I'll admit that I don't know much about those portable GPS systems and didn't really care all that much about them . . . that is until my father decided that he wanted one for Christmas. Since it was a gizmo (or gadget if you prefer that), it automatically fell to me to pick one out. I love how my entire family assumes I know all that there is to know about every single electronic device out there just because I claim to be a Gizmodo, a hardcore tech lover. Like when my father gave me his new Blackberry to get it all set up for him even though I hadn't touched one before in my life - though I did finally get it all set up with a bit of trial and error.Anyway, back to the story, I went online and researched a few professional as well as consumer reviews from the basic brands that I've heard of and found that Garmin seemed to be a favorite among both review circles. Once I picked the brand, I decided to look for a model . . . did you know there are twenty-five models of Garmins? How many variations of a GPS can you have? "Oh, this T5000 can even find your lost car keys or remote control!" Honestly, how many versions do you really need to have? Considering that I had no clue what was really needed in the GPS, I went off of price, reviews, and availability - which finally brought me to the Nuvi 1490T (with the umlaut over the u that I didn't want to take the time to figure out how to actually type). Christmas day, after all the trash was cleaned up and everything put away, my family took a trip to try out the new GPS. I live in a pretty rural area and was a bit worried that even with the fancy GPS, some of the sort of non-existing roads wouldn't show up. Luckily, it worked perfectly fine and surprisingly well.
Not only can you input an address and it will take you there, it also can estimate time of arrival very accurately, to the minute. It also displays the speed limit and elevation. You can search for restaurants or gas stations in the area and you can also save the more common destinations so you don't have to re-enter it every time you need to go there. A great feature is when you're in the bigger cities, it will actually show you what the various lane mergers look like and flash a white arrow when you need to change lanes as well as announce it by voice. Which brings me to the coolest and worst thing about the Nuvi. You can choose various speakers from a female American to a male Australian and everything else you can think of which is pretty cool. You can even set it to Japanese as well, which was fun. I did have it originally set to the male British voice (his name was Daniel . . . yes, they actually give you their names) but my father couldn't quite understand anything he said with his heavy accent so we stuck with Joe, the American. The bad thing about the voices is how many times they tell you "turn left on Murray Road". They will actually announce it before you get close to the turn, when you are at the stop, and once again when you are actually turning. Three times does the voice repeat itself . . . which can be quite annoying when you have multiple turns within only a few miles of each other.
Other than the fact that the Nuvi talks too much, the other features work amazingly well. It even automatically updates itself with new maps and data which saves me the hassle of having to manually do it. Overall, it works really well and my father has been very pleased with it. Plus, he no longer gets lost on his long trips down south which is the best thing about the Garmin Nuvi 1490T.
