Garmin nuvi 350 Review (or, What I Did on Vacation)
Hands-On Review: Garmin nuvi 350
I don't drive much. In fact, I detest driving, particularly anywhere on Long Island or in the city. But a friend's wedding upstate (Binghamton) coupled with a long weekend gave me the opportunity for a vacation and road trip, and we decided to take a Garmin nuvi 350 with us.
Friday, June 30th
My brother was headed into the city, so he dropped the car off at the office. At that point, I popped the nuvi out of the box and attached it fairly easily with the suction cup. I plugged it into the cigarette lighter, attached the GTM 12, and the system was ready-to-go in under two minutes. I was impressed that the GPS receiver found satellites so quickly, especially in Manhattan, although we're far enough west that there aren't the same canopies found in midtown. The nuvi had a fine grasp on which streets went in which direction, but never having driven in the city, we still missed the turn for the Lincoln Tunnel, although it wasn't entirely the unit's fault.
Of course, the nuvi lost reception in the tunnel, which was to be expected. Some units have gyro-sensors to maintain a heading underground; it would have been nice to see an ETA, but otherwise, no big deal. It's a tunnel. I'm heading in one direction and staying in one lane. The GTM 12 reported slightly heavy traffic leading to the tunnel; there simply isn't a way to route around that, though, and traffic was at least moving. Once we exited the tunnel, the nuvi picked up reception again pretty much instantaneously. It suggested an alternoute route alongside the NJ Turnpike, which we took, and though it was still a trafficky mess, it was better than the stalled traffic on the highway.
The directions to our hotel were pretty straightforward, basically 287 to 87. The nuvi informed us of when the highway changed or crossed over to something, and also popped up rest stop information. When we were past the half-way point on the journey, and saw that we were approaching the last rest area for 30 miles, we made our pit stop.
The mapping on the way up was very accurate. It was mainly country roads (we didn't even have cell reception in many parts) but the nuvi kept on course and assured us we were headed in the right direction. We made it to the motel on time and without incident.
Saturday, July 1st
Friday was our trip to Cooperstown. One road was closed due to the storms, so we hit the "detour" button and were taken up a parallel street. There isn't much parking in Cooperstown; the nuvi suggested a park-and-ride five minutes away, but with some persistence, we instead found a parking spot in town near the lake.
Friday afternoon I received a phone call from my friend (the groom) that due to the storms and flooding, the hotel where the wedding guests were staying was closed. He gave us the phone number and address of a hotel where they were able to move reservations to. It was a Comfort Inn on 1000 Front St, but I couldn't find this in the nuvi's system. So I entered 1000 Front St as an address and the nuvi took us there without incident. It's apparently a new hotel; I haven't checked City Navigator v8 yet to see if it's on there.
Sunday, July 2
On Saturday we set out for the Corning Museum of Glass. The nuvi took us to the highway, then told us: "Stay straight on Route 17 for 45 miles." For the next 50 minutes or so, it didn't make a peep. Granted, we were traveling on the same road the whole time, but after being so talkative before, it was kind of creepy to hear silence. It continued to route on screen, however.
One snag we came across was the result of a strange traffic circle in the section of Binghamton we were at. The nuvi would have us enter a highway, then tell us to get in the left lane (the highway split off) in 100 feet. Getting across a three-lane highway in traffic can often take up to two exits' worth of time; forget about getting across almost immediately. The nuvi had to re-route us, which it did without further issue.
Monday, July 3
Wedding day. The wedding was in nearby Vestal, about 20 minutes from the hotel, so that meant another chance to use the nuvi. We came across two problems: 1.) A unit that speaks street names is worthless if there isn't a street sign posted! and 2.) It took us to a dead-end cul-de-sac instead of to the wedding. We wound up on a little hill overlooking the place, and based on location and address, the GPS may have been right. But that wasn't where the parking lot was. An error like that can't really be addressed unless people send in a correction form; if the address is "1 Fulton Lane" or whatever, the computer-generated directions will take you up Fulton Lane, even if the main entrance is actually on a side street.
Also, the weather had been lousy to that point. We had a nice, bright, sunny day for the wedding, which caused a problem: the nuvi screen was unreadable in the bright sunlight. I tried tilting it, changing the brightness, and such, but if it's a nice day out, it's simply impossible to read that thing. It was more legible when I put on my polarized sunglasses, however.
Tuesday, July 4
Back to the city. As we got closer to the metro area, the traffic services kicked back in, and warned us of closed lanes at the bridge entrance in about 50 miles. I tried to set up a detour, but the nuvi only does A-to-B navigation - we'd have to wait until the alert was imminent before routing around it. This seems counter-intuitive to me: the whole purpose of a traffic alert system is to effectively plan your journey by avoiding problems. What good is advance warning if you can't do anything about it? The interfaces on units like the nuvi and c300 series are nice and easy to use, but why did they have to be at the expense of sophisticated routing features?
In addition, the traffic services currently work only in major metropolitan areas, although it is expanding. We encountered a number of road closures, and a large highway detour, upstate due to the weather and flooding. The nuvi could follow the alternate route, but we had no warning other than the road signs. Understandably, it's harder to get information, and then to transmit it, in rural areas; still, more areas of coverage would add outstanding value to the device. Traffic in the tri-state area is ALWAYS going to be horrible and backed up, especially at bridges and tunnels; most drivers already know this. It's the unexpected accidents and tie-ups that GTM service is for.
Aftermath
The nuvi 350 we were testing decided to stop picking up satellites at one point in Binghamton. I re-set the unit and it was fine thereafter for me. Taking his car back, however, my brother said that the nuvi lost reception in the Midtown Tunnel (expected) but never recovered it (unexpected). Alone in the car, and stuck on the Van Wyck, he didn't exactly have the time to fiddle with it. The unit had originally been returned by a customer who also said it dropped satellite fix, so I'm comfortable marking this particular unit as defective. (Yes, the nuvi I used was second-hand. Hey, we're a discount store. We can't just give 'em away!)
For those who like lists:
The Good:
- Fast satellite reception (when it was working)
- Directions were generally excellent
- Fast re-routing when off-course
- Traffic Integration easy-to-use and helpful
The Bad:
- Screen washed out in bright sunlight
- Voice prompts became irritating, and no real options; only one TTS American English voice, and the foreign voices were actually filled with static!
- Lack of multiple-point routing or plan-ahead routing
- Occasional quirky directions (like cutting across the highway)
-Suction cup a bit of a pain to remove (then again, it it's too loose, the nuvi wouldn't stay up)
Hey, it's only a machine. The nuvi was easy to use, and it only took us to one dead end. I'll give it a rating of 6.5 because, with only aforementioned exceptions, it did was it was supposed to do while being driven consistently over four days. It helped me avoid some traffic on the NJ Turnpike and at the GW Bridge (thanks to the GTM 12); I was able to use it comfortably in about 15 minutes; it disconnected easy, and fit neatly into my pocket. Compared to my old Garmin Quest, the nuvi is sleeker, easier, and with significantly better satellite reception. The nuvi's flaws are very correctable, and Garmin should really consider putting the advanced routing back into their new units. The competitors have multiple-stop routes, so why shouldn't all the new Garmins? At no point did I feel lost with the nuvi, and that's the important thing.
