The screenshot above is from my nuvi 765T after the latest map update. From GpsPasSion: I believe Mexico is now included in the units/mapsets which originally included Canada and isread more. Garmin quietly adds maps of Mexico to your nuvi. June 2, 2010 By Rich Owings 11 Comments. I have Garmin nuvi gps 3760 its was fine until i update.
Is this what you have?www.bossaudio.com/manual/BV9980NV-NAVENUM.PDFThat doesn't look like any map software that I'm familiar with. It certainly isn't Garmin-based. So I have no idea where you would find free maps that are compatible, unless you mean illegal copies of the official software and of course we can't discuss that here.You should probably ask the 'people who are putting free maps' on the device exactly how they are doing it. I don't think you are going to find an answer here as this doesn't look like any device we have discussed.
There was a time when many of these devices were Windows CE based, and there were hacks to install your own software. I have done this with devices from Magellan and Mio for example.
But that dates back 7 or 8 years and I'd hope that manufacturers have moved beyond Windows CE in today's world.;)But FWIW, 'MioPocket' was a popular way to install alternative software on these devices. You would put a specially named file on the SD card and that would force these devices to boot into another program. More info here: www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPICID=136798. Thanks Boyd, that was a another question I've now been wondering about and that is, what platform is being used for the Navigation program.ie window ce, android.??? I really don't think the NDrive navigation program that I now have on the sd card is dedicated solely to the radio I have, the Boss BV9386NV. I would think if I wanted to spend the money that I could purchase almost any GPS Navigation software put it onto the SD card and it would work.
I could be wrong? What do you think?
I have been asking other source's for information on the whole issue but have not heard back yet. Thanks for your advice and direction.
Garmin Nuvi 350: Insanely recommended Jason 07 Dec 2005Latest byGeorgeI recently purchased a to replace an older. Did I need to replace it? The 2620 worked, but I didn’t use it much because it was bulky, the UI was sluggish, and it just never quite felt right to me. Too may steps to do simple things. Too many features and buttons getting in the way.So, back to the 350 Oh wow. The Nuvi 350 is insanely good. Next to the iPod it’s the the best piece of consumer electronics I’ve purchased in the last 5 years.
It really is that good. It’s perfectly executed. Here’s why:. It’s small. 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87 inches small. It doesn’t get in your way while you’re driving. It doesn’t feel like there’s a boulder on your dashboard.
It’s just about all screen. There’s very little chrome. There are no buttons. There’s no goofy shapes or lights or anything. It’s just a nice, really bright, surprisingly clear screen.
It’s fast. The UI is always ready for you. No pauses, no lock-ups, no delays when you touch the screen. It’s refreshing (as most touch-screen based things I’ve used are usually sluggish). It’s all about. Plug it in and it works for 90% of all cases.
Zero learning curve (I mean it — ZERO). Yes, you can change some stuff if you want to, but there’s no need to. It couldn’t be easier to use. Really. It speaks the name of the next street. It doesn’t just say “Turn left in 0.2 miles” it says “In 0.2 miles turn left on Paulina.” This makes a significant difference.
I didn’t think it would, but it basically allows you to keep your eyes on the road (instead of a map) 99% of the time. It has a 4-8 hour battery. This means you can take it with you (because it’s so small and light). You can walk with it if you need to know how to get somewhere on foot. You can take it with you to Europe on vacation and never get lost in the car or on foot.
You can load it up with MP3s and Audiobooks so you always have something to listen to should you forget your iPod in the car. You can import custom points of interest that other people have compiled. For example, people can compile speed traps or police camera locations and share that file. Load that into your Nuvi and you’ll be alerted before you head into a trap. It’s accurate and very sensitive. It even works inside my garage with no windows.
Apparently this is because of a new SiRF chipset.And there’s more But really, this is such a fantastic product. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so satisfied with an electronic purchase. If you’re in the market for a mobile nav system for your car, bike, motocycle, or just for exploring a new city on foot without getting lost, you simply can’t go wrong with the. Scott brooks08 Dec 05regarding the ebay guy.look at the responses then look at the responses for the other ten or so people all giving each other good reviews.scam for sure.Looks like someone got scammed already.the price looks right however i remember my grandpa told me this a long time ago and it still remains true even more so today.if it seems too good to be true it probally is.He told me this after some guy sold him a electric razor in the Canadian Tire Parking lot for 15 bucks ( circa 77).
It turned out to be nothing more then a electric razor shell with an electric buzzer of some sort in it.i guess it goes hand in hand with the saying a sucker born every minute and two to take him.cheersS. JP08 Dec 05I’m relatively new to this blog. I appreciate many of the posts especially those that touch on design issues. I wholly understand 37signals using the blog to promote their “for profit” products and services. I also understand using the blog to promote great products as long as I am assured that those promotions are uncompensated. I followed the link to amazon and noticed the ref=37signals query string. It’s probably very innocent but I don’t know.
Jason, have you posted a statement anywhere regarding this type of compensation issue. I think readers have a right to know whether they are getting an independent point of view or a commercial.
JF08 Dec 05Jason, have you posted a statement anywhere regarding this type of compensation issue. I think readers have a right to know whether they are getting an independent point of view or a commercial.It’s the Amazon affiliate program used by tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people.I wrote an independent review and linked to the page on Amazon with our affiliate code. We’d do the same with books, music, whatever. What’s the problem?I’m not being paid by Garmin for this. I don’t have any relationship with Garmin.
09 Dec 05These kinds of reviews are most welcomed.Very rarely do you get usability related comments in product reviews a review that focuses less on features available and more on how easy you can use said features is lacking.Given the nature of GPS as aiding me as I drive, I have many reservations about the usability and responsiveness of the product. The last thing I want to worry about if I’m lost is the UI of the mapping product on my dashboard.I’d LOVE to see more reviews of products that focus on usability. Mostly you get these kinds of comments nestled in with really in depth reviews typically found on forums for the products (ipod lounge, tom’s hardware, etc).Someone should start a site that has usable reviews.Oh wait, I just found a problem that bothers me and maybe there are other people that are bothered by it. What does 37s tell me I should do?!?! Matt Schulte10 Dec 05Just purchased a nuvi and love it.
The size really does allow you to put it in your pocket and take it anywhere with you. Furthermore they really did think of everything you might possibly want when travelling. Amazing product! I am having some difficulty finding someone who has the European navigation upgrades in-stock at the moment.
Suggestions?Does anyone have any suggestions for the suction cup mount in cold weather other than using the defroster on the windshield? It keeps falling during those cold winter mornings. Amazed10 Dec 05Our Nuvi just arrived. Wow, Wow, Wow. This product is exactly what we have been waiting for and we have no buyer’s remorse.As far as the cig plug concern - the battery lasts for at least 4 hours, so you don’t have to keep it plugged in to the lighter. We plan to rarely use the cig plug.
We will use the wall plug or the USB computer plug to keep it charged. It is too $$$ to keep in the car and it is so light, we will just pop it in our pocket when we leave the car.PS - for the price conscious who don’t want to wait for the inevitable price drop. There are a few online stores that sell it for under $700, cheap shipping, no tax and not Ebay.
If you are a PRO at using Google and take adVANTAGE of it, you will find one. Howard11 Dec 05I have never used GPS before and was using the web to help with my buying decisionfirst point speak to someone who knows (thanks to GPS Warehouse in SW London). The moment I said high quality I was pointed at Garmin and the nuvi 300/350. I’d gone in to buy a Navman 550.very pleased I didn’t.
The nuvi 350 is totally brilliant. Excellent quality and reliabilityhow can something so small do so much so well. My only grip is Emily (UK language text to speech) is a bit rough on the ear - result of a small speaker? But apart from that.fantastic. I took the nuvi on a run yesterday to see how far I was actually goingeight miles allegedly so it even knows how to make me feel good!
11 Dec 05Hi Jason,‘inferior TeleAtlas maps’ - you mean the actual data, not the visual rendition of the maps?I just looked at the TomTom vs. Garmin’s mapping interface; the maps look pretty similar, with the useful 3D perspective, with much of the extraneous detail removed (like a 3D google map). So much better than the complex, detail-ridden birds-eye views I’ve seen on older GPS units.Pre-empting a showroom side-by-side - Jason, does the Garmin have broadly similar map visualisation as TomTom? Which do you prefer (all else being equal)? 13 Dec 05Right, I more wanted MapSource to pull down tracks and upload waypoints, like I could with my GPS V. I found the bit in the manual about how to upload waypoints, which is much slicker than the old way, but it doesn’t appear that this one supports tracks. Maybe I’m just missing something?
It also doesn’t appear that you can find out your current lat/long, or navigate to a known lat/long, which comes in handy for some of the GPS games out there.Otherwise, it seems great! It’s very responsive and the screen rocks. Just installed the 2.4 update and it went swimmingly.
I’m not able to get a lock inside my apartment, but I’ll take it for a spin later when I head out. 14 Dec 05Well, day 2 with the Nuvi and it’s now dead. Starts the boot sequence and then turns itself off. Called up Garmin and they’re going to have me either exchange it with the dealer, or ship it back to them for replacement.It died after I updated some of the waypoint settings in the waypoints.gpx file in /garmin/waypoints. Specifically, I added some text to the cmt tag, possibly too much text, as I wanted to see if I could get scrolling text on a waypoint. You can normally add some text to the cmt tag and it’ll appear on the waypoint description screen.
I added a few lines of text, and after disconnecting the device from my laptop, the problem started.This may or may not be the problem, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone else trying it out, as my device is now dead and I’m going to have to go through replacement to get a new one. Manatee14 Dec 05The lack of track logging is another concern of mine with the nuvi. Yes, I realize it’s not intended as an “outdoors” device, but for example, I’d like to use it to record a route while in my car, and then be able to play back the route on my bicycle.
I currently do that with my 60C, or I record it on my 2610 and then download the track to a computer.BTW, has anyone ordered the iQue M4? It has the same screen as the nuvi, and most of the same GPS features. It doesn’t talk, though. For me, it might be a better choice than the nuvi, since it is not much bigger than the nuvi, and has full Pocket PC functionality.
If you want any of the features that are built into the nuvi, like language translator or currency translator, you can get various applications to do those things. It also supports I/O via the SD card.
You can use a Bluetooth or WiFi SD card with it. It has track logging.
Oh, and it is US$200 less than the nuvi. Ok, not as cool a package as the nuvi, but a great value and great features. BAB100219 Dec 05Amazed, Anon Coward, et alI feel very PROficient with google and wanted to take adVANTAGE of a deal on the Nuvi at below $700 but could find nothing less than $830.00!
Did prices go up? When do you expect the inevitable price drop? Or could anyone e-mail me PROactively with another tip of a website that has Nuvi for not too much $$$ so I could take ADVANTAGE of that? Many thanks for any help you could give. You can reach me at [email protected]. Thanks again. Happy Holidays.
MRS19 Dec 05I bought the nuvi 350 a month ago. I’m located in Jersey right across the Hudson from New York (I’m looking out my window right now at downtown NYC). I’ve never owned a navigation system before. So, before dropping $900.00 on something the size of a deck of cards I did some research. Out of all the tech-mags online, consumer reviews (at the time, not too many) and just comparing the specs between similar models, the nuvi was the winner. So I bought it. I couldn’t be happier with it.
I work in law enforcement and I have to travel all over NYC and a few areas of Jersey. I’m not from New York, and have only lived here for a month and a half. So, with that being said, the nuvi gets me around the city and surrounding areas like I’ve lived here all my life. The screen is perfect both in the day time and at night. You can view the screen even when the sun is directly on it.
The directions are clear and easy to understand and alert you in enough time to make the correct turns. I have only had minimal trouble finding a signal when surrounded by all of the large buildings in the city. This only happened once though, and re-synched within a minute or two. Normally, it’s up and locating a signal within seconds.
Just as the other reviews have stated, you can take this right out of the box and go. For those who would like the full directions manual, you can download it off of Garmin’s web page. I did have to deal with Garmin’s customer support once and they were more than helpful. No problem at all. I would recommend this product. Nigel Plunkett22 Dec 05I’ve just bought the Nuvi 350.
It got me straight to th centre of Birmingham (UK), and right to the car park I needed NO PROBLEMS! What an amazing system.
Does exactly what it promised on the box. I’ve fitted it in a Nissan Almera,Land Rover Discovery and a Panther Kallista and had no problems with the windshield sucker coming loose. Just clean the screen first and get the sucker wet, I lick it, and it sticks fine.I’ve used it in the Panther with the roof down in December and it stays put! Also I’ve modded old earphones from my mp3 player, by cutting of one earpiece, and I can use it in the Panther at high speed and still hear the voice prompts OK.What’s also great for UK users is that it supports Post Code address searches at last. That stopped me from going to TomTom or Navman.All in all a great new product from Garmin. 28 Dec 05I got one Nuvi 350 a week ago, preloaded with EU maps. Agree with most of the positive feedback here.
But still some open issues regarding interworking with MapSource. I did not figure out how to get the waypoints from Nuvi into GeoMaps and viceversa.
File copy did not work due to some differences in XML content. Strange - if updating the content of the waypoints.gpx file in the Nuvi, the content is not modified despite saving the changes with no error message. Also problems with recognizing the unit on USB port from nRoute, WebUpdater and POI Loader - all GARMIN stuff I guess that it is just very, very fresh, and we have to wait until they fix these bugs in the new firmware.
Last - I’ve never seen any comment as how to transfer tracks between Nuvi and nRoute - I guess this is not supported by current firmware, or? Anyway, so far the most versatile mobile navigation money can buy.
(hey, do not complain about the price - we buy it for appr. EUR 1.000,-). Steve01 Jan 06I am the current owner of a TomTom GO “Classic Plus”, and while I like the GO in general, the quality of the TeleAtlas map data is definitely inferior. I paid $150 for the “updated” US maps on SD card in August, and found that major highway construction completed in my area four years ago was still missing. Since Garmin’s site lets me look at the map data, I was able to confirm that it had been appropriately updated.I have been considering the Nuvi 350 to replace the GO and spent a few minutes the other day at a store playing with it. On the plus side:- Much smaller than the GO- UI is just as easy to use- Speaks street names and has more detailed turn directions (The GO just says things like “take the exit” and the text form of directions is abbreviated.)- Map data seems much betterOn the minus side:- The GO’s speaker is much louder and clearer. I could not find a volume control on the 350.
The GO also has optional speed-dependent volume which works nicely.- Only one waypoint can be added using the UI- If you care (I don’t), the GO 700 has Bluetooth phone integration and the Garmin doesn’t.- I could not find a way to “demo” a route with the 3D maps as the TomTom can.I have not decided what to do yet, and appreciate the discussion here. 01 Jan 06 On the minus side:- The GO’s speaker is much louder and clearer. I could not find a volume control on the 350.——————-The title screen of Nuvi 350 shows two icons on the right side: the Settings and Adjust. Press the Adjust and you will get the options to specify the volume level, as well as the display brightness.- Only one waypoint can be added using the UI——————-Using “My Locations” under the main item Where to?, brings you also to Favourites option.
Then you can use Spell to locate your Waypoint to be added. Use the same sequence to add as many waypoints as needed. Let’s hope to get from Garmin also the option to add more waypoints at once, via USB link either by editing of the waypoints.gpx file, or better via MapSource application. Amit02 Jan 06how fast does the screen refresh on the nuvi when you zoom out in the map? I tried that on the 2720 and there was some hesitation.it took a second or two to do so which means a slow processor. Ideally it should be near instantaneous.also anyone know a place in NYC where they have it on display? Want to try the interface, etc before i buy.
I tried circuit city and Best Buy and no go.seems they had one on display in the Atlantic Ave Circuit City in Brooklyn and it got stolen so none there now:). Z.entropic03 Jan 06I’m trying to figure out how to get the nuvi manual onto the SD card—and have it available on the gadget. Right now, the only way I see is to convert each page into a JPG file and download 60 JPEGs onto a SD card—how silly! Is there a better way?
Maybe somebody will write a hack to display PDF files on the nuvi, and later on, maybe Excel, like the myriad hacks for the early Palms?Finally, why isn’t there a digital camera function on the nuvi to overlay landscape pictures on the maps?z.entropic. IGuidance fan04 Jan 06I just tried the highly rated 5” Cobra NavOne 4500 andwas thoroughly disappointed as my old Ipaq Navmansolution puts it to shame, not to mention my newer DellAxim X50v + iGuidance 2.12 + BT GPS receiver.The Cobra does have a bigger screen, but that just makesit’s 320x240 pixel picture look worse (the 640x480 VGAdisplay on the Axim is beautiful, and iGuidance showingroad names at the angle of the road is so far superior tothe Cobra which places a red dot on the road and text isalways horizontal). Worse, try heading up or 3D display,and you are treated to the ugliest mess of a map onecould imagine (can you say false advertising? Look atthe web site or box 3D picture and then the actualdeviceclearly not the same).
Cobra isn’t all bad very easy (if abundant even in quiet mode) voiceprompts, probably good for beginners.I’ll stop rambling about the Cobra, but am just concernedthat perhaps the Nuvi 350 will be similarly disappointingto me after reading all these great reviews. My onlyreal complaints with Axim+BT setup is having to poweron two devices I’d like both to turn on when I turnthe ignition key.
Does Nuvi have an auto-on with 12vpower connect feature, or will it put itself into sleepmode after a period with no 12v and no activity toavoid total drain of battery if car left alone overnightor for a few weeks but no one turned it off?Has anyone here used iGuidance 2.12 (or other recent)and a recent Pocket PC as well as Nuvi 350? I’dlove to hear a comparison from someone with suchexperience.Cheers!
Raj04 Jan 06Just went to Circuit City and played with the Nuvi. It is quite a beautiful unit and is small enough to comfortably fit in your pocket (a key consideration since you can’t leave anything in your car anymore). The salesman recommended it over the TomTom which was similarly priced. It even has interesting features like “Will I make my flight” buttons, etc. I will definitely buy this unit, but Circuit City has it priced at $899. One advantage (don’t know if it’s true or not) is that if you buy the $149 warrantee, you can swap it after 2 years usage should the touch screen start acting up. Shawnz09 Jan 06I picked upa Nuvi 350 before the Christmas holiday and I absolutely love it.I also was upset that this $900 GPS will not give you lat/long information.
Garmin support was quite rude and persistant that this is not an outdoor GPS.Aside from the rude Garmin support lady, thew unit has been great. It took me a while to figure out how to save your current position (tap screen, then save) as a waypoint.I had hoped that the 2.6 update would let me see lat / long but it was to no avail.Does anyone know what ‘maintinence mode’ is? It was added in 2.6 and I haven’t figured out how to get into it. I figured it might display lat/long:).Has anyone figured out how to update the maps?
I found some errors that I’d like to report and I’d also liek to be sure that my maps are current. Garmin seems to have me on auto-ignore over the whole lat/long thing.Shawn.
Z.entropic17 Jan 06I’ve been testing a nuvi 350 for 2 weeks in the Boston street maze and, in general, I’m impressed. I see quite a lot of suggestions for often simple interface changes to make the unit even more user frindly and natural to operate, but at present one thing stumps me; here’s an example:I’m driving with the unit mounted on my windshield in Boston, but have to optimize quickly (without closing the satellite antenna) a route from Concord, NH to Portland, ME with a via point in Fitchburg, MA. Can’t figure out how to do it without closing the damn antenna, mainly because the Set Loc. Function is inactive when the antenna is out!Any nuvi owners willing to pitch in with advice?z.entropic.
Jaydeebee20 Jan 06I have to visit places all over the southern part of Louisiana for my job and - post-Katrina - there is a paucity of street signs, etc., for landmarks. Especially in New Orleans!
Bought a Nuvi. Problem solved. I just type in my destination and then drive. I don’t even have to look at the Nuvi (albeit the dumb thing’s seductive!
Let’s you know where you are and what’s all around you - like a rolling trivia show!). I just drive until Nuvi tells me - out loud and clearly - when and where I need to turn. And Nuvi gets me, not just to the destination, but into the freaking driveway! Switches to a black screen at night (to reduce glare - great feature!). When I want to go home, I just hit the home button and Nuvi guides me, turn by turn, through the dark until - voila - I turn into my driveway. With Nuvi in the car, I finally feel like I know where I am and where I’m going.
All the time. For the first time.
What a relief! Definitely puts iPod in the SHADE!!! The handiest, most useful tool I’ve EVER had. If Detroit ever starts selling their cars with these things in them, they could forget having to offer rebates!
As Napoleon Dynamite (and my kids) would say sweet! And, uh, Vote for Nuvi! Z.entropic20 Jan 06Karl, thanks for your suggestion, but I knew that part.If you re-read my message, you’ll see I had asked about finding a route from C to D via E WHILE driving from A to B, with the antenna out.Yesterday I received a reply from Garmin that this can’t be done with the antenna out, so that answers my question (but does not relieve my pain):-).IMHO, Garmin put some annoying and unnecessary limitations on the mode of operation of this otherwise fantastic device. Let’s hope the consumer and techie pressure will overcome the misguided ideas of their marketing guys who might be unwittingly(?) patronizing their customers!z.entropic. 23 Jan 06Has anyone tried the GTM10 FM traffic receiver? I’d be interested to know opinions on this extra for the 350, in particular for Austria and Germany.Also, I live close to the Slovenian border but Slovenia isn’t covered, only EU countries it seems. I guess there is a good reason why non EU countries are not mapped but I don’t know it can some kind sole enlighten a GPS noobie, please.
I have the 350 on order and expect delivery by end of week. I can’t wait for it to arrive and judging by all the +ve reviews I’ve seen I’m expecting it to be fab gadget.Thanks,Mark. Steve23 Jan 06You can plan a route sitting at home, sure. As long as you don’t mind it starting from where the Nuvi thinks you are now. The TomTom can do “A to B” planning where you set both the start and end locations independently.I did find an amusing way to do A-B planning on the NuVi, though. With the GPS off, plan a trip to point A and say yes to demoing the route. When the simulated drive gets there, then plan the route to place B.
Place A had better not be too far from where you are now, as the simulated drive takes real time (as the Nuvi believes you could drive it.) The TomTom’s simulation lets you speed it up, but also has a hard 200km limit. I think this is really meant more for store demos than anything useful.Bearing in mind that I have had the Nuvi for just a few days and haven’t used it all that much, here are my thoughts on it vs. The TomTom GO.- When driving, the TomTom seems to be more willing to give you guidance such as “keep left” or “go straight” whereas the Nuvi assumes that once you’re on a road, you won’t be confused by splits. The offramp that I take to my house splits at the end.
The TomTom would tell me to keep left and then go straight (across the intersection at the end of the ramp), but the Nuvi just tells me where the next turn is.Another situation which surprised me was that the Nuvi failed to tell me that I had to take an on-ramp off of the street I was driving on. It seemed to believe that I was on the ramp as soon as I turned onto the street.
If I hadn’t already known where I was going, I would definitely have missed the turn.That said, the TomTom has failed to give me such guidance in other situations where it was absolutely required, which was one of the things that prompted me to look at the Nuvi.- The TomTom gives you a visual indication of the direction of your next turn. On the Nuvi, you have to tap the “Turn in” section to get a reminder. That said, the Nuvi does tell you both when you start on the road and as you come near what you’ll be doing, so it’s not that big a deal.- The on-screen graphics are a bit clearer (to me) on the TomTom - mostly the fonts used.- The TomTom has a dedicated “Go home” button, it takes me an extra level of menu to get to it on the Nuvi.- The TomTom starts up far faster than the Nuvi, and omits the lawyer screen.- Speed-dependent volume. The one thing I really miss.- ASN - the GO Classic (and the 500/700) has accelerometers that can (with varying degrees of success) follow your path when the satellites are temporarily invisible (such as in a tunnel). Some TomTom users turn it off because it isn’t helpful to them, but it worked ok for me.Now here’s all the things I prefer about the Nuvi:- The maps.
I paid $150 for the so-called “updated” TomTom US maps in August 2005. While some errors I had noted in the 2004 maps were fixed, it still omitted major highway (as in US 3) construction in my city that had been completed FOUR YEARS AGO! The Nuvi had it perfectly. TomTom uses TeleAtlas maps, which I understand are good for Europe, but for the US, they’re bad.- POIs - The Nuvi has much more detail about POIs and offers categories and the ability to search by name. Not so on the TomTom. Also, I found that the TomTom’s locations for POIs tended to be significantly inaccurate.- Text to speech - Love it. I’m amazed how well “Jill” speaks the names of streets and roads.
My only recommendation would be that she get a diction coach - one that might get her to pause slightly between words rather than slurring names together. And I have no complaints about the volume or sound quality, though the TomTom is superior in the latter (but with prerecorded voices, it should be.)- Clear and useful “where am I turning next?” bar. The TomTom’s default interface omits this entirely. On the other hand, the TomTom can tell me (with some difficulty) what street I’m on now, which is nice.- Automatic switching to night mode.
There’s a user-addon for the TomTom that does this, but it is flaky.- Size - the Nuvi is so much smaller than the GO and is much less obtrusive when mounted in my car.The other frills of the Nuvi such as the MP3 player aren’t of much interest to me at this time. Michael24 Jan 06I recently returned my TomTom Go 300 when the installer at the stereo store failed to install it. The screen wouldn’t come on, and it wouldn’t reset. I’d had it for two weeks and was pretty happy with it.
I just wanted to replace it but they’re sold out everywhere. I start to look at other units. THIS is the unit, the Garmin Nuvi 350, seems like it’s the real deal. The main question that I have is related to mounting. I’d like to have the power supply be semi hard wired, vs having a dangling cord go to my cigarette lighter which already has the full time job of charging my cell. Anyone have any experience/luck doing this yet? My other concern is that the Nuvi doesn’t (according to someone’s note above) tell me which lane to be in like the TomTom did.
I like it saying “stay to the right” so that i can prepare for my next move etc. Anyone else hav a comment on that also? Thanks in advance. I love this little talk about it;). Steve24 Jan 06The Nuvi mounting bracket has its own power connector, so you could connect power to that and then just snap the Nuvi in. There is not (yet) a “hardwire” kit as you can get for some other models.I have read elsewhere that the audio quality through the headphone jack is good.
Haven’t tried it myself.As for the “keep right” - yeah, I wish the Nuvi would do that. It does tell me in which direction the next turn is. It seems like something that could be added by Garmin easily enough.Oh, and I found it does tell you what street you’re on if you are not following a route.
It even tells you the name of each upcoming cross-street - neat! (This is on-screen only, not spoken.).
Kush28 Jan 06I have the Nuvi 350 and use it with the GTM10 traffic reciever. It worked great in my area, the northeast, and saved me a few traffic jams. Unfortunately when I updated to 2.70 the traffic feature no longer worked.
Emailing garmin takes a long time for a response, it is well worth the hold time to call tech support. Unfortunately their response to the traffic reciever problem is to send both parts in for repair or replacement.
This means a period of about a week without them. They also informed me that several others are experiencing the same problem. I would suggest on waiting for this problem to be resolved before investing in the GTM10. When it worked it was great to have. Steve04 Feb 06z.entropic, lat/long in an automotive nav product is a frill. I’ll agree that it would be nice to have it, but no, it’s not like leaving out the odometer.
One could say it’s more like a tach in an automatic transmission car - pretty to look at but not terribly useful.Re: navigating from A to B - yes, you can do a “set loc” in map view, but you can’t do this by address! If you look up an address or POI and do a view map, there is no “set loc” button! There should be.Just got back from a trip to Oregon - the nuvi did very well for me including POIs, though it led me to a gas station that wasn’t there anymore (I could see the sign).MP3 player works ok for me with 200kbps MP3s.Regarding the dictionary, etc. you can ignore these if you want.
Besides, the nuvi comes just with a small sample dictionary, you have to buy the real one.I used the nuvi on my plane flight back, attached to the window. I liked that I could zoom out the display enough to see something quite reasonable for my flight progress.
Gazorta04 Feb 06I was bullied in JHS by a guy named George Iwaskow. It has always damaged by self-esteeem and my sense of direction.Now with the Nuvi 350, I can find my way to NYC and look up old George and give him a paste in to mouth.Oh, well, I really won’t go. It’s too far. I am now living in San Salvador and the Nuvi doesn’t work here. But it’s fun anyway. I use it to find the nearest Starbucks when I’m in Seattle.I also hold it close to my heart and murmur softly, “Blummis, blummis, blummis, my darling.”That’s why they put me in the Home.
08 Feb 06I am a motivational speaker that travels all over and when i say all over i mean all over. I go to little towns that i have never heard off but the NUVI does. I payed 1200 canadian and it was worth every penny.
Easy to install, easy to use. If you need navigation don’t go anywhere else.
This is top of the line and well worth it. I have a friend who has a much cheaper model from a different company. The best way i can describe this is to say if you have ever been on high speed internet than seen someone on dial up and you think wow how could you look through the internet like that. Well the nuvi is the rolls royce of gps. It is awesome thanks Garmin. Jeff12 Feb 06JILL -The nuvi should have an audio out jack for earphones/speakers.Here are a few options that i can think of for outputting the nuvi’s sound to the car stereo using the output jack.If your car stereo has an aux input then you can connect the nuvi’s audio out directly to the stereo’s aux in.If the stereo has a cassette player then one of those cassette adapters with the wire connecting to the audio device will work.You can also use a FM-transmitter which takes the output from the nuvi and broadcasts the audio on a selected FM station.
Simply set your radio to the same station.Hope this helps. Larry15 Feb 06After readin many different reviews and all comments on this board, I purchased my nuvi. It is quickly becoming as indespensible as my iPod. If you are on the fence about it, believe me: You will NOT be disappointed with your purchase. The unit does much more than the OEM GPS in my last car and it is portable to boot.My question: I am having trouble finding resources for “Third Party” POI downloads for the nuvi, other than Mapsource.
I was thinking about less commercial and perhaps more focused Can anyone lend assistance?Thanks. Ericb16 Feb 06As far as running the nuvi through your cars stereo, I went to Wal-Mart and found a Fm modulator for 20 bucks wired it in and I am good to go, I went this route because it has the best sound. You can buy one that is all built into what looks like a cigerett plug for 30 dollers but the sound is weak. All I can say if you dont understand all this, you could just go to maybe Radio Shack and tell them what you are wanting to do and they will hook you up with what you need.I also just down loaded verson 2.9 and it did slow the satt link down alot, If I had over to do agine I wouldve stayed with 2.7. Z.entropic21 Feb 06I bought a 2 GB SD card to load all four US Topo 100K files (East,West, Alaska and Hawaii) on a single card, but apparently the nuvirecognizes only one custom map file (IMG) on the card: gmapsupp.img.As a workaround, I renamed the files to gmapsuppE,W,A,H.img andleave only the one I want to see as gmapsupp.img. To do that, though,I need a laptop.Is my impression correct that only one gmapsupp.img file can beseen/recognized by the nuvi on a single card?
Is there a better wayto manage these files without a laptop?By the way, the topo maps work very well on the nuvi even though theyare not listed as compatible; even rudimentary routing worksreasonably well. What doens’t work at all is any search, including bystate or city—one needs to drag and magnify to a location (but Garminhas not been making any promises that it would). The street maps areold (as on all US topo maps in general), but the level of detail isquite good.z.entropic. 27 Feb 06Yes I’m in the US.I have heard the same comment about TomTom’s US maps before.I have ridden with a friend that had the TomTom GO 700, and it seemed to be a good unit. I did like the number of selectable voices for directions that it offered. I noted that the TomTom would only say “Right turn in 300 meters” and not tell you the street or direction as Garmin would say “Turn right on Main Street heading north in 300 meters”.I did not note any mapping issues myself, but we were in an area that has not changed much in 10 or so years.during our drive, I noticed one little quark on the TomTom that I found interesting.
The TomTom on some roads would tell us to exit to a merging lane and then take us back onto the freeway. I was not sure if this was a setting, but it seemed odd.A friend has just given we his Delorme Earthmate GPS for my laptop and I have only had a chance to play with it for a few days.
This system works vary well and was easy to setup. The GPS receiver connects to 12 satellite’s and offers reasonably fast connections. It is nice having the large screen (15 inches) of a laptop, but it does not offer the speed of use of a touch screen. I wounder how it would be on a tablet PC?
Well, free is a good price for now, and at $99 retail off the shelf at Best Buy and other places, with the GPS receiver, it is a great deal. It even offers voice turn instructions out of the box.Still the convenience of a small self contained unit is much preferable.I think I will use the Delorme system till the TomTom One is released in the US, them I will buy both the TomTom and the Nuvi for testing. I will setup all three systems in the car and see which one wins my personal road test.But for the moment I’m still leaning toward the Nuvi. Eric S01 Mar 06Loving the NUVI I recently purchased through a wholesaler at a price I can’t mention (More than $100 less than the lowest price listed on this site). It’s a truly amazing product.
I am using it here in the NYC metro area and it has been pretty flawless.Disappointed in lack of altitude data - and a few other advance features I have seen on the Magellan products also why is there a 500 MP3 limit - I bought a 2 gig card and can’t fill it. I’d also like to be able to sort by Artist / Album - but I bought it for a GPS not an MP3 player!Thanks for the Gem Garmin! McGibbo03 Mar 06I’m interested in the price discussion - for those on a budget, the Nuvi 300 is available (here in the UK anyway) and it retails for approx UK£300. This is about £50 more than the TomTom One that’s been mentioned above.Compared to the Nuvi 350, the 300 has less memory built-in (though it still has the SD Card slot), and it does not offer the “Text to Voice” feature when translating languages - it just offers the text on screen and leaves you to work it out. I am sure there are other differences, but they did not convince me to spend the extra UK£200 for the 350 model.I have recently bought a Nuvi 300 - my first venture into GPS SatNav - and I am impressed. My main use is in the car, and it is very clear and fast. It also has a neat “detour” button which gives you a fast re-route if you need to divert around congestion up ahead.I added a UK Speed Camera database using the SD card - for those worried about law-breaking, the device sounds a repeating tone if you are over the limit approaching a detection area.
If you drop below the speed limit, the tone stops too - so it is promoting slower driving by nagging you selectively!It also boasts a “trip computer” display. This shows total distance covered which is very useful if you are doing a lot of business driving. It also shows speed and time stats, although this is probably marginally useful unless you are into endurance racing!Another reason I went for Garmin as I believe the unit is compatible with various Ordnance Survey mapping software packages. I have not yet bought any of these, but once loaded up, I believe this allows the unit to act as an off-road device similar to the eTrek ranges. This will be used for Mountain Biking and Hiking sometime soon, and so the battery life will be useful if it is the claimed 8 hours.Overall - very impressed. I don’t know if I am missing much by having the Nuvi 300 compared with the 350, but I am very happy with the device and would highly recommend it. Msvirick03 Mar 06In my retirement, I thought time was passing me by, I bought a GMS truck, then started looking for a GPS unit for this monster.
I looked for a Garmin 7200, a rather large unit, and stated talking to a sales person at a Canadian web store. I asked Charlene, if she was buying a unit what would be her choice. She said Garmin Nuvi.I set aside the purchase and started looking at 350, that is in mid 800s dollars in Canadian funds.I have few questions and wonder the pundits in this group will answer thema. How will I replace the built in lithium battery when it dies off.b. I have Street Pilot III, will I be able to use some topo maps I already bought?c. Can I use a 4 gig card to carry lot of music.d.I could not use a Garmin 60C on my trip to New York City the buildings were too tall.
Would the Nuvi have done a bit better here.Thank you folks. Z.entropic03 Mar 06msvirick, I’ll try to answer a couple of questions.1. You don’t; you don’t ever replace a Li-ion battery yourself in a consumer product, you replace only a complete battery pack (even if it is a single-cell pack) since the cell(s) need(s) a special charging circuit for safety reasons. Most probably in 2-3 years (or 3-5 if you don’t overheat it by leaving the unit in full sun in August in AZ) you’ll have to send it back to Garmin for refurbishing.2.
I purchased US Topo 100K maps for my nuvi 350; they work really much better than I ever expected them to based on what I’ve read on the Net and heard fromm the Garmin reps. Routing doesn’t work well (it seems it’s based on the basemap), search doesn’t work at all, even the states, but current location, scaling, 3D views, topo details, names, roads (well outdated, like on the USGS topo maps), lake shores and all that jazz are just great. I loaded all of US Topo 100 East (East Coast to Mississippi) as a single gmapsupp.img file (680 MB) into the internal memory, I have a second one (US Topo 100K West) on my 2GB SD card. Alaska and Hawaii are just a cinch. One problem is t.
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