[+]
10.0
Dont waste money on any other GPS
Have seen thousands of reviews of all different GPS.
Have used and returned Garmin 660 and Garmin 250.
Of everything 350 is the best. Simple, smart and portable.
Just go for it. Enjoy.
[+]
10.0
Nice little unit
I am very pleased with this GPS. I works great every time. I have used it in many states, and have not had a problem with it. It even worked pretty good in NYC with all the tall buildings.
[+]
8.0
compact and easy to use
I've had the Garmin now for almost 2 months. It's small enough to fit in my pocket or purse, yet big enough for viewing. I velcroed it to my steering column, so I can remove it and have it right by my speedometer for a quick view, if necessary, without blocking it. Speaks the street names and shows better routes to drive if need to change. Recalculates quickly. The only drawback is that it may take a while for it to acquire a satellite signal when initially turned on...as much as a few minutes a couple of times. That's a bit frustrating when you need to get going. Otherwise, it was a great buy for the price.
[+]
10.0
Garmin Nuvi 350, Top Notch
I recently purchased my first GPS, the Garmin Nuvi 350, after quite extensive research and found it to be all I expected at an affordable price.
Anyone purchasing this unit would do well to download the user manual as the quick start guide does not do the unit justice. It also, does not make it clear that you can go to the website and download a current map at no charge. (Once, I believe)
Don't be afraid to give this unit a try.
I loved it! It really saved my life driving here in the US. No more getting lost here!!
=]
This Nuvi is not as sexy as the newer models but it is the best value for money around! For $200 you cannot go wrong.
The accuracy is great. The Nuvi's voice is clear and simple to follow. My only complaint is that it is only audible on the highest volume setting.
To my surprise, the Nuvi is smart enough to continue to give directions even if satellite line-of-sight is broken. For example, when using the Nuvi in Boston, the Nuvi continues to navigate me through the underground/underwater tunnels. Very impressive.
Now, I am definitely an advocate for GPS navigation systems!
[+]
8.0
garmin nuvi 350 3.5inch
I love this thing! A great travel buddy. The only thing is sometimes a takes a while to acquire satellite, up to 2 - 3 minutes.
[+]
8.0
What happens when it breaks?
I used this GPS for a bit over a year, around 15 months during which time I drove around 23,000 miles. During that time I thought it was one of the best purchases I had made. However, recently it randomly decided to stop logging onto the satellites. I am outdoors, using it in areas I have regularly used it and previously had no problems, I have not moved hundreds of miles since the last login but it still won't get a good connection. When it does it quickly goes away and says it has lost the satellite reception (usually within 5 minutes and considering it'll take hours to connect that's just unsatisfactory). I tried talking to Garmin and while they did give me generic "try this" none of it helped and they wanted me to shell out a couple hundred dollars for them to look at it even though it has only been in use for a little over a year. I am better off just buying a new gps system than repairing it! As such I am now looking for another brand as I'm unhappy with Garmin support. That being said here's what I thought of it while it worked:
Cons:
-If you put in multiple destinations it will not sort them by what would be the most logical order to stop at them, however you put them in, that's the order you are taken to them in (not uncommon among most gps's)
-When searching for restaurants or stores it'll regularly bring up locations that aren't there, 10 minutes later you'll drive by one on a different side of town that it doesn't know exists (somewhat expected but this happened much more regularly than I expected)
-Garmin support: I really felt as though they were trying to rip me off and just get money from me without knowing what was causing the problem or how they were even going to fix it
-Map updates: while it may be somewhat standard in the industry to charge customers for regular map updates I think companies like Navigon that charge one fee for 3 entire years of updates are serving customers more justly
-Inputting addresses: CR 528 can't be input the way it would be written on a letter, if it's not exact the 350 doesn't know what you're talking about
-Time estimation for destination arrival is usually aggressive, I'd prefer it to be more conservative so when I'm on an eight hour drive I know from the start I'm going to get there in 8 hours and not 7.
Pros:
-It will get you where you're going
-Before it initially broke, the time it took to get a satellite connection was relatively short
-Customizable icons and voices (although you can't record your own or someone else's to use)
-Several different route choices: fastest, shortest ect
-Ability to program it to avoid U-turns, toll roads, and ferry's (most gps's these days all have the last two characteristics)
-Routing is typically good and sensible although there are several spots in the US where it gets a little goofy
All in all, for the price it's at now it's probably worth it, I spent around $300 but don't be surprised if Garmin doesn't care about you or the product when it breaks. Hopefully yours won't break as soon or unexpectedly. Personally, I'm done using Garmin products.
This is possibly the best investment I have ever made. It has prevented me from gettin lost a few times now. I highly recommend it!
Very familiar with this item as I have a NUVI 360 for work. NUVI 350 is basically same but no Bluetooth. That's OK. Got it to go w/ my wife's new car. Simple, reliable, easy to use. Still rated top budget GPS on CONSUMERSEARCH.
Amazon price of $199 was the best deal I could find.
[+]
8.0
Nice, but I wish I could choose an alternate route easier
I bought this as present for my wife who is always getting lost. The nice thing about this unit is that it is so simple and easy to use. Entering an address is easy because all you have to put in is the first few letters of a street, city or state and the GPS will lookup the names for you. Amazingly it will also find businesses and land marks. I found it's only flaw returning from a camping trip. I left the map at home and put my trust in Sally (our name for the GPS). There were three routes home: the shortest involved a high toll, our prefered was longer, but with little traffic and the third was a roundabout route that was on interstate, but had lots of traffic. I chose "Go Home" and we started on our way. I soon releized it had chosen the route with the expensive toll (it doesn't show your planned route). I could have stopped, gone into settings and changed the default route selection to "avoid tolls" and then re-entered the trip, but then I would have had to remember when I got home to change the settings back. Instead I just kept going straight towards our prefered route in hopes the GPS would "recalculate" and take us on our prefered route. Instead it took us on the long way around on the interstate. It was a horible trip with tons of traffic and I cursed the GPS the whole way. It's a machine and only knows the shortest route based on distance and highway types. It does not know which roads are congested and which ones have construction. It would be nice if the GPS showed you it's planned route and allowed you to easily modify it. Otherwise it's a great unit at a great price.
[+]
8.0
Good Bargain for above average GPS
I purchased the nuvi 350 for 2 reasons: 1.) Great Price and 2.) Great battery life. I have not been dissappointed with this GPS thus far. Routing and Map Accuracy have been all that I could ask for since purchase 2 months ago. The screen is easy to read in both bright daylight and night as well with background changing from white to black at night. I've used the device in both Canada and in the states and outside of it's difficulty in pronouncing french street names, it has been spot on. The battery life has been fantastic (rated for 8 hrs and worked in my hands for 7.5 without charging). My only minor gripe is that if I haven't used the GPS for a few days, it takes several minutes to acquire satellites. Great price and overall good value.
[+]
10.0
Exceeded expectations.
I am a senior and my family's travel is strictly limited to driving via the Interstate Highways. I've used AAA Motorclub triptiks and internet Map services, but I was concerned about detour issues. I read the current review of GPS navigators in Consumers Reports and noted that the nuvi 350 was rated a notch higher than the TomTom because it gave detailed audio instructions along with the display. I thought this would be especially helpful, especially on interstates in major metropolitan areas.
The nuvi 350 exceeded expectations, especially on transiting tricky urban interstate interchanges. I was surprised by the the restaurant search feature and found it extremely useful. The real-time information on speed, direction and estimated arrival times was also useful and reassuring.
I later had an opportunity to compare the nuvi 350's audio instructions with those of the TomTom One. The nuvi 350's capability to specifically name the street you were to turn on IS a markedly significant advantage.
I had no difficulty following the set-up and operation instructions. There was an unexpected benefit: the navigator seemed to ward-off issues with my loving but inveterate "back-seat" driver.
This is one of the most satisfying purchases I've made this year.
[+]
10.0
It really works well
I waited a long time to get one of these, but the features and the price finally convinced me. It was $200 through Amazon for the Nuvi 350. It works really well and is amazing for the price. You can even get the lesser models for even less money. I went for the 350 since it had the text-to-speech feature, but if you can live without that, then you can get a nuvi for even less.
The map and directions are very accurate. It even understands access roads, roads within parks and other things you might not expect it to know. The device is very simple to use with the touch screen. You need to understand the navigation options for shortest distance and fastest route. In most cases, you want the latter because it favors major highways and the like, but sometimes you may want shortest distance if you are looking for an alternate route.
I got a free map upgrade, but that is not very well advertised in the package. There was a yellow sheet with very small text which explained that. It was complicated to download the map and took a long time since the file was so large, but I got through it.
The one issue I have is that from my house, it takes a while to synchronize with the satellites for some reason. In other locations it synchronizes immediately.
Some neat features you might not realize is that it gives you an estimate of your arrival time, which is cool and it gives you a digital readout of your speed, which is very accurate on the highway.
In general I think the nuvi is the coolest thing and turn it on even when I know where I'm going to get the estimated time of arrival and to learn the names of the streets and other POI.
[+]
4.0
Garmin GPS Nuvi 350
The screen could be bigger and the directions to how to use the GPS is very limited. The mount for the car is diffult to use and many times it takes very long time to track your current position?
[+]
8.0
Great Value Overall
Overall a great unit for the price. We've used it to find many places to and from vacation with relative ease. Not sure how other GPS systems work, but this unit typically took 5+ minutes on occasion to locate the nearest satellite upon powering up and waiting to get on the road. A minor inconvenience when you're sitting in your vehicle waiting to get back on the road. Also, when we changed the voice options, we noticed that some voices would text-to-speech the street names while other voices would not. It would have been nice to know which voices used text-to-speech before-hand.
Let me begin by saying this is my 3rd GPS. I have owned the Garmin C530 and the C580. Both were stolen. I loved them as well, so as you can see, you are not going to find a complaint out of me!
The selling feature for me on this unit was the size! It's slim and it fits into my purse! I REFUSE to allow another GPS unit to be stolen out of my car.
Quick and easy to use right out of the box. 2 minutes from start to finish!
Having just moved here, I am totally lost without a GPS. I can't turn left at the corn field. I need a bit more information than that! The Garmin will give it to you!
Excellent device. Does exactly what it claims. The bluetooth interface works far better than the speaker on my cell, so I found that very handy on trips.
This unit orginally sold at close to $1000. At $200 it is a bargain. If you require a basic GPS this is the best on the market with Text to Speech Directions, and NavTeq maps. I found out that you do not need a larger GPS since when you drive you listen to the directions rather than look at the screen. Not only that, it comes with all the accessories that Garmin charges extra for on their other and newer units. I understand that Garmin may discontinue it soon, so grab it while it is available.
[+]
8.0
Excellent product!
Its a great product especially when exploring a new city. Finding nearby restaurants, department stores, gas stations, when you have moved to a new city with no internet at home, was really helpful. It also suggests new routes whenever possible. Overall, an extremely useful gadget.
[+]
10.0
Rugged and dependable. Great, great product
About a year after I purchased the nuvi 350, I was wading in a river, fishing, for about 30 minutes when I suddenly remembered the GPS was in my shorts pocket. Panicking, I took it out and tried to turn it on. Nothing. I was heartbroken-- it's definitely my favorite gadget -- I use it all the time to help me find new fishing spots and I can't afford to replace it right now.
Well, I got it home, plugged it in and managed to get a partial screen display. After opening it up and shaking out any remaining water, I managed to get it working again, albeit with a slightly marred display. With another 3 days of drying, the display was perfect again, touchscreen and all. I bought a new rechargeable battery from eBay, and except for a few small gouges at the seams where I opened it, it works perfectly again.
Whew, what a relief. It really gives you a huge amount of confidence and a feeling of freedom to know you can never get lost.
I can't emphasize enough how impressed I am by this product.
[+]
10.0
Better than I expected
I love my Garmin. I don't go a lot of new places, but when I do, I am completely lost.
I hate map reading, I love the text to voice. I haven't tried the MP3 Part of it yet. I will though. It is a lot of fun to use and very easy to use.
We borrowed a friends 350 for a 2 week trip to Florida a while back and it was great. It navigated us from Key West to Fort Meyers then to Marco Island (with several stops in between) perfectly. It also really saved us when we ran into a very bad thunderstorm which rained so hard we literally couldn't see the road 3 ft. ahead of us nor read any street signs, and there was nowhere to pull off. The unit told me when my upcoming turn was approaching and guided me exactly to where it was. Without this unit I would have missed the turn and would probably have gotten really lost. It was like flying at night by instrument! Oh ya, and it also found us a great restaurant in Naples too! Looking forward to getting one of my own soon.
[+]
10.0
excellent GPS in the market with excellent price from amazon
I bought Garmin 350 2 months ago and it work great, no problem, accurate guidance, clear voice, can't travel without it, love it
[+]
10.0
a perfect interface
I was introduced to the Nuvi 350 when a friend lent me his on a road trip. I quickly came to wonder how I got by without one for so long. What impressed me about this model in particular is the intuitive interface. It works exactly the way you expect it to. The menus are well thought out, the touch screen is very responsive, the display is crisp, and the spoken directions are easy to understand and well timed.
Especially in a large city, the roads won't always match the map exactly due to construction, etc. but the device does a very good job at noticing when you're off the path and rerouting. Downloading the most recent map update, which is free the first time, minimizes map discrepancies.
[+]
4.0
Works till it breaks
I bought this product for ~$450 in Feb 2007, and it worked till now very well. We have traveled extensively on the east coast and the west coast and this unit was a great accessory on our trips.
But very recently the unit froze, it fails to connect to satellite. Upon further research I found that this is a very common problem and the only solution is to return the Unit for repairs.
I am returning the Unit, since I am out of warranty they wanted to charge another $50 for repairs but they waived it off.
I don't expect such an expensive thing to get these kind of problems just after 1 year. And it is not just my unit, many other people are getting such problems.
Even 660 and 360 have these bugs.
[+]
8.0
Makes finding the way a lot more enjoyable
I bought this for my husband, who is a trucker (and King of the Road Map!-LOL) He intially said - "you can use it to navigate your way around NC, I don't need that thing". The GARMIN is now HIS- he loves it and uses it regularly to find everything in the area where we are moving to. I suspect I'll have to get my own GARMIN. Great buy, priced right! You will find that the landmarks aren't as accurate as the GPS.
This thing in a great buy!! The same one at Best Buy is OVER 300 bucks! It works just like it says it does! it's great! But sometimes is says the street names wrong..but its still a pretty cool device..
[+]
10.0
The best thing since cell phones
This is the best thing since cell phones. It's easy to use - right out of the box. Reasonably priced and has plenty of options without all the
unnessary extras that are included in some of the more expensive models.
I'll never leave home without it again. Love the detour function. Ran into a few roads that were closed due to construction. The garmin 350 rerouted us with no problem.
[+]
10.0
Good Device at Excellent Price
I am trying to figure out why this unit is less expensive than a Garmin n250. It does the same things plus has a chip to hold files of whatever kind, including pictures and music, which can be combined as a little picture frame with music.
This same unit was advertised for twice the Amazon price at Best Buy at the time I was buying. It made a great birthday present for my father.
Everyone should have a GPS unit, finding virtually any place is so much easier. It helps greatly to focus on driving and minimizes confusion. The time savings pays for the device quickly.
[+]
4.0
Horrible POI (Point of interest) database
I bought this model based on the many positive reviews I read on Amazon. I have to admit, I'm really disappointed by Garmin. I will try to be as nonbiased as possible, but that can be hard when a product disapoints you like this one has.
Pros:
1. Good Price
2. Comes with a number useful accessories
3. Generally speaking does a decent job navigating
Cons:
1. It takes way too long to boot up after being turned on (at least 30-45 seconds)
2. It makes you hit the "OK" botton to agree with "terms of use" on every startup (annoying)
3. The POI (point of interest) database is horrible! This is deal breaker folks. I live in San Diego which fairly large city and this unit will at best find 5-10% of points of interest that I ever search for. Points of interest are businesses like restuarants, gas stations, or any other commetial business that would be found on any Yellow Pages. The idea is that you want to go to the nearest "McDonalds", but you don't know the address. A good unit will find the nearest Mcdonalds and based on your current location give you directions to it. This one will take about 3 minutes to search and comes up empty (or will find one 20 miles away) when you sure as heck know there's one around the corner.
4. Typing in addresses is a huge pain the gludius maximus because the alphabet icons are so small.
In short, if you have the address and tiny fingers to enter in the address into the unit, you'll be fine. Otherwise stay away from this unit and possibly Garmin altogether.
[+]
8.0
nuvi 350 a good bet
I have enjoyed owning the 350. The directions supplied by the nuvi are correct most of the time. However you do have to be alert to them and question them at times. Yesterday morning it put me on highway beside the location I wanted. In the afternoon it told me travel 102 miles on a road that was only 20 miles long. It eventually recalculated.
We previously owned the Garmin c330 GPS, but only had European maps. The cost of US maps was such that a new GPS made more sense. For appearance, size, etc., this model is superior. However, what counts is the performance itself, and the c330 was better in that regard. The directions were more timely, and the older model just seemed to run more smoothly. Also, we live in a developing area, and the factory-installed maps are already largely out of date. Worth noting--compared to other brands I have seen in action, the Garmin is still the best. So, overall, this Nuvi is good not great.
[+]
8.0
Slow booting but no worry to be lost any more!
I bought it for the long trip with family.
It is small but easy to recognize things in the monitor.
It takes time (around 2 minutes) for the initial booting up, and sometimes it gives me the late notice after I pass by the street.
However, I am pretty happy to have it because I do not have to worry about being lost at unknown place.
[+]
8.0
A must have, easy to use is an understatment
This is the most "must have" gadget since the Ipod. It's amazing you can get this level of technology for $200. I tested the Garmin 350 head to head, to a more expensive Sony unit on a 6 hour trip from Chicago to Detroit. The Garmin was easier to use, picked the routes I had picked, and had less glitches.
This was my second GPS unit. The previous is a hand held Garmin Vista, a whole different animal more at home hiking in the mountains than on the road.
Pros
Ease of use-I literally did not need the user manual. I took it out of the box and started programing in my "favorite" places. The menus are self explainitory, make sense, and are easy to navigate.
Get to where you want and MUCH more- The extra features aside from trip planning make it worth the $200. Where ever you are, find the nearest gas stations, pet store, pharmacy, Subway.....or whatever. You'll know how far, which direction, and phone number with only a couple touches of the screen. This is very handy when you're in a town away from home. You can also do this while it is navigating. The calculator, and MP3 player also come in handy (although playing music with the built in speaker is useless).
Reliable- I have never lost signal because of weather, it works under bridges (unlike some older units I've used), just grab it and you'll get to where you need.
Cons
The navigation is not perfect- New roads do not come up on the map (even with the '08 model). Sometimes it picks routes that you think.....why?? This may have happened a couple times in the month or so of heavy use (navigating a new sales territory).
Some mount headaches- The way the general mounting design works makes it natural to push the power button when taking it off, this isn't a big deal but it could be improved. I also tried using the suction cup mount on one of my motorcycles and the ball mount wasn't strong enough to handle the bumps on the road with out "sagging" and needing of readjustment.
BEWARE-
These are hot items for thieves. My unit was stolen out of my car sitting in my driveway. Kids are on the hunt for these things, lock your doors! Also take it off the dash/windshield when parked in questionable areas. If this helps one person, I'll be happy.
[+]
4.0
GARMIN NUVI350 GPS
THE GPS WORKS FAIRLY WELL BUT SUCTION CUP THAT GOES ON WINDOW DOES NOT HOLD VERY WELL FELL OFF THREE DIFFERENT TIME SO DON'T USE IT ANY MORE IF I WERE TO BUY ANOTHER ONE I WOULD LOOK FOR ONE THAT HOLDS BETTER. WILMA BAGBY
We've been considering a gps for the car for some time including in-dash models. We finally had what we considered a "good excuse" - a trip to make a cruise where we could not be late. I researched a bit on-line and found reviews stating that Garmins typically give better routes. The nuvi 350 is about the cheapest model that will announce street names when it is telling you about your next turn (which is a good feature to have). We have used it for several trips and we are satisfied.
A feature that is often but not always a good thing is it marks branches in the road like they are turns. Sometimes this is great because you need to be paying attention and get in the right lane. The nuvi 350 helps in those circumstances. Other times there is really nothing you need to do and it is kind of a waste. Overall, I think this is good but the map could use some work (like I-20 intersection with I-277 in Columbia, SC area, it is a nothing when you are on I-20).
I cannot tell about the routes. Going to our cruise we had to cross DC around noon. The nuvi 350 was quite insistent on us taking I-395 to I-295 right through DC. We did not think that was the best about noon on a Saturday. We took I-495 around and got held up about 30 minutes by traffic but it worked OK. On the way back, the nuvi 350 directed us to I-495. It also took us on a loop around Richmond on the way north but right through Richmond on the way back. I wish I knew a bit more about the logic it uses but the nuvi routes, when we took them, worked out fine.
I have another little hand-held in our boat but this is the first car GPS I have experience with. I do not know if other models would be better but my research indicates they would not. I do know the nuvi 350 is a fine GPS and a great deal at $200.
Jim
[+]
10.0
Lots of functionality for the price
We had a Tom Tom before, and bought this for my daughter heading off for college. It has the advantage of providing the audio for the upcoming street to turn on, rather than having to read it off the screen. That's really helpful. We haven't used it that much, but so far, we really like it.
I've had my nuvi for about two weeks now and I use it driving locally just to become use to it and it's functions. I will be taking a trip with it in two weeks. I am excited about the trip because I have so much confindence in the nuvi makeing the trip easy and trouble free. I have never been to the destination before. I think this litte toy will get me on the road a lot more than without having it. So far it works flawlessly and very is accurate.
[+]
10.0
Great Product The Nuvi is a drivers best friend
It's very easy to use. Easy to set up. Very exact with instructions. Graphics and sound is just right. I highly recommend this product.
[+]
2.0
Garmin "Nuvi" - a big disappointment
I purchased the Garmin "Nuvi" in preparation for a scheduled 3-week trip in July. It malfunctioned from the get-go!!!]
Let's see! Can I now recall all the ways? (1) The "C" button, to backspace/erase an erroneous letter entered when spelling a location, didn't function either at all or with significant delay. (2) Four of the "letter keys" used for spelling were so sensitive AND INACCURATE AND UNRELIABLE that words had to be re-entered so often that it became easier to simply refer to a printed atlas for directions. Couple this with (1) above, and "Ms. Nuvi" proved to be a nightmare. (3) At one point "Ms. Nuvi" instructed me to continuously drive around a six-block area within Charlottesville, VA four times, as "she" insisted a right-hand turn by a certain name existed; instead, I was directed down a dead-end lane into a private driveway or otherwise destined to drive in circles forever.
So I wrote to Amazon asking for guidance in returning it. Instead, I received this customer survey. I'm still waiting for an appropriate response.
So, next time I think I'll stick with Best Buy. At least I can find my way there and back--without Nuvi's help!
MK
I absolutely love, love, love my Garmin GPS. After using it almost 2 months I have found that for the money you can't beat it! $199 no tax and no shipping is great. It does everything I need, speaks the name of the street before you get to a street to give you plenty of notice but is not annoying. If you go a different way it will recalculate or you can hit the detour button.
It is easy to see and easy to hear if you need audio instructions, lots of time if I have someone with me I will mute it and just look at the screen. The only thing I would change is I wish it had a mute button right on top that was easy to access as opposed to having to go in to adjust the mute/unmute but that is minor. It is so easy to use I never have downloaded the directions, it was simple and I never had used a GPS before. It was easy to download the new map from my computer as well. The only thing I have noticed is when I am doing a search for shopping or a restaraunt, sometimes new locations are not listed and old locations that have closed a couple of years ago are still listed. I am not sure if I need to buy something to update that or if it goes away in time. The 350 absolutely has everything you need for the money.
[+]
8.0
Easy to use, very reasonable price.
This is a simple product to use. As technical as something like this might be, they have done a good job of making it easily usable for even those who might be considered technically challenged. Once, this unit appeared to be dead, with a blank screen. I thought it had died but pushed the reset button on the rear and all was well.
[+]
8.0
Great help. No more maps for me.
The Garmin nuvi 350 works like a charm. Distinct, clear easy to follow directions. The hardware rates five stars but I've found a few inaccuracies in the directions, but nothing that was a problem. Great on the interstate highway when you run into a traffic jam. Just hop off at the first exit and the nuvi recalculates the route so that you can drive around it.
[+]
10.0
Excellent Auto GPS
After reading about numerous reviews and reserching I decided that the nuvi 350 had just what I wanted. After using it for the last month I could not be happier. I was able to update the software from the Garmin websight and also download the 2009 version of the map at no cost. I like the size of it. It fits right in my shirt pocket. The text to speech is nice to have and makes it easy to use. I don't even have to look at it when I drive. Just listen. As far as the MP3 player and photo downloading, its not something that I will use ofter but I do like to listen to books and this would be a great way of doing that. This is my third Garmin GPS. (The other two are for hiking). I think they make a great product with excellent support.
Prior to buying the Garmin 350, I had purchased the Street Pilot which I loved but was lost by my college bound daughter.
I have not had the 350 very long but I did make a couple of trips and the only complaint I would have is the sound of the voice is not anywhere as clear as the Street Pilot. With that being said, I do enjoy the fact that the streets are named which helps me navigate quite nicely.
Product came with ability to download 2009 map version (a useful feature) and many different language options (Australian, English and US English). However, cannot get airport locations just by typing in the three letter code (could not find Newark airport, just the Hilton hotel near it). Picks up GPS signal well; best at finding attractions within 50 miles of your location, otherwise get the address before you leave!
After using the Nuvi 350 for a few weeks, I have to say that I'm more than satisfied.
Pros: Remarkably simple to use. A quick read through the manual is all that's needed, the rest is fairly intuitive. The graphics and the map details are amazing, even the smallest "out-of-the-way" side streets are there. If you're looking for directions to a specific location and it doesn't show up on the Nuvi, then you're on the wrong planet! Nice, bright readable text, and I like the contrast change during night navigation.
Cons: Sometimes it seems to take quite a while to acquire the satellites. Once it just stalled and after several minutes I had to turn it off and then back on before it would pick up enough signals. When it's directing you to turn onto a road that has multiple route numbers, it occasionally uses the less common route number as the default, Highway 2 may travel east-west for 200 miles, and Highway 40 may join it for a 5 mile stretch, but the Nuvi may instruct you to "Turn left on Highway 40" when Highway 2 would make much more sense. I'm also amused when making an incorrect turn and the female voice says, "Recalculating..." Garmin must have hired my Mom for the job, she always sounds disappointed that you didn't follow her instructions. Maybe this is a pro instead of a con...it is mildly entertaining!
All in all, I'd recommend the Nuvi 350. It's my first experience with an automtive GPS and with the capability to load MP3 files, photos, and text-to-speech products like books and magazines, it's got more features than I'll ever use.
I've had more expensive units on rental cars that did not work well, but the nuvi 350 has been a great performer. The maps are excellent and the screen is very easy to see. Sometimes it does not provide enough warning of an upcoming turn, but overall this was well worth the money.
[+]
8.0
Greate price for the unit.
I have been looking for this unit and the price to drop and when it dropped to 199.99 and 30.00 off for first time purchase on the amazon credit card. I went for it. The device is a no brainer and very easy to use. only problem i had was when I set a course to a near by BJ, I gota totally different route returning home which kinda surprise me since I didnt change any settings at all such as "save time or shorter distance" either way If you do get lose or make a detoure, this unit recalcautes and is determine to take you home one way or another. I would be nice to have this unit update the map via statelite like your cell phone, , punch in a series of digits and it will download the maps for you. Great Deal!
