Review of Garmin 1350T GPS

The price for a Garmin 1350T GPS dropped on many online electronics outlets. I was in the market for a GPS so I went ahead and purchased this mid-level Garmin GPS. The Garmin 1350T GPS cost a little over $150 as of late August 2010. This is considerably lower than the original asking price of $400 when it was first introduced.

Overall, I am pleased with the purchase. For the relatively cheap price, the Garmin 1350T GPS packs a load of features. I took it on a recent summer road trip through the northeastern United States. It helped navigate the streets of Pittsburgh without a hitch. I never had driven in Pittsburgh before, yet with this little GPS, I was able to travel to and from downtown Pittsburgh, as well as several different destinations with no trouble. In addition, it even helped to find a good place to eat.

Operation of the Garmin 1350T GPS
The Garmin 1350T GPS has a 4.3 inch touch display, with integrated software. The unit boots in about 30 seconds, and the software is very easy intuitive to use with large screen icons and fonts. In open terrain the Garmin 1350T GPS will determine its location in about a minute or two. There is a database 6 million points of interest.

There are plenty of features that include maps, estimated time of arrival, distance traveled, distance to destination, direction of travel, plus many more. There is also a fuel usage log, that calculates how environmentally friendly your driving habits are.

Updating the Garmin 1350T GPS
You are given one free map update, and this is easily accomplished be attaching your GPS, via a USB port, to your PC. I updated my GPS with a netbook using Windows 7 and the web browser. The Garmin states that updates can also be accomplished with Mac OSX.

There is one caveat that you must be aware of if you are planning to buy this GPS. Garmin does not include a USB cable. It must be purchased separately. Garmin offers a USB for $20 on their website which is too expensive for my taste. Instead I purchased a cable on an online auction site for $3. If you plan to purchase the cable from a third party, be sure the cable that you purchase will compatible with the Garmin 1350T GPS.

Free FM Traffic Reports on Garmin 1350T GPS
There are two versions of the Garmin 1300 series of Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The 1350T GPS that carries the 'T' is the one that includes an FM transmitter that allows you to receive free traffic reports for life via RDS service provided by NAVTEQ. The free traffic reports are only available in a limited number of metropolitan areas. There is a list of available cities in the United States that carry free traffic reports provided by the NAVTEQ RDS Traffic web site.

At first glance, the list appears to be quite extensive, yet coverage is limited to around 20 to 30 miles surrounding each metropolitan area. For the vast majority of the United States there is no FM traffic coverage, thus you receive no traffic reports when traveling on most interstates, unless you are near one of the listed cities.

Although the traffic reports are free with the Garmin 1350T, there is a small price that you have to pay in terms of convenience. Small advertisement will flash up that directs your attention toward a local business. These advertisements are sent every once in a while as you pass through the metropolitan area. I did not find these advertisements to be obtrusive, and I noted that after a few minutes, they disappeared from the screen. During three days of travel, I saw only about four or five advertisements.

Spontaneous Reboots of the Garmin 1350T GPS
Overall the unit performed well. However, there are a few things to keep in mind if you are considering purchasing the unit. The Garmin 1350T GPS is subject to spontaneous reboots, and the unit I purchased is no exception. There have been several reports of this behavior from reviewers on Amazon.com at the product website. Although Garmin has issued a software update to address the issue, my unit will still reboot every once in a while.

It seems that heat is the issue. If the unit is operated in direct sunlight, which is usually the case when it is sitting on the dashboard of your car, it will overheat and reboot. I started to experience this problem, several times within a few minutes, and once I got the unit out of the direct sunlight, the Garmin 1350T GPS started to operate normally. I was traveling on a very hot summer day with temperatures well into the 90s. The AC was on in the car, but it was not enough to keep the unit cool enough as it sat on the dashboard of the car.

Build Quality of the Garmin 1350T GPS
The GPS has a fairly cheap looking plastic touch screen. I found that you had to press fairly hard to get the GPS to respond to a touch command. There is a feature that allows you to pan around the map using your finger. At first, it did not work all that great, but I found that if you use your finger nail to move around the map, then the GPS responds a little bit better. The outer case is made of cheap plastic, and I bet that if this GPS were dropped on a driveway, it would probably shatter to pieces.

Bottom Line for the Garmin 1350T GPS
For $150, the Garmin 1350T offers a lot of performance for the price. As long as you are willing to sacrifice some features, the quirky touch screen, and occasional reboots, then it is a good buy. If you do a lot of travel, and need to use a GPS on a more frequent basis, then a higher quality model may be a better choice.