Garmin is a massive corporation that produces a variety of technological devices, however the are most well known for their personal global positioning systems. The first product that they ever produced was a marine GPS that costed about $2,500 dollars when it was first released. Originally founded in 1989 in Kansas by Min Kao and Gary Burrell, today they produce many different types of GPS’s. These personal GPS’s are used all of the world and have been giving people directions for some time now. Garmin is so popular that as of this year they have sold over 126 million GPS’s and they saw nearly a billion dollars in net income, every year for the past few years. The Nuvi series are some of their most popular GPS’s for automotive use. Within the Nuvi models, there are three different series, each made up of multiple GPS’s. Given their large selection of personal GPS’s we are going to take a look at a few different models from each of the Nuvi series, starting with their most affordable: The Nuvi Essential Series.
The Nuvi Essential series contain a variety of different models, however the Nuvi 55 is the most attractive. The Essential Series is all about the bare minimum, at the lowest price possible and the Nuvi 55 is the embodiment of that. This is the GPS that you get if you cannot afford other models, however you still want or need to have a GPS. The Nuvi 55 has a five inch screen with dual-orientation and a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels. It is a relatively small GPS and is light as well: it only weighs six and a half ounces. This GPS does not rely on cellular signals used by mobile phones, so it will even work in dead zones. It comes preloaded with complete maps of the lower 49 United States. So if you are planning on going to Alaska or Hawaii, make sure you purchase a different model. The Nuvi 55 provides essential features like voice guidance, lane assist, junction view, and route avoidance. Additionally the GPS has a battery that lasts about two hours. However on a point to the negative side the $119 dollar GPS does not come with a life times worth of map updates. It seems strange that Garmin did this because for $10 dollars more you can get the version that does come with the lifetime updates. It is the same model, with the same features.
Now for a little more money you can get one of their mid-ranged GPS’s that are found within the Advanced Series. The Nuvi 2689LMT is a considerable more advanced version of the 55, and is packed with a lot more features. The most noticeable difference upon first inspecting the model is the large, higher-res screen. The screen measures out to be six inches and has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. This improved resolution allows for pic-to-zoom to be an option. Unlike the Nuvi 55, the Nuvi 2689LMT comes preloaded with maps of the entire continent of North America, and a free lifetime’s worth of map updates. The 2689LMT also allows users to integrate with the crowd-sourced social media site FourSquare. Combining that fact with their already pre-loaded “hot spots” that Garmin provides, this ensure that nearly all points of interest will come up on this GPS. Another great feature of this GPS is that it comes with live traffic features provided by Garmin and lifetime access to “Traffic Avoidance” to help users find the quickest route when taking traffic into consideration. This feature alone is extremely attractive. The 2689LMT also has Bluetooth capabilities and has voice-activated navigation. The Nuvu 2689LMT costs $269 dollars.
At the top of Garmin’s Nuvi line is the Nuvi 3596LMTHD that is part of the Prestige Series. This GPS is probably their nicest model and one of their most expensive at $329 dollars. This GPS has a five inch high-res dual-orientation display that has pinch-to-zoom capabilities. The GPS has highly detailed maps of all of North America and HD Digital Traffic, Garmin’s best “traffic solution”. Additionally both of those services come with lifetime updates and support, and you will never have to pay to use them. The GPS also has Garmin Real Voice and Garmin Real Directions which provides “smart” spoken turn-by-turn directions and voice search. This GPS also has Bluetooth capabilities and can link with your smartphone. Those features allow users to make calls, hands-free via the GPS or find where the parked their car via their cell phones. The devices also features more information displayed on the screen in a “more sophisticated way”.
So hopefully that brief list of the three different models can help you decide which Garmin works best for you. These are just selected models from each series, as Garmin offers more, however we felt these were the most attractive within each series.
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