Uniden GNS 8360 / 8365

OK – Over all if I was to rewind the time clock ...I would stick to the tom toms or the navmans for ease of use..even the garmins...but out of 10 my rating would be a 6...and the tom tom I purchased over christmas to fill in for my fatal error I would give and 8.5 out of 10.....but it was $100 less and less functions not a bad system..but ..not as easy to use as others.I had it working for 7 days no problem ;until it decided to freeze and give me a fatal error unable to open data base on the 8th day of owning it. Not as easy to use as the tom tom I purchased while my uniden gns8360 had to be returned to the point of sale {nedlands in Perth w.a.}I do like the system and it's functions...but just a little dissapointed that it died in the first week of owning it.try finding what to do in the manual when you get a fatal error and the gps data base doesn't open

Terrible – I really liked the look and feel of the Uniden GNS8360. Out of all the navigators that I looked at, the build of the GNS stood out for robustness and quality. It was a disappointment then that after purchasing it on Tuesday, I returned it on Friday. After 3 nights of reading the 120 page instruction manual I was still no closer to working out how to pre-enter a number of addresses so that I could access them easily. There is a “favourites” menu which is easy to access but it only holds two addresses – yes that’s right 2 (TWO); who would only have 2 addresses as their favourites?????? There is no section in the 120 page manual that tells you how to add a Point of Interest (POI), as I thought maybe I could use this to pre-enter all the addresses that I would want to visit. There are sections in the manual and buttons on the GNS for Managing POI’s and using Pins to allocate POI’s, but no dedicated paragraph in the manual or buttons on the GNS for pre-entering a POI. There is reference to an “Add POI” button accessible only via the Map screen but this button didn’t exist anywhere on any screen on the GNS8360 – there are also lots of notes in the manual which tell you that if you cant see a particular button or item as mentioned then you are to do a “soft start” of the unit – in my opinion if the software is that unstable/unreliable and you know about it then why wouldn’t you spend the time to fix it prior to releasing the product? I also wanted to enter POI's via co-ordinates and even though there is a co-ordinates screen you can’t pre-save co-ordinates to a list – maybe there was but after 6 hours I couldn’t work it out. The battery life is also only an hour, so it becomes very frustrating if you have to sit in your car trying to work through the complexity of the user interface to pre-enter any data.

There are some other minor annoyances where the touch-screen activation doesn’t line up with the correct button and even using the supplied “pointer” you sometimes have to touch outside of the indicated button area.

My GNS was also missing the main screw that held the windscreen mount together; quality control??????????

In summary, if you want a navigator where you only go to one destination and are happy to type in the full address whilst you sit in the car prior to journey commencement then the GNS8360 will do. If you want to do anything more complex then you are better off with the old paper street directory because you would be at your destination before you would have completed trying to pre-program the GNS8360.

Given the choice of GPS Navigators in the market place I cant see a valid reason to buy the Uniden GNS8360/8365BT. robust design user interface - very complex

Excellent – If nothing else it has saved me many times over from a speeding fine as it lets me know well in advance where the camera's are and that has to be a good thing! Don't know what all the negative feedback for the Uniden is about, we have had ours since December 2008 and can't fault it! Maybe its because we have given it a name (Murial) and it feels like part of the family! The only thing we have come up against is not being able to find the map upgrades but haven't really tried to hard either!

Good – These are a bit outdated now mainly due to USB port missing I think. Otherwise, got mine at discount clearance price, so am happy with it as it does all I want. To the chap who returned it because he said it only had 2 presets... that info is incorrect although when you first use it, it would seem that way but the two presets are only an extra function for most used trip. Home function... you can be anywhere in state, just press home and trip is calculated etc.

The way to use presets with the Uniden8365 is read manual on PINS. They are like drawing pins that you place on a paper map. Or go to the main screen... press find and Go button.... Next screen, press "Address"... Now on this screen look up in Right hand corner for "other city" (This is the dowen side.. it is not a very eye catching button here.. but the "Other Cities" button will get to the place where you program whatever address you want. Once you have done this it will be automatically saved in HISTORY folder. So, after you type a few addresses in... just go to history and you can find that address by 1. Main screen - Find & Go 2. History 3. Just select and press address.

The handsfree function with bluetooth works awesome on my setup. Makes driving with phone handsfree easy.

I had a cheap Laser" brand prior tto this one. It worked but... the Uniden is just heaps better... noticeable difference... better interface... hasn't locked up on me like laser did (had to use the stylus pin to reset)... And the volume control is handy etc. I can hear this one talk me and I have poor hearing. Could not hear Laser. So the Uniden has my vote even though I have only had it short time. No USB port to talk to computer.

No pdf manual - well, not a comprehensive manual at least.. has the sales type manual on the disc...

Bad – Overall I don't like the unit. Going to return it and buy from a recognized GPS provider Garmin, TomTom, Navman. Is a better bet. - price if it is on sale - get free NZ map & microphone (promotion October 2008) - terrible Uniden support -> not worth to buy - not map buy or upgrade on Uniden official website -> not worth to buy it