Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator by Garmin
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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 |
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: A Single Girls Best Friend
Summary: 5 Stars
I love my new Garmin GPS system. This is the best. Now I can venture out and not be afraid of getting lost in places that I should not be in.
Great purchase for me!!
Digital camera Review: A TRUE STORY...
Summary: 1 Stars
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.
Digital camera Review: A Welcome Companion
Summary: 4 Stars
My wife and I bought the Nuvi 350 -- our first GPS -- right before we took a 500-mile vacation trip. It was surprisingly easy to use. We just typed in our destination address, and it guided us there. The best part was that any time we stopped or missed a turn, it "recalculated" and directed us back to our main route. It was also very helpful in telling us which lane to be in for the next turn. It would have been more helpful in a couple of instances had we downloaded and installed the most recent software from the Garmin website -- before our trip.
At first, having a strange female voice in the car, telling us where to go, was a bit disconcerting. But we grew so fond of it that we named our nuvi "Louise." For the price, this is a great product.
Digital camera Review: A bit disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
I just receive Nuvi350 today and did some test. I have done research for a couple months before I bought Nuvi350. My desicion was based on the features and so many positive comments on this unit. Before that I tried Megellan roadmate 800. But I return the product as I afraid of "bad customer service" quoted by many online review and no "text to speech" function. With Nuvi 350 on hand, I am acutally a bit disappointed.
Pro: Signal lock quick. Dispaly easy to read. Text to speech is nice (Thar is the main reason I like this unit)
Con: (1) POI is not as good as Roadmate 800. I live in Santa Clara. CA Ranch 99 in Cupertino and Milpitas are not included under the shopping/Grocery. It show no found even I spell the name. Six Flag Marine World is not under attraction too. I tried C340 in store. It does have these POI. I do not know why NUVI 350 does not have these since the same map is used.
(2) There is no multiple destination (which I know before I buy).
(3) The system locked on the first day and I had to hard reset the unit (held/press the power botton did not work).
(4) World clock does not even include cities in mainland China.
There is no any CD in the box. I thought someone mentioned about broken CD in the box.
Dec. 16, 06: After another two days of test, I feel it is not worthy to spend $450 on this unit. I should keep Roadmate 800 at $299 when I got it at sale. It serve the same purpose although roadmate 800 does not have test to speech. But it give you very accurate alert tone when you need to turn.
The Nuvi I receied was in a poor taped box surronding by plastic bags. The Nuvi 350 box was not sealed. When I opened the box, the all stuffs like charge unit, USB cable, suction cup, disk mount, reference quide were NOT neatly placed in the box. And the box is not sealed. I was not sure whether is is open box item or return product. I was wondering about this as it locked me on the first day and had to do hard reset. Why new product does not sealed?
However, I still feel GPS makes out life much more easier. The only thing is whether I made a right choise on Nuvi 350 or not. Maybe I had too high expectation since the online review are mostly positve on this product. It let me down on the first day made me disappointed.
Digital camera Review: A bit pricey but a great product
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used navigator for several years now and now I can't drive without them.
I usually prefer portable units VS car installed ones since I like to take them with me from car to car and on vacation.
Garmin makes a great product, easy to use and I used the IQue for several years now untill I upgraded.
The only downside is still the price but it is worth it.