Nuvi 350 speaker

My nuvi 350 is plenty loud, but I did notice when set to Australian or British that it pronouces words differently and I couldn't understand it at times. Setting it back to American English fix that for me. I can hear it even over the cd player set at a medium volume level.

I wish there was a way to make the voice come thru the car stereo speakers.

Doesn't the 350 have a headset jack? If so, then just plug in a RF transmitter to the radio.

I don't know about c330 but I think nuvi 350's text to speech function (options with a person's name?) has less clear pronunciation than pre-recorded voices(those without a person's name). According to the manual, pre-recorded voices have a limited vocabulary and do not speak names of location or streets.

Yeah the non TTS is more clear, but then again, it is a prerecording vs on the fly pronouncitation.

Previous reviews and comments I've read on the nuvi 350 mentioned the sound quality deteriorates as the volume goes up. (smaller speakers due to small unit) They said it was especially noticable when playing mp3 songs.

As Asianfire mentioned, you can use the headphone jack and plug in a fm transmitter to listen to the output via the car stereo. You could lower the volume on the nuvi and use the amplifier in the car stereo to produce a clearer audio.

if you plug it into the FM transmitter, don't you lose the radio?

Yes, you do.

Yeah, its the radio or mp3s and nav alerts.

I just upgraded from a quest. The quest was a little louder than the Nuvi 350 is for sure. That's my only complaint so far. The speaker being on the back and smaller is a problem but not a big deal. I plug my nuvi into my aux input on my stereo. Nice!!! Mp3's and navigation at the same time without the crackling sounds from a transmitter on NYC's already crowded radio dial.

There is, I bought a FM modulator ($19.99 at Frys) it plugs into the audio out on the Nuvi 350 and the cigarette lighter of your car, you then tune your radio to ether 88.1 or 88.3. this works great.

Works great if there are no strong radio stations around those frequencies.

But finally opted for adding a line input to my vehicle's car stereo. While the fm transmitter was adequate, the direct, line input was is much better.

I bought a cassette adapter ($20 from circuit city) that connects to the head phone jack until I get the aux connections on the car stereo.

Sounds good...

...with 8 frequencies to choose from 88.1-89.5 (the odd #'s) and it works well enough in finding some station that's not being used or almost used. I just came back from a 1200 mile trip, and could always find some frequency to use. Most of the time it was set to just 1-2 of the possibilities.

You can also try sticking a nuvi closer to the windshield/dash, so that it reverberates off it to a greater degree, which greatly helps amplify the sound and makes it more audible. For long trips, the FM gadget is my choice, because I can hear the MP3's I have recorded with far richer sounds.

GC

Thanks for all of the comments. I have noticed the American setting is clearer and a bit louder. Maybe the frequency of the male voice is clearer than the female on the Nuvi also.

I did notice that when you get within 3 bars of max volume there is significant distortion not only in the voice but also the chime.

Glad to hear similar accounts due to the small speaker. I thought I had blown it already.

I did connect line-in to my Mini Cooper's stereo and it is very clear. So clear the voice sound much more digitized. I imagine you get the same from and text to speech unit.

Anyway, thanks for the comments and reassurance that my unit is working as designed.

Scott

After a week with my new Nuvi I will take back what I said about the quest speaker being louder than the nuvi speaker. I did a test today. About the same and basically loud enough while playing the radio at medium levels while it was raining hard too. It did seem that the male voice on the nuvi was a bit clearer than the female voice but that's just me maybe.