Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
|
Our Price: $48.90 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
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: What to say more? If you don't own one, buy one now
Summary: 5 Stars
I wait for over a year for the price to drop to about $400 and finally bought it. But after using it, I wish that I would have not been so thrifty and paid $600 for it a year before. Because it could have save me so much time and best of all, countless times of argument with my wife on the road ! Can't put a price on that. Now travel is so worry free. Once you get onto a highway, driving is really easy but for me the difficulty is to get the correct exists and to navigate in a strange town. And for that purposes, the nuvi does flawlessly. Maybe I was lucky but the Nuvi has never ever guided me on nonexistent roads. But it once in a while leads me to nonexistent stores or restaurants. This POI (point of interest) database fault and it is the same for every GPS out there (but the nuvi has the most POIs). So one advice: if you are in a new town, call the phone number of the POI address to verify the address before you go. But as long as you have a correct address, the nuvi will get you there.
Another comment on the suction mount: the mount is excellent, it is strong and easy to use. You do not need to buy any extra mount and you don't need the bean bag either. Some may not realize that to release the mount out, they need to pull the little clip on the side. And to lock the mount, you have to push the clip. The mount works really great and maybe Garmin should include some even easier/bigger instructions in the package (they already have a booklet, maybe some do not read the instruction carefully). Also, I find it is much better to mount it on the round plate (included in the box) instead of the wind shield: it does not block view much as mounting on the windshield and further, the suction is even stronger on the plate.
What I like: talking street name (a must), large POIs, clean user interface.
What I think can be improved: announcement of turning a little bit earlier.
Tips: you can implement the new feature "where's my car, dude?" as in the newer nuvi 7xx by saving the location of the garage/car when you get out as a favorite location (save this location).
Another tip is that you can dim the screen in normal mode to save power so the battery lasts longer.
There are not many electronic products out there that make me as happy as the nuvi. I bought a flat TV and it is only an enhancement over my existing TV. Or my newer cellphone is an enhancement of the old one. But the nuvi gives a completely different usefulness that I don't have before when I travel. Strongly recommend if you don't have one.
Customer Review: Meets or exceeds my expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
The unit was shipped promptly from Amazon and arrived on time and in good shape. It was very easy to setup and get going. Quite a bit of thought has gone into the user interface and it is surprisingly easy to use. The graphics are sharp and visible in all lighting conditions. Unlike a few others, I find the voice prompts to be loud enough and easy to understand.
Here are the things I really like:
- Always displays time to destination.
- It's easy to find nearby food, gas, stores, and entertainment.
- If I decide to go a way that is different from what it recommends, it is amusing to hear it say in a slightly condesending tone: "recalculating".
- It seems to lock in on satellites reasonably quickly and keeps the lock.
- It handles favorite destinations pretty well and they are easy to set.
- It looks sleek and doesn't take up much room.
- The touch screen works well. There is even some tactile feedback when the speaker beeps when you press a button. It vibrates a bit and this seems to give nice positive feedback when you touch a button.
- Despite my fears, updating the software from my mac wasn't a problem. It mounts like a usb drive and I can put stuff on it without much trouble.
I don't have much to complain about but I do have a couple of quibbles:
- It would be nice if current altitude was included in its trip statistics display.
- If I know where I am going, it would be nice to have a simple button to turn off the voice prompts. It is possible to turn them off but you have to go to a preferences page (it is not a trip specific switch).
- Similarly, it would be nice to have a simple way to switch between 2D and 3D views from the trip view pages.
- Searching for addresses can be quite slow. I realize it is pawing through a lot of stuff but there you go.
- When looking for attractions, it would be nice to increase the search radius. If you are looking for a concert hall, it gives you those within about 10-20 miles of your current position. Sometimes the place is 50 miles away and you have to use the slow database search instead of the fast attraction search.
Nonetheless, these are only minor quibbles. The unit works well in practice and I think it is a good buy now that there are other more advanced models that have pushed its price down a bit. Note that I don't use all of the features. I can't comment on the music/book player, the traffic system, or the translation/travel guide, or the picture viewer. I haven't used them.
Customer Review: Best All in One (AIO) Solution out there!
Summary: 5 Stars
This may be one of the slickest little gadgets I've ever owned. It is not without some relatively minor deficiencies however, and one must bear them in mind when considering this product.
First the good news. This is the smallest, most elegant and compact AIO GPS navigation solution I've come across. The mapping details are excellent. The voice prompts loud, clear and timely. The ease of use is just fantastic and the visibility and quality of the display are very good. POI access is excellent and can be navigated to much more simply than the Tom Tom unit which requires many additional cumbersome steps. The attachment system for the Nuvi is superb and very secure.
The bad news is relatively minor. The screen display, unfortunately is not as good as than in the Tom Tom 910. The automatic panning is not as good as the Tom Tom either. And bright light visibility is not as good. Despite these minor deficiencies, all the other advantages of the Nuvi more than outweigh them when the Nuvi is compared to the Tom Tom 910 (their top of the line). My work around for the screen display visibility was to place the Nuvi next to the headliner just to the left of the rear view mirror. That keeps it mostly out of the sun reducing the impact of the sun's glare.
This device is intended as an extremely simple point to point navigating AIO GPS navigation solution and is not intended to enable the use of way points or easily changing the course selected by the unit. You have essentially two options: the shortest route and the fastest route. Fortunately, the mapping program selects routs that are very acceptable. Personally, I like to look at the overall route and fiddle with it. This unit is not designed for such use. Microsoft Streets and Trips is ideal for this kind of tinkering, but terrible for point to point navigation while on the go at which the Nuvi has no peer.
Make sure and get the most recent firmware updates on the Garmin website which will fix the known bugs and further improve the functionality. This unit is so easy to use that my 85 year old father purchased one for himself and he loves it to. He is, to put it kindly, technologically challenged but this unit is so intuitive and easy to use that he's had no problems whatsoever. He doesn't like to be distracted while driving so he plans his trip before leaving and simply listens to the voice prompts.
I give this unit a 5 star on form and a 5 star on the functionality for which it was designed. You will not be disappointed.
Customer Review: Nuvi Convert
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a fan of the Hertz Magellan Neverlost system, but the bi-modal reviews of the Magellan Systems gave the impression that there were prodcution quality issues.
Next, I was going to go for the Garmin 2720. It can be fitted with dead reckoning, but needs wiring to the car. Reviews made me realise, my main reason for buying a GPS was not to use on my car, but on business trips and hence rental cars. So portability was key, and the Nuvi has the best form factor. To lug a 2720 (with laptop, files etc) on business trips would make things just the bit more heavy.
In addition to the good points given by other reviewers, I must say the mount is excellent. It sticks well and because the Nuvi is so light, the mount does not have a lot to do to stick there. Also, the cigarette lighter power can cleverly be plugged straight into the mount and not the unit. To mount the Nuvi, you have only to flip the antennae up (activating the GPS) and clip it on. It powers up straight away. Then, when you get out, all you've to do, is press a small clasp release on the mount and out pops the Nuvi. It even switches itself off after 30 seconds.
You can also put the Nuvi in "search mode". While driving on the free way looking for food or lodging, you only have to press "where to" and then press say "lodging". The Nuvi gives you an list of hotels, motels, hostels near you. It also provides distance and arrows showing whether they are ahead or behind your current position. The list updates itself every few minutes as you move along. See something you like? Just press it and the "GO" button and Nuvi takes you there. It was a life saver when we were travelling long distance late at night and needed somewhere convenient to stay.
Finally, this is one gadget that my wife loves. When on holidays, she invariably ends up the navigator. Its stressful for her and things get heated up when I make a wrong turn requiring difficult new instructions on what to do. Nuvi has changed all that. She just sleeps through, as the Nuvi announces its "recalculating" the route.
But indeed, you don"t get a Map which you can load on your PC, there is apparently no way to plan/alter routes on the Nuvi prior to making a trip or to keep a record of your trips.
Garmin has been excellent in addressing user feedback, so I am hopeful.
BTW, I don't use the other functions such as MP3/calculator and would prefer the functionality on the GPS be improved rather than these functions. But that's just me since I still use a PDA.
Customer Review: Nuvi 350. Garmin got it right.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the third Garmin GPS unit I have owned. The reason for purchase was that I wanted to get a new one that was quicker at processing and had an up-to-date interface. I spent time in Circuit City playing with different brands and models. The Nuvi 350 had the best mix of price and features.
You really don't need the manual to figure out the basics. An hour of just "playing around" with the unit is the best way to get comfortable with it.
Pros:
-Text to speech feature is great. It speaks actual street names ("In 500 feet turn right to Maple Street"). This is a big plus over the old dialogue ("In 500 feet turn right").
-Unit is small and light enough to be transported between vehicles or carried in your pocket, yet has a large, easy to see and use touch screen.
-Quick calculation and recalculation processing times.
-Feature rich database.
-Interface is the best out there. Intuitive design.
Cons:
-Must flip up antennae each time you want it to be in navigation mode. Besides this being an annoyance, this movable hinge is a weak link. It is made of plastic, which I fear will break one day. I assume Garmin will eliminate the hinged antennae in the successor to the 350. (Garmin did eliminate the movable antennae in the newer 200 series Nuvis.)
-The windshield suction mount is not reliable. It eventually falls off and crashes onto the dash, possibly causing damage to the Nuvi unit. Save yourself from the inevitable and buy the beanbag dash mount.
-Rechargeable Lithium battery is not user replaceable.
-The information in even the newest map database is several years old. This is common to all databases, regardless of brand. There are millions of things to catalog, and it changes by the hour. It is impossible for any company to keep up with this stuff. Hence, the Nuvi will occasionally take you on a route that is longer than it needs to be, or to a POI (such as a store) that upon your arrival is simply not there. However, for the most part it is reliable. Of course a GPS unit is no substitute for your experience with local roads with which you are intimately familiar. (You didn't buy it to lead you around your local neighborhood. You bought it for those times where you have no idea where you are going.)
In summary: The pluses of the Nuvi 350 far outweigh the minor negatives. This GPS unit is intuitive, capable, and feature rich. It is a brilliant demonstration of technology. Garmin got it right.