Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech | List Price: $329.99
Discount Price: Too low to display
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Brand: Garmin
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Compact 700 MB GPS navigator with bundled MP3/audiobook player, photo viewer, and world travel clock
- Small enough to fit in a pocket or purse; mounts on vehicle windshield with included suction cup
- Preloaded with City Navigator NT maps of U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico
- Turn-by-turn directions, automatic routing, and 320 x 240 color touchscreen display
- Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot; measures 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87 inches (W x H x D); 1-year warranty
LOVE IT! [Posted on 2008-08-29]
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!
It really works well [Posted on 2008-08-30]
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.
Nice, but I wish I could choose an alternate route easier [Posted on 2008-08-30]
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.
Exceeded expectations. [Posted on 2008-08-30]
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.
Good Bargain for above average GPS [Posted on 2008-08-30]
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.
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