Garmin nüvi 1350LMT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

• Sunlight-readable, 4.3-inch backlit TFT color touchscreen display with 480 x 272 WQVGA pixel resolution,Battery life: up to 4 hours
• Preloaded with City Navigator NT data for the lower 48 states, Canada, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, with nearly six million points of interest
• Free lifetime map and traffic updates for the most up-to-date maps, POIs, and navigation info, along with constantly updated traffic information
• Advanced navigation features including voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions, lane assist, fuel-saving ecoRoute
• Includes travel tools such as JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock, currency/measurement converters, calculator and more

I've had a Garmin for several years now, just the no bells and whistles model. It has been a life saver and I love the product. I just ordered the 1350LMT in lieu of paying for updated maps and because the car plug in quit working properly and the unit kept shutting off while trying to reach my destination. So far the 1350 model proves to do be a very reliable product. I haven't used the traffic feature yet, but I have read that it isn't that great, perhaps after use I will post again. The touchscreen works great, the sound is good and I was happy with it's overall performance. Here's a huge warning!!! Make sure you read the instructions with your unit and follow them. DO NOT REGISTER OVER THE PHONE!!!! There is a note that if you Register over the phone and/or if you DO NOT Register within 60 days of your first use, then you will lose your lifetime map updates!!!!! I personally thought that was sneaky and underhanded, if I wasn't so anal as to read the instruction booklet I could've screwed myself out of the lifetime map feature and that was one element that was very important to me since I use the Garmin for my job every day. I love the fact that this unit speaks the street names, it's a very helpful feature.

Buy Garmin nüvi 1350LMT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Now

I just got this item, and am glad I didn't get any additional stands or charging cables. On the site, there is no information about what it comes with. Just thought I'd inform everyone that it comes with the suction cup mount, usb cable, and car charger. I was actually considering buying these things, but decided to wait until I got the box.

Turns out, I saved over $25 by waiting. :)

Thought someone might like this info.

Read Best Reviews of Garmin nüvi 1350LMT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Here

For just over $200, free lifetime maps and traffic (Heck, if you added that to an existing unit it would cost $150)this unit rocks. It navigates fine, the display is clearer,the speaker is clearer, the display can be configured to display what you want. All are improvements over my Nuvi 760, which still works fine.

The real reason I am writing this is in response to the previous reviewer who said he couldn't contact Garmin service. I called, wanting to see if there was a way to transfer my saved locations from old to new Nuvi. (I've always wanted to say new Nuvi). I was speaking to a service rep in under 3 minutes, with no thick accent, and a solution in hand in no time. I had also e-mailed them the question previously, but didn't want to wait, new Nuvi fever. I received the email response in several hours. So in answer to your question, your experience is not normal for Garmin support.

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First of all I want to make it clear that I'm very happy with this 1350 GPS. I have a few negative comments in this review but I'm still happy with my purchase. I haven't used it in the car yet. It just arrived today and I've been going over it with a critical eye.

We have a boat and three cars but only three Garmin GPS units so we kept having to move one of the GPS units between two of the cars. We wanted one more GPS. Also the maps haven't been updated on our older units so it was time to consider getting another GPS.

I was determined never to buy another GPS without lifetime maps. I checked out other brands and read user comments here on Amazon.com. Based on user comments and my own very good experience using Garmins, and the great Garmin customer service, I started hunting for features and price when I found this 1350LMT.

The things that attracted me were:

1) Garmin quality and service

2) Price

3) Lifetime maps

4) Screen size

5) QWERTY virtual keyboard. What a relief after using the ABC keyboards of our other Garmins.

6) Lane assist

7) Speed limit display

This 1350 has a different user interface than the others we have. I don't think it is better, just different. That in itself is a disappointment because we will have to deal with two different interfaces depending on which car we take. But it is the missing features that are the real disappointment; that is compared to our older units.

Missing and missed features include:

1) The connector on the back that mates with the mount in the car. Our older units were designed so the car power plugged into the mount, not the GPS itself. That way we can quickly and easily pop the GPS out of the mount without bothering with the power cable. The 1350 doesn't have such a connector and we will have to remove the GPS from the mount, AND disconnect the power cord. Then attach the power and remount when we put it back in the car. We take the GPS out often for two reasons. One is to deter thieves breaking a window to grab the GPS. The other is to use the GPS while walking or to find our car in a large parking lot.

2) I thought it was great to push the power button quickly which pops up a screen to adjust the screen brightness and the volume. On the 1350 those two functions are separated on the user interface. Pushing the power button quickly only allows one to adjust the brightness. To adjust the volume one must use a completely different approach.

3) All of our other units have a satellite display showing the position in the sky of the satellites, and a bar graph of the signal strength. I know this isn't necessary but it is kind of geeky and I like it. The 1350 doesn't have this feature as far as I could see. The on screen help of the 1350 actually says you can touch the satellite bar graph to see the screen I'm talking about but it doesn't work. At least it doesn't work sitting here in the house where I'm getting good satellite reception. Perhaps it will work in the car?

4) The speaker on the 1350 doesn't sound as good as the other units. I suppose that is one result of a slimmer design. I never thought the older units were too thick and the new thin design means nothing to me. I'd rather have the better sound of a larger speaker. It distorts even at low volume but the voice is understandable.

5) When plugged in the battery icon is hidden. I don't know why it is designed this way. I like to see the battery charge status when it is plugged in. That way I know if it is ready for battery only use, when it is fully charged. The older units didn't hide the battery display.

6) No Truck mode. One of our cars is an SUV that we use mostly to tow our boat. In California our speed is restricted to 55MPH when towing and I'd like the GPS to calculate our arrival time based on that restriction. The older units have a truck selection. The 1350 only has car, pedestrian, and Bicycle. Bummer.

7) No 3.5mm headphone jack. My other Garmin units have this feature. This allows me to feed the spoken street names into my car head unit. Bummer.

I'm sure some of these changes were made by Garmin to cut costs in this competitive environment. But some of these things are software features, and features that already existed so they should be cheap to include. If you don't have any older Garmin units you won't miss these things.

I didn't see a 1350LM available, a unit without traffic. I haven't found traffic to be very useful on other GPS units I have and I generally turn it off. I guess I'll turn it off on this one too to get rid of the dreaded advertising.

Things I won't use:

1) Traffic

2) ECO mode (even though one of our cars is a Prius)

3) Screen shot?

4) Picture viewer too grainy to be of any use.

5) Language Guide

6) Other purchased features

As others have said all I want is a good basic GPS so I don't care about all the other stuff. Traffic data is too unreliable to be useful most of the time, and we are soon moving to a small city that won't broadcast traffic data anyway.

This device has the great quality features I want in a GPS. Spoken street names, easy to use, fast calculations, nationwide maps, a good set of POIs, lifetime maps, and fast satellite sync. I'm looking forward to using the lane assist. It looks like there is some trip information stored with the ECO mode. I'll be interested to see what that is all about. I like having the on screen help. Lifetime maps are the only way to go. I can't wait to see the Speed Limit displayed. I've always been curious what the GPS unit thinks the speed limit is.

For the price I highly recommend the 1350LMT. Just the lifetime maps alone are worth quite a bit of money.

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The unexpected on-screen advertising really ruins the experience (pic uploaded). It's unexpected since it's not mentioned anywhere on the packaging. The tiny manual mentions it as a possible cost of "free" traffic info -maybe it's only in certain regions. In scanning the small-print on the packaging, I noticed that the "lifetime" updates can end at any time depending on their suppliers. Adding insult, after registering my purchase on the Garmin web site, it says I only have 90 days of updates included.

Except for the massively deceptive packaging, the GPS is OK. The maps have been perfect so far. Finding shortest route works well. Finding quickest route is not so good -it seem's to be biased toward certain classes of roads (maybe state roads over county roads?) even though they're not necessarily faster. The "eco" features seem useless. The turn-by-turn directions are very good. Haven't figured out what "lane assist" is.

After about five weeks of freeway commuting, the traffic feature hasn't really been tested; however, it's flunked the minor tests. So far it's warned of "traffic ahead" 8 times and was correct only once. In addition, there were 3 other times I did encounter traffic delays without getting any warning from the device. With that kind of track record, I can hardly imagine ever acting on its warnings. I can only hope it would do better in a serious traffic jam. Almost comically, it once warned of traffic ahead just as a delay was clearing up.

The device is lightweight and a good size. It should be noted that the connector is in the back (not along the side or bottom), which prevents it from sitting flush against a surface.