I have had this unit for about a week now. It is accurate to within 10 feet. I have not had any problems so far. Startup is fast and it only takes about 5-10 to lock on to satellites (if starting cold). If the unit starts from standby then the lock in instantaneous. FM transmitter is a very nice touch as it allows to hear directions and music via your car stereo. You have to play around and find an empty FM frequency. Sound is clean once you find a good frequency. The cool thing here is that you can listen to songs and be navigating at the same time. The unit will tell you directions as they come up while you are listening to songs.
br /Additional thoughts as of 3/16/06:
br /I have now had the unit for about three weeks. Some things I noted are listed below:
br /- The unit does experience some difficulty if you are in a croweded area like downtown with a lot of tall buildings.
br /- Regarding now being able to connect to computer. Here is what I found out when I called Lowrance. Go to Menu -- Options -- Page 2 -- Interface Setup -- Set the power switch to power off from Stand By. Then power off the unit. Then power it on, and connect to PC. The PC then recognized it just fine.
br /- I would recommend using a card reader to write data to the memory card, as the unit itself will be slow.
br /- There is about 24 MB of space on the unit itself to store some additional songs, which are under sample photos and sample music folders. Although these will NOT be available to play if you have a card inserted. So you can take out the card, then you can play these files.
br /- Rerouting feature is fast.
br /- The pointing feature allows you to see street numbers and address.
br /- Once you arrive to your destination, after a few seconds it will ask you if you want to cancel your navigation route. I would have preferred that it do that automatically, or at least h ave that as an option.
br /- I wish it had come with a line in port so that you can plug in your additional MP3 player and use the FM modulator of the unit to broadcast. Oh well, wishful thinking.
br /- Rechargeable batteries are great.
br /- Last but not least, here is one cool feature that I love. The unit's database of addresses might be old but the great thing about this unit is that it will allow you to add some addresses, which the manual says you can store up to a 1000 addresses. here is what I mean: For example, my house, which is new, is not on the map. But while I was parked in my driveway, I clicked on the little red flag in the upper right corner. This is where the unit shines. It knows the lattitude and longitude information of that particular location. Now just click add to addressbook, type in the information, and from now on it will tell you how to get to that particular location. This is such a great feature. After you do this, it will tell you how to get here despite the fact the new address is not part of the database.

Installation:
br /I mounted the 350C on a ZTechnik Spider Mount.
br /I bolted the Lowrance plastic mount onto the ZTechnik plate after removing (severing) the flex arm using flathead countersunk machine screws. BIG MISTAKE. The unit would not stay powered for more than a couple of minutes, or the operating system would crash.
br /I actually took the unit back to the store and exchanged it. The second one did the same thing.
br /I figured out that the screws must have been ferrous or otherwise magnitized and was messing up the GPS.
br /The fix: I removed the screws and used velcro strips. I'm not entirely comfortable with that but it'll work for now until I decide on using plastic screws or maybe JB Weld on the mount.
br /For audio, I use my ear plugs direct to the device. The audible turn-by-turn instructions cut in while music is playing.
br /Performance:
br /About 1 minute to get 3D signal while not under a structure or otherwise being blocked.
br /I can operate the touch screen with heavy armored AlpineStar gloves although some of the detailed settings are more difficult to engage. That's OK, because of the monitor size, I don't expect to have more than the basic necessities while wearing gloves.
br /The screen is fully visible in all lights.
br /The audio comes over well and the controls are easy to use. You can even select music through a file manager while in the music player mode.
br /Music also comes thru while in map mode.
br /I am having difficulty trying to adjust the volume. Pushing the buttons doesn't seem to work. Maybe I should read the directions...NOPE, why start now?
br /The unit is small enough that it fits into the ferring compartment on my BMW R1150RT (I removed the stereo brackets so the remaining boot is approx. 12" deep x 8" W with an opening of 3.5" and an internal height of about 4.5". Anyway, I can throw the unit inside the locked compartment with lots of room to spare.
br /When you miss a turn, the device corrects for the best option and again, the audio kicks in and will tell you where to go in addition to screen overlay instructions and arrows.
br /
br /Transferring data:
br /I upload .mp3's directly to a 1 GB SD card by inserting the card in a reader in my PC. But you have the option of tranfer via the included USB cable. It's faster if you don't go thru the unit and it won't cause extra drain on the battery.
br /You can upload any type of data to the card but the device will only read .MP3, OGG Vorbis and common image formats such as .jpg, .bmp.
br /
br /Device updates:
br /An update is available for the 500C but not the 350C. Being a stoopid programmer and having a desire to break stuff, I installed the 500 updates and caused all manner of problems. Not to worry. I simply deleted the files from the SD card and it returned to normal. SO it appears that the critical system files are protected in ROM on a chip and there is a good chance that you will have to try harder than me to break it for good.
br /The 500 will let you modify the interface with "Skins". Just like your favorite PC media player. It is probably possible to hack your own code for the 350 but maybe you'd rather not violate the warranty, pay for repair, or throw $500 to the wind.
br /
br /Battery:
br /I haven't ran it until it shut off but I've been using it for 2 hour stretches without external power while navigating and playing music. This is the 5th GPS that I have owned and anyone knows that a GPS will drain batteries easy.
br /The device is recharged vis DC input and I don't think that the USB cable will charge it since it is a mini USB interface and lacks the power lines.
br /You may have to drive coast to coast to recharge via the DC outlet on your car or bike. I use a cheap Radio Shack AC to DC outlet adapter and it works fine.
br /Best to just keep it DC powered by your car or bike while operating to keep the charge up.
br /
br /Conclusion:
br /I am very satisfied. The device is truly portable. Just grab and go. Mney well spent.

The i way 350 is a great GPS.I've had this For a week now and this is what I like..
br /
br /1. The screen is very bright and easy to read.
br /2.The touch screen is simple and works well,super easy to navigate.(while sitting parked of course!!).
br /3.The FM modular is abig bonus!!! it show's pictures too..
br /4.I had to call lowrence to ask a question,it was after hours so i left a message.They actually called meee back the next day.wow,impressive customer service.... p.s. the auto route feature is very fast, NO Garmin or megellan for me.

This is a solid, feature-rich unit at a great price. Used it on several long trips and it performed well. Satellite locking and overall operation have been improved with the latest free software version 1.2.0 (if you have an older version, upgrades are available at the Lowrance web site). Screen brightness and touch screen controls are top notch - better than many higher-end units. Unit can get slightly sluggish if playing MP3's while navigating, but not so much so to cause any problems. Rechargeable battery life is better than most. In the sub-$500 class GPS this unit is tops!

Have had i-WAY 350C for 2.5 months. Has performed well since first plugging it in. Initial Sat lock 2 minutes or so. So much configurability, and amazing details available for map screens. Base maps are pre-loaded for US, Canada. Show as many or as few as you need. Address Book holds 1,000 contacts. Load in your via's (Way Points) and autosort, to get best route to make the stops you need. Several free skins available from Lowrance web site, to change the look, if you want. Did experience a very few software inconveniences at first. Not really a problem since the configurability allows "Work Arounds" if needed.
br /
br /Well, then Lowrance went and updated the firmware. Free download from their web site. Any bugs that may have existed are fixed. Now satellite lock from full off in 15 to 20 seconds. And when booting up from "Stand by" satellite locks are instantaneous. Enhanced, simplified "find" capabilities. 18 different language options. Straight line navigation option (with Via's) for boating.
br /
br /Battery life is amazing. Have run it for 6 hours on Battery. NavTEQ maps, directions are latest (2005 Q3) and best available. Lowrance advises they will publish NavTEQ map update in Q3 2006.
br /
br /Could not be happier with this unit. It was very good with software version 1.1.0. Version 1.2.0 update make it AMAZING. If you get a new unit and it does not have latest firmware version, just download it for free. And you have all the new features. Recommend buying a 512Mg (min) SD card. Can go up to 4 mg if you want to. But 512 is minimum needed for software downloads, and after you'll use it for MP3's that can be played thru your radio with the FM modulator feature. Or your can show Photos with the SD card in the unit if you want to.
br /
br /You could spend $300 or more, and will not find a better AIO GPS with all these features. Has everything you need and much more.

Overall, I'd say I'm satisfied with my iWay, but not thrilled. I've had it for over a year now, and I've noticed a few quirks, some major, some minor. But when it works, it works.
br /
br /One problem is that it often takes over 3 minutes for the unit to start navigating, and in areas with large buildings, it can be nearly impossible to get the proper signal strength to orient itself for the first time with the satellites. This means if you don't sit there and wait and instead you start driving, it may take up to 10 minutes for your directions to be synced up with your location. On shorter trips this renders it essentially useless. My friends' GPS units are all much faster than that, and I've seen the difference when both mine and a friend's are in the same location.
br /
br /Once it's linked to the satellites, however, I have few major complaints. It's generally pretty good at choosing routes. You'll have to play with the settings that allow you to choose a tendency to send you down highways vs. side streets to optimize it for your area but once you're done with that it's pretty good.
br /
br /The fact that it plays music and displays photos is neat, and you can add ANY size SD card to it, despite it saying a max of 512MB in the documentation - so it's pretty cool now that you can essentially turn it into a 4GB MP3 player with the big SD cards out these days. However, I've found that when you're using the built-in FM modulator to make the music come from your car stereo, the problems acquiring and retaining a navigation signal get much worse. It seems to me that it doesn't manage power usage within the device well.
br /
br /I bought this when it had a major price advantage over some models from Garmin and TomTom, but since then, pricing has become more competitive and that gap has shrunk. If I were making the purchase again, I might pay what is now a smaller premium for what are probably more matured or full-featured devices.

Excellent product! It has a very bright display and easy to read, even in the daylight. It is accurate to with in feet. So far no problems and I believe it was money well spent.

I logged 870 miles with the iway 350. 270 miles around maryland it was / is a great item. I took it on our first trip to New York and Long Island and it was terrible. The first problem occurred on the New Jersey turnpike. I was supposed to use the turnpike from start to exit 18 and at exit 4 we stopped to eat. The unit said I was off course because the rest area was 100 feet from the highway. However when we returned to the highway the unit could not chart the course any more. It said I was doing 95 miles a hour when i was doing 70, and it would lose satellites and go searching for them in the middle of the highway no obstructions of any kind anywhere. I even pulled over at exit 6 and we waited for 20 minutes to see if we just needed to stop the car for it to do the job. It did not recalculate our course until after exit 18 some 100 + miles from when it acted up. We even tried a full restart and cancel route and retried again from the address book and from direct typing the information again. About 1 mile from our destination it worked for 2 blocks and was lost again. Then after 2 more blocks we found where we where going. We often get lost on this trip this is why we purchased the unit. Then on the trip from the Bronx to Long Island a 30 mile trip it stopped 5 blocks into the journey and was recalculating. I had to call the people we where visiting and they directed us by phone. However about 1 mile from their place it started working again. We used it on long island with no trouble at all. Then on trip back to the Bronx it worked pretty good only losing its position once on a major highway no trees or obstructions. Then on our way back from the Bronx to long Island it was lost half the way finding position and calculating . The same exact way we went in both directions but it was clearly not right leaving the Bronx. On our way back to Maryland it operated pretty good after a short stretch of lost signals and redirecting and we used exactly the same roads in both directions. I did update the software to the new 1.2.0 days before we took the trip.
br /
br /Also charting the 212 mile course to the Bronx NY took close to 20 minutes, then the extra destination to Long Island a 30 mile addition took the Iway 350 30 or so more minutes. I figured with all that time the trip home calculations would be faster but I fell asleep after waiting over a hour for it to complete the task. I feel this is one issue the unit has. Longer trips take so long to calculate so when it thinks your off track it takes forever to chart a new course. On short runs under 20 miles it was very fast.
br /
br /I returned the unit and got a Garmin C530. The C530 is a very nice unit fast in every respect.

Received our iWay 350 on Saturday. Took it out to the car to charge it and to see how long it took to find our location; it took about 45 seconds. The preloaded version was 1.3 and V1.4 is available on the Lowrance web (I installed the update after charging the 350 about an hour). If you want to save a LOT of time, download the update to your PC, follow the manual to connect the iWay (USB) and execute the update from your PC. Downloading it directly to you memory card is painfully slow. I also loaded a new "skin", but the default is easiest to see.
br /
br /Sunday noon we went to lunch and to the driving range (golf that is) and tested the 350. Our favorite restaurant was in the POI data base and I did a search for the golf course and added them both to the address book. I also entered our home. I have never used a GPS unit before and I can't believe how simple it is to use. I uploaded a CD (MP3's) to the SD disk and we headed out to lunch. We tuned in an empty FM station (you can select any you want) and turned on the FM player. The sound quality was fantastic. We were even amazed how good it sounded right from the 350. The (female) voice could not have been any clearer.
br /
br /The directions were almost perfect, when we pulled into the restaurant parking lot the 350 showed that we still had 66 feet to the destination (I suppose that was to our table). We continued to the golf course and then home purposely taking wrong turns a few times. The 350 recalculated our route every time in less than one minute without a glitch. The Gauge page is pretty sharp. It tracked our vehicle speed to within 5 mph consistantly and gave us an accurate ETA to each location. I wish it also showed our altitude on the Gauge page, you have to go to the satellites page to see that. By the way, our three trips totaled about 45 miles, most of it on lovely Oklahoma country roads (did I say lovely?).
br /
br /I realize that we have only had the 350 for one day, but we are already sold on the unit. My concern that I should have bought the Garmin instead is history. I prefer the fact that I have so much more control of the display and options with the 350. iWay 350 and Version 1.4 software.. outstanding.

This device makes navigating in Boston a painless experience.
br /Pros:
br /Excellent screen. Visible in bright sunlight.
br /Highly configurable interface.
br /Rapid re-routing after missing a turn.
br /Cons:
br /It reliably takes 5 minutes to obtain its position when first powered on.
br /
br /Overall: an excellent buy.
br /

The 350C is well packaged with almost current programming. It only got me lost eleven (11) times on a 865 mile trip:All cities in Georgia - Tybee Island to Pine Mountain to Newnan to Stone Mountain and return to Tybee Island. (I packed and returned the unit the day after getting home.) It may suit others well, but I can not rely on the unit. Four of the eleven lost episodes were because newly constructed highways were not recognized. Five were due to the unit reacting too slowly in rapid turning sequences. (One wrong turn took me sixty miles out of the way.)Two were for unknown reasons. The unit seems to take forever to acquire available satellites. Instructions are clear, but preferred views automatically switch to "Map" even when not wanted. I need a faster reacting unit that allows programming while enroute to a destination (by a passanger, of course.)

I did my research for an automotive GPS unit and ended up with the iWay 350c because it had way more features than similarly priced units, or was half the price of units with similar features (however you want to see it). The unit worked flawlessly for exactly 3 days. The GPS was pretty accurate (within 200ft), the FM modulator was very clear, and the MP3 player worked fine. I was on the road for those 3 days so I really got to enjoy it. I loved the MP3/FM modulator combination because I like my music kinda loud in the car so I was happy that the unit would interrupt the music to give me the next instruction and then go back to it. It was all fun and games until the 4th day, when the unit stopped being able to communicate with any satellites. I worked in quality assurance for years so I understand that nobody can test every single unit, and it would not bother me had the unit arrived defective. The fact that the unit developed the defect within 3 days however, has me thinking about the quality assurance of the vendors that supply Lowrance with the components they use. I called Lowrance and after a 20 minute wait I got an agent that had me reboot the unit and then asked me to send it in for a fix. I chose to return it to Amazon instead (since it never made the 30 day mark) and get my money back. As of right now I don't know if I will get another one. I may wait until a later version of this unit, when hopefully quality issues have been sorted out. If you do buy one, do yourself a favour and buy it from a reputable store so that you can return it should something go wrong.

This unit has lots of bells and whistles--like an MP3 player, FM modulator and photo displayer. However, it is quirky about basic navigation. Here's what I learned after completing a multi-day 1500 mile trip:
br /1. Initialy the unit kept telling me, randomly, to turn right.
br /2. After 800 miles or so, still during the same trip, it started advising me, randomly, to turn left. It continued to advise left turns, even after arriving at my destination.
br /3. It missed a number of actual I-80 locations in areas, that as far as I know, have had the Interstate built for many years. This was especially true in the mountain states, and in Nevada.
br /4. In Northern California, on Highway 20, it would show me on a parallel road (non-existant; or, if existant, on an abandoned logging road). It was highly inaccurate on this (state) Highway which has been in use since the 60's.
br /
br /Other than the navigation problems, the unit is a pleasure to use, the unit's screen is easy to see in bright light, and its other features are readily accessible. While inputting is not that intuitive, the learning curve is not steep. The unit also seems to acquire sattelites quickly. A great feature of this unit is the ability to overlay almost any time/mileage quantity you might want, for example--ETA, elapsed time to destination, average miles per hour, miles to destination and dozens of more variables, on your map display in a variety of font sizes. Nifty.
br /
br /I am not familiar with competing GPS units, but the mapping features of this device, I presume due to the Navteq database in firmware are raw and need help. This unit uses a Navteq database with a 2003 date. Perhaps after Lowrance adds this unit to its download database for updating the mapping quirks will be fixed. If Lowrance fixes the unit's issues it would easliy rate four or five stars, depending upon price and one's desire for the bells and whistles.
br /
br /Update July 14, 2006:
br /
br /After driving more thousands of miles with the unit, here are additional observations. The unit's search function is virtually useless; you can try inputting addresses in many ways but it just doesn't find the location. It needs a much more robust search algorithm. I wonder why, with all the features the average driver doesn't need (photo viewer, MP3, etc.)why the 350C can't automatically dim the display at night (you have to manually do so); nor, why the unit can't change to a new local time when travelling through a time zone boundary (say from Pacific to Mountain time). Furthermore this unit does not have highway exits on its maps nor uses exit numbers when finding a POI.
br /
br /The 350c's batteries do not recharge while driving; thus you get the annoying low battery screens and warnings periodically on a road trip if you forget to charge the unit at home. Also, I noticed that after an overnight motel stay, some of the distance data displays don't reset properly on power up, such that the information in the overlay becomes totally unrelated to the actual odometer mileage, for example.
br /
br /Also, the sunction cup mounting bracket broke after just three months.
br /
br /Update October 1, 2006
br /
br /After travelling still more thousands of miles, I still use iWay 350C in my travels. I had to reglue the suction cup mounting bracket. It is fine now.
br /
br /The iWay 350c does charge, contrary to my comment above, when plugged into a cigarette lighter port but only does so when the display is dimmed to its lowest nightime setting. Thus, during daytime driving you are subject to the annoying low battery alarm advisories, and a flashing "low battery" advisory in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Note the battery runs down quickly m(does not retain charge well), and I find that if I don't use the unit for a few weeks, I have to go through the recharge process all over.
br /
br /This summer, when temperatures along my travels were over 100 degrees, the unit would shut down randomly in the car--even with the air conditioner at full blast.
br /
br /I also noticed on a recent trip that the unit picked a route that it had never chosen before, for a trip to a location saved in the address book, and travelled frequently. Don't know why.
br /
br /It would be terrific if someone would come up with a GPS navigation system that remembers the routes you drive--when they deviate from the suggested roads--and utilizes these actual routes the next time you bring up the destination from the address book. That would be an option I would pay quite a premium for.
br /
br /October 24, 2006
br /
br /I recently downloaded a new softeware revision (1.2) for the iWay. It took almost one and a half hours to download, load and install! Plus you have to buy a 512Mb SD card (which I didn't own) in order to load the software onto, before installing the 250Mb file. The result?
br /
br /The positives:
br /1. Much better search algorithm. Quicker and more robust.
br /2. Multi-language support.
br /3. A variety of other mods and fixes makes accessing the screens more useful and intuitive.
br /
br /The negatives:
br /1. The lengthy download procedure.
br /2. The need to buy a 512Mb SD card.
br /3. Some of my saved addresses (waypoints) disappeared after the install.
br /4. All my settings defaulted to the new factory default.
br /5. It takes hours to fuss with the unit to reduce map clutter by deleting (unchecking) display categories (e.g., all ATM units near the cursor)that the new software displays.
br /6. MOST IMPORTANT: The new software version is very buggy. It freezes the screen randomly. Worst of all, the cursor appears in the upper left of the screen (freezing the navigation) and cannot be removed by touching the "X". Instead, the unit must be switched off for a few hours and then turned on again, whereupon it will be fine for about two hours before beeping and reverting to the cursor display.
br /7. Alsmost impossible to keep display data categories on the screen (e.g, ETA, odometer, etc.). For some reason, the new software makes them disappear; then after touching "X" the data will display again only to disappear after a few minutes.
br /
br /I believe that Lowrance essentially has a good product here. But after using it during thousands of miles of travel, and really trying to give it a chance, I have given up on it. It now sits in a box in the closet.
br /
br /For the time being I am using a newly purchased Garmin 60CSx, which does not have all the bells and whistles but works flawlessly, eventhough it is a handheld.
br /
br /

I agree with the reviewer who said the iWay is not without faults but a good GPS for the price.
br /
br /I've used the iWay 350C in my car for over a year now. I purchased it after briefly using the in-dash nav system in a loaner car while mine was being serviced. I've also recently compared the iWay with a cell-phone navigation option (TeleNav version 3.6 on a Motorola cell phone). Prior to these I used maps generated by Yahoo! or similar web services with directions printed out for my trips. There is no one perfect navigation system, in my estimation.
br /
br /The iWay 350C is a good value for the price. For those drivers without .mp3 options in their vehicles, the music player is a nice feature. Unfortunately, the music function does seem to impact on the iWay's navigation, however.
br /
br /My unit was returned once, just under a year of use, when the battery refused to hold a charge and the unit would not start up. On return, it functioned perfectly until a month later when the touch screen calibration began to fail. I'm preparing to return the unit to Lowrance again, hoping this can be corrected. Touch screen problems make the unit essentially useless since you need to select destinations, start music play, even acknowledge pop-up messages using the touch screen.
br /
br /On a recent trip from Maryland to Pennsylvania, after our family "discovered" the .mp3 player function, the iWay was not able to generate a route (it claimed there was not sufficient memory) until after we drove part of the route; it again had difficulty with memory on the return trip. It seemed that stopping music player function improved the routing capacity. By comparison, the phone-based navigation generated the route both ways, but dropped its connection with the satellites numerous times, and was slow to prompt for turns (this version of the TeleNav service only provides voice prompt and turn icons, not maps).
br /
br /Even with these upsetting problems, for the price and flexibility, the iWay 350C has served well as a navigation system for many other trips, and works well for finding directions in denser areas where I travel. I've looked at the Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom units and have not seen one that I thought offered the functionality for the money that the Lowrance does. Though I would prefer never to need to interact with product support I've found Lowrance's support to be very capable.

I had trouble programming this touch screen unit. I thought it was my inexperience with touch screens, but it must have been a defective unit because it started blowing fuses. It was returned for repair. Lowrance sent a new unit that appears to be functioning properly. My gripe is that their instruction manual is not easy to follow. You waste a lot of time going from menu to menu trying to understand their various functions.

My first GPS, did a lot of research, you get what you pay for. With rebate it cost me $[...], so what if it takes 3 minutes to find a signal on a 4 hour trip. If I'm starting from a known site, who cares if it takes 3 minutes, I usually know everything thats within 3 minutes. Circuit City had an excellent display of all major brands, and they all took within 30-45 seconds time of each other to lock on. Mine charges when external plug is hooked up, has never failed to operate or got me lost. I do realise it is an instrument with a map made by man installed, and I am not going to expect it to tell me exactly where it's at. It does need a clear upper view to act faster, so try to have only glass above it. I feel its a high priced toy, and if your really serious and need big screen and accuracy buy it already built in or go for one of the $[...]portable items. Watch this thing fail on me tomorrow!

We purchased for our trip from Lehigh Valley Pa. to Orlando, with 2 stops along the way. It was able to recalculate anytime I changed my course as well as I did not open a map on the entire 2500 mile trip. Programming was breeze after a few trial runs. The only con I have is it is slow on satalite aquisition, but with all the other pluses that did not cause me any real grief. It did shut down a few times when the outside temp was 100 degrees, I put my hat over it to keep the sun from blazing down on it and the problem dissappeaered and the voice was loud and clear so I did not need to see it.

Unit #1
br /Well to start, let me say that I bought this unit right before I went on a cross-country trip by myself. Initially, it worked great. It locked on to the signal right away and only messed up the directions twice. Then on my way home, it totally died...right in the middle of South Dakota. I made my way home to Philadelphia and sent the unit in for repair. Customer service was helpful and sent me another unit.
br /
br /Unit #2
br /This one was real slow to lock on to a signal, then after about a week, became totally innaccurate. It would read as if I was 500ft off the road, or on another street all together. Once again I sent it back and received another.
br /
br /Unit #3
br /This one worked for about 3 days. Then the battery stopped charging and the charger blew a fuse. I replaced the fuse and now it's like unit #2 and completely innaccurate. This time when I called customer service, I asked for either a different model or my money back. The tech then gave me a BS story about how they had a few "specially upgraded" units and that it would be better if I took one of them instead of talking to his supervisor as I had requested. He said his Supervisor would not be able to call me back until Friday and by then all the specially modded units would probably be gone. Needless to say, I declined the "special" unit and left a message for his supervisor. Now it's Friday and I'm waiting for a call back. I won't accept a 4th unit as this is rediculous.
br /
br /This will be the last Lowrance product I will buy for a very long time, unless I am properly compensated. Go for a Garmin or something else, but stay away from this one.

This device does many things well except one, NAVIGATE.
br /It shows pictures very clearly, it plays music quite nicely but 9 out of 10 times it cannot get you from point A to point B without major confusion.
br /Every negative review I have read about this device, I am afraid is true.
br /Slow processor, unacceptably sloooow, poor maps and even worse navigating algorithms. Maps shows all the names of parallel streets but hardly ever the names of intersections (which are the ones that really count, the other stuff is just clutter).
br /I you are looking for a good portable device that plays mP3s and shows good pictures (the display is top notch)then you may consider it, although there many nice players out there and a lot chaper (and smaller to boot).
br /If you are looking for a GPS system, forget it, don't buy yourself a headache.
br /
br /I returned mine to Amazon!

I bought this GPS unit last June. My first unit I had took 2 days to try and locate a satalite and was never successful. I sent the unit back and they sent me a new one. I have had nothing with problems with the unit. It takes a long time to find your current location. My touch screen also locks up a lot. Finally the entire lower half of my screen went out after not even having it a year. HORRIBLE GPS. Would not recommend to ANYONE.

Nice unit for a car, but it won't work on a bike. A little slow, but not bad especially for that price. I bought one for my motorcycle, but it shut itself off within 15 minutes. I called Lowrance and they thought it was a battery problem, so I sent it back (Amazon was amazingly cooperative; Great Customer service!!!). I tested the new one in my truck and it worked great, but 10 minutes in the motorcycle mount and it shut down again. I tested it in several other vehicles and it work everywhere but on a motorcycle. Lowrance and Amazon were good about taking it back, but Lowrance had no idea it wouldn't work on a bike.
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br /I just bought a Garmin Zumo 550 (made specifically for a bike) and I love it, although it's more than twice the price.

I have had this unit for three years. When going to an address it would do a good job of giving me the best route. When entering addresses, it was not at all intuitive. It could not seem to find many of the addresses I entered. While entering addresses, I would have to press a letter more than once to get it to register. This became worse with time. The unit's power button did not always work. I would have to unplug it from it's power source to shut it down. After 3 years of use now it will only turn on in power saver mode. I have retired the unit and purchased a Magellon. Overall I would say the routing software worked well, but the unit was glitchy. I would not recomend it. If you have the money to spend Lorance makes a top notch high end GPS but you will have to spend 900.00 for it. If you want a bare bones nav unit, forget this one and go with Garmin or Magellon.

Despite what many reviewers have said, my iway 350 has been able to lock onto the satellites in less than a minute from powering on. And that is powering on from the poweroff position, not from the stand by mode (which they say would make the lock on to be even faster). I've had no problems with any route recalculations, it usually recalculates about 5 seconds after you miss an intersection and new directions are generated immediately. I've also read a reviewer complaining that the GPS is two streets behind the car (that is, giving directions for a turn after you make that turn). However, I have never encountered that problem. Right before every turn that you need to make, that unit always prompts you and says "take next left" or "take next right". And these prompts are always on time and usually well before the turn. As for using it on freeways, it gives enough prompts and directions for you to merge onto another freeway or to an exit. It will start giving out these prompts a great distance before you actually reach your exit so that you will not miss it. The truly great thing about this GPS is that the battery life is long so that I can bring it with me when my friends decide to pick me up to go out without me having to bring the charger, which could be a hassle without the long battery life. Aside from that, its got an excellent and clear voice command along with a clear and truly bright screen. The screen is readible even when its nice and sunny outside. Many people complain about the lack of updates for the database for the GPS. However, if you truly think about it, updates usually cost somewhere around $100 less or more. By that time, I personally would rather go out and try a new GPS model with better features than to have to spend so much money upgrading an old GPS model. There are also different "skins" or wallpaper designs for the background from the lowrance website which enhances the way the menu and the buttons look. All in all, this is a pretty cool unit to have. For the price, its worth it and it is a great starter GPS for anyone who is looking for a decent GPS with a reasonable price.

Unit works well but the manual shipped with the unit was for the older software. I checked the Lowrance web site for an updated manual but there wasn't one. The differences in the new software took a while to figure out. If a correct manual were available I would have rated the unit 4 stars.

I had the opportunity to compare the Lowrance iWay 350C side-by-side with the Garmin 340C (I owned both). I found that despite having a lot of nice extra features, e.g., mp3 player, considerable configurability, the Lowrance fell short in the basics of navigation. The satellite acquisition time took much longer than the garmin, and the lowrance frequently had to update the route. Most importantly, the Lowrance offered navigation information that was incorrect, e.g., left turn where no left turn was possible. Because the Lowrance 350c failed at the basics of navigation (compared to the garmin c340) I returned it. If Lowrance can update the maps/navigation software to be comparable with the Garmin, it would be a unit worth considering.
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My title says it all, I originally gave this product 4 stars. After 2 months of ownership, and several problems, I can't recommend it. My battery charging no longer worked. Lowrance has had this product for repair for over 2 weeks, they did not seem concerned about this common problem or offering a replacement. My bracket broke, not from use-just poor glue from the arm to the suction cups. For $[...] I do not expect to return a product so soon, and have to do without it for weeks.
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br /Update 75 days of ownership: I will be getting my 3rd unit as my 2nd one locked up. Poor product, stay away from it. The cost of shipping it back now out weighs the cost saving vs. a Garmin. Heed my warning, this is a piece of junk.
br /Also, Amazon will not exchange it after 30 days, so buy from Best Buy or Circuit City, they want happy customers. I will never buy a pricey electronic from Amazon again.
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br /Update 2: After the update that came out 1/07, the unit shuts off when it is to navigate. At least Lowrance is paying shipping. But when the 1 yr warranty ends, I will buy a new GPS from a more reliable manufacturer. If you travel for a living, stay away from Lowrance products.

I bought this unit on a wim. I was leaving for a business trip and needed a GPS. I really like it and it worked well for me. Unfortunalty the unit wouldn't hold a charge on the battery. So I returned it for another one. It worked for one week and then I had the same exact problem. Which to me is not a good sign of quality when the same problem happens on multiple units. When I tried to return this unit, the unit I was given didn't work at all, it gave me an error message when the GPS booted up. Unfortunaltey the vendor I purchased it from didn't have any more units that I could exchange it for. So I called customer service and got an RAN. I am hoping when I get the next unit back in 7 to 10 days that I don't have any more problems.

I purchased this unit less than two weeks ago and am greatly underwhelmed with its ability to navigate from point to point and its overall performance. On the pro side, the display is nice and crisp and the touch screen navigation very user friendly. On the down side, it has trouble with following a well established interstate, continually directing the driver to get off the interstate and then merge back on. It uses route numbers instead of street names and many 10+ year old pubic roads in the Washington DC area are missing. Detail of the local area is frequently marginal. WAAS works well (usually) but the system is very slow to gain its initial position location - as much as 7 minutes to initial 2D lock, even when starting from the last shutdown location.
br / All in all - to use this GPS, you better know the roads well enough to understand when it is giving you bad directions!

My iWay 350C started behaving strangely after 2 months of extensive usage. At some point during navigation mode, you could see your trail on screen out of the highway, 200 yards off somewhere in the woods. IWay was constantly navigating, calculating routes new maps and newer ending seek for position. Finally it broke! When I restart device, it shuts down immediately afterwards. I will be calling Lowrance customer service tomorrow, press 1 press 2, press 3, press 4 .....
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I used it for 2 months. In general, it does work but it does not take into consider highway. I guess it is trying to take you the shortet route. Sometime you have to drive around around to get to get to the shortest distance. Also I still have not yet to enter the address using route 1 (us-1: highway, local...). It is still too slow to find your current location. I normally get in the car and go. You need to wait for it to find your location first(around 2 minutes) before you start the trip.
br /The device froze 2 times in NYC. I tried to use it in NYC to get to NJ. I did not follow the original direction to avoid toll road and the device froze 2 times I tried it. I guess it is because NYC has too many roads.

AFTER LOT OF RESEARCH AND READING MANY REVIEWS ON GARMIN AND MAGELLAN HIGH END UNIT AND THE LOWRANCE IWAY 500C, ORDER THE NEW LOWRANCE IWAY 350C AND I AM VERY GLAD I DID, IT IS VERY ACCURATE,FAST GPS SIGNAL, LOTS OF FETURE, VOICE COMMAND READ STREET NAME WITH NUMBERS, DISTANCE OF COMMAND COULD BE PROGRAM, REROUTE VERY FAST AFTER WRONG TURNS AND MILLIONS OF POINT OF INTEREST AND AGAIN 'WOW" NO NEED TO WASTE YOUR MONEY; JUST ONE NOTE MAKE SURE WHEN YOU ENTER A NEW ADDRESS THE GPS SIGNAL HAS BEEN LOCK AND YOU WILL HAVE NO PROBLEMS TO TRAVEL AROUND THE USA.(HAVE THE UNIT 1 WEEK).

Easy to use, bright display and easy to read, even in the daylight.
br /But the suction cup never work, most only stick on windshield around 2mins, then drop. I tried on 2 difference car's windshield, and difference section of each windshield(of course I cleaned the windshield first).
br /Don't know if the suction cup defect, Sent email to custom service ask for replace, hope they reply.(will update later)
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br /Update: got a new suction cup mount from Lowrance, it work fine now!

I was a person who read all the reviews on amazon and all the reviews on three other sites, so even when doing your homework there is always high risk with expensive items. OK now time for the good stuff... First, the 3 1/2 screen is not really big enough and I have 20/20 vision with glasses(which I always wear when I drive). Second, the this lowrance GPS malfunctions while you are in the middle of a route. One example, I will give you is that when I was travelling on my way to Fordham university from Long Island I found that it said turn right onto a street that was back in Long Island when I was in the Bronx. This is the kind of thing that happens on a regular basis with this syste. Also when you enter in addresses it doesn't always have it stored even though you may enter in the exact town street name and correct number. This thing didn't have practically any addresses in Windsor and very few in Montreal so I resorted to asking people for directions. Also, when you get the system the thing that sticks on the dashboard peels off in a week(at least in the summer) so your left to find something that sticks. I found foam, but only after trying different amounts of tape. Then, the sticking material that connects the mount to the base didn't stick anymore after a couple of months so now I am left paying for that too. Overall, this is an unreliable navigation system that is not worth getting even at its low price because of its particularly hazardous wastefulness and lack of function. I am only keeping it now since it costs me four hundred dollars, but I usually keep printed directions with me. Please do yourself a favor and spend more money on a better navigation system that is installed to your car and has a better screen, even if you have to wait and save money.

After a lot of research I finally purchsed this unit thinking that I had made the best decision. The unit worked fantastic for about 2-3 weeks and then one day it locked up. Even after a full reset I couldnt get it to aquire a position. I returned the GPS and received a new on 2 days later.
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br /The 2nd one seemed to aquire sattelites a good bit slower than my first one did. The first one would lock on in about 3 mins while the new one would take upwards of 5. I figured that this was really no big deal. However over the next 2 weeks it became progressively slower. Today it took over 2 hours to lock on to the sattelites. By that time I had already been lost and happened to stumble on my destination.
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br /This unit has fantastic features and is very easy to use. I has potential to be a great unit, but Lowrance is going to have to step up the quality a little IMHO.
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br /So...I will be returning my 2nd unit and will not be getting this unit again. I am going to give the Garmin c320 a try. Along with the garmin I also purchased a 1gb SD Card. Users of this unit say that the entire US and Canada will fit.
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br /Although the c320 lacks the extra features of an MP3 player, photoviewer, and does not come preloaded with the maps, I am hoping that it will be a better unit. It does have features that I wished the Lowrance unit had. Specifically the option to pick routes by shortest distance and shortest time. It is also cheaper by $80.
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br /In summation I wouldn't buy the Lowrance. You may get lucky and never have a problem but in my experience with this product you probably will. Go with a Garmin. You will get less bells and wistles but will probably get a better functioning unit.

PRODUCT WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING
br /WHEN IT WORKED, IT WORKED WELL
br /UNFORTUNATELY, IT DIDN'T WORK VERY LONG.
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br /I JUST SENT THE REPLACEMENT UNIT I GOT FROM THE FACTORY BACK TO THE FACTORY.
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br /HOPEFULLY, THE NEXT UNIT WILL WORK BETTER.
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I used one of these on a recent trip to Indianapolis in a car other than my own. I'm comparing it to the built-in nav in two Hondas, which have a much larger screen. So, getting the obvious comparison out of the way, the screen is really small on this. My second observation is that it doesn't seem to have enough CPU speed to adequately keep up with driving. I'd say that a basic requirement of a navigation system is that it can stay ahead of your driving, but this unit was often one or two turns behind me. I think if it had an option for 2D display instead of 3D (I didn't see this anywhere in the setup), it may have been quicker.
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This system lies in its specs:
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br /it says it can avoid interstates. this is blatant lie. It will always put you on interstate if route is shortest, it will even mae you do a u-turn to get on interstate even if you slide it to avoid.
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br /no update for 350c but for 500c says that they dont care about those who spent a little less.
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br /company updates to little, they say you can update maps and poi but they rarely do, even when new streets and buildings added eevry day.
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br /you have to spell street names exactly! this is blantant bad development to cut costs.
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br /in ending, DO NOT BUY THIS OR ANY PRODUCT from this company. unles sofcourse you want to shell out 1000 dolalrs for their highr end models, those they will update.
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br /the end.