Home > Consumer Reviews > Garmin Nuvi 1490 Traffic Satellite Navigation

I have had the 1490 for about a week now as an upgrade for my 6 year old Garmin Streetpilot 2610 and so far its been faultless. The large screen is amazing so clear and easy to see Ideal for us oldies. The dash board fitting was simple to install and removing the unit is easy. Battery life is about 3.5 to 4 hours you can go a long way in that time if thats not enough use the power lead that comes with it. As for charging at home dont waste your time on the cheap ones off ebay they dont work get the garmin one. Setting up a journey is simple installing POIs simple updating software simple overall i have to give it 10 out of 10 and very good value for money and of course solid build quiality. Another winner for Garmin!!!!!!!

This seems to be a product that divides opinion. Yes, I recognise most of the criticisms that have been made by other reviewers, but I also believe they can be overcome to a large degree. For example:
1. Buy a dashboard mount: I find this invaluable, providing somewhere to tuck spare wiring, as well as making removal from the car that much easier.
2. True, the touchscreen can be frustrating at first, but with practice errors become much rarer.

Of course, the simplest way to use a SatNav is just to put your destination in and let the SatNav take you there, but we all know the difficulties that can create, when the SatNav thinks that impassable track is a great short cut, avoiding the need to take the main road miles further. The great advantage of the Nüvi 1490 is that you can use it away from the car to plan and simulate routes. If you think the SatNav is wrong you can always change the route by adding Waypoints.

As with human beings, it cannot be expected to respond to information it hasn't received, so if there is no FM signal or no information available, you may still be stuck in a queue. However, whilst driving from the North East to the Midlands recently, I twice had reason to be grateful for its ability to re-route in the face of traffic problems up ahead, so this is a useful feature, despite its limitations.

Finally, the Nüvi 1490 is not just a SatNav for the car. It's light-weight and its pedestrian mode means you can continue to us it when you have left the car, enabling you to avoid getting lost in town.

So, all in all, this SatNav may not yet be the answer to ALL our dreams, but it's still the best I have come across.

Nearly caused a divorce the first time we used it but that's not the machine's fault! Worked O.K. out of the box, easy to set up - connect to computer to update firm ware (do this on a regular basis for ongoing updates). Maps clear,(although a few glaring errors)spoken instructions clear although female voice less distinct. Traffic jam updates good. Third party POIs plentiful but remember to upload everything at one go as previous inputs are overwritten. Works for me - a decent piece of kit.
Addendum to above - If you are updating maps make sure you have, a very fast internet connection, a fast CPU, plenty of time... and patience. Took me about nine attempts over three days to finally get everything sorted. If the downloader looks as if it is doing something, it probably is! It's just flaming slow. Also I hope the update is major otherwise it's a lot of effort for maybe very little.

This is a real nice Sat Nav which is spoilt by clumsy and poorly designed power and mounting gear. I struggle to understand how Garmin could have done any field trials on this item at all. The whole thing appears set up for permanent wiring and not being removed from the car which as we know is not something that anyone does. The power cable is an overlong thick thing which snakes around your dashboard and looks like it is made for a huge lorry rather than a regular car, it has a plug in it for the FM traffic cable which is stuck to the window by two suction caps which continually fall off. The power has to be attached in the back of the Nuvi using the same connector that is used to connect it to your computer for USB access, how long this will last I don't know? Finally the windscreen mount is difficult to get the item out and into your hand.

The Sat Nav itself is great, but I would recommend you wait for Garmin to build a cradle with power connection and some ease of use built in otherwise you will be doing what I did and selling it after two weeks of frustration at the FM traffic cable falling off every five minutes and struggling to get it connected and in/out of the cradle every time.

Really disappointing and difficult to use, come on Garmin, I wish I had kept my 765T instead of making the mistake of trading up, that shouldn't happen.

The Garmin Nuvi 1490 is the worst gadget I have ever purchased. This is in no way a criticism of Amazon, who have been a model of efficiency and courtesy throughout, providing a full refund. Compare and contrast with Garmin whose "product support" failed even to acknowledge.

I find it very seriously dysfunctional, owing to several problems, including the following:

* the touch screen is unreliable - no response in some areas, wrongly located in others. If it's pressed, often nothing happens; or the wrong (neighbouring) action is recognised. For instance, it displays some wrong numbers when inputting the PIN code and the rubout button doesn't work so one has to loop back and try all over again. The '+' and '-' buttons aren't 'seen' when it's displaying a journey so it thinks you're pointing to the map, with dire consequences.

* map scrolling by touch is almost uncontrollable - the displayed portion of map leaps around or drifts away when you take your finger off, making it almost impossible to shift attention where you want it.

* the traffic info service works only 25% of the time - this in areas of good FM service - e.g. Huntingdon, A1, Hatfield, St Albans, Stevenage. Most of the time, the icon is grey; often there isn't one.

* the sound spontaneously mutes and, when it does, the indicator asserts it's _not_ muted. This happens every day or so with no obvious reason.

I fear these problems are largely congenital, especially the Etch-a-Sketch-like touch screen. A colleague has had two 1490's now and has suffered similarly apart from the muting. His responses from Garmin have been flatulent.

It seems trite to mention that the displayed information when navigating is unduly puerile - it could usefully display more (e.g. railway lines). And the map data can be over a year behind...

DON'T buy this product or, if you do and, if it works perfectly, then please submit a review!Garmin Nuvi 1490 Traffic Satellite Navigation

Finally, don't leave this on show in your car or, as in the old accordion joke, you may return to find a smashed window and two 1490s sitting there!