Garmin nüvi 1490/1490T 5-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
Garmin nüvi 1490/1490T 5-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
- Brilliant color on a 5-inch touchscreen display, integrated Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker for hands-free calling
- Lane assist with junction view that guides you to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit, making unfamiliar intersections and exits easy to navigate
- Includes advanced navigation features to take the worry out of traveling, including cityXplorer pedestrian maps
- Steer clear of traffic with integrated FM traffic receiver
- NOTE: Model number on the box is 1490T because the traffic receiver is included; however, the model number on the device itself is 1490 as the “T” in 1490T refers to the additional component
The large screen nüvi 1490T offers multiple-point routing and lane assist with junction view to help you manage busy highway interchanges. It also has subscription-free traffic alerts for most cities, hands-free calling, pedestrian navigation options and ecoRoute. Navigation is just the beginning. See Even More
It’s easy to see where you’re going on nüvi 1490T’s 5-inch touchscreen display. View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant color. With its
List Price: $ 279.99
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B002771V48"]
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Comments
3 Comments on Garmin nüvi 1490/1490T 5-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
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C. Pak on
Fri, 19th Nov 2010 10:17 am
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David J. Hudson "bass/pilot" on
Fri, 19th Nov 2010 11:17 am
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J. Chu on
Fri, 19th Nov 2010 12:09 pm
Nice upgrade,
Update: August 15:
- My con I listed below about the buggy firmware (2.7)… it’s VERY buggy. The nuvi “forgets” my settings such as vehicle icon, map detail display level, time format whenever I plug my nuvi into my PC (to transfer waypoints and such). Still keeping the unit but looking forward to an update REAL SOON…hopefully.
I’ve owned many Garmin units over the years (GPS V, eMap, nuvi 350, 265W, 750, 755, tried 1260T, 1350). I decided to upgrade to the 1490T because of the larger screen and thinner form factor.
Just some observations:
Pros:
- The display is 5 in diagonal, that may not seem much bigger than the 4.3 but it is. The resolution is the same as the 4.3 wide-screens units but the extra space is well worth it and noticeable! It also makes it easy to hit the right button on the touch screen.
- User interface has received some minor updates, mostly in the cosmetic department. The font is new and contributes to a refined feel, everything is “smoothed” and looks very good. It’s also VERY responsive and doesn’t feel like it’s lagging.
- I like the new menu organization, they didn’t bury as many of the options and settings in sub-folders.
- You can change the map display so that the data fields are stacked along the right side as opposed to being in the corners. I like this view a lot. With this stacked view, you can see 4 data fields (3 are customizable) versus the two in the normal corner view.
- The unit is about half an inch thick, it’s very easy to carry around, even pocket-able in a pinch.
- (updated) The speaker on this unit is MUCH better than on my 755, 1260, 1350; perhaps they had room to add a larger speaker. The spoken directions sound not only louder but fuller and do not distort at high volume.
Cons:
- The mounting cradle is a two-step/two-handed affair, unplug the mini-USB then unmount from the two point cradle. The older, better quality cradle is literally one click grab and go from a nice powered cradle. Don’t know why they removed that (cost savings?).
- A common complaint: less detail shown on maps. The newer nuvi’s show fewer street names at the same zoom level as the older units. The argument being this reduces clutter. I’m not happy with it, but it’s not a deal breaker. Garmin has added alot of other information to the map display and I can understand they don’t want to overwhelm the user with text.
- The latest firmware is 2.7 and it seems to be quite buggy. Issues with Bluetooth, saving favorites, thats all I’ve experienced.
- Note, this comes with version 2010.10 maps. Garmin just released version 2010.20 maps. You only get one free upgrade.
- Very expensive…
I am planning on replacing my 755T with the 1490T. The larger screen size is just so overwhelmingly impressive it outweighs the cons in my book. If you’re not into that type of stuff then the 1490T is probably not for you.
Worth moving up!,
I have now had a couple of weeks to work with the new Garmin 1490T.
I should begin by mentioning that I have been using Garmin GPS units in airplanes for quite some time, and my experience with ROAD GPS units began with a Street Pilot III soon after they were introduced. Currently I also have a Garmin KNA-G510 which drives a 7″ in-dash Kenwood display and a nuvi 660. I compared the 1490T to both the G510 and the 660. I did not have any of the issues with “buggy” software forgetting my settings which others have mentioned.
For me, the 5″ screen of the 1490T was one of the attractive features; it provides almost as much viewable map area as the 7″ G510 display; the 510 has most of the data outside of the map, whereas the 1490T and the smaller 660 have these as overlays onto the map. The 1490T map appears more “crisp” than either older map display as smaller width lines are used for most features. The older, thicker lines look bolder, but the thinner lines contribute to a sharper looking display. The 1490T labels use upper case and lower case letters rather than upper case only, and this too contributes to a somewhat more legible display in my opinion. One unusual note: at night the 1490T background appears dark blue rather than black. I think the contrast is better with black and would prefer the more dim background of the older units.
The most dramatic new 1490T feature is HotFix ™, a feature present in the airborne units since introduction, but new to the road units. The result is a very rapid calculation of position when the unit is turned on. My 660 often requires a full minute longer than the 1490T which might require less than 3-5 seconds. I also have the impression that if my 1490 is charging in my car, it may be partially “on” and maintaining a fix in the background. In either case, the very rapid navigational fix is very noticeable and much appreciated.
For example, a rapid fix is really useful in a strange area, when you return to your car and need to start driving out of the city, for example. The long wait for a fix as you leave the parking garage, or pull from your parking space seems like an eternity.
One odd display change – while my older units will usually say something like “Oak St. Ahead” in the green boarder stripe at the top of the screen, the 1490T will say “Driving on Main St”. Now I will grant you that in answer to the “where am I now?” question, it may be more important to know that I am on Main Street, but when I am looking for Oak Street, the older displays seem better. While it is true that the 1490T will have a map label for Oak Street (most of the time) and it is located properly on the map, this is somewhat harder to read than the larger type in the green stripe.
This may also relate to the 1490T approach to placing map labels on streets but not on “things” like parks and neighborhoods. Others have commented negatively on this loss of map labels. I think the 1490 labels more streets, so I am OK with this.
The 1490T appears to calculate positions and speeds and/or display more quickly; it is hard to tell which. If I decelerate slowly, the 1490 displays the decreasing speeds more rapidly than the 660. This may be due to a more rapid calculation or it might be due to a more rapid display cycle. Either (faster fixes/calculations or faster display updates) could contribute to more rapid updates of map display. It is hard to tell for sure, but it does appear to me that the 1490T map display updates more often and this appears more smooth.
I have had only a little experience with traffic data, but my first impression is that this is somewhat better integrated into the 1490T. For example, you can tell when you are receiving traffic data on the 1490 from the main map screen and the color indicates traffic conditions.
I have not had a chance to see the Junction View or Lane Assist feature, but I did like the turn preview feature, which, after a short display interval automatically returns to the map display. If my other units do this, I must have missed it; this is a nice feature as it eliminates a longer glance at the screen and another button push at exactly a time when you might be busy.
One last positive note: the 1490 has a scale bar AND a north diamond, my 660 has neither. It is a little hard to accept anything as a navigator if it does not indicate “north”. Both 660 and 1490T do the same auto-zoom which for some reason I never noticed on the 660. Maybe it is more obvious now that I have the scale bar to read on the 1490. The 1490 shows topo features when zoomed out a ways, and this is nice – a cute feature to show off.
I was tempted to set up a double system in my car to mirror a double GPS display I have fooled with in the airplane, i.e. one screen zoomed in with track-up, and one zoomed out with north-up…
Comparison of Garmin Nuvi 1490T and Magellan Roadmate 1475T,
Recently I bought a Magellan Roadmate 1475T at $220 and Garmin nuvi 1490T at $399 and tested side by side in my car just for some real situation comparison. Here are some findings:
1. Destination Address Input: Roadmate 1475T allows input of city name or zip code, followed by street name and street number. It tolerates inaccurate address information input and provides best guess of where I want to go. For example, when I am not sure about exact street number, I take a guess based on the legitimate street number range that the Roadmate 1475T lists. Also, in case two acceptable city names exist for a given city, using city name to input address will cause error or failure, but a zip code will give an unambiguous entry, plus most time it saves time by entering zip code rather than city name. However, nuvi 1490T doesn’t accept zip code entry. You also need to enter state name first if the current location is different from your destination state. nuvi 1490 also requires entry of street number before entering the street name, so you will have trouble if you are not sure about the street number.
2. AAA Travel Book: Roadmate 1475T contains searchable AAA travel book. I can find nearby attractions or hotels or restaurants with AAA ratings easily with Roadmate 1475T. nuvi 1490T does not have this feature.
3. Traffic Information: Both GPS have capability of receiving subscription-free traffic information. However, Roadmate 1475T have much more reliable reception of the traffic information than nuvi 1490T sitting side by side in my car. Often time, whereas Roadmate 1475T still have the traffic information displayed, nuvi 1490T cannot receive any traffic information.
4. Highway Lane Assist: Both GPS units claim to have this feature. However, only Roadmate 1475T has truly advanced Lane Assist. The lane assist in Nuvi 1490T is not reliable and show up only in sporadic occasions, and, when it does show up it only flash up for 2 seconds. Plus, Nuvi 1490T shows only an artistic drawing having nothing to do with the actual exit configuration.
5. Screen size and view quality: Roadmate 1475T is of 4.7 inch size, whereas nuvi 1490T is of 5 inch size. However visually Roadmate shows much crispier image than does nuvi 1490T. When I looked at the tech specs, it indicates that nuvi 1490T has exactly the same 480 x 272 pixels as a 4.3 inch screen. Therefore nuvi 1490T increases the screen size in the sacrifice of the resolution.
6. Map Information Display: Roadmate 1475T displays much more information than nuvi 1490T. Roadmate shows the street names of the current and nearby streets. Roadmate shows nearby other landmarks, such as gas station, bank, hospital, restaurant, or mall icons. However, nuvi 1490T usually shows an empty spider’s web of the streets with no street names. Novi also does not show any landmarks. Especially in active routing mode, you feel you are driving in a dark tunnel, with no landmark information. This is especially bad for a female user, because research indicate that women rely more on landmarks than men in figuring out the direction.
7. Turn Signal: Roadmate 1475T provides a bell tone at the last moment of a turn. It makes a “Dong-Ding” sound for right turn, a “Ding-Dong” sound for left turn, and a “Ding-Dong-Ding” sound for a U-turn. Roadmate also shows a blow-out big junction view at the same time. However, nuvi 1490T does not have this feature.
8. Speed of re-routing: Roadmate 1475T re-routes instantly, but it takes several seconds for nuvi 1490T to re-route.
9. Reliability: So far I don’t see any problem with Roadmate 1475T. However, Nuvi 1490T sometimes forget the setting. One time I was in active routing mode, I had a stop-over in a drug store, when I resumed the driving the nuvi had already forgotten the routing. Roadmate, however, always allows me to resume routing under this situation.
10. Driving Speed Display: nuvi 1490T displays the current driving speed and most time also displays the posted speed limit, but Roadmate 1475T does not have this feature. However, I noticed situations, in which nuvi 1490T showed the driving speed of 35 MPH but my car odometer showed 45 MPH. One time, I saw the posted speed limit on the road to be 35 MPH, but nuvi 1490T diaplyed a speed limit of 45 MPH. I would not want to risk getting ticketed for relying on Nuvi’s speed display.
11. Speaker volume: nuvi 1490T has louder speaker volume than Roadmate 1475T.
12. Bluetooth: nuvi 1490T has built-in Bluetooth, but Roadmate 1475T does not.
I will report more findings as I continue my comparison. But so far I recommend Roadmate 1475T over nuvi 1490T for functionality and for price. Looks like I will return nuvi 1490T within the allowed returning period.
An update on January 8, 2010:
When I traveled last month in Connecticut, after a lunch stop at I-95 Exit 81, the nuvi 1490T directed me to enter I-95 North from Parkway South near…
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