Thread: Which features do you like most in your Nuvi ? Which are the useful ones in your opinion ?

No wonder Garmin seems to be in a bit of quandary as to what to include in all, to exclude from some, to offer as paid additional or to not offer at all. Look at the range of 'must have/don't care' opinions from experienced users. I reckon Garmin are close to getting it as right as possible with the new range and it's probably a case of "they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't". My two bob's worth:

* LA is an absolute cr@cker imo, and essential in big cities and on freeways.

* JCV, on the other hand, is just eye-candy for distracted drivers and i wonder how many side-swipes & rear-end collisions it's caused so far.

* True speed indication & SLI (not mentioned yet) imo are absolutely basic essentials and are naturally across the modern nuvi range. I think having an audiable overspeed warning would be great, even a 'ding-dong'. Voice warning would be better, and even Ovi maps says 'Please observe speed limit' so how hard would it be to add that? (not). Nuvi speed indicators are deadly accurate if sat fix is good, they make a joke of some vehicle's speedometer readings.

* They have got it very, very right offering Lifetime Maps for all except the basic entry level/leader line units.

* Trip planner is a waste of space, but genuine routes is handy for some.

* Built-in POIs clutter the map in some units, i'd often rather do without them and have the route clear.

* Speed & Redlight Cams are only useful it you tend to run reds and habitually break the SL imo, and i wouldn't care if so-called 'safety camera' pois were made illegal. I generally drive right on the limit using Cruise Control if not in traffic and NEVER run reds. I'll run a yellow only after a quick glance to the right [it's rhd in Au] and strictly only if some idiot is up my tail pipe, but after first touching the brake with my left foot to scare the bejesus outta him/her [lotsa female tailgating these days, not just a young blokes' sin anymore sadly (:]. I always load the School custom pois though, can't be too careful when there's kids around (it's a pity some grow up to be tailgaters).

* I do use Speech Recognition if present, and find ASR2 is a vast improvement over ASR1.

* I never pair my phone with a nuvi's BT as i've got that already in my cars, but again it's handy for others.

* Best thing they ever did was dump Garmin Lock.

* EroRoute is for serious truckies only, and of course pseudo-greenies ... if you really use it in a passenger vehicle you should buy a Prius and move to certain parts of California so you can exchange meaningful long-blinks and knowing nods with the other wankers. And i do mean in that order, less 2nd hand value elsewhere for hybrids.

* EPM is handy if in a unfamiliar city, and so is 3D and Landmarks. However you'd need at least 3 nuvis to last a decent day-trip using pedestrian, so why the heck EPM is not available to handhelds with great battery life and replaceable batteries is beyond me (and Caty too apparently). Garmin would sell twice as many outdoor units if they enabled that function imo. Software gurus ahoy! If you guys cr@ck it, Garmin will add it tout suite i bet.

* My jury is still out on Traffic generally. On my home turf I'm a master ratrunner (passengers hate me) and although i have traffic avoidance enable it's only to get a laugh at it's suggestions, as i find that it often alerts to traffic that's already cleared and doesn't when i can clearly see an unmoving logjam ahead. It's suggested avoidance is sometimes as bad as staying in the traffic or worse. Locally I mostly ignore it and just ratrun on my own, but in unfamiliar places i give it credence only because i'd get lost otherwise trying my own avoidance.

I agree with Giomen about the basics, i've enable mp3 & video players on my capable units but only for the fun of doing it. Since then never used them. I'm also 100% with Caty & Rog, i don't want my nuvi to make my coffee (or give me a back rub), keep it basic but get it right Garmin! They swallowed Navigon and picked up a couple of tricks, maybe they should do more than just look to TT .....??
Apologies for some OTs, but hopefully there's some pearls amongst the dross above.

I forgot.
1) Eventually I use EcoRoute. I rename currency to liter in locale and set cost of fuel equal 1. So I can see time, distance and fuel consumption for aim.
2) It pisses me off:
a) it is impossible on new device to poke to map after searching and then simply poke GO!
b) it is pop-ups on screen. IMHO, it is better looking full info table of point as on old device!

All that I wait from Garmin now it is Nuvi 40 with multipoint route support! But Nuvi 765 is the best!

Agree again. If Garmin updated the fw for anyname maps and re-released 765 they would sell heaps i reckon. I've now agreed with you twice in the one thread in the space of an hour or so. This must be a purple patch, you are bound to p*ss me off with your next post surely?

I like Trip Planner
Initially I had problems with it but now I actually use it quite successfully for Business (deliveries) and Vacation.
Here are My Secrets.
Place Waypoints at the Places You want to actually STOP (deliveries) (stop at a particular restaurant for Lunch)
If you want to use a Waypoint as a SHAPING POINT place it at least 300 meters before or after the intersection or Roundabout.
This practice will give the trip planner the necessary time to calculate the next leg of the route.
Download ONLY Waypoints to the Nuvi but create the Trip on the Nuvi. Both Mapsource and Basecamp will give you unpredictable results.

I apologize if I left some features, for example traffic (useful for sure if providers offer a good service), but I could add just a 20 items in poll list.
You can naturally comment and add your favorites posting here Thanks.

What about Active Lane Guidance ?

Originally Posted by catymag

What about Active Lane Guidance ?

The leftmost lane is for lorries, "rabbits" and some Garmin developers who made CNEUNT 2013.40!!! So it is useless!

Originally Posted by dasilvarsa

I like Trip Planner ............
Download ONLY Waypoints to the Nuvi but create the Trip on the Nuvi. Both Mapsource and Basecamp will give you unpredictable results.

Originally Posted by greekislandlover

I don't get the dislike of trip planner either - it was a big factor in me upgrading! ...............

OK, maybe my brief comment 'Trip planner is a waste of space, but genuine routes is handy for some' was a little harsh without further explanation (i'm usually in strife for over-explaining things). I'm not a Trip Planner hater. My comment was in regard to it's questionable usefulness in advance planning and dasilvarsa's comment about MS and BC giving upredictable (read 'mostly useless' imo) results for actual planning before firing up the 'Trip Planner equipped Nuvi' is what i mean, because 'trips' does not equal 'routes'. I don't use these tools on a daily basis, but i agree that what davilvarsa uses 'trips' for is fine for those purposes and his great tip to use waypoints as shaping points is the way to do it imo. I think it's relative in that provided you haven't used Routes before then experiencing Trip Planner would be a revelation and most acceptable as Greekislandlover found. I agree with him that it should stay but if by a fw update it was removed and replaced with Routes i would applaude. Frankly, Garmin doing it the other way around was one step forward and two steps back imo. There's also Garmin's [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] which is worth looking at.

Originally Posted by catymag

What about Active Lane Guidance ?

ALG is far more useful on a dezl for truckies than JCV for sure. This feature is on advanced and prestige 2113 nuvi line as well but maybe not as useful for car drivers. LA/ALG (even without JCV) is a better combination than just LA/JCV and more available anyway. A thumbs up from me. Of course if you're Giomen in his Maserati stuck in the leftmost lane and need to get into the far right lane in 1 Klick, you probably don't need it. Here's a video showing firstly LA & AGL and then the 3 working together on a 2797: