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Recent reviews for this item: Elindio42, April 11, 2013 GENERAL: I purchased the Zumo 350LM to use on my ATV. It appears to be very sturdy and weather proof. I am still learning about the 350LM, but thus far it has exceeded my expectations. It?s a bit pricey but at that price everything you need for connecting and mounting the unit is included. It can be operated with your gloves on. The primary reason I gave it a ?4? rating rather than a ?5? rating is because of a singular CON, but it?s a big CON.
PROS: The use of the name City Navigator by Garmin is misleading, implying it is for navigating in cities. It has A LOT of dirt roads in it, which if you purchase this unit for off-road travel like I did, that?s paramount. I was surprised and very pleased to find that most anything that isn?t a trail, is in it. I?ve checked it out in some of the most desolate and isolated country in the United States (Owyhee County, Idaho) and found that most dirt roads that have a name are in City Navigator.
ROUTES: The easiest way I have found to create ?routes? has been to upload accumulated ?waypoints? from prior trips (gathered via an Etrex) or from waypoints created in BaseCamp/Mapsource into the Zumo. Then I follow the ?create trip? instructions and add the appropriate ones to the route. You can either ?drag? them to the correct location in the route or let the Zumo ?optimize? the route for you. Using this method, you can add 30 waypoints (Via Points) to a trip/route. Always preview any routes you create in Zumo in BaseCamp/Mapsource and Google Earth. Sometimes surprises are not good.
If your waypoint doesn?t have a road that leads to it in City Navigator, the Zumo 350LM will show a straight line to the waypoint from the closest road it has.
BASE CAMP: You can view the City Navigator dirt roads(minus topo lines or feature names) in Base Camp. You can not view City Navigator in MapSource. Using my added waypoints in the Zumo, it is easy to create Routes in Base Camp. Following the "Create Route" instructions in Base Camp, you simply click the waypoints in the order you want the route to follow. The "track/route" will snap to the roads in City Navigator.
Transfer the route to the Zumo, safely disconnect the Zumo from your PC, turn it on, and then check the route in either Base Camp or MapSource. Keep in mind that you are still restricted to the 30 "Via/waypoints" in Zumo. If City Navigator tries to take you on a road you don't want, just add a waypoint to force it to your preferred route.
When using the above method I switch back and forth between City Navigator and several of my topo maps.
Base Camp has a "one click" feature to change a route into a "track" or a "track" into a route. This is convenient if you want to share your route with other users or GPSs.
When I am following a dirt route on my ATV, I display one of my added topo maps. This stops any attempt at ?recalculating? and leaves the track displayed on the topo map with my vehicle avatar appearing to follow along. If you are navigating in City Navigator you have the option of turning off the ?recalculate? function.
CAUTION: Be advised that City Navigator will some times try to route you on roads you may not want to be on. This probably has something to do with the preferences you set in Zumo. As an example, on one of my latest created routes, it routed me on a road listed by the Bureau of Land Management as a "rock crawl". This road deserves that designation and is no place for a novice rider. I added a waypoint on the road I wanted to follow and it created a route safe for me and my grand kids.
It also has no idea about private property and locked gates. This is something all GPS users should be aware of.
Several years ago a Canadian couple was traveling through Idaho in route to Las Vegas, NV in the middle of winter. They followed their GPS route onto a dirt road leading into the mountains of northern Nevada. The dirt road was the shortest, but not the fastest way. They eventually got stuck in snow and it resulted in one of them losing his life.
CREATING AND SAVING TRACKS: It is simple to create and save tracks with the Zumo. You can leave them in the Zumo as trips if you want. Saving them is a breeze by transferring them with MapSource/BaseCamp.
INSTALLING TOPO MAPS: Using a 16GB micro SDHC card, I initially installed Garmin Topo U.S. 2008 and a 1/24000 Idaho land ownership map (Topo Idaho, obtained from GPSFile Depot). I found that the Zumo split the Topo 2008 into 5 parts and displayed two of them in the map section. The Topo Idaho didn?t display.
After experimentation I finally isolated the section of Topo 2008 that pertained to Idaho, only to find it didn?t have parts of Nevada, Oregon, and Montana I wanted. The Topo Idaho displayed at this time. Since I wanted the portions of Oregon, Nevada, and Montana in the Zumo, I used the Topo 2008 and created a custom map in MapSource with the pertinent area. Now I have it and the Topo Idaho land ownership map available in the Zumo.
Adding the newer routable Garmin 1/24000 maps on micro SD cards would not work for me as this would require having three of them to cover the area desired. Also, I would have had to change micro SD cards every time I crossed certain state lines. Micro SD cards are too small for clumsy fingers to handle and hard to find if and when you drop them in the field.
Just recently I became aware of the DVD versions of the routable Garmin 1/24000 maps and believe they would work OK after selecting the pertinent areas to suit my explorations. I haven't tried them though. They would also be usable in my other Garmin GPSs as they are not restricted to one GPS.
From my preliminary experimentation, the Zumo will only display two additional maps along with City Navigator. All routes/trips are created in City Navigator.
SCREEN VISIBILITY: The screen is large and bright enough to be seen in full sunlight. I did notice when the sun is to your back, the glare can be an issue. This really isn?t much of a problem though as I always stop my ATV to study the Zumo. Sometimes just moving your head or body will shade the screen enough to block the sun. One of the primary reasons I purchased the Zumo was its big legible screen and thus far I have not been disappointed.
MOUNTS: The handle bar mount supplied with the Zumo is a top quality RAM Mount. It installed easily and I had no trouble fishing the included power wire to the ATV battery. It was actually an easy install and all the wiring is under the ATV?s plastic. Sufficient wire was furnished to have it fastened to any place on the ATV that I wanted. It also comes with a standard Garmin suction cup mount for your automobile and has a USB power supply for the auto mount. Luckily it doesn't use a USB power connection for the handlebar mount. The vibration on an ATV has been known to break the USB connection on some of my friends' GPSs.
TRACBACK: The Zumo has this feature and it?s easy to use.
CON: You can not load ?tracks? as tracks into the Zumo 350LM. There is a workaround of sorts, however one shouldn?t have to do this at this price. You can convert ?tracks? to ?routes? in Base Camp and load them.
Note: If you do this, be aware that the Zumo 350LM will edit them into 30 each ?Via? point segments. For example, if you have a 300 point track/route, the Zumo will convert it to ten routes and number them 1 through 10 in order. It is a pain, but workable.
OTHER FEATURES: The Zumo 350LM also has "lane assist", Bluetooth, and Traffic can be added. I didn't buy it for these features. The LM is for lifetime maps and this is important.
SUMMARY: I have been using the Zumo for about three months and am still pleased with its performance. There is a learning curve though and I am still in it. It also quickly acquires satellites and is very fast and responsive otherwise.
The Zumo will store 100 Routes and 1000 waypoints. I currently have over 600 waypoints in mine. Rejean, March 25, 2013 I've used it in my car but not on my bike so far. It's a great improvement from the zumo 450 I was using before. RJ, March 10, 2013 Very nice change and improvements. Had a Zumo 550 before and replaced with the 350. Very good change. Bob Munden, February 26, 2013 This is an update of my review of Feb. 9 - after a little over 1500 miles. This is a terrific model with lots of very useful features. However the position cursor is always very near the bottom of the screen - not in the center as in all previous GPSs that I've ever tried. I can understand in the "Route Up" mode or the 3D mode but when in "North Up" mode it prevents viewing almost everything ahead if you are travelling south as the cursor is already almost at the bottom of the screen. I called Garmin and spoke to a supervisor and they're response was to use 3D or Route Up modes!!! It also prevents view of map to the side if travelling east or west. North is, of course, just great. The only other problem is for some reason if it is a convenience store listed then it shows up in the search for fuel. In my home location that meant 8 out of 10 had no fuel when a search for fuel was initiated. Lots of convenience stores don't sell gas in urban areas. If it wasn't for the cursor position marker problem I'd rate it a 5 star, although the fuel issue did send me 3 miles down a side road to a convenience store that has never sold fuel. This is my 7th Garmin GPS product so I'm not unfamiliar with Garmin GPSs.
