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 digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: "Jill" Saved our Sanity in Italy
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 350 a couple of months ago after doing some research on GPS systems. I have a non-profit organization that requires a lot of driving, and I am very pleased with the product. The Nuvi is easy to start out with and gets you to where you need to be.
I am only giving it a four-star rating based on one experience I had, where I pretty much knew where I was going (general area). The Nuvi had me circling around Minneapolis and took me out of my way. I finally got out my cell phone and called the people who I was trying to find. This area is a very established and old part of Minneapolis (Kenwood area), and I was disappointed that the Nuvi couldn't navigate me to the place I needed to go. That said, it has successfully found several other hard-to-find places without any problem.
On the other hand, we just returned from a two-week trip to Italy. I purchased the card with the Italy maps and was very thankful! We had a villa in the Tuscany area and had several day trips to other towns. "Jill" (Jill is the name of the female English-speaking voice on the Nuvi) became our best friend in Italy, and no doubt, saved us countless hours getting around. She successfully guided us to a parking garage in a very crowded area of Florence, took us to Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Venice and Rome. There were a couple of times we used the restaurant locater and found some of the most wonderful out-of-the way places that were not marked. One place in particular was on a hilltop in a small town outside of Florence (close to our rented villa). "Jill" told us to turn down an unmarked dirt road which went to the top of the hill. We were all looking at each other wondering where we were finally headed, but when we got to our destination, it was a very busy, local, family restaurant.
We also used "Jill" as we were attempting to find major landmarks and historical sites in Rome and Venice. We never had any problem with finding where we needed to go. We would often start the day out with the question of "Who has Jill?".
One of my favorite features of the Nuvi is the trip info. By selecting the time area on the front of the Nuvi while enroute, you will get detailed information as far as moving time, stopped time, maximum speed and how many miles/km traveled.
I am very happy with this purchase, and would recommend it to anyone who drives!
Digital camera Review: "Over the river and through the woods"......
Summary: 1 Stars
I received this for Christmas 2007, and used it for the first time a week later. I needed to go to a rural address, and after programming the address in, it led me on an adventure to numerous rights and lefts on many country roads. They were icy and narrow, and at times I had to pull over to allow an oncoming car room enough to pass.
After reaching my destination, and heading on my way back home, I decided to check a road map and found that a major highway ran parallel to the country roads. I would have much preferred to have taken the major highway to the destination which was much easier traveling on the return trip.... and it took me less time to get back because of the better roads.
On the GPS settings menu it listed three possible ways of getting to the destination.... Fastest.... Shortest... and... Off Road. When I went to the destination I had it set on "Fastest"... when I came back home I had it set on "Shortest"... and it still wanted me to go off the major highway that I was on to take a back road.... I just ignored it, and stayed on the major highway I was on, and the GPS kept "recalculating". As I mentioned above, it took me less time to get back home because of the better roads.
It would be nice if there was a setting in the menu to use the "Better or Major" roads when possible.
I called Garmin Tech Support, and we went over all the settings in my GPS, and there was no further improved tweaking than what I had already had. He asked me the destination address and my starting point, and said that he would note that for revision in their mid-2008 mapping update.
Is there a GPS manufacturer that has a "Easiest Traveling" or "Use Major Highways When Possible" setting? I am not looking forward to using the Garmin on future trips and taking all sorts of country roads again.
Jim in Maine
Digital camera Review: ..
Summary: 5 Stars
5 stars for this babe. The first and the best GPS that I ever had(i suppose it to be). Easy and good guidance on the road. Love it so muchDigital camera Review: 1.5 years and counting, Garmin Nuvi 350 is iffy
Summary: 3 Stars
I live near Chicago, IL (35 miles away) and have used my nuvi since 05/2006. I've learned not to expect it to get me into the correct turn lanes by experience since I've had to make some pretty dramatic lane changes to do so based on the lack of sufficient notice given. Slowing down doesn't seem to help since it's the distance to the turn that counts.
One reviewer commented about satellite connection. Same here. I find it helps to not plug it into the car charger or even turn it on before leaving a garage. It still takes about 3 minutes to aquire a satellite, though it didn't take half that time when it was new.
I used it a couple of times to get from North Will County to Southern Illinois/Indiana and just trying to get to RT 57 would have involved cutting directly through a corn field. (FYI:I did, admit that I told it to avoid tollways).
I also tried to find addresses for places that weren't in the maps, not to mention that it could not extrapolate (with accuracy) where the exact address might be based on real life maps. I have been led several times to frontage and side road destinations with the voice declaring it's success, only to find that I was a mile or miles from my intended target.
Hy hubby tried to look for updated maps for our area/state, but there aren't any (at least none that are for the garmin), even at any price. If someone out there knows otherwise, please comment, thank you.
Bottom line: the nuvi only knows what it is told and can get you to many places, just not as quickly as you would like (doesn't know roads under construction unless you upgrade), and has trouble with satellite connection at the start. I'm kindof sorry that I paid the $649.00 when it first came out, but it has been of some help in the past year or so.
Digital camera Review: 100% worth buying
Summary: 4 Stars
So I've had this garmin for about a month and the only little problem I've had with it is one time the route it told me to take simply wasn't the best route to take....and it was only one time that it happened. Otherwise garmin is the best brand by far for navigation and it is extremely reliable. My friend has had his garmin for over a yera now and he's had 0 problems as well. At this amazing price this is simply a must buy. I have no idea how they still have some in stock.