Garmin 3590 Voted Best of 2012 by PC MAG

Can you give some comments on the traffic reporting of this unit? I'd be especially interested in knowing if you have any experience with other Garmin models that you could compare the traffic reporting with. Thanks in advance.

Felix,

I have owned every top-of-the-line garmin model so traffic has gotten progressively better. HD traffic updates every 30 seconds so the traffic is always current. It notifies you of road construction, accidents, and traffic on highways and major streets. Is it perfect? no, but it's the best that garmin has delivered.

A major flaw with the 3590 is that when the traffic icon shows green it only means that the GPS is connected to a traffic receiver and not that it is receiving data and the road is clear. Other than by touching the icon would one be aware that no traffic data is being received.

Without verifying I assumed that it worked the same as my 1490 which showed the green icon when there are NO traffic issues. When the 1490 is connected to a receiver, but not receiving any traffic data, the icon on the 1490 is gray.

Unfortunately I discovered this in a major backup. So, while sitting in traffic, I plugged the 1490 in and, voila, it identified the traffic jam I was in.
This all happened on a 3000 mile round trip. I left both units running for much of the remained of the trip and found that the 1490 reported several other incidents while the 3590 was simply not receiving any data.

The 3590 comes with NAVTEQ traffic reporting, while on the 1490, I had purchased the Total Traffic option because I hated the ads on the 1490 as supplied. Also, I believe that there was better coverage with the purchased option. I could be wrong, but the ad based traffic reporting supplied with the 1490 may come from NAVTEQ.

Other than that I love the 3590. Its easier to use once you learn how to do it and has more features. By comparison, I don't find the image quality on the 3590 to be significantly better than the 1490 when set to daylight viewing. For the black background night view screen, the 1490 is better (black is blacker). (I've set the 3590 to permanently display the daylight screen.) The touch screen interaction is far superior with the 3590. Voice command is another plus for the 3590. I don't use bluetooth features so cannot report on that.

I purchased the 3590 after becoming completely frustrated with many random shutdowns, screen lockups, and reboots on the 1490. Incidentally, Garmin issued a firmware update to the 1490 addressing this problems shortly after I bought the 3590. This had been my second 1490. The first was returned to Garmin and replaced for those exact same reasons. Subsequently while using both units simultaneously on that last trip the 1490 behaved as it should.

As far as customized routing goes, I prefer the route function for the 1490 over the trips function on the 3590 (but am getting accustomed to its quirks). (I like to customize my routes on Mapsource prior to downloading them to a GPS.)

Can you clear the trip log (blue line)?

Can you clear the trip log (blue line)?[/quote]

Yes,Settings > Device > Clear Travel History

Or, If you don't want the blue line to show, Uncheck the Travel History box.

I find Google Maps to have very good traffic info, followed by Waze. Waze is probably more hit or miss. Has anyone compared the HD Traffic of Garmin against either of these?

To compare Waze to HD Traffic is like to compare a CB Radio to a Radar Detector.

Breaker 19 there is smokey hiding in the bushes...

We do traffic on the 1's - sometimes.

I own a 3490 which has the HD traffic as well. It seems very good overall when I get a signal. The problem for me has been the area of coverage. Here in southern NH there is nada.