Garmin 3597 Refurbs on Sale Again

Used it to do a 2500 mile trip from SF Bay Area to Colorado and back and it worked extremely well. Really was a good deal to get a refurbished one.

Maybe time to upgrade.

Thanks.

I used it for the 1st time over the weekend and do like it but there are a few things That I need to get use to. One thing that concerns me is how it maps my route out. I have a 2455 unit with the very same setting for mapping but the new 3597 seems to take me out of the way while the 2455 takes a more direct route. Not sure why. This is not for just one route but for many over the weekend. That is the only real issue I have with the unit. I still am trying to get traffic notice to work, My 2455 use to pop out on the right side with a warning that I am coming up to traffic while the 2597 does not.

I do love the voice command - works great most of the time.

Still have a lot to learn and tweak setting with!

I also recently bought a used 3597 and I'm coming from a 3790/3490. Some thoughts:

3597 Pros compared to 3790/3490:

1. Really nice screen, although the 3790/3490 screens were extremely good too. The 3597 is very bright, with good colors and viewing angles. The screen is glass and is reflective, but it's a little less reflective compared to the 6" screens on the 2689/2699/nuvicam and the 7" screens on the 2789/2799/dezl 770. You can tell because when the screen is off, it looks black, but the when the 6" and 7" screens are off, they have a light grey color.
2. Pretty fast map redraw. Faster than the 2xx9 and dezl 770. Nuvicam is as fast or maybe a little faster.
3. Shows current street at the bottom
4. Has more data field options, including "Time to Next Turn"
5. Supports shaping points
6. Zoom buttons are now on the screen full time. On the 3490 you had to touch the screen first. This was annoying.
7. Has the improved Trip Planner that shows the magenta line for the entire route instead of only the current segment.

3597 Cons compared to 3790/3490:

1. Lane Assist only pops up at the last moments before a turn (I think about 0.7 miles from the turn). Before that it's just a generic left or right turn arrow. On the 3490 Lane Assist would appear much, much sooner. Sometimes as soon as 2 miles out. This is a major bummer for me. I really like Lane Assist and wish it came up much sooner. It allows me to plan how many lane changes I need to make well before the maneuver.
2. It will not remember your zoom setting no matter what you set it to. It keeps defaulting back to 1.2 miles (in 2D view) or some set level in 3D view. This happens when: 1) You exit the map view like to browse the map, go to settings or use the Where To screen, etc., 2) You turn it off, 3) It auto zooms when you drive on a ramp, or 4) It auto zooms when announcing a turn maneuver while on an active route.
3. Active Lane Guidance is buggy and sometimes does not show up (I have current map and firmware). I've verified this by simulating the same route before and after a master rest. When this happens, the static Junction View just shows up but not until about 1.6 miles from the turn.
4. Minor roads in 3D view showed up at one higher zoom level in the 3490.
5. 3D view looks nicer somehow in the 3490. The roads look blurry in the 3597.
6. 3597 no longer has the Jill voice. Jill sounded much smoother and pleasant than Samantha. You can download additional British and Australian male/female voices that sound better than Samantha but the will use some words not common to American English.
7. Magnetic mount is somewhat nice, but it's thick and bulky. You have to be careful how you use it otherwise it moves every time. I liked the snap type mount in the 3490. That mount was very quick to use and very secure. I guess it doesn't look as cool as the magnetic mount, but it was very functional.
8. A small nitpick, but the speed limit sign was right next to the current speed on the 3490. I liked this better than it being a little further away on the 3597.
9. The speaker is built into the unit instead of the mount like the 3790/3490. This speaker is not as good as some other units. The high frequencies in particular sound shrill. Nuvicam speaker is noticeably better.

Things the 3597 lost from the 3490:

1. Dashboards are gone
2. Custom map buttons are gone
3. Ability to set or correct the speed limit (but this no longer works with current map and 3490 firmware versions anyway)
4. Jill TTS voice
5. Lane Assist that comes on much sooner

Things the 3597 is missing from the current generation models (Drive models):

1. Missing route preview button in browse map view
2. Missing easy route shaping (very handy feature, but limited to 0.2 mile zoom and still a little buggy)
3. Missing the ability to turn off the big blue PIO icons while still showing your saved favorites
4. Missing the ability to customize the Up Ahead PIO
5. Missing the ability to remember your zoom setting below a set value
6. Missing Direct Access, which tells you where a business is in a large mall
7. Missing the paths in large parking lots and the ability to navigate out of them
8. Missing FourSquare (kinda handy to filter popular chains)
9. Missing the ability to speed up the simulator speed
10. Missing the various alerts in the new Drive models (the only one I think would be useful is the reduction in speed limits but it be better if you had more options to control when it comes on)
11. Is not compatible with Cyclops Red Light and Speed Cameras for the U.S. I like Cyclops because the warning is a large red banner at the top and it only warned you if you were going in a direction that had the cameras.

If by saying "Missing the ability to customize the Up Ahead PIO" you mean that you can not customize the Up Ahead items you are incorrect. You can select to display any 3 of the following items on the 3597:

Restaurants
Gas Stations
Banks & Atms
Parking
Rest Areas
Lodging
Plus a "custom Search" option where you can choice to display a Business Name or Category

This is all reachable by tapping any of the default Up Ahead icons and then on the Search screen that will appear, tap the "Wrench" icon in the upper left corner. This brings up the Customize Up Ahead screen. Tap any of the 3 icons displayed and you'll get the list that I have posted above.

My 3597 has a built in speaker, and a speaker in the magnetic mount. When mounted, it plays through the external speaker in the mount instead of the built in one. The external speaker is much better quality, higher volume and less tinny sounding than the built in one.

I bought a second magnetic mount so I didn't have to move the mount between my car and truck. Both the original mount and the one bought separately have the speaker.

I believe Garmin removed the external speaker on the DriveLuxe magnetic mount, but unless something has changed, the 3597 should have it.

Oops!! I think you are a right. That's why the 3597 mount is so bulky. I think I was thinking of the DriveLuxe model. However, the 3597 speaker (on my unit at least) does not sound very good with high frequencies.

I think t923347 is also right about the Up Ahead PIO. I just recall the newer units are able to do something different than the 3597. I'll have to check my unit later to clear up what I was talking about.

Thanks for clearing that up alanb and t923347.

Thanks for the heads up

@class3 ... I don't necessarily agree with all of your points on the 3597 , but you did a very nice job of comparing the differences between the various 3xxx nuvi's and the Drive series. Your post will be a handy reference for those members who might be considering one of these Garmin devices. Thanks for putting in the effort to make such a detailed review and comparison. Who knows ... maybe your post will bring you a COW next week. You have my vote.

First, I agree with alandb that your summary/comparison is very good.

Regarding Four Square: If you own and use a smartphone, adding the free Garmin Smartphone Link app will give you Four Square. Also, if adding the paid one-time subscription to Live Traffic (and maybe Premium Weather), you'll gain even more. Most folks here report that the Live Traffic is much better than the free HD traffic that comes with the 3597LMTHD.

The cellphone app uses very little data so even folks with a free FreedomPop plan or Tracfone plan smartphone will have no excessive data consumption.

Is it worth upgrading from the 3590? And does anyone know if the power/traffic cable is compatible with the 3590, since mine is routed inside the dash.. Thanks!

I agree, great job on the comparison. I agree with alandb, there are a few items I may not agree with but over all this should really help others that are considering the 3597 or a Drive model.

...different connectors. The 3590 uses one size connector and the 3597 uses another size connector. One is a mini and the other is a micro. Not sure which is which.

...He loved it. Told me his 2558 is acting up. Guess what he is getting for Christmas? Just ordered him one yesterday. I think he will be pleasantly surprised.

Class3, thanks for the pros and cons list. That's most informative.

Not quite true. If you use the mounts the connectors are the same.

may be time to update a 765

The 3597 refurb ships with both the GTM 60 vehicle power/traffic cable as well as a USB mini data cable. No additional cable purchase is necessary.

As rlwetzel says, your existing in dash cable will fit the powered mount of the 3597. However, if your existing cable is not a GTM60 HD traffic cable you will not have HD traffic reporting available on the 3597. If you are using the GTM 36 power/traffic cable that shipped with your 3590, you will get "Incompatible Accessory" message on the 3597. The cable will power the unit but will not provide traffic reporting.

A word about in dash routed traffic cables. The dashboard can shield traffic signals. The rectangular block (receiver) and the wire leading from it to the GPS (antenna), should have a clear view of the sky for optimum reception.

Thanks a lot guys! I'm not sure which traffic cable I have and I rarely have the chance to test that feature, but I'll be careful about that. I do use the Garmin powered mount (but on a different ball mount).

It's increased a little to $179.

I wonder if it will go back down to $169 ?

Would anyone know why my 2455 and my 3597 with the same setting of fastest route, Routes differently? It seems that the 3597 is taking me out of the way but the 2455 is more direct. Again, I do have the same settings for the way the routes are handled.

Thanks for any advice!

Nuvis learn your driving habits (actual speed for each speed zone or type of road, enabled myTrends, etc.) and over time, may change what its training thinks will be your fastest route. A device with trafficTrends may also route you differently than a device without it as will a device with traffic enabled vs. one with no traffic or traffic disabled.

It's therefore not a valid comparison to judge a chosen route from a new factory fresh device with one that you've been using a long time. To really compare two models, do a hard reset of each, then compare routing keeping in mind that all the learned activities that make the older nuvi more accurate in routing will be lost and started fresh. Also when comparing two units' routing, make sure that either both have traffic enabled and active, or both have traffic disabled. In many areas, devices that offer traffic may or may not be receiving traffic data so a comparison between a unit with FM, HD or Smartphone Link app traffic and another device with different traffic again may offer different routing.

I suppose it's also possible that the routing engine could vary between models. It'll be interesting to see if your usual routes become more direct with several weeks of use with the new 3597.

Actually, there have been other threads here with similar questions. In fact, sometimes people with the exact same model, say two 3597s, with the same settings get different routes.

I have noticed, too, that if I start routing on a given route, but mid-route stop routing and re-select the same destination, it will sometimes select a different remainder of the route. I guess that really doesn't answer your question about "why", but at this point I just accept it and move on.

If you have Traffic trends/my trends enabled, the time of day/day of week can even make a difference in the route. That is why many of us disable these features.

One thing you could do is give us a sample route (start point and destination) where the 3597 is giving the undesirable route. We could check it and see if we get the same results on our 3597's.

Thanks everyone! I'm glad I could help. I checked my unit again and found there is indeed a speaker in the magnetic mount. The speaker grill is 75% covered up by the socket joint so it's easy to miss. Also, the three Up Ahead PIOs can be customized. Just follow t923347's directions earlier. I didn't know about this until now, so thanks t923347!

On later units (like the 2699 and on), the Up Ahead POIs can be customized using the same method above or you can use a second method under Settings > Map & Vehicle > Map Layers > Go to "Up Ahead Places" then touch the right facing white arrow. This will take you to the customize screen. TIP for later units: If you change the three options to all be custom search options, then the big ugly blue icons on the map will finally disappera! But your Saved Places icons till show up.

I bought a 16GB class 10 microSD card for $5.99 at Amazon. The 3297 user manual is very terse, basically just saying to push it into the slot. I worried over whether I had guessed the right orientation, and found I had to press it in a bit farther than I expected before it latched in place. On my next connection to my PC, it showed up as an extra drive letter, not yet having anything the Nuvi had put there. I can't find anyplace in the 3297 user interface that indicates the card is installed.

On a separate topic, I decided to look at the 12V power consumption of the unit. I was especially interested in how much it uses when "off" as I was burned by the model 855 which consumed over 100mA (it actually kept on running the receiver, though it turned off the display). That was a problem if you left your car waiting for you at the airport for a few weeks. Luckily we took the other car, so I just had to charge the 855-drained car battery when we got home.

Anyway, the answer I see is that operating power runs about 230 mA (as drawn from the car 12V supply, not at the internal operating voltage). At shutdown, the current dropped to battery charging amounts promptly, but if the battery was fully charged dropped to the "off" value within a few seconds. By an hour later the 3297 consumption was negligible, as pulling it off the mount did not change the reading of about 47 mA. Presumably that is the sum of consumption by the traffic receiver, the telltale LED lamp, and any other stuff in the cord. I saw battery charging current of 50 to 100 mA, and quite likely it can be much more if the battery is not nearly fully charged, as mine was.

So my conclusion is that there is no car battery protection reason to dismount the 3297 if you are going to leave the cord plugged in (and have a car such as my 2002 Audi in which the 12V socket stays live), but that for away times of over a week you should really consider unplugging the cord to avoid the 47 mA traffic receiver drain.

And you won't find it anywhere in the interface. It will only show up when you connect the unit to your computer, as you've already seen.

As delivered (and updated), my 3597 offered only two voices, of which only Samantha was the full-capability "Real Directions" flavor.

Reacting to tips posted here, I tried in Garmin Express to visit the tools optional updates section. Hidden among unwanted options for Afrikaans, Polish, and the like was a big (almost half a gigabyte) English update. As I saw no means to acquire individual TTS speakers, I installed that one.

The first good news is that despite being bigger than my free space, it neither failed to install nor did it cause my brand new add-on SD card to get used (though it did shrink my free space from about 300 MB to under 150 MB). The second good news is that now I show about seven Real Directions capable voices.

However a Garmin FAQ suggests that of the six new voices, only Serena possesses both Real Directions and Real Voice capability.

I'm glad to have some more options to try. I understand from another post on this web site that Garmin Express probably won't offer updates to a specific voice unless I have that voice currently selected for use.

On my 3790, I found the female voices more consistently intelligible for me in real use. Unless the speaker in the 3597 mount differs, this means I'll likely wind up using Samantha, Serena, or Karen.

I use a dumb phone for calls, and a Google Nexus 7 LTE Tablet for data. This makes some sense - dumb phone has great battery life for phone calls, and Tablet has larger screen for Internet use.

However, the nuvi will not Bluetooth connect to the Tablet - it complains that it is not a phone. So the Garmin SmartPhone Link app will not work, and thus Live Traffic is not achievable.

Any ideas?

Upgrade your phone.

The only Nuvis that will connect to a device other than a phone are Zumo units that will connect to a headset.

True. As far as I know, the only option is to install all English language voices, both TTS3 and non-TTS. In the old days when the myGarmin web site offered voices, I think it was possible to install individual voices.

It's exactly seven Real Directions voices.

Real Directions are great in the opinion of most folks here. Real Voice has been discussed quite a bit here and there's been no explanation (other than a phrase in a Garmin FAQ) for what Real Voice offers and those that have tried the Real Voice voices haven't been able to describe any improvement over the other five Real Directions with no Real Voice voices. When Customer Support was contacted, Garmin offered nothing in terms of what Real Voice was.

If you haven't read it, this thread is worth reading fully:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/46653

particularly the observation that Garmin Express will only offer an available voice update for the selected active voice. In this respect, the separate Garmin WebUpdater program is better for voice updates to your 3597. Also, this thread explains why I dislike the current Samantha v2.40, and switched back to Karen.

To make sure you're current, this FAQ helps with voices:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42708

PS: I'm fairly sure that both Serena and Samantha offer both Real Direction and Real Voice. I think one of the non-TTS voices also offers Real Voice but not Real Directions, alhtough I doubt you'd want to lose Real Directions.

I was thinking about the units themselves. But you are correct (and I stand corrected), that the power plugs on the mounts are the same. They both use traffic cords that are the same size.

...HD traffic on the box. Does this mean that it is using a GTM 60 cable? Or, is it still using a GTM 36 cable?

According to the Accessories listed for the nuvi 3590, the GTM 60 is compatible and is the only way to obtain HD traffic on your nuvi.

Ordered my Christmas present today.

Big step from 1450 to 3597 hope its not be a big learning curve.

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the tip!

...using my new Nuvi 3597. Two words for this GPS. Fantastic unit. I thought my 3590 was a good unit but I am falling in love with the 3597. Some of the things on the 3590 that I thought I would miss, I have found out that they are not that important. The graphics is so much better. On the 3590, whenever a custom POI icon would show up on the screen, it would seem to blink off and on. Not so with the 3597. The icons are bright, vibrant, and are steady. The speaker on the 3597 is very clear and can be heard over the road noise. All in all, I am very happy with this unit. There is a bit of a learning curve on this unit from the 3590 but I am looking forward to this learning curve. It should be fun.

I am very happy with this unit.

A big upgrade from my old 750.
Boots very quickly.
Beautiful picture.

Wish it would blue tooth connect to my tablet for smartlink traffic, but I'll live with the HD traffic.

Hmmmm, have no problem connecting my Galaxy phone to use Smartlink. Will try it with my Samsung Tab E.

Attempting to update I would keep getting "Use the USB cable that came with unit" also the PC did not see the 3597 when adding a device.

After trying multiple USB cables and ports I finally connected directly into the back of the GPS and all was good.

Not sure if its just this unit but connecting to the PC through the magnetic connection will not work.

Update with GE was a trip, downloaded almost 8G and locked up set for about an hour before I went into task manager and backed out reconnected and update completed and all is good.

Now for the POI's and POI loader hoping that goes a lot smoother.

OK, just tried to get Smartlink for my Galaxy Tab E. "Your device is not compatible with this App". Unfortunate, this tablet is on the Verizon network and has a data connection.

@dougcutler ... Is you Galaxy Tab wifi only? Smartphone link requires a mobile cellular connection. It doesn't work with my Galaxy Note 8.0 for that reason, but works fine with my cheapo LG Android Tracfone.

Edit: just reread your post and see that your tab does have Verizon ... surprised it doesn't work. Seems like it should. I think you should report this to Garmin support as a bug in the app.

I can also confirm that the Garmin App works fine with a Tracfone smartphone and even with a 'totally free data' FreedomPop smartphone. As reported in other threads and very important for Tracfone/FreedomPop folks, the Garmin app, even with Premium Weather and Traffic subscriptions, uses very little data.

I noticed that an announcement of a new Garmin Express version mentioned that it fixed a problem of added SD cards not being recognized on some models. So I downloaded today (also had it check for a yet more recent version--none found). But I still get the same warning as before that I have 98% of my memory in use and should consider adding an SD card. If it nevertheless will use mine when it needs it, this is bad user interface design. If it is not going to use it, something else is wrong.

The SD card is visible under an extra drive letter from my Windows PC, so to at least some degree it and the 3297 are talking to each other a little.

It isn't just your unit. I get the same error message on all 3 of my 3597's when I try to connect to a computer via the USB port on the magnetic base. Page 12 of the 3597 manual under "Connecting the device to your computer" states "Plug the small end of the USB cable into the port on the device." It is a bit confusing if you consider the mount to be part of the "device".

To change the subject, it's surprising these units are still on sale at the GPS Store. The sale has been going on for a month now, longer than any 3597 sale I've seen so far. The price went up to $179 but still a bargain IMO. The "Special Purchase" they mention must have involved a large number of units!

Remove magnetic mount, then use USB cable.

I made the same mistake. It took a while for me to figure out that one needs to remove the magnetic mount before connecting the USB cable.

Only then would Garmin Express find the nuvi.

My 3597 has had an SD card for years and Garmin Express kept telling me to add a card. That message must be the only bug. Last week, with the latest map update, GE put half the map on the card. I guess if 98% of the device memory is used, GE does not have a need to use the card.

dobs108

Thank you very much for that description, it raises my confidence considerably.

I like my 3597 bought from gps city very much.

last weekend, I placed my hotel key card with 3597 together in my pocket. guess what, the key card stopped working because it was wiped out by 3597 magnetic. Be careful!