Garmin iQue 3600 PDA/GPS with Palm 5 OS
Written: Sep 26 '03 (Updated Sep 26 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Huge screen, great GPS with voice prompts, great organizer, SD card, voice recorder.
Cons: Poor quality speaker, moderate battery life, no Palm 4-way navigation button (this has a 2-way).
The Bottom Line: A great PDA and GPS combo for frequent travelers, gadget lovers, sales reps, adventures, etc.
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| jchiles's Full Review: Garmin iQue 3600 Handheld |
The iQue 3600 is Garmin's venture into the PDA world. It combines the convenience of a PDA and GPS into one neat little gadget.
The technical details, per Garmin, are as follows:
* 200 MHz processor powering Palm OS 5
* Garmin GPS and mapping software
* Flip-up integrated GPS patch antenna
* Speaker for voice-guidance commands, MP3 player, and message playback
* Voice recorder for making memos, quick notes, and messages on the fly
* Rechargeable internal Lithium-ion battery
* Built-in 32 MB of memory
* SD expansion slot
* Unit size: 2.8"W x 5"H x .8"D (72 x 128 x 20.3 mm)
* Display: 2.16" x 3.24" (54 x 81 mm), 320 x 480 pixel, high-resolution, color display
* Applications: Astraware Game Pack*, powerOne Personal Calculator, Documents to Go by DataViz*, DataViz Mail*, Palm Reader, StarCaddy*, SplashWallet*, Vindigo*, and WorldMate*
I purchased the iQue 3600 for about $450. I needed a PDA and had been looking into GPS's. This appealed to me because it contained both in one for less than if I would have bought them separately.
After receiving the iQue, initial set up was not very difficult. It came with a USB (AC powered) Hot Sync cradle, a flip up leather case, Palm Desktop 4.1, and MapSource™ City Select North America CD.
The iQue uses a standard Palm serial connection so it was nice to see that they are compatible with other Palm connecting devices. I charged up the cradle and installed the software.
I found the MapSource™ software to be lacking in instructions. You will have to read the electronic manuals on the CD and in the help sections of the program to figure out how to install the maps from your computer to your PDA. I finally achieved this and installed the entire state of Oklahoma as well as Northern Texas street level maps. The map took up about 40MB on my 256MB Secure Digital card. The base maps (highways only) for all of North America take up about 12MB. These are installed by default.
I then drove around to test out the GPS aspect. The small patch antennae is a little difficult to snap out, even with your fingernail. The tip of the stylus works great for this purpose. The GPS took about 10 minutes to determine where I was. (not unusual on the very 1st time) Each time after that (when it was turned off) it only took 15-45 seconds.
I really, really love the GPS on this. The color map auto rotates so that you are always driving 'up' on the map. This removes the headache of trying to determine directional turning. It also has a yellow background screen for daytime driving and a black one for night (easier on the eyes).
The MapSource maps automatically include business listings for the area you choose to download. So, you can search for a business by name and it can immediately give you directions to that business from wherever you are currently located. If you make a wrong turn, don't worry, it will automatically recalculate the directions to get you back on track. Pretty cool!
The voice directions are nice. They advise you of your turn as "turn right 400 feet.... turn right 200 feet" and so forth. While this might be slightly nagging in city driving, the GPS will be quiet on the road until you are within 1 mile of your exit/ramp/etc. Then it will start breaking it down for you. I drove 400 miles south and it was quiet almost the entire time.
You can also search by categories and 'search near me'. So, if you are salesperson in a new town, you can search for shopping, hotels, restaurants, etc. which are near your current location. Just choose the category and select "find near me".
I will tell you that the speaker on this is horrible. If you have a 'loud' car or a lot of wind noise, good luck hearing any directions. I suggest getting the Auto Navigator cradle with built in speaker (I did). The voice is so much louder and clearer, and your PDA will run off of the 12V car instead of its own batteries.
The PDA functions of this are great as well. It has the datebook, expense sheet, clock, games, etc. I do wish it had the Memopad that my Zire 71 did. (Memopad lets you write or draw on it like a piece of paper). However, the free program Diddlebug does the same thing, so I'm happy now.
Another great feature of this is the virtual 'graffiti area'. If you are familiar with Palm PDAs, you know that there is a writing area (called graffiti area) that takes up the lower third of the screen. Well, Garmin built this into the software so that it is virtual and you can 'minimize' the graffiti area, giving you use of the entire screen. You can always 'maximize' it back up by tapping the up arrow in the bottom right of the screen.
The flip style leather 'protection' case that comes with this may work for some, but it only protects the screen. If you drop this its corner, it could scratch or damage. I purchased the leather sleeve to protect the whole PDA.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who travels, such as sales reps, etc. The GPS functionality is simply wonderful. Simply pick an address book contact, waypoint, restaurant, hotel, or intersection and it will show you the way!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 450
Recommended for: Gadget Lovers - Trendy and Hip
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Epinions.com ID:
jchiles
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Reviews written: 2
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