Nuvi 350 (what model replaces it?)

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134

why was it discontinued?

Because it's been out a long time.

To get the straight answer .... ask Garmin.

US: (913) 397-8200
US Toll Free: 1-800-800-1020
Canada: 1-866-429-9296

RT

All things considered?
And..in my experience?
The 350 is a workhorse. I've NEVER had a day of troubles with the 350..
The 660 on the other hand...bad traffic reciever and blown speaker.
7xx series. Well, that goes without saying...

I wish they didnt discontinue it..
Its small, it has the longest lasting battery, and, as I stated, it just 'works'.

As "dood" says...I've had mine for years, not a lick of trouble. It keeps on going and going and going....
In answer to your question, I have no answer. If you can get a second hand 350 off of E-Bay for a decent price, snatch it up.

I've had a few issues with mine and Garmin actually replaced it and sent me another one. I've become a pro at hard resets too. However, I wouldn't trade it for any other Garmin. I don't need bluetooth, the larger screen or voice recognition so I think I'll just keep it until it dies once and for all.

Maybe they discontinued it because it was "too good". Now they can sell the other machines they have in inventory.

Well..just to add a lil bit more about the 350..
Again..the battery is the longest lasting out of all the nuvi's...
Its small. The portability is great! Its easy to carry with you where ever you go. Just 'whip it out' when you need it.
I use the MP3 player on the train to listen to mp3's while on my commute to work. (I've gone for days without a charge. Which highlights the battery life)
I even use it for 'quick storage' if I need to take a few files home with me. Just toss it on the SD card. (Granted, only usb 1.1 but it works).

Now then.. I love my 660. The larger screen is nice for the car. But its just too bulky to always have with me. And even on that point, the 350's screen size wouldnt dissuade or disappoint me at all from using it the car if I dont happen to have it on me.
Heck, I actually use the 350 more often in the car cuz its always in my computer bag and ready to go.
Its always the first one I load up with new POI's too.
In all honesty.. If I really think about it...I suppose the 660 is moreso the 'backup'..and the 350 is the 'primary'.

I have to agree. I've never regretted for a second getting the 350 in January 2007. It's been used for a 'drop test' onto a cement floor (slipped out of the case), and have lost count how many times it fell when the 'suction cup' mount let go (before getting the 'Bean Bag' mount). "Took a lickin', kept on tickin'". Now if Garmin would fix the 'Linebreak display problem' .....

RT

The 350 never should never have been discontinued or drastically changed. It reminds me of the way Ford decided to change the T-bird and then the Mustang. When you have a winner, stay with it. I grabbed my 350 from Amazon when the price dropped. Never had any troubles with it and it's the right size for my shirt pocket when I leave the car.

As for the linebreak issue.. I guess I havent felt it.
It works fine when I load up with geepeeex.
I even load both the 350 and 660 from the same directory of POI's when updating.
I guess this says more about geepeeex than the 350. So FWIW, I dont have a problem with this bug. Everything displays just fine...

If you have a nuvi 350, "Everything (does not) displays just fine". If you only used standard linebreaks in your POIs, you have no linebreaks at all. (Don't confuse linebreaks with word-wrap). This has been an issue since way back in Feb 2007 and is still there ... yours included.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/1486

RT

Gee, if that's the worst you can say about the 350, I'd consider that an endorsement.

It was an endorsement ... did you read my post? "I've never regretted for a second getting the 350 in January 2007." I was only disputing the claim that the nuvi 350 didn't have a linebreak display problem.

RT

Perhaps your correct.
I do 'dumps' of verbiage to geepeeex for additional descriptions. I've never had a problem, or a real concern with line breaks. I've done font size changes and bold highlights, but its all been fine in my opinion.
I'll have to review some of em.

(Dang it! Now you have me firing up the 350 to check it out closer! )

Ok.. Maybe geepeeex works around this...

Here is a sample.

Shot of geepeeex editor for a POI.
Note the line breaks.
http://www.doodnet.com/images/nuvibreak1.jpg

And here is how it appears on the 350
http://www.doodnet.com/images/nuvibreak2.jpg
http://www.doodnet.com/images/nuvibreak3.jpg

The line breaks look ok to me. (shrug..)

EDIT:
Ask me why I made a POI for the chicagoland speedway's Drivers Entrance!! Hehehehe
Here ya go.
http://www.doodnet.com/images/doodtrack3.jpg
(Sorry..had to add this pic.. )

I can't tell where the linebreaks are supposed to be. It could be word-wrap or linebreaks that end the line. If you would, try it with short lines so we can tell where the linebreaks are to be ... like this:

-111.9506,41.1528,"Standard LB","Field 4
Standard"
-112.9444,42.195,"nuvi LB","Field 4<br>nuvi"

I'd be interested in knowing what you find out.

(You may be interested in:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/17219
where the member confirmed that the new version 6.0 didn't fix the issue.)

RT

Ahh...there's the rub!
geepeeex creates .gpx files. Not csv's.

The bug exists with csv's right?
I (just now) recalled doing csv files in excel with breaks that didnt seem to work. I didnt 'fight' it much. But then bought geepeex and life has been good ever since.
Sorry... I think I've been spoiled with geepeeex.

I'd be interested in knowing what displays if you converted the csv file above to gpx, then check the linebreaks. Please?

RT

Actually any csv's I have I've imported then converted/saved to gpx (by virtue of geepeeex)

My 'main' one is for my car club that includes all our tracks, alot of hangouts and meeting places.

As for checking linebreaks, again, they seem fine.

If you note the previous screen shots, you'll see the blank lines between paragraphs in the geepeeex screen shot. And it corresponds directly to the nuvi screen shots.

I wish hornsby(the author) would chime in here to confirm what I believe I'm talking about.

Matter 'o fact, you can download a demo of geepeeex that allows for 5 waypoints(its fully functional 'cept for the 5 waypoint limitation). You can test it.

I recally going thru the biz of figuring out a way to manage POI's when I first got the 350 last october. I even tried to develop something with XMLSPY. I wanted to live in the world of GPX files due to the limiations of csv's. But it just got too convoluted.

Again...honestly? Since I've been using Geepeeex, POI managment has been a breeze. I havent had any concerns with differing formats. I just do what I need to do without having to concern myself with the underlying formats/issues/tech.

(GAWD!! I SOUND LIKE FREAKING COMMERCIAL FOR THE SOFTWARE!!! Heheheh)

I'm sure Hornsby appreciates that, but that doesn't answer the question. If you would, could you please run the above csv file through the program and see if the converted gpx file contains the linebreaks (or doesn't it convert csv to gpx?). I'd appreciate knowing.

RT

I copied the text..imported into geepeeex.

Shot 1
geepeeex
http://www.doodnet.com/images/nuvitest1.jpg

Saved as GPX file..and loaded with poiloader
http://www.doodnet.com/images/nuvitest2.jpg
http://www.doodnet.com/images/nuvitest3.jpg

Again, for any additional aggressive testing, you can DL the software and go bananas on up to 5 waypoints.

Thanks for trying that. No linebreaks displayed in any of the photos, and appears, not even with the 'special' program.

This is getting off of the subject about "Garmin shouldn't have discontinued one of the best GPS units ever", but this brings up another question. I've tried several 'csv to gpx' converters and none of them will convert the file without (it or me) removing the linebreaks. Is this typical of gpx format? Maybe our resident gpx expert (hornsby) can shed some light here.
RT

I too can attest to the Nuvi 350's versatility, compactness, and easy of use. It is more compact that the wide screen Nuvi's and very durable. I love my 350 and wouldn't dream of trading it in for a newer model. One thing I have noticed between my 350 and my friends 750 is that my 350 locks into the satellites quicker and keeps the signal better. Could it be because of the pop out antenna?

There are quite a few interactions going on here:

GeePeeEx Editor never creates files containing embedded linefeed/carriagereturn characters - it either converts them to html, or removes them and puts the data in a field that the unit will format itself.

If used to import csv files, by default it assumes that column 4 is actually meant to convey 'address' and 'phonenumber' information. POILoader would normally put data from that column in the 'comment' field in the GPI file. (This is why you can't create dialable phone numbers using CSV input to POILoader).

Since GeePeeEx can't tell which part of the address belongs where, it strips all the formatting and puts it in 'StreetAddress1'. It is assumed that the user will then use the Geocoding interface, to refine this into its proper format. Perhaps it needs to remind the user of this...

You can choose to send column 4 to the 'description' field instead, in which case, the previously described conversion to html occurs. (The 'description' and 'comment' fields are not the same thing).

On a Nüvi 3xx series, the 'description' field is hard to distinguish from the 'comment' field, location-wise. There is however, a distinct shortcoming with regards to this field, in that it is truncated to somewhere around the 250 character mark. (Other units don't do this.)

On units other than the 3xx series, the change in output can/will be much more marked - in that the 'description' normally appears on a 2nd display page...

(So in the example given by "Dood", the missing linebreaks are 'expected, normal behaviour'. Clearing the 'Col4. is address, not description' flag, would give a different effect.)

In the last paragraph of your 'very good explanation' you mentioned "a different effect". What would this be?

Thanks again.

RT

Yeah, no kidding. Just wanted to inject some humor. I would bet that only a very small fraction of owners even mess with POI's - or even know what we are talking about.

The 350 was my first Garmin and I kept it after upgrading to a 760. Kind of a classic. From an operational standpoint, it *does* have a bug ?feature? that would keep me from using it on a daily basis vs reaching for the 760 instead. Having 2009 maps on both, my 350 identifies many roads in my area as CR-xx (County Route xx) instead of Smith Road. My 760 calls the same road Smith Road, which matches all the street signs. This applies to MANY roads in my area, and only started with the 2009 maps. It's a little sad - the 2009 maps added some major changes in western Chicago, but the 350 calls many of them County Routes now. They *are* county routes, but are known by their names and have no Route## signs posted anywhere. The 760 calls and displays them by name instead.


-111.9506,41.1528,"Standard LB","Field 4
Standard"
-112.9444,42.195,"nuvi LB","Field 4<br>nuvi"


http://GeePeeEx.com/128.JPG
http://GeePeeEx.com/126.JPG

These are formatted as you would expect - notice they are at the very top of the screen.

(These are 'DOOD's screenshots)
http://GeePeeEx.com/nuvitest2.jpg
http://GeePeeEx.com/nuvitest3.jpg

The formatting has been removed by GeePeeEx Editor
Notice how the Nüvi has preceded the data with the word Contact. This is an indication that you are looking at data in the 'address' field.

http://GeePeeEx.com/142.JPG
http://GeePeeEx.com/136.JPG

They appear slightly further down the screen and the formatting has been converted to html (and interpreted by the Nüvi). On anything other than a Nüvi 3xx series, you would have to press a "MORE" button to see this data.

Does any one have any experience with the Nuvi 260?

So, this all leads to the answer for the 'linebreak display' question of why "I don't have a problem with this bug. Everything displays just fine". Appears your gpx files didn't contain linebreaks ... they were either removed during conversion or were never there in the original file.

RT

I too, carry my 350 with me wherever I go. I can't say that I use it all the time, but it's in my computer bag, which is with me most of the time.

I agree with all your points...size, battery, MP3, temporary data storage, etc.

I've never owned any other GPS, so I don't have any thing in which to compare it, but I think the 350 is a great unit.