Garmin nüvi 1490T - Looking for opinions

It's been a couple months but I wasn't impressed with the 1490T. It did have many software glitches such as freezing up. I also really didn't care for the new display presentations much compared to the older one but that is more personal preference. As a result, I returned it shortly after I got it. Despite the "added features" like the photo realistic signs at interchanges and lane designations, I wasn't impressed and returned it.

I would check on software updates, however. If they have fixed the freezing and other issues, it is a decent GPS for the price.

I converted over from a StreetPilot myself.

Initially I had freezes like crazy, but they fixed them with subsequent patches. No problems at all now.

Three things I miss are:

1 - User-entered waypoint names. They don't show up on the map, only the symbol.

2 - Map detail - Not all surrounding streets will display their names on the maps, unless you are on them.

3 - Being able to avoid a specific road on a route. Now it is just a 'Detour' button that tries to get you off your current road.

Other than that, I like it.

Once you use it you'll have trouble going back to the smaller screen. I have had my 1490 since mid November and have traveled some 6000 miles with it. One lockup early on and never one since.

The screen is great, very bright in sunlight and easy to read. The new larger speakers mean you don't need to turn the volume up past 60% to hear instructions while driving on any type of road. The bigger speakers also allow for a better Bluetooth experience. Surrounding street name detail may be less than what was on earlier Nuvi's but I have been using my unit beside a TomTom 540s and if anything the Nuvi has more detail.

Over all if you don't mind being without the ability to play MP3, I think you'll find the 1490 is the best Nuvi yet.

I have a 1490, and like many users have problems with the lockups and reboots. Garmin already sent me two refurbs which haven't solved any of the problems. I needed the big screen since my eyes aren't what they used to be.

I just bought the Motonav tn765 which has a 5.1 inch screen, and I must say I'm quite impressed. It has many more features than the nuvi, such as selectable detours where you can actually choose what streets to avoid, as Garmin had on the 800 series.

The Moto has lifetime traffic included plus many other services on a subscription basis. The screen is nice and bright, and the split screen feature shows much more info than the 1490.

The only plus to the 1490 would be the bluetooth volume. Why the navigation volume is loud, the bluetooth seems to lose volume when on a phone call. I spoke to Motorola on this and they stated that a fix will be released shortly.

The other nice feature is it has the active dock so that you don't have to plug the cord into the unit every time you take it out of the car, which is a big plus over the 1490.

I was a huge Garmin fan and still have 5 of their units in my family including the 1490. All of them get worse with the newer models, I had a 1690 which was just garbage, it actually lost the maps on its own, and Garmin said they were aware of the issue and to send it in for a refurb replacement. Instead I just returned it and opted to try the Motonav. Glad I did, you should take a look at it before you buy the Nuvi 1490. It sells for around $280.00.

Check out some of the other forums and Amazon user reviews, it's what made me try it and I'm glad I did. Good luck.

I used this model a few times. Overall it is a good model. I do miss MP3 and FM transmitter.

I've only had mine a couple days, but it seems to work well. I love the big screen, the volume is loud and clear, and the new display has more things displayed. I found out tonite that if you exceed the speed limit the speed display turns red. I thought it was pretty nest. I'm taking a trip this weekend, so I will see how the lane assist and all the other bells & whistles work. Once I got it, I registered and was eligible for the map up date, which also installed 2010.04 onto my laptop. I also used webupdater to upgrade the firmware, which specifically listed the freezes etc as being fixed. The display seems so much larger and brighter than my 750. The only things I was sorry to see go were the MP3 player, which I usually didn't use and the external antenna jack. The antenna would get my accuracy down to 7-8'. I only seen 14' so far. There isn't traffic where I live, but there is in places we visit. I also found it on sale at Staples for 299.95, and I found a coupon for 15% off on the staples website, so the additional $50 off I couldn't pass up. Hope this helps.

I've had my 1490t for 6 months and I use it on a daily basis. I've had no problems at all. Once you have the bigger screen you won't go back.

Alright - I'm in the middle of a move but if they have the refurb units afterwards I'll order one.

I have an in-dash unit now (Kenwood/Garmin combination which is essentially a StreetPilot on the Garmin side) so, yeah, the larger screen is really nice.

I'm not so particular that I'd get angry if the thing reset a few times a year but a few times a week would definitely bug me.

The things that draw me to this unit:
- refurb/price (it's not that much more than one of the lower units at the refurb price)
- screen size
- multi-point routing (I actually do use this and like it)
- FM Traffic

But, yeah, it's really going to be my rental car GPS. The ones that come in the rental cars are usually kind of old, crappy, and the interface is pretty bad plus the nüvi's interface is still Garmin which I'm used to just from having various Garmin's over the years. Basically, I don't want to be in the car trying to figure out how to operate the silly thing as I'm trying to find my way around.

I have had mine for two weeks Initially I had freezes this has been fixed with the updates I noticed sometimes that county roads would dissapear on a route only when the nuvi would auto resize I zoom back in a bit and everything is back never does this intown kinda weird but now that I know they are still there I dont mind still learning it but it is a great unit.
So now it seems that there are no problems with this unit I highly recommend it.
I read reviews on these and tomtoms for 4 weeks before my purchase.
The Blue tooth on this unit is fabulous even with my crappy trackfone. Volume level at 80% is almost too loud. This had been the draw backs to the previous nuvis. This kept me from buying the 885t with voice command which I really wanted.
Another person has told me they live in a big city and the traffic info is great.
And people that buy it might as well consider buying the refurbished units because garmin is treating them as new unit.
NewEgg.com has them for 189.00 and another year warranty is only 19.00.
New Egg has a 30 day return policy
Cant go wrong

I got me a 1450 to replace the 650 that died, I really like the 1450. I hardly ever used the mp3 on the 650 so dont miss that . the only thing i wish the 1450 had was the capabilities to plug it into my car system but with the larger and louder speakers on the 1450 dont really need that, Didnt care about the bluetooth cause the car already has it. That larger screen is really great. Glad i went with the 1450.The difference in the 1450 is about 50 to 100 bucks differnce than the 1490

Just got a 1490T. Will give it a shot for the next few weeks. So far the past few days I've had no lock ups. The only issue so far is that it took a while to get sat reception when I first powered it on but after that it wasw very quick. Better than my 230.

Went to Phx this week on a job, it worked great, took me right to the site, I can now pay more attention to the traffic around me, love the brighter screen and the size.....

My only complaint so far is there is no truck routing function on the 1490t. It was on the 350 and was very handy for those of us with campers.
Other than that is is a nice unit after the software and firmware updates. I like the large screen, not too large to ruin portability and much easier to read

So I've had it for a few weeks and so far no freezze ups. the Traffic worked well for the most part. I was in the DC area and it listed the slow or congested traffice on the opposite side vs my side which was green. I'm guessing that is what was sent and not a GPS issue. Overall it is working well. Easy touch screen too. No misstypes.

The 1490T was definitely not worth the $470 I paid for it, but at around $200 as I've heard recently, if I'd go ahead and pick one up.

I'm over the freezes and restarts, but still haven't figured out yet how to load the POIs into the SD card. When I use the POI Loader and tell it to go to the SD card, it says they're loaded, but won't show up in the menu. That wasn't the problem with my 200W. So I have to load them into the 1490T unit itself, which works, but has limited memory.

I'd be very happy.

Not sure why some of the Nuvi's are tethered, and some are not.

I had my 1490T for about mouth and ok so far

I had mine for about 3 months now, and it's working fine, no problem so far.

I love the 1490T. I believe all of the serious bugs have finally been worked out of the firmware. There are no more freezeups and the bugs with traffic firmware has been finally fixed with the last update.

I don't believe there is any other GPS with as bright a screen and as loud and clear a speaker.
For me, this was critical since if you can't see or hear your GPS, what good is it, even if it pulls in all the information you want.

I have no problems with the unit itself, but I do have some issues with the usefulness of the traffic reports themselves. Seldom (only once actually in the 6 months since owning the 1490T) have I actually gotten a report of a signicant traffic delay that was accurate.
Most of the time the reported delays were over by at the time the FM traffic was still reporting the delay. Even worse, I have been involved in a couple of major delays where the Nuvi, even 30 minutes after the radio reported this traffic accident or delay, the Nuvi was still reporting normal traffic flow. Again, this a problem with FM Traffic channel reporting and not a problem with the 1490T itself.

I understand that the Nuvi 1690 with its internet connectivity gives perhaps more timely traffic reports. If only the 1690T had the bigger, brighter screen of the 1490T, I would probably recommend that unit over the 1490T. As has been already stated elsewhere in this thread, once you get used to the bright 5 inch screen of the 1490T, you really will have a hard time looking at anything smaller.

I don't think the 1690 is delivering different data. I think it's just delivering it in a different way (well, in regards to traffic).

One of the technologies I really wish would have taken off was what Dash Express was trying to do about 2 years ago. They had the 2-way cellular communication but they used it to report back traffic data from each of the units. The more units that people owned, the better the data was plus it would cover every street everyone (using the unit) was driving on. That was cool. The thing was huge bug if Garmin could do the same thing inside a 1690, well, that'd just be awesome (all the parts are there - just a matter of doing it)..

As it is, you're limited to whatever traffic gathering service is available in your area. Some places, like Atlanta, are really good about it (GA DOT in general seems to be great about keeping their system up to date). I hear stories from other places where it's close to useless.

I have just upgraded from a 660 to the 1490t. I love the 660 but I must say that having a larger screen does make a difference. It does not have mp3 like the 660, but I don't miss it because I don't use it that often because the fm transmitter is not the best way to interface with the car stereo. When I do use it the 660 does have a headphone jack that i plug into my cassette deck. I did miss the poi alert voices on the 1490t because it does not have mp3. I did have to replace all of my poi mp3 files with .wav versions. I now use a mac computer and the latest poi loader is version 2.10 which does work with moving .wav files into the garmin without a problem. The screen is very bright and the sound is very loud so that I don't have to set it to high setting. Bluetooth works just as well as the 660.
I was at first reluctant to get the 1490t because of all the problems with freezing and the like. I purchased it from Costco because of their good return policy so I thought I would try it out. The firmware of the 1490t is 4.30 and so far there have not been any problems at all.
The ads that pop up is insignificant because they only show up when the car is stopped. I have not had a chance to give the traffic feature a good testing yet. I do live near the San Francisco urban area and hope to try it out soon. If the traffic prove to be useless, I would probably turn off the feature and supposedly the ads would also turn off. (I wonder if I swapped the power cords from the 660 would the ads and the traffic feature go away? I don't care for the new bulkier cable.) The 660 did have free traffic for the first 3 months but I really had no use for it then. The few times that it showed slow traffic, the traffic was cleared by the time I went through that area.
I really like the directional arrows and lane assist on the top left corner - that is a wonderful addition. The speed limit info along with your traveling speed is a nice touch too. All in all, I hope i don't encounter any problems like previous people because I really want to stay with the 1490t and pass the 660 to my daughter's car.

Thanks to everyone here....Maybe I'll pick one of these up.....

Haven't purchased any electronics at Costco in a long time....I know they had an awesome policy of returns a while ago...

Does anyone know of their policy now?

Still a great return policy. THE RETURN POLICY FOR TELEVISIONS, PROJECTORS, COMPUTERS, CAMERAS, CAMCORDERS, IPODS / MP3S, AND CELLULAR PHONES IS 90 DAYS FROM DATE OF PURCHASE. I had to return two 765t's because of the current issues with that unit. Got a 1490T and couldn't be happier...good luck.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858108...
Promotion code is N149020. Deal ends 5/31

I had my first 1490T in February 2010. It started rebooting on our 10th trip. I returned it for a refund.

I had my first 1390T in May 2010 and had it for three days. When I updated to the initial setup at 50 % of the update, I received a message that it did not have enough memory and should erase some files. After finishing the update, I could not use a QWERTY keyboard.
I had only ABC keyboard. I contacted Garmin’s service department. They told me to send it in for repair. Instead, I returned it for a refund.

My second 1490T in May 2010 bugged on the first trip. I received a message “unable to recalculate” and it shut down by itself. I tried a short reset, a long reset, and nothing worked. I could only get the first page with a blinking Garmin logo. I am returning it for a refund.

I think the 1xxx series have some problems. I will wait for the 37xx series or look at other brands.

Dino.

On my way home to Cleveland from southern Ohio yesterday, just North of Columbus while I was on I-71, the magenta line went off the highway. Not sure when it happened, but when I looked, the line veered off I-71, went arrow straight, and then reconnected with I-71 again. I zoomed in to see where it wanted me to go, and don’t believe that it was an actual road since it was so direct for many, many miles. Even more interesting was that my R2D2 “vehicle” dutifully continued to progress up I-71 correctly as I went along checking the anomaly. When I finally stopped the tracking and re-entered my home destination, the magenta line snapped back to the highway properly after recalculalting.

Only the latest odd thing to happen with my 1490T.

Touchscreen & Volume: are the features on 1490T which are better than 765T.

Screen Size: the so-call 5" diag. screen is actually 1/4 covered by the info tab, so 675T has a bigger screen. 3.75" map view on 1490T vs 4.3" map view on 765T

GPS chip accuracy: relocation is faster on 765T, compared with 1490T side by side. After waiting for 6 min, it is 30 meters more accurate. But I want to leave right away, so 1490T is not that fast as people are saying when 765T is with SiRFstar III chip.

Hard Drive size: 4GB on 765T, only 2GB on 1490T

1490T is missing all the following features that 765T has:
Last location auto lock, 3D building view, mp3 player, audio book player, and FM transmitter.

everything you pointed out is why I got the 765T, unfortunately it seems to have been a mistake. I sent back my first one because of screen problems, I want to send the second one back because the screen doesn't always go where you hit it, plus I now have some dead pixels.

I have the 1450 and really like it a lot, You say your having a problem with the poi's on the sd card, I just tried it on mine and didnt have any problem after loading them with the poi loader,it found the sd card with no problem then navigated to the poi I wanted to load and it loaded all of them. I assume your going to the extras >custom poi >then either selecting or scrolling down to the file your looking for.

Yes, going to the POI list from the >extras simply shows [blank]. There are no files listed. And, since I now have 400,000+ POIs from 100+ files loaded, it takes several hours (I usually run overnight) to load them all. So while the internal memory is still large enough, I probably won't experiment to load them on to the SD card.

Glad your unit is working well.

The units I work with all require the data card to have a file hierarchical structure that mimics the structure of the main unit. There has to be a GARMIN folder in the root directory of the card and other folders under this. The essential folder for POI is the poi folder itself - \GARMIN\poi\.

Have you set up folders on the SD card or are you just writing files to the card? I thought some versions of POI Loader created the structure if it didn't exist, but some may not.

I have heard that it may require a folder structure as you mention; that I haven't tried. However, it may just be my old stubborness that's the problem here. For many years I was an industrial engineer, and one of the key things I had to worry about was the "man-machine interface." That is, making inanimate objects work the way we humans do, and not the other way around. I suspect that's why Apple is so successful with its products, or why voice commands are popular.

When I used to use my 200W, it was a simple matter to use the process I'm using now and it would load to the SD card fine--no subdirectory structure needed. So if in the interest of "progress" I have to do more, I'm probably too lazy!

One constant though: always good folks here willing to help. Thanks!

I am assuming that the excessive time is due to the speed of the SD card. I'll have to try a load to mine to see how comparable my time would be.

Why don't you do a load to the 1490t directly and see what that timing is.

BUT before you run POI Loader, make a backup of the 1490t - not because I expect anything bad to happen - just that you always ought to do this. When the GPS is attached to your computer, you can find out a couple of things. In Windows Explore, locate the drive which is probably called "Garmin Nuvi". Right click on the drive and select "Properties" and you will see just how much internal memory you have and how much is used.

Now, create a new folder - something like C:\Garmin Backup 20100602 on your computer. Then go back to the Gamin Nuvi drive. click in a blank space in the right pane. Do a CNTL-A to select all the files. Do a CNTL-C to copy them. navigate back to your new backup folder on the (probably) C:\ drive. Click in a blank space in the right pane for that folder and do a CNTL-V to paste all of the data on your Nuvi.

If you have ever run POI Loader with the Nuvi as a target, then there will be a file like G:\Garmin\POI\poi.gpi (where I am using G:\ because that is where my Nuvi shows up, yours may be different).

Now, see if your SD card shows up as a removable drive on your computer. One way to see what drive it might be is to start (but do not finish) the process of "Safely Remove Hardware" by clicking that Icon in the System Tray. This will show you the two drives your computer assigned to the Nuvi and its SD card SLOT (ie., it is assigned whether or not the SD card is inserted).

If your computer sees the SD card, is there a poi.gpi file on it somewhere in a folder? If so, why not just transfer it to the proper folder on the Nuvi so your Custom POIs will be there?

NOTE - a user can rename "gpi.poi" to any valid name the user desires. All the Nuvi does is look for ".gpi" files in the Garmin/Poi folder and collects them all together under Custom POIs. This means that you can do loads of POI files at various times and keep all of the files just by renaming them. REMEMBER POI Loader creates a NEW poi.gpi file every time it runs, but unlike windows, DOES NOT ask if you want to replace it.

Now, what did you find out about the SD card?

the 1490T is the most temperamental GPS on the marker it, and the most sensitive in my opinion worth than a woman.

I just ordered the 1490T the other day, despite some of the reviews I've read. We'll see how it works for me once I get it (should be tomorrow or Friday).

I've read a mix of good and bad reviews, but that seems to be the case with most of the Nuvi units nowadays. I thought about the 765T since I've read good reviews of it, but I've also read some horror stories.

BTW, I can't thank all enough for your help. Keep this up, and you might get the COW just while helping me!

I've been a TomTom person for many years and I've recently tried the Garmin 1490T since I found an incredible bargain for at my local store.

Overall, I was impressed with the navigational prowess of the Garmin, the large bright and clear screen (even in bright sunlight), the crystal clear audio from its speaker, and the dynamic junction view for complicated intersections. However, I find even though these latter features were strong as compared with TomTom, I found the following missing features a bit frustrating as compared with TomTom and other GPS systems for that matter :

1 - Lack of "road-block" or "avoid road" feature is simply inexcusable. My wife's cheap entry level unit even has this feature. This oversight causes absolute frustration on the road. Just this missing feature makes me want to return this unit.

2 - Optimized routes. It would be nice for Garmin to take into account traffic lights on your fastest route, as this might not even be your faster route if you have to go thru 15 lights vs 5 lights, for example. This can have a large influence on your nagivation time. I miss TomTom's IQ routes feature. Although, I believe the upcoming 3xxx series Garmins with feature nuTrends, which is the equivalent. But this feature needs time and lots of input from other users to refine itself. TomTom is way ahead of the game in this department.

3 - I find the traffic feature pretty much useless, at least in my area as it doesn't appear to be too accurate at all. I've run a few times into some light to moderate traffic, only for Garmin to tell me I'm all clear with its "green" (all clear) car traffic icon on my screen. I have no idea where it's getting its traffic readings.

4 - A dead-reckoning feature would be perhaps asking too much, but my TomTom is able to navigate me, all be it in a limited fashion, within tunnels disconnected from the satellite signal. I like this feature as certain places have pockets of 'no signal', but my TomTom's gyroscope/accelerometer still "knows" where I am in terms of orientation and speed. This feature has saved me several times from taking the wrong exit from inside tunnels or from spotty signal areas around town.

I think I'll be waiting for the new Garmin 3xxx series to come out by the end of summer 2010 to try out the new features to Garmin (old features already available for years on TomTom). Also, since I have the top model TomTom 930 (at the current time), I may have not compared apples to apples between the Garmin 1490T, but come on Garmin, to not have a "road-block" feature is simply unforgivable and is really the only reason I am returning this unit back to the store.

I hope you find this text helpful.

All the best,
Shawn

Returned today from a 450 mile weekend trip and my 1490T worked fantastic. Everything about this unit is great. No other portable can even come close to the blue tooth function. Not to be critical but you are returning the unit because it doesn't have a road block feature?????????? Come on how many roads do you want to block??? Why would you buy it if that was the case. Sounds like you had better stick to Tom Tom...good luck....

Has Garmin simply phased out the mp3 players of the new units? I can't seem to find any new units that offer the mp3 player or the option to run audio out of the unit and into my car stereo. Also, the 1490 has very little space to upload files. Wondering what would happen if I deleted all of the language files I don't need to try to free up space? If I ever wanted them back would it be simply a matter of dragging and dropping them into the folder they are in now?

You can delete voice, help, keyboard, text and vehicles you don't need. Just make sure you have backed up all the folders for each on your computer. After you have backed up the folders to your computer you can delete unwanted files from each folder on your device. Most of the files you wish to delete are pretty obvious. If you are unsure don't delete a file...I would suggest calling Garmin if you are unsure.

Yes, deleting all the unused language files will free up space, as will deleting the help files that are in languages you don't use. You can delete any vehicle you don't use also. Just drag them back in if you want them again.

I see that the mp3 player is only available on 5 Garmin models, out of 27 currently available. 18% of the product line isn't very much to start with and the new 295W has/will have mp3, so it hasn't been abandoned. My guess is people have so many options to play their music, that many of not most of those that have mp3 on their GPS don't use them for that purpose. Why offer a feature that is not used by any more than a small percentage of end users?

The recently released nuvi 295W has the media player features. This model is an oddball in the Garmin lineup. It is based on a repurposed Nuviphone hardware platform and not related at all to the other 2x5 nuvis. It has an interesting feature set, but unfortunately lacks Lane Assist.

The firmware problems have mostly been corrected, the large 5" screen is *very* easy to get used to, and the speaker clarity is great. The only real downside in my opinion is the lack of file space for map updates, but something that's easily solved.

I got my refurbished unit for $180 from NewEgg; love it!

I had one that you could not drag the map well as it would bounce in no telling what direction. Frustrating when you are in a bind and trying to see things in a certain direction. Love the bright, readable screen--but didn't like the cartoon looking map. But this did make it visible! Liked all the pics you could add, the fact that you could see what direction a POI was from where you are (but not that you had to click on it first to see where it was in conjunction with where you were.

The Bluetooth sounded good on my end but not the other end. I did not care for the routing. Always wanted to use a street with 50 lights as opposed to a nearby expressway that made it both easier and faster. The seed limit was nice but was wrong about 15 percent of the time (at least where I live).

Ended up with a Magellan 4700. Love the way the menu works. They got that right. No more having to go through several screes for common functions. I also like the fact that you can program many one-click menu items for easy use (searches, locations, routes). I like the routing. It generally goes the way a local would travel--quick and easy. The map is not all that easy to see at times as the roads are narrow for some reason.

One thing that's nice is while traveling on a route you can look up a POI and after it brings several up you can see where each of them are on the map. Thus you can see them in relation to the route you are on. It doesn't have some of the cool features like adding pics to things, but that's not really the purpose of a GPS anyway.

I don't like that you can't add custom POIs like with the Garmin. Didn't use it all that much but thought it was nice. It seems you can create many multi-destination routes (not just 10 as with Garmin). Support is not as bad as people claim. I've called and email with a few questions and have had no complaints.

If someone would combine some of the best features of a Garmin and Magellan it would be a killer GPS and may put everyone out of business. Until then, no one makes the perfect GPS.

I've had my 1490t for 6 months and last week it started the re-boot problem. Great GPS. No company is perfect but Garmin comes close. I've owned all the major brands and I keep coming back to Garmin.

I just got the 1490T bundled with NuMaps Lifetime. From what I undestand, the issues were with bluetooth under certain conditions. There have been firmware updates to deal with this and I have not had an issue in the week I have had mine (I have also been trying to replecate the error).

Dear GWB,
I stopped using the bluetooth for a while as it was having problems. I just started using the bluetooth again in the last fortnight and now it seems to working. Your posting is the first time I read about the 1490T having this difficulty. Thank you.
david

What are some of the other models that still offer the mp3 player feature? I liked being able to listen to my music and then having the garmin interrupt and remind me to make a turn...My dream garmin would be the 1490T with the waterproof and topo features of the nuvi500 along with an mp3 player.

I have been using the 1490t for about six months with no problems, so far. The traffic feature is accurate about 70 per cent of the time. The big screen is great but it could come with more memory. For me, she's a keeper.