Garmin Nuvi 1100 GPS Navigation System 3.5-inch Touchscreen

• Nuvi 1100 has a 3.5 screen and can provide turn by turn directions.
• 3.5-inch touchscreen and has a battery life that can last up to 4 hours.
• FM traffic and MSN direct
• This USB mass storage device is compatible with Windows® XP or newer and Mac® OS X 10.4 or later.

I have Street Pilot320, nuvi 205 and now I got nuvi 1100. It has a hot-fix feature what helps to find satellites faster predicting their position. I took on a road test C320 (maps 2008) and nuvi 1100 (maps 2010). Both lead to destination with the same routes. C320 tells 2 seconds (or so) where to turn earlier than 1100 but both were mistaken about side of arrival (they said right and it was on left). Not big deal. While I typed second destination remaining in my car on parking lot close to the big tree C320 lost satellite reception for several times and 1100 hadn't a once.

As for maps they are not complete. Functional for 2 years business location or middle school (built in 1958) could not be found with both C320 and nuvi 1100 but anyway data base and reception of nuvi is better than c320. The voice on nuvi 1100 loud and clear like on c320 not robotic like on nuvi 255. I set it at 40% to not shout suddenly through music on radio. Nuvi 1100 does not have lane assistance or text to speech but it tells and shows arrows where to turn. You can choose on main screen time or distance remaining to destination or hit speed icon to see all at the time it records your trip's time distance how much left or you've passed and so on).

Instruction (Garmin web site) says that a speed limit icon should appear on screen at the major roadways. But I never saw it neither when I was driving at 101 -highway nor at El Camino Real(CA). How much major they must be?! Well some people's reviews says such an icon signs are not accurate (+5-10 mph) so, better watch for sings on the roads than trust navigators' one. Well anyway I tried couple more locations and nuvi 1100 took me exactly from A to B. Screen of 1100 is much clear than TomTom or Magelan have. Top screen (when you on trip) shows arrow icon where to turn with mileage left to that turn and, next street Name to turn at (there is no current street, well less confusions). You can hit arrow icon to make it repeat where you gotta turn if you missed verbal direction at first time. You can hit street Name bar and see list of turns with streets Names and mileage to that.

There is bunch of text menu and speak languages (if you prefer your native one), there is a micro SD slot for JPEG viewing. There is not MP3player or audio plug but who needs it in the car? Everyone has a stereo. As for accessories I got bracket, suction cup with base (self adhesive on one side) and car charger. Manual says you can plug 1100 to PC USB for charge (means standard 500mA USB power). So I used for first charging Motorola RAZR cell phone wall adapter (for 4 hours) and regular mini USB to USB cable (not included) for maps update (took me about 45 minutes). So you don't need special accessories for that. In fact mini USB to USB cable connected to PC will charge your GPS. Just make sure you plugged to power supplied USB (not all PC USB supplied with power, some of them are just for data transfer). Connect GPS to computer. GPS will show picture of connection then press GPS power button to turn it off and look at the screen. The note like: "Now battery is charging" will appear for couple seconds. Then wait four hours (if it's a first charging) and unplug.

I picked this model because others had problems with shout down and rebooting a lot like: nuvi 1300-1350, 1390, 1450, some models 285 and 205. With 265 and 1300 people had problems like getting lost.

I have my StreetPilot c320 for 5 years now and it never let me down except temporary loosing satellite reception.

I hope very much that 1100 won't let me down too.

PS I would not advise to buy refurbished. Your Amazon warranty won't be granted on it and you have a big risk to loose whole thing by saving couple bucks .

Six month later:

The GPS still works great. I recently went to Yosemity National Park, CA. The GPS never lost reception in the woods or in the bottom of the canyon. I never was there before. So I entered Yosemity Gift Shop address and navigator had no problems to find it even inside of the park and bring me there.

Buy Garmin Nuvi 1100 GPS Navigation System 3.5-inch Touchscreen Now

I purchased this reasonably priced unit today after having many difficulties with a more expensive Tom Tom which was out of warranty by 9 months and started malfunctioning. I paid 3 times the cost of this unit when I purchased that one. I can not recommend Tom Tom.

I can recommend this Nuvi 1100. It works very well. The interface is better.

It does not have all the bells and whistles of more expensive units. You can not make a bluetooth call on it with your cell phone. You can not check weather or get live traffic updates.

It is small which I think is good. It is easy to operate also. I would recommend this purchase if you need a simple easy to operate GPS unit.

Read Best Reviews of Garmin Nuvi 1100 GPS Navigation System 3.5-inch Touchscreen Here

This cannot get any easier. Right out of the package it worked like a dream. Once satellite acquisition was made it was able to place me and give me directions to the place I wanted to go. I think this is a great product for the price. Nice entry GPS system. The only problem is the updates for it take a long time. Otherwise it is great. Enjoy!

Want Garmin Nuvi 1100 GPS Navigation System 3.5-inch Touchscreen Discount?

I bought this Nuvi at Wal-Mart (WM) to replace one that failed after ~1.3 years of use. After only 3 weeks, the 1100's touch screen began failing intermittently, which was the same problem I had with the old Nuvi. I tried to return it to WM on day 33, but was told they only warranted my Garmins for 30 days, and that they had recently reduced their in-store warrantee to 15 days on Garmins. Garmin's quality must be falling off significantly for WM to cut their in-store warrantee in half. Too bad, I've had a Nuvi 265T for over 2 years with no trouble and love it.

BOTTOM LINE: Don't buy the Garmin 1100 and think twice about buying any Garmin. Don't buy from Wal-Mart; in-store warrantee is too short.

This is my first automotive GPS unit.

It has a 3.5" screen, bicycle and pedestrian modes, and lifetime maps. The cheapest lifetime map equivalent at the warehouse store was about 30 percent more. I read that the smaller units are a little easier to carry around, and we'll be in Seattle soon, on foot for part of the time, and I also want to stick this thing on my bike at some point, which I can do with pedestrian and bicycle mode.

I hooked it up this morning. It came with a window mount and a dash mount. On the way back from dropping my daughter off at Space Camp it told me to head north which is counterintuitive, so I ignored it. Later in the day after picking up my daughter at the same location, we decided to follow the GPS and it took me home on an alternate route, which saved me a mile, a bunch of red lights, and about three minutes. It would have been faster but the GPS didn't know about the construction.

It also has a feature called Ecoroute, where you input your city and highway MPG and gas prices, and it measures how efficiently you drive and grades you for the day. Not as cool as a full-on aftermarket mileage computer, but still pretty cool, as I tend to spend a lot of time on long trips mentally calculating my MPG over and over. It lets you input gallons, distance driven and cost of gas at each fill up. I love this.