UK Best Price & Read Reviews on Discount Car & Vehicle Electronics for Sale

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James Halliday “goldcd” –

  

Eventually selected this Garmin after looking at a lot of other GPS units.
I’ve used TomTom for years, so my main decision was whether I stuck with them – or finally bit the bullet and tried out another manufacturer.
I’m used to TomTom’s UI – but every extra feature seems to cost a fortune and I loathe their customer service.
Quick summary – I’m glad I changed.

Bad things:
The Power Lead. Power lead for the unit is a thick cable that’s like having a boa sprawled over your dashboard. I’ve absolutely no idea why they’ve made it so chunky. On the bright side though, I’ve got no worries that it’s going to snag or break, I’m quite convinced it’s going to outlast me.
It’s crashed a couple of times. When it does crash it restarts and you with one button push you’re back on your route. Not good it crashed, but at least it’s a reasonably pain-free crash.
Manuals. Useless. Traffic was flakey on my first trip and I’d no idea why. I’d used the power lead, but kept on losing signal. Only when I got home and noticed another lead in the box, I realized that there was a separate FM antenna you have to plug into the power lead.

Good things:
Build Quality. It feels well made. Big sold slab of nice rubberized plastic, with a lovely bright massive screen on the front.
UI. Didn’t take me long to realize I preferred it to TomTom.
Full Post-code recognition. Many units have this now, but it was lovely to get it.
Bluetooth Handsfree. Works beautifully. I turn on my GPS and it now automatically routes all calls to it – can just leave your phone in your pocket.
Traffic. Not a lot to say. It works, and it comes free with the unit (yes I’m talking to you TomTom with your overpriced optional FM aerials).
Road Names. I liked the sound of this, but definitely my favourite feature. Rather than just saying “turn left in x”, it actually tells you the name of the road you need to take (and quite remarkably pronounces everything correctly). 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.

In summary, it’s not perfect (so close it hurts a bit) – but I think it’s the best value unit out there.
Lovely large screen, full post-code search, lane guidance, road-name speech, bundled FM traffic, nice simple, clear GUI, European Maps. As far as I’m aware, there’s no other unit that will give you all this for the price.

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 Comments (12)

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Derek Manley “delman” (Derbyshire U.K.) –

  

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.

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M. Hammond (Cupar, Fife) –

  

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.

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