Garmin Announces new high end Nuvi - nüviCam LMTHD

I'm glad they kept the powered magnetic mount.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/catalog/product/compareResul...

For the inevitable questions about how it compares to the Nuvi 3597. It is, indeed, listed as a 2015 Prestige Series.

In all honesty, I have never really given much thought to the need for a dash camera. Although it is a bit expensive, a backup camera might be handy, though! https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-road/533/bc-30-wirele...

Could here also be some other Garmin announcements later this week or next week? I would still love to see the Garmin Nuvi 4590/4592R/4695R make it to US shores!

I'm not a fan of multi-functional devices. IMO, too many compromises.

My dashcam (only $39 from ebay) is stealthly mounted near the rear view mirror and activated automatically on/off via switched fuse box. No need to remove when parked.

The gps is mounted in the cubby below the aftermarket radio. Also auto on/off.

The Nuvicam is too kludgy for my purposes.

http://www.4-traders.com/GARMIN-LTD-4933/news/Garmin--reg-nu...

Here.com claims to be collaborating with Garmin on the development of this unit. http://360.here.com/2015/04/23/reducing-stress-road-garmin-n...

I am glad to see that as well CraigW, plus happy that Garmin did not abandon the Prestige line. By the picture of the mount, it appears that Garmin has eliminated the universal "ball and socket" type of mount. It is hard to tell, but it looks more like a hinge. That along with the need to accommodate the camera view will definitely limit the mounting options. I am currently using vent mounts on both my pickup and car to use with my 3597. I think I could still get a camera view with the placement on the car, but it definitely would not work in the truck.

I will have to wait and see how the early reviews come in, but right now I don't think I will want this as a replacement for my 3597.

CORRECTION: I just looked in the owners manual and it has a picture of the magnetic mount broken down. It does use a ball/socket type of connection, so that gives it much more mounting flexibility than I originally thought.

I'll keep my 3597 as well, especially since my Forester already as a backup camera.

having a backup camera for my 2597 but the Garmin adapter costs more than what I paid for the unit new.

The Driver Awareness features could be nice. But the footnote 3 in the listing web page (Driver Awareness Warnings) directs us to a link that isn't active right now and a search on Garmin's site for the warnings can't be found by me right now.

I wonder how well a single forward-looking camera that may be variably mounted in different vehicles in different locations can work when compared to multiple-camera vehicle-specific "awareness" warnings for lane departure and crash awareness that are offered by vehicle makers. I look forward to buyers' reviews of this new Garmin device. I can also see how this feature may increase the frequency of Garmin updates to the new device as the awareness feature is tweaked.

Just last night on my network national TV news, there was a short piece about add-ons for vehicles. The news segment said if I remember correctly that vehicle buyers are willing to pay more to gain safety-related electronic add ons but are balking at paying extra for other electronic features like audio options, wifi, navigational aids, etc.

Here is a link to the user manual: http://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo.... It has pretty good detail on how some of the new features work.

It is interesting that the link for downloading the manual is titled "Manuals for Titan LMTHD NA". Titan?

Another feature on this new nuviCAMLMTHD is Garmin Real Vision™ which I can imagine directing folks into unknown neighbors' driveways. I'll stick with house numbers on my destinations' houses for now.

Remember the TITANic!

Even though the nuviCam magnetic mount uses the universal ball and socket to connect to the mounting base, it is obvious that it is not compatible with the 3597 mount. The 3597 has a square base while the nuviCam has a round base.

Too bad. Since I already bought a secound mount for my 3597, it adds one more reason not to upgrade.

I actually like it because it is all in one unit only if the price under $200.

Here is the link to the comparison chart between the nuviCam and the 3597. A couple of interesting things stood out.

Weight: 11.3 oz for nuviCam vs 6.8 oz for 3597
Battery life: 30 minutes for nuviCam vs 2 hours for 3597
3D buildings and landmarks: 3597 only

The new device may not have 3D terrain maps like 3597. 3D terrain maps look really nice. It may not be available in the new unit.

You guys always think that Garmin will keep previous features and add new ones but that has never been their strategy. I hate to say it but older units break and sooner or later you'll need to buy a new one so get prepare to get disappointed.

The mag mount configuration had to change because of the significant weight increase over the 3597.

Also, I may have missed it, but I didn't see that data is recorded on the 91st card, acceleration, speed, angular acceleration, if you have the smartlink connections that data, weather, traffic conditions, weather nor did I see anything about audio recording.

For advising and sharing with us Garmins latest innovation

I don't see much of anything that interests me as far as the "Driver Awareness" features go (notifications for straying out of your lane, following too close, etc). If you are driving, aren't these supposed to be relayed to the driver in the first place by using your senses?

If you're aware of your surroundings while driving, why do you need to pay attention to warnings on the GPS letting you know that you've strayed out of your lane, are tailgating someone, are about to plow into the car ahead of you, etc.

It's probably a great GPS however and I commend Garmin for innovating but these "Driver Awareness" features are not for me.

All true Serg but there certainly seems to be a "need" for these types of features by the vehicle manufactures that are building them into every model they make these days.

Personally, if I wanted these awareness features (which, like you, I don't) I'd buy a vehicle that had them installed and not some auto GPS that may or may not have them correctly or properly integrated into the device.

To me this is just the opposite of whether to buy a GPS or a vehicle with a built in NAV system. There are lots of reasons to buy the dedicated GPS for navigation but as of now I see no reason to buy one for "awareness features".

Indeed, Rick. Maybe it's because I still drive a 1994 that I don't personally see a need for this stuff...GPS is my exception, of course.

At least you get some neat features for the extra money:
- Built-in dash cam and driver awareness features
- Forward Collision Warning³ alerts if you drive too close
- Lane Departure Warning

And we all remember TrafficTrends and a few other "neat features" that Garmin has introduced and either never got to work right and/or simply dropped a few models later.

Once the price comes down considerably, then I'll think about buying.

Nuvi1300WTGPS

I will give it a year to see how well Garmin works out the inevitable bugs, wait for some refurbs to hit the market at a reasonable price, then decide if I want one.

Looks very promising. I will definitely look into it once it comes out.

Looks like a nice idea to incorporate those extra features to the GPS but I wool like to see reviews of how well it works. If the reviews are good i will certainly upgrade

T923347, thanks for sharing.
Hopefully these new features are well-executed and work as desired. As Garmin tends to abandon older, useful functions for newer ones, I wonder what may be given up.

Rob

Well considering I have no "traffic" within hundreds of miles where I live, that the windshield has no good location (room) for a cam, I will pass until it is under $200 Canadian...lol

My 1490LMT and my 780s work perfectly with no issues and why change for a non-required cam that may or may not be accepted by out public owned monopoly auto insurance corporation?

but not the lack of 3D terrain.

It will be interesting to see what format the dash cam videos will be saved as, perhaps mov. I can't seem to find any info on that.

This would be the first Garmin GPS that I'm aware of the can write to an SD card. Since it only comes with a 4gb SD card It states once the card fills up it overwrites older captures and replaced them with newer ones. I don't think a 4gb card is satisfactory for storing movie files, it can recognize a 64gb card but doesn't indicate the fastest speed rating it is capable of.

I wouldn't consider buying this unit since it's sure to have many bugs that would need to be corrected. I'm not a fan of multi function devices since dedicated devices such as dash cams would provide a superior product. The accident avoidance sensor would also questionable as to accuracy and possibly prone to movement depending on the mount used.

This unit has alot of features which is not found in any gps in the market- the price is the factor of course.

They need to have lower pricing before the masses will buy as if its costly it is not worth the upgrade.

It can be an good choice for the 2nd car especially those of us with new units 35XX and 259X and does not make sense to upgrade.

The built in cam is good then 1 more less items on screen.
The rear cam is good but need lower pricing.
all the alerts are good to aid drivers in the long drives - makes the drive more fun and keeps one alert.

IMO

I normally use my built in nav unit but on the rare occasion that I use my Garmin 3790 it is mounted on my Garmin vent mount. That mount would make the camera part of this new unit unusable.

Good point. Those that mount their GPS low within the car and below the line-of-sight out the window will find the extra "features" that the camera provides, pretty useless.

I've also heard that the camera needs a high position & view out the windshield for the camera to work properly. Probably much higher than most users are used to. That will remain to be seen with user-experiences once the units are made available.

As I believe I mentioned, the unit seems very nice for it's GPS capabilities but the camera features don't interest me in the least bit...I have my own eyes that work just fine.

The battery life is HORRIBLE !

I knew about this product since January. A know a guy from Garmin who mentioned it at CES and asked not to say anything until its release. Anyway, I like the concept but coming from a 3490LMT, it seems way too large for me. I wonder if they'll come out with a smaller version. In addition, it doesn't give the specs of the camera. Is it like the Dash Cam 20 which is 1080P? Somehow I wonder if the video quality is lacking vs. their true Dash Cams. Time will tell after some real world reviews and testing I would guess.

This Nuvi is interesting but I will wait and see how it turns out.

I recently purchased a new (2015) car. All variants had a built in backup camera, many also had navigation systems and collision avoidance systems, I opted out of those. Though the console screen is much larger than my Nuvi I do not have to look away from the road to follow directions. I also like the integration of the Nuvi and my computer. The avoidance systems still have some peculiarities that need to be worked out however in a few years I suspect they will be a standard on all everyday models. Anyway they were out of my budget at the moment! There are many things about the 3597 that are not really navigation features that I would not like to do without, the 3D terrain display being at the top of my list however there are also a number of the StreetPilot feature that I would like back. Do the "good" Garmin Designers/Engineers move on and get replaced with new grads so history is lost, it happens in other areas?
BTW, I LOVE my backup camera!

True but since it's an automotive GPS with a dash cam, I doubt it's going to be used on battery power very often, or ever.

Will pass on this one . All new cars will have back up cameras standard soon.

I'll pass as well but to be clear it's not a "backup camera" that will be built into this GPS, it's a Dash Cam. A backup camera is an expensive option.

First drawback is that people who live in snow prone areas will have trouble for the system cannot see the road beneath the snow so it will not know where the lines are. My 2010 fully equipped Prius has it and once it snows or the lane lines are well faded the system fails.
The following to close system will also fail in a heavy rainstorm/snowstorm for it will read the snow or raindrops. Also if you are on a 4 lane road and passing a semi on a curve, it can hit the brakes thinking you will crash into its side. The Garmin would not touch your brakes but will warn you for nothing.
I have a built in backup camera which I do like since people are to busy texting and not watching where they are going.

As I have stated in previous threads: it is in the interest of all us Garmin users that Garmin remains an independent & financially viable company. Best wishes on his new line

What is the battery life for this unit?

See https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-road/automotive/2015-... and click SPECS. Looks like 30 minutes.

I was wondering the same thing. Some of the high end vehicles these days have these things built in or as options. My boss has a new 2015 Acura SUV with many of these things. He's pretty excited about them. I yawned.

A much more exciting enhancement would be the simple act of making it not take 45 minutes to an hour to install a new map!

I got an email from thegpsstore.com saying that they have the Nuvicam LMTHD in stock now. So we should start seeing some real world reviews soon.

I bought the NuviCam three days ago from Best Buy. It is a worthy replacement for the 3597 if everything functions correctly, which for me isn't 100%. 3D buildings have been removed, but 3D terrain has been kept. The only problem is that I am having difficulty keeping my iPhone 6 connected to the unit through Bluetooth. It appears now that two connections to the Nuvi now exist, a BT and a BLE connection. The BT uses the hand-free calling while the BLE handles the SmartPhone Link. This is disconnecting 9/10 times with the message "iOS services is lost" and "iPhone 6 has been disconnected". It will not reconnect without a reset of the Nuvi after this. I am going to stay with it for a week and see if I can get it working, Garmin support did not know how to help me. The camera record quality is excellent, lane and collision alerts well-done, and the overall design of the unit is terrific. The frustration of SmartPhone Link not functioning 9/10 times might be enough to return it...

Ugh...teething pains with a new unit is standard fare. Do you have a different phone that you can test to verify the problem is actually on the nuvi's end? I know that Bluetooth is somewhat broken in iOS 8.3. Many users of external GPS receivers (in this case, I'm not speaking of something like a nuvi GPS navigator but rather a GPS receiver that plugs into the iPad itself) for iOS devices are having huge issues with their devices that once worked and now do NOT work with iOS 8.3...not necessarily BT connection issues but data feed issues from what I've read. This is affecting the aviation community as many pilots use *external* GPS receivers with their iPads (Wi-Fi only models that do not have built-in GPS that the cellular models include) along with aviation software/apps. Many who have updated to iOS 8.3 have lost the use of these external GPS receivers used with their iPads because of it.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6991643
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/04/14/apples-ios-83-repo...
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2015/04/ios-8-3-users-bluetooth-g...

...just to name a few.

I'm not saying this is the issue you are having but it may be related and not necessarily the fault of the nuvi. iOS is frequently at fault nowadays...nothing is perfect.

Thanks for your brief review of the unit.