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: Great product, worth the price
Summary: 4 Stars
After a month of heavy usage and testing, I'd have to say this is the best automotive GPS unit I've used to date. I also tried the Garmin StreetPilot 2720 and Magellan RoadMate 760, and the nuvi is a much nicer overall package. The only physical buttons on the unit are the Power button and a Reset button, with all interaction with the unit done through the touchscreen. The nuvi is very simple to use, and even my folks, who are seriously techno-impaired, managed to take a 400-mile trip to Kansas City and back without incident.
+ The Good Stuff +
The design is sleek and stylish, putting other units to shame. Garmin's user interface is colorful and intuitive, and though the screen is a little small at 3.5" diagonal, the icons and graphics are scaled just right for easy reading. A neat feature is that the nuvi inverts the display after sunset, that is, dark text/graphics on light backgrounds becomes light text/graphics on dark backgrounds for better viewing.
Maps of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico are preloaded on the unit, and there's about 700MB left over for even more data to be loaded. In case you need more room, there's also a Secure Digital card slot on the side. Satellite signal reception is fantastic, and the high-sensitivity antenna really does its job. The unit locks onto satellites relatively quickly, but it can take quite a bit longer if you're moving, a problem other units share.
Routes are calculated quickly, and if you miss your turn the nuvi recalculates fast to get you back on track. You have the option to have the nuvi speak the directions, and the selection of female announcer voices is pleasing to the ear. Volume from the rear-mounted speakers is adequate, even at highway speeds.
The Points-of-Interest on the nuvi are quite comprehensive, covering a lot of things like hotels, gas stations, movie theaters, restaurants, and stores. There's a neat Favorites feature that lets you have one-touch access to locations you save (a lot of restaurants in mine).
Everything you need is included in the box, which is nice considering the amount of money you're spending on it. However, the manual (PDF) is only available as a download from Garmin's website.
The included suction-cup mount is nice and secure, though the cup needs a little cleaning from time to time to keep a nice seal going, especially if you move the nuvi between cars. On cars with steeply-sloped windshields it can sometimes be a pain to get the nuvi's antenna raised. Mounting it a little higher on the windshield helps a bit. You can also flip the mount around and put it so that the nuvi sits on the dashboard. This requires the use of a plastic disc, one side covered with semi-permanent adhesive and the other side smooth to provide a mounting surface for the suction cup.
- Not So Good -
My main concern with the nuvi is its internal rechargeable battery. Like all lithium-ion batteries, it has a finite lifespan, and with the nuvi's price pushing four figures, it's quite a problem if you can only use it plugged in after a few years.
You can only use one waypoint per trip, so if you had to make multiple stops on a route you would have to stop at your first destination and program a trip to the next one, instead of doing it in one fell swoop.
Battery life is merely decent, I've been spoiled a bit by built-in automotive GPS with always-on screens. The nuvi is adjustable to several backlight shutoff intervals, which prolong battery life significantly. With the screen always on and at 3/4 brightness, I got around 2 hours of usage. I may have to bite the bullet and put up with the cords to run it through the 12v power socket. The screen washes out a tad on bright days, and you really do need the backlight on to see anything.
Some of the points-of-interest information is a little out of date, as the nuvi had no entries for area restaurants built a couple of years ago and showed a Target in its old location before it was torn down and replaced with a SuperTarget a block away in 2001.
= Other Thoughts =
If you pick one of these up, make sure its firmware is up to date! You can grab the latest from Garmin's website and the update only takes a couple of minutes. The nuvi is snappier with the latest firmware, and several bugs I was going to write about in this review were addressed.
The nuvi is great as a navigational aid, but the extra features weren't of much use to me. They were nice to have, but a less expensive unit would have been better, considering dedicated tools are almost always better for the job. A currency converter is included, but you have to update the current exchange rate manually. The mp3 player works fine, but lacks the polish of a dedicated unit and the sound quality isn't as good as my iPod using the same headphones. Some may find the added goodies very much to their liking, but I think the nuvi excels at navigation and is merely okay at the other stuff.
The nuvi is worth the price, and being able to ditch the maps and have less stress on trips is most welcome. It's easy to use, well-designed, and works great. It's also packed with tons of features, and though not everyone will find a use for all of them, they're there if you need them. It's not quite perfect, but is pretty darn good and has earned a spot in my stable of gadgets.
Customer Review: Great Device BUT Outdated Maps AND Lousy Customer Service
Summary: 1 Stars
First of all, let me say that this is a great device. My low rating is because the unit comes with outdated maps. Althought Amazon says that "most" units come with the latest maps, that was not the case with my unit, purchased just a week ago. I would not have even realized that the maps were outdated if I had not read it in the user forum on this website.
Now for the details. The 350 (also the 360) has been discontinued. Presumably, that's why the maps are outdated. However, Garmin customer service could not (or would not) tell me which units come with the latest maps. If you buy a model that has not been discontinued, perhaps you will get the latest maps - who knows? The latest maps currently available are the 2009 version. To check your version, turn on the GPS, touch Settings, then Map, then Map Info at the bottom. My unit shows the 2008 version.
Whether or not the updated maps will affect you depends solely on where you use the unit. I did find that a nearby shopping center built 3 years ago was not reflected on the 2008 version. Even though we're still in 2008, the 2008 maps are at least a year old now.
On the other hand, the 350 sold for $300 a years ago and is now on Amazon for around $160. If having updated maps doesn't matter to you, go ahead and buy this unit. It's still a great unit at a good price. But, for me, if I'm going to buy something "new", I expect it to be up-to-date.
If you buy this unit, Garmin will provide the 2009 map update for "free". I think it normally costs $50 or $60. So, in theory, you can buy the unit with the old maps and update them with the latest version for free. DON'T COUNT ON IT!!!! When you register the product online at the Garmin website, it provides a link to download the "free" update. I'm fairly computer-savvy, and I was able to download the map update (also the latest firmware and operating system) with no problems, although it took a couple of hours. However, every time I tried to install the map update to my GPS unit, it made my computer freeze, and I had to turn off the power. After trying this twice, it made my computer unstable, and I ended up spending hours cleaning up the mess on my computer (ultimately by doing a safe boot and a system restore). I'm running Windows XP on a 3 year old computer. If you have Vista or more RAM, perhaps you won't have the problems I did - who knows? Unless you're an IT specialist, my strong advice is - DON'T DOWNLOAD THE MAP UPDATE ONTO YOUR COMPUTER.
You can get the map upgrade mailed to you on a DVD instead of downloading. I've requested the disk and will give it a try. If that doesn't work, I'm going to box up the thing and return it to Amazon. By the way, although Garmin customer service repeatedly insisted that the DVD was free, there is a $10 fee for "shipping and handling". Since a DVD can be mailed anywhere in the country for about a dollar, I think that's outrageous and told them so. Long story short, after asking to speak to a supervisor, I was told that the DVD would be mailed to me, free of charge. We'll see if I get it. If I get it, we'll see if it works.
To narrow it down, your options are as follow: 1. Buy the unit, and don't worry about the fact that the maps are at least a year old. 2. Buy the unit and pay $10 more to get the map update on DVD. 3. Buy the unit, download the map update, and waste several hours before accepting option 2 or 3.
Aside from the map situation, this is really a wonderful device. Although it may not select the most efficient route, it will get you from Point A to Point B. After doing some research and trying out the unit, I urge you to get a unit (such as the 350) with what they call "text to speech". This means that the unit gives you directions AND street names in audio. In other words, with text-to-speech, it tells you to "Turn right onto Main St in .2 miles" as opposed to "Turn right in .2 miles". With the latter, you will invariably miss your turn. Trust me on this. On Black Friday, units will be available for $125 or less, but I haven't seen one in this price range that includes "text to speech". Without it, the unit is worthless, and, in fact, DANGEROUS. Pay a little more and get this important feature. Otherwise, you will miss your turn, or you will try to follow the display, which is a great way to have an accident. The scary thing is: all the morons talking on their cellphones while driving are now even more distracted because they're playing with their GPS at the same time.
The 350 has a 3.5 inch screen (measured along the diagonal). Units with a W (such as the 260W, 205W, etc.) have a 4.3 inch screen, but they usually cost around $50 more. That extra display sounds nice, but I think it's unimportant. If you follow my advice and get a unit with text to speech, you will NEVER need to look at the unit while driving, so the screen size is really a non-issue. The smart money is to buy a 3.5 inch unit with text to speech. Amazon has a neat little grid that shows you the basic features on the different models.
One more thing: a well-known consumer testing magazine rated the 350 very highly in its June 2008 issue. The December 2008 again rates GPS units, but doesn't include the 350 (presumably becauses it's discontinued).
Customer Review: A great product that needs more work !!!
Summary: 4 Stars
REACTION AFTER 7 DAYS OWNERSHIP, April 10 2008
The Garmin Nuvi 350 is pretty damn good. However, it needs more work!
PROS: It's the most fun gadget since my first home computer, with a multitude of truly great features. Despite the 15 cons enumerated below, I'd buy this unit again. Even though the Nuvi 350 may mislead occasionally, it'll tell you how to recover from errors.
CONS: I've tested my Nuvi 350 in my home patch asking it to map routes I frequently take, so as to begin understanding its strengths and weaknesses. After seven days of use, I have reached the following conclusions. [1] The greatest weakness that I have yet identified is that the user cannot tell the Nuvi to avoid particular roads; after the Nuvi has plotted a particular route, it allows the user to see a list of all the road names; the Nuvi programmers should add in an option to allow the user to exclude any particular road; in my area this is important because several important highways are under reconstruction and very slow; [2] The Nuvi needs to avoid telling users to take illegal left turns. At my local Home Depot I asked my Nuvi 350 how to get home. It gave the right directions except for one major boo-boo: it wanted me to get on US Route 1 and get off at the nearest exit and then 0.1 miles later take a deeply illegal left turn, rather than get off at the second nearest exit and merge properly with traffic; the 350 gave me directions that would have shortened my distance but risked shortening my life or giving me a big fat traffic ticket; [3] It needs to show actual street names as well as route numbers, when both are competing with each other. In my area the 350 keeps giving County Route numbers that hardly anyone uses, and omits the street names that the rest of us use. For example it keeps saying "County Route 531" when it should be saying "Main Street -- aka County Route 531". Equally bad, the Nuvi keeps giving only street names when everyone uses route numbers, like instead of saying "State Highway 27" it keeps giving one of the many local street names taken by State Highway 27 as it meanders through Central New Jersey, such as Lincoln Highway, Middlesex Avenue, Georges Avenue, Lake Avenue, Essex Avenue, Raritan Avenue, to name a few, which are seldom used in everyday parlance; the only solution is to present both names in the text to speech and on the screen; [4.1] Sometimes the Nuvi is too late in telling me when to turn; also, when it gets close to a turn, it often gives poor estimates of distance: it will say 500 feet when in fact the turn is only 100 feet away; [4.2] sometimes the names of upcoming streets are not visible on the map until after one has passed them; (5) As another reviewer pointed out, the TomTom on its main map page tells the user well in advance whether the next turn is right or left, whereas on the nuvi 350, you have to go to a subsidiary page; this can be very important driving on multilane highways, where it's important to get into the correct lane early on; [6] In driving along local streets in Central New Jersey, about 20 per cent of the side street names did not show up at all, presumably reflecting slow updating or incomplete work by MapSource. [7] Garmin should follow TomTom in letting users notify the network whenever they see a road is out of service or the map is out of date; obviously there should be controls on this to defeat silly pranks, maybe via confirmation through local police or road departments; also, mark suspected blockages as "reported" until confirmed by credible witnesses; [8] I would like the option to constantly display the name of the street I am currently driving on, along with all the official names or route numbers of the street. [9] a really bad feature is that the battery is not replaceable: it seems that when the battery goes bad, throw your unit away; this is unlike the competing TomTom One, 3rd edition, which has cheaply replaceable batteries !! [10] The list of FAQs on the Garmin website is pathetically weak... only 10 questions answered. [11] I'd like a constantly available battery indicator; [12] There are two jacks on my Nuvi 350, that allow battery charging and also communication with a computer; the cigarette lighter cable links to either of these; so does the USB cable from the computer. It's not made quite clear whether it's okay to use either cable on either jack; [13] There's some flat out careless programming, where up/down scroll buttons are provided on pages where no scrolling is allowed; [14] The first part of the "Where to page" is a grab bag of high priority navigation icons (address, my locations, spell name) and low priority icons; (food, lodging, fuel). On page 2 of the "Where to" menu is a very high priority navigation icon, "Intersections", that ought to be on page 1.
Well, these are my observations after one week of ownership. In New Jersey, street signs are very often too small or are hidden by foliage, or faded, or else entirely absent, so that it is easy to get lost when traveling in unfamiliar territory. I expect my 350 to be a valuable partner with MapQuest in keeping me reasonably efficient in getting from A to B. I would prefer perfection, but it will be enough to avoid becoming disastrously lost as has happened several times in the past.
Customer Review: Make Sure it's a NEW Unit!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm sure many have great reviews with this GPS. However let me say that when it arrived, the first we noticed that there was a scratch on the top of the GPS. Opening the box, we noticed the bags were torn open, and then taped closed. Plus the one adapter is missing.
Plugging it in and trying it, there was no "initial setup" as the instructions state! However the history and previous saved locations were all from a location in Southern California (I won't list the address of the residence, but it's on there)! But the initial setup location is -set as HOME and is an address in southern California is on it (full address)!!!
What I can positive say is that indoors it got full satellite signals! And this is on the first floor of a two story house, NOT near a window but in the center of the room, or even laying on the bed (center of room far from a window and a full floor above plus attic).
One thing I don't care for is how the antenna must be opened (flipped up to get GPS signals) as it's just one more thing that can break off. And although there are a lot of POI (Points Of Interest) (6 million) keep in mind some of the hotels and such may be "bottom line" (that is one you would not want to take your children/family to. One hotel that's in my town is "bottom line" (used for prostitution and druggies a lot and people arrested as read in the newspaper) and is listed as a POI. Also it lists a homeless shelter as a "hotel" in the city! So careful on those POI. 6 Million are a lot, but how good are the POI? Out of town people will not know local knowledge. So the AAA rated POI on Magellan are looking better and better. The last thing I want after a long days trip is to settle down and have drunks howling through the halls all night long!
Amazon was very nice and will give a refund upon return! We do a LOT of business with amazon and we've never had something purchased as NEW, used like this. It makes me think someone purchased it, used it for a trip and then sent it back in for a refund! Looks like one trip saved was from CA to the midwest.
I don't know if there is a reason why these Garmin 350 are so reduced (many are opened or such)? We're now going with the Magellan Maestro 3140.
And the unit is very small. It's good if you want to slip it into a pocket or such (and a small bag comes with it to prevent scratches. But I can see it getting lost easily if you put it in a large handbag. Compare the side to two packs of baseball cards.
It does come with all the extras you'd normally pay for. That is a home AC charger/adapter, a DC car charger/adapter (although the DC are now more standard with units), and a nice little bag to put it in and it slides in/of the bag easily (not one of those bags that you push and pull stuff in and out of it, and the bag has an outside slot for something slim like a credit card or such.
It is rated Number 2 in October 2007 "Consumer Reports Magazine" (or online you can read it at their site) for the best GPS units. Second only to the Garmin Nuvi 360.
If you're "tech geek" you'll love the feature of touch the satellite bars in the upper LEFT corner and it'll show you the satellites that are directly over your head, also where the current sun & moon (icons) are to you and they move east/west (the sun/moon)! Satellites are all numbered and it gives your coordinates and how accurate your position is to the satellites! Says how strong each satellite signal is to you, and the elevation. This is all in the manual online in more detail.
It may well indeed be that we got a bad (used) unit. But look at your hometown and you'll see the good places and the "seedy" ones, and understand the "seedy" ones will be in the POI as well (making 6 million). If you want that after a long days trip, then great, but I don't.
I did want to give it a try (on batteries as NO cables were in the computer other than the USB! So near us one bridge is closed and you have to go around downtown to get around it all. No matter what I tried, as in getting a different route, detour, or even turning it on and off again it kept telling me to cross a bridge that is closed work! However we got the Magellan Maestro 3140 and hit Detour where we could not close and bang, it hit the right route in a matter of seconds.
Comparing the Magellan Maestro 3140 and the Garmin Maestro 3140:
Garmin Nuvi 350:
-Lists Churches as POI
-Only Fast and Closest Route Options. If a bridge/tunnel, etc. is closed, it will not give another route.
Magellin Maestro 3140:
-Asks you for each route four different types (fastest, most use of highway, etc.). And reroutes fast!
-Comes on automatically each time you plug in the AC/DC adapter.
- Re-Routes much better and faster and allows you to reroute in advance (say you know a road is closed up ahead).
My advice, make sure what you get is indeed new! And watch the POI
Customer Review: close, but not as good as tomtom, or etrex (made by garmin)
Summary: 3 Stars
Executive Summary: TomToms and Garmins are both very good products, but after trying both I found the Garmin lacking because:
- the Garmin was only minimally configurable
- because of the minimal configuration there is no way on a route with the nuvi to see all of: current speed; ETA; compass; map; distance left to destination; distance to next turn; direction of turn... all at the same time. While it may not be critical to see ALL of this information at once, I consider it minimally critical to see at least: distance to next turn; type of turn; and current speed; along with the map. There is no way to do this with the nuvi.
REVIEW:
I have now owned 5 TomTom gps's (liked them enough to give out three as gifts). Recently when one of our tomtoms was stolen from our car I decided it was time to try the competition. I'd lusted after this nuvi 350 for a long time but could never justify its initial $700+ price tag.
Consider this not so much a review as much as a comparison of some features between TomTom and Garmin (and, tangentially, Garmin eTrex), and how Garmin, in my opinion, has delivered a product with a fatal flaw in its design, a flaw I'm surprised not pointed out by any other reviewers (at least none I've seen).
Garmin's nuvi 350 (and all of their car navigation systems based on manuals I've downloaded and perused) show only two pieces of trip information, neither configurable, on the bottom corners of map view. On the bottom left, "time of arrival" is displayed if you are currently on a route. If you are not, the current speed displays. The bottom right of the screen shows distance to next turn (but not what kind of turn it is). If you're not on a route, the bottom right shows direction.
(To be more complete, you can have the name of the next street to turn on in the bar at the top, and the street you're on at the bottom of the map.)
That's it! Nothing configurable.
Now consider the TomTom. On all of their models you can define data fields to display on the map screen, including: speed, ETA, compass (with various options), distance remaining, etc. In addition, the TomTom always shows distance to next turn, and icons describing the type of turn (offramp left, right hand turn, jog, etc.).
When I'm traveling, the most critical pieces of information I want on the screen include: speed; distance to next turn; direction of turn; ETA. TomTom gives me that.
Garmin gives me that, but only spread among multiple screens with no configurable option to see all at once. The Garmin is a nice enough unit I initially thought I could work around or live with the "flaw", but after my first trip using it I was highly frustrated. With Garmin, the best I got was: the map screen, including ETA, and distance to next turn. If I wanted the type of turn, I had to touch the screen.
If you want current speed while on a route, you must touch the ETA info to take you to Garmin's trip info screen -- a very nice screen with cool information including: distance traveled since last reset; max speed; current speed; overall avg speed; moving avg speed; total time; total time moving; total time stopped; and direction of travel. These are all very nice pieces of information, but I also want to see the map (which you don't on this screen), AND more importantly, I STILL want to see how far until the next turn, and what that turn is. There is NO way to get this information for this screen.
I found myself compromising and selecting the screen that caused me the least pain for the duration. I have since returned my Garmin.
An interesting aside: Garmin's eTrex, a portable unit more designed around the notion of hiking and walking, has virtually all of the features of the nuvi (and their other car navigation units) except for voice prompts. AND you CAN configure data fields for virtually any eTrex display. I momentarily considered going that route (he-he) but really wanted to stay with voice prompts. I am now back to my old favorite, the TomTom.
To briefly summarize:
Garmin nuvi 350:
Pros: virtually every pro described in other reviews.
Cons: cannot configure "view map" screen to display what I think are critical information: current speed (while on a route -- not even an option); distance to next turn (including what type of turn that is); compass (while on a route -- not even an option); ETA; clock (not even an option); and distance remaining (not even an option).
Trip info screen contains useless information (in my opinion), and gives no option to display trip information I deem useful (even though it is readily available somewhere internal to the Garmin).
I give this unit a 3 star rating, because I'm sure many will not find the missing screen information critical, but if any of you out there are long time TomTom users, and are considering trying Garmin, consider long and hard before you jump ship.