Garmin nüvi 350 Car GPS Receiver

For the past few years, when I rent a car (mostly from Hertz), I opt for the "Neverlost" GPS -- a pretty lame GPS, but one that usually gets me where I need to go. However, with recent economic shifts, I actually looked at the cost (like $10+ per day), and decided to do some research as to what it would cost me to get my own portable GPS.

On a price/performance basis, a "factory reconditioned" nuvi 350 -- which listed new for over $800, and can be bought on ebay for about $110 -- was a no-brainer. I could (and did) pay for the unit by the end of my second use of a rental car.

The unit was in its original factory box, and was in like-new condition. It is very user-friendly, and as someone who has been using GPS nav for over 10 years, I was up and running in about 3 minutes.

I love the software -- the nuvi is easier to use, and has better POI and new address interfaces than either my Porsche or my BMW GPS's. I also like the fact that I can take the nuvi to my room and do route loading and planning for my next days' activities.

I recently hooked it up to the Garmin website, and found out I had a free download, so I downloaded a 2010 US database.

The only complaint is that, it turns out, CA is one of two states in which it is not legal to connect your GPS to your windshield. While the unit comes with a base plate that you can glue to your dash, that obviously won't work on a rental car. So, I will have to take my chances with the law.

One other thing -- in San Francisco last week, the nuvi couldn't track the GPS sat's in the downtown (California Street) corridor. I'm not certain that my other GPS's would fare better, but you should be aware that for city driving, there could be some dead spots.