Complains on nuvi 3590 and impression on Drive 60 (and questions)

I like Jill too but she doesn't come in TTS3 which gives Garmin Real Directions like Samantha. This is a very big improvement. Samantha gives more detailed directions. Where Jill says, "Turn Left," Samantha says, "Turn left after the gas station."

dobs108

Regarding the power issue, do you have any other compatible USB cords laying around that you could use to connect the old nuvi to a computer or AC charger? If so, and if it has a solid charging connection, then your current power cord may be defective and worth a try to replace.

True, the new TTS3 devices have no Jill. But that doesn't mean you're stuck with only Samantha. Connect your Drive 60 to your computer, fire up Garmin Express, then on the Drive 60's page, tap Tools & Content, Optional Updates, Language Files, select English, and install. This will give you the ability to try the TTS3 Serena, Daniel, Jack, Lee, Karen, and Sangeeta voices. Several folks here swear by Karen.

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

Note that adding all these voices takes up quite a bit of internal storage. The Drive 60 is listed as a 7GB device, so if you're short on space, you may want to delete unneeded files from your device before installing the additional English voices. As always, don't tinker with files until you make a full backup of your device. Large files that can be deleted include voice files in languages that you don't speak and don't plan to learn, etc.

It's true that we may hear "Turn left at the gas station" from devices with Real Directions but I have yet to hear any mention of businesses, landmarks, etc. on my nuvi 3597. Much more likely to be heard are "Turn left at the stop sign," "Turn left at the stop light" or the ones I like best, "Be in either of the two left lanes," etc. I continue to hope that future map updates will give me my first audible landmark, but I'm not going to drive to Las Vegas where I know I'd be able to hear them

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/44485

Just take a half-hour round trip tonight. Several noticeable differences in Navigation from my old 3590:
1. Oh, I still miss my Jill...Samantha sounds old.
2. I like the new top bar notice where it provides more info such as a small square area dedicated for highway exit number.
3. For "real directions", I did notice it gives more talking than 3590 (which was among the top tier in the past). For example, "take either of the two left lane". However, as a non-native speaker, somehow, I don't like she talks too much, which may make the most important info mixed with secondary info. Also, I don't feel the additional info really helpful that much. Maybe I will get used to it and then like it.
4. The screen and the weight still make it feel cheaper than 3590. Maybe I am too picky.
5. The over-speed warning changed from red color speed number to a light red background. But it doesn't become more red when I over-speed more, which I had thought it would.
6. Lots of restaurant, gas station, etc. icons on the map, which is not that useful to me. Maybe someone likes it.

Overall, I think I will quickly get used to it as an old customer. Other than the screen and touch response, I think it is a great product.

Since I have Drive 60, I guess I can use its power cable to insert into 3590's mounting socket. Hope it proves the cable is the problem. Then I can just buy a new cable.

Yes, but I prefer a native American English female voice, of course, with "real directions". I think it is only Samantha then. Yes, I tried other "English" voice files. But since they are either not "American English", not with "real direction", or not female sound. I probably will give myself several weeks and see if I can live with "Samantha"

Actually I am surprised that so far Garmin has not allowed users to customize their own navigation voices. My understanding is that there are only a few essential words for navigation such as "right", "left", “turn", "One" to "nine", etc. Garmin could generate a list of those words/phrase, and let the user upload their own sound and then compile with AI to the final voice file. You can have your spouse, your child, your girl friend, or your mom to record those sounds and then whatever are not recorded will be provided by the system default TTS voice. If so, the driving would be full of personal feeling . Imagine that, when you drive alone, your wife suddenly says, "Honey, turn right at next traffic light" or your son says, "Dad, welcome home". How cozy and memorable . Garmin could charge people for accessing this service. It is a win-win.

I would encourage you to keep one of the Real Directions voices like Samantha for a while to see if you like it better after some time has passed. But if you decide you really don't like it, install one of the non TTS3 voices, and you will no longer get this additional information in the voice navigation.

In terms of creating your own voices, Garmin and our friend Turboccc both offered voice editors which would allow you to do just that. But this was only for the old non "text to speech" voices that don't speak street names. These voices just prompt something like "Turn right in 500 feet" instead of "Turn right on Elm street." Since most people prefer hearing the street names, these old analog voice files kind of fell out of favor.

I have both of these units. I absolutely love the 3590. I ordered the 3597 because of all of the rave reviews and comments that I read about the unit. I have had the 3597 for about 2 months now and, even though it doesn't have some of the features that I really liked on the 3590, I like this unit better than the 3590. The navigation commands are clearer than the 3590. For example; the 'stay in the right two lanes', comes to mind. It seems to pick up on satellite fixes faster than the 3590. I like the programmable speed limit sign feature on the 3590 and I like that the 3590 speed limit sign numbers change, as opposed to the edges of the speed limit sign turning red. However, with all of that being said, I like the 3597 better. The school zone feature is nice (something the 3590 doesn't have) and the traffic feature is better in my opinion. There are pros and cons to both units. If I had my way, Garmin would combine both units into one. Now, that would be the perfect unit.

I will keep Samantha for sure, and believe I will get used to her soon.

Thanks a lot for the history of customizing your own voices. I see the technical challenge. It is not very feasible to mix real person sound with computer generated sounds. It looks like the feasible way should be creating totally computer sounds with real sound as the base. I guess that despite recent popularity, the artificial intelligence is still not strong enough to mimic a real person voice; otherwise, the customer would just provide some sample voices, and the computer would take care of the rest.

BTW, by using Drive 60 power cable, I confirm it is the power cable that makes the trouble. To my surprise, I notice my malfunction cable is GTM 25, while the Garmin website suggest GTM 60 HD is the one compatible with 3590. So I am debating whether I shall buy a GTM 25 or GTM 60.

it sounds like 3597 is a good improvement but not perfect. I like 3590 but it is far from perfect. 3590 is really vulnerable to fall off the socket and the on/off power button is hard to press. Nothing is perfect.

Garmin Real Directions recently told me where to turn in a very difficult area to drive - New York's Kennedy Airport (JFK). Real Directions works inside areas like malls which are away from the streets outside. It did work inside JFK airport.

I have driven inside the airport previously, but because of the many terminals and their access roads, it is like a mess of spaghetti.

Entering the airport I was on a three-lane road about two miles away from my destination, Terminal 4. The road went directly to the terminal, so I was surprised when Samantha said, "Be in either of the two left lanes to take the exit to the left."

It appeared to me that I should be in the right lane pointing directly at the terminal, but I went along with Samantha and the ramp went directly to the Arriving Flights pickup area. I saw my passengers who had just arrived.

Later, I saw on the map that the right lane went to an access road that circles the airport and returns to the terminal in about 20 minutes.

My link did not display correctly. Just go to Google Maps and search for JFK Airport Terminal 4.

dobs108

I got my son a 3597 for Christmas. He tried using another cable other than the GTM 60 which came with the unit and the traffic did not display correctly. After switching to the GTM 60 cable everything worked the way it was supposed to. My 3590 came with the GTM 60 cable and traffic works great in the areas where traffic is available. If you don't use the proper cable, you will not receive traffic data.

Actually, the GTM 25 does not list the 3590LMT as a compatible device, but the GTM 35 does show it as compatible, as does the GTM 60. I think the GTM 25 is discontinued and was replaced by the GTM 35. Check out the compatibility lists here:

GTM 25: https://buy.garmin.com/en-CA/CA/p/14994#devices
GTM 35: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/68325#devices
GTM 60: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/104181#devices

The GTM 35 will give you standard FM traffic, the GTM 60 will give HD traffic service, which is superior in areas that have the HD coverage. Note that the GTM 60 also provides the standard FM reseption in areas that do not have HD. So I agree with maddog67 that the GTM 60 is the way to go.

First, I recall I purchased my refurbished 3590 from Groupon years ago. Guess that is why I have a gtm 25 instead of gtm 60. However, I confirm gtm 25 does work with 3590 with my own experience. Yes it does report traffic.

EBay sell new gtm 25 at about $24 while new gtm 60 sells at $54 at Amazon. I am indeed debating the usefulness of gtm 60 knowing it receive traffic signal ever 30 seconds vs. Several minutes for gtm 25. Worth extra $30 on an old unit? I am afraid not.

My opinion, for all that it is worth!
SMARTPHONE LINK is the way to go for traffic.

that folks have a preference over the female voices, kind of weird imho? lol Too bad there's no Audrey Audix.