Customer Reviews

Garmin StreetPilot c580 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with MSN Direct

5 star:		(132)
4 star:		(85)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The StreetPilot c580 is for the GPS navigation fan who wants it all. You get easy to use navigation, built-in Bluetooth, traffic alerts and MSN Direct displayed on your screen.

I previously owned a c530 with just the basic GPS features so I was really impressed that I could add all those features for about the same price I paid for the c530 just 9 months ago! The StreetPilot 500 series have a brighter screen and faster satellite connectivity than previous models.

The Bluetooth is a safety feature if you own a Bluetooth cell phone. This enables you to talk hands-free while you're driving.

The MSN Direct is cool but limited to only 4 functions: weather, gas prices, movie times and traffic alerts. A minor complaint is that the gas prices usually have a one or 2-day delay and are not necessarily current. This is OK if you are driving through an unfamiliar area and want to know approximate gas prices.

The StreetPilot c580 is a feature-laden GPS that not everyone would need. With current prices, the basic StreetPilot is $200 less than the c580. Whether you need all the bells and whistles for $200 is a decision only you can make!

I upgraded my old StreetPilot c320 to the newest c580, I think it is definitely worth the upgrade.

Here are couple improvements from old streetpilot C300 series:

1. New SiRF high sensitivity chip that locks satellite really really fast, less than 20 seconds, my old C320 takes over a min to lock the satellites on a cold start. And the new chip is supposed to perform much better in downtown area as well, though I have not tried it.

2. Intergrated MSN Direct service is great!(if you live near one of the major metro area) I get movie times, gas price, weather and traffic data. That is a lot of add-on feature, eliminate my need to check my mobile phone for these kind of stuff, and those are all intergrated so once you found a movie u like, or a cheap priced gas station, or a traffic jam, your gps either takes you over or re-route the route to avoid traffic problems. This is great.

3. Bluetooth hands-free calling is also great, now I dont have to be in danger of holding my cell while driving in a busy highway or make my neck tired when on the phone, and I can concentrate more on driving.

4. Great display LCD screen, brighter and now anti-glare compare to my old C320.

5. Improved mounting method than old C320

6. A MP3 player and a picture viewer

Things I wish they'd improved:

Design is old-school, to get better design you have to pay $100-200 extra for the nuvi series...

Cannot plan multi-destinations in a single trip.

Did not come with backup MapSource DVD, if you accidently delete data in your GPS, you are screwed.

Speaker can be better for mp3 playing

This is the first GPS unit that I have bought and owned. Overall, I am very pleased with the unit. It is easy to setup and very easy to use. One thing that is nice is that all the maps are preloaded and you do not have to upload region maps if going to another area of the US. The point of interest are great. I can find anything I want and get easy directions to their location. I can add my favorites as well. The bluetooth is great, I can lookup a POI and the select to call that POI via cell phone with the bluetooth. The MSN direct is easy to use as well. The service will direct your route of travel around traffic. The gas listing I find useful as well. I am able to find what the best price is in my location and then get directions. The turn by turn is great, it tells you the street name and therefore you do not have to take your eyes off the road or guess which street if there are many close together. The only thing that I do not like about the unit is that I cannot have multiple locations selected for directions, say I was going on a trip and wanted to have multiple stops programmed, it would not be able to do it.

This is my 3rd Garmin GPS device ... and I'm disappointed in both the reliability and the support. After 5 weeks, the Bluetooth feature worked only sporadically and then the unit just died. I called support and after close to 45 minutes on hold, talked to a rep. He finally agreed to have me return the unit via UPS overnight and that a new unit would be returned to me via UPS overnight. I sent it in and they received it on a Friday. I had to call again to determine when it would be returned ... and received a replacement unit about a week later after sending it in.

That second unit worked for five days and then died. Called support again and after a 40 minute wait, talked to another rep. That rep thought it was a software problem and recommended I download new software. But first I had to wait 48 hours for the internal battery to fully discharge ... apparently there's a software bug that blocks the screen from displaying data. Why they shipped a replacement unit with "old" software is a complete mystery to me (and to the rep).

It seems to be working now and we'll see if it remains working for more than a month. I'm surprised about this as both Garmin devices I'd owned previously were pretty much trouble free. And I'm really disappointed in the lack of "service recovery" that Garmin displayed.

I have the Garmin StreetPilot c580 in one car and the nuvi 760 in the other. The nuvi 760 has some advantages but you decide if the price differential is worth it. The 760 has a slightly bigger screen (although both are big enough). The graphics on the 760 are more sophisticated and less cartoonish. The 760 can handle multiple destinations simultaneously and it can do off road and bicycle and it can even lead you back to your car in the parking lot, assuming the lot is outside so it can receive a satellite signal. The 760 also can transmit on FM to be heard on the radio but the signal is very weak and there is static so I prefer the built in speaker (it is easy to mute).

The 580 is an outstanding value. It comes with a year of MSN traffic/movie times/gas/weather. The 760 only includes 3 months of traffic. The 580 is bulkier despite have a slightly smaller screen since it is not "flat". Both GPS devices are very easy to use, the 580 may be a little easier since it also has a volume wheel on the side while the 760 requires the use of the touchscreen.

Both devices have Bluetooth capability which allows the GPS to perform as a handsfree speakphone compliant with California's new law effective July 1. Just tap the screen to answer incoming calls. It is also easy to make outgoing calls. The GPS will show you all the telephone numbers in you phone directory.

The 580 is the better value but if you want the extra features and the sleeker look the nuvi 760 is also a great machine.

Very easy to set up and use. It's small enough to not block my view of the road, but the screen is large enough to make the maps very readable and the color-coded streets are very helpful. The screen has excellent resolution and is readable in the brightest sunlight. The Bluetooth connection to my cell phone was quick to set up and works beautifully. Directions are reliable if not always the most efficient, but it adjusts smoothly if I decide to take a different route or get detoured.

The only thing I'm not certain of yet is the value of the MSN traffic information. I haven't fully tested that yet, but initial results are unimpressive. At least the first year is free so I'll have plenty of time to evaluate it.

Most importantly, this GPS takes the stress out of driving when I'm going someplace and I don't know the way. No more fumbling with maps or wondering where that tiny side-street is. I feel very confident that I'll get better directions from this GPS than I can get from a local gas station attendant.

I have no way of comparing this to other GPSs, but this one does nearly everything I need and it does it very, very well.

I really have enjoyed using this device when it is working. It is very user friendly with its various functions, but it has failed to turn on on several occasions and I have had to return it today for repair by Garmin. I must admit that Garmin has been very responsive to my problems and so I am hopeful that I will be back on the air quickly. However, it is disconcerting since I have had this unit only 3 weeks.

I hope this is just a glitch. I really do like the 580. It has worked well with my cell phone and it has guided me to a number of locations without a hitch. It is worthwhile to get use to it because there are more points of interest that you can access than I was aware of initially.

The 580 contains MSN direct which has been not consistent for me, perhaps because I live on the fringe of the coverage area. I would certainly check to see if you live in a coverage area before paying the extra bucks for a unit which provides the MSN direct option. It has not functioned yet for movie times and places, but weather, and gas prices has been right on. The verdict is still out on traffic.

First GPS unit, and I really like the Garmin C580. Very fast route calculations, though not always the quickest route. I purchased before a recent trip from Ohio to North Carolina, one that we have made before but not in several years, so I was somewhat familiar with the trip. We went down a different way than we intended to come back for sight-seeing reasons, but on the way back, there were several times that the Garmin tried to take us on a route that was not the most direct. Once I started driving the way I knew was faster, it would quickly recalculate, and sure enough, the arrival time would drop by a half hour. I did follow the directions on the unit at one point entering Ohio, and another car we were traveling with went the normal route. They were behind us at the turn off, but beat us home by nearly a half hour, and that leg of the trip was only about 3 hours total! However, it was useful in getting us around a traffic stoppage on the highway at 11:30 at night in the mountains of North Carolina, which was a blessing. The POI database was also great in looking for a hotel - we just sat at a rest area, pulled up the phone numbers and called.

MSN direct info was good for gas prices, was hit and miss with traffic data. Bluletooth feature is nice, but can be hard to hear and be heard. I would not recommend this as a primary hands free device, but can be nice for in-car conference calls, or when traveling with friends or family.

Overall, I am very pleased with the C580 - however, I think I will still be pre-planning trips as well whenever possible, to make sure I am taking the fastest route.

I drive airport shuttle vans and Limo's in the Ventura & Los Angeles County, and the Garmin C580 is the best GPS I have ever owned. What I like most about the Garmin is that it is very user friendly, I have owned this unit for five months, and I have had to look at my Thomas guide only once. The bluetooth works great, and depending on which phone you have the garmin will download your entire phone book, "names & numbers". you can use the garmin to text message and it will read your text messages using the text to speech feature. I make many stops and the garmin will let you program two stops, if you have more than two stops you can input the address and then delete it, the garmin will store your last 50 previous destinations, this way you then just recall whatever address you need. If I were to buy another unit I would probably buy the C550 because the only difference is the C580 has MSN direct, this service in my opinion is worthless and the msn support personnel are very rude. If you do not need all the bells and whistles then I would recommend the Garmin C340. I give the c550 & c580 a 5 star and MSN Direct -1 star.

I hope this review helps.

Kirk Pendergras

Garmin c580 is a very good GPS and because it comes with MSN Direct receiver (with 1 year of service included) it has the best value among other GPS devices. It is a bit bulky but it's not huge. One benefit of a larger size is that you will have two speakers which should be more powerful than speakers in "flat" GPS.
It is an older device but you can install the newest maps on it for free once you get it(Map Update 2009 as of this writing). During the activation of MSN Direct account, you will have an option to get 6 additional months of service for $10, giving you 18 months of MSN Direct in total. MSN Direct in itself doesn't really add that much to the unit but I'm not disappointed because I didn't really expect anything from it. Considering that it will cost you $10 for 18 months (or $0 for 12), it's OK. The most useful thing of MSN Direct is weather forecast. Traffic is not current and not all major roads are covered. Traffic status is not overlayed on the navigation screen, you need to go to a special section (MSN>Traffic) to see an overview of traffic conditions in your area. There is, however, an option to avoid traffic in GPS setup. Gas prices are also quite delayed and names of gas stations are almost never available (there's an option to navigate to a selected gas station.) Movie times seem to be ok and seem to be current.

Overall, c580 will give you a good GPS device with most current maps for a low price. You also get MSN Direct with the receiver included.

I chose c580 because I wanted to get good routing and maps (Garmin) and didn't want to pay a lot. I also wanted to play around with MSN Direct and with other Garmins I'd have to spend additional $150 to get a receiver which comes for free with c580. I would also recommend getting a dashboard mount: Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi Series and StreetPilot I Series, C530, C550 and C580 GPS Navigators.