This is just what I wanted. I knew it would be large and a bit difficult to put away when not in use, but I needed the bigger screen. Very happy with product and its features-especially the traffic re-routing!

First let me say, I am an experienced GPS user. I have an older Garmin C320 as well as TomTom Navigator 6 on my Palm Phone. I liked the c320, but I thought my money would be better spent on a new model with better features instead of new maps for an old unit. I can't get new maps for TomTom Navigator 6, so that wasn't an option either. As a side note, I REALLY liked having true GPS software with spoken navigation on my phone since it could navigate to contacts (reasonably well). I found it easier to use my phone than get out my c320 and set it up. The minor hassle was my phone needed an external GPS receiver. The guys at the car wash stole the one I was using, which worked great. The new one I got failed to connect to my phone on a regular basis. Got to be to big a hassle.

So I researched different models, and then purchased the Garmin Nuvi 1350t. I loaded it with free downloadable POIs I found via Google, but found that I couldn't get it to play my custom notification sounds (which are in mp3 format). Within a couple of weeks, I saw the Nuvi 755t for about $10 less and it plays MP3s! I was happy with the 1350t, but the 755t went on sale for less, and had a few more features. Here is the detailed comparison of both units, with some pros and cons for each.

Nuvi 1350t:
Pros:
- I like the style
- It was easy to use out of the box
- I like the Garmin interface better than TomTom (more on that below)
- Generally good navigation
- Easy to pick destinations
- Don't have to know the city for locations that are in cities within cities such as in my area
- Good security, using pin number locking that automatically unlocks when near "Home"
- Excellent volume for spoken navigation
- Excellent pronunciation of street names
- Excellent notification of turns
- Multi-lane assist is a great feature!!!
Cons:
- Doesn't play MP3s
- Documentation an what I needed to do did not it needs a Quick Start
o Ex. If you want to see the screen that shows the satellites, you have to hold your finger on the connection bars. Found this out by accident, since there is no documentation
- Routing is not always what I might choose
- Traffic is somewhat useless, and hard to use (I don't use it)
o From what I can tell, Traffic bases its color notifications on comparisons to what is "normal" for that time of day on that street/hwy. In other words, for 5:00 pm highway traffic, it stays green even though I'm in stop and go "parking lot" traffic.
o Avoidance feature seems to take me onto highway access roads, as if they are more expedient at rush hour!
- The touch screen on my 1350t had a spot that was not sensitive enough - i.e. it was very hard to push the #1 on the Pin Number screen (top left corner), but it seemed to improve over time

Nuvi 755t:
Pros:
- It was easy to use out of the box
- I like the Garmin interface better than TomTom (more on that below)
- Generally good navigation
- Easy to pick destinations
- Don't have to know the city for locations that are in cities within cities such as in my area
- Excellent volume for spoken navigation
- Excellent pronunciation of street names
- Excellent notification of turns
- Multi-lane assist is a great feature!!!
- Plays MP3s over the car radio (FM transmitter) (I didn't think I would use this, but its great not to have to bring my iPod as well)
- Plays Audio Books (I didn't think I would use this, but I am)
- FM transmitter seems to work well, but as with other transmitters, I get static sometimes
- Only use FM if I am listening to a book or MP3s

Cons:
- Does not play protected music files - they must be MP3s
- Screen on 755t really smudges badly. The 1350t did not seem to show smudges at all.
- Even though the 755t plays MP3s, it does NOT play custom POI notifications
- FM transmission failed once, and I had to play with it for 10 minutes to get it to work. It would not work until I switched sources from MP3 to audio book and back again.
- Documentation on what I needed to do to setup the device was incomplete. Needs a better Quick Start
o Ex. If you want to see the screen that shows the satellites, you have to hold your finger on the connection bars. Found this out by accident, since there is no documentation
- Routing is not always what I might choose
- Traffic is somewhat useless, and hard to use (I don't use it)
o From what I can tell, Traffic bases its color notifications on comparisons to what is "normal" for that time of day on that street/hwy. In other words, for 5:00 pm highway traffic, it stays green even though I'm in stop and go "parking lot" traffic.
o Avoidance feature seems to take me onto highway access roads, as if they are more expedient at rush hour!
- Junction View Feature has only come on a few times for me, even though I live in a big city. It comes on WAY TOO SOON to be of any value anyway. It needs to come on as I get to the intersection, not half a mile ahead.
- Security feature on 755t is useless. It's similar to the 1350t, but MUCH MUCH WORSE! On the 1350t, if you put in your pin wrong you get another chance and it shows each character for a second. On the 755t, it doesn't temporarily show what you type in, and if you get it wrong ONE TIME, it locks the GPS until you get to your home location. So if your traveling, and mistype the code, you have a GPS brick until you get home. USLESS!!! Who thought this up!!

For anyone that cares, I kept the 755t mostly partly because it was cheaper, and partly because I ended up linking the ability to listen to MP3s (even though I can't listen to most of my library because I got them through iTunes), and I can listen to audio books.

Garmin vs TomTom - I used TOMTOM as well, but with TomTom Navigator, it's almost impossible to browse the map to see your route once you have started your trip. It's easy with Garmin. I can't vouch for the newer devices though. They might be easier. Also, you HAVE to know the city to input an address, and that can be a hassle in a city that has cities within it.

Let me be perfectly clear...I really like my new Garmin 1350T GPS.

The only difficulty I had after taking it out of the box and charging it for the first time was a problem in having the GPS "easily "recognize" exactly what available screen (option/letter/number, etc.) that I was "pointing" to on the touchscreen. I thought I had a defective unit so I contacted Garmin's free Tech Support. The technician took me through an easy, yet undocumented (to me at least) calibration procedure that only took a minute or so. Since then the unit has performed as advertised.

Also...You NEED to have a cable with a standard USB connection on one end & a Mini-USB connection on the other end. Garmin DOES NOT automatically include this cable in the box along with the 1350T. Without this cable, you can't connect this GPS to your computer in order to register it online or receive your free updated (if available) mapping or operational software.

Be advised also that not ALL USB/Mini-USB cables are alike. These cables may all LOOK the same but there really are TWO different types. One will only let electric current through in order to charge your internal GPS battery, while the other will not only charge the battery, BUT WILL ALSO carry data back and forth between your computer and the 1350T. Be sure to obtain the kind of cable that can perform BOTH functions.

This product was well worth the release date that I waited for. The traffic delay feature helps me avoid road delays. It works great. Just be careful when you up date the maps on line from Garmins web site. I thought the up date would help, you'd think! Instead it messed the unit up. So bad that after two days of hours on the phone with their tech dept. That I sent the unit back to Garmin. They are going to replace it with a brand new one. The people at Garmin are really nice and very helpful. Its just waiting on the phone so long for your turn.

The 1350T is the second Garmin GPS unit I've used, and it's far superior. It keeps up with me in the city and very quickly recalculates the route if I make a wrong turn. The lane assist feature is also very useful and gives me quick, visual confirmation when I approach multi-lane intersections. I bought the 1350T for this lane assist feature, and I'm glad I did.

I received this as a gift. I thought I'd use it every once in a while, so I kept it. Boy was I wrong!! I use it all of the time! Even if I know how to get someplace, I have used it to find stores, gas stations or restaurants nearby. I love the lane assist feature, as it lets me know in advance if I need to be ready to make a left turn or a right turn. The traffic update has been great too. I sometimes use the Nuvi just to determine length of time it will take to travel between two points - or how much longer till I get home.

Only con was that it had trouble picking up satelite reception while driving among the tall buildings of Manhattan.

I did a lot of evaluating before I chose this GPS device. I determined what was important to me after actually using another Garmin, Magellan, and Tom Tom GPS. The 1350T is everything that it is advertised. Yes, there is advertising but is very insignificant when not moving in the Traffic mode. The Advanced Lane function and Text to Speech functions worked great. I used it in Honolulu last week and was curious how the text to speech would work with the Hawaiian pronounciations. It did pretty good. Another nice feature that I have used is the Pedestrian mode function. It works great! The battery charge is what is advertised, about 4 hours. So, if you need help with directions while walking in the city, this does a good job. Good GPS!!