Garmin iQue 3000 review

Though the speaker is located in the back, the directions come through loud and clear, and you have a choice of 11 languages. Other design elements include a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Micro SD slot and a MCX jack for an optional external antenna -- a recessed reset button is hidden under the fold-out antenna. As with most Palm-based handhelds, you can't remove and replace the battery.

In addition to the iQue 3000, Garmin includes all you'll need to hit the road. You get power adaptors for car and home, a USB data cable and a windshield arm with a mounting disk so that it can be installed any place in the car. There's also a DVD filled with maps and a 256MB Micro SD card. As with other GPS handhelds on the market, there's no desktop cradle, emphasising the road-warrior image of the iQue 3000.

On the provided maps, there are millions of points of interest (POI) for restaurants, petrol stations, hotels, and the like preprogrammed into the database.You'll need to set aside a lot of time for moving maps from your PC to the Garmin iQue 3000 -- a single area can take between 10 and 30 minutes to transfer to the device.

The iQue 3000's navigation software is intuitive and features a number of customisable options.

With accurate and detailed maps, predictive entry and efficient routing, the Garmin iQue 3000 is perfect for car trips. The main screen shows not only the road ahead but also the vehicle's speed, distance and time to the next turn. As a bonus for those obsessed with time, the handheld gives you an estimated time of arrival. We like the small compass needle in the upper-left corner, and the unit's up/down button zooms in and out of the action with ease. When planning your route, you can choose between the shortest or fastest route, and you can instruct the iQue 3000 to avoid certain routes such as toll roads. Garmin also nicely integrates the handheld's PIM functions with its GPS capabilities -- it can plot a course straight from an address in your Contacts list. You get 2D and 3D map views, automatic rerouting and saved routes, and the handheld even goes beyond the basics by including settings for emergency vehicles, delivery vans and taxis.

Performance
We tested the Garmin iQue 3000 in a built-up area, and it took just more than two minutes to get a position fix from a cold start. The handheld constantly updated the onscreen map and never lost contact, regardless of whether we were jogging to an appointment or driving up and down a motorway. We were impressed with its accurate plotting, and the routing was efficient. We also like the fact that it reminds the driver of upcoming turns, plus it took only 15 seconds to complete a new itinerary.

One thing is for certain -- the Garmin iQue 3000 isn't the fastest handheld on the block. It's a RAM-starved machine, so it took several seconds to call up new applications or to draw maps, but perhaps the biggest drawback is its battery life. In our tests, where we looped a video clip using Kinoma's 3EX player and set the backlight level to 50 per cent, the unit was able to run for only 4 hours, 26 minutes on a single charge. By comparison, both the Asus MyPal A636 and the Pharos Traveler GPS 525 lasted almost 9 hours. The iQue's numbers rise to 6 hours, 48 minutes when playing music, but they still fall short of the competition.

Edited by Bonnie Cha
Additional editing by Kate Macefield