- Spoken street names
- Free lifetime maps with over 6 million points of interest
- Accepts data cards: microSD card (not included)
- Lane assist with junction view,Speed limit indicator
- Trip computer records mileage, max speed, total time and more
The maps that came with this GPS are up to date. A restaurant that opened within the last six months is on the list.
I have found the 4.3 inch screen size to be the optimal size. It has a nice size keyboard and amazing graphics. It feels 'right' on a car dashboard.
The two features I absolutely require are the speed limit on the screen and the lane guidance. This GPS has both. This is my first Garmin out of three that goes into a split screen mode and shows the interstate signage as you come upon an exit you will be taking on your route. Great feature!
The audio is crisp and clear. It has plenty of volume capacity.
When needed, this unit will recalculate the directions quickly. I should also mention that it is very quick to acquire the satellites.
The one thing that this GPS does not have is traffic. My last four GPS's have had traffic and I have found it to be of limited usefulness. More than 50% of the time, the traffic has cleared out and you are still being alerted. The alternate routes around the traffic jams tend to be somewhat dubious.
Finally, what a great price!!! Just a year ago, you would have paid double the price for a GPS with all of the features you get with the Garmin 40. It is an excellent buy!
Buy Garmin nüvi 40LM 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Now
I upgraded from a Nuvi 205w, which Ive had for 3 years. The 205w has sure gotten a work out, I work for a large cable company, so I drive all day and the 205w has never failed me as it navigates 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the past 3 years. The battery is at the end of its life as it holds a charge for a bit over an hour and the maps are outdated. As prices of GPS units are constantly dropping and being offered with lifetime map updates, I couldn't justify updating the maps on the 3 year old unit when for a few dollars more I picked up a new one when it went on sale.I didn't need all of the bells and whistles like bluetooth, voice activation/voice commands, mp3 player etc. When shopping for a new unit I wasn't convinced that I needed the 5" screen as my old 4.3" unit was mounted next to the rear view mirror and about 22" from my face, and I could read the screen just fine. B*st B*y just happened to have the 50LM version on sale much cheaper than the smaller 40LM, so it was a no brainer. (I picked it up for $117)
After purchasing the unit I had it updated and ready for use in 34 minutes after walking in the house. The update included installing the Web updater, the lifetime map updater, registering the unit, updating the maps and firmware and rebooting the unit twice. Very quick process and everything went absolutely flawless.
After the effortless update process, I took it out to actually navigate, I checked the points of interest, looked up a pizza restaurant across town and it guided me there with zero glitches, hiccups, re-routes or misguided routing. While on the interstate, upon approaching an exit it switches to lane assist and junction view and the exit signs it shows are to-the-letter exact as the actual sign reads. Very impressive.
After getting to my destination I wanted to test the boot time, so I shut the unit completely off and then turned it back on, I did this several times to get an average boot time and was ready to navigate at the "Where To/Show Map" screen in 13 seconds every time I turned it on.
Using the 50LM side-by-side with my 205w they operate very similarly (if you own one you will be right at home with the new one), the 50LM is faster, has smoother map scrolling, has better touch response on the screen and even though the resolution is the same, the 5" screen of the 50LM looks noticeable sharper, and the difference in size is very noticeable. The volume is VERY loud at 100%; you could probably use this in a noisy convertible without problems. One other thing I noticed is the 50LM has very accurate speed zones, if I'm in a 35mph zone and then it switches to 50, the unit updates the on-screen speed zone within a second of physically passing the street sign.
While my 205w workhorse still works perfect after 3 years of constant use, the 2012 units are a very worthy upgrade, especially with lifetime map updates.
***UPDATE 12/23/2011***
After a full week of navigating since my initial purchase, I am happy to report that there have been zero hiccup's, freezes, resets, crashes or faults that I can think of. My unit is in use from 7:30am to 4:00pm everyday and has worked flawlessly, only once has it not found an address, and to its defense the address was a service road within the confines of a gated apartment complex. I cant comment further on the volume level or speech clarity, I have mine muted while driving and just frequently glance at the arrow on the screen for guidance. The screen is really bright and I find that for me, a comfortable adjustment is at 40% brightness in either day or night driving.
Again comparing this with my older 205w, I REALLY like the speed and sensitivity of this touchscreen much better, its almost like texting on an iphone, just light taps whereas the 205w, even after numerous screen calibrations, would take 2-3 taps of certain keys to get them to register. Map scrolling is much smoother and faster also, just swipe your finger across the screen while in 2D mode and the map rolls smoothly, almost too fast at times, I occasionally have to remind myself to scroll slower so as not to overshoot my targeted area.
Just a reminder, this is Garmins base model, no frivolous extra features to make it cumbersome or complicated it navigates, and it does that task VERY well.
***UPDATE 08/06/2012*** Today my Nuvi50LM had to be replaced. It guided me to my job destination like always, but after my job, I turned the unit on to enter my next jobs address and all I got was a black screen with a faint GARMIN logo, I tried rebooting it several times and never got past the first Logo screen. Luckily I was a few miles from the Best Buy store where I bought it, they happily exchanged it for a new one, no questions asked. The new one already had the newest maps loaded, I just needed to register it online which took about 10 seconds as the website communicator auto-detects the model and serial number. Im hoping the new one works as well as the last one.
Read Best Reviews of Garmin nüvi 40LM 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Here
I've been using a NUVI 50LM for about a month now. It replaced a Garmin StreetPilot 7200. The 7200 was a top of the line unit at it's introduction. First the LM stands for Life Time Maps. This is a great feature. One of my frustrations with other GPS units has been the cost of updating the maps. With the LM I'll be able to do that any time there is an upgrade, prepaid!I'm used to the larger screen of the 7200 and was worried that I'd not like the 5" screen of the 50. After a couple of days it works out fine.
The new unit is much lighter than the older one which even in the car mount turns out to be important as the new unit does not vibrate nearly as much on our dirt roads. Thus it's easier to use when the road conditions are not smooth.
The Lane and Junction assists Garmin has added are a great help once you locate them. Basically in the upper left corner there is a lane layout with the lanes you should be in highlighted. When approaching an exit a pseudo image of the exit is presented on the right side. This is nice for sorting out what you should be doing on a fast moving and changing Interstate system. I get a laugh out of the shadow mountains in the background while driving in Kansas.
Garmin has dropped the "Recalculating" statement that was made after a missed turn. This is both good and bad. There have been some times when I didn't know if the advice coming out of the unit was new or old. Overall it is less irritating.
This unit acquires a fix noticeably faster than other units I've used, including the 7200. That's especially nice when I forget to turn in on until after I'm rolling in a busy part of town.
Another new feature to me is the speed limit sign in the lower right corner. I've often wondered what the speed limit was on a stretch of road and missed the sign. This gives the limit. Now having said that it also dose NOT know about construction zones. Additionally, we just had a speed limit increase to 75 from 70 on many of our Interstates. Even though my last update was after the change the unit still shows the old speed. Overall this is a great feature. Oh, and it shows your speed in black if you are at or below the limit and in red if you go over.
For a basic, no frills GPS I think this is a great value, and the LM is worth the extra $$$$.
Want Garmin nüvi 40LM 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Discount?
Over the years, I've used several GPS units which have included Garmin, Magellan, and Mio brands. Overall Garmin is typically the best and most accurate which is why I took advantage of the recent Black Friday sales to upgrade to this unit due to the map update feature included with it.New Garmin units no longer say "recalculating route" when you deviate from the set course it lays out for you. They supposedly just begin to give you new directs based on the direction you're then heading in, to steer you back to your destination. In the case of this model however, I've found the "quiet recalculating" feature to be less accurate than Garmins I've used in the past. In my well-established Atlanta neighborhood when I deviated from the planned course, it said nothing. I could see the purple route to follow, went in the opposite direction, and the Garmin remained silent with no new route shown on the screen as well, until I was perhaps nearly half a mile off course. At that point, it finally kicked in and started to take me back on course. On the flip-side however, my Android phone using Google Maps, and my older Mio brand GPS immediately recalculated the route once I deviated, and steered me back. While in a different section of town, when I deviated from a main route, it tried to get me to drive through a subdivision of homes and do a U-turn to go back, instead of recalculating a new route forward (even though I had the U-turn option turned "off"). The Android and Mio units rerouted me forward without trying the U-turn. This I'll point out, is after a system reset and update via the computer (which was recommended by a Garmin employee via support email).
The point is this: You're most likely NOT going to get lost (well, badly) if you use this unit. It will eventually get you to your destination correctly, but it might make some quirky choices along the way compared to older/other models, especially if/when you deviate from it's planned routing. On the plus side, the screen is bright, the voice loud, it locks on to the GPS signal quickly, and the graphics are clear and easy to see when you're driving. Side-note: You can download a couple of other voice options via your computer into the unit if you like. I would give the unit 3 1/2 stars if that were an option, but will settle for 3, because in a city like Atlanta, the ability to keep driving straight-on and having a unit recalculate is very valuable as opposed to having to TRY to turn around in this city's traffic (this is why Magellans do poorly here they're notorious for trying to force U-turns on you!). If you can get it for the Black Friday level of pricing ($79-$84) it would still not be the worst gift at all but at the suggested normal retail price of $149.00, other units might be better at the recalculating bit than this one, so research before you buy.
ADDED: Someone on here sent me a note saying that if you download the other voices and change them, that this somehow alters the accuracy of the maps. Now, this sounds odd to me, as a simple voice chance shouldn't have any effect on map accuracy but I tried it. Picked the male British voice and indeed, one of the glitches I mentioned above stopped happening (??), but when I chose the female British voice, suddenly the Garmin stopped recognizing a major 4 lane road in my area and started calling it by the name of a small arterial road two miles away! (repeat...???). Perhaps my unit is just defective, but if this is the latest map source they're using at Garmin I might avoid any of the newest models. Yikes. I'm updating my star rating from 3 to 2 as a result. Sorry.
Save 20% off
After 1 year, I decided to update the map. Woohoo I have life time map update. I waited for half an hour to update, and finally it has been updated to version 2013 sth. I unplugged it, and it worked perfectly. Reboot it to make sure everything ok and got the warning "please download your Traffic Database" sth like that, then I opened the map and nothing showed up. Tried to update many times again even hard reset, but hopeless. So, lifetime map update? What a joke. Used once and the gps's turned to a brick. And when I tried to contact for help, I found out the warranty expired 1 month ago. It was not a bad gps, it did the job until I used the "Life Time Map Update" ONCE.
0 comments:
Post a Comment