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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 nüvi 350 is set to revolutionize what we expect from a GPS navigation device, or from any device for that matter.

Which nüvi is Best for You?: Click here to see a quick, simple comparison of features for all Garmin nuvi GPS navigators

The nüvi 350 is a portable GPS navigator, traveler's reference, and digital entertainment system, all in one. View product demo (requires Flash).

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 nüvi 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. ln 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 nüvi 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 nüvi 350's internal and SD card memory.



Navigation
The nüvi 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 nüvi 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 nüvi 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 nüvi 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 P0l (points of interest) loader program (available from garmin.com).




lmportant note about map updates: Due to our high volume of sales, almost every Garmin portable GPS navigator sold by will come with the most recent map version. lf 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 nüvi 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.



ln addition to the included travel tools, additional software add-ons are available, such as the Garmin Language Guide, with data provided by 0xford 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, ltalian, 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 nüvi 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 nüvi 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
nüvi 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 nüvi is Best for You?
For a slightly higher pricepoint, Garmin's nüvi 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)	lncluded 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
nüvi 200	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 200w	3.81 x 2.25							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 250	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 250w	3.81 x 2.25							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 260	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 260w	3.81 x 2.25							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 270	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 350	2.8 x 2.1					FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 8
nüvi 360	2.8 x 2.1					FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 8
nüvi 370	2.8 x 2.1					FM (receiver included)		Photos, MP3s			up to 8
nüvi 650	3.81 x 2.25					FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 660	3.81 x 2.25					FM (receiver included)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 670	3.81 x 2.25					FM (receiver included)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 680	3.81 x 2.25					MSN (receiver included; 1-year free); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 750	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 760	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 770	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 780	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (receiver inc.; 3 months free) receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 850	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 4
nüvi 880	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (receiver inc.; 3 months free); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 4
nüvi 5000	4.5 x 2.7					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)					external battery only

Piece Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

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Testimonials

Average Buyer Rating:

Buyer's feedback: - * GPS a must! ...
Love this GPS System - very easy to use and to connect/disconnect. Purchased for my husband - we no longer will get lost or have to ask for directions!!!!!

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Buyer's feedback: - Garmin nuvi 350 review
I bought a Garmin nuvi 350 recently for a 3,000 mile road trip and here are my thoughts on it:

PROS:

+ It is extremely easy to use out of the box. The manual and quick reference guide were hardly necessary except for some help I needed with customization. After you've charged it up, you can simply turn it on and plug in an address and press Go. It's that simple.

+ The options to find lodging, fuel, restaurants, attractions, transit, etc are very helpful. The 350 put my mind at ease about driving through unknown country roads when my fuel tank was close to empty because I knew I could find a gas station within minutes. Also, when you're on the highway, motels can be found on virtually every exit, but when you're in the middle of a city, the 'Lodging' option is a lifesaver. You really can drive into a city and see many attractions and points of interest without any planning beforehand.

+ It is cheap and portable. I bought mine off Amazon and it was a lot cheaper than the price in electronics retail stores. I also bought a GPS "Cool carrying case" from Bestpricecenter, which is excellent. At first, you might have some trouble removing the GPS unit from its dashboard mount or fitting it in, but I got the hang of it after a few tries.

+ The feature that allows the unit to recalculate routes if you take a detour is fantastic. If you need to be at a certain place at 5:00 pm and the arrival time at the moment says 3:30, you know exactly how much time you have to drive around and explore before you need to head to your destination.

CONS:

- The 350 does not do basic things well such as calculating the distance and travel time between two places. If you're in NYC and you want to find out how long it will take to get to Hartford, it is very easy to do. But if you are in NYC and want to find out the distance from Hartford to Boston, it can be arduous to calculate.

- The touch screen is not as sensitive as say, those on Apple products. Sometimes, the screen needs to be pressed twice and this can be distracting if you're trying to operate it while driving (which I know they do not recommend, but it can't be avoided completely.)

- It can take time to "acquire satellites" and the GPS unit doesn't work well in congested cities. When I was driving through Manhattan, the unit was going crazy and doing all sorts of strange operations. As soon as I got back on the highway, it stopped acting weird. You might notice that even though you're driving along and following the directions, it might begin "recalculating" for no reason.

Overall, I was really happy with how the 350 worked during my trip but I would still recommend taking a road atlas and having a laptop with wi-fi access handy *just in case*.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Can you see it? ...
Have had a Nuvi 350 for a couple of years and though it can do remarkable things for such a small unit, there are a couple of major disadvantages. First, If the sun is shining the screen is nearly invisible. Great at night or on cloudy days. Second, The viewing angle is so narrow that the unit must be aimed directtly at the person viewing it. Driver and passenger cannot see the screen at the same time.
Suggestion: If buying ANY GPS insist on taking it outside into the sunshine to see if the screen is visible.

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Buyer's feedback: - love it
Purchased this in August 2008 and got the free 2009 map update via download. It is easy to use though I must say the initial set-up manual that came with it was lame. Fortunately it was fairly self-explanatory to use. With the text-to-voice feature I rarely need to look at the maps, so I see no reason to buy the widescreen version instead. My only complaint would be that I wish the power cord were of the coil type, not just straight. It gets in the way somewhat.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Second one ...
I like the nuvi 350 so much that I decided to let the wife have mine and got another one. I travel a lot, and like to know where I am when I am driving in a new city. The 350 is small enough that it fits easily in my carry-on bag, but has all the features you would see in a larger unit and it is extremely simple to use.

It does get a bit lost on occasion, but that is probably true of all of these devices.