Garmin DriveAssist
Verified22 reviews
Very unreliable GPS – I’ve had the Garmin Drive Assist 51LMTS For three years and it has had problems from the start. The drive assistance is rubbish, lane departure, forward collision, traffic moving ahead, all take turns to go off randomly. It loses GPS signal, maps disappear, the unit freezes, updates take ages (far longer than other Garmin Units I’ve owned), the… Read more
car icon turns into a large black square. Garmin help told me to clear the camera footage monthly and to do a master reset of the unit. When I did these two steps ever 3 weeks the unit works until it doesn’t and I have to do the reset processes again. Finally this week a map update gave me corrupted maps and the unit doesn’t work at all. To Garmin’s credit the phone help line spent over an hour trying to fix the problems and eventually offered me a swap to a refurbished model free of charge, on this 3 year old model. I’m not confident that the replacement model will work, particularly considering the large volume of poor reviews on this site. It is interesting to note that Choice Magazine rates this as the overall best GPS unit they have tested. Maybe they got a good one, but there must be lots of bad ones out there. Six months update: I've had the replacement unit for six months and it has worked almost flawlessly. It has reset itself while in use a couple of time, but that doesn't seem unusual with the 6 or so Garmin units I've had over the last 15 years. I still don't use the lane departure etc, but the link to my smartphone works well for traffic updates and phone calls. The dashcam seems to work well enough for the few times i've wanted to look at the footage. If all the DriveAssist 51 units worked like this one people would be happy, but unfortunately there are still lots of bad reviews out there.
Two devices. both defective with different defects – first device had display filled with green letters and numbers. Returned for 2nd device which flicks into night mode at irregular intervals and back to day mode. Poor customer service. Show details
Garmin do the right thing after two DriveAssist 51 LMT-S fail – This review is about the Garmin company doing the right thing after two Drive Assist 51 LMT-S failed. The second was actually 6 months out of warranty, but Garmin replaced it anyway as a act of good will. I was so pleased with this decision I wrote the following post on my Facebook page. I wanted to share it here so other prospective customers… Read more
can hear about my experience with the Garmin company.
In today's world, we are quick to complain about or bag a company that has provided poor service or a inferior product, especially when they brush a customer off who has a genuine issue. In those instances, they should be called out if they refuse to do the right thing, by providing a replacement, refund, along with a genuine apology when things goes wrong.
Rarely do people acknowledge a company that has done the right thing and gone above and beyond. Well today I’m going to give you an example of a company that has helped me, even though they had no legal obligation to do so.
In August 2019, I brought a Garmin Driver Assist 51 LMT-S combined GPS and dash cam. I had it about 6 or so months and it failed. It was replaced under warranty with no issue. The replacement one recently failed after 18 months and 6 months out of warranty. While the staff at JB Hi-Fi in Port Macquarie where I purchased the original from were both polite and professional, they weren't the least be interested in replacing it for free, because it was out of the warranty period. While I accepted and had no issue with this, I was less then happy a product that cost the best part of $350, could fail again within 18 months.
I contacted Garmin Australia and express my disappointment with the quality of the product, especially since the second GPS had the exact same problem as the first. I told me them I felt that particular model obviously had a fault and I felt they should also replace it as a gesture of good will. To my surprise and astonishment, they lovely young girl I dealt with, after speaking to her supervisor agreed. Furthermore, It took less then a week for the unit to arrive.
So well done Garmin Australia, I'm going to tell everyone I see about your excellent customer service.
Ok but – Bought this a few years ago just before I got a proper dash cam. The maps are good but sometimes they take you around the long way, good audio alerts and bluetooth operation, the gps can be a bit slow to lock on at times. As for the dash cam feature ok for traffic use during the day e.g. collision and lane warnings but useless at night. Also the… Read more
suction cup window mount falls off the window all the time. Next time I would get one without the camera and stick with a proper dash cam for video. I rate this unit 6/10
Has some good points – Product has some good features. Needs audible alerts such as over the speed limit, school zone ahead. The beep does not tell what the alert is and the written alert is so small you need to take your eyes off the road to read it. Will go back to cheaper brand which has audible voice notifications. I'm surprised this meets Australian standards as it's illegal to take you eyes off the road to read a message. Show details
very poor navigation and fails at 13 months old – Garmins have always been hit and miss on lifespan, doing weird things after updates and end of life. This one is unacceptable failing after just 13 months, parked in the garage! I'll be buying another brand now to replace all three Garmins. Show details
Horrible – I hate it! I've had it now for approx 5 years now and every update is a nervous time waiting for it to work or not. Today was or not
Final Follow Up – Apropos my previous review, I contacted Johnny Appleseed Head Office in Brisbane. I spoke with a decent chap named [name removed], and advised him of my present plight with this 2 year old Drive Assist 51. I explained the horrendous run I have had with this thing and was advised to take it to Johnny Appleseed store in St Kilda Road, and speak to… Read more
that store manager who was also named [name removed]. [name removed] in Brisbane informed me that given the pathetic life span of this unit, they would either give me back my money or give me a new unit.
Iff I went to the Johnny Appleseed store in St Kilda had, St. Kilda. Young [name removed] at this store tried everything possible to clear the memory and reload all maps and the same thing that happened to me, happened to him: "Sorry your maps are corrupted.
[name removed] then contacted Garmin and advised them of this situation. Garmin advised [name removed] that they would not repair, replace or or refund my money but; I could have a new unit for $186.00. (I paid $420 in March 2017). I thanked Johnny Appleseed for their time, and went home, and down loaded a brilliant GPS/Speedometre /World Maps GPS to my I phone for A$5.99. This works brilliantly in the car; it does everything I need it to do, and when I think I spent $420.00 for the Drive Assist 51 brand new, and rejected the offer to buy another (most likely with the same problems) for A$186.00, I have saved myself A$414.01, or A180.01.
[name removed] of Garmin, have you heard of that little orifice on the lower part of your anatomy; bio know that place where the sun does not shine. That seems an appropriate place for you to take my Drive Assist 51, and jam it hard. Your products are inferior and I hope to hell that others don't fall for the same scam as I did. I note that there are several negative comments here on this page, where one failed in 4 months. At least I am not alone.
Mixed feelsings about this unit – I've had this 18 months now. What's ok. Easy to set up, footage, connectivity, easy to install. What's not ok. Only months after using it it would lock up. Disconnect power and wait for battery to drain then plug in again is the only solution I've found. It does it regularly on hot days but cooler winter day as well. Bluetooth phone calls through… Read more
the unit are not very successful. I've found Google maps to be more accurate in routes it suggests and Google maps on the phone in portrait seems to give a more suitable orientation. It was expensive so I did expect a better quality product.
Failed after 4 months – What is more annoying than a brand new and expensive device failing after only 4 months? I purchased a Garmin DriveAssist51 in August, it was working well but it stopped functioning correctly today at 8.30am. Now it is stuck in a weird initializing loop and half a day of troubleshooting and searching online for answers have achieved ZILCH !!!!… Read more
PLUS: If there is a fix out there somewhere it should not be this hard to find it! At this point in time I would not & will not ever recommend a Garmin device to anyone.
No map updates, poor routing, dangerous – This product is utter junk and doesn't compare to the 5 year old Garmin unit we replaced. Firstly, there have been no map updates for over a year, probably 18months, meaning it is horridly out of date. So much for "lifetime" maps. More importantly, it's routing choices are beyond unacceptable, they are dangerous. Some examples: - It choose a… Read more
tiny fire track up a steep slope, unsealed, and very windy rather than the obvious sealed road. We got bogged. - In country nav, it happily chooses these small, one car wide roads which, I guess are meant to connect farms. Again, ignoring the highway. - Worst, 8 times out of ten if there is a crossing with an off ramp (eg, it's a major road bridge over another major road). so it sends you off ramp, then back on ramp to re-merge with traffic rather then the more obvious straight road. This is extraordinarily danger, and I can't even fathom what type of logic leads to this. - And more, ooohhh many more.
It's voice recognition is weak requiring on average 4 or 5 tries for it to misunderstand you. And it stutters when talking to you, seriously, it gets stuck on common words like "road" and stutters it.
And then there are the random freezes, the times it just turns off and can't be turned back on. Resetting it doesn't always restore it, may need several attempts. And then there are times it just forgets all of its setting making you go through the entire set up process again, usually mid route.
On the positive site, the dashcam works really good.
Cheap piece of Rubbish – When i first got the unit i thought it looked smart and would kill 2 birds with one stone having the built in camera function the unit was fitted to my towing vehicle so got used about 20 times then the issues began. It wont hold a charge so it must be plugged in at all times in order to do anything. then it wouldn't turn on then it would turn on… Read more
halfway through the trip and also turn off halfway through the trip. Then i lost all maps history everything it was a blank screen and nothing would work except the camera. i paid for a technician to get the maps back and for the first 2-3 times it worked again like new then the same issues returned it wont turn on it wont hold a charge, works when it wants to and that is very rarely honestly for $428 i expected alot more from this unit. in the past i have had the Garmin dezl for my truck and apart from not holding a charge it still works well i have had a little nuvi for the car and it worked perfectly up until the cable plug on the back of the GPS failed i got a few years out of it. but lately the quality seems to have gone from their Products and i am extremely disappointed with my last 2 purchases from Garmin and highly doubt i will buy another one of their products again. It is going back for full refund under Australian Consumer Law.
It started out perfectly – It was wonderful when I first installed it, with great features and ease of use, including allowing subsequent updates without any problem, but now, it won't even switch on, let alone allow the updates which are apparently due. My wife wants me to chuck it in the bin and return to the Navman DriveDuo we had previously, even though this DriveAssist 51 is/was better. I am seriously considering it... Show details
Following my previous comment, the Garmin once again failed to open/switch on, so has now been… Read more
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Don't trust Garmin – The Garmin 50 started out as a reasonable GPS; but then try and update the maps and it became a $50 piece of junk. The voice command feature just would not work no matter what I tried. Just said the feature was unavailable in Canada in American English. A check of the Garmin Website was a joke. There was a problem with the update a year ago,… Read more
which Garmin said they would fix, but after a year it is still not working correctly. I have had several GPS over the years since it first came out, and found Garmin to be the worst, with very sad customer relations. My personal advice to anyone looking to buy a GPS, do not buy a GARMIN. The one I have is just a basic $50 piece of junk with no redeeming features. Again do not buy a GARMIN.
Great Unit – Great unit. Can't fault it except now I see it $80 cheaper than I bought it 2 weeks ago at the same store. DOH! A couple of annoying features that can be turned off. Great screen image and volume. Camera is also moveable so no problem placing it just about anywhere on the windscreen. Also phone works better than the bluetooth on the radio without a voice delay as with the radio. Very happy with this product 51LMT-S.
Good GPS with some oppertunities to improve – Overall Using this for more than 18 months now. Happy with the product and functions. Didn't have GPS signal issues in City area compared to the other GPS I used before. Pors Map navigation is smooth, Map zooming function is good. Live incident and traffic information very accurate. Estimated time is reasonably correct. Receive most of the… Read more
map updates within a few months.
Dashcam is good enough to cater for basic needs.
Keypad and touch screen is responsive
Search POI by category is good. Very useful
Cons
Good to show few options and allow the driver to select (Example: Shortest, Fastest, Economy Route)
Dashcam is not good enough in the night.
Sometimes it recommends small alternative routes when the free highway is closer by and no incidents reported.
Map update is not smooth (Some occasions have to do it more than ones to get it correct)
Good to have a simple way to pin the current location and save it.
Inaccurate maps – The biggest problem is that despite maintaining updates, the maps are horribly inaccurate. It is very frustrating getting instructions that youhave no confidence in. Errors mainly in the route choice. It is a problem in old established road networks, not just recent changes. I will go back to a Tomtom prod t.
Do Not buy this – I bought this pricey model because of the extra features like blue tooth working with the phone. However, this feature did not work very well. When I called Garmin they sent me a refurbished model even though I just bought the new one. Then the refurbished one worked worse than the original one.
Terrible unit! – I had this unit for 2 weeks and returned it. As a dash cam it was good, but not great; as a GPS, it was OK, but not good. The accuracy was horrible: it would say to turn 50 metres too late; it would say I still had 30 metres to go to my destination when I was already there; it would say a school zone was approaching in 200 metres when I was… Read more
already 3/4 of the way through! The lane departure warning mostly didn't work, I would get forward collision warnings when there were no other vehicles around, The mapping would show non-existent roads, fuel stations in paddocks and wrong speed limits. I also paid an additional $40 subscription for safety cameras and yet it didn't pick up a single camera! I have a Garmin Nuvi 3590 that is now 5 years old and that's easily still the best unit I've ever owned. As a professional driver I update my GPS units yearly but I will definitely be hesitant of buying another Garmin. Very disappointing.
Fast and accurate unit with crispy screen and cam inc forward collision warning – Maybe it was because I was so scarred from my previous unit which was utterly rubbish, that I found this unit to be such a wonderful device, but I must say it works even better than the SatNav that comes with my new Honda, which says something. Anyway despite costing $100 that the rubbish unit, it has loads more features, very fast signal pick up… Read more
speed, accurate road guidance, and the cam works very well with crispy images. More below:
Pros:
- Dash Cam is super sharp and captures good videos and images, and all vehicle movements are captured on video, which is 'looped' but any detected suspicious moments saved automatically. This will be very handy should one need it.
- Dash Cam detects traffic movements and actually warns of pending collision with adjustable warnings (or you can switch it off). This is the latest tech (without the breaking system) that's found on the latest Subaru. A very nice feature indeed.
- Dash Cam detects if the vehicle in front is moving after you've stopped at a traffic light and warns you, as well as a line departure warning, all of which you can switch off, but I found these features to be very useful features.
- Dash Cam can be manually adjusted to tilt sideways, together with the ball socket of the unit mount means full frontal recording can be achieved regardless of where you mount the unit.
-The unit is very responsive and GPS signals are picked up very fast.
- Screen is bright, smooth and responsive. Pitching and zooming is fast and typing and searching of address can be done easily.
- Maps are accurate with updated speed limits, and warns if one exceeds speed limit. I actually use it to check my speed now rather than looking down on my speedometer.
- Connects to the phone via bluetooth effortlessly, and can make and receive calls on speaker and receive updates on traffic conditions and weather.
- Reliable - I've left the unit mounted on the car window under a 35c sun with 35c without any issues.
- Updates are frequent, for maps and firmware.
Cons:
- Maybe a bigger screen?
Anyway I am very happy with the unit. can't pick faults and it works better than the SatNav with my new car! The built and quality justifies the price.
A bit disappointing – Great to have a GPS & camera combination as it saves having two separate devices and their cables cluttering the windscreen. The LANE DEPARTURE, FORWARD COLLISION & GO ALERT just become an annoyance as they give warnings when unnecessary so I think most people will eventually turn these features off. I was a little surprised that a unit costing as… Read more
much as this one does not record sound on the dash-cam, otherwise the camera is fine. My main complaint about the DriveAssist 50 is that as soon as I leave the Freeway (I live 75klm east of Adelaide South Australia) the speed limit information disappears from the screen, and along with it the over speed warning. I have driven on many country roads in the area with the same result, and even in the regional centre of Murray Bridge (over 20,000 residents) still no speed limit info on the screen.
This unit is reasonably pricey at $400 (TVSN claim normal price to be $450), I have two other GPS units costing significantly less ($80 & $130) and they both show speed limits even on the most out of the way country roads. I contacted Garmin who recommended that I return the unit to the seller as the mapping information should cover all of Australia. I received a replacement unit and guess what.. still no speed limit displayed on the screen after leaving the Freeway. If you only drive in metropolitan areas or stay on major hi-ways this unit will be fine for you. I can't comment on country regions in other parts of Australia, but if you live outside a major city you may want to check the speed limit info display before deciding to buy this unit as, in my opinion, having a warning when you exceed the speed limit is one of the main reasons to have a GPS in the car. As a footnote I have contacted Garmin by e-mail again since receiving the replacement unit....no reply received at this point.
Update on the Garmin DriveAssist 50. The replacement unit lasted seven months then started doing… Read more (+1 reply)
Good clear unit with dash camera – Worked very well straight out of the box even before the full setup once we got home. The windscreen mount is nice and solid and easy to fix. A very clear display and addresses load very quickly. The integrated dashcam has a good resolution and field of view. You can playback on the unit or download to a PC for better zoom and editing. So far… Read more
I'm very impressed with the unit and its apparent lifetime free maps of Oz and NZ.
I'd recommend the unit and with a couple of small software upgrades would certainly make it worth a 5. Now that its all set up I'm expecting that it will be a valuable addition and worth $358. (JB HiFi with a 20% off sale wouldn't match Harvey Norman's price, so shop around)
The negatives: Some of the default driver safety warnings that pop up and buzz are annoying (lane departure warning goes off when you're changing lanes, animal crossing signs, forward collision regularly goes off in highway traffic, etc) but they can be turned off. There's also a warning to tell you that the traffic in front at lights has started to move - Really? The school zone and a couple of others are helpful though.
I would have given it a 5 except that, apart from the basic PC interface (Garmin Express), other necessary software is time consuming and fussy to download. It wouldn't download in Firefox or M/S Edge. It has to use Internet Explorer and then you have to go into settings to trust the site. Also, safety cameras are not included in the free map updates. They have to be purchased for $40. There's only a few vehicle icon options and no download for more. Also, no additional voices apart from the standard issue 1 and again no download for more. Its a bit disappointing having moved from an old TomTom that had some of these features.
UPDATE: Feb 2017 After using the unit for a few days I'm impressed with the accuracy, speed of calculating routes and the dash cam. Most impressive is the voice command feature that means you don't have to tap the screen. Also, I have found lots of additional vehicle icons in the PC software under optional updates. Maybe there's also more voices somewhere there but I'm yet to find them.
August 22nd 2017 Update: Update after 'round Oz trip
I've downgraded my original score after 16,000kms driving around Aust. with the unit.
While it does have a good windscreen mount, some really annoying things became apparent.
It doesn't tend to show the intervening streets until the last moment, so there were many times when I couldn't count down the turns. Also, it was often behind in directions and display so there were missed turns.
It was not easy to cancel a destination if you don't want to go to its exact point in a town rather than the street number you want. It keeps telling you to turn around.
Really annoying, despite informing Garmin twice previously, some speed cameras did not register and there's an insipid little beep and tiny banner to alert and distract you rather than an audible spoken warning.
Some of the wildlife crossing warnings keep popping up despite being turned off. It Australia! Wildlife is everywhere!
I ended up wishing for my TomTom but with a dash cam by the end of the trip.
I've downgraded my original score after 16,000kms driving around Aust. with the unit. While it does… Read more
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Well. I do not have any good news. There have been fails with this thing every single time I try… Read more