Garmin Mobile 10 GPS Navigation price and reviews

A few years ago I had purchased the Garmin iQue 3600 as a PDA and GPS Unit, and with the exception of the battery life, loved the unit. The problem was that it was bulky, required that it always be connected to a power source when it was using the GPS (otherwise it would die within minutes), and I had to have it on a mount on my windshield when driving. At the time I lived with it with one wish; that the unit had a phone built in so that I could have just one device instead of 2.

Along comes tha Garmin Mobile 10. I have since upgraded my cell phone to a Windows Mobile based phone, and when they announced this I was more than a little curious.

The Bluetooth receiver is battery powered and can use a car adapter for recharging and normal use. The receiver is nice and small and has rubberized feet so that it stays in place on your dash without any kind of mounting necessary.

The idea of having my phone, PDA, and GPS in one small device was something that I absolutely wanted, but I also did not want to spend a ridiculous amount of money for it.

The problem was that Garmin's site did not list my phone as being compatible when it was released. (I have a Cingular 3125) Yet all of the requirements seemed to have been met based on the specs (Bluetooth, Windows Mobile, storage card), so I finally bit the bullet and resigned myself to trying it and most likely returning it because of incompatibility issues.

Boy was I pleasantly surprised! I put the DVD into my laptop, installed the map software, hooked up my cell phone, installed the software onto my cell phone on the MicroSD card, chose my maps, and synched everything up.

Then the real fun began! Mobile XT recognized every one of my contacts in my phone as a potential routing point. When I asked to be routed to them, naturally I had to assign the GPS location, which was pretty quick and easy. But then I had the locations assigned and now can route to them simply by choosing them from the Mobile XT Contact directory. You can also search for specific addresses and add them to your contact database as well.

Also there is a complete database with restaurants, clubs, stores, gas stations, etc. Once you find what you are looking for you can store them directly into your contact list for future reference with a single click.

I kept playing and found out that through the Garmin Online service you can also get gas prices, traffic conditions, and weather conditions. If you intend to use these services make sure that you have a good data plan with your carrier, otherwise you'll end up getting charged for a lot of data transfer. As far as the accuracy of the data, I haven?t had enough experience with the traffic info (plus trying to read a cell phone while driving isn?t all that smart), but I know that soon I will be making trips where I can check the traffic accuracy before leaving and see how it pans out. The gas prices at my local station came up when I used the gas prices function, and the weather info was accurate when I checked it, so that is encouraging.

There is a built in trip computer as well. A bonus would be to be able to save each individual trip as a file, but I think I am being nit picky at that point. I am not yet 100% sure what Peer Points are, but I believe that you can send your current location to others so that they can be routed to you to meet up (I'd check that with Garmin to make sure that is indeed the function).

The best thing though is that you don't NEED to be connected to the Internet in order for this to work. I had tried TeleNav from Cingular, and found that if I didn?t have Internet access, I couldn't get the routing information. Also, they charge a monthly fee to GET those routes, plus the data transfer fees associated with your plan. If you are always in an area where there is a good Internet connection this probably isn't an issue, but in some places where there is no signal, you're out of luck, especially if you go off route. With the Garmin it doesn't matter because the maps are on your device, the software calculates on your device, and the signal comes from the Bluetooth receiver in your car. The Internet features are just a nice bonus that you don?t have to use.

Another issue I had with TeleNav vs. the Mobile 10 is the cost. I had to buy a $99 Bluetooth receiver, then pay $10.99 a month for unlimited routes from TeleNav. Do the math and 1 year costs you $230.88 plus taxes and fees. I got the Mobile 10 for $174 shipped to my house. No monthly fees. If I want to upgrade the maps, it will cost (I upgraded my iQue 3600 and it was about $135 every few years), BUT that is STILL less.

The Mobile 10 display is great even on my small screen. Off route calculations are very quick. Searching locations is a little slow, but I would think that is a function of my phone rather than the software.

This baby is a home run! My only regret is now what do I do with my Garmin iQue 3600?