NaviGadget

Lowrance iWAY 350C review by PCMag

Mar 10, 2006 gps navigation, lowrance, reviews

Last spring, Lowrance Electronics broke a price barrier when it introduced the iWAY 500C GPS navigator, which has a 5-inch screen and sells for $800 street. We were impressed enough to award the 500C our Editors’ Choice. Now Lowrance is turning up the heat on the competition again, with a new, lower-priced GPS that makes in-car navigation systems even more affordable. The $499 (list) iWAY 350C, with a 3.5-inch touch screen, is a smaller version of its award-winning sibling. Don’t let the smaller size and lower price fool you: The 350C offers almost the same features as the 500C and even adds a few enhancements of its own. Still, a quirk of its MP3-playing feature stopped us from giving it the EC nod.

The iWAY 350C measures 3.5 by 4.5 by 2.6 inches (HWD), making it small enough to fit into a briefcase or notebook bag. Unlike the 500C, the 350C has internal rechargeable lithium ion batteries that can power the unit for up to 15 hours. New on the 350C is an SD/MMC card slot that lets you use the 350C for playing your MP3s or as a picture viewer. Though the internal speaker (or headphone jack) is used as the default output for both voice directions and playing MP3 files, the 350C also has an FM modulator that lets you redirect output through your car’s FM radio. You can tune it to any open frequency on the FM band (a real challenge in the New York City area).

Unlike the 500C, which has multiple buttons, the 350C has only one—a power button that doubles as a screen brightness control. All user input is done through the touch screen. The main screen has four top-level choices: Map (returns you to the map screen); Music (accesses the MP3 player), Find (accesses three tabbed pages with a total of 16 find categories) and Options (three tabbed pages, each with six options). In addition, the main screen shows GPS signal strength, battery level, and the current time, and it has smaller tabs for accessing pictures or the gauge page… read