Can a customized route be loaded into a Nuvi350?

You said: I hate driving through cities and want to plot a route to avoid the city all together.

I'm a brand new nuvi350 owner, too. It seems that you can somewhat customize the route the unit plans just by going to settings, navigation, avoidances and check "traffic" as an avoidance.

I'll watch for more experienced answers

I am a fairly new user to the nuvi as well, mine is the 660. If I am not mistaken, there is no way to load a route to the nuvi. That is one of the things I would most like to do.

There are a couple of work arounds, however. If you plan a a route from point "A" to point "B" - final destination, then insert a midpoint (nuvi only allows one midpoint) away from the NYC area, you may get lucky with the nuvi routing you away from the problem area.

The other work around would be to save several points along the route you would like to take that would carry you away from NYC. Then when you are ready to go you would start from your house and use the "Where to" to take you to your first saved location along the route. Once that destination is reached use the "where to" again to continue the process. In essence you will be combining many "mini trips" to make one longer trip. A bit more of a pain but it will work. Good luck.

BTW - It is getting warmer quick here in NC. Have a safe trip.

You may be interested in this thread:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/726

phiwar, Is your unit set for shortest route or for fastest? Shortest route will often take you into and through cities because it is calculating the shortest distance between two points.

Thank you all for your comments. I think the solution is likely putting in a number of destinations and selecting them one-by-one (as suggested by Mark E.) as I travel south. It will be a bit of a pain to do it,, but well worth the effort for the ease of mind while traveling in unknown territory.

I did try programming "avoid traffic, toll roads, highways, best route, etc" all of which did not divert me around the Big Apple.

I would love to see something developed for the Nuvi to allow loading customized routes (waypoints) or another option added by Garmin to avoid cities. Maybe someone out there is working on it. Bottom line is, I still love my Nuvi for the peace of mind it provides when traveling.

Thank you Mark and to eveyone contributing.

I live in south Jersey and I used to take my son to school in Boston. Not once did I go through the city. Set yourself a way point for the Tapenze (spelling?) Bridge and you will avoid the city. It might look longer but it is faster. This will take you to the Garden State Parkway south where you can get I95 south, about 40 miles. Good luck.

(B and R in Cnt nj)

WHAT IS THE TAPPAN ZEE? The name of the Tappan Zee Bridge was derived from Indian and Dutch origins. In pre-colonial days, the Tappan Indian tribe inhabited the area. When the Dutch inhabited New York in the 1600's, the Hudson River was called a "zee," or wide expanse of water. In 1994, the bridge was re-dedicated in honor of Malcolm Wilson, who served as governor of New York State in 1974 and 1975, and for nearly 15 years before that as lieutenant governor under Nelson Rockefeller.

Best Way, Create a way point midway on a major highway that will take you away from the city and add that to your trip..

One of the Major disadvantage of the Nuvi is that you cannot add more than 3 points on a route...!

Yes it is a major disadvantage on the Nuvi, but I still Love my Nuvi.

Cannot save Routes
Cannot Change Screen Layout
Cannot Change Zoom Level
Cannot Change text size
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but it's a cute unit though

I'm taking a trip from Princeton, NJ to Portland, ME with my new Garmin StreetPilot c330. I always take the Tappan Zee Bridge to avoid NYC as well.

Someone has loaded POIs for the NYC Area Bridges, so I set Tappan Zee Bridge Eastbound as a mid-point and it did the trick just fine.

Though if you're anal like me, you'll want to hand-edit the .csv file because "Tappan Zee" was misspelled

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/4284