Garmin nuevi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech | 
| Brand: Garmin
List Price: $329.99
Buy Refurbished: $144.99
You Save: $185.00 (56%)
New (64) Used (6) Refurbished (15) from $144.99
Rating:  2677 reviews
Sales Rank: 7
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 3.9 x 0.9 x 2.9
Distance
Speed
MPN: 010-00455-00
Model: 010-00455-00
UPC: 846330000132
EAN: 0846330000132
ASIN: B000BKJZ9Q
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Compact 700 MB GPS navigator with bundled MP3/audiobook player, photo viewer, and world travel clock | | • | Small enough to fit in a pocket or purse; mounts on vehicle windshield with included suction cup | | • | Preloaded with City Navigator NT maps of U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico | | • | Turn-by-turn directions, automatic routing, and 320 x 240 color touchscreen display | | • | Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot; measures 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87 inches (W x H x D); 1-year warranty |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Product Description
What if one device could help you navigate anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, while offering travel tips, storing your favorite tunes and photos, providing translation assistance, and more? That device is here, and it's not much bigger than a deck of cards. The Garmin nuevi 350 is set to revolutionize what we expect from a GPS navigation device, or from any device for that matter. Which nuevi is Best for You?: Click here to see a quick, simple comparison of features for all Garmin nuvi GPS navigators 
The nuevi 350 is a portable GPS navigator, traveler's reference, and digital entertainment system, all in one. View product demo (requires Flash). |
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A simple touchscreen interface and voice guidance allow you to keep your eyes on the road. View larger. | 
Listen to an audio book or an MP3 while you're on the road. View larger. | Design
With a total weight of 5.1 ounces and slim measurements of 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87 inches (WxHxD), the nuevi 350 is just right for the pocket or purse. A bright, 64,000-color display dominates the front of the device and a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels means that there's plenty of room for displaying map data and other elements of the device's interface. An SD memory card slot is provided for expansion software, such as a points of interest database, media files and electronic guides (see below). The flip-up antenna includes an MCX-type connector for connecting the unit to an external GPS antenna. Meanwhile, a powerful built-in speaker resides on the back of device. A built-in lithium ion battery will give you for to eight hours of battery life, depending on use. In addition to an AC charger, the unit also ships with a 12-volt power adapter for vehicle charging, as well as a windshield suction cup mount. Fortunately, Garmin has made it easy to interface with the nuevi 350's 700 megabytes of onboard memory, thanks to "plug-and-play" USB mass storage support. Just plug the device into your computer's USB port and you've got instantaneous access to all the audio books, music, photos, supplemental maps and other data on the nuevi 350's internal and SD card memory. Navigation
The nuevi 350 is first and foremost a personal GPS device. Wherever you go -- in your car or on foot-- the device offers extremely accurate position data, thanks to a high-sensitivity integrated GPS receiver by SiRF and WAAS-enabled, 12-satellite reception. Combined with detailed maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico the nuevi 350 provides automatic routing, turn-by-turn voice directions, and touchscreen control-- making it easy to find your way anywhere. Plus, the unique "text-to-speech" feature calls out turns by street name, and you can choose from either 2D or 3D mapping perspectives when you're viewing your route on the display. Additionally, the nuevi 350 is compatible with Garmin's GTM 10 FM TMC traffic receiver*, which allows users to avoid traffic tie-ups by simply pushing a button that will calculate a new route. As mentioned, the nuevi 350 comes packed with mapping data for North America, but you can can also load up your custom points of interest. Set up proximity alerts for school zones, safety cameras, and more using Garmin's free POI (points of interest) loader program (available from garmin.com).
Important note about map updates: Due to our high volume of sales, almost every Garmin portable GPS navigator sold by Amazon.com will come with the most recent map version. If you ever do need a map update, you can purchase one from Amazon.com at our Garmin Store. 
The device automatically calculates the fastest route and provides voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions along the way. | Tools for the Journey
Navigation is just part of the journey, and the nuevi 350 is one of the first devices to recognize that. The built-in "Travel Kit" offers an MP3 player, an audio book player from Audible.com, a jpeg-format picture viewer, a world travel clock with time zones, a currency converter, a measurement converter, and a calculator. In addition to the included travel tools, additional software add-ons are available, such as the Garmin Language Guide, with data provided by Oxford University Press. This software suite contains a multilingual word bank, phrase bank, and five bilingual dictionaries. The multilingual word bank and phrase bank supports nine languages and dialects, including American English, British English, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, European Spanish, and Latin American Spanish. Now you can look up and translate more than 17,000 words or 20,000 phrases per language -- right in the palm of your hand. Through the unit's text-to-speech interface, users can get a spoken pronunciation of each entry in the word bank, along with gender and part of speech information. Another useful add-on software package, the Garmin Travel Guide, is loaded with information provided by Marco Polo. These guides put in-depth travel information such as reviews and recommendations for restaurants, tourist attractions, and more at your fingertips. The software allows you to navigate to an address or search points of interest-- places like hotels, restaurants, shopping, and tourist attractions. The nuevi 350 automatically calculates the fastest route and provides voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions along the way. The unit also audibly announces the name of upcoming streets-- letting you keep your eyes on the road while navigating through busy traffic and tricky roadways. And if you stray off course, the nuevi 350 automatically calculates the quickest way to get back on track. *Traffic services available only in select cities where RDS-TMC coverage exists. Requires the GTM 10 FM TMC traffic receiver and subscription fee to enable traffic capability.
What's in the Box
nuevi 350, Preloaded City Navigator NT for North America and Puerto Rico, Vehicle suction cup mount, AC charger, Vehicle power cable, Dashboard disc, USB cable, Carrying case, Quick reference guide
Which nuevi is Best for You?
For a slightly higher pricepoint, Garmin's nuevi 600 and 700 series devices have richer feature sets including: MP3 players, JPEG photo viewers, the ability to receive traffic and weather information, bluetooth for hands-free calling, FM transmitters that deliver audio through your cars own stereo system, and multi-destination routing that will tell you the best way to make a trip that involves several destinations.
| Screen
Size
inches
(w x h)
| Included Maps
| Text-to-Speech
(Directions in
Real Street
Names)
| Traffic
| Bluetooth
| Media
| FM Transmitter
(audio through
car stereo
system) | Multi-
Point
Routing
| Battery
life
(hours)
| Cont. U.S.,
Hawaii, and
Puerto Rico
| AK and
Canada
| Europe
| | nuevi 200 | 2.8 x 2.1
|  |
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| Photos
|
|
| up to 5
| | nuevi 200w | 3.81 x 2.25
| |
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| Photos
|
|
| up to 5 | | nuevi 250 | 2.8 x 2.1
| | |
|
|
|
| Photos |
|
| up to 5 | | nuevi 250w | 3.81 x 2.25
| | |
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|
| Photos |
|
| up to 5 | | nuevi 260 | 2.8 x 2.1
| | |
| |
|
| Photos |
|
| up to 5 | | nuevi 260w | 3.81 x 2.25 | | |
| |
|
| Photos |
|
| up to 5 | | nuevi 270 | 2.8 x 2.1
| | | |
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|
| Photos |
|
| up to 5 | | nuevi 350 | 2.8 x 2.1
| | |
| | FM (with opt.
receiver) |
| Photos, MP3s
|
|
| up to 8
| | nuevi 360 | 2.8 x 2.1
| | |
| | FM (with opt.
receiver) | | Photos, MP3s |
|
| up to 8 | | nuevi 370 | 2.8 x 2.1 | | | | | FM (receiver
included)
| | Photos, MP3s |
|
| up to 8 | | nuevi 650 | 3.81 x 2.25
| | |
| | FM (with opt.
receiver) |
| Photos, MP3s |
|
| up to 7
| nuevi 660
| 3.81 x 2.25
| | |
| | FM (receiver
included)
| | Photos, MP3s | |
| up to 7 | nuevi 670
| 3.81 x 2.25
| | | | | FM (receiver
included) | | Photos, MP3s | |
| up to 7 | | nuevi 680 | 3.81 x 2.25
| | |
| | MSN (receiver
included;
1-year free);
FM (with opt.
receiver)
| | Photos, MP3s | |
| up to 7 | nuevi 750
| 3.81 x 2.25
| | |
| | MSN-enhanced
(with optional
receiver);
FM (with opt.
receiver)
|
| Photos, MP3s | | | up to 5
| | nuevi 760 | 3.81 x 2.25
| | |
| | MSN-enhanced
(with optional
receiver);
FM (with opt.
receiver) | | Photos, MP3s | | | up to 5 | | nuevi 770 | 3.81 x 2.25
| | | | | MSN-enhanced
(with optional
receiver);
FM (with opt.
receiver) | | Photos, MP3s | | | up to 5 | | nuevi 780 | 3.81 x 2.25 | | |
|
| MSN-enhanced
(receiver inc.;
3 months free)
receiver);
FM (with opt.
receiver) | | Photos, MP3s | | | up to 5 | nuevi 850
| 3.81 x 2.25 | | |
|
| MSN-enhanced
(with optional
receiver);
FM (with opt.
receiver) |
| Photos, MP3s | | | up to 4 | nuevi 880
| 3.81 x 2.25 | | | |
| MSN-enhanced
(receiver inc.;
3 months free);
FM (with opt.
receiver) | | Photos, MP3s | | | up to 4 | nuevi 5000
| 4.5 x 2.7 | | |
| | MSN-enhanced
(with optional
receiver);
FM (with opt.
receiver) |
|
| | | external
battery
only
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2672 more reviews...
 Formerly expensive, but now just fabulous November 20, 2005
A's Fan (California)
1474 out of 1499 found this review helpful
After trying other Garmin units, this is the one I kept. Simply wonderful. I bought it when it was more than triple its current price and thought it was good deal then. It's a great deal now.
It has all the characteristics that I was looking for:
1) VERY compact -- easily able to fit in a breast pocket
2) Text-to-Speech -- announces proper street names, not just "turn left in 500 feet"; radically reduces how much you need to look at the screen to figure out the real instructions; wouldn't own a GPS unit wihtout this
3) Bright Screen -- readable in virtually every situation
AND
Faster location of the GPS satellites. This turns out to be quite important in day-to-day use. In the other systems, it wasn't unusual that we could be driving for a couple minutes before it located the satellites and could give us directions. With this unit, the satellites are located almost as quickly as the unit fully starts up.
One comment on how we use this: We don't mount it on the dash board or on the window (which is technically illegal here in California). Instead we just lay this on the center console in our van or car. The antenna system is plenty sensitive to work just like this and we've never lost the satellite signals except in tunnels.
We also like all the potential of the traveling features (clock, calculator, etc.), but this is the one to own even if you just use it for the basic GPS features.
Very impressed.
[July 2006 Update]
How Its Ease-of-Use Enhanced Our Vacation: We were recently on a vacation combined with a business conference. While I was at the conference, my family had the confidence to explore the city without ever getting lost. Even our kids were able to help enter addreses and find locations.
Factoring In Added Cost: Just a warning about upgrade costs. Although Garmin does a good job of releasing updates to their system software that either fixes bugs or adds enhancements, the cost to update the built-in maps is extra. And they issue updates about once a year.
Garmin is the best for GPS September 29, 2006
Martin Anderson (Santa Ana, CA United States)
922 out of 930 found this review helpful
I spent a lot of time trying out GPS units, and have compared Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, and several factory GPS units. All of these GPS units tell you how to get somewhere and will re-route if you make a wrong turn. However, Garmin is my absolute favorite, and here's why:
1. The most important thing about Garmin units is the user interface. It is simple to understand and easy to use.
2. The Garmin unit uses a built in database of sunrise and sunset times (based upon your location) to automatically change from daylight mode to night-time mode. This is important because the daylight screen is much too bright for use at night. With the Tom Tom, you must make this change manually.
3. If you have the Garmin unit plugged into your car power, when you turn off the car (and the cigarette lighter power goes off), the Garmin unit will detect that and automatically turn itself off (it gives you 30 seconds to override and keep the unit on).
4. When you start your car again, the Garmin unit will detect that too and automatically power up. If you were in the middle of a trip, the Garmin unit will pick up where you left off, and you won't have to tell it where you were going again.
5. Unlike most factory GPS units, Garmin will allow you to select your route and make changes while you are moving.
6. The Garmin units have an extensive database of locations and the excellent interface makes it easy to search the database to find what you want. Do you want food or gas? Just click three buttons and a list of locations (sorted by distance) will appear. If you know the name of the place you want, you can type it in on the on-screen keypad and Garmin will find it for you. You can even add your own locations using the favorites feature. I first started using this when I was out of town, but its amazing what you'll find near you when you look.
7. While you are driving, the Garmin unit will both prompt you to turn and give you a written explanation of the turn (including the street or highway name and direction) at the top of the screen. The Garmin unit also shows an estimated arrival time (usually a few minutes earlier than you'll actually arrive) and the distance to your next turn. A separate screen gives you detailed trip information, including how far and how long you've been driving and your maximum speed. I used mine on an airplane once (yes, it is allowed - read the back of the airplane magazine), and it now says that by maximum speed was 590 miles per hour.
8. I often use the Garmin even when driving locally, becase it often finds better, faster ways to get there then the way that I usually use.
9. Garmin offers a variety of installation options and accessories. My favorite is the friction based dashboard mount (three weights connected to a center stand) which is much more convenient than the supplied mounting system.
10. If you turn off the GPS receiver (see settings) and then look up another location, you will get the option to set this new location as your present location. This will allow you to use search Garmin's points of interest for the new location. This is a great feature when planning trips, because Garmin's points of interest database is quite extensive and includes all of the typical tourist attractions, plus food, shopping, gas, banking, etc.
11. Be sure to check for the latest map and firmware updates at Garmin's web-site.
 Not quite ready for prime time. January 17, 2006
Roger Schaaf (Silicon Valley Calif)
567 out of 651 found this review helpful
Purchased in Dec. This is what I have found.
1. No manual with unit. You must print from website.
2. Download of software fixes is not well documented. Does not function on my computer(win xp)using USB connection. I must download to a 32 meg SD chip and insert into Nuvi for update.
3. Often(almost always) when powering up, I will see message that it is searching for satellites. I can wait several minutes and still be searching. I then power down and power up again and often will then find satellites ok. Sometimes must go thru powerup/powerdown sequence several times before success. As a motorcycle rider, this is a pain as you can not really do this while riding as you can if you must, when driving an auto or walking.
4. Status of battery charge condition is poor(in spite of following their instructions to totally allow battery to go dead and recharging). Now after 1 month I have discovered that if you plug into power to charge, the unit powers itself on from an off condition. If you then power off while still plugged into electrical outlet, then you will get a message on screen if battery is charging or if it is fully charged. This is not documented.
5. No longitude or latitude location given by unit. UH??????
6. Have had 5 software updates in one month. From release 2.2 to 2.7 in incremental releases.
7. Not waterproof, or even water resistant. This is very bad for a hiker or motorcycle rider.
8. No lanyard or any other method to affix a cord to carry around your neck. Small leather case does not have a belt attachement. Hint! Not a belt clip, but an actual attachment that requires the removal of your belt to carry it. Belt clips lead to losses. Look at the Canon SD 550 camera case for the proper design.
9. Search arguments for spelling out locations that you seek is poor. Example would be to search for "Harley Davidson" to find a local dealer. In Silicon Valley, the closest find is some 300 miles away. There are actually 5 or more HD stores within 25 miles from my home. This occurs on many searches, fuel stations, fast food places, etc. Very disconcerting if you are looking for Wendys or McDonalds or Chevron or Shell and are told by Nuvi the nearest is 30 miles away, as you are riding down the freeway and see one at the next exit.
10. MPH indicator when driving is not accurate. I have 2 newer autos that will indicate 70 mph and the Nuvi will say 66 to 67. I have checked speedometers in both by driving down the freeway at 60 and timing with a stopwatch at mile posts. The autos are correct.
11. What happens when built in battery gives up the ghost, no indication in documentation from Garmin. Must you pitch the unit(ala Ipod--however now for 75 dollars or so, Apple will install a new one)or does Garmin have plans to replace a failed battery. Somewhat hard to justify throwing a 900 dollar unit away because the battery has failed. Of course would probably function ok as long as your vehicle has a cigar lighter. No so with most motorcycles.
Other smaller lesser complaints. I often wonder if engineers that design these products ever actually come out of their cubby holes and test their designs in the real world. In other words "do they come out to see what us chickens are eating out here"? Some of these issues, I uncovered within 1 day of owning the unit. You see this in virtually every product that you acquire and it is really annoying that the designers failed to consider these before foisting the product on the buyer. No wonder so many returns and they of course wonder why and attribute returns to flaky buyers. For 900 dollars, you have an expectation of near perfection and if not satisfied then you should return.
I will not cover the numerous good and excellent attributes of the Nuvi in my review. These have been well covered by other reviewers. And mind you, there are many good points. I will wait for version/release 2 as most likely will be returning this unit.
Additional problem on Nuvi that I did not note earlier. If you have created a list of "Favorite Places", it will become quite large over a period of time. You may wish to weed out some of the entries that are no longer of interest. You are not permitted to delete individual entries. You must remove the list in its entirety. This then means that you must recreate your "Favorites" from scratch. This is a serious usability defect.
 A TRUE STORY... March 28, 2007
Justin Paxton
426 out of 498 found this review helpful
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.
Small, perfectly formed, great performance, highly recommended November 20, 2005
Friedman Wagner-Dobler (PITTSBURGH, PA United States)
376 out of 420 found this review helpful
Not cheap but you get what you pay for. Points of interest: (a) very compact but has the same screen size as the Garmin C3?0 series (b) screen readable in bright direct sunshine (c) Navteq US database - the best - and you can fit all of Europe on a single 2GB SD card (card and European map are extra) (d) North indicator on map (missing on C3?0) (e) the GPS is extremely sensitive and locks on very quickly - I've had it work on the second floor of a three floor building (f) intuitive user interface (g) nicely displayed map (better than C3?0) (h) optional traffic capability. I'm finally selling my NavMan! The only two features that are missing to make it the perfect GPS are (a) dead reckoning capability (b) integral satellite traffic capability - given Garmin's pace of introduction of new products I wouldn't be surprised to see those next year...
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