Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

I have owned this unit for about a year now. It's in great physical condition as I treat my gadgets very well :-) It was great when it was working, but it became less reliable after 8 months or so. Now, it is completely useless.

For some strange reason, it won't acquire satellites at all, resetting it and re-installing all the software won't help either. I've contacted their support, and the only thing they could tell me is to send in the unit and I'd get charged a $150 "repair fee".

This is not an isolated problem, you can check out this thread:
http://www.fixya.com/support/t387391-garmin_nuvi_360t_find_satellites

It is really ridiculous that the unit stopped working just after its warranty expired. I will resist from buying any Garmin product again.

This GPS is excellent. But you need to keep in mind that it is an older Garmin model and thus many of the units are shipped with old map databases and older unit firmware. Garmin has a policy for all of their GPS units for free map upgrades and firmware updates IF you register within 60 days of purchase. Many of the reviews where people complain about poor routing or locations not being found are due to their not updating their unit. Updating your firmware and map data will also dramatically decrease the cold boot-up time.

This is my first GPS so I don`t have anything to compare it to.So far so good though.

It helped me find a store I was looking for.I also like the fact that it`s small and fits in my shirt pocket so I could use it on foot.

It also comes with all the accesseries you need.

Christmas is coming so save your cash! Why purchase something you can get for five bucks.

Go to gifts4xmas.co.cc and sign up. Complete ONE offer - I would recommend Netflix

All companies are well known so there is no risk involved- give it a go! I got my TomTom and many other things this way, so don't miss out.

I was a sceptic once but now I am SO glad I gave it a chance.

Many items to choose from!

They send your gift Free of charge

Enjoy!

I just received the Nuvi 350 yesterday. So far I must say I am very impressed with it. There are quite a lot of features built into this GPS that make it well worth the $150 price. It came with 2009 maps already preloaded. I have tried it out going to and from work. Can't wait to get it out on a trip! So far I am very pleased.

Most of the time love the Nuvi 350...it has found great shortcuts and is usually very reliable. Verbal directions for street turns is a great feature. Small enough to carry in your purse.

But on the downside it is occassionally completely off (this happens very rarely but obviously a problem.) But most problematic..it can sometimes take more than 10 minutes for the satellite to come up.

No more fights over where to turn... Nice, clear voice directions. Recalculates when you pass the turn. Great for the price.

We have only used our new GPS a couple of times and it has worked great, however the real test will be on our upcoming trip to Florida. We have decided to rent a car on this trip therefore the GPS will really come in handy.

The unit is exactly as described. I was pleased with how easy it is to operate. Very user friendly. I particularly like the local info it gives. In a strange place you can find whats available for restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, gas stations etc. No more getting off at exits and wandering aimlessly to find what you need.

However, if had waited just a few more weeks to buy it I could have gotten it for 30 dollars less. But thats how it is with electronic stuff. In general very happy with this purchase I like the unit a lot.

This Garmin nuvi-350 is surely a joy to use and easy to program. I am well pleased,both with the fast service from Amazon and the product---Alton Hale

I love the Nuvi 350; I bought my wife one for Christmas back when they were almost $500 and then bought myself one a few months later after I found out how well it worked.

A couple of years ago, hers was stolen from inside the car(I guess that's the ultimate proof of how popular they are), so I bought her a "factory re-manufactured" unit because of the lower cost. It worked fine for a while, then it started taking longer and longer to acquire enough satellites to navigate. Now it can take up to 10 to 15 minutes from a cold start; that makes it almost useless when starting out unless you already know approximately which way to go.

There are some annoying traits that Garmin should fix, such as:
(1) If you drive to the airport in New York using the Nuvi 350, then fly to California and then turn the GPS on, it still shows East Coast time even after it has located itself on the West Coast. You have to change the time zone manually, which seems silly.
(2) If you don't like the route the 350 picks, it's not possible to select an alternate. The only way around this is to start driving the way you'd rather go, and wait for the GPS to announce, "Recalculating!"
(3) The route selection software consistently selects toll roads over non-toll roads. There's no way to make it exclude one or the other, and the Nuvi doesn't warn you in advance that it's directing you to a toll road. That can lead to problems in California because some of our toll roads require a transponder for billing (no cash is accepted). If you don't have a transponder, the system photographs your license plate and you can get stuck with a big fine as well as the toll.

Other than those nits, the Nuvi 350 is a real workhorse in personal navigation. I'm anxious to try some of the newer Garmins; I hope some of these admittedly minor problems have been fixed.

First GPS, I had it for about 6 months, been from NC to NY. Updates no problem, using windows XP. Seems very well built. I wanted the small screen because its mounted on the windshield.

SWEET:
1. Many different voices to chose from.
2. Mount has the power connector, and stays put.
3. Automatic day/night display mode.
4. Push the map around using touch screen, like Google maps.
5. Free update, you have 3 months to use


DRAG:
1. Latest update behind about 6 months.
2. When it says shortest route, it's not kidding. Going up I95 to NY, had me taking Pennsylvania Ave through DC at rush hour, WOW the wife was pissed.

IDEAS:
1. Needs to calculate several top routes and let you decide which one you want to take. Otherwise it keeps saying recalculating at every exit.
2. I wish Garmin would put more behind their software instead of having 20 different types of the same thing.

I purchased this GPS in a great deal offered by Amazon. The key is visiting amazon almost 2-3 times a week and keep looking for the desired products. I coupled the purchase with the gift card from amazon to get best deal for this purchase.
To top it all you should look out for free shipping delivery option which saves a lot of money.
Over all Garmin are known to manufacture best navigation devices and this one is no exception. It is small enough to fit in your pockets and the screen in big enough to see all the colored maps or the list view of the directions.

Overall I rate this product 5/5 and also recommend buying it from Amazon for the variety they offer for shopping.

Does a good job of getting me form point to point (me-sales)without fuss or crashing. It is small with a nice screen.It shuts off by itself and turns on with no issues. Not sure how to control the volume.Does not seem to be able to select a diferant route or see which route it has scheduled. For my money, very good product at an excellent price.

This is a great GPS device. Not only was it easy to work, but it is easy to see as well. My husband and I liked it so much we bought that we bought two more for each of our daughters for Christmas!

Good points-if you miss a street or route, recalculates fast, maps are accurate (as opposed to my friends GPS, which does not even list some streets).

Very slow powering up, and when you search by spelling name for a location (e.g.-CVS) it will tell you the closest one is 20 miles away (there's like 5 CVS stores within 10 miles of my house).

When powering up in your car, sometimes it says are you indoors? and will take like 5 minutes or more (not kidding) to finally calculate out your destination. If you know your general surroundings that's ok, you can buy time, but if you don't know exactly how to get out from where you are that can suck really bad. Overall ok, won't get you lost, maps are accurate, but can be very, very, slow, and spelling out location does not work that good. I hear Tom Tom makes faster, more flawless version of a GPS, but don't know for sure.

This is a great mapping tool. I wish it told you how many total miles to your destination and that there were more gas stations and resturants listed in the unit. It would also be nice to search by attraction rather than only by address.

I have great peace of mind knowing that no matter where I am at the Garmin will get me to where I am going. No more getting lost!

I was so pleased to have my GPS sent so quickly. Prior to Amazon, I had ordered it through another company and it turned out that the company was a bogus company. Amazon then refunded my money and I bought the GPS through Amazon.

I have had my Garmin nuvi 350 about 6 weeks now, and have found it to be very easy to use! I am a salesman who travels to unknown destinations regularly, and thusfar have had only one address that the unit didn't recognize (a brand new neighborhood - even Mapquest didn't register this address). The screen is very easy to read (even at night) and I love the text-to-voice feature...making it almost uneccessary to look at the screen. I debated over getting the wider screen model, but now I am glad I didn't as this unit is more than 30% less expensive. For a price well under $200, you can't go wrong with this one.

I recently started working in an area I am less familiar with and this has been really helpful. Not only do I get lost far less often, it is helping me learn the area safely. The screen barely takes up any room, the unit is easily recharged, and the voice volume adjustment is wonderful. I got an amazing deal on Amazon; I would not pay full retail. My only hesitation in recommending it to others is that garmin nuvi will come out imminently with incl traffic monitoring, which this does not have and would be a strong added feature.

I have had this product for over a year now. Several issues with it.. When you first turn it on, it takes about 3-4 minutes to pick up a signal. If you are trying to start your trip, that is a long time of waiting for it to boot up. It is also 70-80% accurate, so you are not sure to get to your final destination. I do like the touch screen. The battery charge after one year lasts only about 1/2 hour, very short considering they claim it is to last 4-4.5 hours when I bought it. For the current price, it is an OK deal, but for the price I purchased it at the time, over $400, it is way too much. I would not buy another Garmin again.

Got this for my fiancee for his birthday. He's good with directions but loves that he can find locations (i.e. American Legions) within a certain distance. Have not had experience with many other GPS products but this one did not disappoint and was rated high by Consumer Reports. I'd buy it again.

Life saver. Took me a year to try it out after getting it for a gift. Now never go on extended trip without it. Just got back from Orange County,Ca & could never have found places without it. Very easy to use ... absolutely no complaints.

I couldn't be more happy with my purchase of the NUVI. It's a great size, and it's helped me tremendously. I work in sometimes extremely remote areas, and the NUVI gets me back to the places I need to go. Without it, I wouldn't have a prayer. Absolutely love this product!! I also bought the bean-bag base, and I love that as well. Much better for me since I like to use the NUVI in different vehicles, and I don't want suction cup marks all over the windshields (easy tip off to thieves that there's likely an expensive GPS or Sat radio receiver in the glovebox). The bean bag base can easily be tucked under the seat or at least out of sight. Holds the unit in place perfectly as well. Love this combination!!

Just a typical female who wanted some saftey and security to travel from Calif. to Utah. Since it's certainly easy to get lost this was a good choice. The nav. device started up quickly and I did'nt have to have a degree in high tech. to get it going,a real added plus! It was quick and effortless to set up. The only real problem with it-and I did conciter this a real problem-was that if you did'nt take the route it wanted you to,it would reroute you back to were it felt you should be. Even if the route it wanted was 60 miles out of the way! I did like the fact that if you missed an exit it would give you the next-but again in a "round about way" that cost alot of time,gas and some frustration. Bouncing you all over the side roads rather than puting you on the nearest freeway entrance. The maps need to be "updated Badly". So if you decide to take a small diverstion (after you get there)turn it off. Then re-enter the address you want-it will be easier on you and the car,hahaha.

This Garmin is all the navigation system you will ever need. Feature rich, good price and intuitive to use. I don't leave home without it.

Just the other day I was in unfamiliar territory when I got a nail in my tire. Found out from the Garmin I was .3 miles from a national tire shop to take the car to for repair of the tire.

Great product!

Very impressed with the Garmin nuvi 350 GPS. Having approaching streets named is very helpful. Plus listings of motels, restaurants, etc. adds to it's value as we travel. Our only complaint is the mounting device. Most dashboards are of a pebble design - as is ours - so a permanent mounting situation is tricky & not particularly desired. Would prefer to have the option of mounting it on the interior of the windshield for easy removal when we leave the car. It isn't wise to advertise there is a GPS in the vehicle. Thank you.

I bought this unit in Oct 2008 for about $80 more than this site is offering it for now. Bottom line is I have no complaints but I will try to address some concerns or issues that other reviews have stated. First off you need to know this is a discontinued model from Garmin. That is the one reason the price has dropped so much but it has nothing to do with the quality, support or functionality of this unit! What you need to know is after you buy this unit you will need to register it at the Garmin web site to get all the free upgrades and support. After you do that you get the warrenty PLUS the free maps 2009 upgrade and any other update your unit may need for your unit out of the box. Mine needed the maps 2009 plus a software update. Both were very easy to do over the Garmin web site but two things to consider is you need a high speed internet connection for the maps update (or it may take quite awhile on download) and a USB connection on your computer (that most all have these days). The updates are all FREE! I do belive I saw a offer of a CD they will mail you if you do not have a great internet connection for about $10, but don't quote me on that. All the needed cables come in the box with this unit plus it even comes with a carrying case (at least mine did I should say). So I rate the support and the free upgrade at 10 of 10 stars. Very easy to do and alot of other companies that discontinue a product limit the support. This is not the case with Garmin and a big Kudo's to them! Next, it is written that the unit takes time to start up. I don't have this problem and that maybe one of the issues Garmin corrected with the free internal software update you get online. I will say that when you first start it after it has been off for some time (over a couple hours) when you start it up it may take different amounts of time to locate the satilites. I have jumped in the car and started to drive and it has taken a couple miles to lock in to it's position and it seems the faster you move after start the longer it may take. But it still does get "online" within a few miles. That said, if you stop at a store and shut off the unit and come back and turn it on, it starts right up real quick. Don't ask me why but it just does it. The other great thing I like about this unit is if you plug it into a power source that shuts off after you shut down your car, it will automaticlly go into shutdown mode unless you touch the screen button and tell it to continue operation in battery mode. So you don't have to plug and un-plug all the time which over time will damage the power supply (wires/plug). Finally, getting back to the web site....this unit shows a car/truck driving on the road instead of an arrow like other units do. The Garmin site offers various down load car/truck downloads in various colors to match you automobile. Not a real important issue but just an example of the support and options Garmin offers with this unit. So my over-all review is 4 of 5 stars. I honestly believe it deserves five stars but because the unit does not come out of the box fully up to date it does not warrent a five star rating in my opinion. That said, it is very easy to get it that way at no additional cost pretty quick and I was very please with the Garmin support and easy access of the web site. This is a great unit for the price and you will not be dissappointed. Very bright screen and easy to use. I just may buy another one at this price to have a spare or as a gift.

I used this unit about 15 months and its died,
no satellite reception, also its speaker died in 8th months.
But most important thing about this product , garmin's customer service view,
they charges $175.00 to fix this unit and at the same date this products price is $159.99 at most of famous retailers.
I am not going to buy garmin again...

It is the best GPS unit you can get for only $170 which I bought it in Amazon, and the price keeps falling. I have an pretty old factory-built GPS in my BMW car. I don't use it anymore.
The Nuvi 350 simply calculates the route much faster and more intelligent when you miss a turn or exit that it finds a new route rather than insisting you on the old one.

I have a friend that just bought a new Mercedes ML350 and I don't think the built-in GPS is better than this portable unit. The user-interface of Mercedes unit is horrible and the graphics output is very plain.

The only drawback when compared to factory-built car GPS is that the portable unit doesn't work well in tunnel as it relies on satellite signal where built-in ones use other sensor in the car as well.

In my opinion, if you don't really need other features like bluetooth, wider screen, and other features I consider gimmicks, Nuvi 350 is perfect for such this price, as it is solid for one thing, navigation.

EXCELLENT VALUE AND EXTREMELY EASY TO USE..WISH VOICE ACTIVATION WAS A BIT LOUDER BUT HAS GREAT CLARITY AND VERY ACCURATE. GREAT SERVICE FROM AMAZON WITH PROMPT DELIVERY..

The Garmin Nuvi 350 is easy to use in the continental USA. It recharges as a cell phone. There are language choices. It is compact. It's just right for the price.

I've used this product for about one month now and overall it is great. There is a long lag time from powering on to being able to enter an address. I have noticed on multiple occasions that when I select a favorite address it states searching for satelitte for a long time. Also noticed that when in NYC that I was having a hard time getting a signal. Overall the product is good. I used to C330 Garmin before this and think this is a very nice upgrade. Portable and easy to carry around with you.

I've had the Garmin Nuvi 200 and now after buying the 350 and comparing the two. I Love the Garmin 350. Much more accurate. The only down side is the volume doesn't seem to be as loud. I would highly recommend the Garmin at this price.

I like it. It'll be even better if the dealer could update the software before selling it to me though.

I purchase my first Garmin GPS System almost two years ago. Since then, I have purchased two other Garmin Systems for family members. The ease of use and the confidence that comes along with the Garmin Name will give you years of pleasure. But as a parent, the peace of mind this system gives you knowing that your child will never be lost in the middle of nowhere and not know how to get back. Well I don't have to tell you that alone makes it worth it's weight in gold. A truely exceptional product.

I purchased the Garmin as I travel a lot for my job. It has proven to be invaluable. It was worth the money and I would recommend it to others.

I love the Garmin 350. It is really easy to use and it is just the right size.

This product has been very easy to use! The variety of functions is great. It has proven very helpful in many situations and I've only taken it on 2 trips, so far.

if the GPS generates a route that you don't like, you can only change the route by adding one via point. Up to now I haven't figured out how to modify the route that the GPS gives me. TomTom has very good feature in this regard, you can choose avoiding certain section or pick certain via-point in a route, In that way you can really customize your trip. Garmin 350 doesn't have that feature at all. besides, the photo viewer and MP3 players are just stupid and very low end, they don't seem to be very useful for a GPS user. Other that that, it is a very good GPS unit.

I have this product for a month now and so far I have enjoyed it. I don't have to worry anymore about the places I want to visit, the nuvi 350 just takes me there. The unit acquires satellite signal fast in about 3 minutes or less (that's cool!). The mp3 player is also a plus, good sound but not better than my car stereo. I guess this is the only Garmin GPS that comes with the important accessories needed like the AC charger, car charger & case. No need for additional purchase, well worth the price. I upgraded the map to the latest version, the 2009 map navigation. It worked well, the only drawback was it took so long for the download, 2 hours. But overall, I'm satisfied with the product. Perfect for my Matrix XRS. I just hope it won't lead me to the wrong direction someday.

It is wonderful having someone telling you where to turn when you have no idea where you are, I'm new in town and it is a great help to move around.
Some times it takes a lot of time acquiring satellites and that's annoying

Am enjoying this product. Biggest complaint is map accuracy but the device itself works well and has more capability than I use.

Not only did it take me in all kinds of crazy directions and in the wrong place, it totally died on me only 6 weeks after I got it. I changed settings on it and still it did not take me in the right direction on a number of occasions.

Not a good product. Maybe I have a lemon. I will give it one more shot, but that is all. I am very disappointed.

I bought this for my wife who travels for work. This GPS has saved her on the back highways and byways of Oklahoma more times than we can count. If you are looking for an entry level GPS this is exactly what you need.

I am glad I purchased this GPS. The 3D view is very cool love it. The volume is loud enough so you can listen to music while driving. The GPS has a MP3 player. I will say it takes a long time for the GPS to reroute. It should be alot quicker. On the other hand it gives great fastest way directions however it can sometimes send you a longer route to get to the highway when there is an easier way to go or shorter route. Overall I am happy with my purchase.

The Garmin 350 is a top flight GPS system. It is intuitive and easy to use. However, the product description on amazon.com stated that it comes with the Travel Kit, but that function was not operable on the unit I received. I feel that the ad was misleading in that respect.

I have owned this for a few months now. It performs as expected. It was a good deal at $200 since it is an older model, but the only difference in the new model that I am aware of is a slightly wider screen. I don't feel like that would be worth it. The text to speech does a nice job. It has a lot of great features. The speedometer is nice, showing my car speedo to be accurate and my motorcycle speedo to be about 5% high, both as expected. If you've done your research, you know what it has. I've found everything to be as expected. I like that it also has an MP3 player.

Minor Cons:

It didn't promise, but I was really hoping it would also have an alarm clock (it is a pretty simple feature) but it does not.

I think it is supposed to have the 2008 maps. My house was finished June 2006, the street was there for a while before that, but my street is not on the map.

It has been all it was advertised to be...

They could have sent along an Instruction Book, after a phone call to GARMIN they sent me one.

Better instructins would have been helpful, The bottom covers were a bit of concern, peal off or what?

In a short time "The ladies" voice became a bit 'garbled', Customer Support had me changee over to "The man's" voice.
A needless phone call if an instruction book had been included.

JRW

I recently had my Garmin 350 stolen and I bought another since it was still the best in its price range. I love the portability of it and it speaks the street names so I don't have to look the screen to see where I have to turn exactly. I still don't have any regrets the second time around neither.