I have in the past had built in sat navs in a honda and most recently a jaguar x series. I now have a bmw 3 series and the cost of a built in, as with the others, is going on for £ 2,000 so this time i thought i would try a 'portable'. The attraction for this garmin is the large screen size, there is plenty of map showing along with the various details shown to the side. In short, this is a fantastic piece of equipment, i travel about a 1,000 miles a week and everything has been spot on.
The information is far greater than the built in models i'd had at a fraction of the cost, the traffic system is excellent. I have gone to the trouble of 'hard wiring' it in so that i dont have cables running all over the dashbord.
I unfortunately made the mistake of leaving my previous sat nav on the windscreen overnight after a long day at the wheel - not an excuse for having the side window smashed and of course, stolen. Having been used previously to out-of-date mapping this garmin was a real treasure finding routes for easy driving. I have yet to update with the latest data but have so far been pleased and impressed with the useful and comprehensive information loaded in this machine. For instance, if you need to find the nearest halfords store to wherever you may be - there it is.
This also applies to most stores, food places (fast or otherwise) and accomodation whether hotel or campsite as well as all the local places of interest of course. Full addresses and phone numbers are all there too. After quite a lot of time researching the various units out there i found that the garmin 1490t, unlike tomtom, offers current lifetime traffic delay information and re-routes your journey if there are delays ahead. Tomtom is just for the first year and then only on subscription.
Pros
- Very impressive device
- Some issues, but excellent overall
- garmin nuvi 1490
- Garmin Nuvi - very impressed!
- First experience of Sat Nav
- My second GPS My Second Garmin
Cons
- Not particularly good routes or traffic
- Strongly made but disappointing performance
- Buy a tomtom and ditch the Garmin
- Most Terrible Purchase ever
- Very poor for Garmin
Negative Review of Garmin Nuvi 1490T 5" Sat Nav Bundle with UK and Full Europe Maps, Bluetooth and Free Lifetime Traffic
Features of Garmin Nuvi 1490T 5" Sat Nav Bundle with UK and Full Europe Maps, Bluetooth and Free Lifetime Traffic
- Route around the tailbacks with premium lifetime traffic avoidance for UK and other European countries
- Lane Assist with Junction View shows correct lane choice at exits/junctions with accurate road signs
- Bluetooth® for safer hands-free calling, dialling and answering through the sat nav speaker and microphone
- Preloaded street-level mapping for the UK, Ireland and all Europe (44 countries)
- Lifetime Map Updates mean you've always got the latest maps, POIs, street names and junctions
Stick with It!. Nearly caused a divorce the first time we used it but that's not the machine's fault! worked o. K. Out of the box, easy to set up - connect to computer to update firm ware (do this on a regular basis for ongoing updates). Maps clear,(although a few glaring errors)spoken instructions clear although female voice less distinct. Traffic jam updates good. Third party pois plentiful but remember to upload everything at one go as previous inputs are overwritten. Works for me - a decent piece of kit. Addendum to above - if you are updating maps make sure you have, a very fast internet connection, a fast cpu, plenty of time. And patience. Took me about nine attempts over three days to finally get everything sorted. If the downloader looks as if it is doing something, it probably is! it's just flaming slow. Also i hope the update is major otherwise it's a lot of effort for maybe very little. .
Some Issues, But Excellent Overall. This seems to be a product that divides opinion. Yes, i recognise most of the criticisms that have been made by other reviewers, but i also believe they can be overcome to a large degree. For example:1. Buy a dashboard mount: i find this invaluable, providing somewhere to tuck spare wiring, as well as making removal from the car that much easier. 2. True, the touchscreen can be frustrating at first, but with practice errors become much rarer. Of course, the simplest way to use a satnav is just to put your destination in and let the satnav take you there, but we all know the difficulties that can create, when the satnav thinks that impassable track is a great short cut, avoiding the need to take the main road miles further. The great advantage of the nüvi 1490 is that you can use it away from the car to plan and simulate routes. If you think the satnav is wrong you can always change the route by adding waypoints. As with human beings, it cannot be expected to respond to information it hasn't received, so if there is no fm signal or no information available, you may still be stuck in a queue. However, whilst driving from the north east to the midlands recently, i twice had reason to be grateful for its ability to re-route in the face of traffic problems up ahead, so this is a useful feature, despite its limitations. Finally, the nüvi 1490 is not just a satnav for the car. It's light-weight and its pedestrian mode means you can continue to us it when you have left the car, enabling you to avoid getting lost in town. So, all in all, this satnav may not yet be the answer to all our dreams, but it's still the best i have come across. .
Garmin Nuvi 1490. I bought this satnav to drive through the wilds of the gers in sw france but unfortunately, the first one gave up before i had left the wilds of sw london. Fortunately amazon's fantastic replacement system meant that i still had one before setting off, although no time to try it out. The fact that i'm still awarding this 5 stars in spite of that hiccup is an indication of how much i loved it. Which magazine had recommended it and i totally see why. The most useful feature for me was the screen that popped up every time you had to change motorways in france showing the relevant motorway sign and highlighting the correct lane to take. This was my first time driving in europe, i was alone, and this piece of equipment totally de-stressed the journey. Couple of probs caused i suspect by my lack of time for try-out. Make sure that you choose fastest, not shortest, route otherwise you'll find yourself going cross country!apparently you can bluetooth your phone in to enable you to tap the screen to answer, but i haven't got around to that yet. I was staying in a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere, but all the tracks were on the map unlike the borrowed tomtom i used earlier in the year. The garmin screen was also much easier and better marked out than the tomtom. Truly an excellent buy, and i wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any-one, but particularly to any-one who wants a simple to operate piece of equipment that works effectively and isn't too expensive. .
Product Info
- Product Dimensions: 1.6 x 13.7 x 8.6 cm ; 222 g
- Boxed-product Weight: 680 g
- Batteries 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
- Item model number: 1490 Traffic Bundle
- ASIN: B003IKAZO0
Conclusion of Garmin Nuvi 1490T 5" Sat Nav Bundle
Eventually selected this garmin after looking at a lot of other gps units. It works, and it comes free with the unit (yes i'm talking to you tomtom with your overpriced optional fm aerials). Makes a massive difference when driving in a town as you no longer have to glance at the gps screen to check where it thinks it is, and therefore where the 2nd left actually is. Lovely large screen, full post-code search, lane guidance, road-name speech, bundled fm traffic, nice simple, clear gui, european maps. This is my second satnav, bought to replace a very good one produced by sony, who have now ceased to produce satnavs, so that getting map updates was a problem.
Its estimate of arrival times is a bit optimistic, but, there again, i haven't connected the traffic info aerial yet, so maybe that can be excused. The maps appear to be very up-to-date - it was good to be able to get a free update just after purchase. Out of the box, easy to set up - connect to computer to update firm ware (do this on a regular basis for ongoing updates). Addendum to above - if you are updating maps make sure you have, a very fast internet connection, a fast cpu, plenty of time.
Of course, the simplest way to use a satnav is just to put your destination in and let the satnav take you there, but we all know the difficulties that can create, when the satnav thinks that impassable track is a great short cut, avoiding the need to take the main road miles further. The most useful feature for me was the screen that popped up every time you had to change motorways in france showing the relevant motorway sign and highlighting the correct lane to take. This was my first time driving in europe, i was alone, and this piece of equipment totally de-stressed the journey. Make sure that you choose fastest, not shortest, route otherwise you'll find yourself going cross countryapparently you can bluetooth your phone in to enable you to tap the screen to answer, but i haven't got around to that yet. The garmin screen was also much easier and better marked out than the tomtom.
I had owned a tom tom 700 for several years and because it had been an expensive present from my wife i couldn't justify replacing it. Both sons had owned garmins for some time and preferred them to my tom tom; the 1490 seemed to do everything that i wanted (and more) and i must say i've not been disappointed: thin, lightweight wide, clear touch - screen spoken street names speed camera audible warnings new screen appears at a junction advising of lane positioning (excellent) visual warning of speeding etc. The screen layout can be changed, and a full readout of your planned journey in text or on a map is there. I'd recommend that you update maps immediately from the garmin site (very easy) and also install a copy of mapsource on your pc - this enables you to plan your journey in its entirety at your leisure, and then upload it to the gps. Touching the screen (which needs pressure, unlike the capacitance-type screen on the tom tom) brings up all sorts of sub-menus, and with a bit of trial and error becomes easy to use.
Finding my way round its various functions took time. It is necessary to download a handbook from garmin to get a full picture of its functionality and operation. I would suggest taking time to explore the operation of the sat nav. There are a few steps you have to work through to register the sat nav with garmin, and subsequently to receive updates, and to receive the latest map update (within 2 months). The map download for example can take several hours, and then it takes a further hour or so to install the downloads on to the nuvi.
The map download was successful i'm pleased to say, notwithstanding that i lost the internet connection half way through. In three months i have connected my nuvi to the computer several times and every time i connect i get the message that there are software updates available. On the strength of opinion i did buy this unit- and have found the following points with it:1) hefty cable- yes it is bulky- but in my opinion only slightly moreso than my old 205w power lead- and is powering the traffic aerial to boot- so understandable. When the traffic work though it is brilliant- and is as good as having aa traffic reports right under your nose. I did update the firmware- and it made little difference, but since then garmin have releaves another software update through their site and as of 27th dec this appears to be giving the unit reliability on a par with the 205w- as i was expecting in the first place4) map updates.
Yes i have downloaded my free update the unit did need it- a number of junctions on the route weren't shown correctly but now are. 5mb throughout) the uncompression and installation took a similiar time to the download- and i would strongly recommend a newer pc to do this on. The overhead junction layout plan the unit shows i also find a nice touch- and helps keep things clearer- and much better that the 205wi do like the bigger size #it allows a bigger speaker so you can hear the announcements easier) and always have liked the garmin interface- which is pretty much the same as the 205w. Having been used previously to out-of-date mapping this garmin was a real treasure finding routes for easy driving. After quite a lot of time researching the various units out there i found that the garmin 1490t, unlike tomtom, offers current lifetime traffic delay information and re-routes your journey if there are delays ahead.
Having tried this on a long (250 mile) journey i found that a more intuitive route varied the anticipated arrival time by as much as over an hour - presumably taking a longer route and thereby defeating the object of saving fuel. Will find out in the fullness of time. Having had a tomtom in the past, i find the garmin so much easier to use. Fortunately it does work in my home (with the aerials draped across the furniture), and when it works, it works well. I have tested it out a few times on routes that i know fairly well.
I bought this satnav to replace a sony unit, and was disappointed from the outset. The mapping display might be 'standard garmin', but showed little change from the one that my wife's 5 year old nuvi has; it looks dated. I chose this unit for the free traffic information, and that is a benefit when it works. It took me a time to realise that the fm receiver module that is built in to the power lead needs to be either wrapped around the unit or perched on the top of the dashboard to work at all. The instructions are especially poor and it took some time to understand what the various icons mean, and the sony certainly trumps the garmin in terms of the on screen information during a journey.
I purchased the nuvi as a present to replace a travel master that was quite out of date and kept loosing signal all the time. This unit is clear, finds a signal quickly and doesn't keep loosing it. Also i used to like the fact that on my old machine i could have half the screen taken up by the 'map type' instruction so at a glance you could see what was coming up. The nuvi has this feature but it is takes up just a small square in the top left hand corner which when driving you can not glance at with ease. The only other thing i don't like too much is the size of the in car charger, it keeps getting in the way, but you can get around this by buying the travel charger kit and charging up the internal battery when at home and using the unit without the in car charger connection.
A Lesson Learnt. I unfortunately made the mistake of leaving my previous sat nav on the windscreen overnight after a long day at the wheel - not an excuse for having the side window smashed and of course, stolen. Having been used previously to out-of-date mapping this garmin was a real treasure finding routes for easy driving. I have yet to update with the latest data but have so far been pleased and impressed with the useful and comprehensive information loaded in this machine. For instance, if you need to find the nearest halfords store to wherever you may be - there it is! literally touch and go. This also applies to most stores, food places (fast or otherwise) and accomodation whether hotel or campsite as well as all the local places of interest of course. Full addresses and phone numbers are all there too. After quite a lot of time researching the various units out there i found that the garmin 1490t, unlike tomtom, offers current lifetime traffic delay information and re-routes your journey if there are delays ahead. Tomtom is just for the first year and then only on subscription. I also like the little 'bong bong' when approaching speed cameras and a further 'bong' if you are exceeding the limit. This also applies to areas where mobile cameras may be in operation. The only feature i am not exactly convinced with is the so-called 'eco-route'. Having tried this on a long (250 mile) journey i found that a more intuitive route varied the anticipated arrival time by as much as over an hour - presumably taking a longer route and thereby defeating the object of saving fuel. Maybe this works better on short trips. Will find out in the fullness of time. So there it is - a versatile sat nav with enough features for most travellers, taking the strain away from searching for signposts, getting in the wrong lane on motorways and possibly picking up an(other) sp30 ticket on the way. The dedicated leather case and mains charger are of very good quality too. I can definitely recommend the garmin 1490t. .
My Second Gps My Second Garmin. Firstly thank you to everyone else who's taken the time to review this. On the strength of opinion i did buy this unit- and have found the following points with it:1) hefty cable- yes it is bulky- but in my opinion only slightly moreso than my old 205w power lead- and is powering the traffic aerial to boot- so understandable. I personally wrap the excess bulk around my cupholder- but can understand other reviewers concerns over this. 2) the additional aerial and suckers i find too short. I could do with it being 50% longer, and another sucker- and i suspect causes a poor traffic reception- moreso than it should. I have lost reception for upto 1hr on a 4hr journey east-west via birmingham. When the traffic work though it is brilliant- and is as good as having aa traffic reports right under your nose. 3) software issues. When i first received it- and used it on one of my journeys i did experience issues over it locking up- which it did 3 times over said 4hr journeys. This seemed to be related to a) poor connection with the lighter socket and b) just using the device sometimes also caused a lockup and reset- at some very bad moments! fortuantely it went back to where it left off. I did update the firmware- and it made little difference, but since then garmin have releaves another software update through their site and as of 27th dec this appears to be giving the unit reliability on a par with the 205w- as i was expecting in the first place!4) map updates. Yes i have downloaded my free update the unit did need it- a number of junctions on the route weren't shown correctly but now are. Yes it is a whopping 3+gb's worth and did take a good couple of hours on my 8mb broadband verified running at 7. 5mb throughout) the uncompression and installation took a similiar time to the download- and i would strongly recommend a newer pc to do this on. Suggest to set the download going and then leave it- probably best done overnight. Do the same with the installation- this is one process that will take a long while- so just let it run its course. 5) junction view- does what it says. But not for every single interchange. I've found it only does for major motorway and dual carriageway interchanges, but you can call it in advance by clicking the lane button in top left, and clicking junction view. I find this a quirk- but personally find it nice it can be called on demand from about 2 miles beforehand. The overhead junction layout plan the unit shows i also find a nice touch- and helps keep things clearer- and much better that the 205wi do like the bigger size #it allows a bigger speaker so you can hear the announcements easier) and always have liked the garmin interface- which is pretty much the same as the 205w. It's nice put onto a bigger screen though. Overall i like this. It would of scored it higher, had i not had the issue over the software updates. .
B003IKAZO0#amazon.co.uk
