Nuvi 350 compared to Sony NV

[Vikash_sinha]

Hi all,
bought nuvi 350 yesterday after my Sony 50U was stolen from my car. I loved my sony unit but decided to buy Nuvi mainly because of its size. However, i found out soon that Nuvi has following disdavantages:
1) before a turn it doesnt mention if its right or left turn so its difficult to choose the lane. I was forced to be on the wrong lane and i missed the turn.
2) POIs like petrol pumps are not shown in the navigation mode (3d). sony had similar problem
3) the picture moves in jerks during navigation mode , most other gps moves in smooth flow
4) there is no extra window zooming the detials of the roundabout at a junction. In europe some junctions can be very tricky. Sony and Tomtom had this feature

however it has some advantages over others:
1) its very compact and fits into your pocket. Its the biggest plus point.
2) the map display is better than tomtom but sony was best
3) Text to speech feature - names the roads as well as POIs like you have arrived at metropolis cinema
4) MP3 player and photo viewer are additional features but not sure how many will use them as sound quality without headphone is not great.
5) its very easy to upload POIs. It was practically impossible with sony Unit.

I would like to have your comments too. After testing it for few more days, i am thinking for returning the unit back and go for sony 70T. its 70 euros cheaper with TMC function.

[swing]

[Vikash_sinha]

what I meant was, in sony you get a opo up window whenever you approach a junction which shows details of the turn to be takn. This feature is missing in nuvi. The autozoom also doesnt function that well.

[cantgetlost]

Well maybe I'm going mad but since I've had my Nuvi 350 it has told me if to turn left or right before a turn.
Most of the time I'm looking at the road and following voice prompts so the way the map moves is something I rarely notice and it does zoom at junctions as mentioned.
As for the MP3 player. sound from my Ipod is zero without earphones and most other MP3 players so don't find it a problem.
Most POI's have a pizza hut logo or shell station logo etc, so I'm wondering if you have the thing set up properly with the latest down loads Vikash.
Garmin make sat navs and Sony TV and video. So I'll stick with the Nuvi

[Dippy]

Having managed to break my Sony U70T, I finally elected to go for a Garmin unit as a replacement. But rather than the Nuvi, I wrent fot the Streetpilot C510D, which was 50 quid less and has traffic.

The screen scrolls swiftly on it, the traffic works every time, everywhere (unlike the Sony), the autozoom is ok, it tells me left and right. Couple of features are missing the Sony has but nothing I much worry about.

I didn't think I wanted to pay more money for the mp3 feature I'd never use (what's one of those anyway?).

You could swap the Nuvi for a Streetpilot (same software as far as I can see but a slightly bigger case and a faster processor in the Streetpilot, unless I'm mistaken) and save some dosh to boot!

[Vikash_sinha]

Thanks Guys for your reply and your vakuable input. I was wishing that Dippy replies. He was the one who earlier cracked how to load POIs in sony and since he has used Sony very much, his inputs are invaluable. I do like nuvi though, but i was in double mind whther i made the right choice as sony did have some plus points and nuvi has some. Unfortunately the new sony model is not out yet and sony 70t has the same problems with no updates i guess. Compared to that I found garmin support very organised. regarding the left and right prompts, i do agree that that nuvi gives voice prompt but on the right bottom corner it always reads 'turn in XXX meters'. so if you missed the voice prompt you will wonder which lane to take in a busy traffic. unlees you press the icon of "turn" and then it repeats the voice prompt and small map of the next junction and written text. It would have been nice if visual directions for the next turn was available on the navigation page as well as is there in most other gps. The voice does crack when you increase the volume on highways. the text to speech feature is very good but i stay in belgium and american or british voice pronounces the street names wrong most of the times. But its nice to hear your favourite places names eg i fed in my sons schools name and my son was thrilled to hear it when we reached the destination this morning.
I must say that I do not see POIs like atms, restaurants, or petrol pumps when i am driving in 3 d mode. Is it a problem with my unit or with all garmin units.
I did download speed camera databases and its working fine (never had exdperience of using this with my earlier sony unit). But when i download speed camera databse, the other POIs get erased e.g. the ones i download using POI loader from free websites. i do not know if its because of space problem.

[tynecomp]

[Vikash_sinha]

hey, it worked. Thanska lot for your tip. I hope i can see now the POIs when i am navigating.

[Dippy]

If it's the same as the Streetpilot, you can see SOME - including the gatso icons - but not ALL - including petrol stations.

[Vikash_sinha]

i dont know when they will make gps which is almost complete in all respects. if i had only sony's display with nuvi's functionality and tomtoms POIs display. Thanks Dippy. By the way sony 70 T has become incredibly cheap. its for 329 euros now.

[Vikash_sinha]

dippy ultimately did you suceed in getting POIs and camera laerts for sony with visual warnings. it works wonderfully for nuvi.

[xtraseller]

Haven't tried the Sony, but they look like really nice units with a few unique features (related to driving, not music, etc. which is what it is all about)

However, I struggled with my Nuvi for about a year, updating with every new software upgrade (and to be fair there were plenty), and the size and form factor were great

I just could not live with the extremely poor (not fit for purpose?) directions approaching roundabouts, etc., like you rightly say. Unless you knew the area you would almost always be switching lanes near roundabouts, junctions, etc. which is why we all use GPS in the first instance - for quicker, easier, safer journeys

I've now switched back to a Navman (after swearing I wouldn't after my iCN630 issues with Navman support), with a N40i

Must say that directions and prompts are streets ahead (litterally) of the Garmin Nuvi and the display visuals excellent. Build quality is also better (if bigger) than the Nuvi

And what I thought was a gimick, and never use (NavPix) is proving very worthwhile for me, as I use it to locate up and coming new build housing developements which are not map existant with pictorial and acurate recording of the event, for my work. When I pass a place of interest like this, i just point and shoot and the location and image is stored for revisiting when the developement progresses to the stage our company could get involved - anyone who has a purpose like this to use their GPS for will find NavPix invaluable, as I unsuspectingly did

To conclude, unless Garmin are going to do a major update of the directions, avoid it (oh and I've been sent down far fewer farmers lanes on my Navman than on the Garmin...)

[Vikash_sinha]

Yes i agree that if you dont know the road very well, you will struggle with nuvi especially in the junctions. The POIs also dont show up on navigation mode, though in map mode if you zoom you can see the icons. Agreed that Nuvi lists and speaks the names of the streets, but the problem is when you r driving, you can hardly see the street names at least in Belgium as they r too small and hidden in some corner. Nevertheless its a good feature. The additional TMC function is very expensive, the GTM 10 costing around 190 euros in the market. Sony 70 T comes with inbuilt TMC and antenna. I have not used TMC before so cant say if sony's worked fine. I think one of the biggest plus point with nuvi is the size. So with my earlier one stolen from car, i wanted to go for something which is very handy. Thats why its too difficult to decide against Nuvi. i will test it for two more days in areas where i am not aware of the roads, before deciding whether to keep it or not.

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