Author Topic: Garmin GPS Units... Nuvi 350 or C550... (Read 7094 times)

Zoo · « **on:** July 21, 2008, 12:54:12 pm »

Hi All,

I am looking into getting a portable GPS unit for myself. I have seen a Garmin 250 in action and am quite impressed. There are deals to be had on both the 350 and 550. I like the voice over street names that the 350 offers over the 250 I tried out. I also like the compact nature of the 350. Now, the 550 are being cleared out at a great price. Should I just snag the 350 or would the 550 offer features I might like?

UmroAyyar · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2008, 10:24:52 am »

Nuvi 350 is quite sleek and the text to speech feature is very nice plus the custom POI list you can load up.

c550 has bluetooth, allows you to set it up for handsfree calling with your phone. The rest is pretty much similar.

You can increase storage by SD Card, which is v.v. cheap these days, load up music, play through the GPS, connect to car stereo, it lowers the volume when instructions are needed. Very useful on the longer trips.

If handsfree calling is not important, I'd opt for the Nuvi. Check around the online Canadian GPS stores, you can get a factory refurbished unit quite cheap with full warranty sometimes.

tpl · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2008, 10:28:12 am »

"Check around the online Canadian GPS stores, you can get a factory refurbished unit quite cheap with full warranty sometimes."

and save the PST by buying from AB

Zoo · « **Reply #3 on:** July 22, 2008, 09:22:26 pm »

Thanks for the feedback.

I can find both units new. One via on-line shopping with one of my favourite big box retailers (hint you must be a member to shop there and it is not Sam's Club). The other is selling out the 550 while supplies last. They are going for half price. I am tempted to snag the 350 at this point due to being able to easily order it online, plus the portability is a huge bonus when I am renting cars in other provinces for work. I also use a bluetooth headset in the car and being a bit of a Luddite am happy to continue to use the system for cell phone use.

Then again the 550 does come with 2 suction mounts and a dash mount with some kind of weird bean bad set up... Hmmm..

I have a feeling it will be the 350 that I end up getting. Jeesh! $199! These things for around $700 or so not that long ago weren't they? Talk about massive price cuts.

UmroAyyar · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2008, 09:29:01 pm »

The bean bag setup is pretty cool until it comes flying at your or it falls of the dash with your unit in it on a bump or sudden braking. There's anti-slip surface at the bottom of it which does a great job of keeping it from sliding, but when it bumps, it can go flying.

Get a proper mount for it, matter of preference really, windscreen suction mount or A/C vent mount. There are others excellent ones like ProClip too, but these two are the most portable.

Costco has the Nuvi 350 for $199 I think.

I'd reiterate that do check around the Canadian online retailers like gpscentral, gpscity, radioworld. You may be able to score a better unit with factory warranty like a new unit.

Still Nuvi 350 is awesome, you'd love it.

99 Silver · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2008, 09:54:38 pm »

I have a 350 and it works very well.

I don't like the windshield mount and the beanbag won't work in the Miata the way I drive so I ordered a solution from here:

http://www.proclipusa.com/choosecountry/choosecountry.aspx

It works very well.

Zoo · « **Reply #6 on:** July 23, 2008, 07:36:01 pm »

Well,

I went for it! I just bought a Garmin Nuvi 350 online and it should be here mid next week. I am looking forward to the convenience of this device and not having to fight with maps anymore. I still see the logic with maps in planning a sales day etc; but trying to concentrate on driving, following a map, and attempting to see one's destination is a headache and safety hazard I will gladly leave in the past. Just like a bluetooth headset this is one great addition to a road warrior's arsenal.

Now, should I snag an i-pod one of these days?

UmroAyyar · « **Reply #7 on:** July 23, 2008, 09:47:03 pm »

If I recall correctly, Nuvi 350 can accept SDHC cards, which means any size would work. You can get a 16gb SDHC card and load your music on it. Advantage is less gadgets, you can plug your Nuvi to the Aux input on your car stereo, listen to music (Garmin will lower the volume and prompt when needed).

Unless you really do need an iPod.

Zoo · « **Reply #8 on:** July 26, 2008, 12:46:26 pm »

So far so ~~good~~ great with the Nuvi 350 so far. I hooked it up to my laptop to update the software, maps etc. I used it to find restaurants etc and then to find my way to some spots in Cambridge. Unlike older units I have seen this unit is not thrown off by taking a different route. I have seen other units that just keep asking you to make a u-turn. Not the Nuvi 350. IT recalculates really quickly and goes from there.

The only headache I can see so far is that the window mount sticks so well that it makes sense to pick up an extra mount or two to keep in other vehicles rather than fight getting the mount off the window. This is a very intuitive unit that is easy to use and find your way to a destination. The on screen instructions are very easy to follow and between the voice saying where to turn and when plus the written directions on the screen it would be very difficult for me to get lost.

I can't imagine needing anything more in a GPS. Sure, a larger screen might be nice (this unit is 3.5"); but then I would lose the amazing portability of this unit. This device is literally the size of a deck of cards when the attenna is folded.

For me this is the perfect package.

TB · « **Reply #9 on:** July 26, 2008, 02:27:07 pm »

I have a quick question for you guys.

Do you have to buy a gps with euro map capability or can I get a 350 garmin for example and download euro maps on it later on?

Not too familiar with how this works...any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

tpl · « **Reply #10 on:** July 26, 2008, 04:09:20 pm »

The garmin 350 has enough memory to run the Euro maps as well as the NA maps. IIRC the maps cost $160 or so on dvd to upload to the device.

Ex-airbalancer · « **Reply #11 on:** July 26, 2008, 04:10:45 pm »

Quote from: Zoo on July 26, 2008, 12:46:26 pm

So far so ~~good~~ great with the Nuvi 350 so far. I hooked it up to my laptop to update the software, maps etc. I used it to find restaurants etc and then to find my way to some spots in Cambridge. Unlike older units I have seen this unit is not thrown off by taking a different route. I have seen other units that just keep asking you to make a u-turn. Not the Nuvi 350. IT recalculates really quickly and goes from there.

The only headache I can see so far is that the window mount sticks so well that it makes sense to pick up an extra mount or two to keep in other vehicles rather than fight getting the mount off the window. This is a very intuitive unit that is easy to use and find your way to a destination. The on screen instructions are very easy to follow and between the voice saying where to turn and when plus the written directions on the screen it would be very difficult for me to get lost.

I can't imagine needing anything more in a GPS. Sure, a larger screen might be nice (this unit is 3.5"); but then I would lose the amazing portability of this unit. This device is literally the size of a deck of cards when the attenna is folded.

For me this is the perfect package.

DId cost you extra for the updates?

tpl · « **Reply #12 on:** July 26, 2008, 04:30:44 pm »

software updates are free. NA map updates $69 BUT you can't download them from Garmin as they will not download outside the USA.

gottarondo · « **Reply #13 on:** July 26, 2008, 09:31:43 pm »

I wouldn't recognize a GPS unit if I tripped over it, but recognize the name from this year's Tour de France:
http://www.slipstreamsports.com/

Zoo · « **Reply #14 on:** July 27, 2008, 11:36:14 am »

DId cost you extra for the updates?
[/quote]

Nope! I registered my unit on the site. It was a little weird in that I had to hook up the GPS via USB (pretty straightforward) but the GPS did not automatically start to do anything. I had to download a couple of programs to my laptop for the GPS to be able to be recognized and updated. Once I did this and registered the unit everything was a piece of cake. I uploaded new cars for the display and the latest maps (normally around $49).

When I go to Europe next I will get the maps for this and I will update my Canada/US maps in a few years. I might try out my SD card from my digital camera in the unit to see how good it does as an MP3 player.

Zoo · « **Reply #15 on:** July 27, 2008, 11:51:36 am »

Quote from: TB on July 26, 2008, 02:27:07 pm

I have a quick question for you guys.

Do you have to buy a gps with euro map capability or can I get a 350 garmin for example and download euro maps on it later on?

Not too familiar with how this works...any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

You can do either. Some of the more expensive units have NA and Europe maps standard. I thought about paying a bit more for a unit with European maps on it; but I would have probably wanted to update them by the time I used the unit over there anyways. I bought the 350 largely based on how portable it is.

tpl · « **Reply #16 on:** July 27, 2008, 01:27:29 pm »

Quote from: Zoo on July 27, 2008, 11:36:14 am

DId cost you extra for the updates?

Nope! I registered my unit on the site. It was a little weird in that I had to hook up the GPS via USB (pretty straightforward) but the GPS did not automatically start to do anything. I had to download a couple of programs to my laptop for the GPS to be able to be recognized and updated. Once I did this and registered the unit everything was a piece of cake. I uploaded new cars for the display and the latest maps (normally around $49).

When I go to Europe next I will get the maps for this and I will update my Canada/US maps in a few years. I might try out my SD card from my digital camera in the unit to see how good it does as an MP3 player.
[/quote]

It seems to very a bit picky about the exact format and bit rate of MP3s. I have a complete set of the Beatles that I was given and it won't play any of them. When I connect the GPS to my PC I do see that the "properties" of my mp3s are different from the samples in the machine. I am not an mp3 guy so I have not bothered to explore further.

Zoo · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2008, 03:34:49 pm »

Interesting... I will check out the MP3 situation later and see what the deal is. I am on the road a lot so if it does a passable job as an MP3 player I might get some enjoyment out of it when I am in my room and want to listen to some music (although I do this with my laptop already).

I will see what the deal is and report back later on this thread. With the cheap prices on SD cards now I could put a 4 gig card in the unit for a low price and have a decent libratry of tunes on it.

99 Silver · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2008, 11:53:11 pm »

You can buy the Europe data on a SD card which is what I did. It worked great last year in Spain and France.

I removed the Europe SD card and keep it at home.

Ex-airbalancer · « **Reply #19 on:** July 28, 2008, 10:06:54 am »

Quote from: 99 Silver on July 27, 2008, 11:53:11 pm

You can buy the Europe data on a SD card which is what I did. It worked great last year in Spain and France.

I removed the Europe SD card and keep it at home.

WHERE did get the SD card?

Author Topic: Garmin GPS Units... Nuvi 350 or C550... (Read 7094 times)

UmroAyyar

UmroAyyar

UmroAyyar

TB

gottarondo