Garmin Nuvi 350

[chris2992]

Garmin Nuvi Product Sheet

No it isn't as nice as the Zumo, nor is it water proof, but at half the price I couldn't pass it up. I bought it off ebay for $350 to my door brand new, came pre-loaded with V.8 maps and all the bells and whistles. I just received it last night and have only got to play for a short bit of time, but screen shots are to come, but here is my initial review.

Out of the box: Wow, this thing is small and light. Probably half the weight of my I-Pod and about the same footprint, just thicker. The screen is massive and it looks more like the back side of a camera than anything.

Turning it on: Boot up time was a bit long, but it is a computer after all. The first screens I saw were the set up menus, they were very easy to navigate (setting the language, colors and other personal features). Then to the maps, the screen is very vibrant and the level of detail is quite nice.

Operating the unit: The touch screen worried me a bit when I was ordering, now I think that is the feature that I like the most. Menu's are extremely easy to navigate, and I have had very few false touches or false non touches, it is quite accurate. My only complaint here is when typing in an address to drive to, the "keyboard" is kinda small so you really have to concentrate to find the right keys. Once you enter your address though it is very simple to use, simply press "go" and it begins to give you directions to that place.

Features of the Unit: One thing that I am extremely impressed with is the "Where To" menu. Inside of this menu, there are numerous sub menu's including, Filling stations, Food, Entertainment, Travel, etc.... But for the reviews purpose, lets discuss the food menu, once you select Where To > Food, you get another listing of types of food (American, Mexican, Chinese, fast food, etc....) you select which one you would like or select "all food" and it searches the restaurants under that category closest to your location, displays the first 30ish results. Then lets say you see "Applebees", once you touch Applebees, it brings up the written out address and telephone number for the restaurant, as well as a key that says "go". Once you have made your decision here, simply touch go and it will navigate you to the Applebees from your current location. But wait it gets better, I knew the unit would do this, but what I didn't realize is that it is not only large chain's, but it also has all the local Ma and Pop diners as well, quite a nice feature for those in an area they are un familiar with. There are plenty of other features, JPEG picture viewer, MP3 player and the likes that I haven't used yet, but in time I can see how they would be handy to have in one location.

Accessories for the Nuvi: It comes with a carrying case, house charger, car charger, usb adapter cable, and a windshield suction cup mount. Having all of this come with the unit is nice, and the car mount is actually quite sturdy and usable. I will be purchasing a RAM mount for the bike, but for now I probably won't use it on the bike, not until I get more familiar with it that is.

Overall I am very pleased with this purchase, In fact I am sick that I waited this long. I have wanted a GPS for about 2 years and kept putting it off, now I have one and can't imagine not having one. To anyone on the fence about it, I say go for it, you will love it. My only legitimate complaint at this time is that the town that I am living in is expanding very quickly and the map shows this, it is about 2 years old. Garmin is apparently releasing V.9 of their mapping software in a number of months, but it will cost around $150 to update. And on top of that, as soon as you update, it is out of date again, nature of the beast. I still have plenty to learn about it, such as planning stops and more in depth routes, but after one night I have found the unit very simple to use. A+ for garmins quality.

[didit]

Great initial info. Looking forward to hearing how the touch screen works with gloves on. I too like the idea of the size,

MP3 built in and the several hundred less $$$ than most others. I am a little concerned regarding the non-water proof issue.

When my time comes, it'll be for the bike (in the cage during winter) and not sure what it would look like with a zip lock back

over top :D.

Keep up the review!

[chris2992]

The waterproof issue is non-existant to me with this unit. I don't ride in the rain, I may get caught in the rain, but I do my very best to dodge showers. But with the "text to speach" software, you could easily put it in your tankbag and just run a headphone cord out and still use the turn by turn, no interface necessarcy.

As for the glove issue, I wear fieldsheer "yada yada yada" racing gloves, and the fingers are quite bulky and I still had little to no issue getting the buttons. Typing in an address would be a no go, but the main navigation buttons are large and easy to "touch". I'll be able to illistrate this better when I get the "screen shots" loaded and inserted.

[V4 Rosso]

@Chris: Congrats on your Nüvi.

CN V9 has been released already, I just installed the CN V9 Europe update on my SPIII. The NT version for the Nüvi was released december last year. If you buy a Garmin GPS through an authorised reseller and the software that comes with it has been updatet before the day of purchase, you are entitled to a free update. Check the Garmin website.

From experience: using just speech guidance won't do all the time as there are some minor flaws in the software.

[Rice]

Glad to see another Nuvi convert.

You will like it even more once you get to know it better.

I am planning to put it inside the clear plastic map pocket on my tank bag.

This should take care of waterproofing and vibration issues and save me money on the ram mount.

I will also route the headphones from there, so that I don't really have to look at the screen all that much.

Enjoy!

[chris2992]

For North America, V.8 is the latest version. Other regions are up to V.9, but not here. I think In all my reading, that if a new release is made within 3 months from date of activation, you will get the update for free, then there are discounts possible from there, however you will likely just have to cough up the money for the upgrade.

Yes, I have thought about using the map pouch, and that may be the way I go. I thank you for convincing me to go this route, the quest may be very nice too, but this thing is awesome.

[Guest]

I considered this type of unit until I found the TomTom rider. I don't ride in the rain either, but waterproof isn't a bad thing, plus the mounting brackets, lanyard and brighter screen were major facors of the Rider. then of this year garmin come out with a killer motorcycle unit - grrr. But I have a separate MP3 player (not waterproof) and don't really care about the voice direction stuff (rider is bluetooth but won't interface with my Treo - no biggie).

The one thing I do like on Garmin units that the TomToms lack is the pre-planning on the computer and the 'bread crumb' feature that will track everywhere you go. TomTom does't do this. It basically will tell you how to get somewhere from where you are, period. I'd like to have a record of where I'd been, or do I??? It would be fun to 'trade' routes with other Garmin uses, but I'm the only one in my circle that has GPS so not a big deal again.

I'm still really happy with the Rider, it tough and waterproof and does the job.

[RickF]

Garmin Nuvi Product Sheet

No it isn't as nice as the Zumo, nor is it water proof, but at half the price I couldn't pass it up. I bought it off ebay for $350 to my door brand new, came pre-loaded with V.8 maps and all the bells and whistles. I just received it last night and have only got to play for a short bit of time, but screen shots are to come, but here is my initial review.

Out of the box: Wow, this thing is small and light. Probably half the weight of my I-Pod and about the same footprint, just thicker. The screen is massive and it looks more like the back side of a camera than anything.

Turning it on: Boot up time was a bit long, but it is a computer after all. The first screens I saw were the set up menus, they were very easy to navigate (setting the language, colors and other personal features). Then to the maps, the screen is very vibrant and the level of detail is quite nice.

Operating the unit: The touch screen worried me a bit when I was ordering, now I think that is the feature that I like the most. Menu's are extremely easy to navigate, and I have had very few false touches or false non touches, it is quite accurate. My only complaint here is when typing in an address to drive to, the "keyboard" is kinda small so you really have to concentrate to find the right keys. Once you enter your address though it is very simple to use, simply press "go" and it begins to give you directions to that place.

Features of the Unit: One thing that I am extremely impressed with is the "Where To" menu. Inside of this menu, there are numerous sub menu's including, Filling stations, Food, Entertainment, Travel, etc.... But for the reviews purpose, lets discuss the food menu, once you select Where To > Food, you get another listing of types of food (American, Mexican, Chinese, fast food, etc....) you select which one you would like or select "all food" and it searches the restaurants under that category closest to your location, displays the first 30ish results. Then lets say you see "Applebees", once you touch Applebees, it brings up the written out address and telephone number for the restaurant, as well as a key that says "go". Once you have made your decision here, simply touch go and it will navigate you to the Applebees from your current location. But wait it gets better, I knew the unit would do this, but what I didn't realize is that it is not only large chain's, but it also has all the local Ma and Pop diners as well, quite a nice feature for those in an area they are un familiar with. There are plenty of other features, JPEG picture viewer, MP3 player and the likes that I haven't used yet, but in time I can see how they would be handy to have in one location.

Accessories for the Nuvi: It comes with a carrying case, house charger, car charger, usb adapter cable, and a windshield suction cup mount. Having all of this come with the unit is nice, and the car mount is actually quite sturdy and usable. I will be purchasing a RAM mount for the bike, but for now I probably won't use it on the bike, not until I get more familiar with it that is.

Overall I am very pleased with this purchase, In fact I am sick that I waited this long. I have wanted a GPS for about 2 years and kept putting it off, now I have one and can't imagine not having one. To anyone on the fence about it, I say go for it, you will love it. My only legitimate complaint at this time is that the town that I am living in is expanding very quickly and the map shows this, it is about 2 years old. Garmin is apparently releasing V.9 of their mapping software in a number of months, but it will cost around $150 to update. And on top of that, as soon as you update, it is out of date again, nature of the beast. I still have plenty to learn about it, such as planning stops and more in depth routes, but after one night I have found the unit very simple to use. A+ for garmins quality.

Thanks for this post, Chris2992.

I am finally shopping in earnest as well. This unit looks like the best for me for many of the same reasons that you cite. I am mostly a fair weather rider. I slip a zip-lock bag over my "xm roady" in the rain and at the self-serve car-wash. I confess to washing my bike quite often. I am on my second roady in two years, but not due to moisture issues. I remove the unit when I am concerned about theft. I intend to use the plastic bag solution for the Nuvi 350.

What do you think about the brightness of the display? Do you think it will be viewable in sunlight? I will be interested to see how you and others mount the unit. I will share my mounting solution here when I figure it out.

[chris2992]

I have only used it in my car so far, but it seems plenty bright. I was driving east in the morning with the sun in my windshield and it worked fine. As for mounting, check out RAM mounts, they have a specific mount for the nuvi.

[Guest]

Brightness is the biggest issue and it would be helpful to check it out in full sunlight pointing up like you'd have it on the bike and something I didn't think about but I'm ok with the Rider is I have a tinted shield (or sunglasses) and that reduces readability more. I was going to get the bluetooth GSP for treo and I can see the treo fine in the sunlight, but as soon as I put the tinted visor on the visibility was cut in half and wasn't very useful.

The best mount is the ram-mount, medium length arm and the U-bolt base ram mount on the gas tank bolts.

[Twox48]

I will put in my 2 cents here...

I bought the Nuvi 350 for my wife for X-mas. My first GPS purchase. 100% happy with it. Amazed at the accuracy & ease of use. My wife is "electronically challenged" but she caught on real fast and if I want to use it I have to sneak it out of her purse & leave the house before she gets up! She really doesn't like to be without it...

I'd love a Zumo but just can't justify the extra cost... maybe when I hit the lottery...

[chris2992]

Amazed at the accuracy & ease of use. My wife is "electronically challenged" but she caught on real fast...............

Very True, I did notice this too. My wife really thinks it is quite simple to use actually and she is the same (electronically challenged). Just goes to show what a little time in the details of the menu's can go a long way.

[turtlecreek]

just got my nuvi 350. put it in the truck, put power to it, had it calling my route to home in less than 5 minutes. very easy unit to use so far. haven't tried much else with it at this point.

i have a quick question though on mounting. using the provided suction cup mount they give you (for car glass), it seemed to mount very securly to my tach. glass. any reason that it won't stay there? anybody tried this? i will have a video camera mounted to my RAM mount already, so need another option. i have a tank bag and can toss it in there of course, but would like to keep it out front more if possible.

the audible direction feature gives you plenty of warning and the 'say the name of the street' function was great!

thanks for the reviews that helped me pull the trigger.

[skuuter]

Trying to save my pennies for a Zumo.....but price/ features....and you folks positive posts sure make this look tempting........................... :unsure: ....Thanks (I guess)......good info though. Thought I had my game plan laid out.....may have to do some more research............ :thumbsup:

[Guest]

question for those of you that are thinking of using the map pocket on your tank bag. The antenna in the back must stay "up". So are you planning on sticking it in there at an angle? The angle it may have to be in there might limit the touch screen feature..... please keep us posted as to what works, PLEASE!!!!!!!!

[chris2992]

The antena has a "ratchet" effect to it. It can be set to 5 different angles; Closed, 45, 90 (straight out the back, the way most pictures show it), 135 and 180 (sticking straight up so that it would lay down flat on any surface).

If you think you can swing the Zumo, I'd probably do that. But in my case, I was looking to spend about $200, and for just a wee bit more money I was able to get a unit that was 100x better than what I was looking at for $200. The zumo has some nice things that I would like to have, waterproof and the likes, but under my budget, I just couldn't justify it.

[turtlecreek]

since i have posted something positive on the 350, i feel compelled to shed the dirt too.

my caveate is that this is the first gps i have owned and operated, so i didn't know what to expect.

this unit is much like windows vs DOS. it is pretty, it has basic functionality, it is easy to learn what it does, but from my perspective, it doesn't do much.

PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG!!

What it does well:

you enter in where you want to go, it guides you there with visual and audible queues (sp?). that works great if you want to go from one town to another or from one house to another. ie defineable points. you can even guide the route it picks by inputing ONE way point that you want to go through. for those who don't use GPS units (like me 3 hours ago), that means if i want to go somewhere, but i need to go by a specific intersection that it did not chose to go through because it wasnt the shortest/best route, i can specify that it input that intersection/gas station/address in between my present location and my end point. YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE OF THESE. so if i want to go to atlanta, GA from Nashville, TN I could put in Birmingham, AL as a way point and it would plot through bham to get to atlanta from nashville. I could NOT add another way point to say, Huntsville, AL to add to my trip.

So what it wont do well is:

allow you to manually plot a course from point a to point b (say a loop in a certain smokey mountain area) with the freedom to determine each turn/road you will take along the way.

this is a HUGE weakness to me, especially in light of the upcoming TexasMac event where I had hoped to use this unit to help me plot out and navigate the back road routes we intended to take.

do other units do this?

[chris2992]

Turtle, you are correct, but that is of no issue to me. This is a top shelf entry level GPS. Trip planning is something that it simply doesn't do, but I have thought of a way around that. My though is that you can program in a bunch of favorite addresses that you would like to hit along your trip, then you tell the unit to go from A to C with a stop at B. Once you get to C, you need to re-program the unit. Then you go from C to E with a stop at D, etc...... This takes a bit more planning than just creating an entire trip, but seems to me to do just fine. Also I don't like just following a map, what I think I will end up using more than anything is the feature where you can simply pan around on the map, click a location and press go. For instance, pan around on the map and find a twisty section of roadways, touch the road and it shows the road name, then select go. Once you arrive at that location, I would likely turn off the turn by turn and just follow the map. I usually like to make a few passes on each road, one to check conditions, and then go through at a nice pace. Doing this would make the GPS keep trying to re-route you. Once you get done blasting through your twisties for the day, simply use the Where To > Favorites > Home, and you have turn by turn directions to get home. I guess that this unit is much better for a day rider rather than a week long rider, but it seems that it will work out just fine for me.

[turtlecreek]

Turtle, you are correct, but that is of no issue to me. This is a top shelf entry level GPS. Trip planning is something that it simply doesn't do, but I have thought of a way around that. My though is that you can program in a bunch of favorite addresses that you would like to hit along your trip, then you tell the unit to go from A to C with a stop at B. Once you get to C, you need to re-program the unit. Then you go from C to E with a stop at D, etc...... This takes a bit more planning than just creating an entire trip, but seems to me to do just fine. Also I don't like just following a map, what I think I will end up using more than anything is the feature where you can simply pan around on the map, click a location and press go. For instance, pan around on the map and find a twisty section of roadways, touch the road and it shows the road name, then select go. Once you arrive at that location, I would likely turn off the turn by turn and just follow the map. I usually like to make a few passes on each road, one to check conditions, and then go through at a nice pace. Doing this would make the GPS keep trying to re-route you. Once you get done blasting through your twisties for the day, simply use the Where To > Favorites > Home, and you have turn by turn directions to get home. I guess that this unit is much better for a day rider rather than a week long rider, but it seems that it will work out just fine for me.

not a bad idea on the 'favorites'. as long as you can get them spread out far enough and still 'force' it to plot the correct route, it might work. i am sure it will be useful for me too once i start using it on rides.

my problem is i bought it with the intentions of using it to lead a group at tmac. since i have never been in the area, being able to plot the days course would have been very nice. perhaps i can accomplish the same thing using your method.

[didit]

Have you loaded any music in the system? That is one of the features that I am looking at, to eliminate the mp3 player I have now.

Just wondering about using the card slot for music and how the speech works with tunes - does it fully override or simply quiet and

talk over the song.

Putting it in the tank bag sounds like a good solution. Once you are under way, how much screen touching do you really need to do?

Are you tempted to thumb through features en route or can you just simply set your course and get visual and audio feedback.

Thanks again for keeping us posted, looking forward to the screen shots.

[Guest]

Ok, I haven't used a garmin, but I thought they all let you pick 'way points' or multiple desitations (rider does). But what would be the best for a truely motorcycle gsp was to have a 'twisty' route option. you know it asks 'fastest', 'shortest', 'twisty'.

does your gps kep a trail of where you've been, the lowrance units do.h

Mounts/Tank bag. The garmin is different than rider, the rider has a little visor that would keep the clear window of the tank bag too far away for the touch screen to work, and it would make you look too far down. If you already have a camera up there then maybe the ram mounts that go on the brake/clutch lever bolts?

Do you always ride with the camera? i just got a bs ticket and a camera on the speedo would have documented my actaul speed not what the officer claimed he 'clocked' me at. and 43 in a 35 is a bs ticket (oops off on a rant).

[turtlecreek]

music: yes I loaded 2 groups of music on to a sdram card from my pc, put into the nuvi and it worked perfect. then i picked a route and the audible directions completely turned off the music sound first, then gave directions, then turned sound back on. VERY NICE! my mp3 is gone.

no 'twisty' option, but it does have 'off road', which in a pinch, probably would be pretty 'twisty'

the garmin will lay flat in your bag with the antenna straight out and receive with no problem. i have not tried the touchscreen in that config to see if the plastic map pocket touches the screen in multiple places and messes up the 'touches'. you are right in that you really should not need to touch it often. if it had the multiple way point function, you would not need to touch it at all......by the way, you can 'lock' the touchscreen to avoid accidental touches very easily. the only problem with this, is if you do, it stops the screen from displaying the map and your position. you still get the audible clue, but the visual one is over. this function will work fine if you stick it in your pocket and only use the audible clues...

i did not see the 'bread crumb' function as an option.

[V4 Rosso]

do other units do this?

Yes, all MC specific Garmin units do (Quest, Zumo, Streetpilot III/2610/2720/2820). And with the ability to store the maps on your PC you are also able to plan the routes using your PC instead of the GPS itself, and upload those routes from your PC to the GPS unit.

As far as I know the TomTom Rider doesn't come with a mapsource equivalent software. Dutch and German TTRider owners can buy a route planning software targeted specificaly at motorcyclists, that is compatible with both TomTom & Garmin. This package called OnRoute gives the user the option to plan fast or more scenic route. It makes it's calculation based on number of corners, forestroads and along water (lakes, canals etc.). Don't know if the TT Rider2 (that wll be announced next week) will be much different from the current TT Rider.

[BonusVFR]

just got my nuvi 350. put it in the truck, put power to it, had it calling my route to home in less than 5 minutes. very easy unit to use so far. haven't tried much else with it at this point.

i have a quick question though on mounting. using the provided suction cup mount they give you (for car glass), it seemed to mount very securly to my tach. glass. any reason that it won't stay there? anybody tried this? i will have a video camera mounted to my RAM mount already, so need another option. i have a tank bag and can toss it in there of course, but would like to keep it out front more if possible.

the audible direction feature gives you plenty of warning and the 'say the name of the street' function was great!

thanks for the reviews that helped me pull the trigger.

I would not use the suction cup on the MC.

This is what I have rigged for my Zumo. I have the two RAM mounts but I could add more. More shots on my Zumo review post.

Long Arm on this shot with Zumo - just sticks up high enough when I use the Tank Bag which I use when I use the Zumo.

[Rice]

Have you loaded any music in the system? That is one of the features that I am looking at, to eliminate the mp3 player I have now.

Just wondering about using the card slot for music and how the speech works with tunes - does it fully override or simply quiet and

talk over the song.

Putting it in the tank bag sounds like a good solution. Once you are under way, how much screen touching do you really need to do?

Are you tempted to thumb through features en route or can you just simply set your course and get visual and audio feedback.

Thanks again for keeping us posted, looking forward to the screen shots.

I used music feature and it works something like this:

If you are following a route and listening to music, there is a transparant icon in the corner of the screen that lets you go back and forth between the map and the MP3 controls. It allows you to switch w/o going through menus.

When voice directions occur, your music is put on pause automatically and resumed when the voice is over. This means that you can use the unit w/o any manual input at all unless you want to skip a song and such. It is great when you are on a long trip, where voice commends do not occur too often. When you are on a short trip, especially in the city, the constant interruption of music becomes quite annoying but I don't see any other way that Garmin could have handled this...

The best part of NUVI for me is the fact that you don't have to look at the screen. It guides through voice only much better than other units out there because of the "name the street" feature.