let it navigate and don't go there, something seems go wrong.
- When I have many detailed maps in the SD card, the search seems a little slower than desired. (It is natural but more computational power or a better way to search the data could be helpful.)
- Once, its route guided me into a prohibited turn. However, it should be user's responsibility to drive safely & follow the traffic regulations... Hope:
- More (internal) memory.
- Integrated cell phone.
- Integrated digital camera.
- Map edit capability
Rating: 
Summary: Great product concept, poor first generation product!
Review: I've had my iQue unit for a month now. I own four GARMIN GPS portable units, used primarily for offshore sailing with the exception of the GPS map76. All have been outstanding products. In addition, I am on my fifth Palm OS PDA, and can't live without one. The GARMIN iQue promises the integration of these two important capabilities, PDA and GPS mapping, plus the addition of full-function street navigation with voice prompting. I purchased a 256MB card, needed to store a reasonable amount of street map information, and the optional auto nav kit, which provides for a 12v power supply, and flexible "bean bag" positioning of the cradle which is a must for automobile use, in my view. I use the remote antenna from my GARMIN GPSmap76 to improve my satellite reception. I downloaded all my personal Palm PDA info: address book, memos, calendar, and other Palm programs without difficulty. The quality of the color screen is impressive when used for the traditional calendar and address book PDA use. It should be noted that the iQue software which runs on the PC, the "desktop" PDA, is a streamlined version of the Desktop I currently use. I liked the new look. The setup of the maps on the iQue was a bit tricky, but with patience, I finally got the maps I needed installed and went out for a spin in my car. The results were simply amazing: clear bright screen, clear voice guidance and direction notations plus excellent maps. And a lot more functionality to identify places of interest etc. And the integration of the street "waypoints" into the address book was definitely a plus. I particularly liked the iQue's flexibilty to recalculate the route directions, if you chose to deviate from its recommended route. In areas where I have local knowledge, I travel my own route, and iQue adapts on the fly to my route and ultimately advises me to take the route that I intended. For somebody who is new to an area, one can follow iQue's guidance to the letter and get right to the destination expertly. Creating waypoints is a cinch. iQue offers a variety of methods whereby this can be done, including a mailing address or just pointing to the detailed steet map. If the iQue performed to its specifications, it would indeed be a dream product. As it is, it literaly freezes up frequently in the middle of its navigation duties, and the driver does not have the option to fiddle with the device to get it going again. This is a very serious problem. After waiting 1 hour and 45 minutes (it must be a record!) on the phone for GARMIN tech support, I was told by the technician that units with a serial # greater than 9027XXXX have a hardware update which, when added to the new Release 2 of the software, are claimed to eliminate these freeze-up problems. There is no mention of these very serious problems on GARMIN's iQue web site, nor an offer to have the hardware modified at no charge. This is unfortunate indeed. GARMIN, I was told, will update the hardware on any purchased iQue. I forgot to ask if GARMIN would pay for the shipping. They certainly should. But I did not have another hour and 45 minutes to find out the answer! I, for one, plan to return my unit and wait until this product has been "cleaned up" and debugged properly. The bugs in this initial product are a black mark on GARMIN's impeccable record of quality, and GARMIN's current customer support is abominable, as shown by the lack of information on their web site and the time required to reach a technician. Other reviewers have complained about this lack of responsiveness as well. In summary, the iQue is a great product concept and design, which can work extremely well WHEN IT WORKS AT ALL. The hardware and software upgrades that GARMIN now has available may do the trick. I, for one, am looking forward to the "new and improved" version of the iQue from GARMIN. An iQue2 maybe? Perhaps. I have a good hunch that it will be a winner! But if you are thinking of buying now, tread carefully!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice try!
Review: See updated review. This device works great if it is functional. Already have SR2 and an upgrade available. So be prepared to spend some more time installing those. It spontaneously reset itself frequently without installing those updates. The acquisition time is about 4+ minutes. The battery life is very dismal. It shut itself off (Palm functionality) when is not on the charger and in use; so it requires another satellite acquisition (another 4 minutes). Thus, not recommended for hiking or outdoor activities. Works great with city navigation with WAAS enabled (more battery drain) in Southern California. However, sometime it won't "route" to some addresses - even after I have installed the SR2 and update. In fact, it will reset itself. I would recommend external antenna for the vehicle. Don't bother with serial connection - slow and didn't even come with a charger unlike other PDA devices. The case is useless unless you don't want use it while in the case. It is light for its size. Though I wish it has more battery weight than a very short battery life. Be prepared to purchase at least 128 MB of SD/MMC card - recommended 256 MB. Who actually still rolls out a new PDA device with 32 MB internal memory for the price (or for the intended functionality - mapping)? It does NOT tell you the street names or city location. It will however navigate via simple directional commands. In a moving vehicle, the volume is somewhat limited without the car adaptor (or unless you have a Lexus?) plus the battery issue and battery conservation mode make the car adaptor a must.
Rating:
Summary: A non-expert gadget fan
Review: Incredible product. I've not had any of the problems a couple of reviewers have talked about. I've been 100% satisfied with my iQue since receiving it a few days before Christmas. Make sure you download the software updates and patch from the Garmin website before loading your maps. Ease of use coupled with portability = one wonderful GPS/PDA product. The car adapter kit is a necessity (Garmin should include this with the product). Bottom line: exceptional product at a great price!
Rating:
Summary: An electronics fan from CT
Review: RETURNED UNIT. NEW ONE WORKS AS ADVERTISED. NOT SURE IF REPLACEMENT UNIT WAS BRAND NEW OR REFURBISHED. UNIT CAME PRE-LOADED WITH NEW SOFTWARE. STILL NOT IMPRESSED WITH GARMIN CUSTOMER SUPPORT. Don't waste your precious time and money on this unit. I received this for a Christmas gift and was thrilled with the concept. Finally a device that integrated both GPS and Palm applications. Right out of the box I encountered several problems with the unit. It would continuously hard reset itself. I sent an email to Garmin and never received a response. After doing a little research on the web I discovered this is a common problem with this device. I uploaded the new software as recommended and now the unit can not acquire a satellite signal. I then tried to contact Garmin's customer support and have been waiting to talk with someone for over an hour. Bottom line: Don't waste your money. Item was rushed to market without working out the bugs. Also Garmin has no customer support.
Rating: 
Summary: Good if you are willing to struggle with it
Review: I had my iQue 3600 for three weeks now. It is a nice and cost effective navigation system, but it looks like it has been rushed to the market in time for Christmas with not enough quality testing time put in. The product has a lot of software bugs. Whether it is the Palm OS or the Garmin software, I don't know, but I had the PDA totally hang once requiring a hard reset, and another time it reset and erased all the maps by itself. Also sometimes it seems to take for ever to acquire satellite data. I am a software engineer and I have enough patience to get around such quirks, but I can't imagine how non-tech savvy users will deal with it. I am pretty good with maps and I don't really need a navigation system, but I still like this toy and I am keeping it. A couple of other useful tid-bits -
1. Base unit has just enough memory to download maps for one medium size metropolitan area (e.g. Bay area but not Los Angeles or New York).
2. The auto navigation kit (about $50) is a must. Not only does it provide a convenient mounting mechanism, it is an absolute necessity for purposes of providing power (the battery drains very quickly) and audible audio (the iQue volume is really low even at its highest volume).
Rating:
Summary: Not ready for market
Review: I spent 4 or 5 full days trying to set this up for my father in law. First of all, there were no detailed instructions for the unit. You had to go to the website to download them. We had to call Garmin many times during the setup, and a few times were told contradictory information from the instructions. This is not an easy piece of electronics. Not recommended for anyone who doesn't want to devote a heck of a lot of time to it. We never really got it up and running.
Rating: 
Summary: It could work with Macs after all
Review: I got this for Christmas, and I love it! After I got it to finally work, of course. We are a strictly Mac household, and it really rankled when I initially found out that the iQue is supposedly not compatible with Macs. I thought originally that I could use Virtual PC to sync it and install the maps. After a full day of pulling my hair out, I gave up and started researching on the web. There's a wonderful bunch of people from PDAstreet.com who actually got the problem (pretty much) licked. This is the website that enabled me to hotsync the ique and download my maps using OS X and VPC: http://www.lycestra.com/iQueDoc/ . I'm waiting for the SD cards to get here so that I can download all the maps. So far, the local ones work just fine. I'm giving this 4 stars because of the Mac compatibility issue. I think Garmin should make it work natively with OS X. I thought about sending it back when I couldn't get it to work, but I know it will break my husband's heart (he was the one who gave it to me). I'll be sure not to buy any more Garmin products, though, until they get this compatibility issue resolved.
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