Garmin Nuvi 1490T

Pros: Previous GPS Garmin 650t. Larger, clear screen readable in all light conditions. Very quick to locate satellites. Route planning intuitive. With old unit I would often pass a street physically before the GPS would indicate the passage.

Cons: Took reviewers advice and updated firmware and maps first. Tricky to find where to update firmware on Garmin site. Took six tries before map update worked. Bluetooth coordination with cell, thanks to virtually no documention, not easy.

Summary: Setup, as explained, not that easy. I hoped for much better documentation; the manual with hand held hiking units were a 1,000 times better. Garmin assistance only available weekdays and not after 5. I can see why some reviewers found the setup overwhelming. At one point in the map update if you did the wrong thing you could have pooched your unit - according to the on screen warning. Easy to miss if one is in a hurry. Once the somewhat unpleasant setup was over I took the 1490T for an extensive drive. It worked great. The faster processor meant that changes in direction, such as sharp turns, was instantaneous. I haven't had to use the traffic alert but it must have been working because I did get unobtrusive advertising at the very top of the large screen. The POI feature was far superior to the 650T. Using bluetooth was a piece of cake and the clarity and volume of calls was great. All in all, an excellent unit. If it hadn't been for setup hassle I would have given it 5 stars.

Updated on Mar 31, 2010

My use of the unit for a week has changed my opinion drastically. It's route planning is ludicrous. In "going home" it has me driving past the road leading to my side street and go about a mile and a half to come in a back entrance and then tells me to turn right, when I should be turning left. On another route, it had me going south when I should have been directed to go north. My old GPS routing was clearly superior. It is off in it's placement of my actual location by 200 feet most of the time. Bluetooth volume to me is good but the other party thinks I am fading out all the time - this when I'm sitting in the car with the engine turned off. For those still wishing to buy, turn off ZoneAlarm (if used) before doing the map download. I was very disappointed to learn that Garmin is Taiwanese owned and the auto units are now built there. Tech help was American and good. My new rating is 1.5 stars. My unit will go back.