Garmin Nuvi 2475LT 4.3" Sat Nav with Europe and North America Maps, Lifetime Traffic and Bluetooth

Garmin nüvi 2495LMT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

I'm a big fan of Garmin GPS products... However, I chose 1-star to make a point.

The "Lifetime Traffic" is part of why I chose this product. What Garmin fails to disclose up front is that the traffic provider (antennae in power cord) sends advertisements to the Garmin device. These pop up regularly and take up an rectangular area about 2/3 the size of a standard postage stamp in the upper left quadrant of the map (where the traffic notification icons appear).

I don't mind having local product offerings available on the device on demand, but not on the map. There is no option to disable this feature and, contrary to what I was told when I called Garmin to complain, these remain on the screen when the vehicle is in motion... the only way I have found to get the advertisement off the map is to select it and then go back to the map... and this fix is temporary until it pops up again.

These offers also appear at the top of the traffic page and causing the user to have to scroll down to see options that would otherwise be in view without having to scroll down. Advertisements also sweep across the top banner in the same way as do traffic options (e.g. alternate route); the motion causes me to check the screen expecting to see a traffic issue only to discover that it is another advertisement... distracting and dangerous!

I paid for a product that INCLUDED lifetime traffic. Allowing their Traffic data provider to inflict their paying customers with unsolicited advertising is a huge failure on Garmin's part... especially in view of the fact that the advertising interferes with the purchased functionality of the device. I regard this as being akin to if HBO or Showtime (paid channels) started airing commercials.

That the included "lifetime traffic" inflicts advertising on the user... (and that this advertising interferes with the purchased functionality of the device by obscuring part of the map) should have been openly disclosed in the specifications of the product as a qualifier for what the "lifetime traffic" included. I read all the specifications; before and after my purchase and saw no such disclosure. I took the time to write this in the hope that other purchasers would at least have this omitted piece of information before they buy. I complained to Garmin through their website but have received no response.

I will say, however, that in every other way I'm a fan of this product. I may still return it and go to a competitor product because the traffic issue annoys me every time it occurs.

Travel safely, all!

[This review has become too unwieldy due to the many "Added in Edit"s, so I've restructured it to flow better. The basic content is the same.]

"I'm JerryWithaJ and I'm a GPS junkie!"

For some reason, Garmin releases a new mid-level GPS and I have to try it out. It's not like I *really* have to. I was using a 1350LMT. I had lifetime maps and traffic...and lane assist! However, I'm lucky enough that I can afford a new GPS every year or two and I have family and friends who are happy to get the units I replace...and the split screen advanced lane guidance was too much to resist.

The more I use this unit, the more I like it! I was starting to doubt my sanity when I ordered the 2455. It really didn't seem to have that much to offer over the 1350. When I saw the new interface, my first thought was to deduct stars for it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, in the end it is the new interface that convinced me that getting the 2455 was the right thing to do.

There ARE annoyances.

* The ads (with traffic) do seem to persist a bit longer on the 2455 than on my 1300 series units. They can be removed with the extra-cost ads-free Garmin 010-01031-00 GTM 60 HD Digital Traffic Receiver), which I've purchased and reviewed.
* One scrolls down the screen by pressing an arrow on the left of the screen rather than the right. It makes for a shorter reach, but means that one's right hand is blocking the screen while it scrolls.
* The units STILL do not accept zip codes for entering destinations.

That said, now, to the interface that has won me over so completely!

Suppose I wanted to visit the President.

The old way...
I'd press
--Address,
--Change State/Country,
--Spell State (press D and I'm given the choice between Delaware and District of Columbia, choose DC},
--Choose city in DC (I choose Washington DC),
--Enter House Number (1600),
--Enter Street (Pen brings up choices that include Pennsylvania Ave.)

The new way, with a SURPRISE(!)
[I call it a SURPRISE because Garmin doesn't tell you and, if you don't experiment, you might never realize it, but now you'll know! THE GREY BOX THAT SAYS "Searching In" is LIVE! You can press on it while a search is in progress. So, here's the new way:

--Press Address
--Enter House Number(!): 1600
--Enter Street: Penns gets me Pennsylvania. I add "Ave". The Garmin starts searching the Northeast (where I live). If I let it continue, it will return seven 1600 Pennsylvania Aves but not the one I need.
--Any time after the search starts, I press on the Grey box that says "Searching in:".
--A Qwerty keypad pops up and I type "DC", which brings up District of Columbia.
Mr President, I'm on my way!

This might not seem like much of a change but it taught me that the new scheme makes a LOT of sense. I (like many other, I suspect) have always been mildly annoyed by having to enter the name of my home town to get directions to a local address. This new scheme eliminates the need to enter City unless it's WAY out of the area. It just would have been nice if Garmin made it clear from the start about how things had changed and that the "Searching in:" box was live. Garmin didn't, I did! :-)

* Another nice change in entering destinations: No more looking for Points of Interest/Spell Name. You just type in the name and the unit seems to have some kind of smart search that offers a ribbon of suggestions as you type. I didn't realize how quickly I'd gotten used to this until I found myself entering a destination into my old 1350. When you're (me, anyway) pulled over on the side of the road entering an address, the last thing you want to be doing is drilling down menus. The 2455 has gone a long way to making things easier.

Here are some other things that have stood out:

* I had no problem transferring my favorites from my 1350LMT to the 2455LMT

* It comes with a limited number of voices, which had me copying voices from my older units, but there's no need. When you go online to register the device, update the firmware, and check for additional software, you are presented with a long list of voices that you can "update", that is, add, including my favorite--British English Emily (Excuse me, Emily. I meant "favourite"!)

* I often use my GPS for short hops that don't really require a GPS, but I like to use it to estimate my time of arrival. When I first got the 2455, I set it for the train station, as I often did with the 1350LMT. When I got to within about 1.5 miles, the title bar turned grey with a Parking symbol in it! Having my rider touch it produced a list of nearby garages including the station's garage. Choosing the garage had the GPS direct us there rather than to the station itself! While I didn't need it to get to that garage, I can see how this type of feature can be extremely useful in unfamiliar settings.

* You can choose the buttons you want on your map, up to 3. I chose Where To?, Detour, Traffic. Other possibilities are Mute, Stop, Exit Services, Where Am I?, Trip Computer, Map Layers, Brightness, Audible (audio books). You don't lose the features you don't select. They are still available through menus.

* Map Layers, BTW, are Places along the road (never miss a Dunkin Donuts in the Northeast), Traffic, and Trip Log. They can be turned on and off through menu choices

* Where To? can have up to 32 buttons including Saved Searches! For example, I added Starbucks and Whole Foods. You can add or delete buttons and rearrange them in any order you wish. One annoyance is that Cities, Coordinates, and Intersections are not visible by default. You have to add them yourself.

* Some familiar things have been renamed. Favorites is now Saved (with a heart icon). Places of Interest is now Categories.

* The unit has a new Portrait mode. I've tried it, but went back to Landscape. I find I don't need a lot of detail when going straight ahead, but I want a sense of what might be happening next when I'll be making a turn. So, I prefer Landscape, myself.

* It would seem that one drawback to Portrait mode is typing on a keyboard in that orientation. I find that it's not bad at all. It's a LOT more precise than my Smartphone. My Samsung Fascinate registers a lot of miss-presses. Some are my typos, but the rest have more to do with the unit. However, I've had this happen only once so far with the 2455.

I've had this GPS for about a week and overall I'm happy. The display is nice and bright and easy to see in the sunlight. Using this device in portrait mode makes a lot of sense because you are typically more interested in what is in front of you rather than on the side of you. Information on the display is well thought out and very usable.

The GPS is super simple to use with a very logical user interface, and the POI coverage is pretty good. I typed in a few obscure places and if found them all.

The one thing that is a little screwy has to do with re-routing. As a test, I programmed an address and selected a route that was a shorter distance but a longer travel time by 10 minutes (1:30 travel time). But instead of following the GPS directions, I drove a route that I was familiar with (1:20 travel time). The 2455 kept trying to get me back on to the route I originally chose even when I was at a location 1 hr from my destination and the re-routing would have taken 1:30. I would have expected the GPS to choose the route that I was traveling on when the time and distance became shorter than the re-route but that was not the case.

Overall I'm happy with the GPS. I'm just not sure about the re-routing logic.