| Products Electronics & Photo GPS Garmin nuvi 350 | Satisfaction | Experience | |
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| Name | Date | Helpfulness | Review | Overall satisfaction | Ease of use | Quality of Manufacture | Durability | more... |
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| Amazon.com customer | 2007-11-25 | | Excellent Product with Some Reservations | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | On a previous trip, I borrowed a TOM TOM One and was an instant fan of these products. When I went to purchase a GPS of my own, my first stop was the TOM TOM, but after reading a lot reviews about them, the number one complaint seemed to be maps and not having Text To Speech. TTS is simply the ability of the unit to announce the street names rather than having to read them off the top of the unit. This is a safer option while driving in a strange place since you do not have to take your eyes off the road. Our first experience with the NUVI 350 was a positive one and I gave it 4 stars for a lot of reasons. These include the ease of use, the nice displays, the POI directory, etc... all of the same things that everyone else here is praising. Additionally, the TTS was a nice feature, but to be honest, I got tired of the voice and eventually muted it and was able to navigate just fine. For those people slamming the TOM TOM because of the map detail, I would say that the only reason I did not give the NUVI 350 5 stars was because of the challenges I experienced with the maps. We traveled to Dallas, TX and as the largest metroplex in the country with road construction happening all the time, there were multiple occasions where the streets were wrong. To be fair, most of the time it was right on but you still have to use your common sense when driving in a city of that size. For example, we were trying to find an exit on Hwy 121 when the exit we were looking for was right in the middle of an interchange. There were two exits on the right within 100 yards of each other and the Hwy was splitting off into two different directions; essentially we had 4 options and we had to make a decision quickly. Even with the NUVI spouting off directions, we still took the wrong one. Of course, the NUVI correctly and quickly calculated a new route and we made it to our destination just fine, but you cannot expect a GPS to replace common sense and your ability to make decisions. The last error was an interesting one. We were heading back to Orlando when we made a stop in Vicksburg. We discovered that our daughters DVD player needed a new car adaptor so we plugged in Wal-Mart and followed the directions. It started by telling us to turn down a street that did not exist and when it finally routed us to the address, there was nothing but an open field on one side and a wooded area on the other. Fortunately, we continued down the road, made a left and stumbled on Wal-Mart about .5 miles off course. I love the GARMIN and am glad I chose this one, but the real reason I chose the NUVI over the TOM TOM was because GARMIN is an American company and I have recently been trying to buy American. Additionally, I like the $100 savings when we joined Audible. Don't be fooled by all the talk about maps on different units because the reality is there is no way any of these can be updated realtime; there will always be errors. Find the unit you like with the features and the price you can afford and you will be fine. You will not be disappointed with the NUVI 350; just don't expect any of these to be perfect.
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-09-06 | | This gizmo can save your marriage | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | There's a certain kind of argument among married couples. It begins, "Honey, I think that was our turn." Having a GPS (any GPS) completely eliminates that discussion, and you'll be amazed at how much stress it takes out of travel. We've taken the Nuvi on two major trips, as well as a few minor ones. Before I tell you about the Nuvi specifically, let me convince you why Yes, you really should buy a GPS, and why it might be time to upgrade from an older model. Our first trip was a business trip to the Bay Area. We rented a car, and commuted to our temporary workplace about 5 miles away. If we didn't have a GPS, we would have had to get directions and drive back-and-forth the same way, because we couldn't guess where another street would take us. With the GPS, we could explore alternate routes on a whim. When someone recommended a restaurant hidden in the back of an obscure strip mall, we could find it without difficulty or google maps. And "where's the closest gas station?" was a no-brainer. A few weeks ago, a family emergency required that we drop everything and head to central Missouri from Phoenix. The airfare cost was outrageous, so we hopped in the car, armed only with a GPS and a cell phone, for a 2800 mile round trip. We could tell the GPS to "find the shortest route" or "find the fastest route" (which in this case were only an hour different). Rather than stick to the Interstate, we let the GPS choose, and it took us along the old Santa Fe trail. I would never, *never* have contemplated that route without its guidance, and I'd never have wended my way through the shortcut through Tucumcari NM on my own. Then I could settle down to "drive 315 miles on Hwy 54" with the reassurance of the GPS' built-in answer to "How much further before we have to turn?" Hotel searches required only a few button pushes ("Hey, there's one coming up at the exit in 8 miles") and the GPS took us right to the door. There is simply no way that I could have felt confident in doing such a trip without a GPS. We bought a Garmin four or five years ago, a then slightly-older model. We took it on several trips, including one to Europe. It was time to replace the older Garmin with a new GPS when the map upgrade cost began to approach the cost of a new unit. After reading lots of reviews for various brands and models, and debating the features we needed, I'm really glad we chose this one. * It's fast. If we missed a turn, the older model could take so long to recalculate that we could miss the alternate route before the GPS caught up. This one is near-immediate. * The maps cover the entire continent. Because of memory limitations, our older model required that we download maps in chunks, and if we traveled any distance, that meant we *had* to bring a laptop along. * The user interface is vastly improved. I can easily say that it's wonderful. It's very easy to read the screen in almost any light, and at sunset the Nuvi automatically switches to backlighting. The female voice that announces your turn ("in .5 mile, turn right onto Main Street") can be easily heard, and the Nuvi's sense of when to make that announcement is impeccably timed. (The only annoyance/amusement is that when you do go off route -- say, to stop at a gas station -- its announcement, "ReCALCulating!" sounds ever so exasperated with you.) * Programming it is blissfully easy. I never looked at the instructions. * The maps are surprisingly accurate, even in rural areas. It can occasionally screw up in minor ways, such as telling you a destination is on the left when it's on the right, so you do have to look. But overall it's extremely impressive. My one complaint is minor. On a long trip, you have one major waypoint ("Mom's house"). The Nuvi lets you create an interrim waypoint, which in our case let us convince the GPS that we wanted to drive back via Colorado Springs. But if you want to add a second waypoint along the way (say a hotel in Wichita, too), you'll discover that you can have only one. That's unlikely to be a problem for most people, but I can imagine a few scenarios in which it'd be irritating. The Garmin Nuvi is simply great equipment. The price is reasonable, the setup is simple, and the usability top notch. I highly recommend it. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-08-13 | | Exceeds Expectations | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | On the assumption that some others may know as little about a GPS as I did, you're going to find that a GPS will far exceed your expectations -- a perfect product. After reading several reviews, I got it that this unit would pre-announce turns. But, I didn't know that it, like an alert co-pilot who knows the route intimately, would do so much by way of preparing me for what was ahead with instructions to "bear left" or "bear right" given well in advance -- thereby avoiding those last-minute lane changes and/or missed exits because you're not in position. And I didn't know that it would remove those doubts one can get about whether one remains on the correct road. (If it's not "recalculating" a new route, you're on track. If it is "recalculating" -- no big deal. It will tell you what you need to know.) And I certainly didn't expect it to tell me when to bear left or right when the road curves and you're not certain which way to go. It tells you that in advance. Also, I'm a guy who doesn't necessarily register a direction when I first hear it. No problem. You're told in advance. You're told when you're close. And you're told a final time at the last minute. All in a voice that sounds natural and which is easily understood. There is no need to look at the display. But, if you want confirmation when two rights are close to one another and there is no road sign, the white arrow that appears will make it crystal clear which right to take. As you might have figured by this point, it also tells you when you're on an exit ramp whether to bear left or right at the end of the ramp. After a turn is made, you get your first notice of the next turn and of the distance to it -- a distance that is kept updated on the display. So, a glance at the display at any time will immediately tell you how far you are from the next turn -- a relaxing assurance that there is nothing for you to do except follow the road. Also on the display is your arrival time -- which, of course, gets adjusted in real-time. When you're pulled over, you can even bring up a display that reviews statistics on the journey from your average speed to your top speed to the amount of time that you've been stopped. (Yes, it can accurately measure your speed!) Maps for Europe and Mexico (presumably Canada too) can be ordered on an SD card. I don't know the price. Map upgrades are available annually for $75, but you may find that you can go for a couple of years in between upgrades. The unit comes with everything you need. It's easy to use. There are no subscription charges for the satellite use (I didn't know that either!) There are more features than I'll attempt to describe except to tell you that they're all easy to find and to use. The touch-screen interface is brilliant. Perhaps the most wonderful feature is that it makes possible car trips to new locales that are tension free. The "driver-navigator" arguments are gone. The atmosphere in the car is tension-free and . . . fun! (The other day, I was in the middle of a fairly large city where I made a special trip I wouldn't have otherwise attempted to seek out a chocolatier that had received a great review. After enjoying a remarkable cup of hot chocolate (like no hot chocolate I had ever encountered), I realized that I was smack dab in the middle of the city with NO idea how to find a way out to the highway. With the GPS, what might have been a stressful fifteen minute search on crowded city streets became an easy three minute escape. Terrific!) If you're on the fence, I suggest going for it. This is a terrific product. If mine ever gets stolen or broken, it's a no-brainer that the replacement unit will be ordered on the same day. I'm a fan. There IS one downside. I find that I'm looking to find places I don't know how to get to just to let the GPS get me there. That costs gas. Hopefully, the novelty will wear off soon and save me the new gas expenses! | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-06-14 | | Garmin gets me wherever I need to go! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I bought the Garmin Nuvi 350 in March 2007 and have since put over 2000 miles on it. It works as advertised and has saved me countless hours of time. The beauty of the Garmin is that takes about 2 minutes to learn how to use it, input addresses and how it navigates. I've used it for both business and personal road trips and it is without doubt one of the best technology investments ever. It gives me tremendous peace of mind knowing I can simply plug in an address/intersection and know it'll get me there. Here are a few highlights: 1. Form factor. It's really small and lightweight, which makes it easy to throw into a pocket/purse/bag without being obnoxious. It's so small, my girlfriend takes it with her everywhere. 2. Reliability. The maps are very accurate for the most part. There are the occasional times where a street is newly blocked off and the Nuvi 350 isn't updated, but such is life. It works in dense metropolitan areas, including NY as well as well-off the beaten path country in Virginia. 3. Street name call outs. Unlike many competing units, the Garmin will read out upcoming streetnames where you need to turn. It'll say, "In point four miles, turn left on Main Street" while others will say, "turn left at the next street." This helps you remember streets and look for signs instead of blindly listening to directions. It's a subtle yet important distinction. 4. Battery life. It's pretty good at around 4 hours. I have the car charger (USB) and keep it plugged in for longer trips. 5. Ambient light detector. There is a built-in sensor that can tell whether you're in a dark/bright environment. Once it becomes dark, the screen itself dims and changes to a darker palette, which is easier on the eyes - great for night time drives. 6. Points of interest. I love how I can hit a button and find out the nearest gas station, rest stop, restaurants, etc. are located. Very handy. My favorite aspect, though not unique to this unit, is that you can pre-program all of your destinations in advance in the comfort of your own home, instead of futzing around with maps or sitting in your car. To me, that's a killer advantage over built-in navivation systems, which cost many times the price. Now, on the downside: Nothing's perfect, and I do have a quibble or two: 1. The suction cup isn't that strong. In hot weather, I find it gets jarred easily and can pop off. This can be remedied by slightly moistening the cup before jamming it to your windshield. 2. If you fly with it from place to place, it can take some time to reorient itself to its new locale and accuracy is not spot-on right away. Overall, a great unit and I have only touched on the GPS-specific features. Highly recommended. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-04-23 | | Can't Beat It | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I have owned GPS units from all of the major producers...My verdict; Don't buy anything but a Garmin...They are the leaders...As for the Nuvi 350; this thing is fun! I live in the Washington DC area, and it does a remarkable job of getting me where I want to go...OK, it can't account for the frequently closed streets in DC (demonstrations, etc), but it does re-route me without breaking a sweat...As with any GPS, it does not know the shortcuts that the locals can tell you about, and will sometimes send you a slightly longer way...But if you are that familiar with an area, you probably don't need your GPS on local trips anyway! The volume could be a bit louder...It is fine with the windows up, but, on these nice Spring days, it can be hard to hear with the windows down...It is great having the voice pronounce the actual street names instead of merely "turn left in 300 feet"...If I had to mention a criticism, it would be that sometimes the unit gives you short notice of a turn...Of course, here in DC, nobody will let you over into the other lane anyway...The mounting suction cup is sturdy and hasn't fallen off yet...In all but direct sunlight, the screen is readable...I would highly recommend using one of the screen protectors available for hand held devices...They attach and peel off easily and, if you have grubby fingers, will save your screen from possible scratches from frequest cleanings...It locates satellites quickly, and the antenna is as sensitive as any I have used...I have an external antenna that I used with a prior unit, but have had no need of it yet...Might be useful in cities with huge skyscraper "canyons"...I have updated the software once with Garmins Auto-Updater, and it went smoothly...It will be interesting to see how much Garmin charges for the first map upgrade...I will be going to Europe next Fall, and I have noticed that the expansion card for Western Europe is rather expensive ($240 USD) (Doesn't seem like the card should be almost half the cost of the unit)..The maps are very accurate, even to very minor roads in parks, malls, apartment complexes, etc...As for the MP3 player; It is adequate, but will never replace the in car stereo; Have not tried the talking book option yet; The World Clock, Currency Converter and Calculator work as advertised...I do not have any of the other add-ons...Nice that it comes with a carrying case to protect the screen...It is light enough to use while walking downtown, but it does "lock" to the street, so you always seem to be walking down the middle of the road! But, it gets you around town. If you are looking for a GPS for hiking, mountain bike riding, Geo-Caching, etc., select another unit more suitable. In summary, I highly recommend the Nuvi 350 for an auto based GPS...You will find yourself smiling as the voice directs you to your destination! | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-04-20 | | Best on the market! Best price too! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I purchased this when Amazon dropped the price to $390. This is the lowest price anywhere and free ship! Lower then any ebay auction. Originally I was going to buy the Mio Digiwalker 310x from Circuit City for $150 after the TG holiday but they sold out. However this did allow me to test the varios units and the Nuvi was the clear winner. So much so that I no longer wanted the Mio even though CC was selling the Nuvi for $600. Off sale, the Mio was $300 at CC. Half the price of the Nuvi! I asked the Circuit City rep what he thought of the two and the CC rep said you get what you pay for. So true! Keep in mind this Nuvi used to cost $1,000 when it was introduced. Here are some important differences between the Nuvi and Mio. -TOUCH SCREEN-no comparison here. Nuvi is far superior. The Mio was sloppy and often entered wrong info which I had to edit. Plus you had to push a little harder on the screen. The Garmin is perfect in this regard. I don't see how Garmin could improve on the data entry aspect of their GPS. The Nuvi is completly touch screen driven except the on/off button. -MAPS-Nuvi uses Navteq. Mio uses Teleatlas. Do yourself a favor and stick with Navteq. I typed my home address and the Nuvi was dead-on accurate. Mio about 100 yards off. (I hear that everyone has complaints about Teleatlas. Nothing against them and maybe in the future they will be on par with their maps.) Keep in mind that map updates are expensive and you want a GPS with accurate maps to begin with. So far the Nuvi and Navteq combination has been perfect map accuracy. And I mean perfect! -SIZE & WEIGHT-Nuvi is smaller and lighter. You can fit the Nuvi in your shirt pocket, not so with the Mio. -PRICE-Originally the Nuvi was twice as much. But the Nuvi price decreased since then. Now the Nuvi is about about 40% more and worth every penny. -DESIGN, FIT & FINISH-Nuvi A++, Mio C+ The Nuvi suction cup was the best I've ever used. (I was used to my radar detector falling off the glass and was expecting the same but tis not the case with the Nuvi.) Nuvi has a nice leather carry case. Mio-no case -COMPANY-Garmin has been making GPS units for aircraft, cars, military, etc. for years. I don't know anything about the Mio company. -Shortcomings-The Mio, plenty except for price. The Nuvi, I wish had an altitude reading. Also I don't know if it was an oversite but I didn't get a user manual, just the quick guide. Had to look at the online manual to discover how to access the satellite view.(push the green bars-upper left corner) I took the Garmin on a commercial plane ride and it was fun to see how fast we were going and maps of the towns below. It registered 650 mph cruising speed at one point. Very cool way to pass the time on a plane. Note: unit must be turned on before takeoff bc moving GPS units have a difficult time locating satellites. Especially ones moving 650mph! Otherwise the Nuvi tracks quickly. It saved the day driving around St. Louis, MO. It made getting places almost too easy.
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-03-28 | | A TRUE STORY... | 2 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | 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.
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| Overall satisfaction | 2 |
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| | | | | | | Shopzilla customer | 2007-03-15 | | Garmin Nuvi 350 is a life-changer | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | PRO: Run, don't walk, and buy the Garmin Nuvi 350 CON: None | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2007-02-12 | | AWESOME! | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I ordered the Garmin 350 after doing extensive research on Amazon, Consumer Reports and other websites that rated the product. I also did a test run at Best Buy where the sales person was telling a group of people that Garmin was the best from a satellite and maps perspective. The price of the Nuvi 350 was well over $100 more than at Amazon.com. AND, they were out of stock, which tells me that even over $100 more it was a good selling item. My motivation to purchase a GPS was due to getting lost in a very unfavorable/dangerous section of Philadelphia where as a female alone I was afraid to stop and ask for directions. I was using Mapquest directions that do not take into account construction detours. I have used the Garmin Nuvi 350 for several road trips since my purchase. I cannot be more pleased. Navigation through the unit is extremely user friendly. I simply type an address and hit "Go" and I'm on my way. You can add an additional stop to your route and incorporate it into the bigger trip. You can type in key words to a business you might be looking for and it will pull up all listings in the area with that key word. For example, if I am looking for directions or the phone # to Biltmore Winery, which is part of the Biltmore Estate, I simply type in Biltmore and choose from the list it presents me. The Nuvi will also give you listings by hotel or restaurant type and list them by their distance away from your location. You can chooose Chinese, Italian, Steak house, Fast Food, etc. Or you can choose ALL and see what is close to you. The voices are clear and audible on this unit. It is a cynch to snap in and out of its holder, which suctions to your window. It has a leather case to keep it in when you are using it on foot to navigate through the city. The colors are bright and friendly to the eyes. You can store a list of favorite places and there is a button for "home". Start up is quick and the routes that have been chosen so far are efficient. It may not choose the route that you might usually take, but it does choose good routes from my experience. It recalculates the route immediately if you take a different turn and get off the original route it provided for you. I traveled to Portland, OR to visit a friend. I programmed his address into the unit and from there was able to drive my friend to work, go sight seeing on my own, drive back to his work and pick him up and drive straight back to his home. This was no easy feat with all the turns, interstates and highways that I was not familiar with. However, with the Garmin Nuvi 350 it was so simple to navigate through traffic without a worry. It was incredible. I would be lost without it! No pun intended! One thing I have noticed, which would be the same with any GPS I imagine, is that when you are parked in a totally enclosed parking garage it takes a moment for the unit to calculate your route. You must get out of the garage into an area where the satellites can reach the unit in order to calculate the route. Overall, I am absolutely thrilled with the Garmin Nuvi 350. I am not a person that would score this unit less than a "5" b/c of lack of reception in an enclosed parking garage, which would most likely be the case with any GPS unit. The benefits and features, ease of use, feeling of safety for me and my service from Amazon make this product a solid "5" in my opinion.
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-12-09 | | product lacks refinement | 4 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I hate to say this, but I've come to the conclusion that most of the positive, 5-star reviews are written by people either working for Garmin or hired by Garmin to spoof this website. I'll tell you why. On the plus side of this product, the new SiRF receiver is very sensitive, and I'm able to get a geo fix even inside my ranch-style house. The older-generation, 12-channel receivers I had before would need a totally open sky to even get the signal from one satellite, let alone fixing the location (for which you need at least 3 satellites). The new SiRF receiver in the Nuvi 350 is also fast in acquiring signals, but you need to stay stationary for it to work well from a cold start. Now I'll tell you why I think most of the positive reviews are lying. I review this product from the perspective of someone who's used a few other GPS products before. First of all, for $450 the fit and finish of this product ("designed in USA, made In Taiwan" (sic) says the box) is lacking. This is in start contrast to the similar-priced Sony NV-U70 "Nav-U." Whereas the Sony looks and feels like a well-made electronics item, the Nuvi 350 looks and feels totally cheap. The paint on the plastic casing is uneven, and there are poor-fitted cracks along the edges. The fit and finish of this is even worse than a $100 iPod Nano, much worse. Unlike the Sony NV-U70, which has a handy standby mode whereby you can shut down and wake up the unit quickly, each time you turn the Garmin Nuvi 350 on from power-off, it goes through the whole boot sequence: initializing, loading maps (which takes a long time), asking you to agree to the danger disclaimer, etc. It takes about 30-40 seconds for the unit to be in ready mode, not counting the time it takes to acquire GPS signals. The power button, located at the top, is also poorly assembled: on my unit, it's hard to press and often does not register when I press it. The worst offense of the Nuvi 350, at least for me, is the poor user interface (UI). First of all, I challenge anyone to find Ave. U in Brooklyn, NY. According to the electronic manual included in the unit's built-in memory (2GB of it), you should take a minimalist approach to entering addresses. For example, to enter "E 16th St" (the USPS standard format), you just enter 16 and let Garmin search. When I read that part in the manual -- yes, I did read the manual from cover to cover -- I went "uh oh, deja vu!" Why? Because every time a mapping program tells you that, it means it won't recognize input like "East 16 Street." It gets worse for things like boulevard and parkway which different people abbreviate differently. On the Garmin, forget about it. It'll just tell you "not found" if you don't spell part of the street name exactly as it is. So if Garmin thinks it's "Main Pkwy," it won't find it if you typed in "Main Parkway." Now, here's why I think all those 5-star and 4-star reviews are phonies. If you read reviews for other GPS systems -- TomTom, Magellan, Navman -- you'll see people complain loudly about the inflexibility of entering addresses, along the lines I described above. People would end up giving a model 2 stars or less for this lack of intelligence alone. But look at this board. I have yet to come across another review that even mentions this limitation. That's right, you are likely reading the VERY FIRST review that tells you the truth. And you deserve to know the truth if you don't work for Garmin, are thinking about getting a GPS, and don't find $450 a trivial amount of dough. Anyway, I digress. To continue with my example. So I was looking for Ave. U in Brooklyn. Now, to enter the state of NY, you have to spell it out, N-e-w-space-Y -- after the Y, Garmin will know you want New York. It's stupid you can't just type "NY" and go on with life. Also, unlike Magellan GPS units, the Garmin does *not* gray out letters you cannot type, based on what you already entered. Next, you type Brooklyn. It recognizes Brooklyn after you typed the y. Next is house number; easy enough here. The street name is where I found the problems. So to find Ave. U, I first tried U. All the streets that start with the letter U are listed, except Ave. U! So this is already contrary to what the helpful (not!) manual recommends. I sighed. After all, this is not the first time I ran into a stupid address search engine like this. (But how come NOBODY else mentions this in their glowing reviews of the Nuvi 350????) I tried "Ave U". No luck! I finally decided to type in the whole thing, "Avenue U". But I must have made a typo -- that's a lot of letters on a small touchscreen! -- so it wasn't found, either! I was so upset. Anyway, turns out you really need to type in "Avenue U", because Garmin's software thinks the street name has two words: Avenue (full spelling) and U! I just love this piece of cr*p! Because the Nuvi 350 uses the Navteq database, the same map database used by Local Live, MSN Maps, etc., its overall usefulness and routine accuracy are on par with most online mapping sites. The mapping software version is v8, the latest, but it doesn't have a few stores near my house, such as the Staples a few blocks away which has been there forever. (Instead the Nuvi 350 tells me the closest Staples is 5 miles away.) What I dislike here is the routing speed. It's really slow. It's slower than the Magellan Roadmate 300R I tried and returned to Radio Shack after Thanksgiving. But it has a nice touch of telling you the routine calculation progress in %, so you can entertain yourself by counting "10%... 16%... 23%... 23%... 23%... 50%...". You get the picture. The MP3 and photo viewer functions are basic but, well, functioning. You can load an SD card (up to 2GB in capacity) with MP3 files (in the MP3 folder) and JPEG files (in the JPEG folder) and then stick the SD into the Nuvi 350. The I/O circuitry of this thing is really painfully slow, but if you have the patience, most functions will eventually work. Anyway, I will update this review as I spend more time with the Nuvi 350. The bottom line is, this unit lacks refinement. The counter-intelligent address search engine is just scandalous. I wish I had bought it from a local store so I could return it. (If I return it to Amazon without mentioning a physical defect, I'd have to reimburse Amazon for the overnight shipping charge and the return shipping charge. Not good.) Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that there's nothing close to being half perfect in the portable GPS market. I still think Garmin, a Taiwanese company, makes the better units. I totally dislike Magellan because their products crash. I don't want a TomTom because it uses the Tele Atlas map database, which sucks big-time in North America. Other brands like Averatec, FineDrive, etc. are just jokes; they are based on an old version of WinCE which tends to crash multiple times a day -- not good, not good at all when you are driving. Finally, there's the Sony NV-U70. I tried it out once and liked it. It's a bit bulky and doesn't come with MP3 or photo viewing, and doesn't do text-to-speech like the Nuvi 350. But it's fast (has a fast Intel processor and a fast proprietary GPS receiver inside) and doesn't crash and feels very well made. In hindsight, the Sony is what I should have bought. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 4 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-11-26 | | You never forget your first time | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | This is my very first GPS and I'll never forget my first time with Jill. My wife and I used it for the first time to drive from San Antonio TX to Yellowstone Park, via a side trip to Boulder CO to see our daughter. And we'll never forget the joys of not being lost and the comfort of having ZERO fear of getting lost. The Nuvi is my friend. We love the voice of Jill. She never becomes exasperated if we don't do exactly as she offers, but if we DO follow her instructions the end result is always spot on.... except for exact street addresses of homes. I suspect that's more of a builder's problem as they assign inexact house addresses than it is a Nuvi problem. Still, home addresses are within a house or two. The Nuvi-350 is the single most comforting, easy-to-use, perfectly-sized, dynamic, intuitive piece of electronics I have ever purchased. I simply cannot believe that it can and does do what it does. As in another review I read which convinced us to buy the Nuvi-350, I also say: "Insanely recommended." | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-11-24 | | Great product | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | This is a great product and the perfect alternative to buying an installed GPS system. In addition to its utility for local trips, it is incredibly valueable for business trips to new cities. The local restaurant and points of interest database is really amazing. The only negatives to consider are 1) mediocre battery life; 2) slow process of finding satelites; 3) occasional "confusion" in certain geographies (e.g., Greenwich CT). | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-11-23 | | Good GPS - with Battery Flaw | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | This GPS is user friendly, so you can use it without reading instructions. Upgrading the software over the Internet is also very user friendly and fast. It normally finds the satellite quickly, but on occasion this takes a minute or two. Overall, it is a great GPS, with really only one down side I have found. The Down Side: Even while the Nuvi is connected to the car battery, the Nuvi battery can die. When this first happened, I thought the Nuvi had died, but after charging the battery, it revived. Initially I thought this flaw might be unique to my Nuvi, but I saw this complaint in a couple of other reviews. This is a serious flaw, since it necessitates having backup plans (i.e., MapQuest printouts) in case the battery fails. Again, this Nuvi battery failure happens while it is connected to the car battery, so you are dead in the water until you can find a plug and recharge the Nuvi for a few hours. I don't know whether or not this problem is unique to Nuvi, or happens with most GPS devices, but it is a serious flaw. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-11-22 | | Great GPS | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I researched purchasing a portable GPS for 2 months. I was initially going to purchase the Garmin C320 or C330, but the Nuvi 350 offered more capability. I am 50 years old and have purchased many electronic gadgets over the years, but the Nuvi 350 is really special. The ease of use is amazing and the Version 8 maps are thorough. The unit is not perfect, but it's pretty close to being an ideal product. A tip I have learned is to extend the flap antennna out 90 degrees to the unit- not all the way up. The unit locks onto the satellites much faster in that configuration. Also you need to download the full guidebook from Garmin's website to learn the many features of this unit. Pros: Street names spoken, small size, pre-loaded maps, mp3 player Cons: Screen could be a little bigger, sound could be a little louder, initial instructions very weak | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-11-11 | | Outstanding product. | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Yes, it's true! This is a fantastic device. Just a couple of notes: 1) The 350 I purchased in October 2006 came with the latest maps (v8). My understanding is that earlier this year the 350s came with v7 installed. 2) The device can show the latitude, longitude and elevation (it's in the satelite view). 3) The mp3 player sounds very good. I hooked it to my car's Bose system by using a plain old tape adapter and I'm very satisfied with it. 4) The suction cup is perfectly glued to the windshield! It was pretty hard to remove it upon returning my rented car. I've no idea why some people complain about it - perhaps they don't know they have to create suction by using the small lever on the cup. 5) This is a sophisticated device with a lot of functions. The user interface is truly outstanding though and it makes it very easy to navigate among all these options. 6) The device comes with localized menus. I got quite a kick when I configured it to use menus in my native language (Romanian). 7) The satellites are acquired fast, even indoors (in a wooden house, for example). Obviously though, don't expect to receive the satellite signal if you're under a concrete structure or under a metallic roof! 8) The maps are excellent and with a lot of detail. It was very useful to see the upcoming road curves on the map while driving at night, at high speed, on a remote highway in Utah! However, don't expect the map to be 100% accurate - I found that a local highway from a rural Vermont area was missing. 9) Unfortunately, this device doesn't have a USB 2.0 interface so it takes *forever* (2+ hours) to fill the 700M of available memory with mp3 files! I purchased a high speed 2GB SD card to store my music files.
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-10-06 | | Great GPS but surprisingly few custom settings | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I upgraded to the Nuvi 350 from Garmin's Quest. I love the bigger screen, the touch screen input and the spoken directions. However, I was surprised that the Nuvi doesn't allow customization of the main screen as the Quest did. For example I would like to display time to destination instead of arrival time but can't do it. The added functions of MP3 player and travel companion are of no use to me so I would have preferred a more dedicated car navigatior. Don't get me wrong though, I still like this unit a lot and I think it is the best GPS available to date. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-09-29 | | Garmin is the best for GPS | 10 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | I spent a lot of time trying out GPS units, and have compared Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, and several factory GPS units. All of these GPS units tell you how to get somewhere and will re-route if you make a wrong turn. However, Garmin is my absolute favorite, and here's why: 1. The most important thing about Garmin units is the user interface. It is simple to understand and easy to use. 2. The Garmin unit uses a built in database of sunrise and sunset times (based upon your location) to automatically change from daylight mode to night-time mode. This is important because the daylight screen is much too bright for use at night. With the Tom Tom, you must make this change manually. 3. If you have the Garmin unit plugged into your car power, when you turn off the car (and the cigarette lighter power goes off), the Garmin unit will detect that and automatically turn itself off (it gives you 30 seconds to override and keep the unit on). 4. When you start your car again, the Garmin unit will detect that too and automatically power up. If you were in the middle of a trip, the Garmin unit will pick up where you left off, and you won't have to tell it where you were going again. 5. Unlike most factory GPS units, Garmin will allow you to select your route and make changes while you are moving. 6. The Garmin units have an extensive database of locations and the excellent interface makes it easy to search the database to find what you want. Do you want food or gas? Just click three buttons and a list of locations (sorted by distance) will appear. If you know the name of the place you want, you can type it in on the on-screen keypad and Garmin will find it for you. You can even add your own locations using the favorites feature. I first started using this when I was out of town, but its amazing what you'll find near you when you look. 7. While you are driving, the Garmin unit will both prompt you to turn and give you a written explanation of the turn (including the street or highway name and direction) at the top of the screen. The Garmin unit also shows an estimated arrival time (usually a few minutes earlier than you'll actually arrive) and the distance to your next turn. A separate screen gives you detailed trip information, including how far and how long you've been driving and your maximum speed. I used mine on an airplane once (yes, it is allowed - read the back of the airplane magazine), and it now says that by maximum speed was 590 miles per hour. 8. I often use the Garmin even when driving locally, becase it often finds better, faster ways to get there then the way that I usually use. 9. Garmin offers a variety of installation options and accessories. My favorite is the friction based dashboard mount (three weights connected to a center stand) which is much more convenient than the supplied mounting system. 10. If you turn off the GPS receiver (see settings) and then look up another location, you will get the option to set this new location as your present location. This will allow you to use search Garmin's points of interest for the new location. This is a great feature when planning trips, because Garmin's points of interest database is quite extensive and includes all of the typical tourist attractions, plus food, shopping, gas, banking, etc. 11. Be sure to check for the latest map and firmware updates at Garmin's web-site. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 10 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-09-24 | | Great product - Suction Cup suggestion | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | As many have already said, this is a great product. 4 stars because there's no learning feature (i.e., I will never follow it's directions within 2 miles of my house and it will never learn my favored route). Granted, I don't know of any GPS unit that offers this feature yet. I added a wired FM modulator to connect it to my stereo speakers, which took some effort, but now works great. I previously dinged the product for lack of MP3 playlists, but Garmin has posted upgraded firmware that nicely adds this functionality. Many have complained of the suction cup failing. I had a similar problem and found an easy solution - treat the bottom of the suction cup with a leather moisturizer, especially one containing silicone. The silicone won't dry out like simple water would and the mount stays rock solid. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-07-19 | | Good, but not perfect | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | Right out of the box, we tried two business addresses which could not be located. When it works though, it works well. In making this purchase we missed the fact that updates (if wanted or needed) for the maps need to be purchased. Here is the response I received from Garmin on this issue: "The company that updates our mapping, Navteq, releases updates every 12-15 months. The latest update was just announced, and will be ready to order in August. The updates require an unlock code for the device for a fee of $75. Since you have registered your device we have your email address. There will be an email notification sent to you of the updates arrival. At that time you will visit our website, and go to Mapsource Unlock. You will need to follow the onscreen prompts to Unlock Update Disc." | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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| | | | | | | Amazon.com customer | 2006-07-15 | | Not much not to like | 8 | NR | NR | NR | | | | Helpful? | This is such a handy device, and is so well executed, that you would be hard-pressed not to love it. The first thing I noticed about the Nuvi was its incredibly small size and weight. I could not believe how light it was. I literally expected it to have at least twice the heft when I went to pick it up the first time - it was like picking up a deck of cards, but lighter. The antenna is a flap that is raised from the back, maybe about the size of a matchbook. When raised the Nuvi immediately starts locking in on satellites, when lowered, the unit knows you are through navigating for a while. Intuitive and effective. One amazing thing - I found that it easily achieved a good signal lock indoors, which was startling to me given that every other unit I have tested did not do well at all indoors. Navigation on the Nuvi is, as everyone has already suggested, very good, fast, intuitive, and imperfect. It's no different from Garmin's other offerings in that regard. Some buildings and businesses that you would expect to be shown as POIs are not there, but most are. I do feel that Garmin should do a better job of keeping the POIs updated. I also agree with other reviewers that when a route is less than ideal, you should be able to correct it permanently so that it does not re-suggest it ever time. How complicated could it be to have the unit learn your favorite routes? Multiple intermediate waypoints would also be very nice. One seems like a fairly severe limitation. The screen clarity is good, but I understand that an antiglare screen protector is made which really improves the clarity. I will probably be researching and buying one, as direct sun does make the screen very hard to read. I also noticed a problem with my unit that I did not see anyone else complaining about. Sometimes it does not lock on to any signal. Once it goes into this mode of searching for, but not locking in, for over a minute it just never finds anything. The only way I have found to correct this is to push the small reset button under the antenna. Once reset, it quickly reboots and finds satellites without any further issues, until the next time. Luckily the resets are very fast, but I don't see anyone else complaining about having to reset, so not sure if it's just my unit. Also, there are several different voice prompters, in many different languages. Some of these are capable of reading street names and some are not. My experience is that the unit does a so-so job pronouncing things. I know it would be hard to do everthing perfectly, but pronouncing "O'Brien" as "oh-breen" seems a bit lame. Also, if a street name does not fully display on the top of the screen due to its long length, the voice will pronounce only the portion that is displayed. It also botches numbers on addresses. "14372 Main Street" comes out as "fourteen thousand three hundred and seventy-two Main Street." I would have thought the software could be made to interpret addresses the way we actually say them rather than pronouncing them as though they were integers. Sometimes Nuvi should provide a bit more notice of upcoming turns. The first notice is at about the right time, say .2 to .3 of a mile at highway speeds, which is fine. But the final notice is just a hair late, for example when you are making a left turn, the final prompt should be where the left turn lane first becomes available, not at the actual intersection. If I were working on the next software version, I would add about 6 to 8 seconds of lead time to correct that. I have focused on the negatives only to point out the imperfections. Overall, the device is a joy to operate. The battery life is good. The menus are very intuitive. The accuracy is very high. Even the dashboard mount earns my praise. I did a lot of research on the Nuvi, comparing it in excruciating detail to the latest Tom Tom 910, the Magellan Roadmate 800, etceteras. I feel it's the best out there if ultimate portability is important to you. I just ordered the Nuvi 360 and it should be in on Monday. If it's as good as I believe it will be, I will be writing a five-star review on that within about a week. Stay tuned. | Satisfaction | Score |
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| Overall satisfaction | 8 |
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