Garmin Nuvi 350 - 3.5 in. Car GPS Receiver

Before purchasing this model, I looked at several other Garmins, Tom-Tom, a Magellan, and a Sony. The Nuvi won out primarily due to its ease of use, great portability, and speech functions. Though excellent, this unit is not without its quirks.

The first thing I noticed after opening the box is that no packing list, software or printed manual are included. A quick-start folder gives the basics of operation, there's a copy of the manual in the unit's internal memory, and update software are available online, but anyone without a computer would be out of luck.

Checking Garmin's website, I found several useful downloads. There were new voices and vehicle icons as well as updater software. When the Nuvi 350 is attached via USB connector, you can run the updater which will automatically find and install the latest software version. The other items were slightly more difficult to install, but only because I had to open or create folders to store the new files. (In the case of the new vehicles, the installation instructions don't tell you to create the necessary folder!)

After the update and add-ons were complete, it was time to test the unit. The touch screen is easy to navigate with well written menus and it was very easy to set my home location. The included suction cup mount is very handy and easy to use, though apparently illegal in California and Minnesota.

One very nice feature is a listing of nearby businesses and attractions. While I couldn't find everything I knew to be nearby, there were enough items offered that an out-of-towner could find a restaurant, hotel, or gas station with relative ease. The address listings of these vital services have been very accurate in my experience.

I was a little surprised when I selected the local Target and the Nuvi directed me over a half mile in wrong direction. Even stranger, if I selected Super Target it directed me to the correct location. It also has the wrong address for the nearest Wal-Mart and it thinks my local Steak and Shake is on the wrong side of the road. This is probably a problem with the included maps and not the functionality of the Nuvi.

While testing the unit, I noticed a quirk with the voice I'd chosen (British Female.) For some reason, the voice read the abbreviation "Dr." not as "Drive" but as "Doctor." It did so consistently, as did the male British voice and both Australian voices. Switching to the American Female voice corrected this issue, but I had to wonder how often the word "doctor" occurs in street names in Australia and England. Besides this one issue, the voices do a really good job at reading out street names.

Some of the routing choices Nuvi suggests aren't the ones a local would make, but it does so quickly and even posts your expected arrival time. If you change from the suggested route, it remaps almost immediately. In my experience, 1/10 or a mile or less before beginning the remap and only a second or two to finish the new route. You can even add in a side location (such as a gas station) on the fly. Also, you can access recent locations easily and "go home" is a dedicated menu option.

When you make a turn, the Nuvi will warn you which way the next turn will be, giving you plenty of time to get in the correct lane. The only issue I've noticed with directions is when crossing a nearby intersection where one road angles slightly as it crosses -- the Nuvi reads this as requiring a turn!

My previous experience with GPS navigation systems is limited to Hertz Neverlost on rental cars and a computer-attached unit I used to own. The Nuvi is superior to both in most every way. The computer unit isn't even an contender and the Neverlost might have the edge in map information, but otherwise I'd judge the Nuvi better.

The navigation functions would be enough to recommend the Nuvi, but its other features deserve mention. There's a language assistant which offers some basic translation options, an audiobook player, an image viewer, an MP3 player, a calculator, and a currency convertor. All of these features are very easy to access and quite handy on the road. The internal speaker isn't really good enough to play back music, but through the headphone jack the sound is quite acceptable. (But don't wear headphones while driving! Use your vehicle's audio input.)

As far as image playback goes, the Nuvi isn't going to replace dedicated viewers. It's a bit slow, but it did accurately display JPEG image files which would freeze my PDA. It even found the image files embedded in some of my MP3s! With the free internal memory and/or an SD card, there's plenty of space to store several audio and image files.

The good:

There is a surprising amount of functionality in this relatively small unit. If you've ever used an internet browser or PDA, you'll have no problem navigating the menus. The speech function saves you having to look at the screen to identify street names, which is especially useful in city traffic.

The bad:

If I had to pick an Achilles heel for this unit, it would be battery life. The box proclaims 4-8 hours of use, but that's optimistic. You might get 8 hours if you turned off the backlight and voice function, but then the unit is virtually useless! I'm getting about 4 hours of use with the backlight and voice on -- that should be more than enough for most round-trip commutes. For long road trips, I would surely use the power connector. At $799 msrp the Nuvi 350 is a bit expensive; if the portability and speech aren't important to you a cheaper model might serve better.

Note:

I have noticed that the Nuvi has a difficult time locking in on satellites while my vehicle is moving. Even a brief stop, such as at an intersection, is usually enough for the unit to get a good lock.

The bottom line:

I have yet to test the Nuvi 350 in unfamiliar territory, but based on local driving I give it a thumbs up.