Garmin nuvi 1690 4.3-Inch Portable Bluetooth Navigator with Google Local Search & Real-Time Traffic Alerts - Garmin Navigation

EDIT – 12/15/09: Upon further use of the unit and it’s nuLink traffic feature, I’ve run into numerous occasions where the traffic data simply wasn’t too accurate. There were times that I’d be driving and the 1690 would indicate that I was in yellow level traffic, however, there really wasn’t any traffic on the road at the time. There were other instances of where there’d be highway road construction going on with bumper to bumper traffic, but the nuvi didn’t acknowlegde any traffic existed. With that said, overall there have been more times than not that the 1690 has nailed the traffic data and has been accurate, but it’s been more like a 70-30 ratio which is just ok in my opinion. While I still believe the 1690 has the most accurate traffic compared to other nuvi models (explained in my review), it still leaves alot to be desired at times. I’ve come to the conclusion that the radio is simply the best source for the most up to the minute traffic info.

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I purchase alot of navigation devices, so I was excited about the 1690 as there was much hype with this unit. The nuvi 1690 is Garmin’s current top of the line model. It features the new Garmin nuLink service which includes things like traffic, weather, gas prices, movie times, etc. It’s really good if you like that kind of stuff. It’s basically a much better version of MSN Direct if you’ve ever used that service.

I have a nuvi 1490t and 765t as well, so I’m going to make comparisons of the units. First thing I must say is that this unit acquires a satelite signal FAST (provided you used the unit within the past couple of days prior). I’m talking less than 10 seconds fast. I remember with my old nuvi 350 I used to have to sit in my car and wait a few minutes for the unit to get a signal, not with this 1690. The same can be said with the 1490t as far as fast satelite acquisition. With the 1690 however, I can actually get a signal inside of my house without standing directly by the window, which is the first device that can do that in my experiences. I would imagine it’s good in a city with tall buildings like NYC with this kind of signal strength though I haven’t tested there. As far as navigation, it navigates as well as any other Garmin device so no changes there. Directions are very accurate and re-route calculations if you miss a turn are quick. Text-to-speech is excellent as well and is very accurate and clear with pronunciation of street names. Something Garmin has done with the newer software in all of their new units is increased the size of the text in the green bar when you’re navigating. This is great because the text in that green bar used to be too small to make out sometimes while you were driving. The size and thickness of the font of the arrival time (which can be changed to another category) and speed indicator (which can’t be changed to another category) have also been increased. The speed indicator font now turns red whenever you go above the speed limit. I’ve noticed that the little speed limit signs are also now on practically all roads and not just highways. They are also pretty accurate and update as soon as I pass the real speed limit sign at times. Another thing to note with the 1690 is you now have an option to change the screen layout. You can have it where the map screen itself is smaller and a list of four categories (three choosable, can’t change speed indicator) are to the right of the approximately 3.5″ sized map screen (ie. Arrival Time, Direction, Distance to Destination, etc.) You can now also flick your finger on the screen like an iphone to navigate the menus instead of pressing the up/down arrow which is neat. Some have complained about the responsiveness of the keyboard, however, I feel it’s the same as all the previous nuvi models I’ve owned. When I press a key it gets immediately entered though there have been a couple rare times it has taken a second to register. Nothing serious though, it’s very useable. Also, the map screen redraw rate during a route is fast, so the car on the screen moves along nice and smooth like both the 765t and 1490t (and unlike the nuvi 350, 660, etc. which hops along instead of glides).

The screen on the 1690 in terms of quality is exactly like the screen on the 765t. This is a bit of a disappointment for me because the screen on the 1490t is far superior to every other nuvi model. The 1490t’s screen is of course larger (5″ instead of 4.3″ like on the 1690). The 1490t’s screen is a much better screen because not only are colors more vivid, but viewing angles are MUCH better. I was hoping the 1690 would have the same screen, but in a 4.3″ version. Not the case. I uploaded a couple of screen shots of a 1490t and 1690 side-by-side so you can see the comparison in screen size.

The speaker in the 1690 is the same as the one in the…

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Christina Le –

  

I wrote a very heated review a few weeks ago… after playing around with the GPS for a full 24 hours. After a lot of hemming and hawing, I decided to keep the GPS because it served its purpose: provide directions for me while I drove around in LA/OC. I’m sure there’s probably a better one out there but I paid $360 for this unit from CarToys.

The following review is my original one including more opinions on this unit: I’m officially a GPS newbie. I never owned a unit before so fellow newbies – this is for you too. So far, I’ve had this unit for up to 3 weeks now and here are some pros & cons. Also, this is a matter of my opinion, if you have any tips – PLEASE let me know.

PROS:

1) The GPS made my drive very convenient… it gave accurate information even though their traffic data wasn’t precise. In one instance they wanted us to hop off the 5 freeway, drive down a regular street, and do it again.

2) Garmin’s NuLink service is very helpful as there were several occasions where I needed to find some information and I was able to look through Google Local for it.

3) There are a lot of handy features. I like their points of interest. I never knew there were so many events in the area. It’s handy when you want to see an art exhibit (doesn’t list all), comedy show, or something. Looking for food has never been so easy for me. I don’t have to drive around in circles to look for it.

4) The bluetooth is very handy. I found it very easy to use. Too bad I can’t have an “address book” on there. Favorites seem to be sufficient, however when I look under call history — the number that I entered as a favorite registers as UNKNOWN CALLER. This might be problematic because… what if you don’t want to pick up?

CONS:

1) Traffic data stopped working and it’s slightly unreliable. The first week it worked for me. However, for some UNKNOWN reason, it stopped working when I tried to look up traffic data a week after I got the unit. I was getting incomplete data. Some freeways showed up as black (which the route used to show up green for good traffic) and it’ll show yellow and red. However, these colors didn’t align to the freeway (when it used to).

2) The Google search helped a lot BUT it’s slightly slow and the response isn’t perfect. I live in Orange County and drove to Los Angeles w/ the device so it should be able to retrieve data well enough. However, I kept running to the “server is busy” messages.

3) THIS DEVICE RESTARTS AT VERY RANDOM TIMES (even though it’s fully charged or plugged into the car). I used this device all day and it restarted on me while I was driving, using it in pedestrian mode, and just entering data. I noticed that it happens quite a bit when it can’t connect to the satellites EVEN THOUGH I’m in an open area. That led to manually restarting the device several times. If I clicked too fast, it restarts too! This is getting slightly irritating. Also, in a place like LA, you can’t have this thing randomly restart!

4) There have been a few times when the device registered incorrect dates. Earlier, I was looking for comedy events that were playing TODAY. However, when I click on TODAY, it gave me the times/events for TOMORROW’S DATE versus TODAY. When I click on TOMORROW’S date, I get the next day’s events. What happened to TODAY and not tomorrow? That is buggy.

5) Marking your car’s parking spot is slightly unreliable. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe this is due to user error but I got it to work the first time… however, afterwards, it didn’t work.

6) ADVERTISEMENTS ARE ANNOYING – It obstructs your route. So far, the only way I can get around this is by clicking on it. Then it brings to a list of where all the stores are in the area, and I have to click back. This is a problem because it’s a distraction that’s frustrating and problematic when you’re trying to pay attention to the road. In California, you can’t mount your GPS on the center of the windshield. As a test of the law, I had it mounted on far right side of the passenger’s side and realized how hard it is to get out of the screen. I had to pull over, pull it off, and place it on the passenger seat just to have it next to me so I can click on the ads to make them go away.

7) The battery life is very short. It states that it lasts for 4 hours but it seems to last only a couple hours for me while I’m using it in pedestrian mode.

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Depending on things go with this device, I might even consider returning it. Luckily Car Toys has a wonderful return policy on Garmin products. I may call Garmin’s customer support to find how I can get around these problems. If not… I’m going to put it back in the box and do a return!

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L. Balk –

  

This is just a typical Garmin unit, I like Garmin better than most of the other companies primarily for how they handle points of interest. I was disappointed the Google option is a separate search not integrated into the primary search but the Google search was useful and I could have seen using this as the default POI search tool, if I was going to keep the unit. Tom Tom did this same which I don’t get, it would have made more sense to combine the integrated items with the Google search, but I an not a programmer and don’t know the challenges with accomplishing this.

The reason I really do not like this item and I am returning it, is because of the pop ups for advertisements. This item was over $400 which is a premium to pay for a GPS, I don’t mind paying for a yearly service agreement and becuase this is only a two year subscription that comes with the unit I am paying for it. I just don’t expect to get pop ups for local businesses , not only is it unaceptable but it is a distraction and it is unsafe. For example: I chose the option to show the closest hospitals, now you would assume if I am looking for a hospital it would be an urgent issue. I got a little blue pop up banner Target – Check out this week’s deal on-the-go. This same pop up showed up on a few other occasions while I had the regular navigation map up as well. This is the reason I am giving it such a low rating and returning it.

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