Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Our Price: $25.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Mostly Postive; Some Room for Improvement
Summary: 4 Stars
After much research and deliberation I decided to go in for a nuvi 350 - mainly because we had a road trip coming up very soon (Pittsburgh and West Virginia).
I'm no stranger to GPS systems - had an in-dash Pioneer AVIC-N1 (DVD player + GPS) nearly four years ago, so I already knew a little bit about these things.
Let's start at the beginning:
Ordering: Ordered via Amazon Prime near end of August, and it got to my place promptly with no problems.
Packaging: Area for great improvement. The current setup is incredibly dangerous to the health of the product since it sits on top of the inner "bridge" cardboard section with NO protection AT ALL. If something heavy were to fall on it or if the box were to fall down head first, there's no telling what'd happen to the money you just spent.
Also, the type of packaging they use does not easily convince you that the product is brand new - but the clean and undisturbed packing of the other components helps you relax knowing that it's indeed fresh off the conveyor belt.
What's inside: AC charger; USB cable; Mounting hardware; nuvi; Car charger; basic getting started manual; case; CRITICAL documents with unlock codes - KEEP EVERYTHING. Do not throw anything away (make copies of the various codes just to be safe)
REGISTER your unit on [...] right away! It's a good way to backup your unlock keys.
Map: 2008 (v9) but be sure to check your version. If it's older, contact Garmin without delay to see if you're eligible for an update to the 2008 maps.
Interface and features: Extremely usable, very simple and effective. As soon as you power it up you can guess your way around with no issues. Very clean, uncluttered distribution of icons.
A simple "Where To" button takes you to a list of ways you can input your destination - from direct address to coordinates to custom POIs to lodging, fuel, attractions, entertainment, food etc. Great!
I found it so easy to use I never read the manual (you need to download the real manual from their website; a small manual is in the box but it's basic). However, the 'real' manual is not very good and misses out on some cool features that the nuvi can do (such as giving you directions from place A to place B when you are actually in place C so you can test drive the directions in advance).
The ability to load custom POI files (Points of Interest) is very much appreciated since the internal database can be erroneous or can miss entries. You can also set up alerts (for cameras, speed limits etc). Just check out
gpspassion.com and poi-factory.com for more information. You can also use it for GeoCaching.
We recently did a road trip in and around Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and I must say we were thoroughly impressed. Except for a couple of cases where the GPS hiccuped thinking we were on the freeway when we were actually on a parallel road (it quickly corrected itself), the entire trip was BEYOND painless. The unit very quickly determines when you've not followed its guidance and recalculates right away. In my case the time to recalculate was anywhere from 4 seconds to 15 seconds based upon the terrain and speed.
You don't have to follow its directions if you know another way along your journey, but it'll keep trying to bring you back to its calculated route for some time, so in that case you can hit the "Stop" button to stop the guidance. You can also hit "Detour" to get another route in case the current one has too much traffic or construction issues.
You can also listen to MP3, view pictures, play audio books - none of which we really intend to do, but these features are there if you need them.
One of the best features the nuvi sports is called TTS - Text to Speech. Meaning, instead of saying "Turn right in 300 feet" it'll tell you the actual street name -- "Turn right on xxxx street in 300 feet."
In unfamiliar areas, this feature is a Godsend! It helped me several times because streets in Pittsburgh can be VERY tricky. Many of them do not have streetlights (a nightmare at nighttime), and in some cases the streets fork into 3 sections, and the forks are so treacherous you have no idea what street you are on. But fear not - the nuvi will tell you when you are wrong and how to fix it. This feature alone is worth buying the nuvi.
You can also fine-tune the routing algorithm by selecting "Faster time" or "Shorter distance" - but be warned, preview the route and ensure you're getting what you want. A quick check on Google maps or Yahoo maps won't hurt. In fact, during my road trip in the backroads of WV, I had an AAA map just in case.
Here I'd like to strongly recommend that you should not trust the GPS system blindly. Use plain old logic and common sense. Make sure you at least have a map of the state if not individual cities. You don't want a problem with the unit when you're driving in the middle of the night on deserted country roads and not have a backup!
Satellite Acquisition: Satellite acquisition for the first time may take anywhere from 5 seconds (in my case) to more than a minute (according to some GPS forums). Thereafter it should be faster but can get slow if you're around tall buildings/trees, with overcast/cloudy skies, and if your car has a coated windshield that apparently prevents GPS signals from getting in.
In general expect boot-up time (from hitting the power button to be able to use it) to be around 30 seconds. I wish it were faster but it's how it is.
Support: Garmin customer support is stellar - if you have strong hands and a lot of patience. Or, you can always email them. I found them to be more than helpful and knowledgeable.
Improvements suggested:
Have a hardware volume button rather than a software type
Make it easier to calculate hypothetical routes (it's a HUGE pain right now to do it)
Use better speakers (while the current one is tinny but serviceable, it'd be great if they could put in higher-quality speakers)
Reduce boot time and satellite acquisition time
Implement ability to insert multiple waypoints (you can only do one, but in the latest model - the 7xx you can do multiple, I think)
Provide ability to fast-forward a simulated route (it's real-time and I don't know of a way to speed it up; please post the solution if there is one)
Make the mounting hardware and cables more compact -- they can get very bulky and unwieldy even though the unit is tiny in comparison
Improve packaging
Change order of address entry: street first then number (that way you cannot put in incorrect numbers as each street has a fixed range of addresses)
Overall recommendation: Get it.
Customer Review: My wife is in LOVE!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
And it took an electronic device. LOL.
OK, here is the deal. This product is as good as any GPS I have ever used or seen. It is small and easily carried with you wherever you go (something most of them can't do at all). It can be used in any vehile (caveat, you do not get multiple mounts, but extra mounts can be purchased for $25), and even has pedestrian and bicycle modes. ABOVE ALL it is easy to use, thanks to good software and an excellent touch screen, although a getting started manual would have helped me enormously.
The thing is great at telling you what to do and where to go. There are no second guesses. It says take a right, it highlights the turn graphically and it even tells you the road or route you are turning onto verbally, something most GPS's are missing. Instead of "turn right in .02 miles", you get "turn on to Vista Drive in .02 miles". It even has some landmarks that comfort you along the way.
On of the best features is something my wife experienced on a trip to NY. She is not familiar at all with the roads here on the east coast and was taking a rather long drive to NY to a hotel we had never stayed at. Along the way, she managed to mess up and miss one turn. For her, that could have been a major hassle. I mean, you know what it is like. I have spent as much as an hour getting back on track when I was lucky. Even more time was lost when I wasn't lucky because of detours or road work. One detour in California took me over two hours to recover from on what was originally a 1/2 hour trip. Other GPSs do this too, but this one seems incredibly adept and efficient at it.
When she missed her turn, the system immediately recognized it and redirected her. She lost about five minutes for her goof and didn't have to ask directions or even pause in her travels.
In NY, she used it repeatedly in pedestrian mode to find where she was going. And it worked like a charm even in the confines of all the buildings in NY.
OK, my complaints are why it doesn't get a 5 star rating. Read them closely, because there are ways around a couple of them, but that said, I don't think ANY GPS would get 5 stars from me.
1. There is no "getting started" manual, although it is referenced by Garmin in one of their manuals, it doesn't exist in the package or on the website. All such a manual (which could be one page long) has to say is how to get it working the first time. I will tell you after this how to work around it, but I think it results in a number of these devices being returned in frustration.
2. It does sometimes get confused about the best route. Don't get me wrong, it will get you there and will show you exactly where you are. But when I use it on roads I know, it often isn't optimal. For example, it wanted me to take a road I knew had 10 traffic lights instead of an open freeway in one instance. Or it told me to drive a half a mile out of my way when the left turn onto the highway I wanted was right in front of me.
3. Detour mode is great if there really is a detour. But I accidentally hit this once and there does not appear to be a way to turn it off. I found this incredibly annoying on one trip because I knew it was the best route, but needed details at the end of the trip and the GPS was trying to send me every way but the right way because I accidentally clicked a button. :-(
4. It has an emulation mude allowing it to pre-navigate a trip for you. I thought this would be an INCREDIBLY useful feature. You could practice a complex route before you actually took the trip. But it works at real speed. So emulating a four hour trip would indeed take, well, four hours. Silly indeed. Great for sales demos, but useless for the customer. If someone knows a way around this, it would be a great thing to tell folks.
5. The battery is not customer replacable.
OK, so how do you work around 1? You charge the battery, you go outside to use it the first time under an open sky, and you give it at least five minutes to acquire the satellite positions. It won't work on your couch in the living room unless you are very lucky. It needs at least 3-4 satellites to triangulate your position, and I couldn't get more than one indoors. Outside, it picks up more than enough satellites to get the job done. Oh, and dont' forget to open the antenna. :-)
How about working around 2? Live with it, it is a factor of the mapping software. It ain't perfect, but it is great when you get lost. That one wrong turn is easily corrected. When you are in an unfamiliar area, it really doesn't matter if you use the perfect route anyway in most cases, just that you got there safely. And add to that you always know where you are, and you have something worth every penny. It truly kills the stress factor of driving in an unfamiliar area.
Now 3 is a problem. Don't use the detour feature unless you are absolutely sure you need to take an actual detour. It takes you literally that the route is detoured, and the only way I could find to work around it was to restart the entire trip over from your current location. Something annoying while driving on the highway if you don't have another person in the car to reset it.
For 4, there is no workaround I have found. It makes this mode useless for only the shortest of trips.
For 5, again, you have no workaround. You will have to take it in for service if the battery wears out. IPODs have a similar issue though, so I am used to that. Battery life appears to be 4-6 hours. So when I use it around town or on short trips, I don't even bother to use the cigarette ligher adapter.
Conclusion: Awesome unit. Wins every comparative review I have found. Works great. And gives you peace of mind for you and your family in your travels.
Customer Review: Wonderful, with a few bugs
Summary: 5 Stars
We've owned the Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS system for about 3 months now, and used it in Minneapolis and Boston, the cross-country drive, and on several business trips. There are 3 primary users of the system. We spent a lot of time researching the tradeoffs among GPS systems. We selected this one because it seemed to meet our needs the best.
(Pros) In general we love this gadget. It finds the satellites quickly, has a good database of places to go, finds good routes, announces turns nicely, etc.
We love its form factor - it does fit in your pocket, just as the advertisements claim. The display is bright and large enough to see while driving. The antenna does a great job of maintaining satellite signal. The suction-cup mount works well most of the time, and transfers nicely from car-to-car. The interface is intuitive. When listening to a book/music, it pauses playback before announcing driving directions, & then rewinds a couple of seconds. I love being able to just put my finger on the screen and move the map around, and also to specify "go here" just by pointing to the place without needing the address. We really like the time estimates to your destination.
(Cons) I'm guessing that this list of cons will be true for any GPS system of this size, so take them as a list of suggestions for software enhancements. The fact that software updates are available online is nice; I look forward to seeing what gets fixed.
The biggest irritation is the automatic zoom. It *always* zooms out too far. I think the algorithm decides to zoom out to show the entire next segment (till the next turn). Often that means your car is displayed much, much larger than anything useful on the map. It doesn't seem to matter what distance you're travelling, the zoom-out is too far. For example, I've had a 400-mile segment displayed in a 2-inch wide window. Getting mile-long displays in a neighbourhood means you can't see the upcoming intersections. All of us will consistently hit the zoom-in button 3 or 5 times after every turn. We think the decision should probably be based on the density of roads/intersections.
Occasionally, when a highway splits in two directions, you get a reasonably long distance of them running in parallel before actually separating. The Nuvi algorithm seems to "prefer" to assume that you are on the correct path, and occasionally won't warn you that you are in the wrong lane before it's too late to make the correction. If the zoom factor were corrected, you'd be able to see these nuances in the route, and self-correct... but it would be better to relax the "magnet" factor in these cases. (This problem is much more serious in Boston than the other places we've driven.)
When searching for "where to", the system lists all the locations and approximate distance/direction from where you currently are. I would really like the map to be able to display these icons on the screen... for example, driving on a long highway route, I'd like to know which upcoming towns have gas stations. I don't want the planner to plan a route to these locations, I'd just like to be able to see ones that are "near" my future route.
When you go to "map explore" mode (moving the map around), it is sometimes too quick to assume that you wanted to go to that point (rather than drag the map). Up pops a yes/no window asking whether you want the point added as a waypoint. If you say "yes", then it adds a waypoint while leaving the final destination the same. If you say "no", it makes that point your final destination and recalculates the route. This menu desperately needs a "cancel" button.
I would LOVE to have an "avoid this place" menu item. This would be useful for intersections that you know are bad for traffic, or under (long term) construction. It's really irritating to have it generate the same route over and over again when you know you won't be able to follow it.
I would like to be able to add to (or correct) the main database. The only way to add to the database is to call something a favourite. However, sometimes a store is missing or the name spelled incorrectly, and you really don't want to "clutter" up your favourites list. (I also think that Garmin should use this information to update their maps; users could easily upload data.)
While the database of landmarks is large, the "search" for items is a little weak. For example, I would like it to grey out letters of invalid keys, i.e. I type "Q" and the only available letter is "U". As another example, I haven't found a way to search for wild cards. This is particularly irritating for places like "KMart" (or is it "K-Mart", or "K--Mart")? (There is a hyphen that doesn't match the dash.) You also get strange situations with numbered highways. I've also had a few times when someone said "the restaurant is just a few blocks down, at the corner of Main and Broadway;" I assume (incorrectly) that it's in the same town, and Nuvi can't find it. I'd like it to suggest the "nearby" options.
The estimate of time to destination is extremely accurate for highway driving, but the algorithm isn't too bright about predicting red lights. (We've learned to "round up" appropriately.)
Finally, it doesn't have the bicycle routes in its database. This feature would be a huge bonus.
After 6 months of use, the "on/off" switch stopped working: that meant we couldn't adjust volume or use it without the car's electric system. BestBuy replaced it without question under their extended warranty plan.
The software has been updated since we originally bought the unit. The most significant change that it shows your current lat/long. However, not one of my complaints has been addressed! Rather disappointing.
Customer Review: My Trusty Travel Companion
Summary: 5 Stars
I used iGuidance 1.0 for the Pocket PC for over 4 years before I got the Garmin nüvi. I loved the iGuidance but the Garmin nüvi blew me away!
Accuracy
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The nüvi is very accurate; it has yet to fail to bring me to my destination. However, I've encountered a few instances where an address or road wasn't in the nüvi database (I have the 2009 maps). In such cases, your best bet would be to simply enter an adjacent or nearby location into the nüvi.
Directions
The software lets you know how far ahead your next turn is when you're within between about .1 to .5 miles. It says something like "In .1 miles, turn left onto Broadway" and a few hundred feet before your turn, it omits the information on the distance before your turn and simply says "Turn left onto Broadway." I wish it used feet instead of miles when specifying distances .2 mile (1056 ft) or less but it's a minor complaint.
The software gives you the directions for two successive turns that are very close together (say, 300 feet apart) all at once to make sure you have ample time to respond to the second turn that immediately follows the first. For example, "Take exit 70, then keep left", or "Turn right, then immediately turn left."
However, it may occasionally notify you of a turn a little late, which results in you missing the turn. Thankfully, this doesn't happen very often. If you do miss a turn, however, the software recalculates a new route very quickly (within a couple of seconds)!
Auto-Off/Resume Function
My Garmin is a permanent fixture in my car. I leave the car adapter permanently hooked up to the unit. What I really love about it is it automatically turns off when the external power supply is lost. What this translates to is whenever I turn off my car engine, the unit automatically shuts itself off. When I start my car, the unit automatically fires back up. It gets better - it remembers your set destination when it turns back on and resumes giving you directions to your destination. This feature is handy for when I need to fill up on gas midway to a destination. After I'm done filling up my tank, I start my car, at which point the GPS unit fires back up and immediately resumes giving me directions to my destination. Very cool! This makes the Garmin nüvi the perfect In-Car GPS solution!
Data Entry
The keys for entering addresses into the nüvi are arranged alphabetically from A-Z, not in a QWERTY format. Personally, I find the tedium of having to hunt for letters in the A-Z format a real inconvenience and annoyance!
Lock It
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You can lock your nüvi with a 4-digit PIN. The package comes with 2 decals that state that your GPS unit is secured with a security code to deter would-be thieves from stealing the unit.
Text-To-Speech
The text to speech still sounds like it comes from a synthesized voice but it's perfectly intelligible.
Nice Extras
- SD card Slot
Since the unit can serve as an MP3 Player and a photo viewer, it has an SD card slot allows you to load mp3 and photos (JPEG) onto the unit.
- MP3 Player
The MP3 Player is very basic. It has shuffle and repeat track/playlist. The unit will only read mp3 files in the root directory of the SD card; it will not read mp3 files that are in a folder. It will, however, read playlist (pls) files, which can have their source from one or more folders / sub folders. There are other limitations to the mp3 player:
(i) you cannot delete tracks
(ii) you cannot arrange/edit your playlists
To edit/delete your tracks or playlists, you will need to do so in your computer, mobile device, or music device.
- Picture Viewer
You can load your photos via the SD card slot and view it on the screen.
nüvi 350 vs. nüvi 360
The only difference between the nüvi 350 and the nüvi 360 is the nüvi 360 has Bluetooth for connecting your cell phone whereas the nüvi 350 doesn't.
Alternatives
I would really recommend the Garmin nüvi 765/765T 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic instead. The nüvi 765/765T has *live* traffic (it comes with a traffic receiver and a *free* lifetime traffic subscription) - it factors in current traffic conditions and routes you accordingly. It has a built-in FM transmitter so you'll be able to listen to the voice directions (and music, if you choose to use the included MP3 player) through the stereo/surround-sound speakers in your car. It also has bluetooth and a host of other features. Here's the clincher - it costs half as much as the nüvi 350 sold here!
Conclusion
The Garmin nüvi is a very affordable In-Car GPS Solution. Apart from the cumbersome interface (A-Z keys) for entering your destination, I really don't have very much else to complain about it. As good as the nüvi 350 is, I would strongly recommend the nüvi 765/765T instead. It has many, many more features than the nüvi 350 and costs half as much!
Customer Review: A TRUE STORY...
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm sure you're all aware of the new GPS craze that has taken the country by storm, and if you're aware of that then I'm sure you're all conscious of the present war between the GPS manufactures that is taking place. Customers of these products all seem to have different opinions about which is the better GPS, the two most prominent names being TomTom & Garmin. My friends and I decided to find out personally which is the better GPS for North America by taking both the TomTom One (New Edition) and the Garmin Nuvi 350 for a two week drive across the country.
Having accumulated four weeks of vacation time at my job (and being forced to take at least two weeks off this year because of the extensive vacation time I've built up) my brother-in-law and I decided to put our two GPS products to the ultimate test. He (the owner of the Garmin 350) and I (with the TomTom One) set out to end all disputes about which is the better GPS once and for all.
We routed out all our stops the night before and this is where we ran into the first problem. The Garmin 350 lacks any itinerary planning system. I was able to program into the TomTom One all the destinations on our cross-country voyage from start to finish. My brother-in-law had to use a Rand McNally road atlas. We both got a good laugh about this and both agreed this was a definite plus for the TomTom One.
The next morning we headed out. Our first stop the wonderful city of Chicago, which is about a three hour drive from our hometown. We both turned on our GPS units and waited to acquire a satellite signal. My TomTom One is programmed with the latest maps form Tele-Atlas and has all the latest updates form the TomTom website so I was able to acquire a satellite signal within 25 seconds where as the Garmin 350 took about a minute and a half. Not really that big of deal but when you're conducting a test between two GPS systems everything counts.
Our routes were calculated in about the same time and we were off. The Garmin 350 has the ability to pronounce street names (text-to-speech) so it was a little easier to watch the road while driving. The TomTom One still tells you where to turn when approaching new road but only tells you whether it is a right or left turn. So the driver has to watch the TomTom's screen to ensure he or she is making the proper turn. The Garmin 350 wins in this category.
We noticed on our drive that Garmin 350 gave us a route that would have taken about 15 minutes longer than the TomTom One's directions. Also, once we got to the city the Garmin lacked several streets in it's database we wanted to visit. We then compared the Point Of Interest databases in both devices. They both scored fairly low in this category. The Garmin 350 only located 5 out of the 10 points of interest we entered where the TomTom One located just 6 out of 10.
We left Chicago for New York and noticed again the Garmin 350 gave us a longer route than the TomTom One. This time roughly 60 minutes out of the way. Not very reassuring. Once in New York we decided to visit some family & friends, the address database in the Garmin 350 is extensive but not as accurate as the TomTom One. We visited an old high school friend in Brooklyn, the Garmin 350 recognized the address but was about two blocks off when navigating there. The TomTom One located the same address in it's database and was able to navigate us within 30 yards of it. Out of the 7 different street addresses we visited in New York the TomTom One had trouble locating only 1 where as the Garmin couldn't find 4. It was about this time my brother-in-law smirked at me and said, "Wanna trade?"
On to Texas to visit some filming locations used in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." We ran into some road construction on the way there and had to use several detours. The Garmin 350 hiccupped several times during our alternate routes and became very confused. It attempted to recalculate a route for us but stalled. Eventually it did manage to get a route for us but it ran us in a circle and took us back to the road construction we were attempting to get away from. The TomTom One recalculated routes very quickly, the alternate routes it gave us were accurate, and got us to our destination much faster. It was about this time we noticed the Garmin was having trouble determining the turns on our route. Sometimes telling us to turn left only after the turn had already been made.
We spent four total days in Texas before heading to Southern California. The traffic on Los Angles freeways is frantic making it extremely easy to miss your exit. Several times on the route the Garmin Nuvi 350 thought we were on a different road then we were actually on. It quickly realized it's mistake and began to recalculate it's route. The only problem, while in the middle of recalculating (for quit a lengthy amount of time) we missed a key freeway exit.
All in all we were both surprised by how lacking the Garmin Nuvi 350 is compared to the TomTom One. When we started this little adventure we thought both products would have their ups and downs but in the end be close. This was just not so. My brother-in-law has since exchanged his Garmin Nuvi 350 for a TomTom One. After our cross-country road test and at nearly $200.00 less it seems the more logical choice.