Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31438 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: 010-00538-01
• Released on: 2007-05-24

Manufacturer's Description
The nü way to travel.

Navigator. Translator. Entertainer. Tour Guide. Garmin's nüvi" 310 is one versatile little GPS. Sold exclusively in Europe, this pocket-sized Personal Travel Assistant now comes with hands-free Bluetooth® wireless technology in addition to the popular features offered in the nüvi 300 making it the go-anywhere travel companion.

Place hands-free calls with Bluetooth wireless technology

The nüvi 310 along with its counterpart the nüvi 360 integrate wireless technology with a microphone and speaker that lets you make hands-free mobile phone calls. Simply dial numbers with the nüvi's touch screen keypad to make a call on a compatible Bluetooth phone. To answer calls, just tap nüvi's screen and speak directly into its built in microphone.

In addition, easily look-up and dial numbers from your personalized phone book or from your phone's call history log. Don't know the phone number for your destination? Simply find and dial it from nüvi's extensive points of interest database including hotels, restaurants, stores, and attractions.

Navigate with Ease

The nüvi 310 comes preprogrammed with regional European map data, and includes automatic routing, 2D or 3D map perspective, and a fingertip touch screen interface making navigation easy. It accepts customized points of interest (POIs) such as school zones and safety cameras. In addition, with Garmin's optional GTM 11 FM TMC traffic receiver, you can avoid traffic tie-ups by simply pushing a button to calculate a new route.

Enjoy Travel Kit full of entertainment and useful tools

Navigation is just the beginning. Nüvi includes many must have entertainment and travel tools including MP3 player, audio book player, JPEG picture viewer, travel alarm, currency converters, and more. In addition, optional software packages such as the Language Guide" and Travel Guides" can be added for language and content support.

Customize with Optional Software

Optional software available on plug-in SD cards, lets you instantly add new features to your nüvi without connecting to your computer.

Language Guide contains five bilingual dictionaries and a multilingual word bank and phrase bank that support nine languages and dialects. Even get a spoken pronunciation of each word or phrase.

Travel Guide gives you helpful and thorough reviews and recommendations for restaurants, hotels, shopping, nightlife, sporting events and tourist attractions. Travel Guide for Europe currently available for purchase. Travel Guide for United States coming soon.

Savers Guide" a geo-coded coupon book that notifies you of nearby discounts on restaurants, hotels, shopping, and more at thousands of participating Entertainment® businesses throughout North America.

Box Contents

• Nüvi 310
• Preloaded maps of UK and Ireland
• Vehicle Suction Cup Mount
• 12/24 Volt Adapter Cable
• Dashboard Disk
• USB Interface Cable
• Carrying Case
• Owner's Manual
• Quick Reference Guide

Customer Reviews

A little gem that could have had more sparkle
My thoughts on the Nuvi 310 after the first week of usage:

Good points:
* Size - it's small and light (for satnav), the main reason I chose this over TomTom Go.
* decent size & clear screen
* Good clear maps, customisable with the amount of detail you want to show
* Bluetooth setting for the phone worked a treat, and provides good clear hands free sound
* Interface is intuitive, requires no user training!
* Voice instructions are clear, although a little bit "robotty"
* Speed cam POI databases are a breeze to download and use - with varying beeps and pings to warn you of impending cameras.
* quick bootup - usually (see bluetooth firmware niggle below)
* very quick calculations of routes, almost immediate when you miss/ignore a direction
* Good battery life & recharge time


Niggles:
* can't read text messages on the unit via bluetooth (I've seen a TomTom Go 700 in action doing this).
* garmin website isn't the best - I had expected downloads there rather than links to 3rd-party maintained ones.
* I know this is a common problem irrespective of brand - but in the 1st weekend of usage I have been directed the wrong way up a 1-way street...
* one time on turning it went through a "upgrading bluetooth firmware" process without any option to interrupt - fine, except it took 15 mins and I was waiting to set out on my journey!
* no AC charger in the box - can only charge via USB cable or the in-car adapter. I've only owned "built in" satnav before so this may not be unusual, or a problem - time will tell.


Overall - a good, neat unit, very usable - a little gem!! However, the minor niggles outlined above take some of the sparkle away. 4 stars.

The best Satnav yet
I was an early adopter of TomTom, and over the years I've tried several models as well as a Navman and a couple of in car systems. On balance this, our family's latest acquisition, is undoubtedly the best.
To me the most important advantage is superior mapping. For example; this is the first portable device to show the correct one way system in Llanelli town centre. TomTom now make it easy to report mapping errors, but seem to do nothing in response with generations of software being issued repeating serious errors of which they have been advised. For some reason, TomTom irritatingly doesn't cover Ireland - a fact which led me to try thge Nuvi.

The Nuvi has a solid feel and a really good, easily pocketable form factor. Apparently satnav devices are a frequent target of thieves and so a unit which can be so readily carried out of the car is an advantage. It is amazing just how many useful functions are crammed into such a small package. It all works well. It is quicker to acquire a position than TomTom and has worked in every vehicle I have tried, including those with a heated windscreen in which TomTom requires an external antenna to be plugged in and magnetically attached to the car roof.

It isn't satnav perfection, there is room for improvement and I too would have given four and a half stars if available. Others have commented on the unappealing Garmin website where software and mapping upgrades could be easier to find. The device is WAAS capapable, but this accuracy improvement only works in North America - it's a pity it can't use the European equivalent, EGNOS.

On the software side, I do feel that TomTom has a slight edge - or maybe I just haven't got used to Nuvi yet. My impression is that the TomTom menus are generally a little more intuitive, and the grammar and timing of the voice prompts just a little superior. On balance though, my preference is definitely for the Garmin Nuvi - I'm tempted to get a 360 model!

Really good kit
I had a Road Angel 6000 and was really disappointed - dreadfully slow and generally useless. The Nuvi 310 is outstanding in comparison not often do I find something far better than expected. Thoroughly recommended - at the price unbeatable.