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Automotive News & Views Navigation GPS Systems
1723 messages, Last post on Nov 19, 2009 at 9:51 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Got the chance to try out rsholland's new 1490T, which I had been really looking foward to. The big news was the giant 5" screen, enormous for a portable. First impression is a simple "WOW!", that screen really is gigantic.  I was impressed that it's actually thinner than the Nuvi 200 series, by 25% according to Garmin's web site. Also, it's not a lot heavier. We compared them side-by-side and it took a while for me to conclude it's only very slightly heavier than my 260w. Good packaging. We played with them side-by-side, and I basically concluded that everything my 260w did well, the 1490T does slightly better. Not just the size but the display quality and sharpness. The icons and text are bigger, more clear. They really made good use of the real estate. Plus the transitions between screens seem smoother. Touch the map and it zooms out, moves to the place you touched, and zooms back in, all seamlessly. Smoooth. Bob set up the Bluetooth to his phone, and he never even had to take his phone out of his pocket. We completed several test calls, and sound quality was very good, probably a little better than the speaker phone on my BlackBerry Curve 8900. We also tried the voice dialing. Press a button, say "Call Home", and sure enough, it nailed it in the first try. My BlackBerry works the same way. If you have your phone in your pocket, I can actually see some value here, which I didn't really see before. The buttons on the Nuvi are much bigger and right in front of you, already mounted. I don't have a car mount for my BlackBerry, and the buttons are small. I guess I could use voice dialing and my speakerphone, but that's still 2 small buttons I'd have to find and press, and I wonder if the mount would block some of those. Score one for Bluetooth. Since the phone worked well, we added some phone numbers to the Favorites. Only the Favorites with phone numbers show up in the phone book, which makes sense I guess. At first it only showed Home, but we realized we had to add phone numbers for them to appear. Then we added photos. The 1490T has a Micro-SD slot, which was convenient because my BlackBerry 8900 uses the same media. So we took photos with my BlackBerry, inserted the card, and Edited the Favorites to add our photos to those entries. Pretty cool - instead of just a name you can actually put a photo of the person. I was also curious to try out the FM Traffic feature, since none of my 3 GPS devices have that. It will warn you of traffic or construction along the route you take, but you can also manually preview what jams are ahead before you leave. We didn't take any trips so I wasn't able to see if it actually accounts for those delays before you leave, and sends you on an alternate route in the first place. I don't want to have to take a detour - I'd like to avoid it entirely if possible. Dislikes? When we removed the card, we lost the photo images. The Nuvi should be smart enough to copy it to the local storage if the photo is saved as a Favorite. I guess you have to copy that manually, or just buy a Micro SD card specifically for your GPS. They're cheap, so no big deal. The FM Traffic should be accounted for when calculated the route, even before you leave, if the jam is close by. In other words, I don't want to have to take a detour on that same route after I left, I'd like for it to choose a different route entirely. Thing is, I'm not sure about how the 1490T does that, so that remains to be seen. Perhaps someone with FM Traffic experience can share their experience. List price is $500 but you can get them for about $430, so it's high-end for sure, though it's the biggest screen I've ever seen and very near some OE GPS sizes. To be honest, my biggest dislike was that I didn't get to keep it. 
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Tech Tuesdays: Bob Dylan -- Voice of a Generation to Become Voice of Navigation (Edmunds Daily) 
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"New York state wants to crack down on truckers who rely on satellite devices to direct them onto faster but prohibited routes and end up crashing into overpasses that are too low for their rigs." GPS Causing Truckers to Crash Into Bridges (Fox)
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Replying to: steve_ (Oct 16, 2009 7:25 am) |
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So my old Nuvi 200w was in need of upgraded maps, and instead of paying the $99 for map updates for life and keeping a model without text-to-speech, I decided to sell it instead, and upgrade. I sold it for $90. A single map update would have cost me $65. The new 265wt cost $190 at Costco. So the way I look at it, I paid $35 extra to get the upgrade. The 265wt model basically adds: * maps for Canada (200w was US only) * bluetooth wireless * text-to-speech * optional MSN Direct (if you want to look up gas prices) * Where Am I? feature (shows POIs close by) * photo navigation * liftetime free traffic via clear channel's FM service They pay for it with pop ups that are so small I can't read them without glasses, and they never appear when the vehicle is moving, nor when you're operating the GPS, so my concerns about intrusive pop-ups were put to rest. Bluetooth worked like a charm for me. My BlackBerry 8900 paired up right away and sounds pretty good. The speaker is a little tinny (better than the 8900's speaker phone, though), but the microphone is excellent, or so people who I've called have told me. Best thing is that now it pairs up automatically every time I walk back in the car and the GPS turns on. Very cool. I tried the voice commands - "Call [First] [Lastname]", and it worked on the first try. The address book looks just as it does on my BlackBerry, better in fact because the screen is much bigger. It can search my phone's address book, or you can call any POI's number from your GPS. Text-to-speech is nothing new because we own 2 other Garmins that have it. I chose the Australian English voice, Karen. Don't tell my wife but I have a crush on her.  The accent is so cool, "Turn left on BAT-tree Lane". Have not played with the Who Am I feature yet. Photo Navigation lets you upload photos to an SD card, and then have an icon for each of your Favorites. For instance, it could be a thumbnail photo of the person who lives there. Neat, I guess, for the die-hards who will invest the time. I may do a few for the ones I use most often. FM traffic - so far so good. I'm actually impressed with the accuracy and timeliness of the traffic info - it seems more current than what you get from Google Maps, for instance. I didn't have faith in it, and ignored a command to exit and avoid traffic, and then hit a small traffic jam. Rats. Should have listened to Karen.  It only reports on major roads, of course, highways and such. For some odd reason the Whitehurst Freeway is included, but the Clara Barton Parkway is not. I think the traffic will come in handy, though. So far, so good. I'd do it again if I had the chance. Bob may be disapointed that I didn't get the 1490T ($350 at Costco right now, and you get the big 5" screen), but I guess I was trying to justify the upgrade saying it wouldn't cost me anything. During setup I updated to v2010.20 maps, and that highlights perhaps Garmin's best advantage - very frequent map updates. I think for this GPS I will pay the $99 for lifetime map updates.
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Replying to: ateixeira (Nov 18, 2009 1:13 pm) Are you over your love of Becky from the Tribeca?? |
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