Review summary of the Garmin iQue 3600:
|
Gallery » |
 Price: $600.
Pros:
Cons:
%
POOR |
Mediocre |
Good |
Very good |
Excellent |
|
|
Full Garmin iQue 3600 Review:
 |
Software
The iQue runs Palm OS 5.2.1, and comes with all of the usual programs including the new Graffiti 2 system. It also includes a simple but functional MP3 and WAV audio player, which includes background play. (3rd party audio players will work as well.) Of course, the important software on the iQue is the bundled GPS software, of which there is plenty.
 | The iQue includes powerful mapping software to complement its GPS radio
|
Garmin has spread the GPS functionality out through a series of smaller applications that dovetail together. The overall interface is somewhat quirky, we found, and it took a while to get used to it. Once we did, though, we were able to take the iQue on the road.
Garmin's includes a CD-ROM with maps of the US and Canada or Western Europe. Maps vary in size, but tend to be around 15 miles square and anywhere from 0.5 MB to 2 MB each. A desktop wizard lets the user select any number of map regions to be loaded onto the device either in RAM or onto the card, stiched together as a single map, which need not be contiguous. The handheld then cleanly integrates the RAM map and the card map into a single map for calculating routes. We didn't notice much of a speed difference between card- and RAM-based maps.
There are also "basemaps" that the user can install, which consist of just major routes across a large region. For instance, the North America full basemap is 12 MB, and must be installed to a card. Basemaps allow the user to install detailed maps just near the start and destination of a cross-country trip and still have access to expressways in between.
Once maps are installed, there is essentially one routing command, "Route To", which means "get me from where I am to there". "There" can be any Address Book entry, any tapped spot on the maps, or any specified address. The iQue also includes an enhanced Find command, which has options for locating an intersection, address, various points of interest and selected businesses, and so on, all of which can be routed to. Routes can be calculated differently based on whether the driver wants to avoid expressways or off-road routes, as well as for different types of vehicle and even pedestrians.
Once a route is selected, the device can be safely set aside and used without visual interaction thanks to the included voice instructions. A polite and clear female voice (that needs to learn to say "zero point five" instead of just "point five") prompts the driver of pending turns, in addition to clear on-screen directions. Unfortunately the voice does not specify street names, only distances until a turn. Should the driver take a wrong turn, the program automatically notifies the driver and recalculates a new route. So even if the driver misses a turn, just do what the disembodied voices says and you will get there one way or another.
On long runs between turns, the screen will automatically turn off to save power but reactivate again when the voice gives the next turn instructions. We would like occational feedback to let us know that we are indeed still on the right track, though. The screen automatically varies zoom and orientation while driving as appropriate, but the user can also vary the zoom via the jog wheel.
Other features of the GPS suite include an integrated speedometer and odometer, textual description of a route, time to next turn, savable routes, auto-recorded "tracks" to play back a route later, and even elevation and bearing data. All of those features are spread out over seven different programs. The key ones are all assigned to the iQue button, which will toggle through them quickly.
Availability
The Garmin iQue 3600 is available now for $589 USD.
Price and availability
The Garmin iQue 3600 will start selling for $600 () in November 1999.
|
|
|
|
|
Archive