DKTaber's Full Review: Garmin nüvi 350 Car GPS Receiver
I was asked by a friend who recently lost her husband to cancer to evaluate two automotive navigation devices to help her get around our area (northern New Castle County, DE, just north of Wilmington). The first one she bought was the Lowrance iWay 500c, for which I have written a separate (and highly critical) review on this site. She returned the Lowrance and bought a Garmin Nuvi 350, which I review here. Having had experience with only these two nav devices, I make frequent comparisons of them in the review.
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Things I liked:
The Nuvi is EXTREMELY intuitive - at the other end of the scale compared to the iWay. Although a manual is provided on its hard drive or on Garmin's Web site, most users could use it out of the box without reading anything.
It is also extremely compact - just 5.1oz. This is again at the other end of the scale vs. the 2.5lb. iWay. It easily fits in pocket or purse.
It has a battery that lasts about 4 hours, so can be used away from the car (as in a walking tour). GPS devices with batteries have another significant advantage over those that don't, and it's something I've never seen mentioned in any GPS reviews. When you plan a trip on the device in your home, you can then put it in the car, plug the 12v adapter into the cigarette lighter if you want to avoid running the battery down, start the car and immediately start your trip. You would think that would be true of every GPS device, but it's not. Without a battery, you must shut the device off to take it to the car, plug it in and start the car to get power to it (modern automobiles cut power to all 12v. outlets when the ignition is off).
If you've never used one of these, you might say "so what". The "so what" is that every GPS nav device has to (a) re-acquire at least 3 satellites to determine your position (which took 1.5 min. on the iWay, only 0.5 min. on the Nuvi) and (b) re-calculate the last route you entered. When the device has a battery, you take it to the car TURNED ON. While it may have to re-acquire its position, it does NOT have to recalculate the route because it was never shut off. Route calculation in the iWay took 5 minutes, so to use it you have to sit for 5 min. satellite acquisition time before you can use it to navigate - a major inconvenience.
BTW, the Nuvi calculates route very fast - less than 1/2 minute. It also has enough memory to calculate cross-country routes in one leg. I had it calculate a route to Tucson, it took only 1/4 min. to do it, and it was absolutely the best route because I drove that route last year. Compare that to the iWay which could only do cross-country trips in multiple legs, took 5 minutes to calculate each leg, and the route was absolutely bizarre. I mean, who would drive from Wilmington, DE to Memphis by way of Chicago??!
When you go off route, the Nuvi recalculates a new route to your destination very quickly - much more quickly than the iWay.
The Nuvi announces roads by name, not by route # as the iWay did. However, it mispronounces some. E.g., Naaman's Road is pronounced "Nay-mens"; the Nuvi pronounced it "Nah-mons".
The Nuvi's antenna is exceptionally sensitive. Could often pick up enough satellites to acquire its position while in my BASEMENT OFFICE! (how does it do that??)
Things that are not so good:
The Nuvi's screen is small (3"x2-3/16") vs. the iWay's 5"x5". It is higher resolution than the iWay, which helps, but the combination of having to put my seat way back (I suffer from very long legs) and the windshield in my SUV sloping well forward, put the screen over 2' from my eyes. At that distance, text is easily readable only when using the 3D view; using either of the bird's-eye views renders much of the text unreadable. I prefer a "North Up" bird's-eye view, so would have to find a place to mount it closer to my eyes.
The screen is also not as bright as the iWay, has less contrast, and suffers from viewing-angle washout. Optimal viewing angles, both horizontal and vertical, are no more that ~20 degrees either side of center. The iWay had an essentially infinite viewing angle. However, the "price" for a large, bright, high-contrast, high viewing angle screen is a high power requirement (batteries would be impractical in such a unit) and very high weight.
The default car and alternative truck symbols representing your vehicle on the map are WAY too large; they block text. Luckily the program also offers a 3D arrowhead which is much smaller but still very easy to see.
The user cannot delete specific locations from the Recent Selections list; can only delete all. Bummer. Garmin should afford the user the same flexibility as it provides for the Favorites list, which allows deletion of individual entries.
The Nuvi calculates strange routes when configured for "Shortest Distance". E.g., the route to Columbia, MD sent me over Rt. 141 to the Kirkwood Hwy., thru Newark, DE (right thru Main St.) to Elkton Rd., then onto Rt. 40. This may be the shortest route, but is an absolute killer for time and wear/tear on both car and driver. After changing the config. to "Fastest Time", it calculated the route 99% of drivers would use (down Foulk Rd. to I-95S thru Baltimore to Columbia).
It also didn't calculate the correct route to Target in a large shopping mall only 3 miles from my house. When you enter the mall grounds, there is a road that encircles the entire mall. Target is visible to the left and relatively close, but the Nuvi directed me to turn RIGHT, which would have taken me all the way around the mall and entered the Target parking lot from the other side. This was clearly the wrong way to go. I suspect it did this because the coordinates of the Target store are inaccurate in the device's mapping system.
Maps are in some cases out-of-date. Example: Shows Naaman's Rd. as single-lane between Grubb and Marsh. Naaman's has been 100% dual for 10 years. It identifies our development as Northcrest, which is actually on Naaman's Creek Rd. about ½ mile northeast of Talley Farms (our development). However, I've concluded that no GPS nav devices have up-to-date maps, whether they use NavTeq or Tele Atlas maps; I've visited both sites to examine their maps and both have the same errors.
Unlike the iWay, the Nuvi is not waterproof. Owners of convertibles or vehicles with moon roofs must make sure the device never gets rained on.
Bottom line: I regard a 5-star rating as indicating perfection or just a hair's breadth short of it. The Nuvi is not perfect, but given the current stage of development of these devices, it has to be among the best, if not the absolute best in it's price range (she paid $466 thru Amazon.com). If I could, I'd give it 4.5 stars...and if I needed one today, this is the one I'd buy.
Introducing the nüvi: A versatile travel assistant that’s approximately the size of a deck of playing cards. The nüvi is a portable GPS navigator,...More at Radar Detector SuperStore
This is a refurbished GPS; refurbished generally means that the unit has been returned to the manufacturer, who brings the navigator back to like-new ...More at Amazon
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