Cargo Van Cargo Vanners What GPS do you use?
- Thread starter mx377
- Start date
I bought the same 1. Love it. Think u suggested it before in another thread and I went off that.
I've been looking at the 3597 for a while, mainly because my older Garmin was simply running out of room for map updates. I had a Street Pilot c550, which still works great, but several map updates ago I started having to delete extra vehicles, voices, and other things from the internal storage just to get the ballooning gmap file onto the unit.
The Nüvi 3597 LMTHD (Lifetime Maps, Traffic - HD) is very different from my old one, and quite different from most other Nüvi models. One of the big differences is the interface, how you get it to do certain things. Some are rather intuitive, others not so much. But once you figure them out, it's real easy.
Another big difference is the smartphone pinch and zoom display. It looks and feels like a smartphone screen. The 3597 is very differently designed, very sleek, like a smartphone, and is mounted to the dash/windshield mount with a very strong magnet (don't lay the Garmin on your laptop or near any other hard drive or SD cards that will be erased).
The Garmin Real Directions and Garmin Real Voice is a feature that's really nice. It's not just the real voice of "American Jill" but is far more realistic and natural. But the Real Directions really stands out. It gives directions using easy-to-see and recognizable landmarks, buildings and traffic lights. Very kewl. Instead of, "In a quarter mile turn right on Inkster Road," it'll say, "Turn right just after the Sunoco." And when you get closer, "Turn right at the light."
It is voice activated, and works surprisingly well, so you can tell it what to do and where to go instead of having to type it in or click around while driving.
When typing in an address, you also start with the address number, then street, then if it doesn't find it nearby, the upper right hand corner lets you input the city or state.
They've got the Lane Assist working very well now, as well as the Speed Limit notifications, including the School Zone warnings.
It's Bluetooth so you can pair your phone and use it as a hands-free phone. But in a moving noisy van with the window cracked or rolled down it's somewhere south of less-than worthless. At least for me.
You can download and install the Smartphone Link app that is mainly worthless for all but a couple of things. Available for the Smartphone Link are three premium services, Traffic Cameras ($4.99 a year), Advanced Weather ($4.99 a year), and HD Traffic ($19.99 a year). The HD Traffic subscription is pointless, since the 3597 already come with it. The other two have bad reviews for one reason or another. The Live Traffic cameras are the same cameras found on TrafficLand.com. I'm tempted, for $4.99, to give it a try, but I have a feeling that it's only going to be of use for the roads that I'm familiar with, because there are so many cameras available to choose from. It looks like you'll get the most out of this when you travel the same roads frequently and have "favorite" cameras saved. If you need to use a lot of different cameras in different cities, it could become tedious.
But one thing the Smartphone Link does do, and it's one of the things Garmin hasn't hyped at all, is one of the most powerful features of the app, which is linking your smartphone and the Garmin together, and lets you send any Google Map location (or contact address, as long as you locate it on the map first) directly to the 3597 for navigation. Sometimes it will send the address, other times it'll send the GPS coordinates of the pin drop.
The Garmin (and all the others) will sometimes be unable to find an address, either because the road or the address isn't on the latest map update. But Google Maps will usually find it (sometimes even by name, like warehouses or manufacturing). You can locate the destination on Google Maps, and then send the location directly to the Garmin. It's a lot easier than finding it on Google, then trying to browse the map on the Garmin for the location and then telling it to go there. Just "share", send to Smartphone Link, and in one second your Garmin is letting you know it's received the location.
One thing I don't like is the destination time when it's in another Time Zone. If you check "Automatic" on the time, the destination time will be in the Time Zone of the destination. If you uncheck "Automatic", then the destination time will remain on whatever Time Zone you've set the clock. The problem with that is, for some retarded reason the automatic screen brightness is tied to that "Automatic" check box. If you uncheck it, to keep the Time Zone consistent with the Eastern Time Zone, usually within 20 seconds the screen will drop to 20% brightness during the day, and will blind you at 100% brightness in the middle of the night. Only way to fix that is to check it for Automatic. When unchecked, the brightness is coordinated with UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) which is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Time, so it thinks the sun is up, or down, when its not.
I don't know for sure if it defaults to GMT, exactly, but it sure has the brightness backwards when Automatic is unchecked. Lots of discussion around the net on this, about the 20% screen brightness, and the miracle solution that everybody just loves is simply to check the Automatic Time setting. Yay, problem solved. Except, it creates a new problem if you need to keep the Time Zone set at a fixed Zone.
It's just odd that the screen brightness is tied to the Automatic check box at all, instead of the actual time on the clock, be it set for 12 or 24 hour display. Ideally, they'll just add a Time Zone setting and the times will always reflect it, and still allow you to set the clock for Automatic so that it will have accurate times from the satellite.
It's just odd that the screen brightness is tied to the Automatic check box at all, instead of the actual time on the clock, be it set for 12 or 24 hour display. Ideally, they'll just add a Time Zone setting and the times will always reflect it, and still allow you to set the clock for Automatic so that it will have accurate times from the satellite.
KickStarter6
Veteran Expediter
Would it be a decent or better idea to upgrade from the nuvi 50 series? It has free maps for life a decent size screen. Just wondering if going more expensive is better
I find it odd that the screen brightness is controlled by any clock setting. The screen brightness on my old nuvi is controlled by a photo-sensor. When it gets dark, the screen brightens. In daylight it dims. I wish my MCP-50 had a photo-sensor or at least tied to the clock to control brightness. I'm considering leaving it on bright and putting a bag over it at night.
Did you purchase your Nuvi from a pub at last call?
Yeah, the Garmins aren't controlled by a sensor, they all change day/night screens based on the clock. You can really notice it as you get closer to the EST/DST time change, when the Garmin starts changing the screen a little earlier or later in the day. You can also notice it when you are running around in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones and the screen changes 2 or 3 hours early.
As for upgrading from a Nuvi 50 to a 3597, I certainly think it's worth it. But, the thing is, as long as you keep the maps updated, any Garmin will get where you need to go, and do it the same way. The maps, routing, directions, POIs, they're the same no matter which unit you have. My old c550 from 2005 still works well, I have kept the maps regularly updated. But the better units you have, the more bells and whistles you have.
The older or cheaper units have lower resolution screens. The Nuvi 50 is like SD TV and the 3597 is like HD TV. The older ones, with the pressure screens, can be really hard to see in sunlight, but the new ones are like smartphone screens and are bright and crisp in the sun. The 3597 (and a couple of others) can be used in landscape or portrait mode, and will automatically orient itself just like a smartphone will. The higher end ones give you more features, especially when it comes to searches, more things to do with the map, easier ways to find things. The spoken directions are in real language ("Keep in either of the two left lanes, then turn left at the light"). The Lane Assist is very handy, especially in larger cities. The Voice Command is very kewl. And the HD Traffic is astonishingly accurate, especially when compared to the older FM Traffic. Both the old and new traffic systems still rely on FM broadcast signals to get the information, so if you need traffic information outside the larger cities, then the smartphone app is the needed, since it links directly with the Garmin and will provide greatly expanded coverage using your phone's data signal instead of just the FM signals.
Here's a video that compares the Nuvi 50 and Nuvi 3590. Not quite the 3597, but it's close. The 3597 is even thinner, and has an even better screen than the 3590. And the 3597 has that gnarly magnetic mount that actually works (don't get a pinky caught between the unit and the mount). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Jdh3SzRQs
But again, any Garmin will get you where you want to go, and they'll all do it the same way, because they all use the same maps and routing. If you have North America NT 3014.40 installed on the Nuvi 50, it will have the same exact routing as any other Garmin with that map installed.
As for upgrading from a Nuvi 50 to a 3597, I certainly think it's worth it. But, the thing is, as long as you keep the maps updated, any Garmin will get where you need to go, and do it the same way. The maps, routing, directions, POIs, they're the same no matter which unit you have. My old c550 from 2005 still works well, I have kept the maps regularly updated. But the better units you have, the more bells and whistles you have.
The older or cheaper units have lower resolution screens. The Nuvi 50 is like SD TV and the 3597 is like HD TV. The older ones, with the pressure screens, can be really hard to see in sunlight, but the new ones are like smartphone screens and are bright and crisp in the sun. The 3597 (and a couple of others) can be used in landscape or portrait mode, and will automatically orient itself just like a smartphone will. The higher end ones give you more features, especially when it comes to searches, more things to do with the map, easier ways to find things. The spoken directions are in real language ("Keep in either of the two left lanes, then turn left at the light"). The Lane Assist is very handy, especially in larger cities. The Voice Command is very kewl. And the HD Traffic is astonishingly accurate, especially when compared to the older FM Traffic. Both the old and new traffic systems still rely on FM broadcast signals to get the information, so if you need traffic information outside the larger cities, then the smartphone app is the needed, since it links directly with the Garmin and will provide greatly expanded coverage using your phone's data signal instead of just the FM signals.
Here's a video that compares the Nuvi 50 and Nuvi 3590. Not quite the 3597, but it's close. The 3597 is even thinner, and has an even better screen than the 3590. And the 3597 has that gnarly magnetic mount that actually works (don't get a pinky caught between the unit and the mount). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Jdh3SzRQs
But again, any Garmin will get you where you want to go, and they'll all do it the same way, because they all use the same maps and routing. If you have North America NT 3014.40 installed on the Nuvi 50, it will have the same exact routing as any other Garmin with that map installed.
Garmin dezl 560. Disappointed it doesn't show way points on my map.
wayneygogo
Seasoned Expediter
TomTom GO 500 or 600
wayneygogo
Seasoned Expediter
I am not familiar with the PC miler. but I can tell you for real time traffic avoidance it is saved me countless hours of sitting in traffic.
wayneygogo
Seasoned Expediter
Just curious is the PC miler a Internet based. Is there a smartphone application is it a one time purchase