Vehicle type (car, pedestrian, bicycle...) what does it DO?
 14 years
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I went out for a walk with my Nuvi 350--not because I needed it, but because, well, it's a fun gadget.
I set it to Pedestrian mode and entered a destination.
Strangely, the route it chose was rather out of the way. It added another 20-25 minutes to what should have been about a 45-50 minute walk. As I walked, it kept insisting that I take the suggested route, to where it would have had me basically backtracking. Re-entering the destination didn't effect things.
Even after about 1.25 miles, it still wanted me to take a longer route--albeit by then a different one. About halfway though my walk (at around 1.5 miles) I thought to switch the "Faster" route setting to "Shorter" and that did it: it finally chose the route I was already taking.
Why? If I'm walking the speed limit of the road shouldn't matter; my max speed is going to be pretty constant no matter what road I walk.
What settings change if I choose Pedestrian (or Bicycle) over Car/Motorcycle? I would have thought that it shouldn't favor higher-speed roads (which is why it had given me the initial routes, which in this case probably wouldn't have been faster even for a car, anyway). If anything, I would have thought it should have favored the SLOWER roads--safer for a pedestrian.
Nobody reported yet...
Just another bug...
vk
Don't be surprised...it's... Garmin...
I set it to Pedestrian mode and entered a destination.
Even after about 1.25 miles, it still wanted me to take a longer route--albeit by then a different one. About halfway though my walk (at around 1.5 miles) I thought to switch the "Faster" route setting to "Shorter" and that did it: it finally chose the route I was already taking.
Why? If I'm walking the speed limit of the road shouldn't matter; my max speed is going to be pretty constant no matter what road I walk.
Very good question for Garmin software dept...just...another untested feature...report to Garmin...they might fix it...maybe...
vk
An answer
... from Garmin (quick response, eh?):
"The Nuvi is primarily a street bound unit, when you change to pedestrian it mainly just keeps you off the interstates, but will still try to keep to the main roads, instead of the side streets. This is unless you change the preference to shorter vs faster, since it is primarily a street bound unit. The same is true with the bicycle setting. Our newer units like the 1200, 1300, 1400 units are designed to be true pedestrian minded units, which includes the buses, taxies, and subways as part of the routing when using the city xplorer maps."
Straight Lines
I may be off base with this but it's my understanding that pedestrian mode tries to use straight lines to get from one point to another. It's most useful in parking lots when trying to find your car (after saving the 'where am I' after parking).
You'll frequently find the "shorter" route choice (whether in vehicle or pedestrian mode) will take you between points via city streets while the "faster" choice will usually opt for highways.
Cheers
Nuvi 760 & 660, Streetpilot, GPS III, GPS 10X
Try this if you can
I have a 1690 and I read also that some other units have an off road setting combined with pedestrian mode is used when flying in a jet. You get great Max speed results if your into that sort of thing. You might try that if you can and see if it might help some how. I don't know if it'll work, while in a jet it works better because it does not keep trying to recalculate a new route.
For what it's worth.
Lets Roll
That would have been too easy
I may be off base with this but it's my understanding that pedestrian mode tries to use straight lines to get from one point to another. It's most useful in parking lots when trying to find your car (after saving the 'where am I' after parking).
You'll frequently find the "shorter" route choice (whether in vehicle or pedestrian mode) will take you between points via city streets while the "faster" choice will usually opt for highways.
Cheers
According to Garmin, apparently not. The only difference between pedestrian/bike and car/motorcycle modes, regardless of shorter/faster setting, is that the former will keep you off the interstates. I'm not sure if that includes non-interstate limited access freeways that prohibit pedestrians and bicyclists (you'd expect so, but who knows?).
So, if you're not near the interstates anyway, there is no apparent difference between the car/motorcycle and pedestrian/bicycle settings--that would have made too much sense.
I found an interesting feature (though perhaps everyone knows about this): I'd unthinkingly left the setting on "pedestrian" and taken the 350 along with me in my car to test out a red light camera file I'd loaded. After about a mile, an alert came up asking if I wanted to leave it in pedestrian mode; I presume it had noted my impossible-for-pedestrian average speed and figured I wasn't walking.
Gimmicks
Different modes, FM Transmitter, Music Player,etc. are all gimmicks in my opinion where the money and effort should be put into engineering and testing of a GPS unit that works right the first time. The picture viewer is one that does make some sense. Yes I am sure there will be those that use some of these features but I bet most do not.
Bobby....Garmin 2450LM
offroad
I was playing around with it one day, and put it in as "offroad". It just made a straight line to the destination, with no regard for fences, private property, etc. So, if you are walking in the woods, "offroad" would be a good setting to play with along with "pedestrian" mode. So, in the city and being a pedestrian, that would also be helpful in deciding which road to walk on. Just take the one that goes the most direct way to your destination. Just my 2 cents worth.
Unless you are the lead sled dog, the view never changes. I is retard... every day is Saturday! I still use the Garmin 3590 LMT even tho I upgraded to the Garmin 61 LMT. Bigger screen is not always better in my opinion.
Gimmick?
Different modes, FM Transmitter, Music Player,etc. are all gimmicks in my opinion where the money and effort should be put into engineering and testing of a GPS unit that works right the first time. The picture viewer is one that does make some sense. Yes I am sure there will be those that use some of these features but I bet most do not.
Agree with the music player, but if by "different modes" you mean the bike/pedestrian modes, I don't think that's a gimmick, and is far more useful than a picture viewer (which I can't imagine having a use for). When you consider how portable the nuvi 350 and similar GPS units are, having it work in those modes is, I think, a pretty killer feature.
My current car has a nav system (a whole other topic on its own) so I bought the 350 refurb for use in others' cars, and also while on bike trips and for walking around. One triggering thought had been a trip to San Francisco last year. I do a LOT of walking all around in cities, and the Nuvi (imperfect though the walking mode is) would have been really, really handy.
Pedestrian Mode
I believe that pedestrian mode ignores one-way streets since it would be presumed that you were on the sidewalk.