Garmin nüvi 1490/1490T 5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Integrated Traffic Receiver

5 comments

1. 

   JB on September 25, 2009 at 7:43 pm

   While I liked my previous Garmins the 1490T is a piece of junk. I am returning my second unit. The screen locks up, the voice sounds like Donald Duck, and the display stays on night when it is set to auto. I tried emailing the company but could not because the company still doesn’t have a 1490T drop down window under 1400 Series. Garmin needs a wake up call!

2. 

   Sue Kogan on September 25, 2009 at 9:51 pm

   Either I have a lemon or this GPS is just not worth the money. First, it freezes up when I need it the most. Like on the I10 in Los Angeles. In a test drive, in Miami, to a restaurant I know how to get to, when I could see the restaurant, this GPS instructed then me to drive 2 miles East then 1 mile South then 1 mile North then 2 miles West (get it…I just drove in a circle) and it just could not get me there. Also, the voice is not easy to understand. A street named Fairfax was prounced Farrah-fex. Very confusing. I’ve used Magellan GPS systems in the past. They are significantly better. I regret buying this Garmin. I had used a website rating system that reported this as being the best choice. Wrong. Buyer Beware.

3. 

   Leo Batfish on September 25, 2009 at 11:20 pm

   i owned a 660 for many years and had a good experience with its performance. it only had to be returned once for service.
   
   i was excited when they announced the 1490T. i have used it for about 20 hours of travel and have several observations:
   
   1) it’s cheaply made and promises far more than it delivers.
   
   A. unlike the 660, it does not come with a case. That is separate. Add $40 to the total price.
   
   B. They don’t have the case in stock!!! Won’t be available until end of September.
   
   C. The clamp that holds the unit to windshield, unlike the 660 is very primitive and requires 2 hands to match 2 little bumps and grooves. it cannot be easily removed either. worse, the top and bottom are not easily distinguished and require close observation for proper assembly.
   
   D. The mapping system that supposedly has lane assistance information is active about 1/3 of the time. DO NOT COUNT ON THIS FEATURE.

   IN SHORT: EXPENSIVE, DOESN’T COME WITH CASE, HARD TO MOUNT AND DISMOUNT, AND FEATURES ONLY WORK SPORADICALLY

4. 

   Nik Luna on September 26, 2009 at 12:39 am

   I’m a dedicated Garmin user. This is my third Garmin portable GPS, and I’ve always been satisfied with their products and their service. And I like the 1490T in general and am not having most of the issues reported here by many users in their reviews. However, I am having one problem with it that does seem to be common even though I have updated the device with the latest available firmware: it does a complete reset every time I plug it into my computer. I saw this issue in the product reviews here, but in my experience with Garmin products they do seem to fix everything eventually with their frequent firmware updates, so I didn’t see that as a major deterrent from buying the device.

   After I unplug it from my computer, the unit forgets that it was ever set up initially and starts asking me what language, what country, etc. I also have to reset all preferences in the Settings menu. And I mean EVERYTHING, as if you just took it out of the box brand new. While not critical to the unit’s functioning while I’m using it on the road, this little glitch is beyond annoying and inconvenient and means I have to spend a few extra minutes to get the settings back to the way I like them after I unplug it from my computer.

   I contacted Garmin’s tech support by phone to see if they could fix it and was shocked when the support rep told me this is NOT a known issue with the unit, and that I was the first person to ever report it. Apparently those of you complaining about this problem in your product reviews didn’t even bother to contact Garmin tech support about it. If they don’t know about the problem, how can you expect them to address it???

   The end result is that because no one else has reported it they don’t recognize it as a problem and they have NO plans to address this problem with an update at all at any point in the future. Instead they recommended I return the whole thing to Amazon for an exchange.

   I have worked for an electronics manufacturer for many years and I know enough about the business to make me very wary of going through the hassle of the return process with Amazon only to get another unit with the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. I would prefer to deal with the inconvenience of bearing with the issue for a while until Garmin recognizes the problem and comes out with a fix for it. But that won’t happen if no one else reports it.

   PLEASE people, do the rest of us a favor: if you’re experiencing this reset issue or any other software-related problems with your 1490T (or any Garmin unit for that matter), PLEASE take the time to report the problem to Garmin tech support. I have found their tech support reps, despite the obscenely long hold times on the phone, to be quite good. They all speak English, their call centers are based in the US, and every time I’ve contacted them they have been very knowledgeable. BUT THEY CAN’T FIX A PROBLEM THEY DON’T KNOW ABOUT!!! Please do your part so they can do theirs.

5. 

   B. Chall on September 26, 2009 at 1:49 am

   On September 1, 09 I bought a 1490T from Best Buy in Reno who agreed to match Amazon’s price. I like buying from Amazon but after reading many reviews about poor quality control of Garmin GPS units, I felt it would be quicker to return the unit if there were problems.
   
   This turned out to be a good decision. The first unit I bought could not acquire a satellite signal. I did a firmware upgrade to no avail. The signal strength meter would either show one or no bars. On the other hand, my Iphone, with Navigon software downloaded into it, would access the satellite in seconds. I returned the unit the same day for a refund. Today, September 2, I went to another Best Buy in the area and bought another unit. I tried it in their parking lot and it had the same problem. Just to be sure it wasn’t me who was doing something wrong, I talked to their installers in the auto section, who install GPS units every day, and their tech played with it for awhile and concluded that there was something wrong with the unit. Again, another refund. They told me that the Reno store had just gotten another unit in stock, so I drove back to that store. This time, they didn’t even make me pay for it first and they opened it up and took it out to the parking lot, and same problem. It couldn’t acquire a satellite, and no signal strength showing on the meter. Again my Iphone, in the same position, picked up the satellite in seconds.
   
   I would say that there is, obviously, a problem with a whole batch of these units. I do plan to try again, in a month or so, and see if Garmin has solved the problem. If so, I may still buy one. But, not right now. One Best Buy employee asked me if I had talked to Garmin support. I actually did the day before I purchased it. After reading so many horror stories on the 765T I wanted to know if there had been problems with the 1490T. He said there hadn’t been as far as he knew. I had to stay on hold for 35 minutes to talk to the Garmin tech.
   
   My feeling is that if I buy something new and it has problems right out of the box, I’m not interested in spending hours on the phone and otherwise trying to solve it. I want it to work right out of the box or screw it.
   
   Garmin needs to get their act together regarding the quality control on the GPS units they ship.