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Good Unit with One Major Flaw
First, I would like to say that I really like my Garmin nuvi 5000. It is the first GPS unit I have ever owned. It is very easy to use and the large screen is very visible in all light levels. However, there are three areas where I feel the unit falls short. First, it needs a rechargeable internal battery that would allow it to be used disconnected from the automobile, even if only for a short period of time. The battery life would be extendable by having a way to switch off the screen and allowing the unit continue to operate. Second, the unit needs a better manual that goes more detail about the working of the unit. For example, it tells you how to add favorites locations to your unit's memory, but it does not tell you how many locations you can have, nor does it tell you if an SD card will add space for more. The third and biggest problem with this unit is the lack of a good internal antenna. My experience has shown that the unit is not very good at acquiring satellites as it is designed. I have experienced the following problems using the unit mounted on the beanbag holder (Garmin's Portable Friction Dashboard Mount) on my car's dashboard: When parked in my driveway with a clear overhead view, it can take more then 2-3 minutes to acquire a good signal lock; Pulling out of my garage and driving down suburban roads at less then 40 miles per hour, it has taken more than 10 minutes to get a good lock on the satellites; Once when driving down an Interstate highway with a wide open sky view, the unit lost signal and took several minutes to re-acquire the satellites; and at other times it has showed it poor design of the internal antenna. To try to solve this problem, I purchased the external Garmin antenna. This antenna is designed with a magnet to attache to the car roof and plug into the back of the unit. This works very well and solves the problem of satellite acquisition, but makes for a messy dash. However, I found that if the antenna is just placed horizontally on the dash behind the unit it works just as well. This brought me to conclude that the unit should be designed with an attached flip up antenna, as come commercial unites have, to improve satellite acquisition. I gave it four stars, because with the added antenna, the unit works great and I would not want to give it up.Update is impossible
I just got this device and have been attempting to update the software, you can not register until it is updated. The update fails over and over yet says it is complete until you try to register again. It works with the old software but you can not register it or update anything else until it is updated. I give it two stars simply because it works but it only meets a one star standard.excellent product, but Mac computer interface needs refinement
This being my first gps unit I cannot compare it to previous devices, but I can say that I love this unit and have been very pleased with the navigation and features. I have one big issue and one small issue to mention though: BIG ISSUE: Although I'm told I can use my Macintosh computer to update the unit I am finding that software updates don't work and the computer has trouble properly reading the contents of the memory. Using the Web Update software I see that the unit's software is one or two versions behind and I can update to a newer version, but I can't get this update process to complete. Sometimes it stalls, telling me the unit is full and cannot accept an update, other times it appears to complete, but rebooting the device shows the same old software running. This old version works fine, I don't particularly need to have the latest update, I was just trying to be up to the minute. The unit is navigating very well for the most part and I'm satisfied, (but still wanting perfection) One particular oddity: when I load music files into the unit they show up normal in my Mac's Finder window, but on the Nuvi screen in the car I see two copies of every song. One copy looks normal and plays, the other copy has the underscore ( _ ) character appended to the beginning of the file name and that copy does not play. The unit appears to be in play mode, but no sound comes out and the play progress bar is inactive. I have to skip these "null" copies in order to resume playing music. If I have hundreds of songs loaded in I have to scroll past one or two hundred "null" copies in order to get to the ones that will play! I'm currently working with product support to figure out how to get my Mac and the Nuvi to communicate but we haven't found the magic yet. The Macintosh interface needs some work! Small issue: the voice prompt is often late with useful information, for example: approaching a freeway on-ramp that has separate lanes for east and west, the voice doesn't use the word west or east until it's too late to change my lane. Looking at the text on the screen I can get that information sooner, but if my eyes are busy watching traffic I can miss the exit because the voice failed to say west soon enough.First Impression of Garmin 5000
Todate we have not taken a long trip. On a short trip going to the destination the route instructions worked fine, but the return route home was different than that taken to the destination. This maybe due to the original routing of the "fastest" versus the " shortest" route. In the near future we will take a much longer trip and this will give a better chance to test the overall operation of the 5000. We agree that the larger screen is easier to read and follow and the back lighting works great in bright sunlight.Garmin has lost a customer
I have used a Garmin GPS 60c for years and decided it was time to get something easier to see and work with. This sounded ideal as I drive a Freightliner Truck towing my Travel Trailer. But the truck noise made using the FM connection mandatory. (There goes my books on tape). But the worst is the poor navigation. It could not find my mothers address (it did, but it showed her address as the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America and my Mom lives on Cape Cod) and other common places (such as Goodyear Tire Centers, Flying J's, Rest Areas other than ones on major interstates and Camping World) I called Garmin. I just bought this and they wanted me to BUY more maps. Navteq supplies their maps and the maps for MS Streets and Trips (which almost always finds addresses), so it is a Garmin problem. I just bought the Dash Express for about half the price. Lifetime free automatic updates, LIVE traffic and routing, LIVE internet search and user made favorites as well as many awesome features. I'll review it after I actually use it. Sorry, Garmin, get modern and more customer friendly....the world of technology is quickly out-distancing you!Keyword : nuvi
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