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I received this unit in mid-May. Obviously, you can't use it unless you have Internet access when you need it. The Nuvi occasionally suggests strange routes that I wouldn't select.
The only use was from testing the unit driving to work and back. The Manual is very brief and does not tell you many things, like that you need to download that software. The protective rubber cover for the power cord connector got lost 3 days later.
I bought it for the text-to-speech spoken street names but additional software must be downloaded from Garmin to get it. Garmin promised to send me a replacement but it has yet to arrive after a month. Otherwise, my experience is similar to others.
The online forum uses a search-for-question format that, although it is probably an easy way for the company to create a Help database, I as an information professional have never found to be the best way to find information. But all in all, the Nuvi is an acceptable unit for wayfinding.
Although it has the entire USA, it lacks SO MANY POI to render it almost useless to search by POI. Part of the generalized EXTREME dumming down that has occured with Garmin products.5) The compass is a DISASTER. With a nationwide database, it might/should take longer but don't tell me no matches.3) The screen is not customizable at all. The hallmark of Garmin, their units find the best routes the fastest. Good brightness 2) Excellent acquisition time.
Is able to remain locked on with impressively poor views of the sky.4) Excellent routing engine. NEITHER, simply randomly and chaotically, again rediculous.7) No firmware updates to address any of these issues. Bought the Nuvi 500 as a crossover unit for the topographical maps.I had previously owned garmin Quests and REALLY liked them.The nuvis are a mixed bag.PROS/Improvements over the quest:1) Excellent large touch screen. It lacks businesses that the Quest had 5 years ago.
The older units allowed you to populate fields such as altitude, speed, time of day, time of arrival etc. An embarrassment in a so called off road unit that has geocache ability.6) Another search issue-- when searching for a city, it organizes the results not by distance, and not alphabetically. Other brand names I've demoed have had quirks.CONS: the software/firmware/menus are a letdown.1) The icons are so large you end up going through multiple screens to get to where you want, paging forward and down to get to stuff which should be on the first screen-- annoying2) The POI list is a DISASTER. Furthermore, when you search point of interests, it can take an eternity; I've arrived to places while waiting to see if they were in the database. I've owned it for 6 months and have to replace the address book at least that many times.9) Battery life is nowhere near advertised.
This is my third garmin GPS unit. Literally dozens of options available for 4 fields. The nuvi has no options for customizing different fields.4) The GPS satellite information is no longer available on the nuvi units. Not a true compass only approximates direction of travel when moving. For instance search for John F. I get 3 hours with 50% brightness timing out after a few minutes.10) When you switch back and forth between walking/bike/ and driving modes it will not remember preferences. With a clear view, acquires satellites in less than a minute anywhere in country, even after just getting in a new city by plane with unit off.3) Very good sensitivity even in overcast/tree covered/ awninged/ etc conditions.
I have to indicate my preferences every time.I'll keep it for now but really wish they had put the upgraded GPS chip and added a touch screen and memory with Topo to the Quest and called it a day. Lastly, It will only search for things if you have a city or town of interest nearby and won't alert you if you search and are not close enough geographically, it just states no matches. Kennedy airport under air travel when in New Orleans, LA and it states "no matches" quite infuriating. Garmins lack of sincere firmware updates is weak.8) The unit crashes routinely losing all of the address book. It would've been a nicer unit.
One small thing/complaint - the Garmin will show where you've been with a blue line on the route. Replacing an earlier version of a Garmin that died after 5 or 6 years. If you drive the same route multiple times it can become difficult to see the route the Garmin is using, especially if you change your way point or destination and you are routed along the same roads. This is easy to use, intuitive prompts and screens. I also ordered the beanbean type mount although this one stayed up and stuck in Ga & FL heat. You can fix the problem by clearing past routes, but it took a few times to discover that trick.Love the idea of downloading different icons (even holiday themed ones) and voices.I use the same unit at work and are very happy with it. Good investment for the money.
Works great right out of the box.I use mine on a motorcycle, so the waterproof feature was what I needed but did want to spend the money for a Zumo.There are better GPS units out there, but cost more, and this one does everything I need it to.
Added price of lake maps is out of line. Pretty good unit. A little hard to hang on to if used by hand. Goecaching.haven't tried yet, but the download was easy and entry of coordinates very easy. All in all, I am very pleased with the purchase.
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