Editorial Review:

Item Description:
The iQue 3600 is the first PDA to include integrated GPS technology. With the power of Palm OS(R) 5 and the dependability of Garmin(R) GPS technology, this 'Super PDA' redefines multi-tasking. Our integrated software not only allows you to look up appointments or contacts, but also locates and routes you to them with voice-guidance commands!

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Rating: - * Great Product! One of my best purchases, ever! ...
I have wasted money on a lot of things that prove to be only half as good as they appeared to be. This product definitely exceeded my high expectations. I travel a lot, and many times, to places that I have never been before. This product was a life saver because it gets me to where I need to go every time, with only a few minor errors (i.e. newer streets not available, address slightly off on smaller side streets). However, one should not expect that it can be perfect every time, even though it does get it right more than I expected.

I have been using Palm OS PDA's for several years now, so I was really excited when a friend told me about this. The PDA on the Garmin iQue 3600 is probably equivalent to a higher-end Palm-brand PDA (i.e. Tungsten) and it has worked out great for me since I took it out of the box.

Please, keep in mind that this item is a PDA with a really good GPS navigation system. If you want a strict navigation system, Garmin makes a few products that are better for that purpose.

The best features include:
1. Integration of address book and GPS allows to quickly route to an existing address book entry or set up entries as waypoints for even quicker access.

2. Tremendous list of stores, restaurants, etc. allows you to look up items near your current location, near your destination or even near a point that you choose on the map.

3. It recalculates! If you miss your turn or make a wrong turn, it will automatically recalculate your trip based on your new location and make sure you still get to your destination.

4. It is extremely mobile. It does everything a PDA needs to do and you can use it as a handheld GPS device while you are walking down the street. This is great in larger cities when you cannot always park in front of the building you need to go and you need to walk from a parking garage, or if you road in a taxi or took the subway/metro.

The worst features/issues include:
1. The poor battery life. I can understand the battery being drained quickly when the GPS is on, but when I am updating my contacts or inputting appointments it should not burn out the battery so quickly. Be sure you have access to a charger if you think you will need to use it a lot during the day. However, I have not had any problems with the battery draining significantly when I don't charge it for several days and it is not being used.

2. The maps cannot be modified (or at least, I have not figure out how to do it). This is not a serious problem, but there was one instance where there was a new road near my destination that would have significantly reduced my travel time. The iQue didn't know the road was there and I could not add it for future trips. I just had to remember to ignore the last part of the directions and the iQue made it look like I was driving "off road" during that point of my trip.

3. It takes a little while to upload new detailed maps. It never took up to 1.5 hours as one other review mentioned, but it is not a quick process. The few times that I did it, it took about 25 minutes for the software to prepare the maps and perform the hotsync. However, you should only need to do this every once in a while, unless you constantly need to change maps or you don't have enough memory to store all of the maps that you want.

Regardless of any slight imperfections (as most products have), I plan to buy this product for my wife and for my mother. That just shows how much it has been a benefit to me and how much I can trust it.

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Rating: - * good product, but needs improvement ...
I bought it as Christmas gift for my gf, and she loves it. It generally works fine, but with a few problems. Other reviews talked about most of the good things about it, and I agreed. So here I will only talk about the few flaws. Overall, it's a usefull tool; but don't rely on it too much and it's always wise to still keep a copy of paper map in your car.

The system sometime couldn't find the signal, but a soft reset will solve the problem. I once waited for 20 minutes and it still couldn't find the satellite signal, but after a reset, it founded the signal within one or two minutes.

I couldn't have it figure out the fastest way. Even though I selected that option, it always gives a seemingly to be shortest way. I KNOW these are slower than some alternatives. It just doesn't know about traffic information.

Voice prompt sometimes inaccurate. When she says keep left, you may be turning left or even turning right. The maps is right most of the time, though. It's always a good idea to have somebody sitting in the passenger seat to double check with the map, or look at the screen yourself. The big screen makes it relatively easy if you position it well.

The "Find" function works some time, but not all the time. Sometime it puts stores in wrong categories. For example, I couldn't find a Stop&Shop store in "grocery shopping" but it's in some where else. The weird thing is that I was able to find another Stop&Shop store in grocery shopping category.

The maps are ok, but I couldn't find a pretty large mall in South Boston, even though the mall has been there for more than 3 years. The whole area in the map is just dark. btw, I've loaded the detailed map of the whole New England.

One great thing about the iQue is the mp3 player. However, it's pretty hard to organize the songs. We have a 1G SD card in it, about 200MB maps and 500MB mp3. There's no playlist function in the palm, and all songs appear in the same directory. I hope they will provide a firmware upgrade that support sub-directories.

When playing mp3, we once experience terrible high volume sounds. After turning down the volume, the problem was gone. The same song plays great on my PC. I guess it's probably the problem of the palm audio output, too easy to get saturated.

The palm cannot remember where you were when palying mp3. Everytime it starts from the very first song when turned on. If you don't want to listen to the first few songs for many times, don't turn it off.

The speaker of the car kit is terrible. Fortunately I have a cassette through which I can play the palm sound output using the car audio system. Now the car kit speaker is just a cumbersome junk which cannot be removed because it's made into the car charger. The friction mount works great, though.

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Rating: - * Garmin iQue 3600 problems addressed ...
I bought Garmin 3600 and had problems with it. I finally returned and received a newer Garmin 3600. The problems I had were:
1. Car moves out of map and map must be moved; This problem does not exist in my replacement Garmin.
2. Batter live short: A little better on the replacement.
3. Hang-up and needs reset! About trashed the old one, but the new one I received does not have this problem.
4. Slow map loading: A lot faster on the replacement.

I am a Realtor, and this is one of the best investments I have made. They could give better instructions on using the GPS functions. They leave a lot to the trial & error method. I am still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles that come with it.

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Rating: - * Very Useful product - once you figure it out ...
For the first week I wanted to throw this thing under the wheels of my car as it made me feel stupid 'cause I couldn't figure out how to make it do what I wanted it to do. I perservered and now I love it. Just hang in there, keep messing with it and eventually you will get it.

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Rating: - * Palm + advanced GPS technology for the price of most pda's! ...
I have to give Garmin 5 stars on this product, I would give it a 10 if I could. I researched well before buying this unit and I could not be happier.

Price:
First I will talk about the price then tell you why you can not beat this unit for the price. If you go to any office supply store or electronics store and try to pick up a GPS with the detailed maps and voice guidance as this unit has you will easily pay $900+ with the average being $1200+. I know, because I looked and looked then looked again after I received my Garmin IQue 3600. Now add in the PDA, Palm OS 5+ and you will pay $200+ to $400 for a PDA with the same technology as the IQue 3600. If you purchased a GPS and PDA separate that is comparable to the IQue 3600 technology you would be looking at $1,100+ minimum, enough said :).

Battery:
Now for the IQue 3600 itself, first I will touch on the negative comments about the battery I have read from some other reviewers. What battery problem? I have not had any issues with the battery at all. If people are having battery issues then they must be sitting with this unit on for over an hour working with the backlight set to the highest setting and the GPS on. If these same people bought the IQue to take into the woods for a day hike using the GPS without the car kit or are running around a city with it on at all times then they bought the wrong unit for the job.

If you use the car kit which charges the IQue and keep it in its desk cradle when not in use which also charges the unit then you will have no problems. If you do go running around the city on foot then turn it on get your position in under a minute look where you are then turn it off and go again. If you are going into the woods away from the car then buy another Garmin unit like the Etrex which is made for that purpose.
If you are trying to use the MP3 feature while out of the car or away from your desk for extended use then you probaly will run out of battery, so you should buy a MP3 player.

I can sit and use the IQue without the GPS feature on and work fine with all the Palm functions for an hour. I say an hour because I have not worked with it on continually for longer than that. Usually I turn it on review my schedule or contacts, make notes or updates then turn it off.

IQUE functions:
I can not be happier with this unit. I am a private pilot and I am use to using navigation in the air and I can tell you that you can not go wrong with this unit. The IQue is very accurate, it usually tracks my position within 12-20 feet depending on how many satellites it is picking up at the time. The voice guidance is outstanding and I have not had a problem with it yet. It prompts you at about 1.2 miles, .250 mile, then 400ft and finally 200ft before changing roads or a turn. It also zooms in on the voice guidance instructions it is giving you at the time to highlight what you are suppose to do visually. If you do get of track for any reason it recalculates your position very quickly and gives you prompts to get you back on track.

Other features: MP3 player, voice recorder, wireless capability, Memory socket, I have a 512MB SD card in mine, and all the features you would expect on a modern Palm platform. The updates from Garmin are easy to install and I have not had any problems or glitches. My unit already came with SW Ver 3.0 and I have not had any of the glitches others reported here before updating to SW Ver 2.0. You can also update the unit as I have to be compatible with 1GB SD cards.

My favorite feature:
I use the IQue for business and my favorite feature is being able to link my Palm date book and address book to the GPS technology. I can set a waypoint with a contact or an actual appointment and the IQue will route me to my appointment from my current position, very cool!!!

I could go on all day about how great this unit is and you will find similar reviews stating the same things here, you can not go wrong with this unit buy one and you will see why.

Negatives:
I have found a few negatives with the IQue 3600 but none of them are to do with the software or functions of this unit.

1. Case: Very hard to find a case for the IQue, I searched all over and no one makes one for the IQue itself including Garmin that is decent. I found one made of leather for a Toshiba pocket PC with a belt clip and it fits very nicely.

2. The car kit mount: The mount seems to work for some and not for others and you will see this reflected in other reviews. Garmin did come out with a suction mount that others say works well and Amazon does sell it on here. I went for the normal car mount and I am very happy with it. I did not think it would hold well on my dash as others have said in reviews so I fixed the problem by using Velcro tape. I mounted one strip of sticky back Velcro on each side of the IQue car kit stand and matched them to Velcro strips on my dash. I have no problems at all. The Velcro easily makes it so I can remove it and switch cars.

3. Screen protectors: Hard to find for the IQue, so you will have to use screen protectors from another PDA, I found the screen protectors for a Palm T-5 to match well so this solved the problem.

4. Screen viewing in bright sun: If it is bright out it makes it hard to see the screen because of the glare, it is not the units fault because I do not know any LCD screen or other that could be seen well with a glare. With the voice prompts you do not have to look at the screen. Another reviewer suggested making a small glare shield with Velcro and cardboard which should work well. If I cup my hand over the unit I can see it fine. You can also take it off the car kit to use the palm features if it's bright out.

My recommendation is buy, buy, buy, you will not be sorry!

Great job Garmin!