noangels's Full Review: Garmin nüvi 1490T Car GPS Receiver
Since my husband and I purchased our first GPS in early 2005, navigation systems have become an essential part of our electronics collection. My husband works for a communications company with accounts throughout New York City, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Boston. The frequent travel makes the GPS a business necessity. We also use it for weekend getaways, day trips, and family visits. I don't know how we ever travelled without one!
Our heavy GPS-use wears out the units quite quickly. Our first GPS was an inexpensive Magellan model that failed within a year. We had an extended warranty on it and received a replacement. When that failed several months later, we decided to go with a TomTom navigation system. We were happy with it and had planned to stick with the brand when the unit failed after a little over a year. The TomTom GPS was also covered by a service plan, enabling us to select a replacement of equal or lesser value. The higher-end Garmin Nuvi 680 caught our attention, so we paid the difference for the upgraded unit. It turned out to be our favorite GPS until that point, serving us well for the last two years.
Recently, our GPS started freezing intermittently. When the problem started to occur more frequently, we decided to bring it to the store for an exchange under our extended warranty. Since GPS prices have decreased since our last purchase, we were able to choose any of the models the store offered. We selected the Garmin Nuvi 1490T GPS and it has been our best GPS yet!
Design
Measuring 3 2/5" high by 5 2/5" wide by 3/5" deep, the Garmin Nuvi 1490T GPS is comparable in size to two side-by-side decks of playing cards, but slightly thinner. It is rather large for a GPS, allowing it to accommodate a 5" color touch screen, but it remains quite portable at only 7.8 ounces.
The unit's exterior is a silver plastic, looking as sleek as most other portable electronic devices. Unlike our previous GPS, the antenna does not protrude from the GPS, preventing it from obstructing too much of the driver's view. The screen seems durable, but I haven't tested that theory. We use a Garmin leather case which protects the GPS sufficiently.
The Nuvi 1490T comes with a dashboard disk and a suction mount. We always mount the GPS on the windshield. The included mount adheres and detaches with ease, which is important to us because we mount the GPS each time we use it. The mount is very sturdy. It hasn't fallen off the windshield once yet. It is the best mount of the five GPS units we have owned.
The GPS has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that lasts up to three hours, but we consistently use it with the included DC power adapter. The cable is long enough that it will easily reach from any car power outlet to wherever you have mounted it on your windshield or dashboard. This cable also serves as an fm receiver.
Ease of Use
Setting up the GPS was a quick process. We hooked it up to the computer with the included 5-pin USB cable to check for updates. The GPS can be connected to any system running Windows 2000 or later, or Mac OS 10.4 or later. We downloaded a firmware update, along with the first map update which was provided free of charge. The process took about twenty minutes. We used the unit immediately after for navigation to a family event. We powered it on, waited a few minutes for the GPS to obtain a signal for the first time, and we were ready to go!
The Nuvi 1490T is very easy to use. Most operations are self explanatory. Previous GPS owners, especially Garmin users, will have little or no learning curve for this unit. Even novice users can figure out how to enter an address, select the desired routing option, and begin navigation. The other features aren't too confusing and are explained in detail in the owner's manual.
The touch screen is a bit unresponsive, which is typical of GPS systems. I would say it is comparable to those of all of our previous units. The keyboard can be toggled between the QWERTY (default) and ABC layouts to type addresses and search for points of interest. The letters are a comfortable size, allowing my husband to type addresses without a problem. My small fingers are also able to use them comfortably. Navigation and Features
The Garmin Nuvi 1490T is a car navigation system. It is not suitable for commercial truck or marine navigation. It has a solid state drive with pre-loaded maps of North America. A micro SD slot is included for additional data, if needed, but we have never had a need for more maps. We have yet to find an address or point of interest that this GPS hasn't been able to locate, nor have we encountered any outdated street information.
This GPS powers up quickly, ready for input about five seconds after pressing the power button. It takes a few seconds to obtain a signal, but both response times are quicker than our previous GPS units. The signal has proven to be reliable, even in Manhattan where our navigation systems have always taken longer to get a signal. We have yet to lose a signal in the tri-state area.
The Nuvi 1490T provides excellent navigation. The large screen makes seeing the maps very easy to see. I only need to glance quickly at the GPS to know exactly where I need to go. There are several map view choices, including the 3-D map, which we use most often. This gives you a semi-top down view, tilted to give the driver better depth perception. The easy-to-read maps are complimented by the turn-by-turn voice prompts, which can pronounce street and exit names phonetically. The audible directions mitigate the need to look at the maps often, as they are almost always sufficiently detailed to understand. There are numerous selectable voices that tell you exactly when and where to turn. The voice navigation has been improved upon since our last Nuvi. The pronunciation is now more accurate and the volume has been increased. The maximum volume is now very loud.
It offers multiple routing options such as shortest route, fastest route, Eco-route (most fuel efficient), off-road/pedestrian route, and avoid tolls. Being in an area of New York City with frequent traffic issues, we most often use the fastest route options. It works pretty efficiently, especially for long trips. While it navigates accurately for shorter trips, the GPS doesn't know the nuances of Staten Island traffic well enough to avoid certain roads because of retail volume or long traffic lights.
Lifetime traffic updates are included with this GPS, received through its fm transmitter, which is vital to the unit's efficacy. During rush hour, my husband has driven from Staten Island to Queens in forty-five minutes. That is quite a feat! In the summer, the GPS helped us avoid beach traffic, allowing us to drive to my sister's house in less than an hour. Historically, the trip has taken us over an hour without traffic!
The GPS has never misdirected us. With previous GPS units, we have been told to drive the wrong way up newly-created one-way streets, but this GPS uses very current maps. The unit is very precise, usually able to pinpoint any address accurately. We have made incorrect turns on occasion (driver error), initiating the auto-recalculating feature. This unit recalculates faster then any previous GPS we have owned. In the past, our navigation systems would be forced to recalculate several times to redirect us because it would take so long to recalculate that we would miss the turn it was redirecting us to.
The Nuvi 1490T can store up to 1,000 named waypoints of your choosing. This was more than sufficient for our business and personal usage. The unit has 3,000,000 points of interest including lodging, restaurants, and more. We have used it multiple times to find local businesses and attractions. Most recently, we successfully searched for our favorite bakery and had it direct us.
This GPS has a lot of helpful features. The "Where am I?" emergency locator provides your latitude and longitude, along with the nearest address, intersection, hospitals, police station, and gas station. A speed limit indicator displays your speed alongside the speed limit for most major roads. I found this feature to be accurate and useful for avoiding speeding traps.
This GPS is also MSN Direct compatible, which we chose not to use since we have a better signal with the included traffic than we previously did with MSN. Our last unit rarely had current traffic information. MSN does offer special features such as finding fuel prices and checking movie times, but I can find the same information with my Blackberry.
This navigation system also offers Bluetooth connectivity for wireless phone calls. We have not used it extensively since we have Bluetooth earpieces. The Garmin Lock feature is an antitheft device that prevents unauthorized usage of the unit. The GPS also has a picture viewer, world clock, and currency and measurement converter.
Price
The Garmin Nuvi 1490T GPS was priced at $469.99 at Best Buy, which I consider to be reasonable for a quality GPS with the included features. We exchanged it under our extended warranty at no extra cost to us. The manufacturer includes a 1-year limited warranty, but we paid the $59.99 for the extended store warranty. These have worked out very well for us as we have paid full price for only our first unit of five in the last four years. I highly recommend doing the same if the store you plan to purchase from offers it.
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