Garmin iQue 3600 Bundle (iQue 3600 with Automotive Friction Mount)

Rating:
Summary: Great navigation PDA, but stopped working in first month...
Review: As a GPS junkie, I appreciate just how slick this navigation PDA is. The detailed City Select mapsets that come with the PDA are very detailed, and give you voice guided turn-by-turn directions anywhere you want to go. Add a SD memory card and you have more than enough memory to hold all the maps you need plus MP3's and other Palm applications as well. The only drawback, and it's a biggie, is that after 3 weeks my IQUE 3600 has completely stopped working. Garmin has asked me to mail it back to them (at my expense) to be repaired (at their expense). Maybe it's just a bit of bad luck with my particular unit. If navigation was all this unit did it would be worth the money (it costs 1/3 of similar non-portable in dash vehicle nav systems with similar capabilities), but it is also a great PDA and MP3 player as well. If it continues working after Garmin fixes it, I wouldn't hesitate to reccommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Very Useful product - once you figure it out
Review: For the first week I wanted to throw this thing under the wheels of my car as it made me feel stupid 'cause I couldn't figure out how to make it do what I wanted it to do. I perservered and now I love it. Just hang in there, keep messing with it and eventually you will get it.

Rating:
Summary: Garmin iQue 3600 problems addressed
Review: I bought Garmin 3600 and had problems with it. I finally returned and received a newer Garmin 3600. The problems I had were:
1. Car moves out of map and map must be moved; This problem does not exist in my replacement Garmin.
2. Batter live short: A little better on the replacement.
3. Hang-up and needs reset! About trashed the old one, but the new one I received does not have this problem.
4. Slow map loading: A lot faster on the replacement.

I am a Realtor, and this is one of the best investments I have made. They could give better instructions on using the GPS functions. They leave a lot to the trial & error method. I am still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles that come with it.

Rating:
Summary: good product, but needs improvement
Review: I bought it as Christmas gift for my gf, and she loves it. It generally works fine, but with a few problems. Other reviews talked about most of the good things about it, and I agreed. So here I will only talk about the few flaws. Overall, it's a usefull tool; but don't rely on it too much and it's always wise to still keep a copy of paper map in your car.

The system sometime couldn't find the signal, but a soft reset will solve the problem. I once waited for 20 minutes and it still couldn't find the satellite signal, but after a reset, it founded the signal within one or two minutes.

I couldn't have it figure out the fastest way. Even though I selected that option, it always gives a seemingly to be shortest way. I KNOW these are slower than some alternatives. It just doesn't know about traffic information.

Voice prompt sometimes inaccurate. When she says keep left, you may be turning left or even turning right. The maps is right most of the time, though. It's always a good idea to have somebody sitting in the passenger seat to double check with the map, or look at the screen yourself. The big screen makes it relatively easy if you position it well.

The "Find" function works some time, but not all the time. Sometime it puts stores in wrong categories. For example, I couldn't find a Stop&Shop store in "grocery shopping" but it's in some where else. The weird thing is that I was able to find another Stop&Shop store in grocery shopping category.

The maps are ok, but I couldn't find a pretty large mall in South Boston, even though the mall has been there for more than 3 years. The whole area in the map is just dark. btw, I've loaded the detailed map of the whole New England.

One great thing about the iQue is the mp3 player. However, it's pretty hard to organize the songs. We have a 1G SD card in it, about 200MB maps and 500MB mp3. There's no playlist function in the palm, and all songs appear in the same directory. I hope they will provide a firmware upgrade that support sub-directories.

When playing mp3, we once experience terrible high volume sounds. After turning down the volume, the problem was gone. The same song plays great on my PC. I guess it's probably the problem of the palm audio output, too easy to get saturated.

The palm cannot remember where you were when palying mp3. Everytime it starts from the very first song when turned on. If you don't want to listen to the first few songs for many times, don't turn it off.

The speaker of the car kit is terrible. Fortunately I have a cassette through which I can play the palm sound output using the car audio system. Now the car kit speaker is just a cumbersome junk which cannot be removed because it's made into the car charger. The friction mount works great, though.

Rating:
Summary: Worked great right out of the box....
Review: I bought the Garmin iQue3600 about three weeks ago, along with a 1GB card, and have used it almost daily since (after loading the maps and reading the directions)both as a GPS and a PDA. My only complaint is battery life: not great as a PDA...even less as a GPS. I'm glad I bought it with the friction mount and car charger. Overall, excellent product.

Rating:
Summary: Be sure to read the entire manual before you use.
Review: I got the iQue 3600 bundle as i was moving to a new place where i got a job. The first day i got it, i headed out using the GPS to someones place for dinner (did not read the entire user guide), i put they address in the address book and used the iQue to route the way (bad idea). No matter the place i was supposed to go was in the same zip code, the GPS led me 40 miles away from my destination into the woods and pulled me up into dead ends three times. The other reviews about the battery life are also true. After that day i was skeptical in trusting the GPS but, if you route the way by entering each field in the find addresses location, it is 99 percent times accurate. I have been using it every since and is really good. The Automotive Friction Mount as other reviews suggested is also bad, so try others. Over all i think it is a good thing to have, speacially when heading out to a totally new place.

Rating:
Summary: Mind Blowing
Review: I have owned an iQue 3600 since August of 2003. It is hands down the coolest most useful gadget I have ever owned, or dreamed of owning. If I lost mine, I would run, not walk to the store and buy another one. I don't think I could even wait 3 or 4 days to have one shipped from Amazon.

It works perfectly as an in-car navigation system outperforming any built in system I have ever seen. The auto nav kit is a must as it holds the unit securely on your dash, provides power, and has a built in speaker for the voice prompts. It is small and light and I love it. It is my PDA, I have long since gotten rid of my Clie, and with a 1GB SD card, it's a darn good MP3 player.

I have one of the very first iQues and lived with a few problems (electric shocks reseting unit) that have long since been cured by both software and hardware upgrades. My original unit is working just fine and I just bought another one as a gift and can tell that the units are now bulletproof. Any issue with reliablity has been solved and Garmin has the best customer service of any major company I have ever seen.

The only reservation is that if you are not familiar with palm pilots, the learning curve may be steep (my 65 year old mother figured it out in 2 days with a little help). If you are not that tech oriented and just want a great Auto GPS for about $500 you can get a Garmin Quest (very cool and a better pure handheld GPS than the Que), or the Streetpilot 2610 is a near perfect dedicated auto GPS system.

To all those who complain about battery life, turn the backlight on the screen down and use the GPS when only on battery power sparringly. The super bright screen will suck the battery dry in an hour or two, but at minimal brightness, it lasts as long as any palm pilot I have used. It lasts over 10 hours playing mp3 (the screen turns off after a few minutes when just playing mp3s)

Rating:
Summary: Palm + advanced GPS technology for the price of most pda's!
Review: I have to give Garmin 5 stars on this product, I would give it a 10 if I could. I researched well before buying this unit and I could not be happier.

Price:
First I will talk about the price then tell you why you can not beat this unit for the price. If you go to any office supply store or electronics store and try to pick up a GPS with the detailed maps and voice guidance as this unit has you will easily pay $900+ with the average being $1200+. I know, because I looked and looked then looked again after I received my Garmin IQue 3600. Now add in the PDA, Palm OS 5+ and you will pay $200+ to $400 for a PDA with the same technology as the IQue 3600. If you purchased a GPS and PDA separate that is comparable to the IQue 3600 technology you would be looking at $1,100+ minimum, enough said :).

Battery:
Now for the IQue 3600 itself, first I will touch on the negative comments about the battery I have read from some other reviewers. What battery problem? I have not had any issues with the battery at all. If people are having battery issues then they must be sitting with this unit on for over an hour working with the backlight set to the highest setting and the GPS on. If these same people bought the IQue to take into the woods for a day hike using the GPS without the car kit or are running around a city with it on at all times then they bought the wrong unit for the job.

If you use the car kit which charges the IQue and keep it in its desk cradle when not in use which also charges the unit then you will have no problems. If you do go running around the city on foot then turn it on get your position in under a minute look where you are then turn it off and go again. If you are going into the woods away from the car then buy another Garmin unit like the Etrex which is made for that purpose.
If you are trying to use the MP3 feature while out of the car or away from your desk for extended use then you probaly will run out of battery, so you should buy a MP3 player.

I can sit and use the IQue without the GPS feature on and work fine with all the Palm functions for an hour. I say an hour because I have not worked with it on continually for longer than that. Usually I turn it on review my schedule or contacts, make notes or updates then turn it off.

IQUE functions:
I can not be happier with this unit. I am a private pilot and I am use to using navigation in the air and I can tell you that you can not go wrong with this unit. The IQue is very accurate, it usually tracks my position within 12-20 feet depending on how many satellites it is picking up at the time. The voice guidance is outstanding and I have not had a problem with it yet. It prompts you at about 1.2 miles, .250 mile, then 400ft and finally 200ft before changing roads or a turn. It also zooms in on the voice guidance instructions it is giving you at the time to highlight what you are suppose to do visually. If you do get of track for any reason it recalculates your position very quickly and gives you prompts to get you back on track.

Other features: MP3 player, voice recorder, wireless capability, Memory socket, I have a 512MB SD card in mine, and all the features you would expect on a modern Palm platform. The updates from Garmin are easy to install and I have not had any problems or glitches. My unit already came with SW Ver 3.0 and I have not had any of the glitches others reported here before updating to SW Ver 2.0. You can also update the unit as I have to be compatible with 1GB SD cards.

My favorite feature:
I use the IQue for business and my favorite feature is being able to link my Palm date book and address book to the GPS technology. I can set a waypoint with a contact or an actual appointment and the IQue will route me to my appointment from my current position, very cool!!!

I could go on all day about how great this unit is and you will find similar reviews stating the same things here, you can not go wrong with this unit buy one and you will see why.

Negatives:
I have found a few negatives with the IQue 3600 but none of them are to do with the software or functions of this unit.

1. Case: Very hard to find a case for the IQue, I searched all over and no one makes one for the IQue itself including Garmin that is decent. I found one made of leather for a Toshiba pocket PC with a belt clip and it fits very nicely.

2. The car kit mount: The mount seems to work for some and not for others and you will see this reflected in other reviews. Garmin did come out with a suction mount that others say works well and Amazon does sell it on here. I went for the normal car mount and I am very happy with it. I did not think it would hold well on my dash as others have said in reviews so I fixed the problem by using Velcro tape. I mounted one strip of sticky back Velcro on each side of the IQue car kit stand and matched them to Velcro strips on my dash. I have no problems at all. The Velcro easily makes it so I can remove it and switch cars.

3. Screen protectors: Hard to find for the IQue, so you will have to use screen protectors from another PDA, I found the screen protectors for a Palm T-5 to match well so this solved the problem.

4. Screen viewing in bright sun: If it is bright out it makes it hard to see the screen because of the glare, it is not the units fault because I do not know any LCD screen or other that could be seen well with a glare. With the voice prompts you do not have to look at the screen. Another reviewer suggested making a small glare shield with Velcro and cardboard which should work well. If I cup my hand over the unit I can see it fine. You can also take it off the car kit to use the palm features if it's bright out.

My recommendation is buy, buy, buy, you will not be sorry!

Great job Garmin!


Rating:
Summary: Check out Magellan Meridian Color
Review: I was shopping for a GPS last year. I did a lot of research and considered this one, but ultimately decided upon the Meridian Color by Magellan. In my opinion the Meridian Color is a superior product with superior software, and it retails for about half the cost of the Garmin. I have used the Meridian Color in the US and in Europe and am very happy with my purchase. I would urge you to at least check out the Meridian Color before buying the Garmin.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Product But Has Some Quirks
Review: I've had the IQUE for over a year now and find it to be an excellent product. BUT--you have to compensate for a few design quirks. I would still buy it again for its utility but you should keep its shortcomings in mind. First the good news.

**A bright, clear display large enough for even 55-year old eyes to see map details easily.
**With the 256-MB memory card plenty of memory to download 3 or 4 state maps.
**Excellent point-to-point map routes.
**Quick recalculation.
**Tied to the address book it offers routing to all your friends' houses, businesses, clients, etc.
**good sync routine to sync up PC and IQUE databases and maps.

The bad news:

**short battery life. While the travel package includes a car adapter, should you put it away for a long weekend and the battery drains completely you've lost all your data including even the basemaps. A MAJOR FLAW. You can restore it all with a sync to your PC but recently I travelled without my PC and the battery discharged completely. Even when recharged all data was lost and all my waypoints for the trip were gone. I ended up renting a car with a navigation system instead.
**When driving into the sun the display is difficult to see.