Manufacturer : Garmin
Model : 010-00902-1D
ASIN : B00407237W
Price : 229.99$
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Product DescriptionWidescreen nvi 2350LMT includes lane assist with junction view, trafficTrends historical traffic, myTrends predictive routing and ecoRoute. Pedestrian capabilities can be enhanced with optional cityXplorer maps for mass transit information. The 2350LMT includes nRoute technology with trafficTrends historical traffic and myTrends predictive routing. With trafficTrends, your nvi 2350LMT automatically learns daytime trends for traffic flow to improve your routes and better predict your estimated time of arrival based on time of day and day of week. With myTrends, when you save your regular destinations in your "Favorites," your nvi 2350LMT will, over time, begin to figure out where youre going even without your telling it! It provides time of arrival and relevant traffic information. So whether youre driving to and from work or a regularly scheduled weekly event, your nvi 2350LMT will help you get there on time--no subscription or additional cost required. With free map and traffic updates, you always have the most up-to-date maps, points of interest and navigation information available at your fingertips. Traffic information is updated constantly, and map updates are available for download up to 4 times a year. Both features are ready to go, right out of the box, with no subscription or update fees and no expiration dates. Navigation is just the beginning. The 2350LMT includes many travel tools, including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. With its "Where Am I" emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations. The 2350LMT includes the Garmin Lock anti-theft feature, and is compatible with our free GarminAmazon.com Product Description
The widescreen nüvi 2350LMT comes with free lifetime traffic and maps for the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It also includes lane assist with junction view*, trafficTrends historical traffic, myTrends predictive routing and ecoRoute. Pedestrian capabilities can be enhanced with optional cityXplorer maps for mass transit information.
 With nüvi 2350LMT's widescreen display, you'll always get the big picture. Click to enlarge. |
Experience nüRoute Technology with trafficTrends and myTrends
nüvi 2350LMT includes nüRoute technology with trafficTrends historical traffic and myTrends predictive routing. With trafficTrends, your nüvi 2350LMT automatically learns daytime trends for traffic flow to improve your routes and better predict your estimated time of arrival based on time of day and day of week. With myTrends, when you save your regular destinations in your "Favorites," your nüvi 2350LMT will, over time, begin to figure out where you're going even without your telling it! It provides time of arrival and relevant traffic information. So whether you're driving to and from work or a regularly scheduled weekly event, your nüvi 2350LMT will help you get there on time. No subscription or additional cost required.
Know the Lane Before It's Too Late
No more guessing which lane you need to be in to make an upcoming turn. Lane assist with junction view guides you to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit, making unfamiliar intersections and exits easy to navigate. It realistically displays road signs and junctions on your route along with arrows that indicate the proper lane for navigation.
Receive Free Lifetime Map and Traffic Updates
With free Lifetime Map** and Traffic*** updates, you always have the most up-to-date maps, points of interest and navigation information available at your fingertips. Traffic information is updated constantly, and map updates are available for download up to 4 times a year. Both features are ready to go, right out of the box, with no subscription or update fees and no expiration dates.
Select Fuel-efficient Routes
nüvi 2350LMT saves you gas and money with ecoRoute--a green feature that calculates a more fuel-efficient route, tracks fuel usage and more. With ecoRoute, you have a "less fuel" option as a routing preference. When selected, nüvi will determine if a more fuel efficient route exists based upon road speed data and vehicle acceleration data for a given route.
 Get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination. |
 nüvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker. |
Navigate City Transit
With its enhanced pedestrian navigation capabilities, nüvi 2350LMT is the perfect travel companion for getting around town. Download optional cityXplorer content to help you navigate city public transit. Know where to walk, where to catch the bus, subway, tram or other transportation and how long it will take to get there. cityXplorer maps are available for select cities throughout North America and Europe. And with prices as low as $9.99, you'll have money left over to spend in the big city.
See More
With nüvi 2350LMT's widescreen display, you'll always get the big picture. View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant color. Its sunlight-readable, 4.3" (10.92 cm) display is easy to read--from any direction.
Get Turn-by-Turn Directions
nüvi 2350LMT has an intuitive interface that greets you with two simple questions: "Where To?" and "View Map." Touch the color screen to easily look up addresses and services and get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination. It comes preloaded with detailed City Navigator NT street maps for the U.S, Canada and Mexico with nearly 6 million points of interest (POIs) such as stores, restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, gas stations, ATMs and more, and speed limits for most major roads.
Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. The 2350LMT includes many travel tools, including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. With its "Where Am I?" emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations. The 2350LMT features Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature, and is compatible with our free Garmin Garage where you can download custom custom voices and vehicles. Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in microSD cards.
*Not available at all intersections/interchanges in all areas.
**Free Lifetime Map Updates entitle you to receive up to 4 map data updates per year, when and as such updates are made available on the Garmin website, for this specific Garmin product only until this product's useful life expires or Garmin no longer receives map data from its third party supplier, whichever is shorter. The updates you receive will be updates to the same geographic map data originally included with your Garmin product when originally purchased. Garmin may terminate your Lifetime Map Updates at any time if you violate any of the terms of the End User License Agreement accompanying your nüvi product.
***Lifetime traffic extends for the useful life of your Garmin traffic receiver (as long as you own a compatible Garmin GPS) or as long as Garmin receives traffic data from its traffic supplier, whichever is shorter. Traffic content not available for all areas. See www.navteq.com/rdstraffic for traffic coverage areas and www.garmin.com/traffic/fm/navteq.html for program License Agreement containing complete terms and conditions.
Compare the nüvi 2300 Series Features
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What's in the Box
nüvi 2350LMT; Preloaded City Navigator NT North America (U.S, Canada and Mexico); Lifetime Maps and Traffic; FM Traffic Receiver With Vehicle Power Cable; Vehicle Suction Cup Mount; USB Cable; Dashboard Disc; Quick Start Manual
Setup and navigation is good. We like the big screen and the way the information is provided.
The lifetime map updates sounds like a great feature. Maps can be updated four times a year and the access using the web page was easy. But I have to wonder what Garmin considers "useful life" of the device. But even if they are only available for three years, then it is still cheaper than buying the maps.
The conditions of lifetime traffic updates are definitely not what I expected and the reason that I am thinking of returning the device. The ads that finance the lifetime traffic pop up on the screen and disrupt the navigation. This is obnoxious! This should be mentioned in the product description! I couldn't even find information about the ad financed traffic on the Garmin web page!
>> I've written a rather long review for the 2360LMT, so these first 5 paragraphs are
a quick summary. Note that Amazon has lumped the various 2350 & 2370 models into the
same bucket of reviews, which have slightly different features.
>> 1 ** THE UNIT WORKS AS INTENDED and is great with basic navigation, but there are
some rough spots with some of the bonus features, and sparse documentation. Build
quality is typical of older Garmin units -- solid, not particularly svelte. The touch
screen is fine for entering letters and tapping the "OK" button, but the "drag"
function when scrolling the map around with my fingertip is inconsistent and requires
heavier than normal finger pressure.
>> 2 ** VOICE RECOGNITION works very well, but it's slow on the uptake and not
perfect -- so expect to repeat yourself often. At each step it guides you with a voice
prompt, or you can turn voice prompts off and follow prompts on the screen for faster
entries. Speaking street addresses is surprisingly accurate; voice-navigating the menu
not so smooth.
>> 3 ** THE JUNCTION VIEW screen has been "fixed" with the latest device software: it
displays representations of freeway junctions and off-ramps side-by-side with the map
to help pick the proper lane. The LANE ASSIST function can be a help, but
simultaneously may lead to confusion at complicated freeway junctions. ROUTE
RECALCULATIONS could be faster, but processor speed and animation overall is fast and
smooth.
>> 4 ** DISPLAY is adequately bright except in very bright sunlight, and the screen is
just reflective enough to pose viewing issues unless adjusted precisely. VOLUME is more
than adequate, and can be adjusted/muted by voice command. The TRAFFIC feature seems to
work OK, though not as good as Google traffic on my BlackBerry, and it doesn't make it
clear when my route is being re-drawn due to an accident or congestion. ADVERTISEMENTS
seem to have been eliminated with the latest software updates. (And just like that, as
of 10/20/11, the ads are back! No idea what happened -- didn't update the unit software
or do anything out of the ordinary. *sigh*)
>> 5 ** OVERALL, I recommend this unit. Despite the frustrations I detail below, it
offers the most usable features, with little fluff, for a very good price. Don't expect
perfection, but do expect a very capable GPS with consistent lifetime traffic and a
voice recognition system that makes **some** data entry / navigation tasks easier than
on touch-screen nav units.
>> So with that summary out of the way, on with my review...
I've used a narrow-screen Garmin 200 for the past few years, as well as Google Maps on my BlackBerry Storm. I hesitated purchasing a new GPS because between the two of those devices, I was pretty well covered to get anywhere I needed to go.
But the 2360LMT came along and I couldn't ignore the list of "extra" features it packed in for the price. And let's face it: A cell phone is great for finding stuff, but not actually navigating while driving, and the old nuvi 200 lacked voice recognition, which I considered a significant safety compromise as well as an input hassle.
Initial power-on / boot-up went smoothly with just a couple of "Accept" screens and reminders to register the product with Garmin. No additional setup steps were required, though it took a few minutes for my initial position fix to be calculated. After that, position fix occurs imperceptibly, even when I power the unit on in a city miles away from where I turned it off. However, boot-up takes about 35 seconds to where the device is ready to receive input, and that feels like an eternity when I want to get navigating.
Build Quality & Screen: the 2360LMT isn't "razor thin" like some of the recent, more expensive Garmin lineup. It's not much thinner than my old 200. The screen is reasonably bright, decent resolution, and wide. Brightness can be adjusted with voice commands while driving. If I have sunlight shining on a light colored shirt, the screen tends to reflect that back at me, but can be minimized with very precisely adjusting the tilt of the unit. The animation is smooth, less jerky than my old unit, and the zoom level "flies in" and out depending on vehicle speed & location relative to upcoming turns. It's a very fluid presentation, and Garmin has nicely tweaked the auto-zoom settings in their latest software updates.
One gig on the animation is in an instance when the unit expects me to turn left, but I choose to continue straight ahead, the map follows the predicted route through the turn, then recognizes I've continued straight, so quickly corrects back. If I were at a complex 6-way intersection or round-about in a residential neighborhood, this feature might mistakenly lead me to think that I had turned to the correct street, and I'd prefer it to not use this predictive positioning feature.
The display colors darken automatically at dusk and, surprisingly, darken when I enter the long Caldecott tunnel near my home, even though the tunnel itself isn't depicted on the map. The daytime backlight brightness is stored independently of the nighttime brightness, so when I set it at 100% at noon and 10% at night, it stores both of those settings.
Portrait Mode: the unit has an orientation sensor, so can be used in portrait mode, which is a nice change on long, straight stretches of freeway to "see" off in the distance. The unit takes advantage of portrait mode by automatically zooming back the display a notch, and adjusting the viewing angle at which it looks ahead, to maximize the view towards the horizon. However, for navigating around town where I'm making turns, I prefer the standard landscape mode, where side streets are more readily visible.
Touch Screen Sensitivity: not so hot. Finger taps register fine, but scrolling/"dragging" the map around, for instance on the "show traffic" overview map display, is frustratingly slow. It requires a unusually heavy finger press, not at all like my old nuvi 200. The map doesn't always move, or moves in the wrong direction, or "snaps back" to its previous location when I lift my finger.
Voice Recognition: pretty impressive, yet frustrating. Thankfully, this feature has prevented me from having to use the touch screen much. I say "Voice Command" and the unit pops up a list of commands I can say, such as "find address" or "search by name." I say "Pegasus" and (on the second try; 1st try got me "Recruiters") it confirms, "1. Pegasus?" I say "yes" or "one" and it searches and quickly finds "Pegasus Cycle Works" in Danville. I say "Navigate!" and it plots a route. Very clean.
Likewise, I say "find address" and it asks, "what city in California?" I say "Hayward" and after multiple tries getting that one right (kept wanting to send me to Orange and Onida), it asks for the house number. I don't have to draw out "Four... Two... Six... Eight" and wait for each digit; no, I say "forty-two sixty-eight" and it throws the whole address up on the screen pretty quickly. Again, very clean, and almost always accurate. Alternatively, I can say "spell city" and then spell it out, letter by letter. However, unlike with the typed-in entries, using voice commands I've found no way to skip the city and go straight to the street address.
The downsides? Besides having trouble recognizing some names, there are some other rough spots: When each prompt is spoken -- for instance, "*Boing* What city in California?" I have to pause a beat before I speak the city (there is a "lips" icon in the upper right corner; it turns red when the unit is speaking to me or processing my verbal command, then turns green when it's ready to listen for my command, which takes about a second after it finishes its question). I'd prefer the *Boing* come at the end of the prompt, as soon as it's ready to listen. Alternatively, the volume can be muted to turn off voice prompts, or, as Amazon member maffeo pointed out in the comments to this review, there is an "expert mode" (Tools > Voice Commands > Wrench Icon) that turns off voice prompts (on-screen prompts only). Either method makes voice entry of addresses much faster, accurate and less frustrating.
Using the Favorites list is not well integrated with the Voice Commands. Creating new Favorites from an address entered via voice requires me to back out to the menu, click on "Recently Found", select the location/address, navigate to it, click on the navigation screen to display the overhead map, then select the sidebar menu to bring up the Save prompt. Not intuitive at all, and requires me to begin navigation TWICE to a destination just in order to save it as a favorite. This process could be much more refined to make it easier to program favorites into the unit while killing time.
Also, selecting a Favorite destination from the list using voice commands requires me to scroll through the list, two Favorites at a time (or, if I'm in portrait view, six Favorites at a time), until the destination appears. The Favorites are sorted in order of closest proximity, so when I want directions to Auntie Ginger's house 35 miles away in San Jose, it'll be at the bottom of the list, and I have to scroll down to her entry -- on screen at a time -- before I can select it. This is majorly annoying: if the GPS can find every Home Depot within the bay area with a simple voice command, it should be able to pick out "Ginger" from a list of 1000 favorites! Grrrr... Meanwhile, I'm have to option to access...
This one has advertizements and cupon offers that pop up in the middle of the screen and it appears that the only way to get them off so that you can see the map fully is to manually change the screen. If it werent for the commercials, this unit would rate 5 stars.
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