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Nuvi 1300 Portable

Started by MichaelJ07, July 06, 2010, 09:33:46 AM

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MichaelJ07

My Son-in-law is getting the GPSr but and wants to know if this Nuvi 1300 Portable is a good one.  He will only use it in his car or truck.

He is concerned about the word Portable as he just wants to use it in his car.

Thanks.
Mike
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Boyd

#1
It is primarily an automotive unit. The term "portable" means that it isn't actually built into the car's dashboard, like a factory installed unit. I have a Nuvi 1350, which is part of the same series. I think it would be a very good and economical choice for someone who is new to GPS. If you have experience with older Garmin models, perhaps it is not as good however. It displays very few street names on the map, for example.

Do you want to use this unit with maps from GPSFileDepot? If so, then I would not really recommend it. For some reason, it does a poor job of rendering topo maps. Contour lines are rendered very thick - thicker than roads - making the map hard to read. It does not correctly render wetland (swamp) areas either. It shows them to be the same as a lake, giving a distorted impression of what some places really look like. I guess Garmin didn't think it was important to provide compatibility with topo maps on this series? Other Nuvi series (like the 2x5) work fine with topo maps.

On the positive side, performance in 3d view mode is really fast, unlike some of the older models that struggle to keep up with you. Funny - I just gave my 1350 to my own son in law a couple days ago to replace his Nuvi 650 that died after a long, happy life.  :)

MichaelJ07

Do your maps here work with a Nuvi 1300 GPSr?
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Boyd

Did you see the response that I posted in your other thread? http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php/topic,1345.msg8459.html

The maps "work", but they don't look very good.

MichaelJ07

Thanks for the input.  We appreciate your knowledge.

So, is there a "better" model he should be looking at?  He WILL only use it in the car or truck.

Thanks for your advice.

Mike
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Boyd

The new 3700 series is the latest and greatest... but also most expensive. The 205 series is a nice entry level product that is tried and true (such as the 205w or 255w). You may find other models, like the 755 and 855 at attractive sale prices at places like Costco.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134

But I think the 1300 is a good choice for somebody who only wants basic car navigation and doesn't have any pre-conceived ideas of what to expect based on previous models. It just doesn't do a good job displaying topo maps such as the ones on this site.

You might get some better feedback in the Nuvi forums at sites such as GPSPassion.com or GPSReview.net as they specialize in discussing automotive GPS units. The focus here at GPSFileDepot is primarily on third party topo maps.

MichaelJ07

Thanks.

And that "focus" is dialed in.....perfectly.

Mike
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

MichaelJ07

So, he bit the bullet on the Nuvi 1300 and is happy.  His question now is will MapSource work with it like Mapsource works with my 60scx?  I mean, can he make routes and way points in MS and then upload to his new unit?

Thanks..

Mike
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Boyd

The Nuvi 1300 is not compatible with custom routes, so no, it cannot be used in the same fashion as the 60csx. Other Nuvi models are compatible, but not the 1300 series.

However you can use Mapsource or Basecamp to transfer waypoints (called "favorites" on the Nuvi) between the unit and your computer. You can also use it to copy the track from the Nuvi to your computer, but you cannot send a track back to the Nuvi. So:

Routes - not compatible
Waypoints - transfer in both directions
Tracks - transfer FROM the Nuvi TO your computer

Also, using Basecamp, you can access the maps stored on the Nuvi directly and use them on your computer. See: http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=18480

MichaelJ07

Thanks Boyd.

I sent them everything you have written and I guess they are happy.  So, not like the 60csx, huh?  I think they will make waypoints in MapSource and send them to the Nuvi, then from there make their "route" to the selected waypoint?  I will also install for them the latest version of BaseCamp based on your link to the other forum.

Thank you very much for your help.

M
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

alpine

Here is a partial listing of "route compatible" Garmins:
Units that accept routing from MapSource: 7xx, 5xx, 8xx, 5xxx. Zumo 4xx, 5xx.

At least this was correct last time I asked Garmin Support.

Boyd

These days it's actually easier to list the ones that are NOT compatible. It's only the 2x5, 12x0 and 13x0 series. All of the other current models take custom routes. There's also the oddball Nuvi 295 which can use custom routes. It's really just a NuviFone with the phone removed... why they made this part of the 2x5 series is a mystery.  ;D