Why I Love my Garmin nuvi 350 Pocket GPS

Garmin nuvi 350 GPS Review

I ordered the Garmin nuvi 350 in August after researching compact GPS units online. After taking the time to compare Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, and similar units I was sold on the Garmin nuvi 350.

The 350 was one of the best rated units I found and has been a consistent top seller on Amazon over the past few months. It’s retail price is $969.22 but I was able to pick it up off Amazon for $369. Right now it’s selling for $339.99 - that’s 65% OFF! (check the lowest current price here).

After using for a few months I can say I’ve been very happy with the purchase. Here are my favorite things about the Garmin nuvi 350:

VERY compact. It’s light and portable, I’ve actually carried it in my pocket several times when walking around. It’s battery has a life of over 4 hours so it doesn’t need to be plugged in. You almost can’t believe that this little thing is a GPS.
The LCD touch screen is large and bright. The touch-sensitive interface is very intuitive. I haven’t picked up the manual once since I bought it.
It tells you street names (instead of just where to turn), which makes its voice guided routing much easier to follow and understand.
If you detour, it automatically reroutes you to your destination.
It comes with a library of voices and accents. Personally I get a kick out of the Australian accent.
It uses Navteq’s US map database, which is considered superior to what other GPS units have. (It’s the same one that powers Google maps).
The suction cup and power supply it comes with are quality and seemed to have been well thought out. The unit automatically turns itself off when you turn off the car and is really easy to detach (if you’re worried about leaving it in your car).
It comes preloaded with maps of all of North America, Canada, and Puerto Rico AND has an extensive library of restaurants, gas stations, and local businesses. I tend to use this feature a lot – it’s like having a Yellow pages right at your fingertips.

My only qualm about the device it that sometimes it takes a minute to find satellites, but from reading up about it, it’s actually one of the best units as far as response time is concerned (I guess that’s common to all GPS navigation units).

The unit comes with an audiobook and mp3 player, as well as some other features I’ve yet to explore (but probably will in the coming months).

The Garmin nuvi 350 is the first GPS unit I’ve owned and I’m very happy with my purchase. If you’re looking to get a GPS for yourself or as a present, it’s hard to go wrong with this model.

The cheapest I’ve seen it is at Amazon for $339.99 (you have to add it to cart to see the price since it’s below what Garmin allows anyone to advertise it for). That’s even cheaper that what I paid for it. It’s one of the best deals around and is the reason it’s been a top seller for months.

Garmin nuvi 350 Photos

USB and SD card inputs