Electronics : Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Rating: - Never get lost again, Nuvi will show you the way.
I have had the Garmin Nuvi 350 for a little over two years and it has been one of the best purchases in my life. I like to take road trips with my wife and we rely heavily on Nuvi to get us around, find interesting places and most importantly get us home. I would say that Nuvi has been successful for us 98% of the time in leading us to our destination. The other 2% comes from needing to get updated maps once a year as roads change due to construction or traffic changes, etc... but Nuvi will still get us within a few blocks from where we want to go.

I got mine for $306 but now it's $190 (w/shipping, etc...) so it's a real bargain. There are newer models with more features, etc... but I haven't found them as reliable or the features to be worth the upgrade/price difference.

The next big thing that I will test of my GPS is for a month long trip that I am planning to Europe. On the Garmin website there are maps that you can purchase besides the US so with Nuvi I will get a little pocket sized tour guide when I visit Europe.

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Rating: - Great Device BUT Outdated Maps AND Lousy Customer Service
First of all, let me say that this is a great device. My low rating is because the unit comes with outdated maps. Althought Amazon says that "most" units come with the latest maps, that was not the case with my unit, purchased just a week ago. I would not have even realized that the maps were outdated if I had not read it in the user forum on this website.

Now for the details. The 350 (also the 360) has been discontinued. Presumably, that's why the maps are outdated. However, Garmin customer service could not (or would not) tell me which units come with the latest maps. If you buy a model that has not been discontinued, perhaps you will get the latest maps - who knows? The latest maps currently available are the 2009 version. To check your version, turn on the GPS, touch Settings, then Map, then Map Info at the bottom. My unit shows the 2008 version.

Whether or not the updated maps will affect you depends solely on where you use the unit. I did find that a nearby shopping center built 3 years ago was not reflected on the 2008 version. Even though we're still in 2008, the 2008 maps are at least a year old now.

On the other hand, the 350 sold for $300 a years ago and is now on Amazon for around $160. If having updated maps doesn't matter to you, go ahead and buy this unit. It's still a great unit at a good price. But, for me, if I'm going to buy something "new", I expect it to be up-to-date.

If you buy this unit, Garmin will provide the 2009 map update for "free". I think it normally costs $50 or $60. So, in theory, you can buy the unit with the old maps and update them with the latest version for free. DON'T COUNT ON IT!!!! When you register the product online at the Garmin website, it provides a link to download the "free" update. I'm fairly computer-savvy, and I was able to download the map update (also the latest firmware and operating system) with no problems, although it took a couple of hours. However, every time I tried to install the map update to my GPS unit, it made my computer freeze, and I had to turn off the power. After trying this twice, it made my computer unstable, and I ended up spending hours cleaning up the mess on my computer (ultimately by doing a safe boot and a system restore). I'm running Windows XP on a 3 year old computer. If you have Vista or more RAM, perhaps you won't have the problems I did - who knows? Unless you're an IT specialist, my strong advice is - DON'T DOWNLOAD THE MAP UPDATE ONTO YOUR COMPUTER.

You can get the map upgrade mailed to you on a DVD instead of downloading. I've requested the disk and will give it a try. If that doesn't work, I'm going to box up the thing and return it to Amazon. By the way, although Garmin customer service repeatedly insisted that the DVD was free, there is a $10 fee for "shipping and handling". Since a DVD can be mailed anywhere in the country for about a dollar, I think that's outrageous and told them so. Long story short, after asking to speak to a supervisor, I was told that the DVD would be mailed to me, free of charge. We'll see if I get it. If I get it, we'll see if it works.

To narrow it down, your options are as follow: 1. Buy the unit, and don't worry about the fact that the maps are at least a year old. 2. Buy the unit and pay $10 more to get the map update on DVD. 3. Buy the unit, download the map update, and waste several hours before accepting option 2 or 3.

Aside from the map situation, this is really a wonderful device. Although it may not select the most efficient route, it will get you from Point A to Point B. After doing some research and trying out the unit, I urge you to get a unit (such as the 350) with what they call "text to speech". This means that the unit gives you directions AND street names in audio. In other words, with text-to-speech, it tells you to "Turn right onto Main St in .2 miles" as opposed to "Turn right in .2 miles". With the latter, you will invariably miss your turn. Trust me on this. On Black Friday, units will be available for $125 or less, but I haven't seen one in this price range that includes "text to speech". Without it, the unit is worthless, and, in fact, DANGEROUS. Pay a little more and get this important feature. Otherwise, you will miss your turn, or you will try to follow the display, which is a great way to have an accident. The scary thing is: all the morons talking on their cellphones while driving are now even more distracted because they're playing with their GPS at the same time.

The 350 has a 3.5 inch screen (measured along the diagonal). Units with a W (such as the 260W, 205W, etc.) have a 4.3 inch screen, but they usually cost around $50 more. That extra display sounds nice, but I think it's unimportant. If you follow my advice and get a unit with text to speech, you will NEVER need to look at the unit while driving, so the screen size is really a non-issue. The smart money is to buy a 3.5 inch unit with text to speech. Amazon has a neat little grid that shows you the basic features on the different models.

One more thing: a well-known consumer testing magazine rated the 350 very highly in its June 2008 issue. The December 2008 again rates GPS units, but doesn't include the 350 (presumably becauses it's discontinued).

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Rating: - Easy to use, Easy to own
Very easy to use right out of the box, self explanatory interface, takes a bit to find locate satellites, but not so long as to be annoying. Makes road trips MUCH less of a hassle. My wife and I drove out of town a couple days ago to look at a new house, and this baby took us right to the front door of the house, in a city we have never been to in our lives. Very helpful.

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Rating: - Garmin Nuvi
I have had this proejct for several years now and do not know how I would survive without it. As I travel to strange cities for my job from airports, hotels, office location it has been awesome. I am now buying 2 of them for my parents and daughter as they have borrowed mine many times. I also use this at home in my travels and comparing it to people who have in car navigators I haven't seen one that works better or simpler than this one.

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Rating: - A Great Value With Great Garmin Support (very important read before you buy)
I bought this unit in Oct 2008 for about $80 more than this site is offering it for now. Bottom line is I have no complaints but I will try to address some concerns or issues that other reviews have stated. First off you need to know this is a discontinued model from Garmin. That is the one reason the price has dropped so much but it has nothing to do with the quality, support or functionality of this unit! What you need to know is after you buy this unit you will need to register it at the Garmin web site to get all the free upgrades and support. After you do that you get the warrenty PLUS the free maps 2009 upgrade and any other update your unit may need for your unit out of the box. Mine needed the maps 2009 plus a software update. Both were very easy to do over the Garmin web site but two things to consider is you need a high speed internet connection for the maps update (or it may take quite awhile on download) and a USB connection on your computer (that most all have these days). The updates are all FREE! I do belive I saw a offer of a CD they will mail you if you do not have a great internet connection for about $10, but don't quote me on that. All the needed cables come in the box with this unit plus it even comes with a carrying case (at least mine did I should say). So I rate the support and the free upgrade at 10 of 10 stars. Very easy to do and alot of other companies that discontinue a product limit the support. This is not the case with Garmin and a big Kudo's to them! Next, it is written that the unit takes time to start up. I don't have this problem and that maybe one of the issues Garmin corrected with the free internal software update you get online. I will say that when you first start it after it has been off for some time (over a couple hours) when you start it up it may take different amounts of time to locate the satilites. I have jumped in the car and started to drive and it has taken a couple miles to lock in to it's position and it seems the faster you move after start the longer it may take. But it still does get "online" within a few miles. That said, if you stop at a store and shut off the unit and come back and turn it on, it starts right up real quick. Don't ask me why but it just does it. The other great thing I like about this unit is if you plug it into a power source that shuts off after you shut down your car, it will automaticlly go into shutdown mode unless you touch the screen button and tell it to continue operation in battery mode. So you don't have to plug and un-plug all the time which over time will damage the power supply (wires/plug). Finally, getting back to the web site....this unit shows a car/truck driving on the road instead of an arrow like other units do. The Garmin site offers various down load car/truck downloads in various colors to match you automobile. Not a real important issue but just an example of the support and options Garmin offers with this unit. So my over-all review is 4 of 5 stars. I honestly believe it deserves five stars but because the unit does not come out of the box fully up to date it does not warrent a five star rating in my opinion. That said, it is very easy to get it that way at no additional cost pretty quick and I was very please with the Garmin support and easy access of the web site. This is a great unit for the price and you will not be dissappointed. Very bright screen and easy to use. I just may buy another one at this price to have a spare or as a gift.