Garmin nüvi Advanced Series

No Complaints from this user – I bought this in HN in 2015. STILL using it. Have thought of changing to Drive Assist but keep talking myself out of it. No complaints at all. Getting software and map updates is still ongoing. Have found it to be a good gps. Show details

Courier review – Have used this for 5 years as a courier and covered over 450000kms with it. Great unit great trip planner. Makes my job essier. Only gripe is errors in map but that's very very rare. Garmin should check the maps more often or put in a feature we the users can report

Bad screen – Very Bad screen reflection. Don't buy. Impossible to see screen. Low brightness level even on max setting unless it is plugged into cigarette lighter plug with its special cable, which is very bulky. Nice maps, quick start, lots of settings, reversing camera option, all good, but BAD SCREEN makes next to useless.

Faults appearing after 24 months – Purchased Nuvi 2597LMT from JB Hi Fi as a replacement to numerous faulty smart/modern Tom Toms & Navmans. 1st Garmin returned-faulty, 2nd Garmin OK until now, with error message "incompatible cable (original Garmin cable)". Managed to override this, however, after updating maps from Garmin Express another error says low battery or it goes in a… Read more

loop and shuts off. Conclusion new GPS manuf & models are disposable after 24 months and the manuf don't care. From now on, will use my GO 930 and buy a SD card (new er maps) and dump my Garmin,. What a waste of $200.

Excellent – Bought this GPS late Feb 2017 when I arrived in Dallas for my 5 weeks holiday. Drove over 5,500kms with the help of this GPS !!! a) Maps were very accurate and tremendously reliable. b) Extremely happy with the signal strength. Slight set back when you are in downtown surrounded by tall buildings. But then again, virtually all GPS has that… Read more

problem

c) Very easy to update the device. Just connect it to your PC / Laptop and away you go

d) It was extremely easy to install in my vehicle ... literary "Plug & Go" !!

Good Navigator, Nobody's perfect – Pros: - Once you get used to using it, becomes second nature looking up locations, very handy - Relatively accurate reliable maps with street names usually accurate around 90% of the time (the most common navigator mistakes are with street names where the navigator uses a space where there shouldn't be one (e.g. you are looking for "Redgum… Read more

St" however the navigator only has "Red Gum St" )

- Decent Battery life when not connected or using it as a pedestrian to guide you at walking pace through areas

Cons:

- Takes a while to learn all the features - simple features like saving adress's to favorites are initially difficult to figure out compared to other navigators

- Updating the device is very troublesome, although not mandatory by any means, if you do choose to update the maps on the navigator, you will be prompted to download garmin's map support/updating program, and led to follow the prompts, sometimes 2 or 3 times as it sometimes malfunctions - sometimes the program will "not recognize your device"/navigator - and/or state that your navigator is ineligible for map updates, following which you must disconnect and reconnect/sync the navigator to the computer again and usually works fine - it is for these reasons I have only ever updated the maps on my Garmin only Once in the 3+ years of owning it.

Destination routes not always the fastest or shortest – When seeking destinations in Brisbane the nuvi does not suggest the shortest or fastest routes, even if these options are selected. I have to now look at a map first to find the best routes. In addition, once you go off the suggested route the Nuvi takes long to pick up the new route. Disappointing. Other features are good.

Great buy in this price range – The voice command function for hands free navigating and making phone calls is probably the best feature. Maps are very accurate and fast route recalculation. The spoken navigation instructions about lane changes and approaching road names is very useful. Good options for map details, allowing for multiple POIs or a very basic map view etc..... … Read more

Bluetooth connectivity to iPhone and clarity of phones calls is excellent.

Downside - you have to manually activate incoming calls by pressing accept, or manually end calls if no answer. There is no voice command for this functionality. Just means you have to take your eyes off the road for a split second. Good side is phone calls automatically hang up when the caller hangs up, no need to cancel or end the call.

Plus, screen only allows for 2 trip navigation options for example Speed and Arrival Time. So if you want to view multiple trip options such as speed, arrival time, distance to go etc.... you can't. But not a big inconvenience for me

Otherwise great all round GPS in this price range, very happy with the purchase.

Great GPS Improvements are unreal – Have a very old Nuvi time for an upgrade this model has it all; Voice Recognition, 5" screen, Bluetooth, Foursquare, Traffic etc. if using touch screen to set navigation only the available letters are lit on the screen as you type in suburbs, streets etc and full suggested streets are shown and if pressed finishes the search (very quick & easy).… Read more

Foursquare shows business and places of interest in the area you are in. Directions during navigation are much better no more constant recalculating messages they only come up occasionally. Warning of areas that are commonly targeted with mobile speed cameras as well as warnings for school crossings and fixed speed cameras. Great trip setting for planning and saving trips. Picks up satellites very quickly. Lifetime Maps. Only trouble I had was trying to download new maps using Mac Garmin need a fix for this as I was not the only one and several models of Garmin had the same problem. No hastles using PC.

Crash after update – The maps where accurate. However it didn't took us on the faster or shorter route all the time. The volume of the voice was medium, so it was or listening to the radio or listening to the GPS. And then it stopped working straight after doing an update. It feels to me that it has been updated by the Garmin program with a virus to break it. Got to purchase an other one, but no more Garmin ones.

Speed camera alert – All is good with this GPS device. Unfortunately my device failed the safety camera test. After downloading new maps. System states I have to pay for this service to be reinstated. MY FOOT. Having said all that 95% happy with the unit. Regards Harri from somewhere in australia au .

Good quality unit well built with good features – Have only been using the GPS for one day. It looks great, is relatively thin and tactile. The 360 degree swivel mount is very good and gives infinite adjustment easily. Voice direction is clear on the speaker and the volume control good. Map display is very good and takes less than a minute for satellites to pick up if left in standby mode. It… Read more

seems to be close to the mark when driving under navigation mode. Maps are good but no better really than my previous GPS igo map. I downloaded Garmin express and updated the software and maps. That was initially a challenge as my connection through my std USB port was very slow - you need reasonably fast adsl for effective upload. Connected via my USB port and everything went OK. Infinite map upgrades as part of the deal is good but most seem to have that now. Has enough memory left to add Europe map. This is about $100 for complete Europe and UK maps. The car connect cable is nice and long and no problem. Doesn't seem to like "non Garmin" cables. The only slight negative i can find is the screen is high quality glass and very responsive to use but is susceptible to reflecting unwanted light - I have ordered some Matt screen covers to see if that improves it. Its not a deal breaker but a slight issue to overcome. The clarity on the screen though is very good. I chose this over the navman 650 lmmt because it seems to be better quality (paid more of course but you get what you pay for) and I based that on feedback from the salesperson and on line reviews, as well as a trial run with both units on display - the Garmin was simpler to use, had clearer screen and certainly seemed more responsive and less clunky when using the touch screen menus than the navman. I also managed to get the voice command on the Garmin to work. All in all a very good quality product.

Footnote: used this unit interstate in Queensland - found the unit to be very useful - turned the voice command off most of the time - don't really need it that much - only problem I have found occasionally is that it wont find a street name or road I was looking for - finds it when you get to it but not from the search function. It tracked very well and I never lost the satellites unless I went into underground car park. The Matt covers turned up and made a difference to the mirror effect of the screen without affecting its responsiveness.

Update.....sept 2018...went to garmin express to download europe map and not supported ang more for my model...check your model before purchase...i ended up buying a grand new nuvi drive 50lmt direct from england for $131 loaded with european maps...paid premium freight of $30 and still lower cost than buying the 51lmt at $180 + $139 for garmin map download in australia...the manufacturers manage different combinations to make you keep spending money...suppose thats their business but look for other options...I have downgraded my rating for poor support on maps in my model

Awesome GPS – This is the first car GPS I have owned. Its is so much better than I expected it to be. I used to use the phone GPS while driving, but it is a big upgrade from my phone GPS. The navigation is very clear and map is easy to read. GPS is very accurate also.

Recommended With Some Reservations – Moved to Garmin as I was unimpressed with TomTom's latest model 60. Easy to set up and update on desktop PC; however for some reason you can't program or enter trip data while connected. It does, however charge the battery while plugged in. Navigation is accurate so far. Good enough! Update for 2017 - GPS shut down and remained out of action… Read more

no matter what we tried. Returned to Garmin; no fault found. Is now working again, but confidence in the unit is lost. Will see how it goes now.

This unit has now failed totally (2018) and was returned once again to Garmin. It proved irreparable and to their credit they have sent me a replacement Drive smart 50 which I will review later in the year.

This is excellent customer care by Garmin and I feel confident in recommending their products now.

Good GPS unit but Garmin support need a lesson in customer service – I've owned this unit for around two years and apart from a couple of wrong routes, wrong pronunciations of street names and not being able to find addresses it's worked very well. The major issues seem to have been with the maps, not the unit itself. I called support because the updated maps refused to work and came up as "Locked". After holding… Read more

on the phone for a total of 37 minutes and then being transferred a couple of times to people that supposedly knew what they were doing, they told me that they would look into the problem and call me back.

After five days of not hearing anything from support I called them again and was told there was no record of my original phone call. I hung up, reset the GPS and reinstalled the maps which subsequently fixed the problem.

I had the same problem with support when I owned an earlier Garmin model.

Whenever possible I use Google Earth to find an address and then feed the map coordinates into my 2797LMT, this method is extremely accurate and works very well.

Very Bad Navigation – I updated the maps to the newest version, and they are still extremely inaccurate. I have to consider buying a different brand. My old Garmin C510 was much more reliable and accurate compared to this one. At least it got me to my destination without me having to configure it several times on the trip.

Just slightly above the rest – I have tried all of 3 leading brands including Garmin which gave me the best outcome of the them all however still can send you on a route that is no advantage when in heavy traffic. Some school zones that have been around for many years in the metro area are not included within the facilities, Voice commands were okay including bluetooth. I have… Read more

noticed that the map details are at times are detailing cross streets & roads when you have already reached the point in question. On highway & rural travel the system seems to work okay the other 2 brands that I purchased during the previous 15 months with lifetime maps were thrown away in the garage as hopeless navigation units.

This is GPS works better but as I have found all available have some issues consumers need to be aware all expected options features and directions are not always up to date or correct including speed limits on major roads & highways that were changed some 2 or more years ago.

User friendly but bad navigation – The unit is easy to use and screen is reasonably sensitive. Voice commands were easy to follow and timely. However the route selection is really bad. I tried 2 different settings ('Shorter distance' and ' Fastest') but neither made any real difference. I also tried guiding it by adding towns I wanted to go through but made only minor difference. I… Read more

was sent on the smallest roads and even ended up on dirt road (despite selecting avoid 'unpaved roads'). It seemed to choose the most complicated routes and backroads. I was in one town and instead of directing us straight on towards the next town it decided I had to go back and follow another route. The town was less than 1 hour away (on the road I was on) and it decided I needed to go back around through other towns which would take 4.5 hours. It is terrible for country towns and roads. I hope it is better in major cities because I cannot see why anyone would recommend it if it is not. Would definitely not recommend.

Garmin Nuvi Model 2597LMT has issues? – My reviews are honest, truthful, to the point, with pros and cons listed to help fellow consumers to make their own decision to buy or not to buy. The definition of a GPS navigation device, is one that accurately calculates geographical location, by receiving information from GPS satellites. Therefore, GPS devices should be capable of reading and… Read more

interpreting street names with accurate directions and turn-by-turn navigation. I'm afraid this did not eventuate with this model.

Unfortunately, this unit fails miserably on most counts and I will list the advantages and disadvantages, see following. I purchased my unit through the Good Guys for a low price of $178 (best available) and promptly updated to the latest maps. I have used GPS navigators for over 10 years and I replaced my previously owned Garmin Nuvi 1350. My testing was exhaustive over 3 weeks and included local street roads and tollway freeway to Melbourne.

I fulled charged battery via PC and tested the unit unplugged in the car over 12 ten minute short local trips to establish battery life. I can verify that battery life is around 2 hours, which is helpful to use Nuvi in pedestrian mode, as it can be hand held in portrait mode when walking. In settings/navigation/calculation mode, there are 4 choices to choose navigation.

1. Faster time, 2. Off road, 3. Shorter distance, 4. Less fuel.

Testing all 4 gave mixed results with some incorrect directions.

Error example 1

With Garmin set on "shorter distance" and my vehicle travelling from car park to closest destination on main road (highway), gave this error. Garmin instructed me to illegally travel down a one way lane to reach my destination. This lane is marked on maps for over 40 years and is not new.

Error example 2

In a minor street, I selected my destination to travel to my Bank a short distance away, which was on the next main road across. To my amazement, Garmin instructed me to proceed illegally down a pedestrian walkway (marked on map), but should have no vehicle access.

Things did not improve much for my tollway (freeway) trip travelling on the M11 Peninsula Freeway, via the M3 Eastlink tolled Freeway to Melbourne. My family residence destination, was a straight ahead continuation of M3 and a turnoff a few kilometres ahead, around 75km, or 1.5 hour trip. With Garmin set on "faster time", I was continually asked to turn off freeway on minor roads. Resetting Garmin to "shorter distance" gave better results, but it then requested I turn off freeway at Monash Freeway exit, which is slower and not shorter!

Settings

In "toll roads" there are 3 selections. 1. Always ask, 2. Avoid, 3. Allow. You would suspect that with toll roads set on "allow", there will be no navigation deviation, but a serious error in Garmin overrides this. There is a way to correct this, but unfortunately, it's after the horse has bolted. In navigation, Garmin have added a menu called "custom avoidances" and 2 add-ons called, "add avoid area" and "add avoid road". Once you input wrong turn-off error to "add avoid road", it will fix the correct navigation, but then it is to late. Any overseas, interstate or newbie users not familiar to area, will rely on Garmin for correct navigation and may get lost in the process. My destination was near the end of motorway and this navigation error should never happen.

Solution

I propose a simple solution for Garmin to implement. Just add a new selection to Menu, "always stay on motorway" and this should fix error.

Pros

* Excellent voice command in quite environment

* Quick lifetime map updates

* Operates without charger, battery life up to 2 hours

* Garmin menu system is easy to use for beginners

* Good windscreen suction mount and quick locate/release mechanism

* Can connect/charge via mini usb/usb to PC, or portable battery pack

* Has Bluetooth connection (untried)

* Live traffic available for most capital cities

* Last parking spot, "save your parked car location"

* Portrait mode orientation for pedestrian navigation

Cons

* Voice command nulled with car noise or played music

* Incorrect navigation errors and map inaccuracy

* Resistive plastic screen, difficult to read in bright sunlight

* Body is slippery to hold in use

* Missing local POI's when using search

* Insufficient turn warnings on several navigations

* Cheap plastic construction

* No protective case provided

Summary

Overall, this is a nice GPS with many useful features, but I could not recommend it, as it cannot be relied upon to give accurate navigation.

Support? ... ahh... it's like this – I bought a Nuvi2597 in April 2014. Apart from a few times it sent me in circles, the unit has been quite good. The unit’s instructions are - mostly - good and the bluetooth and voice recognition work well. But then in mid November it developed a problem: it wouldn't turn fully on and the screen went red. I contacted Garmin and they told me to… Read more

send it back and that they'd send me a "newly overhauled unit of the same model ". Not entirely satisfied with that but I had to acknowledge it was, sort of, in the warranty terms. The warranty also said "the customer shall be responsible for any transportation cost". I queried this in an email but had no response. (Turns out they don’t read emails at the weekend) Anyway, I toddled off to the post office and paid eight bucks to send it to Sydney. THEN... I get an email telling me, and I quote: " the Reply Paid needs to be requested and approved first by the Tier 2 before being given". Yes, you read that right: they only give the reply-paid address to those who complain. I replied telling them I think this is really poor service. It would be akin to the tax office giving refunds only to those who complain about not getting one.

That this has happened is a pity because, overall, the actual device is quite good and I’d buy one again. But this sort of service does leave a nasty taste.

Support? What support? – I was drawn to a really big screen GPS and as I would be traveling around the world the ability to change micro SD cards for each country (continent) was appealing. I should have had a look at their web site first. If you try to contact the support team it is impossible as most links on their web site don't actually work. I tried to update the… Read more

maps on the microSD card but Garmin don't allow this. You have to buy a new card (mine was out of date by the time I received it!). Otherwise you have to download the new maps to your own micro SD card. The download is 4 Gb for European maps and the download won't work but since you can't access the support team the whole process is futile. I threw my Garmin away and went and bought a Tom Tom. I hope I have better luck. Why is it so hard to do User Acceptance Testing these days? It seems that the Garmin development team don't bother testing their equipment in the field. They probably all get lost on their way to work or use a TomTom.

Great except for Garmin Support – The unit overall is great but if Garmin Express fails a download it wipes your maps. No help from Garmin Australia website is useless and they don't answer mail. A guy on a forum gave me a link to Garmin Map Updater, without this I had a piece of useless plastic. Great GPS if Garmin Express doesn't let you down. Super quick finding satelites… Read more

Mapping program algorithms need improving, some cheapy units have better programs. Garmin service is non existant.

A good replacement for a street directory – We have now owned this unit for more than a month, sufficient time to test its capabilities. One of the reasons for buying this unit was the life time maps feature which gives up to 4 downloads per year for the original purchaser of the product at no extra cost with the proviso that Garmin continues to receive traffic data from its supplier. A… Read more ·  6

great little unit which is easy to use, but it is important to read the instructions before you turn it on. It took absolutely ages to download the maps and in the end I removed the unit from the computer (after about 3 hours!). However the maps seem to have downloaded o/k. It has lots of nifty little features including voice commands (which can be turned off), red light camera warnings (not always accurate, some are included and some seem to be missing), locations for things such as restaurants, shopping, ATMs, service stations and the like, and a quick search function. It can be used as a hand-held device for those who like to do a lot of walking or cycling, however the battery life is not great (although I have yet to test this out.)

Like other units, this one comes with a suction cup to attach it to the windscreen, however there is a warning in the manual not to expose it to continued high heat, which of course can be a bit of a problem under Australian conditions. Short of removing it each time you leave the car, we have chosen to locate it on top of the ashtray. I was intending to buy a new mount for the unit (several different types are available), but they were rather pricey, so instead opted to use some bluetak to stick the unit on top of the ashtray - works a charm and the unit is not exposed to direct sunlight

If you spend the time, there is a lot of customising you can do and there are some downloads available for customisation from the Garmin website as well. The manual that came with the unit is very brief so you will need to download the online version which is much more comprehensive.

The screen is clear and easy to read and the unit starts up pretty promptly once it powers on, so no long delays waiting for the maps to download. The maps could be a bit more up to date. Driving through a new local subdivision, none of the street names showed up and you get an instruction "Driving north" (or east, west south as the case may be.) As this particular subdivision is available on Nearmaps, Garmin need to get their act together and ensure that their maps are the latest available and up to date. (I understand they use Navteq but they are certainly not as up to date as Nearmaps.) Just as well they don't use Google maps which are even more out of date! One of the prime reasons for buying a GPS unit is to replace an out of date street directory so they are not of much use if they don't show new streets, etc. Some of the speed limits displayed are also out of date - in one case by almost a year. Not good enough.

Overall however, for established places, the unit works well and takes you to your destination by the most direct route (depending of course on how you set your preferences.) Another nifty feature is the fuel economy feature which enables you to gauge how much fuel your vehicle is using for specific trips and the cost.

All in all you can spend a lot of time playing with this unit and customising it to your specific requirements or you can just download the maps and use it as is. Quick to load, easy to customise, lots of additional features if you want to use them, lifetime maps and relatively inexpensive for the features it delivers. Maps should be more up to date - after 2 years of map updates, our property is still not locatable on the Garmin (NAVTEQ) maps! Garmin's latest updater (Garmin Express) is very flaky - users need to resort to the previous updater software (Garmin map updater) to download new maps correctly.

GPS great but support non-existent – I have only had this unit for a week or so but am driven to suicide by the total lack of support. The unit is large, which made me hesitate about sticking one this size on the windscreen but in fact it is perfectly OK on the right hand side - the cable is sufficiently long for that. The satellite pick-up is much faster than my Navman(s) and… Read more

TomTom. the screen is bright and clear and the voice activation is almost 100% correct. There is a wide range of settings that take some time to fathom but it doesn't take too long before you get them to your liking.

The big - and I mean BIG - problem is the Garmin website. It is truly awful. I have tried for days to purchase UK maps for a visit, without success. The site sometimes directs you to Garmin US, where the UK map price is US$69.99, sometimes to Garmin UK (£34.99) and sometimes to Garmin Australia (AU$99.99). None of the sites allows the 10% discount code that Garmin sent me on registration.

Quite apart from the Australian rip-off price, none of the pages actually work! Entering the unit model, continent and type of map does absolutely nothing - the page just remains permanently.

I wrote a screed about this on the "comments and complaints" page - and on "sending" them all that happened was a return to the page asking for comments and for me to log in - regardless of the fact that I was already logged in!

The phone help line I gave up on after twenty minutes of music.

GPS - great. Garmin as a company - dreadful. The GPS Unable to buy maps

Good product, packed with features – After buying this GPS, I decided to wait until I could test it well before writing a review. As with all GPS systems I have used, there are always things you wished worked better. Overall, the Garmin 2455LMT is a good GPS. I found that the satellite locating was extremely fast, within seconds of turning it on. It also has a GPS simulator so… Read more ·  1

you can test your route while indoors.

The traffic system was also very good, but only works in capital cities. It would tell me if there was a traffic queue when 1.5km away and then count down the distance. By pressing the traffic icon, the GPS can route you around the queue if possible.

It has lane guidance and also shows a view of complicated intersections to help you take the correct lane.

It also shows the location of speed and red light cameras. To my surprise (and delight) it recognises average speed cameras and keeps the notification that you are within the camera zone on the screen while you are in it.

The display in both night and day modes is very legible and there is a matte finish on the screen to cut down glare. Visibility in direct sunlight is not so good, but you can see it...just.

One of the coolest features is the ability to download new location identifiers for the screen. They even have Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean licensed items, currently I am using an X-Wing fighter. There is also Darth Vader’s Tie Fighter and the Black Pearl. Who wants a boring arrow when you can have a 3D car, truck, motorbike or beach ball? Nb. You can have an arrow too.

The power/traffic antenna cable for the GPS is quite long and really should have been a lightly coiled cable. I mount my GPS on the right near the door and I have to drape the cable over the steering column, but it still dangles down near my legs. No indoor charger was included, but you can charge it via your computer’s USB and it charges in just a few hours.

When you near your destination, the GPS shows Find Parking at the top of the screen. If you click it, it will guide you on available parks near your destination.

The only downside I have found and probably a big downside is the address searching. I found it quite disappointing. I was not in a capital city, but that shouldn't matter. Maybe I was just searching for the wrong terms, or maybe it just wasn’t in the map database, I am not sure. POI searching worked well.

As an example, I was searching for Seaview Terrace. I searched Seaview Terrace, Seaview Tce and Seaview and it did not find it. I knew where it was on the map, so I moved the map to the street and pressed it and selected it that way. When I got there it was actually Seaview Ter on the sign...unusual abbreviation for terrace but nethertheless, specifying Seaview should have been enough to show options.

The routing is also a bit questionable too, I haven't done a simulation to see where it was actually wanting to go, but I took a trip from Brisbane to Noosa which basically requires getting on the Gateway Mwy/Bruce Hwy and then a turn off near Noosa. For some reason, it wanted me to turn off the Gateway Mwy after the bridge onto the old Gateway (Southern Cross Way) and I assume get back on the Mwy further up where it joins back in and becomes the Bruce Hwy. Why? I ignored what it said because I had done my homework. I had it set for fastest route, but even if it was shortest distance, neither setting should take me off the faster main highway.

Despite this, I would still recommend it, the lifetime free maps and traffic make it worth it. As with any gps, it should be more of a guide than an absolute relied upon device and you should basically know where you are going anyway IMO.

On a side note, the “Lifetime” is what Garmin considers to be its useful life. On the box, it says that if there have been no map updates for the device in a period of 24 months, it is end of life. Downloadable icons, traffic updates, clear directions, quick to find satellites and re-route, lane guidance Power cable should have been shorter or coiled, street searching isn't perfect.

Dont Buy !!!!!!! – Maps out off dates. No manual. No help from Garmin. I had Garmin C510, was fantastic.But today we have new garmin company, with different customer and product approach. Product physically presented better than others GPS's but value off product is not the some like few years ago. Costumer Service Dep. never answer on my question, only confirm that received my email/question. It is rubish

Don't buy this! – I had 3 units in all. The first had American maps. The second froze so it went back. The 3rd froze so I rang tech suport. After being on hold for 30 mins they did an up date. It worked once then froze again. So rang them back was on hold for 28 min and was told to take it back. I'll try a nother brand! Freezes after first use